city lights...

over the weekend we went on a double with some of our best friends, Evan & Karlie, and their twins Bentley & Chloe. Dylan loves those kids to death and it seems the feeling is mutual, and it was so fun to bring the kiddos along. we grabbed some sushi, went to see the new house they are building (i am only super jealous:) and then we headed downtown to see the lights and grab some hot chocolate. we had such a blast, and luckily we went Friday night before the blizzard showed up on Saturday. it wasn't too cold, and the kids had a blast until the very end, then they got exhausted. 

thanks for the good times you guys!! 

5 reasons...

*a word of caution. if you don't want to hear my ramble about sex, don't read this. and for those of you who do, enjoy :)

so i was hanging with one of my best girlfriends earlier today. we were chatting away for a few hours, and as girls do (well, most do i think?) we got on the subject of sex. i love talking about this subject! you all probably think i'm weird (well, those of you who know me don't, but those who don't know me probably think i'm a perv, and that's okay. i'm not, i just love sex and love to talk about it).
so anyways, we got on the subject, and we started talking about how many times we do it each week and stuff like that. not really anything too graphic, just basics. i am not a fan of disclosing too many intimate details, but some are fun to share and bond over :) she told me that they still do it 4 or 5 times a week. i was both in awe, and jealous. without going into detail, let's just say that mine and my husbands bedtime ritual has gone from wanting and doing it that many times a week, to maybe once. and it's nobody's fault except for my stupid birth control. that stuff can just kill your sex drive like you wouldn't believe. i didn't make the connection after taking it for a couple of months and realizing that i was saying no every time he asked, and i couldn't figure out why. he was still super sexy and funny, i loved him more now then i did when we got married. i think at that point Brett was probably wondering if i was turning into a lesbian or something (Ross & Carol anyone?). i felt horrible rejecting him and felt angry and sad at myself for not wanting what bonded and connected us the most. what the H was wrong with me?
then suddenly out of nowhere, it clicked. i looked up the side effects one night after yet another rejection round to him and there was my answer! i wasn't retarded, and to my relief and his i'm sure, i wasn't turning into a lesbian! it was just the stupid pills! so then and there i decided to stop the pill, and we decided to take the old fashioned route and just use those plastic things until we wanted to try for another baby (which, by the way, is in the furthest distant future you could imagine. no babies for us for a while).
so i stopped the birth control about 8 weeks ago. 4 weeks after stopping it, nada. still nothing. then, like clockwork, my drive was back in full gear and it was like we were first married for a week. then i was too tired, i didn't feel good, i had a headache, i wanted to watch a show, i wanted to relax...the list went on and on with excuses.i read this and it literally changed my perspective on sex and why i need to change my thinking. not only is it hilarious, but it's the truest thing i've ever read!
flash forward to tonight. i got home from my friends house, and found an AMAZING blog post that another friend had posted on facebook. behold, the best article you will ever read:

Five Reasons You Should Have Sex with Your Husband Every Night

1. Being a mother, one of the ultimate expressions of womanhood, can often leave a girl feeling stripped of her femininity. There is something about being covered in spit up and attending to the every need of another human being that makes one feel distinctly gender neutral. Most of my days are spent playing with dolls, wiping baby food off of my clothes, changing diapers, wiping snot off of my clothes, going to the park, and wiping what-the-heavens-is-that off of my clothes. There is something restorative about kissing the boy you love. There are times in Riley’s arms when I remember who I am before I even realize I have forgotten. Yes, I am a cook, cleaner, teacher, and wiper of all things disgusting. But I am also something more, something delightful and completely apart from my roles. I am a woman! And there is potential and depth and heck, I am pretty darn good kisser, too. It is a lovely thing, finding yourself through the touch of someone else.

2. If you want your husband to act like a man, you need to treat him like a man. Hold the eye rolls. I am not pushing for a return to the 1950′s. (Although, heaven knows an era in which low rise jeans did not exist is basically alright by me.) Women need any number of criteria met to feel loved. Men are far simpler. They need to be fed, they need to be appreciated, and they need to have sex. That is it. Really. So make or order dinner once in a while. Say thank you for the long hours spent at work with a hug and smile when he walks through the door each night. (Better yet? Smile as you hand him the kids and walk out the door for a long, much needed break.) And my goodness, let the poor man see you naked. It is astounding what a good man will do for a good woman that has made him feel loved. After a few weeks of meals and make outs, you will sit back and wonder why you didn’t insist on having sex every night sooner. Talk about a small investment and big returns.

