Life Lately... He or She?

 

He or She? 🍫 What will it be? Make your guesses now because we will announce the gender tomorrow! 💙💕😝 Ella only seems to care about shoving chocolate in her face! 😂 What can I say? Haha #leftoverhalloweencandy

It appears I can only manage so many different social media platforms! haha I have been focusing a bit more on my YouTube channel lately and have totally neglected the blog. Since having Ella I have taken so much video it is crazy! I have decided to not let those go to waste and just sit on my desktop, and to essentially "blog" them, or as they say "vlog." So I have doing a lot more vlog style videos over there if you want to check them out. Just in the last week I vlogged our trip to Arizona (Part One, Part Two, Part Three) Our Halloween weekend, and more recently a little peek into our week! I will work on being better about posting them on here along with whatever pictures I have to keep things moving on this front. Don't be surprised if you see some out of order posting as I play catch up on the blog! 

Here is my latest vlog! I go to a friendsgiving, paint more cabinets in my kitchen, and prepare for our gender reveal :)

ONE YEARS OLD 💛

Roxana B. Photography

I never did get around to doing an update for Ella at 12 months. Probably because I was glued to a couch trying not to throw up! haha Did you see the news? Yes we are expecting baby number two! It is why I have been absent recently, but thankfully the second trimester is here and I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER.

So this update will be more of a 12 - 13 months update. I am debating on how often to keep doing these. So much happens in a month that I think I should keep them up monthly, but is that tedious? Anyways, Ella has changed and grown SO much in the last few months.

Ella's Stats at her 12 month appointment

Height: 29 inches 47%

Weight: 18 ' 12 15%

+ Ella started walking shortly after her first birthday! She had been taking steps for weeks prior but September 7th she officially walked. I was actually able to catch it on camera thanks to the fact that our phones are constantly on us! haha I was in the kitchen and she just stood up and walked right towards me all while eating a cracker at the same time. Multi-tasking, that's our Ella! haha She of course has been non stop since, and is getting fast.

+ Ella still loves to talk on the cell phone, and brush her hair. She is imitating EVERYTHING now! It is so funny to see the things she will pick up on. The other day I was blowing on some of her food because it was hot. When I handed it to her she started blowing on it before she ate it, it was so stinking cute. She is learning more and more every day by watching us.

+ Ella is obsessed with dogs. A few months ago she kept making this funny sound and putting her mouth together in a little O. We couldn't figure out why she was doing it. Finally I connected it to when the dogs in the neighborhood are barking. We are surrounded by dogs and I hardly even notice them but Ella sure does! She gets very excited every time she sees a dog, and starts to imitate them by trying to "woof." She can even say Doggy now!

+ Another word Ella says is Baby! It sounds more like Bebe but every time she sees her baby dolls she says baby and will give them a big kiss and hug. It melts my heart every single time. She is so sweet and tender with her dolls and stuff animals. I think what makes me so happy is knowing she has learned to treat them that way because that is how she treated. She is loved and kisses and hugged.

+ Speaking of kisses, Ella will pucker up her lips in the most adorable way to give you a kiss if you says, "KISSES!" It makes my whole day and I often ask her for kisses because it is the absolute best thing ever! :) And sometimes if you are really lucky she will just come right up to you and pucker asking for a kiss herself. *HEART BURSTS*

+ For her birthday my parents got Ella this bike that is used for therapy but also to help encourage babies to walk etc. I don't even know what to call it. Here it is HERE. But whatever it is, we call it her bike and Ella LOVES riding it. We go outside almost every day and she scoots herself all over the front yard. When she gets bored of that she gets off and wants to just go for a walk. We have been taking her on evening walks around the neighborhood and it is the cutest thing.

+ I breastfed Ella for a few weeks past her first birthday. It was hard for me to stop breastfeeding her, but I just couldn't keep going while being pregnant. It was taking all my energy and I was already so sick as it was. Ella was ready and we slowly weaned through the month of August and so it all happened very nicely and naturally. She is now drinking whole milk and I just can't believe she is so big with her sippy cup of "adult" milk haha While I miss cuddling up with her and breastfeeding, we have substituted that with taking her into bed with me and Trevor and having her cuddle with us as a family. It is one of my favorite times of the day!

