i have some good news, and i have some bad

first, the bad...

you know my jeans that i'm in love with?

if you don't, and care to know, you can read this, and the last paragraph of this post.

anyways, a few weeks ago i had to come to terms with the fact that i will no longer be slipping my bottom half into those wonderfully worn in, soft as cashmere, makes my butt look great jeans.

because this happened...

i thought about patching them up, but they are so worn in a few other places, that it would only be a matter of time before they ripped somewhere else.

and i've patched jeans before in that spot, it really is not the most comfortable place to have an extra layer of fabric. 

so in the garbage they went.

i thought about giving them to goodwill, maybe someone would be happy enough to path them up, but then i got selfish and decided if i can't have them, no one else can.

so that's that, moving on with life. it may not be as comfortable and the denim department but one day i'll recover. 

oh and on a side note, why don't any store in this city carry Habitual jeans?? if anyone has seen them anywhere please please PLEASE let me know. 

***

ok, now that we have that out of the way

the good news...

dennis and i bought a house! 

and by house i mean townhouse. 

it still hasn't been built yet, so it will be a while until we actually move. 

and by a while i mean over a year. 

we are so excited to finally have something of our own. 

renting has been good for us, but we are ready to take one step forward to becoming real adults. 

as well, by making this move we will also become southies. we have loved the northwest with all its trees and charm, but for us just starting out it makes more sense to be down there. 

also, we will be way closer to our family, so that makes the decision much easier.

so come february 2015 this is where we will be calling home.

and it can't come fast enough.

better out than in

yesterday my baby turn 9 months old

9 months!  

what the what?!?

time really flies when you aren't pregnant doesn't it?

we are just so blessed to have him in our life, he truly is the best thing that ever happened to us. 

life with this little boy will never be dull for a moment, and we look forward to every single second of it!

that one time

you know how sometimes something happens and you just need to have it forever immortalized by a photo?

well, saturday that happened. 

i was busy running around the house doing a whole mess of who knows what anymore, and in my running i bolted right past dennis and willem staring out the window at the snow falling, and covering the trees in our backyard. 

i knew that i had to put aside what i was so caught up in, and capture this precious moment they were sharing. 

so i did. 

just melts your heart doesn't it?

time flys

it's been so long i don't even know what to say.

so i'll just show you the pictures i obviously thought were important enough to take in the first place.

*this might be a long one*

october 3 we jetted off to salt lake city, stayed with some of dennis' mission companions, did way too much shopping, took in general conference,  went to his mission reunion, and just enjoyed being together. 

next, we flew to a much warmer climate, pheonix az! it was both of our first time therem and we loved it! definitely going back in the future. we stayed at an awesome hotel, with an amazing pool, and that is where we parked our butts for three days. 

i was super nervous for what flying with a baby in tow would be like, but honestly it was a breeze. we did our best to plan our flights around times that our little willy would naturally be sleeping, which was a life saver! he slept for the most part of all three flights, and even when he was awake he loved looking back at all the new faces. we definitely learned a lot for future reference, but i think it was a pretty successful first go at it. 

we loved having our first getaway as a family, but we really are happy to be home and back into the routine of life again. 

aaaaaaaaaaand we're off!

we are currently sitting in our living room waiting for dennis's dad to arrive and ship us off to the airport!

let it be known that we super chocked about this whole "government shutdown", it has totally ruined our plans to visit the grand canyon while in arizona. actually it's the whole reason we decided to make a pit stop in the desert to begin with.

let it also be known that i get huge traveler's anxiety the moments before walking out the door and committing to the things i have packed. so here i am, worrying about everything that can go wrong. dennis is sitting on the other couch on his phone, and suddenly lets out a "CRAP!" i, of course, am freaking out that he got some email like all of america decided to just shut down. i am now in a panic asking what! what! what!?????

and in natural dennis fashion, it takes him a few seconds to register and respond.

and this is what he says...

