life's one big picnic

in the summertime when the weather is nice. and when the weather is nice we like to go on picnics with our friends. these fun friends ran, yes they are fit and ran over to our house, and then we went to the local grocer and skipped off to the park with lucy girl for a picnic. i wanna kiss the sun for being so lovely to us lately. it just makes the days sweeter and a little more pleasant. 

these last few days we celebrated our moms this weekend and feel beyond blessed to have such great ones. my little (big) brother turned the big eighteen this weekend, we ate lots of yummy food basically the entire weekend long, attended a hoppin wedding reception, "showered" one of favorite engaged couples, aaaand got play with our high school friends for a night. it was a significantly busy but delightful weekend for us. at one point i felt overwhelmed with how social we had been. that's what happens when you are old and married and don't see a social seen too often. 

on another note, we are back in the grind. the husband starts school today so his two week summer break has come to an end. but we plan on pretending we still get a summer to play, we'll figure something out between work, school, work, and our other responsibilities. i'm not going to pretend that we won't play, because we will. i think that having grown up responsibilities will make us appreciate our time off, or so we hope! 

oh my sugar eyes surprise

in all the many things that bring people together, there is nothing in this world that does it like good food. oh and do i love food, especially my sweets! and the lovelies combo is made when you pair the best of people with the most delectable food.

this weekend was no exception in that matter. 

it was one of those weekends where i had the phrases this is a good day and i'm the luckiest running through my mind on repeat. 

consisting of only the best people. people that i hold so dearly to my heart. besties who live far away and cousins who are all grown up. i had the giggles so badly i could hardly breathe. if there is one thing that i've learned, especially since being married, it is how lucky i am to have the most amazing people enrich my life. 

at the end of the weekend it was so refreshing to look back on the past few days and smile because it was a good weekend, it truly was. now back to reality, sigh. 

a dog, a bone, and a birthday party

lucy got to attend her first ever birthday party for her friend nora. she loved it, and we loved it. she loved it because she had non stop friends for two hours, we loved it because she had non stop friends for two hours too. i was a proud puppy mama too because she played oh so nicely with the kiddos, which was a sigh of relief in the long run. she also tried to steal nora's birthday present but we made her give it back, still working on sharing, and dropping, and staying, and all those other important things. 

emmy got pee'd on by a dog fire hydrant style, and didn't even realize it and the husband and i showed up wearing matching shoes so naturally we took a picture to show you. it was a successful party and we had the best time. thanks to the jones' and nora for having a birthday. 

sneak peak

of cruise photos.

i'm the latest. 

to be honest, i made a big mistake and didn't take our camera on our trip. 

lucky for me we were with some great photographers. 

so here are a few for your enjoyment. 

and mine, because i'm missing this cruise and the warm sun, and of course the ocean.

ohh the ocean. 

 thanks goes to tui for these photos. 

 thanks tui!

you're going to want to read this

meet cait 

(and she's pretty great. get it? cait the great? but seriously, she really is great i will tell you why)

the girl's got a killer sense of humor, wild and crazy at times but also one of the smartest peeps i know, the best friend you could ask for, owner of one of the cutest puppies ever, and she is a registered dietician with a new food blog.  i told you she was great. 

anyways she is really great because she taught my sorry little cooking skills a lesson or two last night. we made this uh.maze.ing recipe. you've got to try it. we made a couple mistakes along the way so do yourself a favor and read the directions unlike oh i dunno, maybe me. (yes i was the one who didn't read them thoroughly enough are you even surprised?) 

so here is the link to cait's blog. you will learn lots from her and she will not tell you to eat anything that tastes like cardboard. because let's be honest, nobody likes that. 

happy birthday

to jake.

better late then never.

photos from the celebrations. 

(lots of them, because we all love pictures)

lucy and lola

lola is lucy's new favorite friend. 

she belongs to hunter and megan

(wishing they had a blog)

lucy is 68 lbs larger then lola.

but it doesn't really phase either of them.

i am grateful because in the next few weeks they will be seeing more of each other due to christmas crafts that megs and i are constructing. 

(more to come on those soon)

anyways here are a few comparative pictures that will give you a better idea of their friendship. 

we love them. 

(and megs and hunt)

this weekend:

we took a last minute trip to bear lake.

the crew was great, new friends made, and many memories. 

thanks to sean and the swenson family for a lovely weekend. 

it was so nice to get some r&r with the husband. 

project: DINKY

some of my lovely friends: this gal and this gal, whom i adore, coined this word a year or so ago. it's a silly sounding world but don't let it fool you. tease me if you'd like, i'm fine with that. but here is the definition in their own words:

lovely, ruffly (who doesn't adore ruffles?), simple, darling, beautiful lady.

one who creates beautiful things and enjoys life itself.

i've had a hiatus from creativity...odd for myself because its something that makes me tick. i've exhausted my time and energy on other things and have found myself craving some "dinky-ness." To cook, to sew, to create, to make beautiful spaces, and things that is what I please. So if you will-let us be dinky, because I am a woman and this is what I believe in.

so...who's in?

so behind

i'm very behind, and when i say behind i mean a month behind. we were fortunate enough to go to las vegas just days before christmas for the bowl game with the football team, and to the caribbean with jakes family right after christmas. i also need to post just a few pictures from christmas just for our record. with all the havoc of christmas and our vacations we were able to fit in a few additional traditions that we are sure to keep for years to come. one of them is gingerbread house decorating which we started the christmas jake left on his mission. we had the best night with some of jakes best friends and our siblings here are the pictures to show.

our attempts for one decent photo:


so the race begins...






finished product: