twenty five.

my twenty-fifth birthday =

sleeping in.
presents from sean.
diet dr pepper for breakfast.
visit to the ob/gyn {it's a girl!}.
lunch at pepperbelly's.
cupcakes from the sweet tooth fairy.
naps at home.
shopping with s & s.
dinner with my family.
birthday candles.
cake.
pretty clothes from ume'. {thanks, lindsay!}
a giant beach towel. {thanks, heather!}
a gift certificate to sego lily. {thanks, sean!}
a pretty dress, hemmed to perfection. {double thanks, mom!}

it's been a good day, despite my being closer to 30 than to 20.

looking forward to seeing my girls tomorrow!!

and a few more.

i love them all, sami! thank you thank you :)

{photos by samantha stanton}

birthday photoshoot.

i'm loving this shot that sami posted on her blog! can't wait to see the rest!!!

lanterns.

these are so beautiful! i need to throw an outdoor party just so i can make them. or maybe the decor of this next baby's room will be based around these pretties! {if it's a girl, anyway.}

learn how to make them here on crafty nest {found via pepper design}.

pretty pacaderms.

i ♥ these wall decals from pottery barn kids. the $129 price tag is a little too steep for me. but a mommy can dream.

the chubmaster.

carseat + naptime + no pants + covering her ears {?} = photo gold

{how awesome are those legs?!}

serena isn't the baby anymore.

serena's newest cousin, baby campbell, was born on friday. she is so teeny tiny and so cute. seeing that little girl made me realize how much serena has grown in one short year! amazing!

congrats, steph & brett!

five minutes with the camera.

{note the lilacs on our table. thanks to those who offered, but i found and robbed a bush!}

lately.

i made do with some flowers from the grocery store. they don't smell pretty like lilacs, but they add some purple to my kitchen.

i planted something! i recycled my planter from last year and planted some mint. i grew up on mint tea, so i'm pretty excited about it! i think i'm also going to do tomatoes in a bucket this year. {mmmmm, a blt sounds really good right now....}

i finished little dorrit. i cried my eyes out in the last episode. soooooooooooooooooooooo good.

growing out bangs is the worst ever. i have to pull them back all the time or i know i'll end up cutting them. wish me luck. it's been a LONG time since i've been without bangs.

and speaking of hair, i've been loving putting serena's up in a little top knot lately. she looks like a little sumo wrestler :)

we grilled up some hot dogs with our friends last night. hot dog + mustard + relish = delicious.

serena had her 1 year dr appointment yesterday. she's off the charts in height {wonder where she gets that??} and weighs 23 lbs. i think she weighed the same at 9 months. i guess she really is thinning out a bit.

date night tomorrow! ice cream + iron man with my sisters & their husbands. can't wait!

lilacs.

does anyone have a lilac bush i can come borrow from? i am wishing i had a vase of them on my kitchen table, making my house smell pretty. someday when i have a yard i'm planting lilacs.

{image}

this is where it all began.

when we walked here yesterday, we noticed the perfect picnic table in a perfectly shady and wooded place. today serena and i went back with my mom to have a little picnic. this is the bridge where sean proposed to me almost 5 years ago. romantic, huh? i bet you didn't know sean had a romantic bone in him :) it was so green and beautiful today. i wish this warm, sunny weather would stay awhile!

serena especially liked looking at the horses. she thought they were funny :)

a happy little weekend.

which included:

the traditional friday night pizza.

starting alias season 1 with some friends. {i've missed you, vaughn.}

banana bread.

sleeping with the windows open.

driving with the windows down.

a freshly mowed backyard.

serena's one year pictures at a beautiful park on a perfect spring day.

a giant hamburger {that's what i crave these days}.

a fabulous choir concert by Vocis!!!!

a lovely musical number by my lovely ward choir.

sunday naps for all 3 of us.

a walk to our favorite spot... where sean proposed to me :)

yummy dinner with sean's family.

serena playing with her giggly cousins.

some intense mariokart.

lots of laughter and a movie with friends.

little dorrit ♥

have you seen this?




i am in love. it is soooooooooo good. and i'm only 3.5 hours into it {i think it's 8 hours total}. just ask my sister & mom... i've been obsessing about it since the first episode :)

i couldn't wait any longer for the weekly masterpiece classic installments on pbs, so i bought it online and have been impatiently waiting for it to arrive on my doorstep! arthur clennam is played by matthew macfadyen {mr. darcy in the focus features version of pride & prejudice}. he is fabulous and sooo handsome. it's very well acted and full of mystery and romance.

you need to borrow it from me when i'm done. or check it out from the library.

serena's party.

serena was pretty much in heaven with her family all around and the many MANY new toys! she was pretty dainty with her cake at first, but after awhile she really made a mess.

20+ people is a lot for our house, but we had fun and we're so glad all of serena's family came to celebrate!

serena is ONE!

serena's first birthday was yesterday. can you believe it? i can't! she is getting so grown up {and getting to be quite the ham for the camera!}.

at twelve months, serena:

loves to stand up and attempt to climb everything.
climbs the stairs with ease... but hasn't mastered going down yet.
has switched to whole milk {no problem}.
never stops moving.
senses when the bathroom door is open and heads straight for the toilet.
dances whenever music is playing.
jabbers like crazy.
says "dada" ALL THE TIME.
points to everything.
loves elephants {because i make the elephant noise for her when she finds one in a book}.
still takes two naps and sleeps 10 hrs at night.
likes to open drawers and cupboards and pull out all of their contents.
waves her hand in front of her nose when she has a messy diaper. i taught her that one :)
is getting pretty good balance {when standing}.
wears size 24 months/ 2T.
has 4 goofy teeth on top and 2 on bottom.

she is so funny and has us laughing all the time :) love this little girl!

{more birthday stuff to come.}

we went.

and it was awesome.

i bought a cute flower clip, a silly kitty case for my new phone, and i won an adorable CTR necklace in the raffle. am i too old to wear a CTR necklace? my mom bought me a necklace from armelle for mothers day {it's gooooorgeous! and has a locket!} and a dress for serena's birthday and she won a super cute dry erase menu board. when you get there before the crowd, there's higher odds that you'll win something in the raffle :)

loved it. you should go.



and speaking of my phone, i got a droid and i love it! iphone, shmiphone :)

the porcelain god.

yesterday serena sacrificed my cell phone to the porcelain god. i was not happy. {don't try to text/call me until tomorrow... i hope to have a new phone by then.}

and

last night i was up until 4:30 a.m. praying to the very same porcelain god, thanks to a mean case of food poisoning. it's really a shame to throw up a $30.00 meal from rodizio.

that's been my last 24 hours.

bird garland.

i love this bird garland by gillargirl. it's so dreamy. i think i'll make one.

pretties.

flowers for the soloists. a tutu for serena. something fancy for her hair. new silvery sandals.