Twenty Three

Today I turned Twenty Three. 


I've forgotten how young I really am. I've always felt older than my actual age. After having Roweyn, I feel like I've aged even more, instead of feeling like I'm turning Twenty Three, I feel like I'm turning Twenty Eight. But I'm not Twenty Eight, I am only Twenty Three and I am still young and I still have many, many years in my life. (Not that Twenty Eight is old, because it's really not. ha) That's something I forget often, especially being a single Mom. I feel like I need my entire life put together now or it's not going to work out. I feel like the plans that I once had, that I once dreamt of, still need to happen the same way, otherwise I'm letting down Roweyn. Now I know that's really not the case, it's just hard to let go of something you wanted so badly because you didn't have it. I'm sure there are many people that can relate. Lucky enough for me, it is something that I can let go of, because it's not life or death and if it's meant to be it can still happen.

I'm excited for what this next year of my life brings. I'm hoping for some good change. I can't wait to spend every minute I can with Roweyn, just like the past almost two years, watching her grow, remembering everything I can. Life goes by so fast, and it's so easy to forget the little things and sometimes even the big things. It's very bittersweet. I've realized that my Mom must feel the exact same way as I do, especially today, seeing her little girl, now Twenty Three years old. I can't even imagine Roweyn 21 years from now, the same age as I am today. It will be here before I know it and that's just crazy to me!


So here's to not worrying so much about the future, to focusing on what's right in front of me and to remembering and cherishing every moment I can with my family.

Source: yesandyes.org via Ash on Pinterest

Source: lh5.googleusercontent.com via Ash on Pinterest

Roweyn's Ramblings Wk. 41

Here we are in the middle of November! Already? Can't believe how quickly the holidays are approaching! Too fast in my opinion.

Nov. 20th Rowe playing "Mommy" with her baby and stroller that is almost as big as her. Napping. Wearing her glasses so she can draw. More awesome bubbles in the tub!

Catching the bubbles! And after bath time a little piano time with Papa. Such a sweet moment of the two of them. Rowe really loves her Papa. 
Nov. 21st - Me ready for work to be over. Home from work and snuggling my sweet girl at bed time.

Nov. 22nd - Getting a little energy out before our 6+ hour drive to Eureka for Thanksgiving. Eating breakfast at Great Grandma Nona's house. Naptime! Coloring over at our Aunt's house.

Mean Muggin it! 
Nov. 24th - Wearing her clean diaper on her head Thanksgiving morning. Checking out the Flamingos and the Red Pandas at the Zoo on Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Red Pandas, Rowe and me! Riding a tractor and a horse. Spider Roweyn!

Checking out some more animals at the zoo on Thanksgiving.
Nov. 25th. Just a girl and her dog hangin out.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was crazy to say the least. Just very busy seeing all of our family and having Two Thanksgiving Dinners on the same night and right after Thanksgiving, I came down with another cold, so I was quite worn out afterwards.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! We are out of town visiting all our family for the holiday which I don't think we have done in about 6 years, so it was much needed! I'm excited for Roweyn to be able to experience our giant family during the holiday and really hope she has fun! I'm so thankful to have such a big, loving family and even though we're in the same state, about 6 hours away, we don't get to see them hardly enough, so I'm very thankful for the times we do get together!


Last year we went over to our family friends house and had a wonderful time there. Here we are before heading over.

Love this photo of her just cracking up!

I hope you all are able to enjoy this time with family and friends!

Winner of the My Memories Suite Giveaway!

Here are the results! Thanks to all that entered! I had fun hosting my very first giveaway and hope to host more soon!

The 2nd comment was from lainey!

Congratulations! You just won a Free My Memories Suite Software!

lainey said...

I love the idea of scrap booking being made so simple! With a little one running around there's no time for paper and scissors.

I love the K Studio Templates. Absolutely Stunning.

November 14, 2011 12:14 PM 

Lainey please let me know what your email address is so that I can email you the info! If I don't hear from you by Saturday, I will draw a new winner.

Roweyn's Ramblings Wk. 40

Here we are in almost the middle of November, still having awesome weather!

Nov. 9th - Being cute! For some reason I thought this outfit looked really cute on her. She got that dress last year for Christmas and it was below her knees, now it's pretty much a shirt! Feeling the wind. 
Nov. 13th - Having so much fun on the trampoline. Eating oatmeal while Mama enjoys a cup of tea.

