happy birthday to my man

To the man who makes us all happy, we wish you the happiest of birthdays! Thank you for being such a loving, fun, and attentive father and husband. We sure love you.

Let's go out and celebrate!

our backyard anniversary date

This past weekend Husband and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary. We decided not to worry about dressing up fancy or giving each other gifts and were both content spending the day doing yard work side by side. We hauled away two truckloads of plant debris (thanks to the help of my dad and his truck), and our flowerbeds are now actually starting to resemble flowerbeds.

The girls had been begging all week to have a camp out with s'mores, so we ended the day around our fire pit for the first time. We have plans to fix it up a bit and probably move it's location, but for now it is a fun gathering spot. We roasted marshmallows and hot dogs, and enjoyed all of the beautiful blossoms that are showing off on our two apple trees and one gigantic pear tree. Our five lilac trees are alllmost in bloom. Afterwards we set the tent up inside for the girls to sleep in and since we left it up they have been enjoying playing in it all week.

It wasn't the most romantic anniversary we have ever had, but it is definitely up there as one of my favorites. We are so happy and grateful for this life we have built and that we have this little piece of land to work on and improve, and most especially spend time together in.

date night in salt lake

  

A couple of weeks ago we went out on the town to celebrate Husband's big 3-0. We dropped the girls off at my sister's house for the night and drove away knowing they would be well taken care of and excited that we had an entire night to ourselves with the added bonus of sleeping in the next morning. I mean, really.

We discussed what we were going to do on our drive to downtown Salt Lake. Having no real plans is not an ideal way to start a date, wouldn't ya say? Lucky for us, despite our lack of planning it turned out to be a great night. So, if you are local and need a date night idea, here you go...

First off, dinner at The Copper Onion. Everything we ate was delicious, but I cannot stop thinking about the beef stroganoff Husband ordered. It will haunt my taste buds until we go back and I can order an entire plate to myself, and I don't even particularly like beef stroganoff.

There is a bit of a wait you say? Well, if you coincide your date night with the Gallery Stroll (like we totally planned) (related, I am seeing another date night idea here...) then a short walk down the street are some fun art galleries and vintage shops to browse. They stay open later on Gallery Stroll nights. The pictures below were taken in The Green Ant.

After your delicious meal simply walk right next door to the Broadway theater for a movie. This is the place to find more obscure or independent films. We saw Moonrise Kingdom on our night out.

But what if you don't have a babysitter waiting at home and you couldn't decide between the two movies that you wanted to see? Well, then drive over to The Gateway theaters and turn your night into a double feature of course! And don't forget an orange chocolate chip cookie at Bear Country Cookies and a caramel apple at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (right next door to each other, so convenient!) because you know two movies warrants two desserts.

Side note: We had enough time after dinner before our first movie started that we drove over to The Gateway to buy tickets for our second. That is when we got our two desserts (ate the cookie then, saved the caramel apple for later), if you go later they may be closed. But I am sure The Copper Onion has yummy desserts!

Have fun!

shop update: for little boys

Blue Nautical Romper//Striped Bear Onesie

Green Shortalls//Red Number 12 Onesie

Green and White Cardigan//Blue Plaid Romper

Yellow All American Cardigan//Striped Train Romper

Green and Brown Plaid Overalls//Green Premie Onesie and Beret

The shop has been updated with little things for little boys!

This weekend we are dropping the girls off at my sister's house to spend the night and husband and I are going out on the town to celebrate his big 3-0. We aren't doing anything fancy, just dinner and a movie, but getting to spend time together uninterrupted by the kiddos is going to be so nice. Not to mention sleeping in the next morning! I can't wait. Do you have any fun plans?

moon gazing

This weekend was pretty magical. Husband and I got to celebrate our five year anniversary spending two glorious days sans kids, relaxing, talking without being interrupted, and eating so. much. delicious. food. Apparently, we like to celebrate milestones by stuffing our faces guilt-free and I am perfectly okay with it. We did visit the resort gym as well so at least some calories were combated, and I'm sure we also sweat some out in the sauna where it got a little, well, steamy... ha...