3. You need to have a moment in each day that is just about the two of you. Remember that boy? The one that made your heart thump and hands sweat? The one that called when you hoped he would, that made you run hot and high up to the stars until you thought you would never come down? He is still there. Under the years and bills and worries, that smiling boy is still in love with and needs his smiling girl. Every night after the kids go to bed is a chance to find him again. A moment to remind yourself that you are living a picket fenced adventure and my goodness, there is nothing the two of you can’t do.

4. Sex relieves stress. I don’t know that this one needs much explanation. As a mother I eat stress for breakfast. So it seems to me I have a choice. I can let off steam by A) driving around at night and bashing in strangers mailboxes or B) I can get down and dirty with that one guy I married that one time. I choose option B. (So far the mailboxes in my neighborhood have escaped unscathed, so Option B must be working.)

5. It is so much blasted fun. Seriously. Why are we so quick to refuse the good things in life? We will slog through our children’s Algebra homework, do Zumba in public and pluck the hair from our body ONE PIECE AT A TIME. But tell a girl to have sex every night and she looks at you like you are crazy, An orgasm? Every night? What do I look like? A Nymphomaniacal Super Woman?

Where is the logic in that?

Are we really too busy doing dishes to participate in an activity that is so good it has inspired genius (that saucy Shakespeare) and changed history (Okay, Helen of Troy, we get it. You were super hot)? My goodness, what a crazy way to live. Ladies, did it ever occur to you (to us!) that we should have sex because WE DESERVE IT?

Yeah, you deserve it.

So, tonight put the kids to bed. Leave the dishes in the sink and the floors unswept. They will wait. Take a moment to remember that you are the girl you hoped you would be and then go find that boy and remind him that he is the man you knew he could be.

Rinse. Repeat.

*Source: http://www.meginprogress.com/five-reasons-you-should-have-sex-with-your-husband-every-day/

 i love this woman and how blunt she is. she tells it just the way it is and it's exactly what i needed to hear! no longer will the night's come that excuses will be made, i will give our marriage and our relationship what it deserves, and that's intimacy, love and time. like she said in the article, everything else can wait. and it can! i don't know why it took someone else stating these simple truths to actually realize what i've been missing and what we need as a couple. so thank you to meginprogress, you are wonderful! my husband will be so thankful :)

date night...

i don't think anybody knows how long it's been since we have been on a date alone. even we had a hard time remembering. we came to the conclusion that the last time we had dinner alone was on our anniversary trip to Park City. that was in May. that's over 6 months people!!! and the last time we went to a movie was last October. over a year! ugh, yeah, we were just a little overdue for some alone time. 

so since Brett's parents are in town right now, we decided that it was time to break our 6 month curse and leave the little and go on a date! i was super excited all day long...ok 99% excited and 1% worried about leaving Dylan. i know i'm weird, i just always get a little ansy leaving him. but i was mostly excited. but once we dropped him off, it was like a sense of freedom came over us! it was amazing!

we decided to eat at Red Robin (its one of our faves) then to go see Breaking Dawn Part ll (we have seen every single Twilight film in theater's, hence why the last time we saw a movie was when Breaking Dawn Part l came out). let me just tell you, eating dinner at a restaurant without a little 17-month old constantly whining and throwing things is probably the best.thing.ever. seriously, it's like i forgot what it was like to have a meal and actually be able to focus on and enjoy what i'm eating, and to be able to focus on Brett. we actually cuddled and held hands during dinner you guys!!!!! it felt soooo good!

then after enjoying our meals and enjoying each other's company, we walked over to the theater and watched our movie. i thought it was going to be dumb judging from the first 10 minutes, but once it ended, i decided that that one is my favorite of the entire series. seriously, so good! especially the last 5 minutes of it :)

on the drive home both of us kept saying over and over "why have we not been doing this all along? this is awesome! to be out by ourselves for a little while, it's so rejuvenating!" and honestly, it was! it made us appreciate the time we have together more, and we are definitely not taking Dylan on our dates anymore. the reason we took him all this time was because he was fun to have with us, and we i thought i'd miss him too much (Brett has been wanting to go on dates for a while, i would always want to bring Dylan). that ended about 4 months ago. it's now more of a hassle to take him out to eat because he gets so bored so fast. i think this date was just what i needed to see that we can actually go on dates alone, and Dylan will be just fine, and we will have fun and not feel bad we left him! i think we will try to do it once a week. it was just that fabulous :)

no time for anything...

