Saturday in photographs

Today was a great day, and a special one, because little Carter turned one! I can't even believe that the he is already a year old- it seems like only yesterday I was meeting him in the hospital for the first time on his actual day of birth! It only makes me realize how quickly Henry will be one and that makes me a little excited but also quite sad. At the same time though, it's a great reminder to cherish every day and every stage, right? I think so. But any and all sadness aside, today was awesome! Autumn had a jungle themed party, complete with animal hats for the kids and a bounce house! Everyone had a blast.

After the party Hank surprised me by driving down to Phoenix after doing a cert. class, and my parents watched the little guy while we went on a date. It was SO much fun and so nice to have some "us" time. We went to Green for dinner and then got frozen yogurt. Delicious!

Here are some photos from today:

getting ready while my mama watched Henry

If someone would have shown Autumn, Erin or I this photo back in our sorority/college days...we would have been in shock. It's amazing to think we all used to be at NAU together, and now we're all mommies to these beautiful little darlings.

Henry and Kyler, best friends!  Kyler is 6 months old- they're just almost exactly 3 months apart.

Libby and Henry...this is Autumn's wonderful Mom and someone who is like a second mama to me. She's seen everything in my life, from me meeting Hank, to being at our wedding, being there through the pregnancy, and now here she is, holding Henry. So awesome.

Autumn and her birthday boy!

Happy birthday Carter!

at dinner- my handsome date :)

annnd me and my big baby! How I love him so. Not the best photo but I always want to remember his size, so in a few months I can compare. He's sleeping in his little co-sleeper next to me and I love hearing all of his baby sleeping noises. I'm about to join him.

Night all! xo

Friday/Saturday

my hair is SO long! I am beyond happy :)


It's so good to be home. I spent most of yesterday in a tired, slightly jet-lagged daze, not doing much of anything outside of catching up the Real Housewives episodes I missed while in Hawaii, and being pretty lazy. When Hank got home from work, we headed down to Phoenix to spend time with my family and have a bit of a relaxing weekend. I've written it before, but Hank doesn't get a lot of days off at this point (although that is soon coming to an end), so when he does, we try to take full advantage. We spent last night celebrating my Dad's birthday and ate delicious pizza and ice cream cake! Afterward, we all just sat around the dining room table and talked all night. It was awesome.

This morning Hank and I woke up with a huge to-do list. He needed a few new pairs of jeans and a new hoodie, so we went down to Tempe and took care of that. We had a delicious impromptu lunch at Green, and then headed over to Cosmos so my sweet friend/big sister Rhonda could do our hair. She's been doing my hair since we moved to Arizona, when I was about 14, but this was surprisingly the first time she'd cut Hank's. He is super picky and was a little nervous but we both agree this is the best haircut he's ever had! Thank you Rhonda! We love you so much. I feel so happy and lucky you are in my life. Oh! And while there I also got to meet a blog friend Lindsey (http://thebrownsfam.blogspot.com/), who is a friend of Rhonda's. We got to sit and talk for awhile and I fell in love with her. She's so cute and awesome. So hey Lindsey!

For the past couple of days I've been feeling pretty unmotivated to blog, and this morning I tweeted that I had kind of lost interest in it. I received a lot of great responses, and I appreciate the kind words so much! Sometimes it's just hard to see the point of this all- it seems silly and narcissistic at times, and it's hard for me to see the "why." Luckily though, I usually only feel like this rarely. I really enjoy blogging and documenting my life, and I know I will never stop, but sometimes I just need to take a step back for a minute and take a break. It was also hard for me to get back into the swing of things after my little vacation, but I'm back now and feeling positive about it.

I go back to work Monday, and it's something I'm both dreading and looking forward to. I'm so excited to see my friends I work with, and to see my kiddos, but it's hard to get back into the groove of it all when I've enjoyed almost two weeks off. I shouldn't complain though, I know...summer break starts in 8.5 short weeks and it's going to be so wonderful.

SO, I hope all of you are having a great weekend. It's been a family weekend for us, and I feel so happy. I hope you are experiencing the same feeling!

Lots of love.

squinty in Tempe


awkward, falling off belt :/


pre-haircut. He is so handsome :)




veggie burger and their yummy pasta at Green! mmm

Yesterday, Thursday

Last night Hank and I decided to drive down to Phoenix for a little impromptu date night. We left right when I got off work, and drove straight to Green for a delicious dinner. If you live in Arizona, and haven't been to Green yet, I highly recommend it- it's one of our favorite restaurants and we've been going since it opened. I usually get the Green burger, but this time I got the Spicy mock chicken sandwich (on an Ezekial bun), with a side of pasta salad. Hank got some sort of ginger tofu bowl and both choices were delicious. If you're curious about the restaurant, click here to visit their website and definitely try it out as soon as you can! We there, we spoke with one of the counter-workers about a vegan restaurant in Sedona that we will hopefully we trying out soon. The name of it is escaping me at the moment, but once we try it I will be sure to post a review.

