Katie, Lately

 

i really couldn't pass up a bedazzled sweater, plus like i said on instagram, when you work in a body shop, your girly side has to compensate for it.

 

i don't wear lipstick very often, but i've been buying a lot of it lately, and i put some on one morning before i realized i still hadn't kissed devin goodbye.i kissed him anyway and he was wearing about as much bright pink lipstick as me! luckily he was just going back to bed, but it was still pretty funny. when i posted this on instagram, he commented and said "worth it" - glad it was!

 

we always made it a point when cooper was a puppy to play with his paws and mouth, and have him get used to people doing that, so he wouldn't bite and be mean, especially to kids, and sometimes devin takes advantage of cooper's patience and does things like this. 

monumental documentation of my first belt purchase in about five years.

 

okay let's talk about this book for a quick second (i will probably do a separate post all about it since i read it for a small impromptu book club) but OMG. seriously. i remember when elizabeth smart went missing. i knew a girl who took harp lessons with her, and she was my age, and it was in SALT LAKE so it really hit home, especially for how young i was. i don't so much remember when she was found, but i am always intrigued by stories like this. i recently read the book "room" which is about a woman and her son who were kidnapped, but this book was different. it's her personal account of her capture, her nine months in the hands of an evil, sick couple, and her manipulative plan that ultimately lead to her freedom. she is such an incredible person, and has so much grace and class and i laughed and cried and totally understood the way this book was written (even though i felt like it was pretty bad writing, but more on all that later). anyway. read this book. it's amazing. she's amazing. 

took devin to a hibachi grill for date night with his childhood best friend, skyler one night, because he had never been! he loved it and wants to go again. this restaurant is quickly becoming one of our favorites! Fuji in Sandy. so delicious and great service. the chicken and steak we got this night was INCREDIBLE. 

and baby cooper, just because LOOK AT HIS TINY LITTLE FACE.

Halloween

This year so far, Halloween seems a little more festive! Even though it's not the actual Halloween yet, we've been having fun celebrating with family. On Saturday, Amanda threw a huge party - it was amazing! She had made all these soups, breads, desserts, homemade root beer, it was awesome! There was even a popcorn machine and halloween music! We had so much fun. Devin had to work, so I went by myself, dressed up as a cat (I didn't really dress up, I just painted my face and wore cat ears, but I had to do something since everyone would be dressed up too!) 

The kids all looked SO adorable. Makayla, Kaden and Addison were pirates! Technically, Addi was a princess pirate, and she will correct you. They looked so great and loved showing off their costumes. Benny's costume probably took the cake though! Sean and Chloe couldn't agree on a costume for his first Halloween - Sean loves Batman and wanted benny to be that for Halloween, where Chloe has always loved elephants and had found a cute elephant costume for him, so they did a compromise: an elephant dressed up as batman! He didn't stay in the outfit for very long because he wasn't feeling too good, but he looked SO cute and loved the attention. He is the happiest baby, even when he's sick, I just don't understand! 

Amanda sent me home with a bunch of leftovers of her delicious homemade soups: tomato bisque, chili and clam chowder. We had such a good time, and it was good to see grandparents and even meet some of Amanda and Jason's neighbors! I hope we do parties like this every year because it really was so much fun. Amanda went all out and decorated everything, and Makayla made up halloween-themed names for all the foods. According to her, we ate things like goblin droppings, mummy puke, scarecrow patties and bat slime! She is so creative. I love this family! I live to be an aunt to my nieces and nephews, and if this is anything like being a mom, then I truly can't wait! We have the greatest time!

Afternoon Tea at The Grand America Hotel

Several weeks ago, for my sister in law's birthday, I had somehow happened upon this amazing event that takes place in Salt Lake City, every day. Afternoon Tea. At The Grand American Hotel. Amanda loves tea, and as soon as I found out about this, I knew she would just die. Amanda had been helping me so much over the past few months, and I definitely wanted to repay her in some way for everything she had done for me. I knew this was the perfect way to do it! I surprised her the Saturday after her birthday and we had the most wonderful afternoon exploring the hotel and enjoying the most amazing tea and food! It was so much fun, and we felt so pampered! The whole time we were there, all we could talk about was how much our Nana would love it (Nana is where Amanda's love for tea came from in the first place!). We loved it so much, we wanted to share it with the rest of our family!

Fast forward to a few weeks ago on a Sunday, we finally went back with everyone else! Nana, Amanda, myself, Chloe, our cousin Brittany, her daughter, Skylie and Amanda's girls, Makayla and Addison all went to tea. And oh my goodness, it was even more fun! We had such a great time, the tea was delicious, the service was great, it was a gorgeous day, the food was amazing, and the company was the best! I think it's become a new tradition for the Ashby girls - we've just got to get mom on board!

I would recommend this to absolutely anyone. There's a cover charge, basically, and it's by reservation only, but everything is planned for you. They have a menu of teas - caffeinated, light caffeine, herbal, and even several different hot chocolates (perfect for bringing the younger girls and non-tea lovers along!), and then the staff takes it from there! The menu is set with sandwiches and pastries, and there are so many, you're bound to find something you love and feel stuffed even if you don't eat everything!

They start you off with strawberries and creme chantilly, then bring out your choice of tea (in your own little tea pot!) and slowly begin bringing five finger sandwiches, scones, even PB&J variations for the little girls. They have everything from ham and cheese to egg salad to smoked salmon wraps, it was so delicious! They take their time and let you relax and enjoy the afternoon, which I love. They aren't rushing you, like a restaurant would. Once you've finished sandwiches, they bring out the dessert course! There were so many! Homemade gum drops, lemon and raspberry meringue, strawberry pistachio cake, chocolate mousse, raspberry finger cookies... it's hard to not have one of everything!

