Happy birthday Lucie!

Is it really possible that this little girl is now two years old?! I remember the day you were born , my how time files by so fast!

So thankful you came to join our family little Lucie. Your name means Light and what a sweet little light and joy you are to our family. You make me laugh, you cheer me up with a hug whenever I need it, you are my camera buddy and partner in silly picture shots. :)

 I know that God has great plans for you ,and you are such a blessing to everyone.

Continue to grow into a lovely little lady for Christ,  big sis will always love you! 

Happy birthday Lucie Eleanor Joy!

Happy Autumn!

To Autumn

John Keats, 1795 - 1821

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless 
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, 
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 
    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells 
  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees, 
Until they think warm days will never cease,
    For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? 
  Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, 
  Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, 
  Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
    Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep 
  Steady thy laden head across a brook; 
  Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
    Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? 
  Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, 
  And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn 
  Among the river sallows, borne aloft
    Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; 
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; 
  Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
  The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, 
    And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Starting off the first day of Autumn with a favorite Autumn poem  of mine by Keats! Hello Autumn,  I'm so glad you're here at last!!!!!

Sweet Memories

I I stayed at home today from church with baby Lucie who isn't feeling well .

It's so peaceful in the house as she naps quietly in my arms. She is getting so big and busy now ,she doesn't like to sit still for too long unless she's sleepy or like today not feeling 100% great.

I'm sorry you don't feel well little girl but holding you in my arms like this will never grow old and will always bring me joy. :)

Fall in love with Fall inside, not out (yep I made that one up! ;) )

"Fall in in love with Fall inside not out"..... sounds like  another one of my Ashley-isms that make only sense to me, so let me explain.  Fall baking means so much to me. Spicy, warm,cozy and a million & one other yummy adjectives are used to describe fall baking.Its September and that means cooler fall like weather ,right? Nope, not so where I live. It's still here but hey that's ok, Fall weather will surely come knocking our doors soon!  

Well the solution to the not so very fall-ish weather outside here is to create fall inside with the warm and cozy baked goods you whip up during this season.  So today I did just that, first fall dish of the season and first rate cure to "wishing for Fall outside" blues,my mom's Pear Cake.  

Yummy is all I can say about this . It was so easy to whip up, and soon filled the air with sweet ,spicy  ginger ,and buttery smells that just says "Fall is here!"

Because I'm gluten free I could partake of  the yummy pear cake so, I made a pear crisp, which was a first for me (I usually make apple crisp), I just made this up without a recipe  and the topping finally came out crisp!  I love it when my Gluten Free experiments come out good! Will be making this again soon!

So this kicks off my fall baking days, more to come soon!

Here's to Falling in love with Fall inside not out (but I hope to Fall in love with it outside soon!)

May it be a yummy filled  season ! :)

Autumnal Bliss

So September has come at last, yippee! 

That means fall is coming ,my favorite season for soooooooo many wonderful reasons! One of those reasons has something to do with food. Yes you guessed it, it's fall baking that I just simply look forward to each autumn season.  Who doesn't love the warm ,sweet spicy scents and flavors of fall ? Fall baking is everything cozy and delightful, I can't wait to get started! 

Cheers to autumn,I welcome thee with open arms (and mouth! ;) )

Snapshots of Summer

Summer is ending,it went by so fast, I can't believe it!
Sharing some only a small fraction  (and very random) pictures of what took place these past three lovely months of summer !

Kicked off summer with our first 4th of July party with dears friends of ours! (I just love how festive dessert looked!)

August came and we as a family with another family put on our running shoes and ran for Myanmar!  These kiddoes did such a great job! 

My sister and I made a new friend this summer . This sweet and lovely lady from Ketucky came over to our home while visiting CA for a tea party and a great time of fellowship!  Deryn we just loved having you over and getting to know you, miss ya already! :)

Yummy food, pretty table decorations ,great fellowship. 

It got hot,  very hot,I believe the hottest was 115 this summer but I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of that so I snapped a picture of a breezy, balmy 111 degree day . Yes this is accurate.  :)

We took  a road trip down to Laguna Beach  for my cousins wedding.  Smile everyone, your big sis is taking another picture for the millionth time in the car (brother in the background thinking "seriously Ashley,another picture?!"):P

The groom  ,my new cousin,  he's so awesome! 

The bride ,my sweet cousin,my twin, she is so pretty and awesome too!

The lovely couple dances away

This is my favorite picture, my cousin with my sister. We laughed and cried so much, it was a great wedding!

Oh yes,there was also a lot of dancing ,and I had a great partner!

We need to be professionals in this dancing  business!  I love my little brother! 

I caught the bouquet. .  ... well ok so I caught half the bouquet! Olivia caught the other half (if you ask me I really caught it first! :P) but  hey better catch half than not at all ,right?

 Wonder if anything will happen  now,does this mean we might both get married at the sametime?! ;)

Lucie and I serious goof ball camera sessions this summer.

Got to meet this lovely gal in person after keeping in touch via instagram.  Lily is such a sweet godly woman, and her vintage style is superb and lovely! It was so nice getting to see you face to face, can't wait to do it again!

Then came the big,

the bad,

but beautiful garage sale!

It was so nice to par down, to clean out and kiss excess things good bye! 

 Such a wonderful feeling to have breathing room again !

This is a picture of the almond orchard I live near. This is a picture of the orchard that makes my allergies go crazy during the recent almond harvest. This is a picture of the the almond trees harvested. The almond trees are such a huge part of summertime, because you know once they start harvesting in mid august, you know summer is coming to a close and Autumn is coming (my favorite season! !).

This is me ,in my very goofy,summery ,Chinese garden hat, I love to wear outside . The neighbors finally stopped asking me if I was of Chinese descent while I  worked outside, I think they're used to my corky hats now! ;)  

And that's all folks!

My summer was a blessed one, I'm so thankful for each season God brings , there is something lovely and wonderful about each one !

So goodbye dear summer, hello lovely soon to be officially Autumn (my favorite season! )

Hope your summer was a blessed one, let's get ready to celebrate autumn! :)