Zions national park

this past weekend, we dropped quinn off with camerons family,
packed our bags and headed south.
on our drive down, we managed to blow one of our tires, broke it while trying to fix it,
needed to be towed, and had to pay a lot of money.
we pulled up into salt like right around 7:15 pm.
my siblings and i had been planning on going to the keith urban concert that night for a while.
cameron didn't have a ticket cause he wasn't planning on coming with me when we got the tickets.
so he dropped me off and headed down to orem.
i met up with britt, taylor and tanner and enjoyed every minute of myself.
if you follow me on snapchat, you probably saw all of my annoying snaps.
keith was so good. i could watch him again and again. everyday.
we didn't get to bed until about 1:30 am, then 2 hours later, we woke up and drove down to zions.
it was PACKED. like, i have never seen that place so dang busy.
and it was deathly hot.
we were planning on hiking angels landing, but decided not to because of the heat.
so we basically stayed in any form of water the whole time we were there.
it was a fun, hot, tiring, adventurous weekend.

I'm back. again.

so, you know the timehop app?

well i have it.

and you can connect blogger to it.

and it shows me all these blog posts from the past.

some of the posts, I'm like uhhh why did i post that?

but mostly, i love looking back and reading about what i used to do.

i especially love timehop now because quinn is finally making her presence!

so, point of the story is, i think I'm gonna try to blog more again.

and take more pictures.

so i can keep looking at old blog posts and remember this time in our lives.

its been a solid 6 months since i've written anything, 

so i'm not gonna go try to play catch up (or maybe i will - who knows)

but for this post, I'm just gonna scrounge up some recent(ish) 

pictures from my phone and go from there.

progress, people.

okay, i lied, i started looking at pictures and i am going all the way back to december 

which is when i stopped writing last.

i'll try not to do too many. but i make no promises. 

its my blog and one day I might want to look at 800 pictures of Quinn wearing the same outfit.

and probably 98% of the pictures will be of quinn, but thats what i do all day, 

is hangout with her.

family pictures december 2015

cameron was loving doing her hair.

i love this picture of her.

 

one of those days, ya know?

i miss when she was immobile and just sat there all peaceful with a pacifier.

one day she just stopped taking it! (not complaining btw)

 

her first time in the swing. the smile didn't last that long, haha.

her leg rolls in this picture are so good.

i always want to remember her red combover and how she sits in her high chair.

rainy day with friends

(back when she actually kept her bows on - nothing is allowed to touch her head these days)

cameron and i went to mexico mid-semester, and its was the perfect break 

9 month check up. 

she loves lucy so much. 

us on valentines day.

more family pictures. 

one of our many bike rides. 

mexico sunset 

her first time swimming. she wasn't so sure at first.

all. the. time.

can you tell she loves me? 

aimee got married, and we were all able to be there!

boise river

11 months old

refuses to sit still (not just in the cart either)

i always find her with her clothes halfway off. 

she was getting her molars and had a cough, and her cough kept waking her up, 

so she never slept, but she was SOO tired. terrible cycle. she looks half dead here. 

she LOVES playing at quinn's pond (it really is called quinns pond)

her first bubble bath 

i took this on snapchat, but i love it.

we have a pass to the zoo, so we go a lot. quinn loves it! 

sharing her first bite of cake.

(that night she threw up all night. NOT fun.)

i always want to remember her red curly hair and blue blue eyes.

real life.

you never really know what being a mom is like until you have your own children. 

its hard, its tiring, its long days, its exhausting,

its fun, its loving, its rewarding, and it's the best thing ever.

i'm speaking for myself, who only has 1 child. 

and i don't even want to imagine having another for a long time. 

i see moms with like 5 kids or even 2 and I'm like 

HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?

there are times when you want to do something, 

but you literally can't because baby comes first.

like during the middle of the night, when you want to keep sleeping...

but baby has other plans for you.

and you literally can't just ignore them (well, i guess you could buuut)

or when you need to go somewhere but your trying to have a somewhat similar

daily nap routine and you've been doing so well,

and you can't just throw it for a loop now.

the house is a mess, but my only time to really clean is while baby sleeps,

and so help me, i might accidentally make a noise that will wake her up...

so yeah, i'm not going to risk it.

i should go grocery shopping so we have something to eat for dinner,

but its 35 degrees out and i don't want to put normal clothes on (currently in my sweats @ noon)

and when i get home with the groceries, i will have to make like 4 trips

cause i have too many groceries to carry, plus a car seat, plus those gallons of milk.

so i'll just leave them in the car for a while. it is cold enough, right?

there are 4 loads of laundry to get done.

and the apartment doesn't have a washer and dryer inside.

so i get to go out in the cold, carrying one load at a time across the complex

then i have to go back 30 minutes later to switch it,

then an hour later to make 4 more trips to carry it all back.

and then trying to fold it all without the babe grabbing it and unfolding it.

after finally getting the courage to tackle those dishes in the sink,

you walk over to the couch to sit down, and you hear little whines 

coming from baby's room, knowing she is waking up. 

and its like c'mon don't you want to sleep for like 30 more minutes?

i could go on, but most of them have to do with me not getting enough sleep.

and i'm really not trying to just complain here.

i'm really here to tell you how busy life gets 

and sometimes you just want to sit down for 5 minutes and do nothing.

but sometimes you just can't.

maybe in 20 years.

but for now, i will love my days how they are.

and i wouldn't trade them for a thing.

because yes, having a child is hard, but its also the best thing ever.

though, i am really looking forward to that solid week long nap in 20 years from now.

that will be nice. real nice.

