missing my stinkies.

me helping grace say bye-bye to the chickens.

it's been a couple weeks since they moved to texas, & boy oh boy have i noticed they are gone.

:(

home inspiration.

more weekend shtuff.

ya...that happened. nesta is still recovering from being furious with me over shaving her for the summer (she has no idea how cool it will keep her...)

she showed her anger by disappearing sunday night, resulting in lauren crying herself to sleep & having vivid nightmares of where her body was. turns out she found her way from the roof into the attic...& spent the whole night up there in the dark.

sunday afternoon we met up with the crew of indie ogden for some delicious LUCKY SLICE PIZZA! if you haven't been there yet, check it out... they even had gluten free pizza for me. i was in heaven! thanks again for taking us out, mikaela!

all in all it was a great start to my summer. i'm excited to see where the next 3 months take me!

quote of the week.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself {for God did not need to create}. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival." - c s lewis.

the best saturday ever.

luke & i knew this past saturday was going to be amazing, but it turned out to be possibly one of my most favorite days with that boy...even though we got started at the bright early hour of 7 am! record store day was saturday...which is probably my new favorite day of the year. record stores across the country have lots of great deals on vinyl, & if you know me you know i am QUITE the fan of vinyl! 

we headed to graywhale in riverdale & it was spectacular! we found some awesome deals & came home with about 7 new records to add to our collection: harry chapin, wilco, the carpenters, the postal service, atmosphere (limited edition), lupe fiasco for amy, john & yoko, and fleet foxes! SCORE. after, we headed over to indie ogden's RUMMAGE SALE which was a great success, & we left with some lovely new finds!
after the rummage sale, we wandered 25th street & then ended up going to layton to visit luke's sister's family, & then  i went to my sister's soccer game while luke went golfing. after, luke's dad had somehow decided to see if his 1972 mustang was still in working order..one thing led to another & next thing i knew luke was in front of my house so we could take it for a quick spin.

it was amazing! the best saturday i've had in awhile.

THE STANG!

cruisin'...we got it going pretty fast!

yay record store day!!

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS.

well needless to say, i started my summer off right. immediately after finishing my last 2 finals on tuesday, ally & i headed out to broomfield, colorado to check an item off my bucket list.. SEE TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS LIVE!
holy cow, it was so much fun! ally & i got into town around 5, & after driving around for 2 hours & talking to some locals we found out there is a FIRE BAN in the whole state... unfortunate, since all the food we packed required being cooked by coals or a fire.
so before i had a meltdown (anxiety, anyone?) we found an ADORABLE bed & breakfast right in town, with a very cool name:

wildflowers just so happens to be the name of my favorite tom petty album, so we felt it was meant to be.

after we checked in we wandered around trying to catch all the wild bunnies... seriously. there were probably 50+ little bunnies running around this place. it was the cutest thing. i was in bed by ten, thanks to my sleep schedule being all messed up from working at starbucks, so poor ally resorted to calling her bf & eating chips in the bathtub so she wouldn't wake me. luckily i stayed up long enough to see the most amazing sunset:

ya, it was awesome.

the next day we woke up & headed to BOULDER! i've been told by about 10 people that i "belong" in boulder, & so i've been very curious to check it out & see what people mean. sure enough it's the best place i have ever been to. it reminds me of 25th street in ogden, but about 10 times that size & filled with people 10 times as nice. we had people wandering up to us all morning! they told ally they loved her tattoo, & i got about 10 compliments on my tie dye dress. there were little shops everywhere, selling just about anything you can imagine. i bought luke a carved elephant & a dream catcher for myself! the lady i bought them from even threw in a free bracelet. score!

there were marijuana dispensaries (haha), little cafes & tea shops, clothing outlets, antique stores, & even a 100% vegan/gluten-free restaurant!!! ally & i thought that was amazing, since she is vegetarian & i'm eating gluten-free, & finding places to eat for both of us was kind of a challenge! the restaurant was called LEAF & was so delicious!

a bumper sticker shop...i almost bought gigi another tattoo.

this guy was SO COOL! he could play the bass standing like that, & he could play the guitar while standing on his bass! skills.

ally & i wandering boulder.

excited to eat at leaf!

after boulder we headed back to broomfield & found a cheap hotel for 80 bucks, that even had a shuttle service up to the arena where tom was playing. so we headed up to wait in line & ended up in FRONT ROW for the show.

regina spektor opened for him & was so adorable... i was stoked to see her perform! however, nothing compares to the excitement i felt when tom & the heartbreakers came on stage. ally & i were screaming! it was by far the best live concert i have ever been to. he played a lot of his classics, like "free fallin," "i won't back down," & "runnin down a dream," as well as some older songs i was very excited about like "yer so bad" & "you wreck me." it was amazing! for the finale, he came back on stage & played "mary jane's last dance," which has been my fave song of his for at LEAST 20 years, & "american girl." 

here we are before the show with our friend AJ. we were so excited!

the best part of the trip might have been when i got this picture message on the drive home. luke (who i'm pretty sure missed me a lot ;) haha), bought this acoustic guitar for me to jam to! how sweet is that boy? i spent the majority of the drive trying to remember chords & songs i used to know.. it's been over a year since i played, so wish me luck!

all in all, a fabulous start to my summer.

quote of the week.

