love

Like most women I think babies are cute & I oooh and ahhh at them when they are especially adorable. I mean as long as they aren't barfing on me or having a blow out diaper situation they tend to cause my uterus to ache a bit. Sometimes I think, "No way Amy, that will be waaaaaaay too crazy... just wait a bit longer, until you think you're really ready to give up your entire life." and then I snuggle with a sweet baby and I think, "Hey, you could do this. Maybe you could do it and be great at it. Just maybe."

I think about becoming a mother a lot. I think it's mostly because there are SO many things that go into the decision of becoming a parent and I am the type of person that wants to know as much as possible about what I'm getting myself into. Not that I expect to be able to predict all possible situations, but I do want to be as prepared as possible. And mostly, I feel that at some point I should be mentally ready for the idea of dedicating my entire life, body & home to my child.

For now I'm really enjoying the fact that Tyler and I can pretty much do whatever we want whenever we want, a luxury I'm sure I'll miss when children enter the picture. And although the aching in my uterus is usually caused by spending time with my pregnant friends & family or their children, I also really like being able to spend time with said friends and family without having to worry about a baby. Then that last thought makes me feel like a bad person... like having a baby is torture or something?

Yes, I know I really know nothing about being a parent, but watching people I know go through parenthood helps me get a glimpse of the way life could be. It seems to me that the good simply continues to weigh out the bad. Plus, I really don't think many things are better than snuggling with my sweet niece and she alone has made my uterus ache more than any other child has. I love her SO much I can't even imagine how much I will love my own little pumpkin someday.

The way her hand is holding my arm just melts my heart. Seriously. I love her.


*picture of me and my niece Brylee at our cousin Justin's mission farewell lunch

finally!!!

After a few days of listening to a nice little shuffle on Pandora... one of the stations being Christmas of course, I mean come on, this is me we're talking about here... "Last Christmas" by Taylor Swift finally came on. Let's just say I bumped my measly little computer speakers for a couple minutes of bliss during my work day.

I want to go Christmas tree shopping.

stache bash

On Saturday Tyler and I attended a 30th Birthday Stache Bash for a friend from our ward. Tyler has known about this party for months, hence the reason for him growing a beard and then rocking this horrendously cool stache for a few days. Bad news is... I really miss his beard, good news is... he won best overall mustache at the party.

pumpkins, leaves and candles

Well it looks like fall over here my friends. I can't really explain just how happy the fall makes me. I am SO excited for the cold weather and for the holidays that follow this blessed season. Although this week brought me a lovely cold I am finally feeling better & got the urge to decorate and it just makes me happy. Hopefully it gets colder soon so I can bust out my scarfs, beanies and coats.

Happy Autumn to all of you!

i'm not so sure that this is going to work

Yesterday after work I pitched an idea to Tyler. I decided we should try to not eat out for an entire week. 7. whole. days. Eating out is bad for our wallets as well as our waistlines so we thought we would give it a try and see how we handle it.

This is going to be rough. We really enjoy eating out, especially on the weekends after we've worked hard all week long. And as the head chef of the household I'm trying to keep the meals simple so I don't become overwhelmed with the task of cooking everyday. For 7 days!

Wish us luck. We started last night and we will finish monday night and probably celebrate our accomplishment by eating out that evening.

By the way, just doing this post made me seriously hungry & now I really want Yogurtland.

Great!

loving this

I'm a little grumpy as I sit here at my desk wishing it was quitin' time already.

But don't you worry about me, I am getting excited as I look out my window and see gray skies and no sunshine. Sounds depressing to some, but to me it means that fall is coming and this, for me, is very exciting.

This means I can start wearing my cardigans again (without sweating like a beast). I can also wear my boots, tights and socks again. Ahhh... I LOVE the fall. I cannot wait for trader joe's apple cider, candy corn and pumpkins.

If you're wondering, I will definitely be putting out my fall decor by September 23rd (the day Autumn begins)... but let's be real here, it will most likely happen before then.

Yesterday as I was walking to my car after dinner I got this surge of excitement and I thought "Why am I excited right now?" and then it hit me... I was snuggling into my sweater as the cool breeze hit me. Then I realized... the cold weather means the holidays are coming.



I. can't. wait.

you asked so i'll tell you

There have been a few people who are still inquiring about my crazy post from a while back. So for those of you who are still wondering what this crazy act was I will tell you.

I finally bought myself a professional level camera. Since my purchase I have participated in a workshop, done a couple shoots and gotten to know this little baby. I've still got a lot of learning to do, but I'm feeling more confident as I continue to learn more about my camera & myself as a photographer. I am SO very excited about getting another step closer to building my photography business. Now lets just hope Tyler lands a sweet job when he graduates in December so I can work less & photograph more!

malibu

We had ourselves a little sleep over at the Olsen's a few weeks back. Friday night we hit up Spitz for dinner, went to LA Live & saw Crazy Stupid Love (we also saw Bam while we were walking around... he is a VERY little man, in case you were wondering) and then Saturday morning we hiked in Malibu. It was a glorious day.

the fourth

This year for the fourth of July we hit up the Goodwin's backyard bbq... basically the largest most beautiful home I have ever been to. They put on a great party.

After that we headed to the park for fireworks.

Surprise

You may remember my brother from when I posted about his broken leg about 6 months ago. About a week before he turned 16 he broke both the bones in his leg, had surgery and was on crutches for what seemed like a VERY long time. SO, since we didn't really get to throw him a party on his birthday my mom pulled one together (once he got off his crutches) and surprised him. Here are just a few of the great photos from that party. It was really fun... we even played pin the lips on jack (notice the life size digital print of my brother in a few of the pics), that's the benefit of working for a signage/graphics company.

Anyway, I love my brother and I'm really glad he finally got to have a sweet 16.

birthday

I keep forgetting that I forgot to blog my birthday events. And since this blog is basically my journal I feel that I should finally put this 24th birthday on the record.

On my actual birthday, in lieu of Tyler buying me a gift, I got permission to get a massage & go shopping. That night Tyler brought me red roses and a card & took me out to dinner at Houstons. We ended the night with a redbox and snuggle sesh. It was an amazing day.

This was most of my birthday loot... I totally scored this year.











That weekend we decided to ride our bikes to the beach, just the two of us. It was really fun to spend that time together enjoying the beautiful weather and hanging out at the beach.