katie, lately

Life has been such a circus lately! There has been so much going on that I just don't have the time to sit down long enough to write up an entire blog posts! That being said -- am I mis-using this Sunday afternoon while Devin plays video games? I'm gonna say no for now. Here's what I've been up to lately...

 

kade loves dogs. he just doesn't know it yet.

  

the whole family waiting for the show to start at the new pavilion by the senior center in orem

 

so devin's grandpa is in a band. he plays the trumpet and they are really incredible!

 

cooper sat with devin like this for at least 15 minutes

 

addi's signature pose - showing me her cute shoes

 

the most perfect batch of macarons i've made to date! these were for my cousin's fiance's bridal shower!

 

my sister and her husband are in a band called The Zero Summers - and they are becoming a pretty big deal! when they played a show at university mall in orem, we knew we had to make it! they did so great, and i thought they were even better than the headliner!

 

< sometimes when i'm having a bad day, i go home on my lunch break and snuggle with cooper. and then i'm alright.

> we went to our favorite, Gourmandise, for dinner last week with our dear friend Skyler and I couldn't pass up their macarons, of course. this place is an authentic french bakery, so their macarons are basically perfect! i ordered a pistachio and chocolate macaron and the server brought me a lemon one to try for free! the pistachio is my favorite so far!

 

< car rides with this dog 

> i just can't. he's the cutest thing.

< we went to the bee's game with sean and chloe one night! they were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the movie "The Sandlot" - so the cast was there! Ham looks exactly the same. It was pretty awesome!

> yesterday morning, Devin grabbed the mail on his way home from work. He walked in carrying a package and I asked him what it was. He looked at me confused and said it was for me, asking if I had ordered anything. I hadn't. When I opened the package, I found this amazing french macaron cookbook and a note from my sweet friend Amy, saying she works for a company that just published this book and when she saw it, she knew I'd love it! I'm still not over how sweet it was of her! I am so excited to try making some more! thanks a million, Ames!

4th of July

This year was pretty different from our usual celebrations for the fourth, but we had such a great time! Originally, Devin had to work for most of the day, so we weren't really going to plan anything. He got his shift covered at the last minute, but still had to work just a few hours in the morning. Since our plans were up in the air until the night before, we weren't able to make it to any of our family parties. Devin worked until about 12:30 and I stayed home, slept in and cleaned the house. 

He got home shortly before the Medley's got to our house! Jared and Lynn have become some of our greatest friends and we love getting together with them! I feel like I need to make a reference chart or something about all the people in my life, because I talk about them on my blog often, but I always think people won't remember who they are! Jared was our wedding photographer, and long time climbing friend of Devin's, and he and Lynn have the most adorable little girl, Ellie who we adore! They've also got the sweetest aussie named Rosie that Cooper gets along with really well! 

When everyone got to our house, we had some snacks and then headed straight for the pool! It was so nice and not even crowded and Ellie loved swimming! She was so fun to watch, and it was the perfect temperature to be in the pool! 

After swimming, we started grilling! We don't have a grill, but the park area in our backyard does, so we took advantage of it and the boys got some hot dogs started while Lynn and I put together salad and sweet potato fries. The food was delicious and we had so much fun playing games, playing with Ellie and talking. It was the perfect afternoon! By about 7:00, they had left and we were settling in for a night at home. We rented a movie on apple TV and after a few texts from friends, we turned it off half way through and decided at the last second to go watch the Sandy City Hall fireworks from Jordan High School. 

We met up with a big group there and tried and failed to play hackysack (I just didn't understand!), and then the fireworks started! It was a pretty impressive show, but we were really tired and went home right away! It was a pretty great holiday if you ask me!

 

< this was the most patriotic thing i had in my closet! 

> cooper wore his red bandanna today in celebration. he looks so serious in this photo, it cracks me up.

 

ellie getting ready to go swim! see what i mean?! she's just the cutest!

catch up post

nothing too exciting going on lately. and maybe that's why i haven't blogged, but it also might be because of jeff daniels, seeing as how we'e become mildly obsessed with "Newsroom" ever since our apple TV update revealed HBO GO to us! It's pretty fantastic.

though, not exciting, we are still insanely busy. summer camps are in full swing at the gym, so that means my youth program director husband spends long afternoons facilitating cute kids, playing games, experimenting with a GoPro (he's convinced we need one now!) and throwing birthday parties. what a hard life, huh! ;)

aside from being particularly busy at work, i've also been trying to focus more on my etsy shop. a lot of my listings are getting close to expiring so i've been relisting and redesigning some new items! i am so, so excited for the lineup i have for the next few months and hope to be able to add a new line of prints every single month! i also have some great ideas for some new products that i hope will find there way in there soon too.

other things keeping us busy... our sweet pup turns ONE this month, so i've spent a lot of time being blown away by how fast this year has gone by... we've been planning our big annual camping trip to wyoming, and also making plans for my birthday that same weekend... we've been dying of heat!...

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okay so maybe now that i've uploaded all of the photos on my phone, i realize we have actually done quite a bit lately! oops... oh well. here's a photo dump for you..

 

< remember that time i almost had to get my wedding ring cut off? i got so paranoid, i decided to just have it resized, and while the goldsmith had it, they re-plated it and now it's so shiny and sparkly and i love it

> a wedding outfit (don't be fooled, i'm not really that tan. tgff - thank goodnesss for filters)

> we could play with little ben all day long! even though he projectile vomited directly down the front of my shirt, i still love him more than practically anything and he was so dang cute that i didn't even care!

