Admitting I'm Wrong..

I am constantly talking about how beautiful life is, but somehow I often find myself complaining about something. Recently I have {for some reason} been complaining about mine and Zac's relationship. Maybe it's because I have hormones, or maybe it's because I'm bored. I don't know what it is, but when I really think about it, I honestly don't have a good reason to complain. I have been ridiculously saying, "We don't have anything in common." Zac always responds with, "That just isn't true." After challenging myself to make the following lists, I realize he is absolutely correct. My complains, just aren't true. 
Of course we have differences, we're human. We also have so very many things in common. The uniqueness in addition to the similarities is what made us fall in love in the first place, right? So, here it is, a list of 20 random facts about myself, him, and us. Originally, I made these lists specifically for our blog. After they were completed I realized, it's safe to say I have been acting somewhat, uh, crazy with my complaints. I owe my love an apology. Zacary, I'm sorry. I love you.   

1. I could eat Olive Garden salad every single day
2. I am SO over the chevron stripe trend
3. Zacary taught me how to fish, now it's one of my favorite activities
4. I created this blog to have a "positive journal"
5. The best days are spent at home crafting
6. I have an {embarrassing} phobia of cats 
7. My most annoying habit is picking the nail polish off my fingers
8. I am still not over the death of my Honda Civic
9. I have developed a joy of cooking
10. I am absolutely terrible at follow through 
11. I do not enjoy watching TV often 
12. I should probably attend Pinterest's Anonymous
13. My entire life, I have been an early morning person 
14. My mother is my best friend, and I tell her EVERYTHING
15. I prefer juice over soda
16. I really hate shopping for myself
17. I take a million pictures a day 
18. I love the smell of cologne and cigarettes together 
19. I have quite the bracelet collection 
20. My boys are my entire world!

1. Writing poetry is his hidden talent 
2. He prefers cats over dogs 
3. His dream job would be anything to do with sports 
4. He is all the kids favorite uncle 
5. He is extremely laid-back and forgiving 
6. He honestly believes he could win Survivor and make it on Naked and Afraid.
7. Has a wicked sweet tooth
8. Has a weird fetish of smelling drinking glasses before he uses them
9. He refuses to let me take the trash out
10. He listens to Joe Rogan daily
11. and prefers podcast/sports radio over music while in the car
12. He decorated most of the house {under my supervision}
13. I know subconsciously he wanted our baby to be a girl
14. He has had the same best buddies his entire life
15. He always chooses a foot rubs over a back rubs
16. At family gatherings, he spends more time with the kids than adults
17. He has watched every episode of That 70's Show {more than once}
18. He fed Drayze chocolate cake at 3 months!
19. He has 7 siblings 
20. My husband is the most respectful, kind hearted {sexy} gentleman in the world!

1. We often communicate without saying a word to each other 
2. We sleep on a {tiny} full size bed
3. One of our first dates was a trip to Vegas
4. We made the cutest baby in the entire world
5. We enjoy {mostly} the same foods
6. He's always cold, she is always hot
7. We haven't ever left the house without kissing each other first 
8. Together we enjoy playing cards/ gambling 
9. Our perfect date is one spent at home playing games and watching movies
10. On Sunday's we drink an entire pot of coffee together
11. We are complete homebodies 
12. When we get on reading kicks, we get on them together
13. We wrote our own vows, but did not read them at our wedding
14. and would have preferred to get married in Vegas {although we did love our wedding}
15. October is our favorite month
16. We both had a dog named "Jezzibell/Jazzabell as kids 
17. We've been told we "quiet talk" together 
18. Our bedtime is around 8 or 9 
19. We are waiting on another niece {come on little bird!!}
20. We are in it together, forever.

Fourteen Months

Over the past few weeks I have been amazed, yet again, at the rapid pace Drayze has grown and learned. He is a few days shy of 14 months old. I can't believe it! My baby has transformed in to a smart, funny, fun loving, handsome little boy. He has added several new words to his vocabulary; cookie, uh-oh, doggy, fishhhhh, Ty-Ty, "Denny," stop it, and he can even say "more" in sign language. He knows what the dog and cow say, he can find his mouth and his nose, and blows kisses. Speaking of kisses, he gives the BEST kisses! Often times he comes at us with his mouth wide open, but we take them however we can get them. His kisses are even completed with the "mwah!" He can stand up all by himself and has even managed to jump on the bed without holding on to anything. He still, however, refuses to walk. We think he is extremely close to that milestone though! He eats all regular table food now, and we are working on eliminating the bottle completely. 

Even though it makes me sad how fast our boy is growing up, it is the most amazing process to be part of. Before he is no longer tiny, we decided we needed to get some professional pictures done of him. {To add to the 12,000 picture gallery we already have of him} Here is a peak at some of our favorite ones.  

Adventure Time

I had been begging Zac to take us camping since the weather turned the slightest bit warm. After several failed attempts to make the camping adventure work with our schedules, we were finally able to go! We have always enjoyed camping, but this year we were extra eager to hit the mountains as we knew Drayze would love it just as much.

Friday finally arrived. We spent most of the day loading and preparing for the adventure. It's a lot more work preparing to go camping with a baby. I wanted to be sure we had everything we might possibly need. This resulted the the cruiser being slightly overpacked. By the looks of things, you would have thought we were going for at least a weekend. We decided we would just go one day to see how Drayze would really do. 

