Names, names, names

(one of my favorite pictures of mckinlee in myrtle beach a few years ago)

last friday on kelly's blog was show me your life friday--baby names. i am just a few days behind--but since i am and always have been obsessed with baby names i had to post!

i have been planning my kid's names since i was probably 7 or 8. i just love to come up with names and hear what other people name their children.
(sadly, if you ask me what almost any celebrity named their child, i can tell you.)

so, when the time came for me to actually name my own child, it was much harder than i thought. it's really not a matter of picking your favorite name. it's more like finding a name between you and your husband that doesn't remind you of the boy you "accidently" hit in the 2nd grade because he was such a bad reader or the girl who threw up all over you in high school. (bad, bad memories...)
when i got pregnant, we had an early ultrasound and just assumed because of some things we saw that we were having a boy. ha! we had thought of a lot of names but ended up with:
dylan cole

so for the next couple months we called the baby dylan and took pictures in the boy's department of dillards.
we also came up with girl's names just in case.
we knew if we had a girl her name would be:
madalyn storm

don't really know how we came up with that but that was our choice.
so on ultrasound day we find out that we are not having a dylan.
on the way home from the dr. i suddenly decided i didn't want madalyn.
so that night we sat down and took out several notecards. (i found them just the other day!)
on three we wrote:
madalyn
miranda
mckinlee
(we obviously had a thing for m names)

on another three we wrote:
jade
storm
skye

we played around with them until we both got what we wanted!

mckinlee skye

i had heard mckinlee and loved it and thought it was really different and unique and chris loved skye. i wanted to just name her skyler, but he just wanted skye for a middle name.
so that's how we came up with her name.
(not long ago, mckinlee was upset because she has such an uncommon name and said, "why couldn't you have just named me something like madalyn?" it didn't help when i finally admitted that was our second choice! ha!)

so since it doesn't look like i'll ever need to use all the names i've gathered, i'll just list some of my favorites!

Girls:

avery
lily
brecken
grace
reese
quincy
capri
emerson (call her emmie)
ellasyn (just saw this the other day and fell in love. call her ella or ellie)
paisley
hadley
kate (i love kate with almost any name. ellie kate, lily kate, etc.)
halle
sutton
annabelle
brynn

Boys:
grayson
hudson
cade
cole
dawson
carr
john (i feel about john as i do about kate. it goes with anything--john thomas, john tyler, etc.)
paxton
maddox

that's not nearly all of them--but a good list anyway.
what are your kid's names?
i would love to know :)

Project Life Tuesday-Week 18 (i think...)

here's this week's pictures. the mom creative has more inspiration here.
i am cheating a little this week since a couple of these pictures are fill-ins (i just haven't been taking that many pictures!)

wednesday
5.5.10
i had ordered a couple of things from lisa leonard for my anniversary and this is how they arrived. is that pretty packaging or what?

thursday
5.6.10
doesn't this look delish? i constantly use danielle's recipe for chicken piccata and we love it!



friday
5.7.10
today was mckinlee's field day. she'd missed the past two days of school and we didn't know how she was going to feel, but she woke up better and got to go. this picture just cracks me up!

saturday
5.8.10
this will be a class picture from yesterday at field day, but i don't know how to blur faces and didn't know if i should post it or not.


sunday
5.9.10
yesterday we bought a bunch of flowers to plant in our front yard and big entry pots. we also got this pot of roses that was just gorgeous!


monday
5.10.10
tonight i tried this new recipe for jambalaya. i made a few additions and made it really spicy--chris loved it and said it tasted really authentic (because he's such a conoisseur of authentic jambalaya, you know? ha!)

that's it~~i'm going to start posting my week from tuesday to monday so i don't feel obligated to put a filler picture in for tuesday just to be able to post it!

have a great week!

sadie belle

i got these great pictures of sadie last weekend when mike and danielle came to visit.

is this not the most beautiful baby ever?

be still my heart...

she has the yummiest, most kissable cheeks i've ever seen!

Project Life Tuesday - Week 18

thanks for stopping by to look at a week in our life!

4.28.10
wednesday
the clouds have been so beautiful lately. (this one's for you mom!)


4.29.10
thursday
cosmo in the window of our room--one of his favorite activities. all the streaks on the window are where he presses his nose to the glass looking at birds or rabbits!

4.30.10
mckinlee and sadie hanging out. danielle and mike came for a quick visit. mck loved spending time with sadie. aren't those fat cheeks yummy?

