Picnic Time

Last night, we asked Caden what he wanted to do.

His response?

Have a picnic with apples and oranges.



We thought it was a great idea and found this wonderful spot about a mile from our house.

What a beautiful night!!

I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend!!  Have any big plans?

xo

4th of July

Here's Mr. Caden on the 4th of July. Seriously the cutest kid ever. We had an amazing 4th with Matthew & Crystal in town and friends gathering from all around. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Here are some of the highlights:

Caden & Papa enjoying the parade. There's a reason Caden knows his name... look at all the candy he has in his cup holder.

Grandma & Caden. They are best buds and Caden screams everytime he sees her. It's the cutest thing ever.

Corey, the smurf. He was painting the sky with a smoke bomb and it decided to explode. Luckily he still has all his fingers.

Here's to a great 4th of July and wonderful family and friends!!

Family Conference Call

When Casey is away, we get to do fun things like this as a family. Caden just giggles and giggles at his dad's funny faces.

Although I love our little meetings online, I sure miss my Mr. I don't sleep well when he's away and I get super jumpy. It's a good thing we have a 70 lb. clown dog to keep us safe. ;)

I really, really miss you babe.
xoxoxoxo

My boys

Over the weekend, we check out the Farmer's Market downtown. I love going there. So many talented people showing off their goodies.

I look at my little Caden and wonder where my little baby went. He is a full blown toddler now. How did that happen? It seems like just yesterday when he was born, and only weighed a mere 8 lbs. We went to the doctor on Monday and he weighs nearly 30 lbs. 95-100 percentile on everything. Yeah, we are total over achievers.

I love my little family so much.

Life is Pretty, yes it is

{image here}

I am definitely looking forward to an extended weekend. And extra day to regroup and hang out the family is always welcome in my book. And now for an update on the home front....

• Caden is talking and I love hearing his words so much. He says mum and da. And probably my favorite of all right now is pointing at the dog and saying "sit". {Although it sounds like he is saying something like ship, or well, you know.}
• Our anniversary was a success and it felt like old times. We went try out Blue Orchid and treated ourselves to ColdStone. It was wonderful to have a focused conversation, but we both agreed that we wouldn't change anything about our family and where we are at now.
• Toolulu is making its debut on Thursday, May 28th. We are teaching a free Blogging 101 class. {Class size is limited so let me know if you'd like the details- email me at deb AT toolulu DOT com}. Whether you are new to blogging, or have been blogging for awhile, I think it will be worth while. We will be sharing some tips and tricks we have learned along the way.

I hope you all are doing well and I hope you have a great weekend. As always, Vive le weekend!!

Colorful details

{image here}

Something about today makes me want to go to a fair. Probably because every time I have been to the fair, it's been with my family. I love spending time with my family. I seriously have the best parents in the world. {And Casey does too}. And I'm not just saying that. We are really lucky.

Our weekend is going to be fun and exciting. We have quite a bit going on, but some of the highlights are working on home projects tonight {I know, that's a highlight?? Just wait & you will see}and then tomorrow we are going to take Whitney's bridal pictures. in. the. haymarket. Have I told you that this is my favorite place to take pictures lately? I love it. I just hope she's warm enough. Congrats to Whitney and vive le weekend!!

Remember that BIG project I've been working on? Tune in next week for the big announcement. I seriously can't wait!!

A Typical Monday

{image via flickr}

I really can't belive that February is here. Where has the last month gone? Or the last year? I sometimes feel like life is flashing before my very eyes. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels that way. I have always been a person with a full plate. I like to be busy and I always like to be working towards something. Sometimes this has gotten me into trouble. I have made mistakes where I fill my life with useless tasks or things that don't make me happy or achieve anything.

Ever since Caden has come and I'm trying to balance the many different responsiblities in my life, I have never felt balanced. More often than not, I get to the end of the day and have many more things left on my to do list than what I even accomplished throughout the day.

Now, please do not take this as a pity post. It is not that. This is what my mind goes through every Monday morning. It's somewhat of a guilty complex sprinkled in with a weeding out factor. These are my thoughts on the way to work.... What am I doing? Why am I going to work? What can change in my life that will lessen the burden on my family? What am I willing to sacrifice?

