A Little Glitz and Glam

It's the girl in me. 

Either that or the fact that life has changed to where the opportunity to dress-up, have my hair done and do a little extra make-up doesn't really happen these days. So when Matt has a formal at school to attend, I jump at the chance. It's a free date for us and a night for the girls to be with their grandparent(s). 

But when it comes down to it...I can't do my hair in an up-do to save my life. Enter my amazing sis-in-law Monika! She was so kind to let me come over, hold/kiss/cuddle with Hayden and use up her afternoon to curl and pin my hair. And do my eye make-up! And feed me a cupcake on the way out the door (that was just an extra tidbit of info for ya!). What a blessing to have talent right in your family.

It's important to have a nice dress for these occasions as well. And since I've been pregnant or feeding a baby for 2 years, I didn't have much to choose from. So...I asked my dear friend Kelly if she could peruse through her closet and find me something. She did indeed and I brought 4 dresses home with me to try on. The one I chose...I really don't want to give back {although I will}. It fit so nicely and when I was all finished getting ready Matt said to me, "That's one of the nicest dresses you've worn in awhile!" So thank you so much Kelly! 

And finally, we definitely couldn't have gone anywhere if it weren't for Papa Mehringer watching our girlies on the home front. Marmee and Papa both were planning to be with the girls but our nephew Noah decided to be born 2 1/2 weeks early. Marmee went to spend a week with the newest family out in Missouri and Papa was the best sport in still wanting to come on his own. Thank you, Papa, for taking such good care of our daughters. They played hard and had the best time with you that they slept in a whole hour more than they usually do! Yay for the chance to sleep in a little! :)

Just before we left...

I chose Prime Rib for my entree...Matt chose the Sea Bass. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of his before he took a bite. :) 

Loved having a night out with just the two of us

 {and all of Trinity's families}

We must be getting old. What sounded good at the end of the night was getting Starbucks, putting our feet up and watching an episode of Hawaii 5-0! Real exciting way to end our night out...but it suited us just fine.

Please Welcome your Guest Blogger...

Hey everyone out in the blog world,


Yes, this is Matt Mehringer (aka "Bubba" by Ash or "Daddy" from Reese-roo). Don't worry or fret because I am not hijacking my wife's blog. This is good news because: 1) she is a wonderful blogger and I love reading her posts, 2) my blog would not be as descriptive, fun or colorful as hers and 3) I won't have to sleep out in the doghouse even though we currently don't own a dog, cat, hamster or fish.


Why I am writing on her blog? Ah yes, an excellent question deserving of a honest answer. First, I have received her permission to do so. Second (here's your answer that you all are waiting for....drum roll please), Ash was away most of Saturday and that meant I was flying solo (but not like Hans, he had some help in that sci-fi tale). Ash has been reading a great book called God's Priorities for Today's Woman: Discovering His Plan for You by Lisa Hughes (ladies you should buy this book and then read it). About a month ago, we discovered she would be the speaker at our church's women's conference, and I told her she had to go. 
She liked this idea, though she doesn't like being away from her girls. I then informed her that I would take expert care of them. I'm not sure if she was fully confident in the expert part, but she felt relatively confident in my paternal abilities (Sports analogy side note: My youngest Allie knows I am only the Carolina Panther's backup quarterback, mommy is Cam Newton). That just means Allie would miss mom as she is the starter, but we would ultimately survive game day. 

Sticking with the sports theme, here are the top 10 highlights (and observations) from Saturday's day with my little treasures: 

10. I love reading books with Reese. We read her two favorites on Saturday which were The Little Engine That Could and Llama Llama Red Pajama. There are both excellent stories and Reese really loves the pictures. The latter of these toddler tales will leave you tongue tied!


9. We definitely spent some great time wrestling together (it was kind of a cloudy and cool day, so we were inside for most of it). I have to be kind of careful here, because Allie is only crawling and Reese thinks she can be King Kong as she climbs all over me. That means I have to keep an eye out on little Allie as she tries to involve herself in the action. She fends for herself well, but sometimes is a little timid due to Reese's crazy jumps on daddy. 

