campout




earlier this week we headed up to city of rocks to go camping again. austin was already up there helping his dad out with a boy scout camp, & the rest of us wanted another climbing trip so it worked out perfectly for curits, meera, cedar & i to go meet up with them for our own campout.
it was so much fun to go back up there & to take cedar for his first time at the city. we lucked out & found an awesome campsite with such a cool view & plenty of room. the first night we got there just in time to set up camp & make dinner before going over to the scout camp & eating all of the scones austin's dad was making for the scouts, which were completely delicious! the next morning we woke up bright & early due to mr. cedar so austin & i took advantage of the early morning to go drive up around a higher part of the city that i had no idea even existed. super open fields with some hills & after a turn on the mountain we came across a ton of pine trees that i never would have guessed were there. it was so cool, i loved exploring & finding what else the city has to offer.

cedar loooved camping. he was pumped to crawl/walk around in the dirt, look & play with the rocks, eat dirt when no one was looking & just be a dirty little kid. dirty camping kids are the best, in my mind that is the way it's supposed to be. if kids are too clean while camping, they're probably not having that much fun, right? seems like good logic to me, so i just let him go at it & he was so happy & adorable (i'm such a mom)!

after our drive we went back to get curtis & meera so that we could go steal breakfast from the scouts & austin's dad offered to take cedar back & watch him so that we could climb more. it was so nice of him to offer, he's seriously the best grandpa & father-in-law!

after they left the rest of the trip included going to the local hot springs, laying in the fields between climbs, searching for really cool rocks (i brought home a million) & climbing. i did my first ever multi-pitch climb & i felt pretty accomplished after doing it. far less scary than i thought it would be & one of the funnest climbs i have ever done.

this morning we had planned to do a few more climbs before heading home, but austin woke up being sick & puking, poor guy. i felt so bad for him, he looked miserable. so instead we packed up & headed home so that he could get better in a comfy bed rather than a tent.
but besides his sickness, it was such a fun couple of days. this summer has been so great with so much camping lately, i hope it keeps up!

the upcoming month


there has been a lot going on around here & only more to come. here is a few things that i'm focusing on for the upcoming month. can you believe it's almost july? cause i can't. moving to spain is getting closer & closer, whether i believe it or not. making me realize all of the things that i need to do & want to do before we go. there is too much that i want to do, but i'm trying to make it all happen between whatever it seems to be that occupies the majority of our time!

>>>roswell for the 4th of july
>>>weddings
>>>going to california
>>>working with flowers
>>>summer picnics
>>>swimming
>>>more morning bike rides
>>>making things
>>>renewing passports
>>>finalizing spain details

life according to instagram

i feel like i haven't been doing a lot lately.. but i really have. i just for some reason haven't been blogging, or taking pictures or anything. i've been continuing my internship with r.a.b. floral & it's been amazing. i swear, one day i'll actually take pictures of it. my mom & sister-in-law were in town for a wedding this past week so we've been busy with that, & a lot of our friends that were in town. it's been a party around here lately, leaving me with no time to blog.
so for now, here's my life according to instagram :)
1. last tuesday there was a freak storm that hit utah & it left the mountains covered in snow. it was pouring rain all day & while we were out running errands austin & i decided to drive up big cottonwood to see how low the snow fell & it was pretty low. we didn't even hit any of the ski resorts, or make it half way up before we were in a winter wonderland. so naturally, i wanted to document it. this photo was taken june 17, 2014 at 9:03 p.m. it blows my mind how much snow was there & how light it still was!
2. one of my absolute favorite people in the entire world got married last thursday & i got to join in on the festivities as one of her bridesmaids. i've known abigayle her entire life & she is very much like a little sister to me. i love her to death & am so, so happy for her & her hub. the day was absolutely beautiful & so much fun. & i got to work on her wedding flowers with her mom which was really fun. unfortunatley, i didn't take any pictures of the flowers, but once i get some from other people i'll definitely share them!
3. when we were in california a few weeks back my sister-in-law said that i could take her road bike back with me to utah cause i've been wanting to get into cycling. we also go a bike trailer for cedars birthday & today we put it all to use. we kept it mellow cause i'm a beginner & austin had never pulled a trailer before, but it was so much fun! we just gotta find the bike paths near our house so that we can go a lot more.
4. a picture from our anniversary weekend with curtis & meera, in city of rocks. & we're going back, tomorrow for some more camping & climbing! 