+ Ella has six teeth! She has her two front teeth, and her four bottom front teeth. She is honestly such a trooper with teething. She always sleeps through the night but when she has a tooth coming in she will sometimes wake up for a little relief. Its been interesting not being able to breastfeed her to comfort her which was her go to if she ever woke up, but now I just give her a bottle for a little bit, hold her and put her right back down. So grateful for such a great sleeper! This next baby will probably make up for it haha

+ Now that Ella is getting older she is so much more expressive. She can tell me when she wants something by signaling to the fridge or bringing me her sippy cup. I love when she does this! It is exciting to see them learn and progress. 

+ Ella has had a runny nose here and there but has never really been sick. Well that finally caught up to us when there was a pretty nasty bug going around the community. I felt so bad for Ella, she was throwing up and had a really high fever. Ella already runs warm, and so when she gets a fever apparently it will always be really high (she has had two now and each time she climbs up to 104.) We ended up having to take her to emergency because she was doing so bad and her heart rate was really high and they were worried. We ended up being sent to Primary Children's and it ended up being a really long night all for nothing haha. I say nothing because they were trying to figure out what was wrong because she wasn't showing symptoms yet for a bad flu and they were worried it could be a number of other scary things. She had to get tested for UTI and a bunch of stuff to basically have them tell us to wait and see if these other symptoms show up in the next few days... which they did. Blah. We were just happy she was fine and they were able to get her fever and heart rate down. But man she sure made up for not being sick her first year in that one night! haha 

+ Another really cute thing Ella does right now is throwing herself back on the large ottoman of our couch so that I will tickle her! haha It is her signal to me she wants me to tickle her and she let's out the largest laughs when we do this little game. She will also throw herself down into pillows or blankets so we will shake her and shove her more into them. It is really cute seeing her play and initiate these games with us. She also does peek a boo, and high and seek.

+ Ella loves music and dancing! She does a mixture of head banging and swinging her arms back and forth. She really is such a joy, she is always smiling, clapping, and dancing when there is music or something going on that she likes. She also just chatters on and is being super vocal, laughing, and squealing. We just love it.

Utah State Fair

We took Ella to the Utah State Fair! Put together a little family vlog to document. It was so fun to see her experience baby animals and fair food for the first time. She also had lemonade for the first time and she became obsessed, OOPS! haha ❤

Crowley Party of FOUR ❤️

Do you follow me on Instagram? If you did you saw the news! On the first day of fall we shared a little pumpkin surprise. We are expecting baby number TWO. YES, TWO! We are so excited that our family is growing and we can't wait to see Ella with a sibling. Ella has changed our world for the better and we can't wait to expand on that. The due date is April 3, 2017. I will share more details behind the pregnancy and the last few months soon! ❤️ 

Soldier Hollow Tubing!

I am so behind in posting about our life these days! Back in February my parents came into town to see the Provo City Center Temple. It is a pretty special Temple because it was originally a Tabernacle in our church built in 1883, that actually burned down a few years ago, just before Trevor and I moved to Provo actually. Shortly after they announced they would be rebuilding what was left of it into a new Temple. While we were at BYU Law School we watched over the years. At the start of the year it was open to the public for everyone to see before it will be dedicated and used for religious purposes. My parents love to go to Temple open houses, because even though we are members, it is a treat to get to walk through all of it and learn about the details and see it in the capacity. So they came up to see the new Provo City Center Temple, which was absolutely gorgeous. It is the most unique Temple I have ever seen. Every detail caught your eye, and they tried to stay true to the era the building was originally built in which made it that much better. After the Temple open house we went to a family favorite of ours, The Red Brick Oven. Best Root Beer on tap you will ever have!

We even went for a family run one of the morning they were here. We have kind of turned this into a family tradition I feel like, always going on runs together because we sign up for races together. A lot of us are doing the Wasatch Ragnar. I don't think I have announced that anywhere on my social media, but alas, I am running the Wasatch Ragnar in June! I will talk more about that another time. But also that weekend we went to Soldier Hollow to go tubing! It was so much fun! I even put together a little video of it since we had such a blast. And might I just add that Ella is pretty darn adorable in her little hat.