5.1.10
saturday
we went to lunch and shopped around at this beautiful shopping center. the flowers were gorgeous and we stopped to get a girl's picture.

5.2.10
sunday
this one was from yesterday but i just had to use it for today's picture. mck and sadie look so cute! is that flower to die for or what?
5.3.10
monday
speaking of flowers...my day lily is blooming and it's so pretty!

5.4.10
tuesday
what our dining room table looks like this morning. mck and i are working on staff appreciation gifts and we have a lot to do. i'll show you the finished products next week!

see you next tuesday!

Project Life Tuesday-Week 16

welcome to my week!
i'm still keeping (mostly) caught up with my pictures for project life.
go visit the mom creative to see others.

4.21.10
wednesday
today was our stampin' up class. here i am working on the cutest projects--will share later.
4.22.10
thursday
this morning was the volunteer appreciation breakfast at mckinlee's school. we were treated to the most amazing breakfast foods. all around the library were picture frames with quotes. as we left we got to pick the one we wanted. this was my pick. i just love that quote.
4.23.10
friday
our dinner tonight: pesto shrimp pasta with garlic bread. yum!
4.24.10
saturday
mckinlee bought a do it yourself spa kit and she spent forever making soaps, masks and fizzy bath balls.
4.25.10
chris gave the talk at a different congregation today. i ended up seeing a friend that i hadn't seen since we were in pioneer school together in 1998. (in the picture, she doesn't too much--but in real life lacee looks and talks so much like sandra bullock!)
4.26.10
monday
some of my anniversary presents from the vintage pearl. i've been wanting a family one with all our names on it and loved this one with the little birds. the bracelet i love and it has this year's scripture on it: love never fails. the other two charms are to go on my necklace danielle got me a few years ago with my word of the year on it. i added this year's word: involved-- and a little heart with my initial. i was so excited to finally get my goodies in the mail!
4.27.10
tuesday
two books i just got from my book club. already finished the mary higgins clark--not her best one, but it was ok. just starting the other one--it's pretty interesting so far.

have a great week--see you next tuesday!

what's in your purse?

what do the contents of your purse say about you?

i read this cool blog post the other day by stacy julian and decided to play along.
i think the idea behind is pretty neat. i guess you really can tell a lot about someone according to what is in their purse, backpack, diaper bag, etc.
i think i am going to do this every few months and see how things have changed over the course of time!

so what does my purse say about me?

1. i like brown, green & turquoise
(and apparently birds too.)

2. i like ice cream

3. i like candy

4. i have dry cuticles and hands

5. i like things to match

6. i like notebooks and planners

7. i like make up

8. i like to save money
(only in the sense that i use that savings to buy more!)

9. i need the "essentials" during certain times of the month

10. i know why i have a neck ache.

so what does your purse say about You?
take a picture and leave me a comment. i would love to know!

Project Life Tuesday-week 15

another week has flown by! this is my 15th week into project life this year. go over to the mom creative to see what other people have been doing.

4.14.10
wednesday
a new book that chris wants to read. instead of writing the title down, i just took a picture!

4.15.10
thursday
went to have my teeth cleaned today. i missed my 6 month visit, so it had been a year since i had been, but still didn't have any cavities. (that's probably only because there aren't many more teeth that don't already have fillings in them! ha!)
4.16.10
friday
grocery day--really trying to eat more veggies, fish and chicken.
4.17.10
saturday
chris and i started p90x today. i can see why people quit after one day. i have never felt so sick after a workout--and we only did arms, back and abs. after it was over, i crawled to the hall bathroom convinced i was going to throw up. (thankfully, i didn't.) we just keeping encouraging each other to do what we can do and by this summer we will have a beach body! (stop laughing.)

(i just realized how many pictures i take on my kitchen island. sorry about that. will try to change things up a bit.)

4.18.10
sunday
danielle got me this bag as a thank you for sadie's shower. i have been waiting until it got warm to use it. i have been using it as my ministry bookbag and i love it! thanks d!
4.19.10
monday
dillards is having their lancome gift with purchase so i ran by today to pick up some new lip gloss. juicy tubes are my absolute favorite lip glosses. toffee pop is my favorite color so i got that one and tried a new pink one. i think it's pink horizon. you got to pick 6 out of 11 free items and a cute make up tote too (their mascara is also my all time favorite). what a great deal!
4.20.10
tuesday
this is what my entry table is looking like right now--simple and summer-y!

thanks for taking a peek at my week!