After brunch on Saturday (and a stop at the bakery we happened to pass by) we picked up the girls from my mom's house and found out LM woke up not feeling well that morning. She slept most of the day and with Lark still napping it was actually a nice way to ease back into parental responsibilities again. After resting all day, however, LM was wide awake later that night (and thankfully feeling much better). Her wakeful state turned out to be perfect timing for some late night super moon gazing, so we gathered up a pile of warm blankets, drove up to a grassy area at the top of our street, and watched the biggest, prettiest moon we'd ever seen gradually inch over the dark mountain silhouette and into the night sky.

"Mommy, look! I can see all the different countries on the moon!"

We stayed until LM got sleepy and requested her bed, then we said goodnight to the moon...

I only had my iphone so by no means do these pictures capture the true breathtaking beauty of the moon that night, but I am happy to have captured a little bit of the magic. And, to have shared it with two of my favorite people.

five years

This Friday is husband and I's five year anniversary. I know he doesn't make appearances here very often, but that has no bearing on how much I love and appreciate him and the life we have built together. Looking back to the beginning, I smile as I see two smitten college kids going to dance parties or concerts every weekend, long boarding down quiet streets at dusk, and making plans months in advance knowing we would still be together. Now, we are the parents of two beautiful little girls, on the verge of being homeowners, and juggling much more responsibility in life, and I am still smiling. In this short space we have loved and learned to love and had our love grow, and I certainly feel like one lucky girl.

Especially, because he is whisking me away to start the weekend early.

Have a good one my friends!

(photo by Bri at Collected Photography)

may the fourth be with you...

Yesterday was Husband and I's fourth wedding anniversary. We aren't celebrating until the weekend, but I couldn't resist giving him the rad present I've been hiding under a big pile of clothes in my craft room closet and itching to give him for months now. I'll show you later, but he said I was 'the coolest ever' so I think it went over well.

He also informed me that we actually were married on a holiday. Star Wars Day (post title making sense now?). I don't have anything clever to say about that, I just wanted to tell you (and use that phrase as my post title).

I feel like a very lucky woman to have ended up with him. Like seriously lucky because I didn't even realize how good he was for me until after we were married. I mean I knew he was awesome and I was (and still am) in love with him, but four years later I am counting my lucky stars. I have yet to find one of my quirky ideas he will not go along with, when I told him I celebrated our anniversary by going out and buying clothes for myself he said 'good,' and my consistent requests for foot rubs are granted 99% of the time. He makes me happy and I hope I make him happy too (he says I do).

Trying to find an appropriate image for this post made me realize most of my camera happy moments occur when he is at work, and we are seriously lacking in recent pictures of just the two of us so I need to remedy that... but when he became a father on top of being a husband my love for him grew ten million times more, so this picture says a lot to me about what we have accomplished through our love in four short years. And makes me look forward to endless more...

we love daddy

Happy Father's Day!

This marks the second year in a row that I have made Husband his favorite lemon meringue pie so I think we can call it a tradition now. I even decorated it this year, but sadly (or funnily) our printer ran out of yellow ink, so pink, purple, and lavender flags were the best I could do on short notice. Sorry Husband. Just remember how delicious the pie tasted.


We love you so and hope you know how much we appreciate all of your hard work. How did we get so lucky? I don't know, but I am grateful for you everyday.

And to my dad, what can I say? I can think of a list about a billion items long that I need to thank you for but I'll just say this - thank you for always making me feel loved and being there for me no matter what, and for being the best Pop-pa to the Little Miss. She undoubtedly adores you.

i was thinking of you... month four

another engagement pic by JC, we laugh about Husbands big thumb :)

This one is a little late...

April:

When I weaned the Little Miss off of her night feedings sometime around 6-8 months Husband became the one who got up and helped her in the middle of the night if she awoke. Usually she just needed her pacifier popped back in her mouth and a little back rub. I was quite happy to have the excuse that I couldn't go in anymore because she would smell my breast milk and want to eat (or so I read). But what I didn't expect was that he would take over the night shift completely from then on out (I figured out he has been doing it for about a year!). So for the month of April I told him I was going to take over the job and he could sleep. I have to admit it was hard for me to drag myself out of bed after being spoiled so much. The Little Miss does usually sleep through the night now, but she is teething so she still has her days and nights of fussiness. My one month didn't even come close to making up for his one year, but I hope it let him know that I appreciated him getting up all of those times.

I actually already told you about Husband's surprise to me. He built me my garden boxes and I was so excited! I had told him I wanted some, so one Saturday morning he announced that he was going to spend all day digging out the garden area and building me my boxes. It was a surprise that I didn't have to remind/coerce/make him since he isn't one to enjoy working in the yard - at all. So I felt loved because he knew what would make me happy!

