fields of dandelions.

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just sharing some dandelion photos today. i was so happy to find this little field of them by the playground in the beginning of june. dandelions are my absolute favorite "flower." here is one of my favorite posts with some of my favorite pictures of our own little dandelion field that roman and i "planted" with wishes a could years ago. ;) have a great monday, friends!

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happy friday!

( our foothills! )

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happy friday everyone!

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having said that... are the weekends longer and harder than weekdays for any other families out there? usually on friday-monday aaron and i work the entire time: him working all day and then me working at night. so the weekends are really longer and more stressful than the weekdays around here!

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our schedule is about to change up a little with my husband getting promoted at his job. i'm not sure what all will happen yet but i can't say that i usually welcome changes like this with open arms. we get in a routine and then i wonder how we will all adjust to the new one. hopefully it will be a good change.

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i'm also looking towards fall and wondering what i will do school wise. i'm still chipping away at my art degree but i'm not in any rush anymore. i'm just trying to enjoy the process and see where it takes me. taking a few classes at a time. art is always a good thing for me.

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we're all just having a lazy morning, as usual. we're out of milk and asher is distraught about this. i'm trying to decide if i want to get the boys up and out of the house. maybe head to old navy where clearance is an additional 30% off right now! what do you all have planned for your friday?

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and hey, my sister-in-law gina started a blog; check it out! she also just moved out to colorado!

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happy thoughts.

just a few happy thoughts for today. some of these photos have been hanging around on my computer forever and i've finally found an excuse to share them!

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chillin' in a messy room. you know how so many bloggers post pictures of a super clean room with a small scattering of blocks on their super clean carpet and say something like, "this is real life!" and yeah, well this is my version of that because seriously the mess pictured here isn't as bad as it gets in that room...

deer sighting!

the beginnings of one of favorite prints from last semester... and you guys i'm kind of worried that all of my prints got thrown out because i forgot to pick them up after class ended - wish me luck there!

this, oh my goodness!! i'm obsessed with this picture of asher, his smile + that sunflare. :)

and this... heehee. <3

and THIS.

those moments where my little boys are getting along... all the heart eyes. <3

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( see my other "happy thoughts" posts here! )

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a minute with LifebankUSA.

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( eep, this baby photo of asher!!! )

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     I'm here with my sponsor, the cord blood bank LifebankUSA, once again to pop in and share a little bit about cord blood banking with my readers! Cord blood banking is one of the many, (many) options and decisions on the table for us when we become new parents and if it's something that you have been considering, here are a few facts about cord blood banking with LifebankUSA:

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++ LifebankUSA is a private cord blood bank and one of the few companies that additionally offer placental tissue banking.

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++ Collecting and storing stem cells from a newborn's umbilical cord and from the placenta at birth could one day be used to treat serious illness that may occur in your child or a family member.
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++ Stem cells from cord blood have been used to treat over 30,000 patients worldwide!
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++ Since 1988, transplanted stem cells have been used to treat 80 different diseases!

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++ Saving placenta blood in addition to cord blood preserves a significantly larger amount of stem cells.
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++ LifebankUSA offers many payment plans to help spread the cost of private cord blood banking and to make it more affordable for families.

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     Ultimately, we opted out of cord blood banking for financial reasons when our babies were born. However, I am incredibly fascinated by the science of storing your own babies stem cells to protect your family against disease and it is definitely something I will consider again in the future. 

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     Have any of you stored / or are planning to store your child's stem cells? I'd love to hear more!

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*I was compensated for this post. Thanks for supporting my family by reading along. I truly appreciate it!*
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summer visitors!

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my mom and littlest sister came and visited us in colorado! i'm usually the worst at documenting these types of occasions but since my mom is the best at it, i was able to grab a couple family photos! we were having lunch at a nice little restaurant on the river and it had a great little photo-op spot outside. then it started raining and my sister and i both one after the other accidentally jumped into someone else's car that was gray like mine... oops! i sure miss these ladies and can't wait for their next visit!

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of course my mom insisted that aaron take some solo photos of me...

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one that my sister grabbed of us on my backup camera that i let her use while she was here.
she got some great photos! :)

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happy monday, friends!

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happy friday!

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okay guys, i had to set aside some of these photos that i took while doing our fabkids shoot to share in a separate post, because oh man i love them so much! roman and asher were exceptionally agreeable to getting their pictures taken this day and it couldn't have made my heart happier. we opened up our mail and the boys were both pleased with their new outfits and then i surprised them with these shoes that i had stashed up in the closet to pull out for such an occasion. photographing my children is my passion and when they give in to their mama and let me take their photos, it fills me up.

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are my little boys twins, or what?!  they both have their own unique looks but make the same facial expressions and have so many similarites. man am i blessed.

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<3 

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happy friday ya'll and have a great and fun 4th!

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

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colorado sunsets; literally, they never get old

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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

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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

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

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

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to be continued ...

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