insta-october

you guys, my poor neglected real camera and blog have some serious jealousy of my iphone and instagram... it's just so easy to keep up there outside the world of lightroom and photoshop and blog editing! i did actually pick up my camera yesterday though and it felt good!
.
here are some instagram photos from october. all of these pictures are sooo fall-ish and i love it! fall in colorado has absolutely been *amazing* guys. unseasonably warm and i couldn't be happier!
.

i tried to make an effort to do more stereotypical halloween things this year. in ohio, we had so much family around that holidays always seemed special and filled with things to do. in colorado, we have to be much more intentional about it since it's all up to us. maybe it's strange but i'm just not naturally into holidays but this year we did the pumpkin patch, 

carved pumpkins, went to trick or treat street

  and had a fabulous night trick or treating with friends. ( <- that part no one had to talk me into! )

october skies // i'm already missing the pinker summer sunsets - the sky is changing so much!

// i will definitely miss all the free clothes i got from work // 

// the mountains in the fall guys... horses in front of the mountains in the fall guys... //

// me + my babies headed to trick or treat street. aren't they absolute babes? //

// more mountains in the fall ... this stuff never gets old //

pretty fall feels at the coffee drive thru // rose gold lip stick from the dollar store. 

( i buy all my lipstick from the dollar store! )

.

 i hope you all had a beautiful october as well!

.

.

are you following me on instagram? @bygillianclaire

.

leave a comment if you find me so that i can follow back!

.

.

insta-summer and a quick hello!

It's been a while! My kids (yes, both kids! Ah!) are back in school and I'm attempting to get back at blogging! My computer has been gone being fixed most of the summer, and I haven't even touched my camera, *but* I have been keeping up on Instagram so I thought I'd share some of my faves from this summer.
. opening night at my end of the year show for school! i only took one class last year and i worked on a self portrait project called "portraits of motherhood" which pretty much sums up the emotions i've felt over the past year: exhaustion and introspection. i was glad to be chosen for the show and to catch up with my artist friends. the angels seriously sing for me when the weather warms up and i can get these rambunctious little boys out of the house and to the park every evening!colorado summer skies are my absolute favorite. i can't even; they are so special to me.

sillouette shots at the park are also my favorite.weekend trip to breckenridge, a ritzy little ski town.
we spent a good amount of time down at the river this summer. there is nothing more magical that sparkly summer water, especially nestled within the mountains.
lots of splash park nights this summer, and it was so sweet to see asher finally get the courage to play in the water! <3neighborhood bike rides, more park nights... ok we basically *live* at the park.

my sisters came to visit this summer! our trip was perfect. these girls are such a big part of my heart and we had an amazing time being our ridiculous selves as usual! 

we took a little day trip into Cheyenne with my sisters, such a sleepy old town. we went on a carriage ride, had lunch and adventured around. 

with my sisters we also hiked to the top of a waterfall and oh my goodness came across this dreamy pool at the top. 

we ended up taking an impromptu family trip to ohio. these pictures were taken in nebraska/eastern colorado. always nice to see the fam!

the boys and i on our way to a friend's house for a cookout. 

we loved having wednesday night cookouts at adrienne's! summer grass // green tea frapps 

both summer staples.dandelions are forever my favorite flower // my own little flower turned *5* and we had an aboslutely wonderful day celebrating our asher.

we had lunch at a janky little restaurant in ault. there were flies everywhere and sticky syrup dripping on the walls as expected but dang this mural wall - worth it.
this picture was taken the night that the boys and i went back to school shoe shopping at Kohls/Famous Footwear and had dinner at iHop. i'm actually tearing up just looking at this picture. i can honestly say that this night was just perfect.

.

.

i hope you all had a beautiful summer!

i'm excited to get back into this space and also to catch up on reading all of my favorite blogs as well!

.

happy friday!

.

insta-july; part 1.

July came and went and August is well on it's way; I can't believe it! 

I'm just going to pretend that summer is not anywhere near coming to an end because warm weather and sunshine makes me happy. I'm not ready for cold or snow or even fall, NOPE. 

I want to share some of my favorite Instagram photos from July here on the blog. 

I'm still loving having my iPhone6 to take pictures with!

.

.

we had fun meandering around some antique malls at the edge of town in the beginning of july. it was fun to explore somewhere new!

.

.

4th of july stripes and poppers! // fun photos at the playground

.

.

some pictures from a walk at butterfly woods: me + my little boys <3 // feet in the sparkly water = bliss

.

.

lazy moments around the house: a little peeking cuddler // 

bath time with a watermelon candle + coffee

.

.

a trip to estes park with my husband's brother + his wife. it rained but we had lunch and we able to get these views of the mountains, worth it.

.

.

we love getting packages in the mail! asher was thrilled with this shark shirt from kidteez ( see THIS post for a 30% off coupon code! ) // roman's artee and me tee came!

.

.

asher in his watermelon outfit; oh my goodness! i love shopping with my boys and these pictures were taken on our trip to old navy + target. :) ( see more pictures of asher's shirt HERE )

.

let me know if you follow me on instagram @bygillianclaire so that i can follow you as well!

.

.

insta-june; part 2.

alright, i'm here to continue with the rest of my favorite instagram / iphone photos from june!