After dinner I had Hank stop by Yogurtland so I could try the new Red Velvet flavor. I wasn't a huge fan, but it wasn't bad by any means. I always think I am going to branch out, but usually end up with plain tart and a lot of fruit. Either way, I love that place. After I got my yogurt fix, we headed over to ASU to listen to Johnny Cupcakes speak. I didn't know very much about the guy, besides the fact that he once put Hank and the dudes up while on tour, we know some of the same people, and he runs a highly successful tee shirt business. To be honest, I was slightly apprehensive- I didn't know what to expect and I wasn't in the mood to sit in a lecture hall and listen to some guy speak about how he became inspired to put cupcakes on tee shirts. But...once we got into the room and Johnny began speaking, I found myself truly enjoying my time. His story is inspirational, he's an extremely "real" guy, and I liked that he was so personal and forthcoming while sharing with all of us. By the end of the night, I was a total convert, and now consider myself a fan of him, and his brand. Super cool dude, awesome story, and his lecture was extremely entertaining (all four hours of it). I definitely recommend checking him out if his lecture tour comes to a university near you.

I also have to add that while we were standing in line to get in, a blog reader/friend of mine came over and introduced herself! The lovely Chelsea and her boyfriend John Scott were just adorable, and it was really neat to meet yet another blog friend in real life. Two in two weeks is two more than I've met in my entire life, so I'm wondering who I will meet next week! ;) But really, it was wonderful to meet both of them, and Hank and John had a lot to talk about. Chelsea put it best in her blog about it, "It seriously made me so happy about how easy conversation came, and I really believe that it was due to already feeling that we knew one another (thank you blogs, flickr, and twitter!)." :)

After the lecture we headed home to Prescott. One of my most favorite things to do with Hank is go on drives, go on road trips, really just go anywhere with him. We always have the best conversations, listen to great music, and have have such a good time. Sometimes it's little moments like last night that kind of snap me into reality, and remind me just how good I have it. I written about this before, but I think people are blessed with different things in their lives. I would say one of my main "blessings" is this love in my life. I'm very grateful.

When we got home it was past 2am, and I wasn't feeling very well, so I decided to call in to work today. I've spent most of the morning in bed, and it's about 1:30pm right now, and I'm feeling much better. Sleep did me well, and I'm glad I stayed home. Later tonight Hank is playing a show at Sundance's which should be fun.

What are your weekend plans? Are you experiencing nice weather wherever you are? Whatever you do, I hope it's amazing!

I'll leave you with some photos from yesterday...

top: J. Crew
skirt: Leifsdottir (you can find this brand at Anthro or Nordstrom)
shoes: Target







on the drive down


Hank, me and Chelsea :)

Best night

Last night was truly one of the best nights I've ever had. The Gaslight Anthem is by far my favorite band, and last night was the very first time I'd ever seen them live. I've been looking forward to this show forever, and when the day finally came Hank said he hadn't seen me that excited in a long time. It was almost ridiculous! We left early in the afternoon and headed down to my parents' house so we could relax a bit and get ready. We decided to do Green for dinner and it was delicious at usual. I'm not really into the processed mock meats, but I do love their Green burger and that's what I usually order. Yum. After dinner we headed over the Martini Ranch, where the show was. We met our dear friends Beth and Brett there, and soon after we arrived Erin got there. There were three bands on the bill- The Loved Ones, Murder by Death, and The Gaslight Anthem. The Loved Ones were awesome, but my real kudos has to go to Murder by Death. I have never seen them live and was blown away. Amazing music, and the singer's voice was so beautiful! So we listened to both bands, and finally TGA was up. The girls and I started on the 2nd floor, right at the railing so we could overlook the whole venue, but although it was an awesome spot, after about three songs we headed down the floor and ended up right up front. It was hands down the most amazing show I've ever been to. I never freak out over bands and only a few musicians/bands really elicit that kind of emotional response from me- Converge being a huge one- so it made me feel so alive that seeing them live affected me in such a way. I sang along so loud to every song and had the best time dancing and being silly with my friends. It was the best night!

We left pretty late and drove back up to Prescott, getting home well after 3:30am. I had to wake up around 6:45am so as you can imagine, it was a rough morning. However, I was still in the afterglow of such an amazing night that I still feel awake and it's 5:30! Awesome.

Right now I have a bunch of things to do around the house so I need to log offline for now. I may post again later. Love you blogger friends- here are some photos from last night...

Hank and I before dinner, I swear I am getting smaller and smaller. Look how much taller Hank is than me. Is it possible to shrink at age 27? :(


car ride, wearing my H necklace for Hank!


tired and adorable Hank at Green




Murder by Death


Erin, Hank, and Brett!




our view before we moved down to the floor


:)