summer bucket list

we've already done some pretty awesome things this summer that i would've put on a bucket list if i had made one a little sooner than, oh, just now. things like frozen yogurt every week, family walk to our new favorite thai place, going to the beach TWICE, going to a concert, going to the zoo, barbeques and other amazingness. so if this bucket list seems lacking bear in mind that it's only what we have left to do, since we've already been rocking this summer. rocking it like a chair. a rocking chair.

-go to the coast one more time and eat at Mo's
-have a tiny picnic
-go to portland saturday market
-eat delicious ice cream from the salt & straw 1,000,000 more times
-go to the farmer's market again
-shooting together [i'm out of practice and recently decided i should learn how to fight bad guys]
-go to one more movie [probably moonrise kingdom]
-celebrate our anniversary [with CHEESECAKE FACTORY]
-go on dress-up dinner date [i'm thinking red lobster]
-take a trip to seattle [yeeeeesh]
-maybe san fransico??
-maybe go to a fair. we never manage to make it to one though. never.

we've been having the time of our lives this summer. last night we made s'mores over a bonfire with our friends matt and jenny after playing with animals at the pet store. i mean, how COOL is that? we spent so much of our relationship and marriage being total homebodies with horrible work schedules and we never did anything or went anywhere. now we go out all the time, baby in tow, just for the fun of it. and we stay in all the time too, watching movies and snuggling and playing games. i'm having a hard time describing exactly how glamourus our life feels right now because most of those things maybe sound like things you do when you don't have anything else to do but really, we're getting to do our favorite things all the time. and don't even get me started on the food. so much tasty food. i'm so glad i get to be a mom and clean, bake and cook all day because dude, dude. DUDE. it's my calling.

and now i leave you with this picture of my daughter that makes me laugh and laugh.

oh my little darling, you must have come from the sea

and now i give you pictures of a chubby, bathed baby in a giant towel.

you're welcome.

p.s. that dino's name is strawberry, in case you didn't already know. we love him. all of our stuffed animals are hims. my fault. 

a tragedy of sorts

in june my good friend marlee was flying to washington with her scrumptious baby to visit her relatives. she had an one hour layover in portland so we went to see her and meet said scrumptious baby. this isn't the tragedy. the tragedy is that every picture craig took of ivy and kahree meeting for the first time turned out terribly blurry. the shutter speed was completely off or something equally hard to understand and this is the only picture that remotely turned out. i was pretty torn up about it. still am. plus now i'm super extra motivated to learn how to shoot in manual without messing everything up.

at least we have the memories.

i love to see-

the portland temple. 

this weekend was good stuff. our friend connor vanderholm came to visit and between the four of us we did no less than 1,000 awesome things. including, but not limited to:

-dark knight rises midnight premere in imax for the boys
-rifle shooting, also for the boys
-visiting perfume shops, for connor
-legit mexican dining
-farmer's market
-cannon beach at low tide
-seaside arcade for days, son
-the salt and straw portland ice cream
-cherry tarts and moulin rouge
-mewithoutYou all over the place
-frozen yogurt double dates
-and who knows what else

on saturday on our way home from the oregon coast we stopped by the portland temple just to walk the grounds and see how beautiful it is. we don't go nearly enough. even if we went every day i don't think it'd be enough. i love seeing how happy the baby goose is when she's there.

and for the record, we've been missing connor ever since he barely caught his flight back to spokane. it was a good visit.

5 months

as much as i love how nice and cool a bottom floor apartment is in the summer it's a little sad how poorly lit all my pictures are now. i guess natural light has a hard time reaching you when you're under ground. it's something we just have to roll with, just know that my daughter didn't turn into an oompa-loompa at 5 months.

kahree is rolling and pussing herself up better and better all the time. she's also getting better at moving around and wiggling, especially when i don't want her to. we've been exclusivly co-sleeping from the begining and kahree used to take her naps all in her swing until she turned 3 months old and then she suddenly needed to sleep laying down on her side. so she's been napping on our bed which is pretty high up at our new apartment. well the other day while she was napping i heard a sickening THUMP from the kitchen along with her crying. she had fallen off the bed! she never wakes up without me hearing her and i had no idea she could move to far or even how she landed the way she did, on her tummy facing the bed. i cried for a good twenty minutes and she cried for maybe two and then laughed at me the rest of the time. so she was fine but again, like seems to be the trend for these monthly updates, not my best mom moment.