Nov. 13th - Sweeping and looking cute in her vest. Wearing a shower cap. Loving the bubbles in the bath! And sick with a cold on the 14th.

Mama baby snuggles.  Nov. 15th - Playing in the sandbox. Making silly faces. Finally getting my hair done!

Nov. 16th Modeling her outfit. Sitting on her musical stool, playing with her musical bench. Nov. 18th #flashbackfriday Roweyn around 3 months and 4months.

Nov. 18th Modeling her new peacoat. Some cute clips I made. Mama and Roweyn move night. And my favorite snuggles.

Our Family Photos The Finale Giveaway

What better way to end our series of Our Family Photos than with a Giveaway?! I got the opportunity to review the digital scrap booking program My Memories Suite v. 2, so I can show all of you how great of a program it is! But not only that, I get to give the software (a $40 value) to one of you lucky readers! Just in time for the holidays, in case you're like me and want to give some of your family members something personal like a Memory book, Calendar, Scrap book and more.

I had so much fun playing around with the program and testing everything it was capable of doing. I tried out the pre-made albums, where all I had to do was add pictures and a few extra touches if I wanted to (all of these scrap book pages were made using a pre-made album then I added a few things!). I also made an album from scratch. I picked out the background paper, added photos, frames, embellishments and texts with no problem at all and it was so fast! It's a very easy to use program, all the buttons explain what they do and it has a help section if needed (which so far I haven't).

So let me tell you a little more about My Memories Suite: 

It is an award winning digital scrapbook software that is extremely easy and fun to use.

My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews.

Using this software, anyone can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars and gifts without having to buy expensive and complicated software programs.

There are tons of ways to share your scrapbook with family and friends too! Print and share as a traditional scrapbook, use the one-click share option to turn your album into a professionally printed and hardbound book, turn your scrapbook into a movie to play on a DVD or even an iPod, you can even make it interactive by adding videos to it and sending it through a web link! The possibilities for sharing are endless!

And that is not even half of the features! Be sure to check out www.mymemories.com for even more info about the software!

I love to make scrap books by hand but they are SO time consuming and I'm a total perfectionist/borderline OCD when it comes to measuring and cutting the paper and making sure everything is even. So having a digital scrap booking program that does ALL of that for me is pretty much the most awesome thing ever because it takes me less than half the amount of time! Plus I feel like I can be more creative this way because of the endless amount of options I have. Not only does My Memories come with tons and tons of options already in the program, you can find more FREE stuff on their website or you can even buy stuff too! There are many different designers who make paper packs, templates, embellishments and more, so there is sure to be something (or lots of somethings) you will like!

And now for the funnest part of all!! Your chance to win your very own My Memories Suite v. 2 Digital Scrapbooking Software!!

To enter, all you have to do is go to www.mymemories.com check out the site then come back here and leave a comment with your email telling me what your favorite feature is. It can be anything from your favorite paper pack to your favorite sharing option. (mandatory entry)

You can get an additional entry by tweeting about this giveaway and leaving a comment with the link to your tweet and your email address. You can say something like: "I just entered to win a digital scrapbooking program from @MyMemoriesSuite on @AshandRowe 's blog, check it out! http://goo.gl/OBUkE"

This Giveaway will be open until Monday November 21st at midnight. Be sure to leave your email address in your comments and leave a separate comment for both entries! I will announce the winner on the same day as soon as I have a chance!

Oh and just one more thing!! As a special for all of my readers, I'm giving you your very own Share the Memories code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - ($20 value!) The code is: STMMMS52501

Be sure to check out My Memories on:

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593

Twitter- https://twitter.com/#!/MyMemoriesSuite

Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/

Our Family Photos Pt. 5

Well this is it! The last post of our family photos! Check out Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, and Pt. 4 if you haven't yet! Even though this is the last post of our photos, I do have one more post coming hopefully at the end of this week that you will NOT want to miss!! It will be The Finale post with an awesome GIVEAWAY having something to do with pictures! It also happens to be my very FIRST GIVEAWAY, so I'm pretty excited about it!

Be sure to check back at the end of this week for the GIVEAWAY!!!