Friday Zoo Day!

Last Friday I had the day off but Everly still had school so after we dropped her off at school Aspen and I went on a little morning date to the zoo. The weather was finally starting to cool down a little. The day before when I asked Aspen what she wanted to do that day she actually told me Disneyland. Yea, I wish. Sorry girl, the zoo is all you get. Aspen and I got to see the wolves and mountain lions and finished out the Arizona Trail with the prairie dogs and reptiles. She wanted to see the monkeys so we checked out the orangutans and spider monkeys before hitting up the splashpad. Thank god the bees were gone. After the splashpad we hit up the carousel on the way home. This time last year she still hated the carousel and now it is a must. She especially loves to ride the bunny rabbit. She passed out on the way home so that is the sign of a good morning. Love getting my one on one time with Aspen.

She is 3 and still lets me wear her!!!

Sweaty sleepy baby Aspen

Sephora Play: September 2017

This is my 11th month of Sephora Play and the least excited I have been. Really the first one where nothing really wowed me. The theme this month was fall beauty. It definitely had some good stuff in it that I will use. One of the other things that was kind of a bummer this month was that there was no fragrance sample. Instead, there was a hair oil sample. I know you can walk into Sephora any time and get a free fragrance sample, but I still like getting them and the hair oil sample is really tiny. This month also came with a conditioning treatment which I need to use. It is from DevaCurl which I have been loving. It also came with a sample of Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve which I had a sample of and was almost out of. It is a really nice lightweight daytime moisturizer. For makeup, this month came with a Sephora black eyeliner, a red liquid lip, and a tiny sample of Benefit's Gimme Brow. I wish the Gimme Brow sample was bigger because I really like it. Hopefully next month steps it back up!

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

 

 

Weekend in Review

I had a lot planned last weekend so I took off Monday in advance because I have a lot of time to use before the end of the year and I also wanted to have some extra time with the girls. On Friday I left work and went straight to my sister-in-laws for dinner before we saw Death Cab for Cutie at a new venue downtown, The Van Buren. It was an awesome show although it felt like it went by really fast. The next morning I took the girls to Everly's soccer game and then we hit up the mall on the way home. It was actually really good to spend most of Saturday alone with them since I was going to be gone again Saturday night. Saturday I went out with my sister-in-law to our friend's birthday party. It was Disco themed and we had a blast. We drank way too much champagne but it was seriously such a fun night. On Monday Aspen and I had some alone time and it was really nice. We went to Costco and story time and picked up lots of new books for her sister to read. It was a great long weekend and I have a short week before another long weekend next weekend!

 

We loved The Van Buren

This is my life now.

 

All The Drinks

We liked the props

This girl loves bubbles

love my Aspen time.