With everything loaded up, we headed out on our adventure. Scouting out the perfect spot can be half the fun. Luckily, it didn't take us much time to score a nice little spot tucked back in some trees. It had a cute red picnic table, a cement slab with a built in fire pit, and a perfect level spot for our {extra large} tent. 

Drayze played in the dirt with his trucks and ate cookies while we set up camp. It took all but ten minutes before he was absolutely filthy. I had mentally prepared myself before we left for this. I told myslef, just let him get dirty, boys will be boys.  Plus hey, he was having a blast! 

Once our camp was all set up we were able to just simply be together and enjoy being outdoors. Drayze kept Zac and I entertained and on our toes. He did very well staying away from the fire, which was our main concern. Having so much fun did wear the boy right down so putting him to sleep was far easier than we had anticipated. He had his very own tiny blow up mattress complete with plenty of blankets and of course his blue teddy bear. 

Once our sweet boy was tucked sound in the tent, Zac and I were able to spend some much needed quality time together. Life can become so hectic that it's easy to almost forget how nice it is to just be together with no distractions. Conversation, laughs, and reminiscing next to the camp fire is how we spent the remainder of the night. It couldn't have been any better. Such simple pleasures we often take for granted. 

We slept together in one tent as a family. To our surprise we got a better nights sleep that we had imagined, and Drayze did amazing through the night. We all had an excellent time. Now we know what to expect camping and sleeping in the tent with Drayze, next time we will plan to stay longer. Can't wait for next time, adventure is out there!

You just don't take a little boy camping without a tonka truck

It rained pretty hard on us for a few minutes. This made Drayze's chair, socks {eveything} soaking wet. Yes, he is wearing my socks.

Him sitting in his little chair kills me.

Our little froot loop!

Good Ol Traditions

Traditions are something every person can say they have at least one of. Often times traditions are created within families, sometimes they are with friends, or sometimes, simply with your significant other. Not very often are traditions created within friends, family, lovers, haters, and everyone in between. The small town we are once again calling home has created that rare tradition in which has thrived an impressive 80 years. "The good ol Ute Stampede!" I feel like you can't just say "Ute Stampede" without "the good ol" in front of it. For those who don't know, this tradition consists of many events spread out through 3 days. Parades, carnivals, rodeos, shopping, competitions, etc. More than that, it's an opportunity for everyone to get together.

Gathering with friends and family is our favorite thing about this tradition. We don't always participate in all of the traditional events, but we do always get together will all of our friends and enjoy some good laughs. This year was another one for the books. 

The first day we were able to participate we decided to make it more of a family day. We watched the mammoth parade with my side of the family. After, we gathered at my mom's house to visit and of course have a couple piña coladas. Later that evening, Zacary and I took Drayze to the carnival to ride the Mary-Go-Round and the big slippery slide. He loved it! 

The next day, Saturday, we sat outside most the day visiting with friends. It was so much fun having friends come and go, getting to visit with everyone. Later, we went to Zac's dad's house for a delicious Dutch oven meal. The kids played in the water while the adults sat around shooting the shit. After the day cooled off a bit we headed for the carnival to use up our left over tickets from the night before. Zac won Drayze a fishy, who he {Drayze} named No. I'm sure you can figure out yourself how that name came to be. 

Late Saturday night Michelle volunteered to let Drayze sleep over so we could stay out later with our friends. It's our tradition to gather at James and Candy Eyre's house {Marlowe and Bryan's parent} for a fire and drinks. James and Candy are so much fun to be around. They are so nice to let us invade their home. It was so much fun to have most of the friends in one place to be able to catch up and share some laughs.

The "good ol" Ute Stampede is a tradition we have had our entire lifetime. It's one we have been able to grow with and share with our entire extended families and group of friends. It's a tradition we will continue to carry on as our family grows and we begin to age. Until next year, "Cowboy Town."

Picnic before the parade

Licorice and a parade, what more could a boy need?

Riding the Mary-Go-Round

I just wanted a picture of my boys in their handsome matching shirts. Clearly, they are both thrilled about that.

Lovers.

"Red-neck bathtub"

Cousins.

It's a good thing Drayze has aunts who are the size of small children so they can go on rides with him.

Journee, Jenilee, Drayze riding the awesome motorcycles. Drayze's favorite!

By the end of the weekend we were all exhausted! It felt so good to lay down. :)

Our New Cozy Home

We did it. We went through every single item we own and either threw it away {with good intentions of donating} or packed it in a box, then the truck, and moved it to our new home. The process of moving sucks, but now that we are settling in to our cozy little home we feel we made the right decision.

Our little home is the perfect size for our tiny family. We have quickly adjusted to having the privacy of a house rather than an apartment, and couldn't be happier about finally having some yard work to do. Moving to Nephi puts us closer to our family and {some} friends. It's nice to be able to run to our parent's house to visit and having friends pop by more often. The change is still fresh, but I am confident it's only going to continue to be for the best. Somehow our little home makes me feel more of a family. 

A quick, crooked snapshot

Where we will do most of our living

The wee little kitchen where I will be spending most of my time.