2 1/2 years!

This morning all snuggled in with her pup -

I said, "give me a big girl 2 1/2 year old smile!"

Luce ~

Baby girl today is your 2 1/2 year birthday - halfway to three! I can't believe that my baby is growing up so fast. You are such a big girl now it's sometimes hard to remember when you were my baby. You are talking so grown-up and carrying on full conversations with daddy and me. You are such a smart little girl Lucy and you make me so proud. You still love reading books more than anything. We can sit and I can read to you book after book and you are such a good girl to put your books away and bring me more. Pretty soon you'll be reading these books to me!

We've also found out you are a little artist. Next to reading, coloring is your favorite thing to do. Any chance you get you to make a card for someone or work on an art project and you are thrilled. Last week we collected some bright fall leaves and spent the best night together as a family coloring, gluing and cutting. You love to say "sit down mommy and we'll color". A couple of weeks ago I let you try out painting and you LOVED it! You painted a beautiful canvas and now it's displayed in the living room for everyone to see. You spent so much time and work on this and it made me so proud. But I think you were even more excited to show it to daddy - you're an artist just like him.

At 2 1/2 you are a beautiful petite little girl but we can tell you are growing quite a bit. Your pants are getting shorter and shorter on you and we're moving up in shoes sizes. It's been so fun to do some "fall shopping" with you and you are the best at giving mommy fashion shows. As soon as you try something new on you run to the full length mirror and come back and give me your review. I love you.

You're such a big girl and you are proving your strength and talent with your dancing. This has been the best thing ever for you! Every day you ask to go to dance class and you pay attention so well in Miss Julie's class. You focus on what you are told to do and again I am so proud of you and how you work so hard. I know this is how you'll be in a few years as a student in school - but thank goodness for me that's still a ways away!

Lucy baby girl, daddy and I love you more than anything. You are our world and we are so overwhelmed at what a beautiful little girl you've become. We still want you to be our baby but we know that you are doing what you should - growing, learning, living life to the fullest! You have the funniest personality and you can keep us laughing all night. You have such cute saying and facial expressions and you are the sweetest little girl. Daddy and I are so blessed to have you as our daughter and I know this is just 2 and a 1/2 - but with you nothing is "just"! We are so grateful for you and how far you've come. We have so many fun things coming up: Disneyland, Halloween, Christmas!! So I know we'll enjoy everything through your eyes and hopefully March (and 3!) won't creep up on us too fast.

Love you, mommy

what a weekend!

We were super lucky this weekend.

Beautiful weather, wonderful friends,

delish food and good tunes!

We kicked things off Friday night with the Gregory's -

Trevan and Blake used to work together and after a few years

of blogging friendships

and fashion place run-ins we now have made things legit with

double-dates and finally on Friday

a date with the whole fam!

We truly feel cool hanging out with this brood -

and Lucy was in her height of glory playing

with Jude & Greta.

we went for the evening zoo experience and well,

the sun is setting and this is pretty dark (and Jude is hiding)

but you can see the rays of their amazingness!

the baby elephant - Lucy had been counting down for days

to see Zuri ("you know, like Suri") :) thank you Kennan!

we love having FuN!

I wonder if we'll ever see this in Us Weekly

"stars' kids - they're just like us - squinting in the sun!"

After our fun evening we got up Saturday

and headed to Perry, UT for fruit stand mania.

This is our third year of caravanning with my parents and Caitlin & Brinton,

heading to the fruit stands and gorging

ourselves at Maddox afterwards - so yes, it is

now tradition.

pumpkins galore

one day she won't be small enough

(or she'll start to object)

so we have to get these "prop"

pictures in while we can

for the time being she doesn't seem to mind

enjoying the peach harvest -

very appetizing

Saturday night we dropped Lucy off at my

parents with her skeleton pajamas (my new *favorite thing*)

and went to see The Killers in concert.

I was ho, hum on the idea but it was

AMAZING - they put on such a great

show.

And as luck would have it as we were hiking to our

seats at the top of the E Center we saw our good friends

Annie & Ross were seated right next to us!

It was a fun night and this group will now

be a mandatory must-see when the come again.