"one of the teams i picked lost last night"

lovely....


please, please, please wish us luck

but first, we must pack

soooooo here's the deal. dennis, willem, and i are jetting of to the great u.s. of a in 13 days (i just counted), and we still aren't packed yet!

now to some of you that might be ok, normal even. well, for me it's bad news. basically, i hate packing. packing a home? no problem. everything gets chucked in a box and goes with you.

but packing for a trip? whooooooooole other story.

1. everything can't come with you. so decisions have to be made about what makes the cut and gets to see the world with you, and what doesn't. basically, you have to pick favorites, you have to look your clothes right in the.... (threads?) and say "you, i want to make memories with you. and you? maybe next time" (we all know that if it didn't make it in the suitcase this time, it never will). dang you airline restrictions, and over the top fees.

2. the "what ifs" kick in. what if i pack something, but then decided between now and then that i actually want to wear it. what if in the rush of getting everything together i forget to wash and repack it? what if the weather report changes and i end up just have to repack everything anyway. what if i don't pack enough stuff, and we get stuck in the airport like over night or something? what if i pack too much and we don't have enough room to bring back the things that we buy? i could keep going, but i think you get where i'm going with this.

3. ugh, it's just hard.

so now that we got that out of the way, i'll go on to tell you what else is making this whole packing thing way more complicated then it needs to be.

you see, my clothing situation as of late has been kinda sad. this body of mine that grew and gave birth to another human being isn't what it used to be, things are just different ya know? so couple that with the fact that pretty much all of my tops are very stretched out, and warped due to the fact that i wore all my regular tops right up to the end (seriously, i did) picking out an outfit i am comfortable being seen in outside of my house is a struggle.

so i'm supposed to take all that, and choose which ones i'm am going to be stuck with for a week and a half, when i'm not even really happy wearing them for half a day at home. what if i change my mind. what if i think i wanted one shirt, but then decide halfway through my trip that i wanted a different on instead, but it's too late to do anything about it? see, it's those "what ifs" again.

the other thing is, our first stop is utah, we are hoping to take in some conference, stroll the beautiful grounds of temple square, and go to dennis' mission reunion. it should all be a good time. then, we are off to pheonix!

now, pheonix doesn't scare me, i plan to be in a swim suit most of the day, and then shorts and whatever thrown over that swim suit for the rest. so packing for there should be easy peasy.

but utah? are you kidding me. it's going to be an endless sea of maxi skirts, chevron prints, top knot buns, and way too many coloured/printed jeans. at least that's what pinterest and blog surfing has taught me they dress like these days. and we can't forget this thing called pattern mixing, oh heaven help me.

i'm just not cut out for utah. i own one maxi dress, but i reserve that for sundays when i just don't want to shave my legs, i don't understand the appeal of chevron anything, my hair is waaaaaay too short for even a pony tail. and coloured jeans? i can't even wear a blue top with blue jeans without feeling like the universe is judging me.

walking around campus in my byui days i felt like i might as well just slapped on a cleaner pair of pjs, and been on my way compared to them.

these girls mean business. they get themselves ready like they were going to... i dunno... some place reeeeeeeeeeeeally fancy.

life is just one big fashion show.

(you know, utah is the number 1 state for prescribed antidepressants... ya'll just need to chill out down there)

if we were just going down for a visit, seeing the sights, hitting up some outlet malls i wouldn't be worrying about what to wear, i'm basically living each day just to make it one day closer to a warm sunny day by the pool.

but since we are going to a mission reunion i feel like i need to step it up a but, you know like put on makeup or something. we all know that reunions of any kind is just a way for people to get together and compare their lives to everyone else around them. no one will ever say it out loud, but we all know.

so what do you pack when you know you're going to a place where everyone is in competition with each other, yet look exactly the same?

i dunno

but apparently i'm going to have to figure it out before next thursday.

wish me luck.

and dennis, because he is the one that is going to have to deal with me until then.

actually forget me, just give it all to him.

i'll cope.