autumn temple square outing

we wandered temple square and lunched at the food court on such a lovely autumn day. we have to fill our days to the max while our virginia family is in town.

matty met us at the visitors center and visited for a few before he had to get back to work.

i filled my bag with these beautiful chestnuts that had fallen from trees

. i cannot wait to roast them on an open fire. 😉

molly & jesus.

super fun side note - i took a pregnancy test that morning. it was positive!

and i felt gross so i was pretty sure i really was. although i've learned not to rely on home tests as all of the tests i took with annie were negative!

i kept my little secret until thanksgiving day!

10 october 2016

provo city center temple open house

just as expected, the temple was beautiful. 

very ornate and victorian with dark woods and lovely details.

i'm so glad ali got tickets and it worked out to go. (i had to miss a stake meeting)

i know our kids will remember doing these things.

we stopped by the byu creamery afterwards...because it seemed like the right thing to do.

we squeezed all our bodies into this round booth.

almond joy ice cream is perfection.

25 february 2016

payson temple open house

rach got us tickets for the payson temple open house and cooked up a plan for some of us to meet up.

i'm so glad she did!

matt left work a little early so we could be in payson by 5:00.

the temple was absolutely gorgeous. i loved all the patterns in the design and fabrics. 

the stained glass was beautiful too.

it's important for the kids to see and be inside the temple.

we went to culver's for dinner afterwards and celebrated rachel's birthday with cupcakes.

we swung by cedar hills to make one last peony drop off to natalie on the way home.

fall at temple square

after a jam packed saturday, we still made the effort to attend the adult session of conference. our sitter options have dwindled now that they invite 12 and up to the saturday evening session. we brought molly with us and left the other two at home. upstairs watching a movie with the door locked. with instructions to open the door for NO ONE. and with my cell phone so annie could text us if they needed us (her dream come true).

matt got his first text from annie before we had parked the car: "did you git there?" lol

molly kept herself busy by crawling everywhere and going through my wallet. we made it over an hour before we packed up and came home to be with all our babies.

matt had a better attitude about going to stake conference sunday morning. we always go...but i knew it would be...hard. the girls did better than i thought. i didn't hear much of the talks. and as i write this, over a week later, i can't think of a single thing that was said. but sometimes, that's not the point. we were where we should have been.

after lunch matt loaded us in the car for an outing to temple square. i love going in the autumn time and before the Christmastime rush. we were pretty much the only people there and enjoyed having the place to ourselves.

the girls love throwing coins into the fountains and lucy melted my heart when she got down on the ground to collect beautiful yellow leaves.

i never want to take for granted that we live so close to temple square.

a saturday jist

(it only took three tries to get a decent couple selfie. and a black and white filter never hurt anyone.)

the good:

we were able to attend whisper and cormick's sealing today in the Salt Lake Temple. it was so nice of mom and dad to watch the girls for us. it's always a treat to be at a sealing. and in the Temple. and the Temple grounds were beautimos. and the leaves falling before our eyes. it's been such a gorgeous autumn. 

lunch at the lion house pantry with kevin, denise, alyson and the mr.

october is over. the halloween decor is boxed up and put away. the house is dusted and clean and feels so nice. i always love november 1.

we gain an hour tonight. i guess that's good. 

the bad:

but that means the kids wake up at 6:30 am instead of 7:30 am. ugh, that sounds bad.

pampers wipes. they are THE WORST. what a dreadful mistake it was to pick those things up. can't wait for them to run out. you know you're a mom when you have such strong opinions about what baby wipes to use. for the record, huggies are the best.

the ugly:

tomorrow's high is suppose to be 48 degrees. wahhh.

lisa & jordan

lisa asked me a few months ago if i would be her wedding photographer. i told her no, thank you. i don't do weddings. too much pressure! i tried to bow out nicely but she asked if i would think about it. i thought it would blow over. i even recommended a few other photographers that really do weddings. but it didn't blow over and she asked again. i told her i would give her a quote and we would go from there. i got her a quote. i thought she would go elsewhere...but she didn't and took me up on it! ahhh!

so on june 6th i found myself waiting outside the jordan river temple for my bride and groom to come out. it was fun. she was such an easy bride to work with. it was fun that i knew both parties. lisa is from our ward and jordan and i grew up in the same ward. when they started dating, i told lisa, i can't tell you much about jordan (since he is so much younger than i am), but you definitely want terrie as a mother in law...she is incredible. 

