Family Photos: Happy Birthday Aspen!

The last post from out family photos works out perfectly because today is Aspen's birthday! Out little squishy is 3 years old today. We will probably do a fun little dinner or something tonight and we will have her joint party with Everly next week at Pump it Up! Aspen was a little bit difficult during this photo shoot but she was leaps and bounds better than last year so...progress! We had treats to bribe her with and one of these pictures she actually has it in her hands. Aspen's dress is also Alice and Ames. I think our photographer did a great job getting some super sweet photos of Aspen and I just can't handle that she is 3 years old today. Happy Birthday baby Aspen!

Family Photos: Everly

Besides getting great family photos to use for our Christmas cards, I also try to get pictures of the girls every year sometime around their birthdays to document them at each year. It works out that their birthdays are less than 3 weeks apart (and we are actually doing a joint birthday celebration next week). Everly is so good at photo shoots. She really knows how to turn on the charm and is such a good sport about it all. Of course, it helped that our photographer is really fast as well so she never even gets close to losing her patience. She is also really good about helping us with her sister who has a lot less patience. Everly's dress (and Aspen's) are from a local company called Alice and Ames. While they are a little more expensive, they do have occasional sales throughout the year and they also hold up really well and are perfect for twirling so I think they are worth it. Also, I love being able to support small local businesses.

Family Photos: All of Us

One of the reasons that I take family pictures every year is to make sure we have family pictures to use for Christmas Cards. I try to get them done plenty early so I have lots of time to get my Christmas cards out early. It's not hard for me to order the Christmas cards but I am just a slacker when it comes to addressing, stamping and actually mailing them, so I need all the extra time I can get. I also have a really big print of one of our family pictures from last year above the mantel in the living room so I need to replace that with one of these new ones!

Also, one of Justin and I because we do actually like each other.

Family Photos: Sisters

Last month we headed up to Flagstaff for a quick evening trip to take family photos. We did this last year while up there for one of my sister's soccer game and when Julia Romano Photography posted about a summer special we decided to get our annual family photos in a little early. I loved our pictures from last year (HERE) and so was very excited to update them. While it was still very hot in Phoenix, the weather was absolutely perfect up in Flagstaff. The girls actually did pretty good. Aspen definitely did better than last year. We also made sure we had some snacks to bribe her with. It is kinda crazy to think that Julia got so many good pictures in less than 30 minutes. It was soo fast and we got everything we wanted. There are too many good pictures for one post so I am going to start with pictures of both the girls together and with each of us. Get ready to die.

 

 

probably my favorite of these 3

 

 

Mt. Humphrey's Hike

Last weekend Justin and I along with my brother-in-law Doug completed a hike we have been wanting to do for awhile. We hiked the tallest point in Arizona, Mt. Humphrey's in Flagstaff. My sisters had completed this hike a few years ago when I was super pregnant with Aspen so I have been wanting to do it since I missed it then. I had been looking in to doing it for a while and as we are coming up on monsoon season I knew we either needed to do it know or we wouldn't be able to do it until the end of summer. We were able to get our super cheap Flagstaff hotel room and my mom and sisters were able to help with the girls so a couple of weeks ago we booked the rooms and planned to head up to Flagstaff. We ended up leaving on Thursday night and due to some wildfires, it took us a little longer than planned to get up to Flagstaff but we made it up there and had a super delicious meal at Dara Thai and a couple beers at Historic Brewery. We got up pretty early the next morning and grabbed some Starbuck's before heading up to the mountain. We ended up starting our hike just before 6 AM. The weather was perfect at about 60 degrees. We stopped a couple of times for a quick minute on the way up to pee/grab a snack/apply bug spray but still made it to the summit in 3 hours and 10 minutes. We lucked out and had the summit to ourselves for the entire 30 minutes we were up there. We had a beer even though it was 9 AM and ate some snacks and took a ton of pictures. The last 40-ish minutes of the way up was not necessarily hard but we were ready to be there. Once we got up we were feeling great and thought it would be literally all down-hill from there. Unfortunately, getting down was not as easy as we would have liked. I underestimated how much you have to focus on your way down so that you don't slip on any of the loose dirt or tree roots. It was mentally exhausting. I think we all also got a mild case of altitude sickness because at about 1 hour left we all kinds felt gross and just wanted to be DONE. The mountain definitely got more busy on they way down so if you are planning on doing it I would definitely go early. While it started to get a little warm on they way down, since we were almost done, it wasn't really bad at all. We didn't even have wind at the top so I would definitely recommend this hike in mid-late June (when my sisters did it in late August they were FREEZING). I did not pause my watch while we hung out at the top so I ended up logging just over 11 miles in 6 hours and 15 minutes. We were all beat when we were done and couldn't wait to take a shower. We took a nap after cleaning up before heading out for dinner at our favorite brewery in Flagstaff. The weather was amazing and it was the perfect way to recover after that hike. The next morning we got up and packed up with no set timeline but ended up getting back to Phoenix at 9 AM. It was a super fast drive back, thankfully! We missed out girls but are so glad we were able to make that hike happen. Flagstaff is always a good choice!  Here are some pictures and a little video!

Just as we were starting

 

Amazing views

 

The actual trail doesn't even start for about a mile.


Lots of trees!

Gotta get that snow pic (meanwhile 2 hours away Phoenix is literally on fire) 

Never say no to a 9AM beer

Summit Selfie

Cautiously heading down.
 

Perfect 2 days in Flag!

Family Photos 2016

We got our pictures back from our family photo session a couple of weeks ago up in Flagstaff. I like to take pictures of this time of year because it is around the girl's birthdays and so we get to capture their growth each year. Also, doing pictures this early allows me to knock out my Christmas Cards early each year. I still love our pictures from last year with my friend Jamie. (here). Aspen was actually pretty difficult last year and was about the same this year. I think we still got great pictures but man I hope next year she does better. Everly of course, was a champ. We took these pictures with Julia Romano Photography and it was a great, quick process. I am so glad we decided to take these up in Flagstaff because it was such a nice change of scenery. I have already turned these into a photobook from Shutterfly and can't wait to order our Christmas cards, too. Here are some of my favorites: