Sunday, November 17, 2013

Inman and Her Man

I feel like I need to add Kenz's name to our blog header with how much I've been blogging about there lately. But how could I not blog about the most beautiful wedding of the whole year?

Allow me to set the scene for you. Imagine the most perfect November day your skin has ever felt. Paired with golden leaves and a clear blue sky to feast your eyes upon. All that on top of the gorgeous Salt Lake Temple, and welcome. You have now entered Kenz's wedding day. Dum dum dum duuuuuuum. Dum dum dum duuuuuuuuum. 
Oh look. You made it just in time to see the couple of the hour emerge from the doors of the temple. Dressed in white and looking stunning.



Excuse me and Leslie as we snap some quick selfies while waiting to greet the new couple.
Jeff. Don't think you can escape the rapid fire clicking of my camera.
Someone should warn Kenz that you're at risk of having your toes stepped on once you get a husband...
Aaaaaaaaaaaand we're up! You would have thought I'd watched enough episodes of America's Next Top Model to figure out my hand would look "amputated" (as my sister described it) in all of these pictures. But I've clearly lost my inner supermodel and keen eye for body awareness. Can you work some photoshop magic on me, Tyra?
Ah. It emerged. There is hope for me yet.

Gone again. But our "smizes" make up for it.

Sheesh Kenz. I didn't mean to go all Tyra on your wedding, but I just can't imagine your wedding day without a few Tyra references. Moving on! I have pretty friends.
After the ceremony, we luncheoned with the newlyweds.

And then we made our way to the reception. Where Izzy and Eli attempted to show up Joe and Kenz.
Joe is so sweet with our boys. He and Kenz babysat them one night, and Joe made Eli a paper airplane. It's safe to say he won Eli's heart that night.

Kenz and Joe DIY-ed basically all of the decorations, and it all turned out so beautifully! I was impressed to see Kenz's vision come to life. And Leslie and I conspired to "renew our vows" so that we could have a redo on our receptions now that Pinterest exists.
 Cutting the cake.
 The XO was my favorite.
 Congrats you two!

Monday, November 11, 2013

The Happiest Bath There Ever Was

Is it just my kids or is it impossible for a mom to put a little makeup on? They are in my stuff all the time when I'm trying to get ready. They are yanking on my legs. Demanding that I hold them. Or if by the off chance they are happy and playing on their own while I try to get ready, I will emerge from the bathroom only to find that they have managed to destroy every single room of the house all within the 15 minutes it takes me to apply a little mascara.

So we started morning bath time. I get to apply my makeup in peace while the boys are bound to the inner confines of a jacuzzi. It's a great plan. And sometimes. Just sometimes. I am able to get all the way ready without anyone screaming at me.

On one very special occasion, the boys stayed content in the bath for at least an hour and a half. They were so darling together. When I noticed the morning sun shining in through the window offered the perfect lighting for a bubbly bath time photo shoot, I discretely got my phone out and snapped away.








With winter approaching, there's sure to be a few more bath time photo ops. Baths are number one on my list of winter survival tactics.

Thursday, November 07, 2013

A Bunch Of Unrelated Pictures

It's time for another edition of "A Bunch of Unrelated Pictures That Are Too Cute For The Blogosphere To Miss Out On." Starting with...

Carson! Every time Carson gets out of the bath, he demands at least 5, but usually 10-15 minutes of towel cuddle time. He just sits there. And smiles. So contently. And don't you ever try to brush off his post bath cuddle. Because he will scream bloody murder until he gets it.
Jeff was excited to watch the World Series last week. Go Dodgers!... 
Eli came proudly marching into the kitchen one morning with Jeff's computer nerd-wear.
We all got soooooooo sick the day after we came home from Disneyland. We were not too happy about our souvenirs of pink eye, runny noses, coughs, and Carson's fever that once read 104 degrees. On the day of this picture, Carson made me hold him literally every single second of the day. If Eli even started to approach me, Carson would scream, "MINE!" like a tiger hovering over a fresh piece of meat.
We've been taking advantage of bike time while we still have it! Eli calls riding bikes "in and out," because he goes in and out of the garage. They would do this all day long if I let them.

