one year...

One year ago today...my life went from this...

to this...


Having Kinley has been the biggest blessing in my life. To think about the magnitude of what this past year has meant to me and Ben is overwhelming. She has been nothing but an absolute blessing to us. She is so sweet, incredibly funny, always entertaining, and more than I could have ever have asked for. At the beginning....every breath she took just made me breathe easier. We have had a few scary moments...just to remind us how precious her life is. Her milestones have been thrilling and it is like I could never be prouder of another person. We are so thankful to have such a happy, healthy baby. We don't deserve it....and we know how blessed we are. I am so excited to celebrate Kinley's birthday...definitely more than I ever have been about any of my birthdays. Just remembering the past year and that amazing day takes me back. It is so vivid. I hope I never forget a moment.

Now I know why ever year on my birthday my mom always recounted that 10...16...18...or 27 years ago she could remember every detail of the day I was born and would recite it all over again. It is not to remind me...but, to remind her.

Countless memories....moments you wish would never end....365 days...12 months....I wish I could stop time...but, since I can't...here is a picture from every month of Kinley's last 12.

Kinley's one month pictures...she basically slept through the entire shoot.

Two months...we spent a lot of time hanging out with all the grandparents

Three months....we took her to Cancun

Four months...look at those teeth

Five months...we got some great pics at Aubrey's birthday party

Half-Birthday

Seven months our little bumble bee had her first Halloween

Eight months

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months

Month Twelve....I just can't believe it.

Happy Birthday baby. I hope next year holds just as many wonderful memories. We love you!

birthday party planning...

This week has been pretty busy. We have had lots of play dates with friends, helped Ben study for a few tests he had, and started gathering stuff to begin decorating for Kinley's 1st birthday party! I can't believe it is so soon!

The theme for Kinley's party is the ABC's...or 'K is for Kinley' if you will. I have been gathering all kinds of Alphabet stuff lately. Here is just a little preview of what we have planned.



Kinley's invites were designed by my friend Kendahl. She is fantastic at graphic design. I love the number 1 with the alphabet in it. It will be in multiple places at the party. Kendahl has a website for her company Beautifully Esoteric Desgins, but it is currently down right now. If you want to get in touch with her....let me know and I will get you her info!

I have spent quite a bit of time cutting out cardboard letters and am in the process of priming them...then I am going to paint them. My color scheme is going to be multiple tones of purple and hot pink (to go with the invites) and I may throw in a splash of lime green as an accent.

My friend Jen has let me borrow her cricut for a while and I have been cutting out lots of letters...not exactly sure what I will do with them all yet...but, at least I will have options!

Also, anyone who is reading this and will be coming to the party.....if you want to participate in the theme....feel free to wear a shirt with your initial on it!

ella's 'tiny two' birthday presents

Today is Ella's 'Tiny Two' birthday party. Kinley and I are so excited to be able to celebrate in Lubbock! The "tiny" idea is fantastic and Allison embraces a theme and has a vision for it like no one I know! So, for Ella's presents, I wanted to embrace the theme too! I also wanted to keep up the trend of making all of Ella's presents like I did for Avery's Felt Dolls.
I hope she likes it all!



These blocks were super easy! I used this website for the instructions on how to place the fabrics and what order to sew them together. Ella's blocks are 5 inch squares because she only has 4 letters...but, Kinley's are 4 inch blocks and they work for more letters.

I immediately loved these watches for the boys on MADE and I had to make a girl one for Ella!

This Hobo sack is a MADE design that I have been wanting to do and I love how it turned out!

Happy Birthday Ella! We love you so much and hope your day is as fun as you are!

st. patricks

Hope you had a great St. Patty's Day. We didn't do much...but, we did have a glass of green beer on the back porch! We have been doing some backyard makeovers...more on that later. But, I had actually never had green beer...so, this was a first for us. Green beer and Ben's favorite sandwiches...hope yours was relaxing too!

birthday outfit?

