favorite moment of the day:

Ruby opening our door this morning at 6:40 with cookie in hand and enthusiastically saying      "GOOD MORNING"

The day started off right with cookies for all. We'll see how this development affects the rest of the day..

grateful for

GREAT FRIENDS

Our sunday was a gong show. We try so hard sunday mornings to look put together and get to church on time.. but by the time church starts the hurricane begins. Screaming, crying, biting, bonking heads, random outbursts, runaways, and a lot of sighs and gasps from Ster and I - and thats only 10 minutes into our 3 hour stretch. I hope that people can look at us and just laugh at how ridiculous and hectic our life is instead of cursing us under their breath. Needless to say we haven't been getting much out of church these days. But at least we attempt it, right? Thats gotta count for something. The rest of our day made up for the mornings gong-show. I got to have a nap (YAY!!) while Ster took miss Ruby for an adventure walk and Ames napped (for 4 HOURS!!) Its so refreshing to have silence sometimes. The house was soon filled with a little tiny screechy voice again telling me all about the twisty sticks that she found, and the scrape on her knee that she got from tripping, and how daddy put medicine on it and made it almost all better (mommy kisses are magical and heal everything instantly, you know). Then I got plenty of shirtless boy snuggles from Ames. He is such a sweetie after he wakes up and his lips seem to be extra big and pouty, which make him even more irresistible. We headed to my parents for dinner and Sterling made dark cherry cobbler. It was delicious (good job babe!) When we got home we found a plate of cookies on our doorstep! We were so excited - we hardly ever get surprises like that. We really do have the coolest friends.. and needless to say the cookies were perfect (peanut butter chocolate chip - how do you go wrong?!) Then my lovely friend Kyla came over and brought me these beautiful flowers. I love visiting with her! I feel really blessed to have such great friends that are so genuine, thoughtful, and kind hearted - but who are also SO hilarious and so fun to be around!

^the Evanson's are our married couple soulmates (?? just go with it..)^

^my favorite^

Friday Faves

just a few of the things i've been dreaming about lately.. 

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine | ten | eleven

waterton

^so beautiful!^

nothing sounds more perfect then going to waterton for the day with family. My brother and his family are up visiting from Phoenix so we are trying to cram as much adventure as we can into this week before they jet off. The day started off well enough - the kids were excited to be reunited - the shenanigans could commence. We loaded into my moms car and took off to Waterton. The first portion of the trip went fine - (my kids are pretty chill travellers, thankfully) but for some reason the moment that we hit Cardston all hell broke loose with Ames. Literally - ALL HELL. The trek from Cardston to Waterton has NEVER seemed longer than it did that day. And we aren't talking "wa wa" cries.. we are talking full out, high-pitched screeching at the top of your lungs, scream till your throat explodes, smash your head against a wall, jump out of a moving vehicle - cries. So being the #1 mom that I am I pulled over and snuggled my little guy till he calmed down I just cranked up the annoying kids music in attempts to drown out the shrilling sound. Probably not the greatest solution but I figured once we got there and got out of the car he would settle down and be the adorable boy that he usually is. (WRONG) The ear-piercing wailing continued consistently throughout most of the day, although there were a few (very few) hallowed moments of silence. But despite the ear assault from Ames it was the.perfect.day. in Waterton. No wind, gorgeous weather, and fun company. Also we ate Wieners of Waterton, (which never disappoints) skipped rocks on the lake, walked up Red Rock Canyon, saw 2 bears, played at the spray park, and visited the buffalo. Oh, and someone brought Coconut Marshmallows.. lets just pretend I only ate 2, okay? All in all - pretty good day.

^sweet haze^

^^this is what most of the day looked like with Ames..^^

^then we found his happy spot.. rocks^

^bear-crawling like a boss^

^Ruby in deep reflection^