P H O T O S H O O T

a few weekends ago we were lucky enough to have our friend tayler take our family pictures.
& i am absolutely in love with every single one. it was ridiculously hard for me to narrow down which ones i wanted to share, & even after narrowing them down, i'm still posting a ton. but i love them & think tayler is an amazing photographer. it was so fun hiking through all of the snow between the gigantic trees, i couldn't have asked for a better background.
make sure to check out taylers blog!

CAPITOL REEF

remember that one time i mentioned i was going on a road trip with my class? well, we went to capitol reef & boulder, utah. i had never heard of capitol reef before going & it was seriously so cool. we headed down friday afternoon, stopping along the way in fillmore, salina & stayed the night in a historic house (a girls family in our class owns it), that is along highway 89.
 we stopped by mom's cafe, in salina, for dinner & spent our evening at the house watching movies & talking about what we experienced on the first part of the trip. the next day we woke up & made our way to boulder where we had the most aaaamazing breakfast at hell's backbone grill. this restaurant makes their food from their sustainable garden that is down the road & they get their meet from ranches nearby. if you're ever in the area, you should definitely go. & visit the farm, it's so cool. 
after the greatest breakfast, we headed into capitol reef where we explored the park & visited UVU's field station. the entire trip was really cool & made me want to go & spend more time there. one day in capitol reef is definitely not enough time.

COLORADO

friday morning we had the  chance to go to colorado for our nieces baptism.
the weekend was filled by playing with our nieces & nephews, 
watching them show off the flips they've learned at gymnastics (it's really impressive), trying to get a picture for  part of grandma's christmas card.
(isn't this the kind of picture parents love & the kids 10 years later ask why you made them do it? i'm happy to be that parent)
& talking with my brother & sister-in-law, who we haven't seen since they
came out for cedar's blessing, back in july.
i really wish we got to see more of them.
cedar was in heaven with the three of them ooh-ing & aah-ing over him,
he had so much fun with his cousins playing with him constantly.
hope you all had a happy weekend!

I AM THE ULTIMATE PROCRASTINATOR

i saw this on pinterest & decided it really, really applies to me.
i'm the ultimate procrastinator. 
doesn't matter how large or small a task is, i'll procrastinate. it's not like i do this on purpose, but not matter what, it happens. i can have the strongest intent to get started,to get ahead, & it just doesn't happen. i'm pretty sure this is a common thing, but if it's not, i'm going to pretend it is.
anyways.
my procrastination has definitely caught up with me. in the form of my senior thesis. you'd think something this big, i would be on top of it. but of course, i wasn't. for my thesis i'm taking a more creative route & making a children's book on surrealism (more on that later) because i did not want to write a 100+ page paper. but i still have to write a research paper for my project. i started all my research. grabbed sources & quotes, but never actually wrote my 20+ page paper. until about two weeks ago, & it's due on sunday. not to mention the actual formatting of my book. this part is fun for me, i love it.  but man oh man, does it take time.
& as fate would have it, the week i desperately need the internet for my paper (i wrote everything on google docs) & for finding images for my book, the internet stops working. we came back from a weekend spent in salt lake, & the internet just would not work. i've spent about two hours total on the phone trying to figure out the problem. we got a new box. nothing works. so luckily someone is coming out today to see if they can work their magic & get me the internet. 
so here is to wishing myself good luck on finishing my book (the paper is finally finished, thank goodness) & hoping that my teacher & project advisors like it just as much as i do!
& to me hopefully learning my lesson on procrastination... 

WINTER WONDERLAND

over the weekend we ventured up the big cottonwoof canyon to take some family pictures.
it was completely gorgeous. it was serioulsy a winter wonderland. i don't think any of us thought it would be as snowy, but it worked to our benefit. i had been so nervous the weather as going to be horrible because it was raining all weekend, but luckily sunday was so sunny & beautiful.
 our friend tayler was kind enough to take them for us & from this one she sent me yesterday, i think it's safe to say i'm going to love each & every one. i can't wait to see & share the rest!

LET YOUR HAIR DOWN

in 2007 i chopped off my hair. i cut it the shortest i have ever had it. right above my shoulders with an ever so slight a line. i absolutely hated it. the first day was amazing, it looked great, it was light weight & i was under the impression that i wouldn't have to do anything to it & it would always look great. then i washed it for the first time & soon realized it was going to be a lot of work. i had to straighten or curl it every day. my go-to air dry look no longer looked good but horrible. i didn't get it. how could having such short hair be so difficult? i never understood it, but it continued to be difficult. 
after that hair cut, i quickly decided to grow my hair back out as long as i could & as fast as i could.
luckily for me, my hair grows like a weed &was soon at a more manageable length. after my experience of short hair i promised myself i would never do it again.

fast forward to 2013 & i have the strongest desire to chop it all, once again. not as short as i did before. but probably a good 6 inches would be gone. anyone that knew me in 2007 tells me not to do it, that i'll regret it & hate it just as i did before. but i continue to want this change. i figure, how bad could it be? it will just grow back, right? plus, i've got this adorable little baby who likes to yank on my tresses like there is no tomorrow & is constantly getting them wrapped around his tiny fingers (i understand the "mom" cut now). & you know how you hear of hair falling out after you have a baby? well it's true. granted i don't have bald spots anywhere, thank goodness, but i have a lot more hair coming out than i ever did before. & i am always finding long blonde hairs all over the place. no matter how much i vacuum or sweep, they are there. always. & maybe shorter blond hairs won't be so bad to find around the house? 

it's been a struggle for me to commit to letting my hair be, or  cutting it. why it's such a big deal to me, i'm not sure. but i like to think most girls are as protective of their hair as i am. i can't decide what to do. the husband says not to, but i keep thinking it needs to happen. so i'll have to wait & see if i reach a breaking point. i think Chanel said it best: "a women who cuts her hair is about to change her life." 

HURRAY!


this video is what happens when you husband tells you to dance
& you don't know how to.
check out my outfit post of what i wore in this video
on my fashion blog:
happy weekending!

DEAR DIARY

i don't consider myself a journal-er. but i keep books. my books are where i put anything i don't want to lose or forget. concert tickets, plane/train tickets, quotes, pictures, things from magazines, cards from loved ones that touched me or inspire me, quotes & my thoughts on whatever is weighing down on me. sometimes i don't write or put anything down for a couple months, but i try to as much as possible. i love my books. they're a part of me.

i've made books since i was a sophomore in high school. my cousin, whitney, moved in with my mom & i my sophomore year, & she taught me about keeping books. we would spend hours looking through magazines, taking pictures, writing quotes & talking or watching movies, crafting our books away. i love to do it. it's one of my favorite hobbies. i feel refreshed after adding to one of my books & i love looking back at them to see what i was feeling & what it was that caught my eye when i was filling one. here's a look at my most recent book.