We had such a good time! My favorite part of the whole afternoon was watching 3 year old Addison at tea. She is such a girly girl, always wanting to wear dresses, and bows in her hair, and she was on cloud nine with her own tea cup and hot chocolate, all these pretty little foods, and in such a fancy place. She was so dainty and polite - it was the cutest thing, I couldn't stop watching her!

After tea, everyone headed back to Orem but Amanda had some time to kill before meeting the rest of her family up there for a different event, I stuck with them for another hour or so and we wandered temple square with the little girls. It was such a gorgeous afternoon, not even too cold, and we had such a sugar rush from tea that we were glad to walk off! We took the girls to the Christus and inside the south visitor's center, which has the temple replica. Makayla, who's 11 asked so many questions and was so intrigued by it all. We talked about the symbolism on the outside of the temple, the way it was built, and the effort it took to haul the granite slabs out of the mountains with ox-pulled carts, and she just soaked it all up. It was so fun to learn with her and discuss. She's such a smart girl, I forget that she's 11 because she's just so tiny! I love my family!

It was a perfect day.

 

GIFTshop 2013

I am so excited about this. I have been working for my sister in law for a few months now, helping her with her boutique, and it's been so much fun. She is the one who encouraged me to start my own etsy shop, and working in that creative field has been so motivating. We've had a lot of fun so far! We decided to collaborate on a big boutique pop up shop and sell our products! We will both be selling old favorites, and rolling out a ton of new stuff, including holiday related items, and pre-wrapped gifts! Amanda will also have a friend there selling SCENTSY (perfect time to get all the fall/christmas scents), and I will even be making FRENCH MACARONS for sale, and also probably to taste test ;) 

There will seriously be SO MUCH STUFF, and it will all be for really great prices. It's going to be so much fun, even to just hang out and window shop, but I seriously think you could do ALL your christmas shopping RIGHT HERE. Devin will be making and selling custom wood pieces including apple crates, wooden signs (any size, any color, whatever you want written on them in whatever font, they're hand painted by ME!), recipe boxes, coat/stocking racks, the works. it's going to be awesome. I even plan on bringing my computer so if one of my prints isn't doing it for you, we can sit down right then and there and i'll work with you to design one that's exactly what you want! Amanda will be selling all sort of headbands, hair accessories (including those awesome, adorable little elastic hair ties everyone's obsessed with lately!), suspenders, bow ties and neck ties for all ages, the cutest bibs, and at least a zillion other cute things. 

I'm not kidding. This will be worth it. There's going to be so much stuff. All so cute. All so cheap. I really want every single one of you to come, and I promise it will be worth it. I've been known to give stuff away for free sometimes ;) 

SO HERE'S THE SKINNY:

Saturday, November 16th from NOON-4:00PM 

Open House, stop in whenever.

This is at my sister in law's home in Orem at

176 E 1600 S

Raffles to enter, prizes to win, adorable things to eat and buy and try and do. You won't be sorry! I will be posting a bunch more on here, showing a lot of the things I'll be selling, but in the mean time, visit my etsy shop for a SMALL taste of the prints and banners that will be for sale, and get excited about all the new stuff that i'll be showing over the next few weeks as I get ready for the boutique! 

Katie, Lately | Mostly Park City Phone Pictures

I had more pictures of our Ashby Family Park City Retreat on my phone than I thought, so this is gonna be a long one. These posts always seem extra long because the photos are so ginormous now. We haven't really been up to much lately though.

 

working on the puzzle

 

this picture is so blurry but it's still so cute! i love that little ben more than just about anything! he's the sweetest little baby and always so smiley!

 

the view from the back porch of the house we stayed in. it was so gorgeous and green!

 

painting nails with this cute girl

 

she is such a girly girl. she loved picking colors and was so good while i painted her fingers and toes.

 

blowing her toes dry! she kills me!

 

lots of video gaming went on.

 

even devin's mom got in on it!

 

devin and brandon beat the simpsons game. they were really proud.

 

on our drive home, devin and i stopped here for breakfast. i had been dying to go! it was pretty delicious.

 

silver fork lodge. so good.

 

and of course, an appearance by coop.

 

he's got a thing for tennis balls lately. he broke 3 this weekend!

 

don't ask me how this happened.

 

always sleeping in the funniest, cutest positions. he's so sweet.

 

as i'm sure you can tell, this happens a lot.

 

asleep surrounded by his own toys. happens a lot. sometimes they're in his mouth still.

 

devin and i didn't get to listen to much of conference, but i'm grateful for the inspired men who lead our church nonetheless. this photo was from my cousin's wedding a few years ago. that's my uncle todd and aunt kathy!

 

up until this moment, i had only had iced crio bru. and now my life has changed. i had devin try it this week, and he's hooked now too!

 

devin competed in a bouldering competition at the gym over the weekend spur of the moment. he didn't do as well as he would have liked, but he had a lot of fun and it was great to watch him climb and see his friends crush some of the hardest problems on the wall!

 

i had come straight from work in the least climbing-gym friendly outfit i could have possibly warn. i felt pretty out of place! 

cooper snuggled up to devin while he does homework. they worked like this for over an hour.

Autumn

I had always thought I was a summer girl, through and through. But I think I outgrew it, and now I am aching for Autumn. The entire season transitions my focus to being more domestic. I want my house to smell like fall. I want to bake. I want to cook homemade meals every night. I want to decorate. I want to dress up and accessorize. Other seasons don't bring me that kind of motivation. Autumn is so family-centered, and I think that's what I love about it. I love nothing more than my family, and any chance I have with them, I take it.