I will say that I'm probably not the best working mother. I struggle with the fact of leaving my little one for 50 hours a week {note: during his happiest times}. I struggle with keeping my house in order and eating good meals. I can't even tell you how tempted I have been at times to hit "Delete this blog" as sometimes I wonder if it's just one of those useless tasks that I'm spending time on. But then I sit back and think that this brings me joy. I love talking about my family and I sure enjoy all the friends I've made along the way. I hope I'm not doing it for not. I want my little Caden {& hopefully more to come} to enjoy my little journal-of sorts-when they are older. They will know me and all the struggles I went through as a developing mother. So here I am documenting it. Life is good and it's a challenge. It may not be balanced at times, but I am doing the best I can.

Vive le Weekend!!

* Caden (3 mo.) in all his cuteness*

I just can't tell you how excited I am that it's a 3 day weekend. It seems like life has been a crazy wirlwind since I've been back to work so it will be nice just to hang out as family this weekend.

Work and life are going really well right now. I am freakin' busy, but that's okay because I usually thrive better when there's too much going on. Although if you see me laying on the side of the road someday you will know why.

Here's to a great Memorial Day weekend.

Lovin' is where it's at

So here it is... my first Mother's Day as a mother has come and gone. It was a great day. It was the most I have pondered and thought about my goals and priorities in life in a really long time. Since my return to work, I have thought about these things more often. I constantly analyze and reanalyze my choices to make sure I am doing what I think is best.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I was filled with guilt. The house was a mess, I was really tired (Caden has decided that sleeping through the night isn't quite his cup of tea), the laundry hadn't been done in over a week and I was s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g. And there Caden was with a huge smile on his face. All of my worries had seemed to go away.

Casey had made it his goal to make sure my first mother's day was awesome and whipped up some pancakes, bacon and eggs. It was good.

I sat there in church and thought about my life. Am I doing all that I can? Yes, I am trying and that is all I can do. I have a tendency to be really hard on myself. I think I can do it all and not only that, but do it with perfection. I am not perfect, I know that, but I like to try. I am always trying to be more positive and be the best I can be and as I look back at yesterday, I think I was just that... the best I could be. The dishes waited and so did the laundry. I spent time with family, enjoying motherhood and being a wife. Enjoying my mother, father and sisters and brothers. Friends. And Jonzy. Family brings me so much joy and I love spending time with them. It's as if all my worries go away and I can just focus on the love that we have for one another.

When it really comes down to it, I don't think we will ever be judged by how clean our house was or if we remember to send Sally-Sue a birthday card. I do think, however, we will be judged on how much love we spread throughout the world and whether we have a testimony and personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I hope you had a great mother's day!!
xoxo

Family Time

This past weekend we had Casey's sisters come to visit. It was so nice to be able to have a "girls weekend" (plus Casey, Caden & Jonzy... but still...). Have I told you how much I love each member of Casey's family? They are seriously some of the best people I've ever met and I feel so blessed to be apart of it.
While his sisters were here, we played around in the photo studio a little bit. We had fun with Caden and reacting to all of his cuteness. What a cutie, eh? (Not that I'm biased or anything). This little guy brings me SO much joy... I feel so lucky to have him.

Perfect weekend

painting by Kathryn Semolic

I woke up this morning completely exhausted. I could barely even lift my arm to brush my teeth. This was nothing that a little cover up and mascara could handle. No, I quickly realized that I'm just going to have to deal with the brown bags under my eyes today.

It's okay though.... I can't even begin to tell you what a great weekend we had. I felt like I was reliving my college years... staying up until 2 am and sleeping in. It was fabulous. We hung out with many of our great friends and family and spent the entire weekend just hanging out. It's going to be a busy week as I didn't get any of my weekend errands done, but that's okay, it was totally worth it. I figure I need to live it up while I can.

I must say I feel so blessed to have such great parents and sisters and brother-in-laws and dear friends. Many of you made this weekend unforgettable... and hopefully you know who you are!! Kisses.