welcome, march!

how is it already march 1st?

i'm not complaining.

happy to welcome spring and *hopefully* with that,

a few warmer days, less snow storms (or NO snow storms),

the first little signs of cherry blossoms on the trees,

& maybe even one or two nights where we can drive with the top down.

believe it or not, i'm actually looking forward to my snarly hair

after it's experienced some crazy wind from driving

with the top down on the freeway. weird.

love to you all!

happy march!

here's to happiness {by chanel}

i am bringing back the happy lists!

mostly because when i receive one, it makes me feel so happy.

and i kind of love that feeling, very very much.

hope you enjoy them as well...

i loved this one my dear friend chanel emailed me today.

we studied at juilliard together and she's in her second season

dancing professionally with trey mcintyre.

i love her dearly.

10 things that make chanel terribly happy:

1. yogi purely peppermint tea...mmm.
2. laying on the grass, nuzzled in the shoulder of someone you love.
3. laughing. uncontrollably.
4. disney movies! especially the little mermaid.
5. crepes. preferably with bananas and nutella.
6. watching the sunset.
7. sending and receiving lovely things in the mail.
8. the indescribable feeling you get after performing for a loving audience.
9. sweet, stolen kisses.
10. bacon cheeseburgers. with fries.

thanks for sharing, chanel!

love you girl. xoxo

photo via papertissue.

snowboarding.

snowboarding in sundance, utah (a very beautiful place)

with josh, my little brother isaac and sister hannah.

someday i will be able to keep up

with these three people on the mountain.

someday.

Kingsley. And other pets we know.

josh's parents have a pretty adorable cat named hopi.

she wears pink bows in her hair!

she is one big ball of fluff.

such a big ball of fluff, that you can't really find her eyes unless you lift up the fluff on her face.

i don't exactly care for cats (well, marci's cat maude is pretty adorable)

but before we got kingsley, i tried to talk josh into letting us adopt hopi from his parents.

i really love her look and temperament.

but josh is very allergic to cats (and... he hates them.)

anyway, kingsley lOVED chasing hopi around.

he was just so curious.

she liked running away, hissing and trying to paw his face off.

kingsley also loved trying to become bff's with ben (josh's parents dog)

and buster (my family's dog) but with no luck.

older big dogs dislike him so much that they ignore him.

and my mom's chickens were so scared of him. they just hid under the coop

the entire time he was outside.

i'm proud of his many attempts to win other animal's hearts though.

he makes a valiant effort to befriend a new dog (or squirrel)

everyday on our walks.

someday, he'll find a best animal friend.

until then, he's stuck only winning the affection of humans.

cute little video.

i was browsing nate pickett's blog the other day

and maybe watched this video of his three times in a row.

he shot it in california using only natural light, at night!

and in black and white.

this couple is absolutely adorable. (so is her pregnant belly. i love it.)

and this video is so rockstar.

in collaboration with gideon photo.

this is NOT a sponsored post.

tommy's.

when i was a little girl living in utah,

my dad would take us girls out to tommy's hot dog in provo

for daddy-daughter dates.

i think i fell in love with tommy's when i was 6 or 7 years old.

it is probably my favorite little place to grab lunch in utah county.

i was so glad we made time for a run by on our trip last week.

my family is originally from chicago so everyone always gets a chicago dog!

even though i was born there, i still eat my hot dogs with nothing but the bun.

haha. i love it.

and how cute is this little man reading the newspaper outside tommy's?

if kingsley wasn't getting such a big tummy

i would have shared. (at a moment when josh wouldn't be looking....of course.)

*and i just realized it's proper name is tommy's burger,

but we have always called it tommy's hot dog at my house.

we don't go for the burgers....we go to stan's in provo for that.

on journals...

this may come off really cheesy, but sometimes i like cheese.

so, i was watching the bachelor the other day (yes, i watch it. yes, it's a joke. but yes, i absolutely of love it) and one of the contestants started opening up and professing her love for jake, the bachelor. it appeared so sincere and sweet that it got me thinking back to the first time josh told me he had fallen in love with me (it is one of my sweetest memories to date).

as i tried to remember how the conversation went some years ago.... i couldn't. the memory was so blurry and fuzzy and while i remembered things like the t-shirt he was wearing or where we were when he told me, i couldn't remember how he said it or what i said afterwards.

i almost had a panic moment there on the couch as i tried to relive that moment without success. how could one of my favorite memories be so cloudy?

thankfully, back then i was much better at journaling than i am now and since i had written down the experience in detail when it happened, i was able to go back and read what i had written.

i am a huge advocate of journals. i have a few- this blog of photos for family, friends and anyone who wants to read it, a private blog just for me and a little notebook beside my bed. i know some people aren't big journal keepers, but i know i would really regret it if i didn't keep track of the special, difficult or little details of my life.

so i just thought i would post this to say, i think it's important to keep a journal. sometimes i look back and cringe at what i wrote or posted (i was/am so stupid sometimes). but more often than not, i look back and can't believe how far i have come, or how much i have learned, or just how beautiful life is with its ups and downs.

so anyway, i just wanted to say, "please keep a journal."

the end.

*photo of last years valentines day card (or book) i made for my husband.

kingsley diary.

"i guess i'm pretty cute when i sleep because EVERYONE always comes and gives me kisses right as i start to doze off. it is so annoying. when will they learn that this wakes up a dog?

here is my aunty hannah doing just that as i tried to get a few moments of peace to myself on mom's comfy coat in utah. ugh.

in other news, i lost my two front baby teeth last night while playing frisbee with dad. my parents went crazy with pride and kept opening up my mouth to check it out. beyond embarrassing.

now i chew everything because i'm teething like crazy. i especially love to chew mom's favorite frye boots, the desk chair legs and EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE HOUSE that i can get my paws on. i call it pay back since the vet told mom i was getting a fat tummy and to cut back on my lunches. SERIOUSLY?

bye!

