Cowgirl for a day!

 I rode a horse! That's right, a horse! My nephew Brayden had quite the cowboy themed birthday party! Ethan couldn't make it because of Drill so Kyson and I were buds. He showed me around the farm, since he used to work there.  It was a real good old western day!

 

 

I'm really gonna miss this kid when he leaves for his mission next year. He's easily one of my best buds!

 

 

Last weekend we got to go up to Idaho for this cute kids 1st birthday! Ethan just loves his first nephew! We went to this pretty sweet/interesting  museum!

   

It was all really interesting...until we found these gems. These were the only ones not too creepy. Kind of cool actually!

Nameste

 

Well, now that the race is over, you'd think Shannon and I would take a break from training...Nope! We have decided to continue our morning runs on account of... we like them!! I mean I've never really been the best morning person, but I'm coming around.

 This is a picture of our new trail. It's the new Washington bridge walk. (you can see it out there in the distance of this picture) It's such a gorgeous site to witness on early crisp mornings when it's not too crowded. Getting up early and running is such a great way to start my day. It motivates me to get stuff done and be productive when I get home. To make my day count. And of course I can't forget the yoga. I never would have thought I'd love something like yoga. I was wrong, I love it! It's the best mental motivation I've had in a long time. The run wakes up my body while the yoga wakes up my mind.  I'm grateful for pretty morning sunrises and sharing them with Shannon. Nameste.

What Matters.

As we grow up we realize it's less important to have lots of friends, and more important to have real ones.

I'm going to share something I feel stupid admitting too. And before I start I'd like to make it clear this was back in high school when I knew less about the world and even less about me. 

There was a list. And sometimes even a very real figurative list, I had written down all my friends. Which for a high school girl could range so widely depending on the day/week alone. I somehow told myself that my happiness and social status should be the product of the amount of people and social status of the people I had on this list. Enough. About 6 to 7 years later I know how stupid this list really was. But I know I can't be the only one who thought like this. Whether you sat down and made an actual list with pen on paper or formed one in your head, it's wrong. 

I've learned, in an embarrassingly long amount of time, that it's not about the number of friends you have, or the social status of said friends. It's about the friends who matter. For me it's my family, they matter. My sisters, they matter. My mom, she matters. My husband, he matters. Those few close friends who've been there over the years, they matter. And knowing that now I really need make sure I am being a real freind to others, that matters.

Some of my very best friends. Because a normal picture just wouldn't be any fun!

 

I realize and am so grateful to be blessed with such amazing sisters and mom. We are all so close and can't get enough of our Girls nights. I feel bad for anyone who doesn't have any sisters. And I'm even more lucky to have them all so close in age. One of my favorite things about my sisters is their example to being friends with everyone. I don't think we've had a single girls night where we haven't invited another friend/girl to join us. The more the merrier!  

This was our latest GNO. DIY Maxi Skirts!! Even those precious babies got a few.

 

My first ever homemade Maxi Skirts!! So easy and so fun. Ask me how!

October Festivities

While Halloween isn't my favorite Holiday it was still one for the books! Being mine and Eth's first married Halloween together, it was pretty memorable. We started out the night with my family and nieces/nephews. One of our traditions growing up, has always been to set up our fire pit in the driveway out front, and roast hot dogs/mallows with friends, family, neighbors, and trick or treaters. After dinner we went trick or treating to the Janson's and then off to a party! Played some games and mostly got to visit with lots of friends. Oh and you see that handsome ghost...yeah he chose that costume all on his own. And when I suggested a ghost face he simply said, no I'll just write GHOST. My clever, witty man.

 

 Roasting mallows/dogs with shay and tyson...the hunter and his mounted deer ;)

 

I took the nephews down to trick-or-treat to uncle Ethan at work. They loved it and in order to keep them quiet we took lots and lots of pictures. I love my boys!

  

 

I wish I could take credit for this bean dip I made for work and one for the Halloween party. All credit goes to some mysterious person off Pinterest. It was a huge hit at both parties and didn't last long, so it's one to hold on to. 

One random picture from date night with some of our good friends. Mini golf and I can't tell you who won because we all were just messing around by the end of the night. Although if we had been seriously competing, you know the Janson's would have come out on top ;)