 

is this handsome guy going to be a great dad or what? he looks like a natural! i seriously can't wait to see what the mini version of devin looks like :)

 

last saturday, we offered to help some friends with some yard work at their new house, and be "we", i mean devin and christian slaved away in the hot sun and sarah and i colored with their cute little girls in the a/c! after we finished up yard work and ate some lunch with them, we took cooper up to our favorite spot for a swim so he could cool off. that dog is a little fish! i can't wait to take him in the river at grey's this year!

after cooper's swim session, we decided to spend the rest of our saturday finally making the coffee table we've been talking about for months! i've become so familiar with the lumber sections of home improvement stores that it's almost embarrassing.

 

this is the table right before we stained it! devin used hsi new electric sander on it in the garage and everything in there got entirely covered in sawdust! oops.

 

the table turned out perfect. it's exactly what i had pictured in my head. the stain is so pretty, it's chunky but not overdone, it's sturdy and the perfect size. i'm mildly obsessed and now i want devin to build us a kitchen table that is similar!

 

the disney movies on netflix lately? genius. we've watched basically all of them. i even remembered most of the songs in hercules. i forgot how much i love old school disney. (did you know snow white came out in 1937??? NINETEEN THIRTY SEVEN!!!!!)

 

< HOA planted a giant, giant daffodil bush in our front yard, so... they wanted me to pick them, right? same with our neighbor's shasta daisies, i'm sure.

> on tuesday, our old friend, Cory Mon, who also happens to be a very talented local musician, got married! i can't even begin to explain the kind of happiness on his face this day. Cory is such an incredible friend and we were so happy to support and celebrate with him on this day! he married the cutest girl who's perfect for him, and their reception was to die for gorgeous. these italian sodas were just one of the many delicious food options! i got strawberry and devin got mango. so delicious!

 

< the details and decorations were absolutely amazing, and i think they fit cory and mandy's personality so well. right when we walked in, we got our picture taken in a "face-in-hole" board that was a bride riding on a centar... i mean... that's cory to a T! but the table centerpieces were my favorite part. i loved all the flower arrangements.

>best. idea. ever. so delicious.

 

let me talk to you about this stuff for a second. and let me start out by saying that if i wasn't raised the way i was and with the beliefs that i believe, i would probably be the biggest coffee drinker ever. it has always appealed to me. enter crio bru. so this stuff can be substituted into any kind of coffee drink. instead of brewing coffee beans, it's brewed cocoa beans! and let me just tell you. it is incredible. i new cafe/doughnut shop opened next door to us (almost literally. so that's dangerous), and they serve this stuff. and i'm hooooooked. it's amazing.

fwew. that's all for now, i think! we are officially caught up.

katie, lately

 

so, we've still never really edited our wedding photos, but i'm pretty sure when we get around to it, i'll want a black and white version of all of them. also? so mega-grateful for this guy lately.

 

this is my nephew kaden. i got to spend a whole morning/afternoon with my nieces and nephew.

kaden has started a karate class. this is what he did when i asked him to show me what he's learned so far.

this is kadenator at the library. he chose to check out dragon books and was so excited about them.

 

this is my sweet addi-mae at lunch that afternoon. she was being such a ham all day long. i can't stand how much i love her. those eyes! that goofy grin!

      

she's become such a big girl lately. always wants to do things by herself.

i mean!

all 3 kiddos waiting for story time to start at the library

 

more storytime waiting

 

i just can't even handle the cuteness of these three. they are perfect! i'm one lucky aunt! (not pictured: my only other nephew, ben. the world's cutest baby. literally. although he isn't included in the picture, he is included in the holy cuteness that is my nieces and nephews and i'm obsessed with all 4 of them.)

  

we FINALLY planted herbs! they smell amazing. we are so excited to use them in our cooking!

 

so... this is the kind of stuff that ends up happening when we spend the evening in kamas with brandon. we'll start out playing with the dogs (five of them this night!). then we'll progress to some delicious barbecue dinner. then we'll move to the camp chairs in front of the garage and bask in the low 70's. and then we'll head over to the slack line. then, someone will bring up the infamous horse head mask.. and things get weird. hilariously weird.

 

cooper freaked out when he saw devin in the mask. full on psycho dog.

 

please take care to notice brandon's "thuggie" - there is no better combination then a guy, on a slack line, in the thuggie, wearing a horse mask. it just doesn't exist.

 

also recently: pool time. like, a lot of it. this was our double date with my sister and her boyfriend. basically our favorite double date couple right now. they came up to herriman and we took them to sodarow for lunch and then went swimming. funnest afternoon. love those two.

 

the treats i picked up at Swirly Girls Bakery on SodaRow: a cotton candy cupcake (it was the most amazing and delicious cupcake i have ever eaten in my life. the best frosting, the most perfect flavor. i don't think i can ever eat another cupcake again. nothing will compare!) and a chocolate croissant (which i saved and ate the next day for breakfast...) - the most buttery delicious thing.

 

cooper face. priceless. on our way to lunch.

some more of the coolest babies around. ellie on the left, the greatest most adorable one year old of all time. i just love her to death and want to take her home! we always joke with lynn and jared (her parents, our dear friends), that she's the only baby that makes us baby hungry! and on the right, sweet little montgomery, just days old! my mom, sister and i took dinner to my cousin McKenzie after this little guy was born. he was so content and relaxed. it was the cutest thing.

aaaaand a massive cooper photo dump. 

 

he's taken to sticking his head out the window, and goes into "guard dog mode" every time the front window blinds are open. it's hilarious and adorable at the same time.

such a mama's boy. i love it.

 

getting taaallllll - and this is cooper and his very best friend, addie. she's a mountain dog puppy about his same age, but about three times his size and she lives 2 doors down from us. they are the cutest when they play! it takes us forever to tear them apart!

 

we explored the park next to our house for the first time on sunday. cooper approved.

the looks he gives me, man.

 

more guard dog mode.

a more honest portrayal of cooper's personality.