~hope your weekend was just as fun!~

Wednesdays

this is why Wednesdays are now our

favorite day of the week!

updated do

Sometimes Lucy's hair cooperates

and sometimes it's Frizz city, USA.

This morning at dance she

looked so darling in her new tutu

(courtesy of gammy & poppa)

but I couldn't help but be distracted

by the frizz "poof" in the back.

So we headed to Cookie Cutters after dance

and got a darling (hopefully manageable)

bob for fall!

It's so cute but Lucy seems so much older

with this cut.

We're growing out the bangs but I

think we'll keep up with the bob.

before

(sprinkling "magic" at dance)

after

she's pleased as punch with

her new do!

omg!

tiny dancer

OMG!! That's pretty much all I could say this morning when 

we stepped in Miss Julie's dance cottage!

Lucy and I have spent the last couple of weeks

talking about dance class, getting her dance bag

and gear all ready and having 

her practice her dance moves. 

This morning we walked into the back yard of her 

dance teacher's house and were transported to this

adorable, secluded backyard with a 

white dance cottage.  Pink balloons were at the door and 

little girls running around in pink dance garb -

um, our dreams came true!!

Miss Julie is the sweetest woman ever.  Lucy has

five little girls in her class all about her age.  Even though

Lucy is the tiniest dancer she had no fear and was out 

twirling, spinning and tapping in no time.

We can't wait for next class!!

This dance room just makes you smile!

I noticed all of us moms were grinning ear to ear

and taking in all of the PINK eye candy!

Sparkles, tutus, scarves ~

The windows were all open with a breeze

and the atmosphere in the room could

make ANYONE feel like dancing.

After class I treated Lucy to a cupcake 

at Mini's ~

thank heaven for little girls!!!

...and cupcakes!

so long, summer

dear summer,

wow.  it's been a good one.  a lot has happened since

spring and pretty much all of it has been great

(or we'll choose to remember it that way).

floating the river in idaho ~ dinners on the patio most every night ~

discovering davanza's pizza ~ lucy loving the panguitch balloon festival ~

a move from home and our comfort zone that we thought would be 

scary but has been one of the best things ever ~ shade trees ~

  snowcones 

(too many for me and not enough for lucy) ~

 lucy discovering the moon...and crickets ~ 

aimless drives ~ the glorious 

outdoor concerts ~ zoo pass ~ finding out we're all braver than we thought ~

 dinners that require no utensils ~ netflix ~

sandbox mornings ~ lucy's squeals to be sprayed by the hose ~

camping...in the back yard...for three hours

we saw a glimpse of fall this weekend.  creeping in with oranges and

reds on our drive through guardsman's pass and I personally can't wait.

this girl on the other hand...could have 

summer last all year.

thanks again summer.  we'll see you again soon

and I'm sure all of us will be longing for you...probably sooner

than we think,

take care.

photo shoot!

On Sunday my parents treated us to a delicious

(I love you eggs benedict)

brunch at the Alta lodge. It's funny

that my brother is like an Alta king and

he was the only one not in attendance.

He's still in Africa so I guess he's not really missing out.

Anyway, after stuffing ourselves

we drove up to Albion Basin.

To hike? No.

To explore and study the wildlife? No.

To camp in the beautiful outdoors? No.

To have impromptu (only funny to us) photoshoots?

of course!

The funny thing is most of my family are

hikers, campers, explorers, etc.

But on this morning we lounged on some comfy

rock-seats and died of laughter at ourselves

(well maybe just my sister and me - cause we're comedians like that)

and took pictures.

After awhile it's kind of embarrassing when

rugged hikers start their climbs,

over flowing with gear and

we're posing like goofballs and getting in their way.

We had our fun

but the star of the show was Lucy -

her pictures weren't funny they were beautiful.

She is growing up right

before

my

eyes.

I'll save the joke poses for future

black-mail

(and no one else would probably even find them funny)

but I have to include this sadie-hawkins-esque

pose of Blake and me.

No, we weren't being serious and no,

we didn't coordinate.

Promise.

9 years of er...blissful marriage

this month!