holly & jolly

 

We've been having a Christmas full of cheer over here at Mama's house. The kind of cheer that will most likely result in a few cavities, so it's a good thing the first of the year is right around the corner and I'm due for a visit to the dentist anyway.

I'm loving on my family this holiday. The baby sister is getting ready to take a walk down the aisle, Mama's all settled into a beautiful home in gorgeous southern Utah and we're all growing up. Christmas Day has changed since we were children putting cookies out for Santa and leaving carrots for his reindeer, but even so, I'm still way too excited to go sleep on Christmas Eve and I definitely still agree that this is the best day out of all 365. 

It's been non-stop food, games, laughs, and even a whipped cream fight over here and I'm so grateful for that. I'm grateful for my sweet family, for the adventures we've enjoyed and for the ones we've endured together, and I especially can't wait for all of the many Christmases ahead of us. Which I can now confidently say since we've made it safely past December 21st. 

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS, FRIENDS!

Believe it or not, Mom started this. We'll never figure out how to control that woman....

love in montania

Good friendships just get better as you get older. Do you think so? I do.

We spent an incredible weekend with good friends. The best kind of friends. It was so. much. fun. After a year of anticipation, we made the treacherous trek up to West Glacier, Montana to celebrate the truest kind of love, and celebrate is just what we did. We wined, we dined, we laughed, we saw bears, we even river rafted. Then I went on my first helicopter ride through Glacier National Park and I WASN’T EVEN SCARED! Well, maybe a little, but I’ll tell ya this much, it wasn’t my fear that was taking my breath away, the ride was absolutely beautiful and I’d do it again and again.

I’m lucky to have good friends. Old and true friends. Friends who I have known through every awkward and interesting stage of life (and there have been many) and somehow, I’ve held onto them. Being together this weekend was just what my heart needed. It got me thinking about how lucky we are to deeply know each other no matter our distance or time in between. And about how fun it is, now that we’re getting older, to watch each other change and grow and take big steps in life.

So, thanks for getting married, J and Will! (and inviting us along!) Together you create a beautiful illustration of what love should be and I’m so very excited for you both!

And now for the iphone pics. What? You didn’t think I was just going to end there did you?

  

birthday mom

I love a whole lotta people, but my mom, well she takes the cake, and today she’s having it too.

Happy Birthday, Mama! I love you to the moon and back and forever and ever and I have a good feeling that year ‘44’ is going to be the BEST year yet!

she’s gonna love me for that one.

 

s’more please.

I like to think of myself as a lady. I may act like a man sometimes, but really, I’m a lady, I mean you knew that right? I’m that kind of lady who knows how to mind her manners just as well as she’s able to ‘nevermind’ them. I know when it’s appropriate to sailor curse and when it’s time to leave those ‘bombs’ in the purse, I know you know what I mean. I’m the kind of lady that delights in fresh bed linens and hot showers and lavender moisturizer, but I’m also a lady who’s able to deeply appreciate the smell of a bonfire and enjoy the comfort of a lop-sided air mattress under the stars. And air mattress luxury is exactly what this lady got to enjoy all weekend long.

We just returned from Flaming Gorge, UT where we spent the long weekend on a boat and a raft and in a tent. And it was divine. I turned my phone off (for most of it) so I could just revel in the silence. A silence that lasted only until I jumped off a 1,000 ft. cliff (give or take) and gave into my brain piercing screams. My ears are still ringing. And don’t worry Mom, I wore my lifejacket. But the fall, even if it may or may have not taken me twenty minutes to get to the edge of the cliff, was totally worth the adrenaline rush. How’s that for makin’ ya feel alive!? And I forgot to mention that it’d all be happening, didn’t I? Well, you probably just thought I was m.i.a. for a week because I had nothing interesting to say. Which is true. I had nothing interesting to say. I still don’t. Probably won’t, ever.

So enjoy some pictures and happy week. xo

    

the best thing to ever grace the www.

Bless your heart, Todrick Hall. You have successfully made my day for like three weeks straight. What kind of genius people come up with this stuff and where are they?! I want to befriend them and you will too as soon as you hit play. Hope you’re having a great week! Either way, it’s about to get better. You’re welcome.