( see part 1: here )

.

.

the babes + i , i am the luckiest. // our new huge garage sale wall art that we found for $15!

. .

target things: wasn't a fan of drinking water out of a carton... but this tank top has been perfect for summer! // i also decided that i really wanted to buy a skateboard! i've only taken it out once so far though!

. .

we got a fun package from pictli, a new app that lets you print + frame photos from your phone! i was so thrilled to try it out because i'm the worst at printing pictures for our home!

. .

my mom + littlest sister visited from ohio! of course i've already shared some photos from their trip in a previous post. it was so great to see them out here in colorado! olivia is 15 years younger than me and i'm really sad to live so far from her during this season of our lives so it was great to have her around.

.  .

we went to casa bonita one day during their visit. have anyone else out there heard of or been to casa bonita? it's this crazy restaurant in the denver area that is full of entertainment and they even have cliff divers in the dining area! this has pretty much become a family tradition for us going back to the first time my mom went when she was 13 with my great aunt! it's definitely a unique/random place and we had a lot of fun.

. .

some more FabKids shots from my iphone. i had so much fun taking pictures of the boys this day! i'm trying to ease up on my photo taking with the boys a little so that it becomes more fun for them. it's a constant struggle for me because i just want to take pictures of them everyday but of course they are kids. it's hard to find a balance. any tips??

.

 

.

flowers from rome! <3

.

i can't believe how fast summer is going and i'm totally not okay with it! i'm thinking it might be destiny for me to just move somewhere where it's warm all the time...

.

.

find me on instagram @bygillianclaire and leave me a comment so that i can follow you back! 

.

.

.

insta-june; part 1.

well, i'm going to have to spread this one out into 2 posts! we've had a busy month and a fun introduction to summer. i've been back to instagram like crazy now that i have my iphone6 which i'm in love with. i've never even had a smart phone before but i love having a nice camera phone! here are some of my fave iphone / instagram photos from june:
.
.

playing with babies + dragons in the morning light // donuts at 7/11, a summer tradition so far 

..

colorado sunsets; literally, they never get old

..

we stayed in colorado springs for a week with aaron's family. i got some photos when i came for air from my constant-naptime-hibernation! hiking at the garden of the gods // a cute janky little ice cream place // view of the mountains from colo springs

..

more colorado springs pics: another view from the top of pikes peak; can't get enough of these photos! // oh and this big foot sign. oh my gosh i couldn't believe my eyes! we are actually kind of obsessed with bigfoot in my family, sooo yeah, we had to get a picture of this. // cute photos of asher in front of these adorable painted walls at the playground

..

two happy mail days for asher and a little sneak peak of two companies that i'll be working with this summer! ;)

.

find me on instagram @bygillianclaire and leave me a comment so that i can follow back!

.

to be continued ...

.

.

june so far.

just a little update on what we've been up to this past month :)roman had his last day of kindergarten! ( water day ) i died with sadness at how big he is getting. :(
// we headed out to ohio that very same day after some car troubles that turned out to just be a drained battery. kansas sunsets are amazing! we took turns driving and drove straight through, 20 hours, without stopping for anything besides gas + food.i didn't take many instagram photos in the midwest, but this is one of my favorite pictures: my littlest sister + my namaw and papaw in front of their house! i'm so glad that we got to spend 2 different days visiting with them; i love and miss them so much.
// after a couple weeks in ohio / indiana, we headed back. this photo is of asher sleeping somewhere on the road trip home. sleeping babies are by far the best kind of road tripping babies...on the way to ohio we drove through some pretty scary storms. on the way back, however, the storms in kansas were way too big of a deal to drive through. we saw the craziest lightening ever and threatening storm warnings were all over the radio. we stopped at a few hotels which were all booked and were told that all of the hotels were filled up until we found ONE room left in this crappy motel!
i was so thankful that we could get off the road but it was kind of a bummer having to shell out money for one bed in a smoky scented room only to stay up super late watching for tornadoes.
( ok, i was the only one staying awake, but seriously how could i sleep? )
// i love the colors of this truck wash in salina, ks. this is at my favorite  little stop on the drive - we have good memories here from our many road trips. :)gas station break! // stocking up at target for essentials when we got home.our first visit to the big playground near our house this season. i love taking my kids to the park and getting this view! living here is awesome.  we have been taking lots of neighborhood walks! also, we found a nice free stroller on the side of the road which has been a nice addition since we didn't bring ours out to colorado when we moved.
quick story: we had this stroller sitting outside of our condo one day and it disappeared. turns out that our neighbor took it thinking we were "getting rid of it" for some reason. still not sure of the logic behind that, but he returned it after thoroughly cleaning it so i guess we win in the end!
 // little boys checking the mail.playing on the balcony one evening. both of my boys love dressing up, they are so much fun! they've been... dare i say playing together a little better lately??
// roman's new FabKids outfit came in the mail! always a happy day when that happens. :)
(affiliate link used) i definitely missed these mountains while we were away. these are the foothills behind our house at sunset. i have never actually been homesick for a place until i moved here.
love, love, love colorado. <3 <3
.
//
.
( photos from instagram: are you following me?? @bygillianclaire )
.
would you vote for my blog today??
.