this last week was one of the craziest weeks that i've had in a while, and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down anytime soon. this coming week and next i have 6 more sessions to edit, and a few more sessions to photograph, and then the cycle starts over. i don't mind it, i love it actually! seriously, i am feeling more and more blessed with every session i have or inquiry i get. it's good to be busy, and i am so grateful the business i have and my amazing clients who keep referring me which equals more sessions, more editing, and more experience :)

but luckily, there were a couple days earlier in the week that Brett had off of work (ahh, the perks of working for the government, you get every single holiday known to man off) and we took advantage of every single second to play, cuddle, watch Friends re-runs and try Dickey's BBQ Pit (if you haven't been, run there! sooo yummy). oh, and we drove up the canyon because this photographer wanted a winter picture with her sweet family :) and after freezing our butts off, and slipping every two seconds on the ice underneath this snow, we got our shot! (too bad i had already ordered our Christmas cards a few days before we took this, but oh well) and after Brett having to dig us out for a 1/2 hour, we were able to head home and get warm.

i am so excited for this coming week. my sister and her family are coming into town today, yay for family coming to town! we have missed them so much! Thanksgiving is coming, and i am going to eat every last bite of stuffing until i can't stuff anymore inside of me. more editing and more sessions. family time. and Brett only working 3 days. yahoo!! yay for the holidays!!

and this is how my day was...

so Brett is gone. out of town. with his boys. and i am here. in the snow. just me and the little. i woke up this morning from a horrible night's sleep (it's always a horrible sleep when Brett isn't there) and lay in bed pondering life and enjoying my time before Dylan woke up. i got to thinking about how much i wanted and needed to get done. i was going to be so productive and i was going to clean the house and when Brett got home in a couple days he would think a maid service came over. today was going to be epic.

then i looked outside.

that mindset went completely out the window and my mind automatically went from wanting to be productive to lazy as all get out. i am not quite sure why this weather does this to me, but i am not fond of it. i didn't want to do a thing except stay in my pj's all day and chase Dylan around and chill inside. but then i remembered that we had no milk (Dylan will go into full blown trauma without his milk) and no food for the weekend. i knew i should've gone to the grocery store yesterday. ugh!

so after Dylan woke up and decided to fall down a couple of stairs and go back down for a little snooze, i decided to put on my big-girl panties and brave the snow, slush and stupid drivers and run my errands. i seriously deserve a gold star for doing this. it was a very hard yet mature decision on my part.

so after getting Dylan ready for the storm, we buckled up in the car and headed out on our errands. and since i was already in the car and in the slush and in the snow, i decided that i deserved some sweet reward for my efforts of even braving this blizzard. so the car ended up pulling into The Wood Connection parking lot. i expected it to be dead because of the blizzard and was looking forward to this, since that store is teeny, yet amazing. but no, of course it had to be some sort of amazing Friday deal thing they had so i couldn't even find a decent parking spot. or a spot at all for that matter. i had to drive around for 10 minutes waiting for one of the million people there to leave. finally after parking and getting inside, i shoved my way through and grabbed my goodies (ooooo i cannot wait to get started on my projects!!) and then i waited in line for 20 minutes, carrying Dylan in one arm (seriously they need freakin' carts there...they are retarded. it's a mom sanctuary for crying out loud! get some carts! because 90% of the people who shop there usually have a litter of 3 or more with them!) and my super heavy basket in the other arm (that doesn't hold crap. you would seriously need like 3 of those baskets to even hold everything you buy. hence, another reason for the carts!). yeah, i was glad to finally be in the line to leave.

once we got out of that H-hole (i am never going there on a Friday again. ever.) i decided that we would just go to Winco to get our groceries since it was right there, and their prices are just too good to pass up. and after an hour of filling my cart with goodness, i got to the checkout. i don't know if any of you shop there, but i have only been a couple of times. you have to bag your own stuff, not a fan but the prices are certainly worth it. so i am in the middle of bagging my hour-long's shopping worth of food, and the guy tells me to swipe my card, so i do. then it asks for my pin#. i tell him i only brought a credit card. he then replies that they only take debit or cash. what the freaking H? was he trying to be funny? i thought he was, because i started laughing. he looked at me with his little beaty eyes and repeated their stupid policy. what kind of messed up store only takes debit or cash? i have never heard of this. but it's the dumbest thing i have ever heard. it sure would've been nice to know your dumb-a policy before i even walked through the door you pee-brain! maybe you guys should put a sign somewhere, since he then told me it happens all the time and just to drive home and get my debit card and come back. oh yeah, totally, i have nothing else to do with my time and my son isn't screaming right now because he is tired and wants the milk i came here to buy him. yeah, let me just run on home and waste not only my gas, but my sanity! no. i told them what a retarded policy that was and wanted to tell them where to stick it but just left. i honestly am never shopping there again. i don't support stupidity.

