and then the rest of the party.

after show casing my #martha skills here and making y'all tell me how awesome i am, i decided to post the rest of the party. the reason the party was even a thing.. the chillens. 

dreys cake and the cupcakes on eisleys side were the 'everybody' cakes. little miss had her very own cake to dive into. the cutest thing in the whole world is watching a baby munch on cake for the first time. ooooh my gosh. is that a job? like i need my job to be to just party hop and watch kids eat cake, it's freakin' adorable. 

eisley had a '1' balloon like her brother had '6' and i had a really fun idea in my head for a photo-op. but then someone (not me.. def. not. me.) thought it would be okay to hand it to her.. and she let it go. soooo no more giant '1' balloon that is way over priced. thanks, zurcher's. 

thank you to all my family who came and helped celebrate my babies! we had so much fun and we love you so much. until next year!

split theme parties are no joke.

so earlier this month, tyler and i celebrated our babes birthdays in a split party. eisleys was born august 3 and drey was born on the 17. we were going to be at lake powell for our family vaycay during dreys birthday so i thought let's just do both at once! that way when we get home, we can be done and not have to worry about another party. we can focus strictly on back to school.
we can do a split theme! it will be so fun! pfff.
i probably lost 18 years of my life, lost my shit like 9 times in 3 days, and suffered 3rd degree burns from the freakin' hot glue gun gluing flower crowns together that i just had to have.
tyler was so happy when it was all over with haha. i was constantly mumbling to myself, staying up late every night cutting out these, gluing that, chugging redbulls like water, and needing to go to the dollar store just one. more. time. 
so the split theme was star wars vs woodland fairy/fairy/butterfly something or other. idk but it was very girly haha. i made flower crowns and pixie wands for the girls. then jedi swords and jedi vests for the boys. my mother-in-law helped with the sewing.. thank god.
we had cupcakes (i made the toppers because i couldn't find any that i loved.. #martha) crepes with pudding, fruit and whipped cream on the girl side. star wars side had hotdogs, chips and fruit kabobs.
for the drinks we had water and fresh raspberry limeade. boom.
tylers sister has always done the cakes. she's so good with making what i want and getting whatever drey has in his head right. disclaimer: she was not happy with dreys cake this year. she had a lot going on and then once we got it outside it started melting. no judgers, kay!

i'll post the rest of the party lata!
but seriously, you guys proud of me?

the baby is o n e

i remember so clearly, this exact time last year. arriving at the hospital, ready to snuggle our second born baby! tyler had just gotten in from japan a couple days before and was high on the time change, getting another child and american food. it'd been 5 years since i'd given birth so i was like the annoying "first time" mom asking all the questions i had forgotten the answers to. we had the best nurses though. thee. best. 
once things started rolling (iv, contractions, epidural, dilating.. ), i was so nervous it wasn't going to go as smoothly as last time. i was so wrong. 
the perfect delivery. 9lbs, 20" and the best scream you've ever heard.
perfection. straight from heaven. 

and now she's ONE. dreydan has been saying to me all morning, "mom i can't believe she's one already!" i'm like RIGHT! he gets it. and if there is anyone that loves that little girl more than tyler and i, it's him. he is in love with her and loves everything she does.

and she loves him right back.

about little miss:

|| she's got tantrums like no other. dreydan never had tantrums like this so we just stare at her when they're happening and aren't quite sure what to do with our hands. and then it's over and she's like la la la nothing is wrong.

|| she loves being told how pretty she is. put a bow on her and tell her it's so pretty and she walks around like she is the queen of the world. put a bracelet on her and tell her she's so pretty, oh man. her little gummy smile is beaming. one time i put a bow in her hair and told her she was sooo pretty. she then walked into drey's room and stood there until he told her how pretty her bow was. omg the monster we've created!

|| she loves baby dolls. she will cradle them and carry them around and love on them.. 

|| she also loves eating. she has a few no's and that's banana's, mashed potatoes (how is she my child?), and eggs. so far that's all we've discovered that she won't eat. get it girl!

|| her brother is her best friend. she loves playing with him, watching cartoons with him, having him read to her.. anything. if he's not in the backseat with her in the car and she's alone, she's pissed. she needs her brother!

|| she hates sleeping alone. another monster we've created.. but i blame this on tyler. he would always nap with her and it's slowly progressed into she won't sleep unless someone is with her. i hate it, but at the same time, i love it. 

|| and she's as fiesty as they come. try taking something that she's holding.. just do it. see what happens.

we love you so much, eisley!

happy birthday, my love

my hubby is 27 today. he's not here with me, but he knows i'm thinking about him. i'm always thinking about him. when people ask me about him being gone and how i'm dealing with 2 kids yada yada.. my first thought is uuuh your husband leaves overseas a week after your second child is born.. how would you be "handling" it? but instead i joke and say it's rough but i'm getting used to this single mom life (insert fake lol).. not really, though. falling asleep alone, waking up alone, taking care of two babies alone.. you don't get used to it. i'm great at handling it. and i can deal with it. but am i getting used to it? no. never. 
i can't wait to see him. i can't wait to watch him get to know our 3 month old baby girl. i can't wait to cook him dinner every night. i can't wait to start folding his clothes again. i can't wait to yell at him to pick up his dirty freaking underwear that he literally set down right next to the hamper. i can't wait to laugh with him. i can't wait to watch dreydan laugh with him. i can't wait to hug him and kiss him and... other things. 
i'm not sure i say it enough, but i'm so proud of him. we have this crazy, unconventional life that for some reason just works. i love our journey & our story. his love for football has led us here and his passion is something i look up to. plus, it's kinda sexy.
and because he's coming home very shortly.. we saved his gift to give him in person rather than sending it overseas. dreydan picked it out all on his own. he saw it from across the store and bee lined right to it. he held it in his hands so tight, smiling so wide and said mom we hafta get this! daddy is gonna love this for his birthday. and he's sooo right. he is going to love it.
happy birthday, my love. i can't wait to have you home.

drey's birthDAY.

the day after drey's party, we decided to take him somewhere fun where he could run and explore and be around animals that he loves. just be outside and be a boy. so we took him to Wheeler Farm. it's an historic farm here in utah with animals, old buildings, wagon rides, you can milk cows, have picnics, they've got summer camps etc.. it's just a fun place to be. i loved going when i was little, so i loved taking drey for the first time. and coincidentally, they had a farmer's market going on that weekend & i was S T O K E D. i live in a little teeny town in the mountains where they don't have farmer's markets too often.. so when i go "up north" to the city, i get excited about small things haha.

we walked around the market for a bit, snagging samples, buying treats, pineapple slushies, stopping at the bouncy houses, stick fighting... and then we made our way over to the farm. the boys ran around, climbed everything, fed some duckies, traumatized a couple bunnies, & pet every animal available. i was drowning Drey in water all day & he sweat it out faster than it would go in. he loved his life.

my in-laws met us there and hung out with us all day because we were leaving for japan in like 2 days. so we had a posse with us all weekend getting their drey & em time in.. we're so lucky to have family who loves us so much.

i loved this day. mostly because it was dedicated to my boo. it was the day of his birth & i can't believe what an amazing little person he's turned into. i love him so much it hurts. i look forward to every single one of his birthdays, but i dread them all at once, too. time is a real bitch, you guys.