baby shower.

i am one loved girl... and i am so grateful for an amazing friend, kathy, and sister, trevlyn, who threw this beautiful baby shower for me in phoenix.  it was pretty impressive!  there was a waffle bar.  and it rocked.

thank you so much for everyone who came... jared, baby and i felt the love!!!

phoenix. part four. arizona-sonora desert museum.

i went with my sister, trevlyn, and sweet niece, tessa, to the arizona-sonora desert museum in tucson, az. we loved it!!! i would highly recommend it. it was beautiful.

some more snapshots. that's right, snapshots.

thought i'd share a few more photos from our fabulous phoenix trip.. sweet jared was extremely reluctant to travel in a car with the cats (understandably!) but let me have my way. my rationale: they might be just fine in the car, and will have fun playing at my parent's house... OR it could be a disaster in the car AND at my parent's house. only one way to find out! i told jared if it blew up in my face, i'd own it, and learn from it. turns out the girls were total champs in the car and in phoenix. props ladies!!

we love phoenix.

finally getting around to posting our photos from our trip to phoenix a couple of weeks ago. we had such a fabulous time and did not take nearly enough photos. we were shocked to survive a road trip with the two kitties, jared got his first taste of an arizona monsoon, we spent some wonderful time with wonderful family, shopping at last chance and h&m, and had a blast basking in the pool. fabulous trip!

sweet dad took us to the diamondbacks vs. dodgers game. so fun! jared LOVES baseball, so he was especially stoked. thank you, dad!

my sister trevlyn adopted and new kitten, coco. so sweet!!! here she is snuggling with darling niece, tessa.

my beautiful momma cooking a DELICIOUS sunday dinner. polenta with a killer chicken-shrimp-bacon medley. wonderful. we love you, mom!

the kitties quickly adjusted to my parent's home. i'm sure they loved having much more space to run and play in comparison to our little apartment.

road trippin.

first, an update on my boy... kirby passed away wednesday morning. I still don't want to talk about it with anyone because I break down every time I do. thank you so much for everyone's sweet prayers and kindness. I will be taking a last minute and much needed trip to AZ to see my dear family. the passing of our sweet boy definitely stirred up any desires to visit since I hadn't been home in so long.. I only regret not going home sooner.

second, jared and I had a fantastic road trip to WA and OR. we visited his family for his little sister's wedding and it was wonderful getting to see everyone. we had a great time and wish we could see everyone there more often. while in WA, cousin Ben convinced us to take a little detour home and spend an extra couple of days visiting our oregon family. I am so glad we did. some of my most significant childhood memories are our oregon summer vacations - - i LOVE oregon. we spent some fantastic time with family and were spoiled enough to stay at ben & amber's fabulous new home! we were awful taking photos and failed to take any with jared's family or with ben & amber... but here are some that we did capture..

cousins. we loved meeting emily & matt's darling little baby K!

these things were ridiculous. my favorite: maple bacon bar.

enjoying lunch along the waterfront in downtown portland.

coconut soup.

reflection in a store window.

zion. angels landing.

we made the drive down to zion for a hike and quick camp out. last time Jared and I went we did the narrows. amazing. it has been a few years since I have hiked angels landing, and Jared never had, so.. that was next on our agenda. upon arriving at the park we noticed caterpillars EVERYWHERE, they were falling from the trees where they were hatching from web-like, silk tents. hmm. sorry caterpillars, there were too many of you to avoid squishing some of you.. also, they were ALL OVER our campsite, falling everywhere. we woke up to them crawling all over the tent. should've taken pictures..

(half-way through the hike.. still smiling!)

ready for our angels landing story? here we go.. first, let me clarify, I have hiked angels landing before. 1500 foot hike, it's fun, gorgeous, a little sketchy, but not thaaat crazy. so, this time, I didn't anticipate having any problems. I made it through the first couple sections of chains, then I kinda started freaking out. I looked at the rest of the hike and wanted to throw up, all over it. so.. after 10 minutes of that, sweet sweet Jared guided his special wife back down the chains to wait for him while he hiked to the summit. THEN, I was scared for his life. goodness. I made him say a prayer with me for his safety. he took off, and I immediately started crying, imagining him dying somewhere along the way. really? no, really? what was wrong with me?! so not like me. a very special moment in my life, I guess. I waited for about an hour until I could spot him coming back down and immediately thanked Heavenly Father for keeping him safe. so... here are some beautiful photos he captured at the top, and fun photo of him. the end.

(photo below I took at the spot where I froze and started freaking out. I stood there watching people go up the little red marked path, trying to gain confidence.)

(photo below Jared took from the summit looking back at where I sat, waiting.)