making wishes.

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     My sweet little Asher turned four and I adore these photos of him carefully putting the candles on his blue cake ( which I'm fairly certain gave us food poisoning ) and then listening to his birthday song. I remember when Roman was Asher's age and he hated when people sang "happy birthday". Asher is a different child though, and his face simply shined pure joy and love. When we told him to make a wish, he wished for "a tomato," and made us all laugh at our silly happy boy. 

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     I can't believe that four years have passed since this sunlight came into my life. I remember so well the way he came to the world on a warm and sunny July day. Those days are now starting to shift into a long ago memory; those baby days feel far and dreamy distant. In the weeks and months after his birth, I thought that maybe a day would never go by without his birth crossing my mind. The wonderful all natural childbirth that I was able to check off my life list stayed so close to me then, in the best of ways, filling me with strength. 

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     Life and it's seasons are a funny thing. As we go through the motions of the moment, nothing different seems fathomable. I've gone through times in life that seemed like they'd never end, some in good ways and some not so very good at all. Usually it's a mixture; hard feelings and big obstacles with slices of joyful memories in between. 

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     For sure, life just keeps pushing on, and we are forced to realize that it does move and it moves along fast. High school ends, and marriage won't always be about choosing the order of wedding photos for the album. Our babies won't keep, and they will certainly grow and grow and grow. The days will turn and spin and tomorrow becomes years ago and these moments now become faded memories. 

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     As I clicked the camera to capture my son, my freshly turned four year old baby boy making wishes in the candle light, I was all too aware that these smiles would quickly become pictures, preserved for the future; to look back on soon and say, "I remember..."

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asher turns 4!

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asher turns 4 today!

i can hardly believe it and don't have many words to share; just feelings and these pictures that i took yesterday before his little party. i cannot believe it's been 4 years since the day this wild little baby came bursting into my life. one thing i know for sure; he is still my baby. he is still my baby... ;)

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more pictures and birthday thoughts to come, i'm sure. 

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asher's 1st birthday

asher's 2nd birthday

asher's 3rd birthday

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a date with rome.

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roman and i have been talking about going on a date together forever and we finally did it! we haven't done this for a couple years. it was so wonderful. roman is such a sweetheart and still tells me that he wants to marry me. he was so excited for our date. we went to my chiropractor first and then walked to starbucks for coffees. roman got a s'mores frappuccino. he was seriously so giggly and giddy and couldn't control himself because he was so happy to just be with me. we went to target to shop for asher's birthday presents where roman bought him walkie talkies and a t-shirt. then roman chose panda express for dinner and we ate outside because "it was too loud to be able to hear each other talk" inside, he said. sitting outside, eating our chinese food together, i felt so relaxed. more relaxed than i have felt in a long, long time. 

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i had such a special time with roman, my "sweetest", my big boy, my teddy bear. he is going to do amazing things.

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<3

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yes, roman's elbow bends backwards - it's a side effect from breaking it, yikes!

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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 )

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

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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??

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flowers from rome! <3

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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...

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

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little style // with Nope!

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I'm so excited to share the Nope clothing brand with you today! Asher was chosen to be a brand rep for Nope this summer and we are so in love with their cute, original tee shirts! Nope is run by a husband and wife team, Karen and Gee, and all of the illustrations on their shirts are hand drawn by Gee. Their shirts are absolutely adorable and I was happy to see upon receiving them that they are soft and sturdy as well. I let Asher pick out the shirts that he liked and his first choice was this "nope nope nope" shirt which I'll just say, is very fitting to his personality!

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Make sure to check out the Nope clothing shop: here! You can find them on Instagram as well @wearenope. All of their shirts are made in Los Angeles and are sweat-shop free! Use my code: friendsofteam1125, for 10% off your purchase!

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Asher channeling his attitude to match his shirt. ;)

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Nope shirt: c/o Nope

Shorts: Old Navy

Shoes: Old Navy

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This post is in collaboration with Nope!

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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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