i was nervous to take on such a task but i think things turned out well. 

congrats to the happy newlyweds!

tracy & temple square

i was so glad we were able to meet up with the pine family when they made a quick trip to utah. tracy is a sweetheart. and gorgeous and real and fun. we were in the same ward in logan, with our first babies, just months apart, and husbands in school. we used to workout together-turbo class at the logan rec center. we bonded over our sweat and baby weight. our logan days are some of my most fondest.
so happy tracy and i crossed paths those years ago.

the girls and i had some time to kill before we met up on temple square. we browsed the beautiful deseret book at city creek. liz lemon swendle happened to be there and gave us a signed print of the savior. annie asked how she got to be such a good artist. she told annie Heavenly Father gave her that talent. she told us she started drawing when she was about 6 years old.

i was feeling generous and bought myself an early birthday present (ann romney's cookbook) and bought the girls a frozen magnet book thing.

outside they ran wild around the fountains and bridge….like they've been cooped up for way too long.

{i never ask them to pose for photos. yet this is what i got. it's amazing how much lucy looks like me as
a little girl in the photo on the right. that is totally my profile. french braids and all.}

saturday

{annie climbs on the furniture while i feed the baby. saturday 7 december 2013}

lucy and i got about 2.5 hours of sleep. it was bad. awful. she was sick before we went to bed and coughed and was uncomfortable all night long, on the floor next to me. i couldn't wait for the sun to come up. everything is worse at night. but at 3ish in the morning when i sat up to check on coughing lucy, she turned to me and said, "i love you mom. you're the best mom i could ever ask for." she is darling even when she is sick.

matt took the girls downstairs in the morning so i could go back to sleep for a bit. when i came downstairs around 10 they were watching the original 'sound of music' via VHS tape. we have all been humming and singing the tunes all day. we watched the live version carrie underwood did last night. it's cute to hear the girls sing the songs.

matt and i planned to take turns going to the temple but i didn't think we would make that happen with a sick lucy. he encouraged me to get dressed and go while he held down the fort. i fed the baby and took off…hoping i would be back before she needed to eat again. i'm SO glad i went. it's been so long since i've been to the temple, it's so hard to get there when you have a newborn. i felt so peaceful. i did initatories and was a little bummed there wasn't more of a wait to give me some quiet time in the temple. the new area there is gorgeous. i loved my whole experience.

when i walked in the door (have i mentioned how much i LOVE having a garage during the winter time?) the house was tidy, a candle was burning, and the family was eating a pizza at the table. the baby was asleep in her carseat. sometimes i wonder how matt seems to do "my job" so well. a quote from 'spanglish' came to mind. …."could you stop being so stark raving calm?"

i had planned to stop by cousin carrie's 40th party but didn't want to go alone. lucy had perked up so matt suggested we all load up and go. mom texted me and she and dad were in too. we slid over to midvale in the snow. the party was lots of fun. tommy and megan had put on a big feast of food. people were karaoke-ing. annie and i performed abba's "honey, honey" from mamma mia…because sadly, we couldn't be any worse than those who were up on stage. annie's excitement was worth the humiliation. lucy laid on her dad's lap most of the night. (bad parents).

kayla's wedding

i loved being there for kayla and cam's sealing. i wish matt could have been with me.
the couple looked so young and sweet together.
it was freezing. it snowed that morning. may 1st-say whuut?

the new mr. and mrs.

cute mother of the bride

i met matt for lunch afterwards at einstein's. i was having an emotional/pregnancy/woman/minor meltdown moment as we were talking before getting in our cars. just then a young, weird, jamba juice employee poked his head out of the door (we were standing in front of the jamba) and said to me, "i've just got to tell you...i love your outfit (as he motioned up and down). then he looked at matt and said, "i like yours too." so random. but had us both laughing. turned the mood right around. thanks weird jamba juice man. so glad you liked my big purple preggo dress and red cardigan combo. 

the wedding reception was in layton that evening at such a cute, charming, little place.
annie danced like it was her job to the live and loud band.
we snacked on yummy candy, ice cream cones and delicious bread with honey and other toppings.

it took a little while for lucy to feel her rhythm (she napped on the drive and woke up on the cranky side) but eventually found her groove...

i'm happy those two, cute, little blondes are mine.