October has a very special place in our hearts, It's our favorite month (well July is too) of the year.
We are so happy it's finally here!
It's the time of year that we first met and began dating. I love my man. It's the time of year that our sweet Ava was born. Love that baby girl. The happiness fall brings us is the 60-70 degree weather, the smell of campfires, pumpkin everything, oh and caramel apples are seriously one of my favorite treats. ever. And of course the gorgeous changing leaves as well.
Every single thing about it makes us happy!
I can't believe I get to kiss him every night. What a hunk.
Love these two!
We took a drive up to the mountains on Saturday and were in awe of the beauty.
This field of wildflowers was absolutely stunning!
Timing is such a funny thing. When you decide that you are ready for something, you're ready. You don't want to wait a month from now or even tomorrow. You needed it yesterday.
I won't go into detail but, due to an issue I've been faced with, these past couple of months have been a bit of a struggle for me.
Discouraging is really the word I'm looking for.
Yesterday at church a few things were said in our relief society meeting that really got me thinking.
I'm not in control of His timing. Our Father in heaven knows what's best for each and every person.
I'm reminding myself of this truth each day and trying my best to be at peace with it. I'm just going on faith here and putting my complete trust in Him.
On a side note, this beautiful photo (taken last week) made me cry.
even more so because I had just read this:
pretty much made me sob.
I hope our baby girl always knows how deeply we love her.
We want only the best for our precious Pearl.
Listening to one of my favorite songs truly has helped these past few days.
I love this song.
I will never forget what Vaughn said to me on that special day.
While we were walking out of the temple, I noticed he was staring at me (I didn't think much of it because he's always staring at me) and with a big smile on his face and said " You are so beautiful and you're glowing. You're literally glowing". He couldn't believe it, he was almost laughing to a point.
I just smiled, and as we walked out through the lobby I pulled him in for a hug and said "Really?".
Although I already knew it.
The glow must have taken over my entire being because I felt that I was glowing on the inside as well.
I was completely enveloped in pure happiness, joy and peace.
I heart this special memory :)
After watching this video, it just solidifies how much I really do love the temple.
I am beyond grateful that my sweetheart and I were able to be married in the temple. Such an honor, such a blessing.
It is the only way to true happiness.
It really does bring peace to know that we are sealed for the eternities.
He is the only one I ever want to share forever with.
It's been a fabulous summer. Busy. Busy. But so much fun!
Oh and there has been a ton of this going on...
This July was my absolute BUSIEST month for photography. Ever. It was insane. Insane, I tell you. I don't know how we got through it. I had 3 weddings, 3 bridal sessions, 5 engagement sessions and 2 family sessions. Whew! See?? Insane. But, I love it!
We bought a new car!
We have never owned something this new before so we're pretty stoked about it :)
Lots of swimming involved with this scorching weather we got goin on.
She insisted on her shirt coming of, so I gave in...
She even loves "swimming" in the bathtub..
...and my favorite phone pic I took the other day, sweet daddy-daughter moment!
I love July 15th and all the precious, priceless memories this day holds for us.
I can't believe that we have celebrated our special day four times now.
I can honestly say that we have a very happy marriage. We truly do.
I love spending time with you, it's my favorite part of each day.
I love you more than ever honey boy.
You are my world and you have made me the happiest girl of all time!
We went away for the weekend and it was such a blast!
We stayed at the Armstrong Mansion for our first time, i discovered that totally adore everything about it.
I felt like I was back in the early 1900's, which I loved! It's very cozy and romantic. We went on a self guided tour and it was so thrilling to explore a century old mansion. I seriously would go back in a heartbeat.
We stayed in the lovely January room. These pics don't do it justice, it's beautiful. We actually had reserved the August room like a month ago but upon arriving, I realized I wasn't liking the attic too much. We asked the reservations desk if it would be possible to switch rooms at all. They said sure, so we went to explore again to pick out which room we wanted. I fell in love with November and January (I just love old mansions, okay?). Anyway, we chose January, I felt like I was back in time. We wondered who's room this was over 100 years ago. So fascinating to me. I wished I could go back to 1899 and be a fly on the wall. Vaughn was nervous when it came time for bed because earlier that day we had read up on the history of the mansion and it mentioned ghosts. He strongly suggested that we sleep with the tv on for background noise. We settled on a classical music channel. Then we pretended like there was a ball going on downstairs, which it really did feel like. Maybe that's cheesy but, we just like to pretend and use our imaginations, okay?
Here's what we did over the weekend:
Armstrong Mansion Tour
Blue Iguana for lunch
Jamba Juice
Gateway walking, Sur La Table & Rocky Mtn Chocolate
Relaxing
Breakfast in the parlor
This Is The Place Monument
Mark Miller Toyota & Subaru car shopping
Utah Blaze Game
Relaxing
Bangkok Thai in Park City
The Lodge at Park City Mtn Resort
Utah Olympic Park
Iceberg milkshakes
&
more relaxing
Blaze game with Tyler and Angela
We stayed in Park City the 2nd night.
While I was getting ready, Vaughn surprised me with breakfast and flowers. Love him :)
We went shopping at Sur La Table.
I made Vaughn hold up that spatula that says "Hot Stuff"
We went to the Olympic Park for the Alpine slide.
We got halfway up the mountain and it started pouring rain!
We ran for shelter once we reached the top. We couldn't ride the slide because when it gets wet, the brakes don't work. We got our money back and ended up getting a free gondola ride out of the deal, yes :)
I wanted to post about my sweet baby and what's she's up to lately.
Here's a re-cap from age 18 months-20 months
She just turned 20 months old
23 lbs
27 inches
at the Vintage Cupcake, giving uncle Tyler kisses
She can say lots of new words now, about 35-40 in her vocabulary.
Among those words are: dirt, heart, butter, salsa (yes, she likes to eat salsa) so funny!
She also knows all her ABC's! People are shocked when she says them.
She has been showing interest in potty training these past 3 weeks. She will run to the toilet and say "potty", and I will sit her on it and she "wipes" with one square of toilet paper and then she flushes all by herself. So proud!
Ava has a great personality, she is over-the-top friendly to everyone she meets.
It's so fun to watch her interact with other people, she truly loves anyone and everyone.
Ava loves Elmo, babies, playing at the park, going bye-bye and she's a social eater.
Ava does not like hair bows, flowers, hats or anything in her hair or on her head.
I desperately wish she would keep her bows in but, the second she realizes it's there, she rips it out.
She loves puckering up her pouty lips to give kisses
LOVES her daddy.
They have become really close this past month and she cries when he leaves for work.
She has been getting a few teeth in these past 2 weeks and our patience has been majorly tested as a result. We may or may not have seriously contemplated having Ava be our first and last baby after these terrible, I repeat, terrible 2 weeks.
Look at those chompers
Poor little sweet pea was in pain. We gave her pain reliever when we could but, we were also were completely at our wits end after hearing crying, screaming and whining for 2 straight weeks. Thankfully things have calmed down and are much better :)
all tuckered out
throwing a little tantrum
Easter Sunday
playing with cousin Rowan in the sandbox
needless to say, bath time followed!
On top of those terrible 2 weeks, Ava came down with the croup on June 11th. Vaughn and I awoke to a screaming baby who couldn't breath. We had to take her to the insta-care at 1:00 am.
They gave her a breathing treatment, a steroid shot and a sucker.