8. Dora the Explorer is a pretty cool show. We try to let Reese watch one episode a day (25 minutes or so). We might have watched two episodes...maybe three, but I really think it was only two. Good news: Dora and Boots find Pablo's long lost flute or flauta in Spanish. A great part of this show is there are a couple of seasons on Apple TV, so no need to pay cable!

7. Who doesn't love PB&J? Reese and I do. Ash always says I put on too much peanut butter and jelly, but that's what makes them the best! With a cold glass of whole milk...ahhh, what a lunch. On the younger side, Miss Allie did a great job eating her pureed vegetables and some type of delicious Gerber meat with gravy. 


6. We were able to play together with some of the blocks and toys, though we are working with Reese to share more with Allie. Allie is generally pretty patient with Reese, which is a blessing. "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity" (Psalm 133:1, ESV). I bet King David means general humanity here, because sisters should be included too. 


5. I took a little break to see about the results from the Auburn spring football game. Reese saw the website and said "Auburn!" She is growing up to be such a wise lady. War Eagle! 

4. We took a great walk and I thought we were going to the park, but the rain from the following night prevented that from happening. Reese was a little sad, but that's how life goes. We still had a fun time in the stroller as we walked around the block. I made sure to dress them warmly as it was a bit chilly and windy (thank you Lord for not allowing them to be sick). 

3. I love my little Allie so much. She kind of slouches in the stroller and looks like an old man who needs a rest. I try to prop her up, but a minute or two later she is back in the same position. Allie is content to look at the world and is her daddy's sweetheart. 

2. Being a mommy is no easy job. Hilary Rosen (from recent political controversy) needs to spend some time around young children as her comments are utterly ridiculous.


1. Thank you faithful Lord for Ashley and all the time, energy and devotion she puts into raising our children. "The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down" (Proverbs 14:1, ESV). Thank you Lord for her wisdom (in my opinion folly is a foreign word to Ash) and for her amazing example to my little girls.  


Well, my spring break is just about over, but this Saturday is just one picture of all the joy and wonder I shared with them. Thanks for letting me guest blog on this LONG post. Hope you enjoyed it. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. 

Valentine's Day: Past and Present

Before we wrap up the month of love, I wanted to post about one of our favorite "holidays." It's extra special to Matt and I because it happened to be our very first date 6 years ago. We'd been hanging out, going to Bible study and church together and we'd even met each other's families but Valentine's a whole 6 months later was when Matt decided to take me on our first "official" night out.

That night was literally one I'll never forget. He went to great lengths to see that this evening would be special in every way. A completely new outfit for him...right down to his shoes, renting a car!!! (nothing fancy but something nicer than his 'ol Toyota Corolla, a silver Lancer), making a cd of some special songs for our hour long drive and researching the places we'd eat...Cavi Cucina (a great little hole in the wall Italian place) and Cafe Fiore out in Ventura. Even the rain that started to pour couldn't dampen our spirits. 

Since then it's just kind of understood between the two of us that we do a little more than just a card or chocolates. That doesn't mean it's necessarily lavish (especially these last 2 years with having kids) but we try to go the extra mile.

First Valentine's Day Married (2007):

We were only married less than 2 months when this special day arrived. Being that we had little to no extra money AND our church's Resolved conference was held in February back then, we used our money to help pay for a weekend away. Here's the one picture I have from it...our precious friends, the Berggrens were there with us too!

Valentine's Day 2008:

Matt led me {blindfolded} to the car. What I didn't know was that Tad and Monika were in the backseat of our car not making a sound...hence the blindfold. We were on our way to Black Angus and a double date was my surprise. Matt also had surprised me with beautiful, pink pearl earrings before we left for dinner.

Valentine's Day 2009:

Another extra special Valentine's day!! This evening wasn't a surprise...experiencing Maggiano's Italian Restaurant for the first time BUT the way we got there was. Matt knows I've always had a fascination with Mini Coopers. I think they're the cutest little car and though so unpractical for our stage in life, it would be a dream to own. So...he rented a convertible Mini Cooper and we had a blast driving it to downtown LA. 

