lucky enough.

"if you're lucky enough to be in the mountains, you're lucky enough."

<3

.

happy thoughts.

some happy thoughts of late:

the sweet things about this little boy:

when he plays "baby",

when he acts all dramatically adorable during the times when he actually lets me photograph him,

early mornings when he is all sticky sweet and rolls all over me squeaking, "hi mama"s at me.

when he is sad in his car seat and all he wants is to "cuggle" (cuddle) and kiss and hug.
.

finding old mama/baby photos like these.

.

photo shoots that turn out all dreamy and wonderful.

.

freshly washed baby hair and finally fitting into a thrifted treasure that i bought for him when i still couldn't imagine him ever growing this big.

.

many mountain adventures with these guys. :)
.

an early morning starbucks and cloudy park date with my littles.
.

soft skin, natural light, his favorite shirt.
.

roman taking to heart and showing off to us after i keep telling him how adventurous he is.
.

and these brothers, of course. always trying to make me grow as a person, even when i don't feel up for it. :)

portraits of roman.

roman, august 2013.

twenty-five months.

our asher michael, 

almost twenty-five months :)
.

life right now / july update.

wow, i can't believe that we are already halfway through august! sheesh.

.

just a little recap on life right now for us since my last little update of our roadtrip here!

we found a condo super quickly and were miraculously able to move in right away since the property was vacant and the previous owner let us rent from her until the closing.

so basically, we left ohio on the 4th of july and we were in our new home on july 15th!

i actually really did not expect, obviously, to find something so fast. the plan was to stay with my grandparents while we looked for a place which i figured would at least take a month. however, we were very thankful and relieved to find a place of our own so quickly and start settling down!

.

here are some photos to share a little bit of what happened around here to finish up our crazy-fun-getting rid of most of our belongings-moving across the country-and finding a new home july!

.

aaron + roman on the rock climbing structure at the park near our house. ( i know, i know you thought it was a real mountain, right? ) we love this park and have spent a lot of time there! // love this guy who i met 13 years ago in july at church camp! // the boys at the trail near the foothills by our house // asher sleeping after a fun time swimming at my grandparents' country club

.

 

i adore this photo of asher.
i'm also loving all the sunflowers around here.

my view of the mountains + lake on a drive near our house // foothill hikes // more playground fun // asher loves carrying his own backpack now, and it's simply adorable of course

little ash on his birthday morning. what a darling little sunshine he is // coffee everyday in my "new" thrifted mug // clothes drying from the splash park ( also at the park near our house! ) // new wonderful colorful pottery barn mugs - FREE from craigslist!

and while i'm on the topic of criagslist... let me just profess my love.

have you checked out the free section? it is amazing! we used to check the free section on craigslist in our old town but there was hardly anything ever posted. here however, the free section is crazy full of all kinds of things! who knew so many people were getting rid of so much stuff and are willing to give it away to anyone who might be able to use it? we pretty much outfitted our kitchen as you can see. we also got a really nice, perfectly clean toaster oven. a printer. a bike.

and... a mattress and boxspring! i am seriously totally into thrifting and buying second hand but have claimed that i would never get a second hand mattress or couch. however, i now own both. and it feels great. we bought a really fantastic brand new looking microfiber loveseat from a thrift store and we got a twin mattress/boxspring from craigslist. the thing is with mattresses is that you of course have to be careful and very picky. the mattress we got came from a very clean house and the man we met was super nice! it is seriously such a thrill for aaron and i to find creative ways to find things for our life + home. it is such a good feeling to put things to good use while also saving landfills and not adding to consumerism.
also, we found our condo on craigslist! so, i'm just saying - it's awesome.

so handsome with his new haircut // playing at the library

more hiking at the foothills!

i have seen SO many rainbows here since we moved // my littlest + me :)

.

also, thanks for your votes on top baby blogs! happy wednesday!

.

happy thoughts.

well, it's a new week!

things are changing slowly around here... we've still been busy doing a whole lot of nothing, but also hiking a ton in the mountains which has been absolutely won.der.ful. in every way. :)

we're getting ready to head to my grandparents' house for another couple days of yard work. aaron will probably be starting his new job this week or next. i have a photo shoot coming up this weekend. i have been busy scouring homeschool curriculums and trying to put some plans in place for roman's kindergarten this fall.

.

 amidst all of that, i wanted to stop in and share some miscellaneous photos from recently and some of the little "happy thoughts" in our lives right now :)

.

two little faces and four little hands with chubby fingers to adore.

also, it kills me that roman love to wear my t-shirts to bed right now. ;)

 ( yes, i know they have mullets. this was pre-haircuts! )

.

these crazy curls, and this soft, smooth, cuddly little baby boy of mine.

i always hate to trim his hair, but as you can see it gets a little out of control. ;)

.

asher's spider obsession. 

he literally LOVES this little collection of "piders" as he calls them. he has all these little games he plays with them and i love when he says, "where pider?" or "he nice!" while petting the big tarantula. it kills me that asher is getting big enough for these things. i still think of him as the little baby padding around, but here is now-  packing up roman's hand-me-down backpack with his favorite toys.
.

summer beauty.
now that i really think about it, i am definitely not ready for fall.. and surely not winter. how will i be able to survive without all the sunflowers and sunshine?

.

asher eating a quesadilla on the counter,

colorful bowls + great natural light.

.

that's it for now ;) what are your happy things?

.

would you take a minute and vote for me?