So far our little experiment is working. I know some couples might not need this kind of reminder to do service/gifts for each other, but for us it works well and I think both of us look forward to getting and planning our surprises!

******
Note: Husband and I sat down at the beginning of the year to write down our goals. Among other things, we decided to surprise one another each month with a small gift or act of service that costs little to nothing. The point being that we would be thinking about the other person and how we could make life for them a little easier, love them a little more, or make them happy in some little way.

See past months here.

i was thinking of you... month three

One of our engagement pictures (pardon the dust specks from the scanner)

March:

I waited until the last day of the month but I finally finished my surprise for Husband (which I will give him when he gets home). He got moved over to a 'big desk' at work this month so he is no longer with his back to the main hallway where people would brush against him when they walked by (my personal space issues shudder at the thought). So to celebrate the fact that he will no longer be in a high traffic zone and that he has lots more room now I framed some pictures of our family for him to fill up his new space.

Husband surprised me with the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack. We rented it last month and ever since watching it I would mention how much I liked Sweet Disposition by the Temper Trap. We went to Target a couple of weeks ago and he left to go change the Little Miss' diaper (another reason why I love him) and when I was done browsing I went to look for him and swore he had just come in through the front doors. But when I inquired he said no and I forgot about it. Then we got in the car and Sweet Disposition was playing and again I mention that I like this song and maybe we should get the soundtrack. It took about three songs later for me to realize there was a CD playing and it was the soundtrack! He is always so much better than me with the delivery of a surprise.

*****
Note: Husband and I sat down at the beginning of the year to write down our goals. Among other things, we decided to surprise one another each month with a small gift or act of service that costs little to nothing. The point being that we would be thinking about the other person and how we could make life for them a little easier, love them a little more, or make them happy in some little way.

See month one here, two here.

i was thinking of you... month two

Husband and I before our Valentine's date

February:

I made Husband a mix with all new music so he could discover some new favorite bands. I had a lot of help from a good friend who keeps up-to-date with the music scene (you were a life saver, thank you!). Husband loved it! I also made him a card with a really long mushy letter inside because I sure do love him.

Husband took the hint and printed out the card I loved. Then he pulled out a six page script entitled, "The King's Daughter, Act 1." He had written out the funny and sweet stories of our dating life up to the point where we fell in love! (King is my maiden name, thus the title). I was laughing, crying, and beaming as he read it aloud to me. He wrote it like a fairytale with me as the young maiden and him as the handsome gentleman coming to my rescue. Here is the part about our first kiss:

'He held her close in a gentle embrace and reveled in the perfect moment. He looked into her eyes and saw that she returned his affections and (though the girl would likely deny this) looked at his lips longingly. The young man understood the subtle hint, drew closer to her, and in a moment of amorous affection, their lips met and they shared a heavenly kiss.'

Pure poetry! :) I really love it and am so glad to have these memories written down. I can't wait for the many, many Acts of our life to come!

Note: Husband and I sat down at the beginning of the year to write down our goals. We broke down our lives into different categories one of which was 'our relationship.' Among other things, we decided to surprise one another each month with a small gift or act of service that costs little to nothing. The point being that we would be thinking about the other person and how we could make life for them a little easier, love them a little more, or make them happy in some little way. Because sometimes its hard to forget about yourself. So this is a series of posts documenting how we do - partly to make sure we do it.

See month one here.

i was thinking of you... month one

Husband and I sat down earlier this month to write down our goals for the year. We broke down our lives into different categories one of which was 'our relationship.' Among other things, we decided to surprise one another each month with a small gift or act of service that costs little to nothing. The point being that we would be thinking about the other person and how we could make life for them a little easier, love them a little more, or make them happy in some little way. Because sometimes its hard to forget about yourself. So I will be starting a new series of posts documenting how we do - partly to make sure we do it.

January:

I surprised Husband with a bag of pistachios to snack on at work. It was a very simple thing, but it made him happy.

Husband surprised me by cleaning the entire house while I was away - toilet and tub scrubbed, kitty litter changed out, the works! It made me extra happy.

I need to step up my game next month so I've been thinking about him a lot lately. And since that was the point I guess so far its working.

(picture)