Our dearest friends and siblings were the best company that night and the food was so so amazing! I could have licked my plate. I don't really remember what we ate but here's some pictures.

Maggiano's happens to be right next to The Grove (a really fancy shmancy outdoor shopping place) and he let me stop in at Anthropology and pick up these beautiful earrings. I still love wearing them today!

I also decided to surprise him by baking this gigantic cookie, decorating it and delivering it to him at school! He loved it and so did his students.

The dream car!

Valentine's Day 2010 (last one without kids and VERY pregnant with Reese):

I wish we'd gotten a picture of all the couples because this was the Valentine's where Courtney and Jeremiah, Tad and Monika and Matt and I all experienced Ruth's Chris together. Oh.My.Goodness! Every single bite was a party in my mouth. Probably some of the best food I've had in my life. It was definitely sad to experience such amazingness with an almost 9 month pregnant tummy. I hardly had room to eat all that good stuff. Courtney kept talking about how awfully full she was and how much her stomach hurt (in a good kind of way). I did my best to not laugh and roll my eyes. Try doing that looking like this!!!

First Valentine's Day with a baby (2011):

We didn't make it to dinner and instead ordered Domino's. But that's what you do when you have an 11 month old and are 4 months pregnant with #2. The big surprise was Matt walking through the door with these little gems. Love Teavana! We didn't even manage to take a picture of the 3 of us so this will have to do.

Valentine's Day 2012:

Matt surprised me this year with an incredible gift that also will be counted as my birthday present (not till May). We've looked at different cameras online together and having a growing family and a blog to keep updated I've wanted something better than my little point-and-shoot. So a week before V-day...because he said I'd need it for the actual day...the girls and I hopped on the couch with this pretty little blue box. I wondered if a camera was what it was only because I haven't seen Matt get that excited about a gift in a long time. Needless to say, this year I have a few more pictures than before.

Sweet tulips from my Valentine!

Our quiet dinner at home with the four of us. The menu: Chili Mountains, ocra and Sangrias. Nothing fancy or over the top amazing but it suited us just fine.

What a blessed girl I am to think back to these 7 Valentine's we've shared and see year after year how God has woven our hearts together. I can honestly say that I love Matt Mehringer more than I ever dreamed I would on that rainy night back in February 2006. 

Excited to see what the next 7 hold for us, my beloved! Thank you for loving me faithfully and sacrificially! All my love is yours.

What a guy...

Matt asked me to write a post about our new pillows. To put it mildly they were way overdue to be replaced. Like last year overdue. So we made a special trip to our favorite everything store, Bed Bath and Beyond and with their 20% coupon in hand bought new pillows.

Matt's reason for wanting me to post is the type of pillow we chose. He said its the absolute best because of the two names on it...His mother-in-law's and his wife's. He even wanted me to take this picture to prove his point. Matt continues to make me laugh and enjoy even the simple things like getting pillows on a Sunday afternoon. Love Him.

Celebrating Reese and Matt

On Reese's actual birthday, mommy and daddy helped her open gifts from Aunt Diana, Nana and Poppy in Alaska and Great Grandmom Ryan. What we didn't know was that her "minor" cold was quickly turning into pneumonia that day which is the reason you see a shiny, runny nose in these pictures. Poor baby! It's been a solid two weeks of sickness between Reese and I that we are praying will end here shortly when her antibiotics are finished this Thursday. She's slowly becoming more of herself and her appetite seems to be returning. We're thankful for those answers to prayer!

First pair of big girl shoes!

Aunt Diana decorated my present with sweet messages all over.

My purple hat from Aunt Diana

The cutest shoes and a Fisher-Price clock from Nana and Poppy!

So big in my shoes...

Then to celebrate the March birthdays (of Matt and Reese) in the Mehringer family all 10 of us got together for some amazing Mexican food, presents, cupcakes and ice cream. We even went a little crazy with the birthday hats!

The big surprise this year involved Matt receiving an ipad for his birthday...we are very excited about this new toy in our home. Thank you to all our family who helped with this present. And a special thanks to Tad and Monika for their part in getting this for Matt!!