A Few Late-Night Thoughts

Last night I was in the kitchen making dinner and I heard John talking to Everett. He was saying, "Are we going to be best friends when you grow up? Yes we are! We're going to be best friends!" Heart melted. Later we watched "The Secret Life of Pets" with the baby snuggled in between us and John and I pointed out which cheesy jokes Everett would be sure to laugh at when he was bigger and the whole time all I could think was, Is this real life? And honestly, what did I do to deserve a life so perfect (despite many not-so-perfect days) and full? All I know is Heavenly Father is so, so good to me.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

John picked out our Christmas tree this year in the middle of a snowstorm (literally). It was completely covered in snow and when we got home and thawed it out he said, "Great, we bought a dead tree!" It's actually still alive, but the bottom branches look a little pathetic. Everett doesn't care because it's covered in lights (his favorite) and Remi doesn't care because it's perfect for sniffing (his favorite) and I don't care because I just love Christmas so dang much.

I decorated it while John made noises and funny faces at Everett with snow falling and Christmas music in the background and then we (the adults) drank some toasted coconut hot chocolate. It was better than any Christmas movie I've seen. I'm the luckiest girl to get to spend the holidays with my favorite boys.

The blessing

This weekend was one for the books. After we spent all Saturday frantically mopping/dusting/cleaning we spent Sunday listening to John give Everett his beautiful blessing, then talking and eating with family and friends. We managed to squeeze everyone into our little house and Everett didn't have any blowouts in his white suit, so I'm going to say it was a success. I'm the luckiest girl.

The one where we're a little wary of those orange things...

 
My little pumpkin was a bit unsure about the whole "pumpkin patch" thing this year. I think Halloween in general will go over his head (despite the fact that he and his dad are the cutest ghostbuster/ghost duo I've ever seen). Next year we'll all eat a little candy and stay up too late, but this year I'm hoping my treat will be another night where he sleeps FIVE WHOLE HOURS. A girl can dream, right?

Oh hey Autumn

It feels like we're turning a corner around here, just in time for autumn, and I'm pretty thrilled about it. For his first few weeks of life Everett spent good chunks of each night crying and just all-around grumpy, and I would be lying if I said it wasn't exhausting. But suddenly my grouchy little guy has been replaced by this generally happy, smiling, almost laughing baby who goes to bed before midnight and wakes up mostly just to eat. It's amazing how much I love both of the men in my life (the big and the little). We're heading to the pumpkin patch soon and have a few Halloween movies on our to-do list, so I'd say fall is officially here.

Week with the Mouse

A little Disneyland recap: we came, we ate (corndogs and beignets and ice cream and some mint juleps for good measure), we conquered the rides (although some of us were stuck riding Peter Pan and Small World over and over). I finally got my Minnie Ears courtesy of John, and my parents sat through the entire Tiki Room show with me because nothing says love like skipping Indiana Jones to listen to singing birds with your 25-year-old. ;)

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Labor Day Weekend

In celebration of a much-needed three day weekend my family drove down to Moab. It was John's first time having Labor Day off in the entire time we've been dating/married (over four years), so that was definitely a treat. We spent most of our time in Arches National Park with a million Europeans (how do they hear about this place?! It's a stunning area but it's really kind of in middle-of-nowhere Southern Utah).
THIS SAND. So so soft and warm and perfect. It's like walking through baby powder except that I'm guessing baby powder would get stuck to your feet and that would be gross. I wish every beach in the world was covered in Moab sand.

John and Rachael and I drove down Saturday afternoon and my parents and brother and his girlfriend came down really late Saturday night since he had to work. Then on Monday we took the slow route home, which involved buying three different kinds of melons in Green River (the melons from that town are like candy, seriously) and stopping at a little rock shop in Helper where I found a few treasures for decorating our shelves. Family + red sand is generally the best kind of weekend.

powell 2015

I think a trip to Lake Powell during the summer is quickly becoming a yearly tradition. I can’t complain: red rock, warm water, NO SHARKS (because I have an irrational fear of those -- then again is being afraid of something with a million teeth ever really irrational?). We swim, we tan (some of us better than others #shouldhavebeenbornaredhead), we feast on watermelon and sloppy joes. Heaven on earth.

John and I slept on an air mattress on the lower deck, which was mostly good. I could hear bats flying around and squeaking, coyotes howling, and something walking around on the upper deck, which is why I said mostly good. We have had a fox on our boat before so at this point I just cuddle up to John and hope nothing furry decides to share the mattress with us. 
Clearly I didn’t get my mom’s eyes. Isn’t she pretty?
Next to our beach was a little river that wound back through some red cliffs and was surrounded by greenery and sand. I wish I would have taken my camera (I was too worried about us capsizing) because it was so peaceful and beautiful to paddle through and hear nothing but birds chirping.
This picture was taken a few minutes before John and I decided to hang back and put a little space between the small boat and my family on the big boat because the small boat goes so much faster. Then we tried to catch up and it wouldn’t start, so we got to bob around in the ultra-windy channel until my family realized we weren’t coming and turned around to save us. We were only stuck for maybe 20 minutes so instead of having a good story to tell all I have is a sunburn.

This next picture is too good not to share. I told my dad to “smile big” and he morphed into the guy from The Shining (heeeeeere’s JOHNNY!). I like him. 
The only thing that made leaving somewhat okay is the fact that I got to polish off a buffalo burger and homemade apple pie ice cream on the trip home, which definitely makes any goodbye easier. Until next year, Lake Powell.