Who's That Girl?

I find people like this inspiring. Most especially people like this.

I love blogging. It is one part journal writing, one part history making, three parts fun, and five parts pictures. It's just the right amount of sharing, and when you collect the blogging world it is a whole bunch of human interest pieces. Creative non-fiction and memoirs are my favorite genre to read. Blogging hits both of these (amateur and not) straight on! What's not to love??

Although I consider Jon to be "the photographer" I am very often the one behind the camera, so there are hardly ever pictures of me comparative to the rest of my little family. I need to work on that. When Jon does catch pictures of me it's usually during a lighting check or while I'm posing subjects...

awkward.

Just how I want to be remembered - helping adjust posture.

I recently quit chewing gum. Cold turkey. That may not sound like much of a feat, but I have been a chronic gum chewer since I was a child. I always tried to limit it to one piece a day, and I always chewed sugar-free, because I felt like then it wasn't so bad. I constantly had at least one pack of gum in my purse, and a couple more at home on reserve. Always fruity. It was an addiction. I don't know how I justified it for so long. I have now been 100% gum-free for 2 months!
(there was a brief chiclet incident at church last Sunday. it didn't last long.)

All I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a mom. I can honestly say now that I'm living my dream.

I love late night snacks. 9:30pm is generally my "chocolate-craving-hour". The struggle is real.

 I am currently obsessed with the color teal.

If I could eat at one restaurant for the rest of my life it would be Loomis Chinese.

 When I was in 7th grade I tried to convince my friends that my nickname needed to be "Anie". (Annie, but with only ONE n, like the last part of my name... Stephanie...) glad that didn't stick.

I have written "baby letters" to my children since before I was pregnant with Kate. I still average about one per month for each of them. I've documented pre-pregnancy through toddlerhood now, and plan to continue as long as I can. These are thoughts and memories that I want them to know I felt in the moment, and that are not shared anywhere else (not on the blog, Instagram, facebook, or even my own personal journal.) These are letters just for them. They have become writing time that I really look forward to. I don't do it on a schedule. Just whenever the feelings build up and I feel like I can't go another day without telling them how amazing they are. I don't plan on ever telling them about these letters. I keep them in their own binders and I'm hoping one day they will just find them. It will be fun when they can actually understand my words.

I feel a lot of feels. I'm one of the biggest criers I know.

I almost always have something stuck in my eye.

I own 18 colors of nail polish.

I used to be able to read a book in a day. Now Jon has surpassed me in total number of books read by at least 500.

I do not like to shop. I'm a buyer, and very impulsive, but shopping (especially for clothes) is one of my most hated tasks. I'd rather be able to buy something that catches my eye and that I fall in love with than spend time trying to find things that fit right (because they never do) and I always have a particular style or idea in mind, and I hardly ever find what I'm looking for. My biggest temptation is accessories.

When it comes to clothes, I know what I like and can tell you exactly why something either does or does not work for me, down to the color, shape, fit, and pull.

I'm all about polka dots. I don't own any stripes. Plaids are scattered in occasionally. Heels should always be high and with a rounded or peep toe, never pointed. Clothes are to be elegant and feminine. I don't always dress this way, but 75% of my wardrobe consists of dresses and skirts. Boots and dress coats are a staple. One of my favorite pair of high-heeled brown knee high boots came from a thrift store for $5. I love a good inexpensive find :) ModCloth is my go-to for incredible modest dresses and inspiration. Although generally on the more expensive side, their sales and clearance items are amazing! It has sleeves, comes to the knee, and actually fits? Sign. me. up.

Latter Day Saint living is my culture. There is no start or finish to my religion. The gospel of Christ is essential and lived to the fullest. My mormon life rocks.

My favorite breakfast food is pancakes. I will always pick sausage links over bacon.

If there is ever lemonade on the menu, it will get. in. meh. bellay!

My hair changes monthly.

https://www.facebook.com/hairbyjaredjoyner

Pomeranians are my dream dog.

Cherry pie is better than cake.

Target is my favorite store.

My secret wish is to someday be a legit astronomer.

Next month I will have successfully completed my 27th year on this planet. Can't wait to see who I am in 27 more :)

Kate @ 23 Months

There are few things that Kate gets excited about, but brinner is one of them!

Her utensil skills are increasing daily.

Kate's speech abilities have also improved exponentially in the past few weeks.

"More sit down?"
"More dah??" (more of that)
 Ohhhh, pa-pa all gone! (when dinner is all gone. In this case, pasta.)

