{Maxwell}

Look at this sweet baby.

Our good friends Joe & Camille were delighted to have him arrive safe and sound 2 weeks ago.

And I was delighted to meet him, cuddle with him and take some pictures of him.

 He's a Y fan already!

So comfortable with mommy.

He is the exact size Crew was when he was born.

See the fiendish look on Crew's face? He tried to bite the baby whenever he came near!

Eek!

Crew wasn't very happy about the attention mommy was giving to Maxwell.

I also designed this baby announcement for them.

Oh and p.s. to any friends and family reading this blog...

the offer stands for you too! I would love to take pictures and

design announcements for your newborns as well.

{little bundle of joy}

I'm a little late but congrats to one of my best friends,  Jennica, on the arrival of her sweet little Abby Jane! 

Look at this sweet sweet baby. And get this; she came on her due date! Talk about perfect timing.

I couldn't be happier for Jenn and Josh. They waited a little longer than they anticipated for this

little package and they are in pure bliss to finally have her here.

The blanket in the picture is one my mom and I made for baby Abby.

Even though I can't have a little girl of my own yet, at least I still get to make cute little girly things :)

Me, Whitt, Jenn, Alisa & Lindsey

Here we all are at a baby shower in St. George for Jenn. I was so happy I could be there!

She doesn't even look pregnant, right?!

Love you Jenn!

And I can't wait to love on your little bundle.

Yurt Trip

My honey turned 26! It was an especially good birthday this year. To celebrate, we went on a yurt trip with Jake & Melissa Garrett. If you are like me, you probably have no idea what a yurt is. It's basically 

like a canvas igloo. The one we reserved a night in was in the middle of nowhere and we had to ski in.

We started off by driving to Pocatello, Idaho. We got all strapped up to our Alpine touring skis and got

 our packs on right at about dusk and started on our way. 

The trail was AMAZING! It snowed the entire hike in. The woods around were so wildly beautiful

and quiet. And there were fresh animal tracks all around us the entire way. We had to use a GPS to find the yurt. 

Let me tell you what a welcome site the Yurt was---all nestled in the middle of the forest, blanketed 

in snow--after 6 hours of uphill hiking. 

The men got a fire started while Melissa and I got the beds ready. We even melted snow to cook dinner

with! The yurt was so warm all night. 

After we had eaten and packed up in the morning, we got our skis and packs on again and skied out! 

Even though it was super challenging and a little scary at times, it is by far the funnest trip

we have done in a long time. We just can't wait to go back again!

We returned to Lance's parent's house to pick Crew up only to find a surprise birthday party

for Lance. I didn't get a picture of the group but thanks to all those who came!

I love him so very much.

We celebrated again with my family on Sunday.

HAPPY 26TH BABY!

{Crew's Blessing}

We blessed Crew this last Sunday. He wore the same little blessing outfit his daddy wore almost 25 years ago. Grandma Merrell crocheted the beautiful white afghan for him.

It has been on our minds all week what kinds of things we want and hope for our sweet little boy. As a parent, you of course dream of the wonderful things your child will do and the man he will someday become. It's a little intimidating to think that the responsibility of teaching him everything he needs to know rests on our shoulders. It is reassuring to know we have a loving Father in Heaven who loves us the same sort of way and only wants what's best for us. 

Lance gave a beautiful blessing. Afterward, we headed to our place for visiting and a BBQ. It was quite the event and such a lovely day. It was the largest party I've ever hosted and I was a little nervous but it ended up being great with about 65 people here!

My beautiful Trishy!

YUM! The dessert table.

Crew with his uncle Jake.

Avonlea loves her cousin Crew and is constantly giving him kisses and loves.

Even Mark and Tiff made it up from Cedar City. Thank you to all our friends and family who traveled to be there!

Sleepy little one in Mitch's arms. Yes, that is a heart binky (much to Lance's dismay).

Aunt Chris and cousin Andy

We got a group shot at the very end after almost half of everyone had gone home.

Thanks for taking pictures Tori :)

What a wonderful blessing day for our sweet little Crew. 

{cabin trip}

Remember the post about snowshoeing when I was 7 months pregnant? Well that fun cabin is where we spent the night last weekend. Joe and Camille were celebrating their recent graduation from BYU and...

their new little one who is on the way!! We couldn't be happier for them.

Camille's cute little sisters and her dad who couldn't get enough of Crew. Look how cute his outfit is!

The whole gang. We stayed up really late laughing our heads off and playing games... of course.

I couldn't resist a picture! Look at that cute cuddly baby. 

I was a little paranoid about the spiders getting Crew in the middle of the night. It didn't help that I found a HUGE one in this room just before we put him down. I heard him fussing in the middle of the night and thought, "Oh no! There's a huge spider on his face!" Then I calmed myself down and told myself I was being ridiculous. But he kept fussing so I flipped on the light only to find...

a cricket crawling on him!! I about peed my pants.

Blue Steel

Big yawns!

This pictures cracks me up! Yes, I know we look lovely. But we took the picture and didn't realize till after that Crew was cheesing it for the camera. He is already quite the performer!

We love camping!

{poolside}

Its hard to believe summer is coming to a close. We have been trying to fit in all the outside fun time we can!

Cousins; only 3 weeks apart. I just melt at these cute babes.

First off, we loved having Kirstin, Marcus and Savannah in town! They decided to make a last  minute trip to Utah for a week. We feel so spoiled to get to see them two months in a row. Kirstin and I have become such good friends and it's been hard to have her live all the way in Arizona. I feel so blessed to have sisters-in-law that I just click with and have from day one. I sure love them! 

Every time Kirstin comes into town, we pack our things to spend the night in Salt Lake to get in as much time as possible. And inevitably, we end up spending at least 2 and even sometimes 3 nights in a row because we just never want to leave! 

Fun at Dive Utah.

Savannah has become quite the little fish! Her uncle Keaton is her absolute favorite.

Savannah showing me the stamps she earned after her great swimming lesson.

This evening, we got together for a BBQ and pool party at Andrew's house. Everyone got together for a group shot at the end of the party just as my camera died. Bummer. 

Here is Sutton holding Crew with his brand new glasses. Ha! What a little stud.

There was something really interesting on the ground apparently. 

Practicing his floating with daddy. He LOVES the water.

Look how fat he has gotten! Yup. Pretty sure he eats all the time. 

I just cant get enough of this sweet baby.

He has been regularly sleeping 5 1/2 hours at night which is heaven. And he makes getting up in the night such a pleasure. As soon as he sees me he breaks into the biggest smile and will sit and talk and coo with me. It's like he's trying to say, "Boy! Am I sure happy to see you. I'm really hungry..." 

He is still a complete cuddle bug and loves to be held. But he is also really curious about the world around him and cant stand to be laying flat when he's awake. He loves his bouncer seat which we put on the kitchen table so he can see everything that is going on. 

 He has been smiling so much more in the last couple of weeks and today he giggled for the first time! Probably the cutest thing I've ever seen.... :)

He is an absolute pleasure and we are so very happy he's ours forever.