--kingsley."

bowling.

bowling with sister hannah and brother isaac.

i won the first game with three strikes in a row!

then i lost the second game to hannah and realized my strikes

were just "bumper luck."

still wanting to start a bowling league in DC though.

how fun would that be?

utah trip. part I

sister hannah and kingsley love.

we loved spending the past week in utah with our families. it's such a beautiful place, and we had a wonderful time.

we got lucky that my little brother isaac's 12th birthday happened during our trip, so we got to be there for the festivities and see him ordained to the aaronic priesthood at our church. we also had time to snowboard in sundance, spend a few days with josh's family in park city, go to the salt lake city temple (i'd never been inside that one, absolutely beautiful. an experience i will always remember), and do a lot of things as a family.

i love utah. and our families.

i wish utah and DC weren't so far apart!

park city main street.

"it's me, kingsley, again!

we've been in park city this week with dad's family. yesterday we went down to main street where i got to meet lots of people. people sure like to pet me...

i kept warm in the rocky mountain candy store while mom got candy apples! i didn't get to snowboard this trip but i still really like park city.

tonight we're heading back down to provo and the WH for the weekend. there is too much cat hair (yuck) here in the park city home for me to handle.

have a good weekend!

love, kingsley

p.s. thank you mom for helping me type this."

An update from Utah by Kingsley

"Hi everyone!

Mom said I could take over the blog this week since she's busy with the family.

Even though my face doesn't show it, I'm having lots of fun here in Utah.

The airplane ride was a breeze. (although Delta lost me at the airport for 45 minutes and mom and dad almost had heart attacks.)

I met a cat for the first time (weird) and chickens! Mom once snuck me some of her chicken at the dinner table so it was kind of awkward meeting a live chicken.

I like all the people here who give me oodles of attention. And I've noticed I breathe easier in Utah because the mountain air is so clean.

Well, that's all for now. Bye!"

-- Kingsley


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

utah!

we flew into Utah on saturday and are having a lot of fun here with our families. the weather is much calmer than D.C. (whaaat?) and Kinglsey is loving all the attention he's getting from the fam. i absolutely love it here... it'll be hard to go back next week. i just can't think about it.

P.S. Utah got all fancy with some new in-n-out's these last few months so sister hannah took us out for burgers on our way home from the airport. (if you don't want to wait in line at in-n-out, stop by at midnight. no one is there. it was nice not waiting in an hour long line.) also, it wasn't as good as i remembered? i love me some D.C. good stuff.

xo

valentines day. who and what do you love?

i really love this holiday.

because i love love.

all kinds. it's good for you. it's healthy.

i love josh.

because he's my best friend. he loves me for me and we're a little family.

i love my mom and dad.

because they continue to be there for me. and support me. and still love me even though sometimes i pretend to know it all.

i love kingsley.

i know he's not a baby. he's a dog. (no kidding! --thank you to everyone who has pointed that out). but he's a pretty cute dog and he's going to continue to be a main topic on this blog. so incase you missed it the first time, i love kingsley.

i love my sisters. and little brother isaac.

because we are family. and they are pretty rockstar.

i love my friends.

i have the best of them. they are really good to me.

i love D.C.

even on the days i say i don't.

i love key lime pie.

it's just so delicious.

i love my life.

so grateful to be alive. to have free agency. to be me.

i love where i'm at in life.

because i believe i'm making progress each and every day. even if i'm no where near where i thought i'd be at this point in my life.

i love seeing the sun rise.

even though most mornings i'm still sleeping when she rises.

i love snacking.

life is just so much better with FOOD.

i love being a woman.

it's so much fun.

and i love my heavenly father.

sometimes i think he's forgotten about me. but that's just silly talk.

i am a child of God and he loves me.

...

however you celebrate this holiday, i wish you the very best valentines day weekend ever!

i hope you're loving everyone and everything around you, too!

xoxo

day after the storm.

are you sick of seeing photos from this storm yet?

i'm getting there.

i was able to get out and walk a few blocks yesterday which felt like heaven.

especially since we've been stuck in doors for almost a week

and i gained 5 pounds to prove it.

being "snowed in" is beautiful and fun and romantic for 24 hours....tops.

but being "snowed in" for almost a week? we don't recommend it.

the one thing i'll probably remember most about this historic week in D.C. weather is the canker sore it gave me inside my mouth the size of a temple that just won't.go.away.

looking forward to a trip to the beach this summer.

counting down the days.

giveaway winner!

our giveaway winner is kelly:

kelly, please email me for your gift certificate.

thanks for playing everyone!

xo

right now...

...this is what it looks like outside our front door.

the blizzard is back, and she's bigger than ever with 37 MPH winds.

hope you're tucked away inside if you're anywhere near D.C.

xo

kingsley brings me my lost mitten. and other snow things.

a few more photos from saturday's monster storm.

we're supposed to be getting 8-10 more inches today...

i feel like i'm living in the mountains of utah again.

this first winter in DC has us all confused.

being snowed in the past 2 weekends in a row

has proven a few things at our house:

1. i get on josh's nerves after being cooped up together for 12+ hrs.

he needs his space. apparently, i don't need mine.

2. kingsley goes bonkers being stuck inside for days at a time.

he'll bite you a million times (i do not like this)

& forget everything he once learned about potty training & barking.

3. life would not be possible if it weren't for our corner market.

when every other store in D.C. runs low on supplies,

the corner market still has milk, cookies & pellegrino (and no lines.)

4. it's time for us to buy a shovel.

xo