She babbles in a very serious way and loves to get increasingly louder and louder if she feels like you're not paying attention to her.

angry "I'm-not-getting-my-way" face

Kate is getting really good at vocalizing what she wants.
more joos! (juice)
more bishy-car (fishy crackers)
more sip sip sip! (when she wants a drink of whatever you have)
cee-al (cereal)
gup (grapes)
hup (help)
outside!
open
peety (hair pretties)
ahhhhhhhhhh (when she wants a bite of what you're eating)
mmmmmmm chassick (chapstick)
glassy (sunglasses)

She always insists on having "more binkit" (blankets) wrapped around her. She will walk around the house, a big puff ball of comfort and thinks she is just fantastic!

When she is excited to do something (or you finally figure out what she's been trying to say and point at for the last 15 minutes) she says, "ehh??!!" with a big smile on her face. Not sure when it will change to "yes." She definitely has "NO, NO, NO!" down just fine.

Her favorite things to do:
luh-low (color)
ow-side! (play outside/especially in water)
mah! mah! (sit on my lap)
daddy/mommy shoe (wear our shoes... or ANYONE'S shoes)

Kate wearing her cousin's shoes

 

Kate wearing Michelle O'Keefe's heels

more Margo! (pet Margo forcefully)
more Sha-sha! (attack Shasta in the rear end)
den-cee (dancing)

She also likes listening to music and wants us to have it playing constantly. Depending on the day it is either "miss-ik" or "mickey" but at least she points at the computer so we kind of get the idea.

Her favorite things to eat:
goldfish crackers, juice, mel (milk), pa-pa (pasta), goo-kee (cookies), any type of breakfast food.

Kate loves nursery at church, and we have such amazing leaders! I can already tell that she admires them so much. Just yesterday we were getting ready to brush her teeth, and I noticed that it sounded like she was trying to sing the words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". It sounded more like "dinkle-dar, dinkle dar, how I to are"... so I started singing it to her, and she LIT UP! After that she started asking for "more giggle dar" and it has become her favorite and most requested song :)
 
Lately Kate has been walking around making up her own songs and singing to her toys. It is the best!

She is getting much better at imitating what we do and say, even without us asking. Today Jon was signing to her, and she repeated every sign back with the vocal word too and she didn't need any coaching at all.

Kate loves to give hugs and be snuggled (as long as it is her idea.) She loves snuggling her baby dolls, holds them in the car while shushing them, and even did this all by herself the other day:

She really enjoys looking at my jewelry, putting on bracelets, and wants to wear my necklaces. The glow stick bracelets on the 4th of July were a big hit! Kate's nursery leader brought back necklaces for the kids from a recent trip to Hawaii, and Kate carried it around all morning yesterday to put it on us :)

She usually insists on things being her way, but she wouldn't be almost 2 if that wasn't the case! I am so grateful for this little girl. She is my buddy, and I'm grateful to be her best friend.

Edwin @ 3 Months

I always pictured what "our Edwin" would be like.

For years we had his name picked out and I always anticipated that even if he wasn't our first, that we would someday have this boy. But I never imagined that he would be this amazing. Or that I would love him so much.

Jon and I have agreed that there is no way we will ever have another baby this cute, happy, and awesome. I'm sure that everyone gushes about their own children. But seriously.

He loves to talk and gurgle at us, and will do so very intently. It's usually a series of "rawrrrrr-uuuhhhhh-gooooo-rgle"s and funny faces with some smiles thrown in.

 

I just can't get enough of his face!

Edwin weighs about 14-15 lbs now and is a solid chunk in size 3 diapers.

He loves to be held, especially to fall asleep at night. There is the occasionally grumpy moment (like when he has to wait to eat), but for the most part he is very content.

Edwin can now roll over on a regular basis and still loves tummy time. He's really good at rolling on his side. Sometimes he'll just hang out there and laugh.

He loves looking at Margo, toys, books, and faces. Especially when he's on his tummy. He just lights up!

Tummy time with Papa

 

Chillin' with Grandpa

We're so lucky to have this little boy in our family!

Jon @ 350 Months

Jon has bright chartreuse hazel eyes and a creative soul. When he is his happiest with me, he smiles with his lips closed and the corners of his mouth turned up. He just beams! I can picture it perfectly. I love the soft creases around his eyes and the way they fold when he smiles.

I love Jon's bursting laugh when he REALLY finds something funny.

When Jon and I got married, he was my best friend.