San Diego Baby Shower

I love how this shot captures the emotions of the day on my face so perfectly! I am so lucky to have grown up with such amazing people in my life that truly feel like family! My heart is full. Thanks to everyone who showered my little girl with such amazing love!

  

As you saw in my last post, I just got back from San Diego! Oh San Diego, my heart! I am so happy I was able to make it back home for a baby shower. I still have so many friends and people who are honestly like family to me down there. I was excited that they wanted to host a shower for me! There is just something about being home in San Diego that just calms my heart. I love it.

The ladies really went above and beyond and put together such an adorable shower. There were so many details! I will just let the pictures do the talking but the whole thing was just so dang cute. I couldn't get over the beautifully made paper flowers, and the perfectly matched to the invitation icing on the mini donuts. Those mini donuts by the way were uh-mazing! Ashley did such a phenomenal job on them, which is no surprise since she does have a knack for party planning. Everything was amazing, thank you so much for everyone who helped put it together (Rebecca, Ashley, Cari, Mom) You Rock!

They got the invites and some matching shower décor from a great Etsy shop called Paiges of Style! She sells printable parties, which I think is just brilliant and such an easy way to incorporate a theme. They used this theme!

Such a scrumptious and adorable spread! :)

Girl's Only Weekend Trip!

A cousin of mine in Idaho got married last weekend and so my sister Kira decided to make a trip down for it. Instead of flying into Idaho, she flew into Salt Lake so that we could go together and have a sister road trip! I was pretty excited for a few reasons. First off, growing up, my sisters and I are all separated with brothers in between us, so there are some significant age gaps, Kira and I are seven years apart, and Sarah and I are four. Those aren't huge necessarily but when you are ten and your sister is seventeen, you don't really have a lot of the same interests going on! haha Now that we are all out of the house time spent together is few and far between because we all live long distance, and usually we are seeing each other when the whole family gets together for Christmas or weddings, so alone sister time has honestly never happened like this since... well I am not sure if ever and I wasn't going to miss it! It was a rare opportunity, and I pounced on it. It hasn't been until recently now that we are all adults that I think we all are really taking our friendships to the next level because we all get where each of us is in life, we are all on the same level and page. So to say I was excited would be an understatement.

Kira flew in Friday night and we got together with Wendy and had dinner at Bucca where Alex was working. Trevor ended up having to work late so he missed out. It was a fun night and Saturday morning we were off on our road trip weekend adventure! It was fun to chat, eat road trip junk food, and just have that time together. We got into Idaho, checked into our hotel and got ready for the wedding. We made it just in time for the wedding. It was beautiful and it was nice to be apart of a union that you can tell is bringing so much happiness to so many lives. Following the ceremony was a lunch in and it was fun to catch up with family and stuff our faces. I loved spending the entire day with Piper! She has gotten so big and with them living far away I just cherish those moments with my nieces and nephews.

Crowley Party of Two... wait, make that THREE!

Our love is growing by another heart this year! ❤ Introducing the Crowley Party of THREE!

We are already so in LOVE with this little one due to arrive in August! :)

 

August must be our month, seeing that we met in August 2008, got married in August 2009, and now we are expecting our little one August 2015.  

So from our growing family to yours, Happy Valentine's Day! ❤

Baby Blessing - Canada

 SISTERS ❤

I mentioned awhile back that my sister was pregnant with what is nothing short of a miracle baby. After 10.5 years of marriage, 3 adoptions, 1 miscarriage, a 3% chance of getting pregnant naturally, and they weren't "trying" to conceive anymore... I don't know what else you would call it. While I was on a plane to Thailand, adorable little Piper was born! A GIRL. My sister has three boys and was pretty convinced this baby would be a boy as well. Her and her husband opted to wait to find out the gender and I was just convinced it would be a girl. As I mentioned in the blog post about the baby shower we threw for her, I got her the most adorable little girls dress. Which was my way of willing it to be! It has been killing me to not have met my niece, but I finally got to!