We made cookies one evening for a YW meeting. I had two little helpers happy to inspect my work.
Carson. Carson. Carson! 18-month olds are nuts. I had forgotten. I am having a tough time with our littlest man. He has become super attached to me. He has become super opinionated. He is refusing to sleep. He is trying to become his own little person and it is leaving me in utter exhaustion. One of his acts of defiance of late is to only eat popcorn. He will get out all three parts of the popcorn machine and shove them in our face until we acknowledge that he wants popcorn. He is so funny. Here we are indulging his constant craving:
Eli has still been such a good boy! I love three-year olds! I recently checked out some children's audio books at the library. Eli quickly figured out the page turning, and it's now one of his favorite things to do. I love it!
But don't be fooled. Eli's still got a little crazy in him. But we like him that way.
On that trip to Wal Mart from the picture above, Eli was so hysterical. He was climbing into every open crevice he could cram himself into, and he also would occasionally drop to the floor and plank. Seriously. He would lay down, face mashed into the floor, body flat as a board, and just lay. In the middle of the aisles. Giggling. We made quite a few people laugh that evening.

Here's the other goof!
My mom made cookies with Caroline, Spencer, Eli and Carson one day. Of course they all needed to be right in the action!


Gah. This kid. Seriously. He's on a stove. Attempting to turn on the microwave. He is a hospital trip waiting to happen.
This is a typical after dinner look lately. And let's just say I have to mop my floor basically after every meal Carson eats lately.
There's the latest cuteness!

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Think of A Wonderful Thought

Yooooouu guessed it. Probably because you are friends with me on Facebook. Or following me on Instagram. Or both. So as you know, we had a Peter Pan themed Halloween this year. Why, you don't say. Here's Peter himself!
Take special note of the costumes. Everything was at least partially crafted by me. And it all turned out surprisingly perfectly! 
Do you hear that? A tick tock...tick tock?
 Why yes! It's the alligator with a head that he absolutely completely refused to wear so this is the best picture we got of it:
And who's that flying into Neverland? Wendy! 
I completely made this dress. Without a pattern. And to everyone's surprise -- it turned out!
Well we couldn't have a Peter Pan theme without Captain Hook coming to crash the party.
I think these are my favorite costumes to date. I really outdid myself.
 Even if the alligator wouldn't wear his hand crafted hood. We still pulled it off.

And by golly. Would you believe it? We even found Peter Pan's shadow at my Grandma's Annual Halloween Party!

Along with my cousin Wes, who was the shadow, my aunt and uncle were decked out as two of the Duck Dynasty crew.
 And here we have my aunt Nani with two of my cousins and my mom.
Pregnant Minnie and Brooke the peacock.

 My parents minus their hard hats.
 My cute grandparents who both have birthdays in October.
 My cousin and her new baby.
 My aunt surprised us all with this revealing gown. So funny!
After we all inspected each other's costumes, we ate and celebrated the birthdays -- which was clearly Eli's favorite part of the evening.

A couple days after my Grandma's party was Halloween day!
Eli loved his Peter Pan costume. He has requested to sleep in it twice. I was so happy he ended up liking it.
Here are the boys just before heading off to start trick-or-treating.

And they're off! It was Carson's first time trick-or-treating and I think he was a little overwhelmed. Though he did quickly learn the words, "trick or treat," "candy," "thank you," and "more."

We risked leaving our bowl of candy on our front porch so we could all go trick-or-treating together. It was a fun family outing.
As soon as it got cold, Carson was done. So he and I sat on our steps and ate candy while we gave out candy to the rest of the trick-or-treaters. Carson would make me open his candy, then he would lick the candy, then he would cast it aside and pull out another candy to shove in my face while yelling, "MORE!" 
The kids made a candy explosion within 2.4 seconds of getting home.
We had a fun Halloween! Now time to figure out what costumes we'll come up with for next year...