to my baby papa


i know that father's day was a few days ago, but i didn't forget. this one goes out to my hub.
i've got to say, i think i won the lottery with this guy. cedar & our future children are the luckiest kids in the world to have him as their dad.
he is the kindest, most gentle, patient & fun dad. he will do anything to make cedar smile & laugh. he makes sure everything is perfect for him, that he gets everything he is supposed to, when he is supposed to. if cedar is sick he is on top of giving him his medicine. if it's time for him to go to sleep or take a nap, he makes sure he has a stuffed animal with him & a pacifier. he takes cedar for walks, he takes him rock climbing, he jumps on the trampoline with him, they go fishing, they go on lunch dates. they do a lot of boy stuff together & it's adorable. he is his best friend.
on top of being an amazing father to cedar, he does so much for me. he is the most hands on dad, i couldn't ask for a better partner to parent with. he constantly is surprising me with fun activities, flowers, adventures or little presents. he remembers things that i said months ago, things that i don't even remember & he applies them to his life. he will clean & do laundry. he cooks. he seriously takes so much care of me. i am the luckiest girl in the world. plus he is the funnest person to spend my life with & the cutest. i am so grateful every single day for him. for having him as my best friend, my husband, as my baby papa, as my everything.
happy late fathers day to you, austin!

amelia larene

remember how i took my friend ashley's family photos? well, the next day i went over to her moms house, where she was staying to give a shot at taking some newborns of her little baby girl. i'm not an experienced photographer, & didn't really have any plan of action, but i was willing to give it a shot! i had a lot of fun doing it. her little girl is so adorable, sweet & just so tiny. i can't get enough of her. plus, she looks JUST like her mama, my bff since babyhood, so just more of a reason to love her. 
since i didn't really have a clear idea of what i would be doing for the photos, i was lucky in the fact that her moms house has really great lighting & they had a lot of different prop type things & areas i could use for the photos & that ashley had an idea of what she wanted. she had shown me a few baby photos she had found on pinterest that she liked, so i kind of just went from there as far as style. 
i really like the way that they turned out, & it made me love taking photographs even more. the more & more i do it, the more & more i enjoy it. seriously, it is so much fun.
we took the majority of the photos while her older boy, johnny, was napping but once he woke up we got the adorable ones of the two of them together & i absolutely love them. he is going to be the best big brother. he's seriously so adorable & sweet with her.

adventure-versary


last weekend austin & i celebrated our 2 year anniversary. we wanted to make it special, do something really fun, because last year i was far to pregnant & we both kind of assumed we would have had our baby before our anniversary, so we didn't plan anything for it. we ended up going fishing, helping friends move & then to a bbq for it, which was totally fun, but we wanted to actually sort of plan something this time around. 
so austin started planning a couple weeks ahead of time to make sure we actually had something to do. unfortunately, what he had been thinking of doing wasn't going to work out, so we had decided to just go to dinner somewhere nice that we had never been to, but all of the places we could think of weren't going to be open the day we were going to celebrate because it was a monday. so we didn't really have any idea of what to do. 
we had been trying to figure out something a little out of the ordinary to do to make it a fun anniversary & we were having problems coming up with something, i don't know what is wrong with us. but then, the friday before our anniversary our friends curtis & meera came over & everything fell into place. we have all been wanting to go on a climbing trip together for quite some time but with all of our schedules it never seemed possible, until this night. they told us they were going on a climbing trip to the city of rocks & that we should go. we quickly agreed & got everything ready & sunday we were off.
our first stop was to lava hot springs. we floated the freezing cold river twice, boiled ourselves in the springs & went down every water slide at the pools. it was so rad. the river was SO cold with all these extremely hot springs going into it every once in a while. it was really cool, i have never been in a river that is like that. after the river & hot springs we went to the pools that are naturally heated that felt perfect. they also had 4 really big, fast & a little bit scary water slides. i was scared to go on a couple of them & i'm pretty sure we all screamed a ton but it was so much fun, i loved it!
next we drove to city of rocks where we set up camp & had dinner before calling it a night so that we could get a good start on the next day. we climbed all day, explored, hiked, read stories out loud & had a really good time. we had some great pizza for dinner, climbed some more & ended the night with a fire, s'mores & alien stories. so clearly, it was a perfect day.
the entire weekend was so much fun. thank you to curtis & meera for planning it & inviting us. thank you to our sister-in-law emily who babysat cedar & for my mother-in-law jan who also babysat him! & lastly, thank you austin for going on the adventure-versary with me!
& if the pictures weren't overkill enough, heres a video to go along with the weekend.

