miss liana turned 1.

here’s a not so long ago baby turning one!!!
I will not start in on how it wasn’t that long ago..  but she was just a baby.

poll family

these kids aren’t strangers to me.

this is one of my favorite cousins, his darling wife, and adorable daughter.

(I am well aware that all of my cousins are my favorites…)

maylee isn’t a stranger to you, either.

(remember?  and this?  this is her too.  aaand here.)

and what’s more?  these kids are welcoming a darling baby boy.

(sure to be, he will be a poll after all.)

um, yes. these are my girls.

just in case a misunderstanding were to take place here, I just wanted to be sure that you understand, these are my children.

I am told they are “stamped hard” with that pitcher brand.

I can tell you that personality-wise, they are mostly me.  they are goofy, silly, at times inappropriate.  but they are also a little shy.

funny story about this here shoot, it was born in my brain back in may.  we came across this fabulous wall on 17th street in ogden, while driving to a sprinkler parts store far too many times in one week.  I kept fantasizing about it.  the colors for the outfits needed to be funky and mis-matched, but not too crazy.  I knew ashley would have to wear boots..  nails must be painted.  I worried about how long lynnie’s legs would look in these shorts.  but I worried mostly about being accosted by a bum being in that part of ogden.

then, still back in may, while shopping at target, peyton and I came across parts of these outfits on clearance.  they came together too easily.

and then summer came.

I vowed I would not sit in front of the computer too much.

I promised that I would enjoy every second of this summer with my girls.

and I waited for a time when merrill could go with me to that scary part of ogden where the bums roam.

and waited.

and waited.

and waited.

then august came.  the first day of august to be exact.

and I was like, “holy freaking crap!”  because that is what I say when I freak out a bit.  “school is going to start THIS MONTH.”  and all of those memories of my dreamed-up photo-shoot in front of this crazy wall with the darling + cheap outfits came rushing at me.  I debated for a second between catching-up on the laundry and going to take these pictures.  I debated about waiting for merrill, realizing that that kid will be far too busy for the next 11 days to count on him to protect us from bums.  then I did hair and painted nails like it was going to save my life.

(I did not look so cute.  maybe that is why we weren’t bothered?)

and it was successful.

everyone got along quite perfectly.

(you know, because their payoff was lunch at “yak” donald’s.  what?  you don’t call it that?)

so here you go, just a few (haha) of my favorites.

and then some goofy for you…

re-wind to july for a second.

due to the lifestyle I have adopted for the summer, I relaxed a bit too much.

I was a slacker.

but I made up for it before july was officially over.

they document some of our fun this summer..  click on them to find a complete list of products used.

some “this is the place” fun:

one of our trips to the dam:

another “dam” trip:

(hehe…)

and ashley’s emotional road to mastering her two wheeler sans training wheels.

hello again.

so it’s been a while.

how are you?

good.  good.

whelp, we’ve been busy.  we’ve been thoroughly enjoying summer, trying to live as distraction free as possible.  but, I have been making a mental list of things to note here.  and in some cases, I even have pictures!

- merrill loved his father’s day gift.

he also got a hammock, and that my friends, is a story itself.

(let us just say it doesn’t take as long to put together as it states in the instructions, when you have 3 adults and 3 kiddos.)

- lynn, ashley, and peyton, are amazing at their tumbling classes.

- ashley will not answer to “ash”.  she will either correct you, or follow up your “ash” by adding “lee”, or ignore you altogether.  oh, and a dirty look will  most likely accompany any of those options.

- I painted our room.  I also sewed curtains.  I even hung them.  no, there are not any pictures.

(yet.)

- I have been loving zumba.

(I am sure I am quite entertaining to watch.  sadly, I have no pictures of this to share with you.)

- we went camping for a week.  it was what heaven will be like, I am sure.

have you ever slept with a screech owl around?  neither have i.  they are loud.

who’s kid is she?!

we were unable to have campfires with the dry conditions but you know us, we mad the best of it.

- we have been swimming, a lot.

- we have visited the dam, and told “dam jokes” on our way there a few times too.

(what is a “dam joke” you ask?  well, here’s a dam joke for ya:  what did the fish say when it swam into the other fish?  “dam fish!”)

(I know..  you are laughing so hard it is painful.)

 

- merrill has been crazy busy at the hotel.

- we have set a record for number of popsicles eaten.  that record will surely be broken before the summer’s end.

- we had a couple of tenants we didn’t know about in our basement come out.

(no, they are not “bad” spiders.  just giant house spiders.)

(yes, we are all still alive, the spiders, not so much.)

- we visited “this is the place” a few times before our pass was up.

(why this picture you ask?  why, this is what I dream to have my kitchen counter look like.  that is why.)

- we had a lagoon day thanks to our sister-in-law britney.

- we almost died (according to ashley) when we jumped on our trampoline during a lightening storm.

(all 5 of us on an 8 foot round trampoline, touching the ground..  pretty sure the manufacturer would not be happy about all those rules being broken.)

- we have even seen a couple of movies, IN A THEATER!! 

(that is not common for us homebodies.)

- we introduced the girls to slurpees.  we are awful parents in that we didn’t do it sooner.

- I had a project launch in jessica sprague’s “project plaza”.  kind of exciting!

- have been reading like crazy!!  I have lost count of how many books I have read, but can tell you that my two favorites are:

“these is my words”

and

“the book thief”

(you are welcome.)

- we have also been trying to keep our yard alive-ish during our very dry summer. 

(that is not so fun.)

but my biggest accomplishment of the summer was earning tan lines in this pattern:

(I know, I know..  you are jealous and all.)

that is just a small sampling.  I didn’t want to bore you to death on your first visit back and all.