(i commend all you mama's out there with more than 1 child-

i am in no way, shape or form, ready to take on another one yet)

and a picture of my sweet sweet child, 

because who wants to read a blog with no pictures?

not me.

weekends.

i'm not really sure how, but i think we find ourselves in spokane and coeur d'alene 

on the weekends more than we find ourselves staying in moscow.

ok, we've only been 3 or 4 times. i can't remember. but still.

we had to go pick up my ring, so we just decided to hang out up there for a bit. 

this time we just went to coeur d'alene, so it wasn't too bad.

we went for a little walk around the lake.

not the whole lake.

that would be like 4 million miles.

then we ate at this crepe food truck.

which has 5 stars on yelp, buuuuut it was only alright.

then we went to target. 

i love target.

I LOVE TARGET.

okay now i'm just rambling.

but in all seriousness, 

i can't believe its already almost thinksgiving. this semester is fllyyyyiiing by.

i can't wait to get out of moscow for longer than a day.

don't get me wrong, i love it here.

buuuut a little vacation will be nice.

moscow mountain

a couple weeks ago we decided to venture out a bit.

we went to moscow mountain and went for a hike.

i wasn't even out of breath the whole time.

kidding. I WAS.

it was a fun one.

everyone else on the trail had a dog.

everyone.

it made me wish toby was still here with us just a little.

im so glad there is stuff like this around here.

we love it.

its finally getting a little cooler.

and i love it!

cause now i can pull out the sweaters

and start making soup for dinner every single night.

moscow is SO PRETTY in the fall.

i can't get enough of it.

Q girl was blessed

well i officially have been MIA and have no excuse for it

seeing that I'm usually at home most of the time with Q girl.

its been almost 2 months since I've written.

so lets play some catch up.

i can't believe we've been here almost 3 months

which means quinn is almost 4 months. (WHAT?)

and that the semester is already halfway over. (WHAT?)

some of the weeks fly by, and some of them drag on.

though i feel like most of them are flying by lately.

we are liking moscow a lot and i am kind of officially

trying to think of ways to convince cameron to let us stay here for all 3 years.

nah, i would really be fine with staying or going to boise.

I looked at the calendar today and realized that halloween is this month

and i still need to find costumes for us

(and by the way there is not a single cornmaze within 2 hours of this place. WHHYYYY??)

and that thanksgiving is next month.

and that CHRISTMAS IS IN 2 MONTHS.

let me say it again. CHRISTMAS IS IN 2 MONTHS.

i love this time of year. and i love that CHRISTMAS IS IN 2 MONTHS. (okay i'll stop)

i think i am just really excited because cameron gets almost a whole month off of school

so we get to go see our families and he gets a nice break from school.

and i just love christmas, lets be honest.

the real reason why we all came here. to my blog that is.

the title.

our quinny girl was blessed last month while we were in boise.

we headed down for chandler and collettes reception

and blessed her while we were there. 

it was a fun weekend

with too many things to do, not enough time, and too much driving.

we love this girl of ours.

newborn pictures of my not-so-newborn anymore

we got quinn's newborn pictures back. i love them.

thank you courtney!!!

we actually got them a bit ago, but both of us have computers with no CD drive 

and i didn't realize until i got the CD that i had no way of looking at them,

so i had to go get them transferred to a jump drive.

annyyyyways.

she was about 2 and a half weeks in these pictures. 

she's 8 weeks now. HOOOWWW??? 

She is growing so fast (i know i say that every post)

but she is acting so much older too. and i love it.

she isn't sleeping ALL day anymore.

usually 1-2 longer naps a day and 1-2 shorter naps.

lately, she has been sleeping really well at night. from 11-5:30ish. 

i love seeing her grow up. she has such a fun little personality.

she loves loves her tongue. she plays with it all the time.

 if we stick our tongue out at her, she will smile and stick hers out too.

she loves her baths. she loves the warm water being poured on her and loves splashing the water.

its so funny.

she is so alert! she loves opening her eyes and looking around.

and her legs are so strong. 

i think she will start walking before she rolls over

we're not very good at remembering tummy time. 

and now for some beautiful pictures.

Look at those precious back rolls.