WEEKENDING

since the craziness of the first week of june >>> anniversary weekend, cedars bday party, floral internship (more on that later) >>> we've been keeping it easy. we watched legends of the fall, one of the most amazing movies ever. i highly recommend it. & a couple episodes of our new favorite t.v. show: dexter.
i had a girls night with my cousin whitney. we ate at a delicious & adorable little restaurant right by the capitol called em's. it is so good, you should try it if you're in the area! after dinner we went & saw the fault in our stars. it was good.. but not my favorite. but i'm glad i saw it.
today we went to saturdays waffles. i've heard about them & seen them on instagram for a while now & finally remembered to go! they are delicious, highly recommend going if you get the chance! later in the day we went fishing with austin's brother & it was so much fun.
i caught a fish! & cedar let the fish kiss him! it was funny, adorable & disgusting all at once.
hope you're having a good weekend!

happy birthday mr. cedar

the day is over & it's official, i have a one year old. we woke up & austin made cedar his birthday breakfast: german pancakes. he loved it. he took a nap, we played with presents & got ready for his birthday party. he refused his second nap so he was a on the grumpier side of things, but it all worked out.
we had a bbq in honor of his day. at first he was still grumpy & could have cared less about everyone there, but once we set him in his chair with his birthday cake he was golden. he loved it. i made him my family's birthday cake classic: carrot cake. he couldn't have been any happier than sitting in that chair stuffing his face with fist fulls of cake. it was EVERYWHERE & it was adorable. 
i really tried to keep the party small, just family. then it grew to a couple friends, then more & then it was just what it was. we are so lucky to have such amazing friends & family so close that love cedar & came to watch him stuff his face full of cake. 
thank you for celebrating with us, we love you!




birthday boy

today is my baby boy's first birthday.
as i write this he is tucked in bed, sleeping the night away & i just keep thinking about the day he was born. it was right around this time that the nurses came in to tell me that i was going to stay & have my baby, right around 1 in the morning. i cannot believe that it has been an entire year since that day & since i very first saw his adorable little self. his bright blue eyes, the surprise of red hair, his nose & little lips. i was in love. i instantly adored him & my adoration has only grown for that little guy.

 it blows my mind at how much he has changed in one year. he's got the same bright eyes & red hair as he did when he was born, but everything else has changed. he's bigger, stronger & can do so much.
i love watching him, every single day he grows & learns something new. he is constantly smiling no matter what. he can be the sickest little guy & he still will be smiling & laughing. he is the most ticklish & has 10 teeth- 6 up top & 4 on the bottom. he is incredibly fast at crawling, & is getting really, really good at walking. he's become quite the climber. he climbs ontop of anything, the bean bag, the couch, the stairs, his rocking ship, & every single time he does it he has the biggest grin of accomplishment. i can't help but love it. he is constantly babbling saying mamama, dadada & bababa. but i'm pretty sure his first official word is going to be butt, so we'll have to wait & see. 

favorite food: bananas, corn, mac & cheese, watermelon
favorite drink: milk & water
favorite snack: graham crackers
favorite toy: rocky raccoon (we're those weird parents that name his toys), cars, & leonard the lion
favorite show: mickey mouse clubhouse road rally 
favorite song: the itsy bitsy spider
traveled to: idaho, california, arizona, nevada, oregon, illinois, south Dakota, wyoming, hawaii
flown: 21 x's 
lived in: 2 different cities
weighs: 21.5 lbs
steps: 25 in a row
disneyland: 3 x's 

there's nothing glamorous about being a mom. that's the truth of it. it's messy, it's sticky, sometimes it smells, but it is the best thing i have ever experienced. i like to think that i've learned a lot in my year of being a mom.

>>first: video things on a camera, if possible. if not, make sure to video horizontally, otherwise you might be slightly disappointed 10 months into your childs life when you realize you made the mistake of videoing only vertically... like i did. oh well.
>>second: in my personal experience, the baby is as high maintenance as you make it out to be. i've been an advocate since i found out i was pregnant that i was not having a high maintenance child & i like to think that i don't. he 's pretty easy. falls asleep easily, eats basically everything you give him, & doesn't cry too much. he's easily entertained, & is good at playing on his own. low maintenance & i like it.
>>third: you know how everyone always say: "enjoy it, they grow up so fast" & blah blah blah? well, it's true. previously before motherhood i always thought it was just a thing people said, but they really do grow up, so fast! it's insane, like really, it's just not normal for a human to change so much in such a short period of time. but it is really, really fun. so, enjoy it!
>>fourth: as soon as you're a parent, everyone has an opinion on how you need to raise your kid. try not to be that person. it's easy to feel like you've got the best parenting technique, but that doesn't mean everyone wants to hear about it.
>>fifth:  having a baby truly makes any bad day, a million times better. they're just so cute, cuddly, & funny that you can't help but be happier. 
>>sixth: if you don't freak out, they won't freak out. i'm not overly dramatic as is, but i've really tried not to react too much if cedar falls or something like that & i've come to realize that when other people are around that do react, he freaks out a bit more & cries more than he would if it were just me. your reaction really determines theirs. 

i love you cedar baby. happy birthday.