sand hollow reservoir

For Memorial Day weekend we went to St. George with Paul's folks and stayed at their condo. The weather was so nice and warm, and it was nice to get out of town for a few days.

We went to Sand Hollow Reservoir for a few hours and it was so beautiful! I love all that turquoise and orange. Penny didn't want to go in the water at first, but ended up splashing around and loving it as long as Dad was with her.

I only took pics at the reservoir, but we also had a fun little date while Debbie and Glade watched Penny. We saw The Avengers (loved it) and went out to lunch afterwards. We did have to take Violet to the movie since she's still nursing every 2 or 3 hours, but I thought it would be okay to take her to an action movie because it would be really loud and you wouldn't hear her fussing as much. And it worked out great except the theater was super crowded and I ended up having to nurse Violet halfway through the movie (with my nursing cover, don't worry, ha) and it was a little awkward with a 12-year old boy on my right. Especially when I was wrapping Violet back up in her blanket and she let out some explosive business in her diaper. I swear, he jumped a foot in the air and I just laughed and said "Sorry!" Oh, newborns.

It was a lovely weekend and Penny loved the undivided attention from both grandparents for 3 days straight. I even enjoyed the 4-hour drive there and back, strangely enough. Penny rode with Paul's parents and Violet slept the whole time in our car, so Paul and I just chatted, listened to music, and watched the scenery go by. Isn't there something great about being out on the open road?

Thanks for a fun weekend Debbie and Glade!

city creek + temple square

Last Saturday was one of those perfect days when you have nothing planned, but you head out anyway and end up having one of the most pleasant days ever. The weather was perfect, seventy degrees, and all of us were in a good mood so we decided to go to the new City Creek mall in Salt Lake. We had some tastey Greek food for lunch, and then just wandered around enjoying the weather and doing a bit of shopping.

Since City Creek is right across from the temple, Paul suggested we walk around temple square and suddenly that sounded like the best idea ever. I'd been to the temple for a few weddings, but hadn't just walked around and enjoyed the grounds for maybe 5 or 6 years. It was so pleasant! It was a Saturday so there was a couple wedding parties taking pictures of course, and it just made me smile walking around with my hubby and two girlies and seeing these cute, happy brides.

Penny wanted to take a picture next to the "castle" and below is one of my favorite pics of Paul and Penny ever. I adore this picture!

Then we wandered into the Visitor's Center where they have the beautiful Christus statue on display and we sat and listened to the recording that comes on every 15 minutes. So peaceful.

Kissy face!

Downstairs we saw a display that has a Book of Mormon in every language! Neat!

And we got to check out the miniature scale replica of the Salt Lake temple, which I had never seen before. It was amazing! So detailed and tiny!


It was such a nice day. Everything just went so smoothly. Penny loved being out and about, and Violet was asleep the whole time except for when she woke up once to nurse. Paul's work had given us this uh-mazing double stroller as a baby gift, so it was easy to push both the girls around in. And Violet had given me a 6-hour stretch of sleep the night before so I felt more energized than usual. It was just nice to spend time together as a family doing something enjoyable. Here's to more family outings this summer!

april/may instagrams

Holding hands with big sister (1 week) + Tummy time (1 week)

Wearing her first headband (1 week) + Lookin' pretty (4 weeks)

Sleepy Sleep (3 weeks)

Penny taking a nap on the floor (haha) + Playtime

Rocking an awesome unicorn bath towel (Thanks Ashlee!) + Swaddled up like baby sister, per her request

Life has been pretty busy lately (believe it or not...ha), and these past 6 weeks since Violet was born have flown by. Penny has adjusted pretty well to baby sister, she's always giving her sweet little pats on the head or kisses on her hands. But I think she's definitely feeling the pinch of me not having as much time for her, which makes me sad, but I do try to have one-on-one time with her as often as possible to make up for it. Mainly, reading books together (current favorite: Pinkalicious) or playing with her princess toys (current favorite: Ariel).

Violet's been great, but man, oh man, I am missing my sleep. I'd forgotten how hard it was to wake up every 2-3 hours at night, but I try to nap during the day so that I'm not a complete zombie. But she sure is cute and still has that amazing newborn smell so I guess that makes up for it. :) Love my girls!

1 month!

I can't believe my baby girl is one month old! She is so sweet and I feel so lucky to be her mama.

Some things I want to remember about 1-month Violet...

- She's 70th percentile in weight and height.
- Such a good nurser, she doesn't take forever and nurses like clockwork every 3 hours.
- Like every newborn, she loves to be wrapped up tight and rocked to sleep.
- Just yesterday she started smiling! I know it's not a fluke because she'll be looking straight into my eyes, and then I start cooing and talking to her and she totally smiles at me. She's done it like 5 or 6 times already! Love it!
- And my favorite, that newborn thing when they're asleep and suddenly their little lips look like they're nursing...you know what I mean, moms.

I'm so happy to have this little girl in our lives!