Mimi & Pops come and we head to Asheville

Mimi and Pops came in town on Thursday to watch Ansley while Rob and I went to Asheville for a much needed getaway! It has been almost 2 years since Rob and I have gone away without Ansley. We had a wonderful time in Asheville and had the most beautiful weather. We toured the Biltmore on Friday, tasted wine at the winery, and went to a great Mediterranean restaurant that night. And Saturday we decided to just take it easy. We started the morning off with massages at Sensibilities, it was AWESOME and such a nice way to start your day! If you are ever in Asheville and do not want to spent money for a massage at the Grove Park Inn (you pay big bucks because it is the Grove Park) then I recommend going to Sensibilities Day Spa in downtown Asheville. After our hour massages we went back to the condo (thanks Jenna & Richard for letting us use the place) to shower and head out to lunch. We ate at Corner Kitchen in the Biltmore Village and then did some shopping :) We then headed to the Grove Park Inn to just sit outside and relax in rocking chairs while having some corona's (I wanted Rob to see the Grove Park since he has never been there before). After getting some sun and having drinks we headed to downtown Asheville to just walk around. We ended the night with dinner at the Lobster Trap, YUM!

We couldn't have asked for a better weekend and we want to thank Mimi and Pops for watching Ansley for us.

While we were in Asheville Mimi, Pops and Ansley were very busy. They played outside a ton, went to McDonald's for lunch, went on wagon rides and made several trips down to the lake to throw rocks in the water. Ansley didn't seem to mind at all that we were gone. We know she got spoiled by Mimi & Pop's and loved every minute of it! Thanks again :)

Here are some pictures from our trip to Asheville as well as pictures of Ansley having a great time with her grandparents!

The Biltmore

"The Festival of Flowers"

I loved these roots growing up the trellis

one of the hallways in the winery

the view from the Grove Park Inn

Ansley collecting her rocks...

Little Miss Diva!

enjoying lunch at McDonalds

Easter in Athens

We headed to Athens on Friday to spend Easter with Mimi & Pop's. We had a great weekend and even got to see my parents as well. Saturday morning we went to the Athens Country Club for the annual easter egg hunt. We went last year and it was so much fun so we figured Ansley would love it even more this year. Well, Ansley started getting a runny nose and couldn't stop sneezing as soon as we got into the state of Georgia. We thought it was her allergies, but she went down hill pretty fast on Saturday and ended up fighting a 102+ fever all weekend. She was still a trooper and enjoyed every minute searching for her easter eggs and seeing what the Easter bunny left her.

Rob and Pops went to the G-day game Saturday afternoon while Mimi and I just relaxed and Ansley napped! My parents came up for the game as well, so Ansley was very excited to see Nana and Pop Pop when she woke up for her nap.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I forgot my camera (couldn't believe I did that) so here are some pics from Mimi's camera.

At the Athens Country Club for the Easter Egg Hunt

Mimi, Pops & Ansley

scoping out where the eggs were

Ansley & Daddy hitting some golf balls in the front yard

working off some of the candy I ate :)

The Easter bunny was very generous!

I love my new blocks!

Easter 2009

The Mautz Family Easter 2009 - Uncle Boo is missing :(

Aunt Kelly, Maddie, Hailey & Nana...

came to visit. My sister, Madison and Hailey drove the 10+ hour drive to visit us. We had a great time despite the awful rainy weather. They were able to stay for a week so we got a lot of time to get stuff done and to have some playgroups with my friends here. Last weekend, Kelly left the girls with me and Nana while she went to visit her best friend Casey and Ty. It was definitely interesting having 3 kids under the age of 3 in my house. Ansley and Maddie got along great, but of course had their moments when they both wanted the same toy :)

Thanks Kel for coming to visit, I know the drive home was miserable in the rain, but we appreciate it! And Nana THANK YOU so much for coming up while Kel was in Richmond. It has been too long since you have been here and we had a great time!

Here are some of my favorite pics from the visit....

pretending to be a sleep

playing with Rob

the cutie pies :)

I love this picture of Maddie jumping!

easter egg hunt in the backyard

Fin and Caroline came over for a playdate and to hunt for some eggs :)

the zoo

We decided to enjoy the beautiful weather we had last Sunday by taking Ansley to the Columbia Zoo. It was only an hour-and-a-half away which was the perfect distance for a day trip. We knew Ansley would either hate it or love it, well she LOVED it! She walked around everywhere and never wanted to get in the stroller. They had a ton of animals: Apes, sea lions, elephants, snakes (which I hated), giraffes, zebras, ostrich, flamingos, tigers, baboons, monkeys, llamas, bears, a very mean looking alligator, large turtles, etc. (I am sure I am missing a few animals).... Ansley's favorite animals were the monkeys and the sea lion. I could have watched the monkeys all day, just swinging from one tree branch to the other.

We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back again! Here are some pictures from our day at the zoo.

4 inches

Last night the snow started to fall around 7pm, and it was coming down so hard and fast! It was beautiful, I couldn't believe we already had 2 inches of snow by 9pm. They were forecasting us to get anywhere from 5-8 inches of snow....This morning we woke up to 4 inches of snow, YEAH!!! It was so pretty, especially before people started to drive on it and mess it all up :)

Ansley did so much better this time with the snow. We pulled her in her wagon around the neighborhood and then got her out so she could walk in it, she LOVED it! I put Ansley in her rainboots this time so I think she like stomping in the snow...she kept saying "SNOW"...."ICE" over and over. So this snow experience was much better then the last one. I still can't believe this is our 3rd snow fall since January! Hopefully it will be our last, I am really ready for warm weather.