When my parents told me they would be driving through Salt Lake if I wanted to hitch a ride with them to my Piper's baby blessing, I just couldn't pass it up. I wish I didn't have to come back so soon because I always have so much fun at her house! They live right on a lake and with sun not going down in Canada until around ten in the summer, we just play, play, play into the night! Lots of jumping in the lake, and back into the pool/hot tub, eating and goofing off. Never a dull moment at the Palmer household. It was really fun to see so much family. My grandparents were there, along with my other sister and some extended family. I stayed for the weekend but had to fly back on Monday while everyone stayed, which was a total bummer, but hey, a girl has go to work!

Before we even got to Canada we stopped in Washington for a family reunion. We camped for two nights and spent the time with my aunts and uncles and great aunt and uncles, you get the idea. After the reunion we drove into Canada through the BC side. We never enter through British Columbia because it has always been out of the way, but since we were coming from Washington it was the closest. It is by far the best way to go in regards to the views! I felt like I was watching a constant painting move across my car window. Stunning beautiful country. My Grandpa likes to call it "God's Country."

One of the small towns we stopped in on the way up! I would seriously move to a place like this!

Our Anniversary Weekend

It was pretty last minute but Trevor and I decided we needed to do something a little more fun than just go out to dinner for our anniversary this year, I mean, it is five years! Trevor and I love being outdoors and being active, so when I suggested boating in St. George he was totally on board. Being on the lake is probably our favorite thing to do! We drove down Friday night and by Saturday morning we were on the lake with Trevor's family! The weather that day was amazing and we had a lot of fun just soaking up the sun and swimming. After we went to lunch and my brother and his wife met up with us. I love that both my brother and I have in-laws in the same city because we get to sneak in little visits when we both happen to be there. We even ran into some friends, which happens a lot when going back to one's hometown, and so it was like a little party at Café Rio!

Family Reunion - Washington

I recently took a road trip with my parents up to Canada for my niece's baby blessing. On the way up we stopped in Washington for a family reunion. The drive up was stunning. Idaho, Montana and Washington are all such beautiful States with some of the most gorgeous scenery. We camped for two nights and spent the time with my aunts and uncles and great aunt and uncles, you get the idea. The area we were camping in was just out of Spokane and it was beautiful. I really enjoyed meeting relatives I hadn't had the chance to meet before. I even got to spend some time with my Grandmother's sister Orva. My Grandmother died a few days after I was born, so I never knew her. Her husband and my Grandfather died when I was eight, but by then I had been in California for most of my life and we hardly ever saw him. I really only remember meeting him once, just before he passed away. With both of them gone and all of my extended family pretty much being in Canada, I don't have a lot of connections to that family. It was such a treat to talk with her and ask her what kind of sister my grandmother was. I loved getting to know someone who knew her growing up and so intimately. I also got to spend time with her older brother Uncle Tom. He was hilarious! Such a jokester and you could tell by the way he liked teasing me what kind of brother he was like. I have a few of those :) It was fun to just unplug for a few days and hang out talking about family, memories, and sharing stories.

Down Syndrome Awareness

I didn't get around to sharing this on Down Syndrome Awareness Day (which was at end of March), but shouldn't every day be Down Syndrome Day? ;) I think so! My nephew Cameron has brought a light into our lives. He added something to our family that can't really be described. It is an element to life that not everyone gets to experience, and I feel so blessed to have experienced it personally in my life. With the love I feel for that boy just as his Aunt, I can't even imagine the love my sister has for him as his mother. Everyone should get to meet and love someone like Cameron. It is a life changer.

 

Jtaylor Photography Promotion!

Way back in September, when I was platinum :o, Jalene took some pictures of me and Trevor. She has such a talent when it comes to photography, and on top of that she is one of THE nicest people I have ever met. While I have scattered some of these images randomly over the last few months, I wanted to do a proper post showcasing Jalene's work and images. 

Jalene specializes in weddings, birth stories, and family photography. And boy is she good at it! She is available for travel anywhere, and lucky for you, Jalene is offering a promotion to any of my readers. If you mention my name, you can receive $200 off a wedding collection, $150 off a birth story (have you seen her freakin' birth stories, my gooooooodness!) and $50 off a family shoot. Not to shabby my friends, not too shabby. CHECK OUT her work so you can know what a deal you are getting.

