life lately, according to my iphone.

wow, middle of october? 
this year feels like it has just flown by.

here's a little recap of the last couple of months for us.

sacrament meeting is right during morning naptime - it's rough. a few weeks ago, jae walked around with lola and got her to sleep. yes, i took this during a prayer. i couldn't resist. jae caught me.

every day it's a new baby and/or animal, but gracie tucks her 'babies' into all the beds she can for their naptimes. it's pretty cute, that little momma.

this happy little sunshine insists on standing in her high chair ALL the time now. every time she eats. and it makes me crazy! and also really nervous! seriously, every minute or so she stands back up and i sit her back down, and we go through that about 50 times per meal. gracie never did this, gracie never climbed or stood or tried to get out of anything, so that little cushion with a belt that came with this seat? it got tossed long ago. probably bad idea.

grandpa george came to town a few weekends ago and met lola girl for the first time. he came to church with us and she just stared at him like this while he sang. it was pretty funny. 

(i swear i don't always take pictures during church...)

cousins! and the fall canyons! and snack breaks, of course.

and some sweet daddy snuggles :)

lola wants to do everything big sister does.

beautiful fall in utah

this beaut used to be parked in our driveway (below, where gracie is waving). since approximately 1985. (not joking). it finally got towed away a few weeks ago. don't ask, it's a loooong story. but just be happy for us that it's gone. yayayayay!!!!!!

seriously, that driveway hasn't seen daylight in 30+ years. it's a gall-darn miracle.

soaking up the sunny fall days before it's winter and we will be stuck inside for too many months.

gracie likes to be 'mom' and lola was way happier having sister to look at than mom.

lola's first peach experience. she doesn't have any teeth yet but she was pretty determined to get that peach and eat it. and so she did! and made a pretty awesome mess and quite the show for the rest of us watching. she is hilarious.

gracie often does my workouts with me, or at least wants her matching water bottle to drink from while she watches me workout ;)

high school football game! it was chilly and we only lasted til halftime but it was fun.

gracie's been working on her camera skills. i usually go through and look at all the ones she took and then delete most of them. but this one of her shoes in the grass made me happy, so i kept it.

she's as crazy as ever! she got herself dressed up in this, and then about two minutes later was throwing a fit because she got tangled in the slinky and couldn't get out of it. 

this is her new favorite hobby lately - almost daily you can find all these little people/animals lining our living room window. 'they need to see outside!'. she was very proud.

and now, here we are, days from gracie's birthday, and a month shy of lola's birthday, and then full swing into the holiday season. then anniversary. then more birthdays. the next few months are so busy, but i am so excited for them! these girls make life so full.

st. george, may 2016

a few weeks ago we managed to squeeze 10 adults and 10 kids in one condo for a weekend! it was a little bit crazy and a lot of fun.

we spent the weekend eating, hiking, fishing, playing games, swimming, and just enjoying the warm weather and good friends. the mommas even snuck away for pedicures, leaving all the kids with the men. more than once before this trip i just about called it and was going to bail. life gets in the way sometimes, ya know? but i just really wanted this weekend away with friends and i knew gracie would have a blast with all the other little kids (which she did) so we made it happen and i'm glad we did.

on the road! both girls actually did really well both ways.

digging for rock treasures at glitter mountain

post pedicures

gracie was a pretty good little hiker. she's not had much experience hiking - we need to get her out more this summer. she even "peed in the bushes!" it was awesome. totally proud mom moment ;)

found a frog (toad?) in the pond area we stopped at. the kids traumatized it for sure.

we made up our own version of telestrations one night after the kids went to bed. it got pretty interesting!
a couple of the best ones of the night that had us rolling.

the whole gang! (minus baby juniper). not exactly in focus, but the best we could get. 

st. george: march 2016

jae had a work conference down in st george this past week, and the girls and i needed a few days away in some warmer sunshine. so we tagged along!

i'll be honest - as nice as it was to get away and do some vacation-y things, with jae at work stuff most the day, it was kind of like just being at home with me and the girls. we had to run to the grocery store and we did a little shopping. but it was just me and them. and we missed jae. and that made it kind of not as fun i guess. but i won't complain, because it was some new scenery for a few days, and that was great.

we did some shopping, some stroller-ing, some swimming (gracie got dumped on about 10 minutes in and then swimming was pretty much over), one morning at the children's museum, a few tantrums (from gracie), drawing with chalk outside in the sunshine, lounging in bed, and some more tantrums on the drive home (again, gracie).

and then, when we got home, jae laid down on the floor, and gracie tucked him in and brought her chair over, grabbed a book (and her glasses haha) and read him a story. she had to get real close to make sure his eyes were closed and he was 'sleeping'. it was hilarious.

until next time, sunny st. george!

life lately.

it's time for a little catch-up post of the last few weeks.

summer is already flying by, i mean we're days away from july for heavens sake. and it has been a HOT one lately. i don't know that i'm exactly complaining though - i mean, summer in utah is generally pretty toasty. gracie and i are trying to soak up all the sunshine and summer goodness while we can. i'm not documenting everything as perhaps i should or would want to, but sometimes life is just too fun in the moment with a toddler, it's hard to take two seconds to pull out the camera.

(ie, we've been to the pool at least once a week the last few weeks, and i haven't taken one picture while there. it's kind of become a staple of our summer so far, but i have nothing to say for it except gracie absolutely LOVES splashing and jumping off the side and it's just a good time.)

and actually, my phone camera is struggling at the moment, so that only makes it less likely that i take photos of everything. 

anyway!

here are a few randoms from lately.

came out one day to run to the grocery store and found a very flat tire on my car :(

the tire place found two things stuck in it. i blame all the dang construction around right now. not cool!

i was making gracie something to eat and came out to find her, and she was just sitting on the rug reading her thomas the train book. it was just so sweet & quiet & cute. i had to take a picture. 

then i told her her food was ready and as i walked away i watched her get up, walk over to the toy/book bins, and put her book away (even in the right bin!) before coming to eat. she makes me happy.

this is a terrible picture, but i had to take it and post it. we are working on getting a walk in every day with zo (she needs to lose a few lb's), and most days, even though we go in the morning, it's still hot already and zo is totally over-heated by the time we get home, with that black body and all. as soon as we get to the garage, she plops down in that corner in the shade & gracie goes to sit by her and pat her back. it's as if she's giving her a pep-talk and telling her job well done, zo. they're funny.

just watching mom fold my laundry while i squish myself into this basket. because, why not?!

CHEEEEEESE

our first zoo visit this year. and this is the only picture i took. she wasn't so sure about sitting on that elephant trunk, and the sun was also blinding her. we'll take what we can get.

finally a date night for jae and i. it was simple - temple and dinner after. then we drove around for a bit with windows down, enjoying the summer evening and made a quick stop at the grocery store for last-minute sunday dinner items. i can't remember the last time we went out to dinner without gracie. and let me just tell you, it was so nice to eat my meal without little fingers grabbing or little girl yelling or jae and i taking turns to eat because we had to control the little person. 

love her, but man, that was a nice, relaxed dinner without her.

these last few are actually from our father's day celebration at my sisters house. my nephew has a drum set and gracie took a crack at it. i think it goes without saying, but she seemed to enjoy herself  ;)

(she would blink every time she'd hit a drum, it was pretty funny)