How does your garden grow?

Once upon a time, there was sunny Saturday. Sounds like a fairytale to us Utahns, huh?

Clay and I decided to take advantage of it and acheive a dream we've had for awhile: plant a garden.

Since we don't know the first thing about gardening — OK maybe the first — buy seeds, right? My stellar step-dad, Craigeroni, happily lended his years of green thumbing experience.

The result was a well-planted garden of strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, beans, snow peas, spinach, lettuce, and onions ...

... and a very happy new gardener.

We just hope this random blizzard didn't nullify our hard work. I haven't been sweet talking to those seedlings for nothing.

Ellie can't wait to bite into your first carrot, garden. Don't disappoint.

Today I discovered I have baby's breath in my garden, along with these fuzzy purple flowers. Lovely.

Now that I'm pretty much a legit gardener, I think I am going to plant these:

And these.

What's in your garden?

We are Family

A few favorites from our family photo shoot. Our friend Tara took them. Anyone who can get a hungry baby to smile is one talented photographer!

Beauty

I have a lot of heroes in my life. Most of them are mothers.

One of them is Stephanie Nielson. Watch this video. It reminded me how beautiful motherhood is and how incredibly grateful I am to have the sweet little angel who made me a mom. And her daddy, who is the best husband and father I could ever hope for.

Sometimes I might miss my pre-mom self like Stephanie misses her pre-plane crash self. I would never trade my baby for anything — I'm talking about missing a good night's sleep, a flat stomach and eyes without dark circles under them. And while I have my vain moments worrying about how I look, Stephanie, whose beautiful face was burned, is more gorgeous than ever because of what she's been through and what she's made of her trial. I want to be that kind of gorgeous.

It's good to remember what matters most. It's that sweet baby girl I get to wake up to every day — not the tired face and messy hair I see in the mirror. This is my new life. And it is so good. I can honestly say it is better than life has ever been — dark circles and all.

Past the Point of No Return

I just signed up for my first half marathon.

The furthest I've run is a 10K. (half of a half marathon)

Running is harder post-baby, especially without my precious 8 hours of nightly sleep.

But I can do it. There's no turning back now.

The race is August 21st in beautiful Hobble Creek Canyon.
Right now I am running three miles one to two times a week and doing yoga or weights the other days.
I'll be able to start training more seriously once this little beauty arrives (Clay and I got it for ourselves as an anniversary present.)

Any training tips from fellow runners? Or encouragement from non-runners? :)

happy four-year anniversary to us.

Here's to many more years of fun.

Oh, and check out my little post on how to keep your post-baby marriage strong here.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

My friend Karlee and I took our annual stroll through the Tulip Festival with the little ones.

{These almost look fake, right?}

{It was a wee bit windy. And yes, Ellie is already sucking her thumb.}

{BFFs}

{Awesome shot of crazy upsidedown tulips by the budding [ha] photographer, Karlee}

 

{This is Ellie being camera shy. She kept turning away from the camera, but Karlee snuck this shot.}

See ya next year, tulips!

Sucked in.

We went to Bed Bath and Beyond with the sole purpose of buying a Skookie kit ...

Not only can you use the little skillets to make huge, delicious cookies and top them with ice cream while they are still warm, but you can use them to make personal pizzas (thanks for the tip, Jessie) and omelettes. No-brainer, right?

Well, we didn't excpect to discover these cute little kitchen scrubbers. I mean, the colors are fantastic! {Only $2.99!}

 Or this set of three mesh strainers, which I've been needing to wash my newfound favorite grain — Quinoa. {Only $9.99!}  

Or this set of glass containers we had been looking for to put leftovers and Clay's lunches in. It's not good to microwave plastic, because the chemicals can release into the food, so the purchase was necessary for our health, right? {Only $19.99!}

Or this salad spinner. Dries lettuce and keeps it fresh longer! Great for washing fruit too! {Only $9.99! OK, that really is a good price for a salad spinner.}

Last but not least, we found these awesome blackout curtain liners to shield the sun from Ellie's room. {Maybe they'll help her sleep past 6:30 a.m. And you can't put a price tag on sleep, so I'll skip the "price" on these babies.}

Then, we passed a little TV playing on a shelf advertising the new, the improved, one-of-a-kind tomato slicer! And that's when it hit me. Bed Bath and Beyond is a breeding ground for informercial products. And they are designed to suck you in to their promises of convenience.

I should have been suspicious when I realized I was going to the store for something called a "Skookie." It was probably right next to the Snuggies for dogs. 

Good thing Clay and I are sitting down to do some serious budgeting this weekend.

But I won't say I regret purchasing my salad spinner. That baby can spin romaine like nobody's business!