PINTEREST | 10 Photos That Make Me Smile

i think we could all use a little pinspiration every once in awhile.

instead of listing individual links to each photo, know they are all sourced on my pinterest account here, and i am all sorts of grateful for whoever put them on the internet. none of these photos are my own.

At The Moment...

STYLING | small, gold midi rings, and layering dainty gold necklaces (gold jewelry kick over here - could you tell?)

CHANGING | the way i spend my days. i want to post more about this, but basically, i'm making use (trying to) of every minute (productive, or not. i just want it to be worth while), which means listening to conference talks during my commute, spending the first twenty minutes at home after work cleaning and straightening things around the house (so much easier to relax in a clean house) and forming a bedtime routine (meaning spend those last twenty minutes washing my face and things instead of watching how i met your mother).

THANKFUL | that mondays always seem to go by fast. but seriously. thank heavens for this one. i am NOT a monday person.

OUTSIDE | on warm days (if and when we ever get warm days), for runs in the park with my dog (well, i run. he gets chased by children. and loves every minute of it.)

HAPPY | to be making new friends that i connect with instantly (is it just me, or are these sorts of relationships so much harder to come by as an adult? lookin at you, chels and ryan!)

LISTENING | to the beatles pandora station lately.

WORKING | on some really adorable bridal shower invitations for my cousin's fiance

ANXIOUS | for warmer weather, which means planning camping trips, birthday celebrations, and our 3 year anniversary trip (thinking we'll stay close this year, staycation style)

OPENING | the new milcreek location of momentum in a few weeks, and my husband can finally stop being so stressed - but for real, this gym will be amazing and i'm so excited about it.

TOO LONG | since i held my sweet baby niece, scarly-girl. we're talking over a week here, people. something needs to change immediately!

Ashby HQ

I don't know how it started, probably with me though. We have named all of the places we've lived, which is only 2 so far, but it's fun. When we lived in Orem, in my cute grandparents' basement, we called it The A-P-T. Who knows why. Whatever. That was a great apartment. We've got a lot of good memories about that place, and a lot of crazy ones, too. It was perfect for us in the very beginning, but we grew out of it very, very fast. Which is a funny way of putting it, because we definitely down sized by moving into our second place: Ashby HQ.

We had been itching to move for awhile. We needed to get out of grandma's basement. We felt like we needed to grow up. We needed to get out of the valley. We needed to get a dog. We needed a big change. And all of that is exactly what we got. No longer are we paying a lump sum rent every month to grandma. We pay rent, and all of our individual bills for utilities, etc. Which makes us feel more grown up. We got out of the valley, and that's been a well documented, welcomed change. And we got a dog. Obviously.

So far, Ashby HQ is my favorite. And I think it will be a favorite for a long time, even when we buy a house, I will love this little town home. And I mean little. We've got about 700 square feet of space to live in and make a home out of, and I think it's gone well. We have one bedroom. It's small, but fits our bedroom set, and there's room to walk. That's all we need. We don't spend any time in there, anyway. We lucked out with at least 10 of those square feet being just for the closet. Our glorious walk in closet. It's going to be pretty hard to move somewhere with a smaller closet, because I'm sure I take it for granted, even though I can never find space for my shoes. We've also got a decent sized bathroom, with a giant tub. That's probably my favorite part. And then there's a kitchen and a small living room. A little area designated to us as our own backyard, and a patio. And that's home.

I had been wanting to take photos of this house since we moved in. Then it was always once i decorate, i'll take photos. Then life happens. Like it does. But I've actually made it a priority on my list this time. To wait for a day where the lighting was good, and the house was tidy, and the camera was charged. Having all three of those things happen at once was probably the biggest challenge, but I finally made it happen a few months ago. 

This little house feels so much more like home than the A-P-T ever did. The A-P-T was grandma's house. Not ours. This is ours. I mean, the owners live somewhere in Arizona and rent this little place out for extra income. They go through a rental management company to take care of everything, and that's who we report to (and HOA can be a real pain, sometimes, in case you were wondering), but it's still more ours than anything else. I love it here, and I'll be sad to leave it, but I know when we do, it will be time for a new adventure.

 

* I forgot to take pictures of the laundry room and garage… oops. 

Katie Lately

I promise to stop posting just photos of Scarlett and Katie Lately posts, but I feel like all I'm ever doing on this blog is catching up with my own busy life, and cuddling that sweet baby girl! So we'll all just deal for now.


he's the sweetest thing when he doesn't feel good.


deer valley ski day / i can't believe we didn't get out to ski until february! i'm so glad we got to go nonetheless. we got up a little earlier to make a pit stop in Kamas for breakfast at the Mirror Lake Diner where Brandon is a chef. The greatest french toast, and B even brought me some homemade raspberry syrup, because he's just that great. After our breakfast, we dropped Coop off with the other dogs at Brandon's and made our way to the resort. We didn't ski for too long, and it was reaallllly cold for the first few runs, but once the sun came out and things started warming up, I hit my stride and had a great afternoon. We finished up a little early and made our way to el Chubasco for some lunch. Hands down my favorite mexican food anywhere. Their salsa bar is what dreams are made of. After chubby's, we made a quick stop at the outlets for a little shopping and then straight home to veg on the couch for the remainder of the day. Perfect. Weekend.