 DRESS: ASOS (SIMILAR)

 After the jump for a heavy photo filled post :)

Brian Head Ski Weekend

The last few years (documented here and here) we have spent a part of our Spring Break with Trevor's family up in a cabin at the Ski Resort Brian Head. It is almost comical that we don't take advantage of the beautiful mountains right next to us all year, and then drive hours south to go skiing and snowboarding, but alas, it has sort of become tradition.

Trevor has had so much on his plate lately, and it was nice to just hang out for two days straight. We didn't waste anytime, and were on the slopes when they opened until they closed both days. Every night was spent playing games into the night. By the end of this trip we were thoroughly exhausted! A perk to this years trip was the newest addition to the family, baby Mia. This is the first grandchild on Trevor's side. I have had nieces and nephews on my side of the family for years now, and I love having one now when we hang out with Trevor's family. Kids make everything more fun in my opinion. Trevor instantly turns into the big brother/uncle role and plays/annoys her any chance he can get. Its adorable :)

friends & family

Whenever I am going home to visit I make sure I see my girlfriends! We all went to breakfast at this amazing breakfast place called Snooze. I would highly recommend their french toast, um, yum. Also make sure you ask for their pancake special of the day. It is different every time and apparently they can get pretty creative. My friend talks about the Oreo Peanut Butter Pancake like it was a gift from the heavens, and oh how I wish it hadn't been a specialty pancake so I could have tried it when I had gone!

Speaking of other yummy places to try next time you in SoCal, me and my friend Katy on another night during my stay went out to dinner at a place called Stacked. It is a really unique set up where you create the dish from an iPad that is at your table. They have such a variety, and it was scrumptious. Some of the best macaroni and cheese I have ever had, and you all know what a statement that is coming from me.

Another must see when I am in town, especially at Christmas, is to see the San Diego Temple and the Christmas lights! As a family we were able to attend the Temple all together, as well as see all the festive decorations. Both my parents work in the temple, and spend a lot of time there weekly. It was nice to spend time there and see more into what they do on a weekly basis! I wish I could just show you what the lights look like. In the night it is hard to capture with the camera. But it really is gorgeous. There is a free way to the right side of the temple, and they say that every December the accidents go up on that stretch of the freeway because people stare too long at the temple and all the gorgeous lights!

Christmas Day!

After the presents were done, and skype/phone calls with family had commenced, we decided to head on out to another park in our neighborhood to shoot of rockets. Yet another, you guessed it, family tradition. Christmas day is for rockets at our house. It was so much fun to take turns getting to launch the rocket, and then watching the boys run around trying to find where it would land.

Evan wanted to make sure someone walked with Grandma :) Sweetest boy ever.

Later that night we had a big feast for Christmas. It is basically a repeat of Thanksgiving at our house for our Christmas dinner. My Dad's homemade Apple pie was again, my favorite part! Although with that said my mom really knocked it out of the park with some of her sides this year. I never knew I could LOVE beans so much.

We ended the night walking Christmas Card Lane. If you guys are ever in the San Diego area during Christmas, you have to check out apart of my neighborhood. People will actually take buses from downtown to come see Christmas Card Lane.

As wikipedia describes, "Christmas Card Lane is a holiday light display in San Diego, California in the community of Rancho Penasquitos. It is one of the most famous holiday displays in San Diego. Residents erect giant plywood greetings in their front yards depicting cartoon characters,
religious images, or Christmas themes."

I grew up in Rancho Penasquitos, and so every December has been filled with going to Christmas Card Lane. It is pretty spectacular. People go above and beyond and you will often find crowds of people wondering the neighborhood, caroling, watching movies on their lawns, handing out hot cocoa and the whole works. Everyone has their "favorite" cards, and the whole thing is pretty special. Story is it was all started by a woman who was an artist for Disney. She created a big version of a greeting card with her gorgeous art and encouraged her neighbors to join in the fun. And they did, over 200 homes participate in Christmas Card Lane! Don't plan on driving through their quickly during any given day at the end of the month. Christmas Card Lane is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas, and it was so fun to be home this year to do it.

Really it was such a great, great day! And then we played games and watched movies into the wee wee hours of the morning!