after that incident craig's mom got us a crib mattress and we started taking naps in there and soon we're going to start teaching her to sleep in there at night. slowly though, i'm not totally ready to give up my night time snuggles. other than that she's been eating solids every few days, nothing too seriously but she really likes it so i make sure she gets it at least a couple times a week. and sometimes we give her bites of fresh fruits and veggies off our plate, it's fun!

this summer has been SO much fun so far. there have been days that are so happy it almost hurts. we spend lots of time together and having adventures, most of them involving tasty summer food. we also spend plenty of time at home watching fun shows and movies and just being together. i've also been running really consistently since she turned 2 months and it's really wonderful, i love it. i've never been able to stick with running or any exercise really but i think i'm finally ready to keep it in my life. it's really good "me time." i don't mind taking kahree but i don't often, she usually stays with craig and gets her daddy time when i leave. i'm hoping to run a 5k before the end of the year. i can't wait!

this bathroom is brought to you by target

we're a couple of dorks, but at least we're dorks together. i love having a tiny sidekick with me all the day long.

just trying to figure out this big, flashy camera. i'm still not so good at it. someday.

water baby

we tried out our new, frilly swim suit the day after all our independence day celebrations. i'm so happy this little baby loves the water so much. she laughed and giggled and kicked and loved being swished around. we could've been there forever if she hadn't gotten in the habit of dunking her face in the water and then deciding she didn't like water up her nose. i can't wait until she's swimming for real.

so far this summer is just the best.

you're killing me, smalls

our independence day was spent with family and lots of delicious food and even some coldstone creamery ice cream. it ended with some smores and an early night. i think next year we'll find the biggest, baddest fire works for our tiny girl to throw her head back and cackle at. but for today i'm just psyched she left her sunhat on for most of the day. baby steps <3

hear the baby t-rex roar

a lot of people consider their wedding day the happiest day of their lives. i've heard it said so many time. i don't think i agree. i mean it probably was at the time but craig and i have had so many happy, perfect days since and then of course when kahree was born my capacity for happiness grew out of control. even those first few pain and medication filled days of being parents were unbelievably special and made me feel happier than i ever thought i could before.

i think about those days in the hospital all the time. i miss them and wish i could live them again over and over. i loved having days of nothing but holding my tiny, dark sleeping baby against me and feeding her all the time. nothing but craig and kahree and blankets and snuggles and meals made for me and someone else changing poopy diapers. kahree's newborn phase was the best time i can ever remember.

i know it's not like this for everyone but i really felt like having a newborn was the easiest, most natural thing i ever experienced. i miss my newborn baby. my little 4.5 month old is a bit more of a handful. she's headstrong and bossy and loves to scratch and bite. she's found her voice and yells when she wants to and sounds like she means it. sometimes i'm not sure what to do with this tiny creature who clenches her jaw and balls her fist and growls at me. she's still the best thing in the WHOLE WORLD, but being woken up in the middle of the night by a squirmy, fussy baby makes my foggy brain long for her to be like she used to be and sleep for 12 hours straight again. i know that sounds silly, i've been ridiculously spoiled and i'm fully aware. the other day i was trying to keep her busy, wriggling body in my arms while she made fussy sounds at me all the day long and i told craig how awful this is compared to how it used to be. and he just laughed at me. she's such an incredible baby that when she acts like a real baby i get all thrown off and convince myself she's being purposefully malicious. i think it's my subconscious way of not wanting to accept she's growing up, that she HAS to grow up, that it's flying by so fast and she'll never be a newborn again. but what i need to acknowledge is that every new stage is brilliant and beautiful in its own wonderful way. so far this stage is the hardest for me but i would never give her up. but someone should definitely help me convince craig that having another newborn asap is a fabulous idea.

the other day i was busying myself at my desk and i looked over at the bed where i had laid kahree and all at once she was suddenly older. i grabbed my camera and locked some pictures away before she could change again. it happens overnight, sometimes more often. i love her with all my teeny tiny heart and i always will. sometimes i just want to squeeze her to pieces.

i dedicate these pictures to my mom, who has probably suffered the most from me not blogging lately and posting more pictures of her granddaughter. also, look at that baby, the chubby cheeks? she has them.

p.s. i have A LOT of blog catching up to do, so bear with me for the next week or so. i'm hoping that i'm finally getting into a real rhythm around here, but we'll see.