We have been shopping lately and think we may have found the perfect birthday tutu! Kinley's party theme is the ABC's or 'K is for Kinley' and we are SO excited about it. Much more on birthday planning to come...but, we found this fantastic tutu and flower at Kid to Kid. I am pretty sure I will go back and get me the same flower. We should totally match! She will also wear a shirt with a 'K' on it to go with the theme. What do you think!?....either way...Kinley totally LOVES it. She kept picking up the tutu for me to put on her. She was walking everywhere and fluffing it around. So cute!

Kinley's Dedication

This past Sunday Kinley was dedicated at our church. It was such a fun day for us. As I was straping her in her carseat in her pretty white dress I just cried. I can't believe she is almost one. I am so proud of her and thrilled to have a special day to celebrate dedicating her to the Lord. It is our prayer as parents that she will fall in love with and follow hard after Jesus. We pray that she will make the choice to follow Him in her life and be baptised as evidence of her belief in and acceptance of Him as her Savior. But, until then, as a child and as her parents, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to be prayed over.

Our friend Matt Fogle is the High School Pastor at our church and prayed over us in front of the congregation. All Kinley's grandparents and Uncle Alex stood with us. (Uncle Bart and Aunt Olivia are out of the country and Uncle Matt was out of the state!) It was wonderful to have generations of faith-followers standing with us.

After church we headed over to the Harrison's for a celebratory brunch. I am overwhelmed at the love and support that was shown for Kinley on her dedication day. On Wednesday I sent out a very quick email to our familu just letting everyone know she was going to be dedicated but that they did not need to go out of their way to come. Very kindly, Cheryl (Gram) offered to host a brunch...but, I don't think she really knew what she was getting into! Just 4 days later..we had a crew of about 30 in church and at brunch all there to support us and Kinley on her special day. I am so thankful...and we always feel the more the merrier.

Here are some pictures from the day! And for a few people that might want to see but, couldn't make it there is a video at the end of Matt's prayer over us. Kinley was a little squirmy at church...but, overall did great! She was an angel all day and I just couldn't have asked for anything more special.
Kinley and I waiting upstairs and watching the screens for our queue to come down at the end of service. While we waited Kinley decided to chew on a few things from the diaper bag.



Matt did the dedication.

Hanging out in church...look how much she loves her Boss. She does not hug ANYONE else like that.

At the Harrison's the little girls played...

I love Kinley trying to put her arm around Aubrey...and look at Eden's fantastic picture smile!

We also took lots of family pics......

Pepa and Kinley and Momma Gay

Four Generations...all the 'Gays'...
Lindsay Gay, Kinley Gay, Norma 'Momma Gay,' and Carol Gay


Kinley's grandparents...look at that cheeseball face she is learning to make with Gram and Pops

Some Harrison pics

And at the end of the day...here is Kinley..pooped and naked due to an incident with a dog's water bowl.

It was a wonderful day! We are so thankful to everyone!

family time...

Saturday night Kinley got to spend some time with Aubrey and Inie. Inie had come in town to see her great-grandbabies and for Kinley's dedication (more on that in a post to come). So, we went over to David and KK's on Saturday to spend some good old quality time. It was so fun for the girls to play. Inie just loved watching them. She just kept giggling and giggling and it was so cute to see her tickled.

The girls played with toys...and practiced sharing.



Look at this progression of chair swapping....

They climbed all over Inie and took some pics with her too.

It was a blast!

a break from the virus

Things have been a little rough at our house the past few days. We have made no progress on birthday planning or gifts or anything else fun or creative due to a stubborn virus that has taken residence. Kinley has been running a very high fever and taking alternate doses of Motrin and Tylenol to try to get her fever down. Poor baby!

So, today we decided that we needed a break from being sick and decided to go outside and play on the back patio for a little bit. The weather was crazy here today...thunderstorms and cold this morning and then you could basically lay out in the warm sun this afternoon! Kinley had a great time with a dog bowl full of fresh rainwater...it was great to see her smiling and getting some sun!

Then she got so soaked...she had to lose the shirt!

Then she decided to carry her shirt up the steps...

down the steps...

She's thinking about it....

Yep...there it goes...right in the dog bowl...

lots of concentration...

Hope you guys had a great day outside today!