I realize now that I had no idea what a "best friend" really was.

Jon is a good sport and goes along with all my crazy ideas. He likes to celebrate fun things with me like National Donut Day. Although we have a lot of different likes and dislikes, we enjoy most of the same movies, love to read books out loud to each other and we try new things constantly.

 Jon is one of the most artistic people that I know, and he is always working on something different.

Although afraid of change, he is not afraid of project failure. He is intelligent and a great problem solver. He likes to work with his hands and figure things out. He enjoys taking apart computers, books, and whatever else he can to see what's inside and how they work. If something doesn't go as he imagined it would, he just tries again, or learns new skills for the next time. He has been very inspirational to me and keeps me trying. When I throw out a new strange hair-brained idea, he says, "You should do it!" every time. He is my biggest fan.

Jon has changed his look many times over the years. For a while back in 2007 his hair was almost as long as mine.

This picture from 2008 is probably one of my favorite looks of his. So handsome!!

When working on his master's degree, he started growing a beard so that he would look older than his students. I think it makes him look distinguished.

Jon is a collector of old books. It's become an obsession. I am glad that Jon's hobby is literature. It is a fascinating world! I love his philosophies on words and how stories connect humans and life, and how every book that you open has part of the person who previously read it with them. It's like a connection of human souls. Who originally set the words in the press to create the pressure on this page so that we could read it? Excellent mysteries.

This is me and Jon in SF for our 4 year wedding anniversary. I kind of think this is when we looked the best together. I loved my hair color this year and Jon's hair was the perfect length. That weekend was so fun! I like remembering us truly happy.

The apples of Jon's cheeks are perfect to kiss. I like how he looks when he runs his fingers through his long hair. Jon gives the best hugs and is always doting on me.

I know a lot of people don't get to see these sides of Jon, but he really is the most respectful husband I could ever imagine. Although very sarcastic and teasing in large groups, Jon is quiet and sweet at home and in small scenarios. He is a lover of deep conversation and regularly surprises me with movies from RedBox and coconut milk ice cream. He brought home my favorite chapstick from the grocery store today. He always wants to buy me dresses and pretty winter coats. He supports my femininity and always tells me what a wonderful mother I am. He encourages my goals and celebrates my triumphs.

I could spend all day writing memories and images of Jon. I really don't honor him on the blog enough. But the main point is that he is the biggest glue of our family, and I am forever thankful for him. I would be remiss if he didn't know how much he means to me. He has stuck with me through some really crappy years, and now having two children together and an etsy store our life is so different than I ever imagined it would be when we met 10 years ago

Jon is my favorite person, and I never want to take for granted any of my months with him. I hope he gets at least 350 more!!

Plumas Eureka 2014

I always love being outdoors and observing nature when camping. This year I witnessed some beautiful things!

Here we see wild creatures foraging for food in their natural habitat:

 Their young scamper about, fighting to establish territory by collecting everything in sight and claiming it theirs with an intense death grip:

The members of the cub pack rub as much dirt on themselves as possible, hoping to blend in to their surroundings and throwing off predators:

 

 

The most awesome offspring learn these warrior skills from their parents:

Of course, in the end one cub always stands supreme and sends the other (weaker) cubs running:

they fear there is no hope left for humanity.

Like a true leader, the best of cubs ends up being very loyal to the pack and insists on helping, even without being asked.

 

The youngest of cubs is looked upon favorably:

 
He is protected by the most amazing circle of loving mama bears:

Sweet and talented, these ladies know how to party!!

(best old-school rendition of "Oh Susannah" I've ever heard!)

Although wild at heart, the pack shows strong family ties:

The bearded one doesn't like to be spooked ^^

Better to observe in his natural element:

My favorite moments were seeing the cubs together:

Although somewhat narcissistic,

 and oftentimes nudists,

they are loving,

and clean up pretty well!

 

The men of the pack* even had their own adventure exploring and being artistic:

 

 

 

  

I even really liked the selfie that they attempted to take of themselves at the top of the waterfall:

 *note: the 4th man of the pack was off being manly; hiking the nearby mountain peak and biking like, 50 miles. True story.

Although the sleeping arrangements weren't ideal...

yeah... that's the Weber's air mattress to the left, and OUR air mattress to the right. Fail.

 The views were spectacular.

This was our 3rd annual summer camping trip with the group, and it's so fun to see how we've grown!

2012

2013

2014

 

Tristen, Kate, and Autumn

We're hoping for many more years of camping with this wild pack!