so Dylan is screaming by this point, and i have to admit that it was like 10% my fault for stopping by the Wood Connection before grocery shopping, but it was 90% stupid Winco's fault for having such a stupid policy. i gave him the last bit of goldfish he had and decided to just go home and stop at a gas station on the way for his milk, then to starve to death over the weekend. well, then i remembered i had to mail a disc to a client, so i went to the post office that was right next to Macey's. my mind debated. go in with a ticking bomb and hope he doesn't go off or just go home...i decided to risk the ticking bomb. and mind you, i am doing all this in a flipping snow-storm so honestly i felt like mother of the year at this point. we ran into Macey's, picked up the bare necessities, i gladly paid with my credit card (you have my business for life Macey's) and filled up my car. and Dylan didn't even cry once while we were there. a divine intervention from above!

since Dylan had been so good on this outing, i decided i wanted to get him his first meal from a restaurant. and what better place then Zupas :) so i got my soup, then i ordered him a grilled cheese with soup on the side. of course, when i got home and opened his sandwich box to give my little man his sandwich, it was soaked in soup! honestly, can i not catch a break today? first of all, what moron puts the soup inside the sandwich box? and second, what kind of moron puts soup in a to-go container and doesn't put the lid on all the way. they were lucky it was a blizzard and that i had already had it that morning or they would've seen me march right back in there demanding a perfectly dry grilled cheese. and to top it off, Dylan only ate like 3 bites. and i wonder why i never buy him his own meal.

after such a fun morning, the rest of the day was amazing. i will show you through pictures...
snow fun...

 little playful baby...

 look what got installed yesterday...here's to catching up on Keeping Up with the Kardashians

 a glimpse of what i didn't get done today #foldinglaundry

 snuggles...

 he lives to cuddle this bear...

 crayon baby...

 my goody bags from The Wood Connection...my projects after i clean tonight

and if you want a good laugh, please PLEASE watch this video. i took it right after we ate lunch. i don't know how we keep getting all these funny moments on camera but i am quite enjoying it :)

and that was our day. it was a good one, minus all the awesome moments :)

Happy Halloween...

i love Halloween! but, I must say, being a stay at home mom to a 1-year old, it hasn't felt like Halloween. until we dressed up our little Raccoon! is he not the cutest Raccoon you've ever seen?! i think i died of cuteness when we finished putting his nose and whiskers on! we had our little photoshoot and then we planned on taking this baby Coon' to both sets of grandma's to trick-or-treat and show off his ears and tail, but as bad luck would have it, it turns out that even baby Raccoons need their afternoon naps too! So i blog instead, while the coon sleeps, and while the husband is at the Chiropractor getting his back fixed from when  he jacked it up when he decided to ram a Porsche on the freeway last week. oh, that boy! it's a good thing he's super attractive or i probably would've been a lot more furious about it.

but when he gets home, it's time for Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Apples (we picked them up earlier this evening. Apple Pie for her, Butterfinger for him) because we are too dang lazy to make our own, and let's just be honest, you can't beat Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Apples. and it's also time for haunted movies, little trick-or-treaters (so excited that we get them at our own house this year!!) and some much needed husband and wife time cuddling and smooching. until the Coon wakes up, then off to Grandmas we will go to show off those cheeks full of nuts and adorableness!

 we hope your Halloween is fun and safe!

love,

Kate, Brett and our little baby Raccon

pumpkin pickin'...

ever since last Halloween i have been saying to Brett "i can't wait to take Dylan to a pumpkin patch!" and the day finally came! Earlier this week we decided that yesterday would be the day for pickin' pumpkins at the pumpkin patch with our little pumpkin :) so after Brett got finished with the yard work he wanted to get done and after the little guy woke up from his nap, we all loaded up in the car and drove to the patch of pumpkins...

it was so much fun walking around with Dylan, and him basically tripping every 2 seconds (hence the downward dog photo) because he didn't want any help walking around after we helped him the first 5 minutes we were there. but it was so fun to see our little trooper in his land of big orange pumpkins looking and touching each one and trying to pick a few up. i think he could've stayed there all day long and been super content. we had a grand time, and it was such beautiful weather, i am glad we were able to go before the cold comes. and there was no better way to end the evening than picking up some Cafe Rio and some cupcakes, and watching Thursday's episode of The Vampire Diaries.

perfect day.