a birthday party for london

Yeah, yeah, I know its about 2 or 3 weeks late. But here are a few photos from London's 1st birthday party. Also, if you want to see Gretta's first birthday party post, click here!

My favorite decoration was the Paper Flower covered L that my Mom made all the flowers for. I'm in love. We are also selling these in our etsy shop now!

The cake I made was messy and I had to freeze it so it wouldn't fall over! haha!

And sorry for all the similar shots below. But London's facial expressions as we were singing to her... and then as she was digging in were the best:)

 ^^^see what I mean, she was so happy that everyone in the room was singing and staring at her!

consumerism

Well our 3 birthdays of the month are over. Summer is coming to a close (kind of, not really here in Phx yet) and I am super excited for fall. I mean people are blowing my feeds up with sweatshirts and leaves on the ground and I'm living very vicariously through (thru?) them.

So first, I turned 28, then London turned 1 and then Spencer turned 32. I feel like we did pretty good with making the birthdays special. We can always improve though. Spencer's birthday was simple but he liked it. We had a rib dinner at home, cupcakes and singing and then went on a fun hike with the girls up by the new temple. Maybe someday we will give each other lavish gifts, but right now we are enjoying things being simple and sweet. I mean really though, we have two daughters and they will someday be teenagers, sooooo.... I'm scared of how birthdays are going to be at that point. I better start a "birthday" savings account right now for that;) Kidding.

But on that sort of topic, I would like to talk about how the social media world has exponentially grown consumerism in our day. Our culture is a non-stop consuming one. And at one point I was following close to 300 accounts on Instagram. Many of these accounts were bloggers, companies and products that I'm interested in. Seriously, I had to stop. Everyday I would go on that little app and be faced with so many tiny images of things that I REALLY wanted to buy and have delivered to my door right NOW! And guess what, it wouldn't have been hard for me to do that at all. But it is really hard to say no. And no again and no again and no, I will not be able to dress my kids that awesomely right now. And no, I will not be able to have that perfect pair of suede booties right now. Or that awesome personalized gold necklace. Or those hundreds of other things I wanted and still want.

So I decided to clean up the amount of people I follow and I unfollowed any accounts that made me feel that sense of "I need to buy this now!" It has helped so much. I feel like I sound like a addict right now. And I hardly shop! I really love going shopping, that is what me and my sisters and mom just do. But do we really need to feel that jealousy for all the things that other people have that we don't. I don't feel like I need a lot of things to make me really happy. So why am I allowing myself to feel bad because I see these people who I don't even know personally looking cooler than myself. Haha, it's just a weird phenomenon this world we live in.

I've been thinking a lot about this stuff lately and it feels good to write it down and let them out. Spencer and I are actually working really hard at the moment to pay off our debts and student loans and all that. We have been bitten by the Dave Ramsey bug and it's actually really freeing and fun! We talk without fighting about our money now, we actually budget, and we have goals for the future. I'm excited to reach those goals and make more along the way.

This concludes my somewhat hypocritical version of a soapbox I am unqualified to stand on. Thank you and goodnight.

our little family

yesterday we had a really fun little birthday party for London. It was in Prescott at my parent's house and we took some shots of us four, thanks to my bro Jordan. This is the best one out of the lot. It is definitely not perfect. You can't even see Gretta's adorable dress. BUT! I love it. A lot. We really need to take pictures of us all together more often. 

More pictures of the party to come. Thank you to my mom for helping me with food and decorations. She really is amazing. 

London is One!

One year ago today I gave birth to this black-haired little girl. It had been a whirlwind of a pregnancy. One that I'm so glad I've mostly forgotten. And then there was the moment she popped out. I had a new purpose, a new best friend and a new reason to smile everyday. If I could say one thing that London has changed in our family is that we now smile a heck of a lot more! Not that we didn't smile before, but it is hard to go about our day without looking down at this toddling girl and not smile!

She was an easy going newborn and I was in heaven nursing her and caring for her in every way. She has grown into quite the stubborn little fat blondie of a babe. And it makes me laugh! I thought she was going to be super easy and laid back compared to Gretta. But now I'm thinking she is even more a firecracker than Gretta is! They are both so fun and have personality to spare.

Speaking of big sister. London is the best thing that ever happened to her. They will probably fight a lot growing up but I take so much comfort knowing that they will have each other their whole lives, to lean on and to confide in.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of London. I'm hoping to get a video of her first year done... we will see! Also, her one year photo shoot will be this weekend along with her birthday party in Prescott:)

28

tonight at 5pm my husband called me and said get the girls in the car and meet me on the 101. i had no idea anything was happening tonight so of course i was not dressed. and the girls were naked. but i obey my husband(usually) and got piled in the truck. he arranged a sitter (his mom) and took me to a fine restaurant.

i'm 28. and this year i have a couple goals. i will not get pregnant. i will get in shape. i will pay off debt.

shouldn't we all be a little selfish once in awhile? it doesn't really effect anyone else for the worse, so i'm going to take this year to do some things that are important to me.

it is now 9pm (we sure know how to party) and i'm about to jump into my squishy bed.

thank you and good night.

p.s. i like how we look airbrushed in this iPhone picture. i guess the built-in, auto self-enhancing editing option is a good one. 
p.p.s. that was sarcastic. i don't like airbrushing pictures and if you knew me at all you would already know that. 
p.p.p.s. but maybe i'm changing my mind because why the hell wouldn't i want to look perfect? i am being selfish this year after all.

august

london turns 1! i turn 28! and spencer turns 32! that's why i love this month so much. also, monsoons. it's such a moody month, so therefore, i made a moodboard! this board is part, what i want for my birthday, part what i want to make and part what i want to eat and part how i want to act. sorry, that was an annoying way to describe something.

birkenstocks, angel food cake, hand sewn baby dresses, and being more loving to those i love. hopefully august will be full of all of these things. and rain. more rain please!

i remember when i turned 8 years old i still lived in lake havasu city. i had a pool party at my house and had my best friends come over. i don't know any of the presents i got except a cassette tape with the single "you say" by lisa loeb. i felt like the coolest girl ever because that was the kind of music my big sister lisa listened to. as the night went on i remember the storm rolling in. we stood under the patio in our swimsuits and listened to the rain on the pool and watched the lightening. that memory will forever stand in my mind as (and here i am about to get a little deep/weird) who i really want to be. i want to be alive in the elements, with partial clothing and wet hair, and good music and barfoot. that is my favorite feeling ever. (other than the feelings i get from snuggling my daughters and husband of course). there you have it, and now you know, all i want in life is to be naked in the rain.

king julien turns 1

every once in a while in arizona, you get a summer night like this one. it's the kind that's warm and spent outside. a little bit of drizzle comes down. you get cooled off and stay outside longer. the light is so pretty you could take a million photos. it was one of those kind of nights on monday at julien's birthday. we had the yummiest cake and played soccer and opened presents. i'm so glad my brother has such a sweet little boy! happy birthday king julien!

happy birthday to my mom!

my mom and sisters went to the gilbert temple today for my mom's 60th! what a great way to spend your birthday right!? my mom is the best to say the least. she really has so many talents and love that she offers to our lives. love you mom!

some snaps from g's 2nd birthday

i think she had a pretty good day :)