el chubasco / the salsa bar is worth the trip alone, but stay for the enchiladas.


is it bad that i practically inhale these?


cooper snuggles, too / it's true what they say about your mood being lifted when you're around animals. there is scientific evidence supporting the release of endorphins when you snuggle a puppy. it's a fact that they make people happier. when i've had a bad day, coop knows right away, and assumes the position. he's the greatest friend.


trying to be healthy and different, giving up, and inadvertently celebrating 3 years of our engagement / this one's a mouthful. you see, we're really horrible at "meal planning". because a) how am i supposed to know what kind of dinner i'll be up for on tuesday night when i'm grocery shopping the saturday before and b) it's very rare that both devin and i are home at dinner time on a week night. it just doesn't happen around here. but last week, gosh darn it, i tried. i got all healthy-fancy and made a massive pot of quinoa and ground turkey and all these beautiful bell peppers and it was just the worst. i mean, i could eat it again, but…. we went to iceberg immediately after and each got giant milkshakes, okay? and then the day after, we realized that that was an accidental celebration of the day devin proposed to me 3 years ago. we're not super great celebrators. or healthy eaters. so there's that.


taking full advantage of the target sale on coke products / okay, maybe not full advantage because at 5 for $11, i only got 3 cases of diet coke, because I didn't want devin to be left out, but now I sort of wish I would have just gone for it. he can fend for himself.


a friday night date with my nephew, kaden / my sweetest little nephew kaden, who just turned 8 has recently been diagnosed with ASD and it's been an adjustment for the whole family as we try to make sure we are all doing what is the very best for Kade. i take my duty as an aunt very seriously, and after kaden had been bullied in school, and ultimately pulled from the public school system last month when my sister in law decided to home school him instead, poor kid just needed a break. so i picked him up right after his karate class (he just earned his purple belt!) and we met devin at momentum for some rock climbing. kaden is a ROCKSTAR. and a sneaky little genius. he made me a deal that for every route he completed, he'd get a candy bar, and went on to finish 5 routes! i kept up my end of the deal and we stopped at a gas station on the way home after a quick dinner at wendy's (his choice, of course). i love being an aunt SO much. i have the greatest nieces and nephews. i can't imagine loving anyone more than i love makayla, kaden, addison, benny and scarlett - it blows my mind to think that i haven't become a mother yet to know what i'm up against! they are the greatest thing about life, those kids. anyway. dating your nephew. it's a blast.


ski day #2 / a few of devin's coworkers at the gym all got ski passes to solitude, so we went on a triple date on saturday! devin and i carpooled up with derek and piper and we met caitlin and braden on the mountain - it was such a great day! minus the fact that there was TOO MUCH powder (is there such thing as too much powder, you ask? when you don't have the right skis, and you're not on groomers, the answer is yes. yes there is.) and it was pretty cold, we had an amazing time. i always leave settings like that, where we've spent time with devin's coworkers and their spouses and significant others, thinking that we are so lucky. we are surrounded by some of the most amazing people. we had SO MUCH FUN with this group up on that mountain. we were all new to the resort and we just made an adventure out of it! the mo' crew is always up for doing absolutely whatever, and i love that about them. i love these people so, so much. it's just reaffirms how right our decision was for devin to take the job at momentum in the first place! it's paid off more times than i can count. we've made lifelong friends here, and i just love them all!


shooting guns until my hands got sore / devin and i have been in the market for a pistol. i've grown up with a gun safe mounted to the headboard of my parents' bed and i've never hesitated about the thought of keeping a gun in the house, so when devin brought it up, i agreed. we both knew that having a gun in the house would need to make sense for both of us. if we did have a gun, and i was home alone, and (heaven forbid) needed to use it, what good would it do if i didn't know how? or if i was too scared? not much. so devin called up an old friend, who also happens to be an NRA certified instructor, and we met him at the range for a little lesson. Greg was absolutely amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher in learning about these pistols. After firing maybe 2 or 3 rounds, I was already feeling extremely comfortable, and got excited to try different kinds. our whole point was to shoot different styles of guns, different calibers, and get an idea of which ones we were both comfortable with. we needed one we would both be able to handle easily, and after shooting about 12 different pistols (mostly 9mm… and one AR-15, just for fun), i think we've settled on one, that we'll hopefully be getting later this year. i've still been on such a high from the adrenaline, and all i want to do is talk about guns! it was so much fun. i have a new understanding for gun nuts.


an overdue double date with the amazing holdaways. we ate fancy sushi (i do not have a great sushi tolerance. 6 or 7 pieces and i'm STUFFED.) and then we made the drive to Rita's for some Gelati's (I got cotton candy, of course). It was such a great night, and Danica and I got to listen to Devin and Ryan reminisce about all the crazy shenanigans they pulled in high school. I can hardly believe my husband is alive and still has all his limbs!

and then we had the cutest little visitor last weekend. meet Sallie, a 5 month old lab / border collie mix. She belongs to our good friend, Lance who needed a last minute dog sitter. And nobody says no to puppies, so we had her over for a few days. I forgot how crazy puppies are! I always think coop is still a puppy, but compared to this little thing, he wasn't even close! all sallie wanted to do was play, of course, and it was just adorable, but it even drove cooper a little nuts. we had a good time though and she is such a sweetie. she's welcome in our home any time!