“My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.” 

― Rumi

sad times & happy times

yesterday started out pretty rough.

my brother's family, who wasn't supposed to move until today, decided they wanted to get a head start on the move & leave early.

i got to their house about 1 to help pack up some last minute things (i have been so busy with school this week, i hardly even got to help...i felt pretty bad.) & was a bit jolted by the news. 

we headed over to my parent's house to say goodbye to the chickens & the dogs... & then they said goodbye to us. 

grace giving me goodbye kisses.

i gave her about 30 thousand. i couldn't stop kissing her or matthew, basically.

smiling... slash being teary eyed. whoops.

my favorite 5-year-old.  i've watched this kid grow up & have loved every minute of being his (favorite) aunt.

blaaargh.

i managed to keep it together & really cried only once, when my sister-in-law started crying. it always sucks when your family is sad. & it made me realize that while they are starting a new, amazing chapter in texas, i'm going to miss the living in layton utah chapter! where sunday dinners, family walks, camping trips, random visits, and more were much much easier to accomplish!

despite the sad day that it was, it also turned out to be a happy one. i went REAL grocery shopping with luke's sister cassie (whose whole family is gluten-free). we went to SUNFLOWER MARKET in SLC, which is cleverly named after my favorite flower....clever because it's my new favorite market. good produce for cheap & SEVERAL more gluten-free options.

this diet might be easier than i thought! anyway, we also went to a book/vinyl sale at the SLC library, where i found the evita soundtrack for a dollar (my dad would be so proud).

another nice thing about yesterday was that i realized i still have one sweet newborn nephew to tie over my "baby hunger," as well as luke's niece to chase pigeons around the library with....hahah, i love her.

oh baby!

i am officially an aunt of three!

my nephew preston was born this past week, and i'm just now getting around to blogging about it (stupid finals).
for the past 9 months i've been telling alex & susan (my brother & sister in law) that i wanted a towhead nephew. we were all almost certain that would be the case.
but baby preston has other plans. while he is definitely a bit of blonde, the first thing i noticed is that his hair is close to the same color as mine...
we have a cute little redhead on our hands, folks. and perhaps it will grow into blonde as he gets older (probably), but either way, i'm happy as a clam to finally not be the only redhead in the family.

grandma marv.

grandpa steve.

preston & his gorgeous aunt ray.

poor kylie, grace & matthew were too young to get to hold him.

they met him by looking through the nursery.

matthew, as you can see from his face, is still warming up to the idea of his aunties having ANOTHER nephew...

he has been very fond of being the only nephew/the most spoiled these past 5 years :)

aunt casie.

i almost cried holding the little one.

he is so...so precious.

beautiful boy.

i think my whole family will never forget the day preston was born. it was all so funny...susan had her baby shower just 2 days before, and at easter dinner the next day, everyone kept saying, "oh if only he would come early, so jason's family could meet him before they move to texas." we all had our fingers crossed.

and what do you know, susan went into labor driving back to logan from easter dinner. he couldn't have had better timing! already such an obedient little boy :)

congrats to my brother & sister in law on a job well done...he is a stud muffin!

sometimes...

it hits me like a punch in the face, that i am the luckiest lady in the world.

i love this boy. & he loves me, even when i'm yelling at him to clean up after himself, or nagging at him to do something i told him to do weeks ago ;)

WANTED.

if you're doing any spring cleaning, let me know & i can get rid of your gently used stuff for you!

the blog that i write for is planning a pretty awesome charity rummage sale.

my work has already agreed to donate vacuums and other things. that, combined with the mass amounts of clothes i'm getting rid of is reason enough to come check it out!

please support this great local cause... it's for a wonderful foundation that helps pay for funeral expenses for families who lose children. that's a sad enough thing to go through without the financial burden!

here's what i've been up to, as of late...

throwing a baby shower for my sis-in-law

(okay it was mostly casie & my mom, but i helped too!)

more on that, later. ;)

spending as much time as possible with my niece & nephew before they leave me.

sad face.

playing soccer with the fam. as you can tell, luke is much better at kicking the ball around than i am....

as well as STUDYING STUDYING STUDYING.
it is, with great pleasure, that i announce that i passed my MATH 1010 FINAL with the minimum required passing grade of 70%.
and good riddance, might i add.
one week until tom petty! and the summer adventures are beginning..

pola's.

i've been itching to buy a Polaroid camera lately...what with saving for TOM PETTY & other fun adventures though, it doesn't seem to be in the budget. Internet-created Pola's are the next best thing! I think I'm going to use these in my back room... I have a huge corkboard just waiting to be filled with awesomeness. Here's my inspiration:

(thank you, pinterest.)

these are some of my most favorite photos.

wish i had more photos of my mama though....will have to work on that.