Spring Fever

Oh my we've had a cold winter. Record breaking cold day after day after day. The snow is lovely, and I have yet to tire of it (thank goodness, as it is still January), but I am quite anxious for spring. Or even a small thaw.

Since January is now over, and February is almost the end of winter, than I can pretend spring is just right around the corner, right?

I've been dressing Juliet like a spring flower. Her orange and red sweaters are pushed far back in her drawer, instead I've been picking pink and white. This cherry blossom sweater has made three appearances just this week alone.

I pair it with pink and green leggings and white leather vintage shoes. These leggings scream "spring" to me, and they make me so happy each time I pull out of her drawer.

And these babies were $0.99 at the local thrift shop. Perfection. I had an identical pair when I was Juliet's age.

Spring spring, here we come!

Outfit details:
Sweater - Gymboree (a gift!)
Leggings - Old Navy
Turtleneck - Hand-me-down
Shoes - Vintage, thrifted
Bow - Target

Snowy weekend

After weeks and weeks of a miserable think inversion that kept us indoors, late this weekend we were gifted with this:

Thick beautiful snow knee deep that cleared the air and left beautiful blue skies behind. FINALLY!

This meant lots of snow play and some nice warm sun streaming into the living room.

Over the weekend, before the inversion cleared, we headed back up the mountains to enjoy the clear air. Last week I was in a funk. E has traveled a lot this year, already, and the thick gray air and unbearably cold temperatures were not good for me. A sick kid, another that decided to not sleep, and gray days, it's no wonder I was in a funk.

But clear mountain air does me good. So good. And then the fresh snow that cleared the air swept away any lingering funk-ness and things are good again!

At the beginning of our walk in the mountains I was carrying Juliet, but when she became to heavy I swapped with E. E carried her all the way back to the car, and cuddled her when she fell asleep on his chest. He didn't want to put her down, and I don't blame him.

I even passed my phone to a stranger in hopes of getting a family photo. Best news? James is smiling! Win!

And then as the storm blew in late Sunday we decided we needed to get out. We'd been home all day and the cabin fever was beginning to creep in. We decided on a very snowy drive downtown for a visit to the Children's Museum and dinner at the Gateway. So fun but so much snow! Thank goodness we made it home safe and sound.

And those ever elusive freckles? I love them. But they sure are hard to get a photo of, until now. And oh my does my boy have beautiful lashes. I am the lucky lady that gets to kiss that face daily.

And that's it, mini update complete! Sorry if you are an IG follower, since all of these photos were also on Instagram. I promise to get out my big camera soon. :)

Mini Instagram update

I adore Instagram. Love it. It is my favorite social media by far, and I've made so many friends there. I take hundreds of photos with my phone and upload 1-6 photos a day.

Posting them all here has become a chore that I do not like. I actually quite despise it. It takes forever. Like more steps than you care to read.

So from now on, I'm going to just post a few favorites, from time to time. When I feel like it. Not weekly, or anything.

And if you want to see more photos of my adorable children, photos I am quite proud of, you'll have to follow me on Instagram @HappierStill.

Here are three small moments within the last week from IG:

Blurry and awesome. This is the face she made when she finally reached her prize: James's foxy.

More ice crystals from the water's edge on our snowshoe adventure. Doesn't surprise me at all that my favorite photo was taken with my phone. iPhone for the win.

As I noted before, James has been so sick. So so sick. He didn't leave bed all day, other than to barf on the carpet. It's a glamorous life, cleaning up barf, holding a baby the entire day that won't sleep (sleep Juliet!), and doing it all alone. Yea, E's been traveling a lot for work and he was gone this week. Sigh.

Mountain escape

The weather has been crummy for a month here in Utah. Below freezing temperatures (well below freezing) and an inversion so thick we can't see the mountains. Two weeks ago we had a lovely storm that cleared the air, but since then we've had nothing.

With inversion comes cold air trapped in the valley. Above the gunk is glorious clean, warmer, amazing air. We needed to find it. We needed to enjoy the outdoors, even in January.

A quick drive up the canyon revealed jewel toned skies, warmer air, and the most amazing sunshine ever. When there is a thick inversion, even the sun doesn't make it though.

Bunny tracks. We pointed them out to James and he said "maybe it was the snuggle bunny Juliet!"

We opted to skip morning nap for Juliet in hopes of a nap on the go. She looks pretty tired, don't you think?

This boy got sick with the tummy bug one day after our mountain adventure. Sickest I've ever seen him, but when caring for someone so helpless, so sick, that is still my baby, after all, the heart grows and I fall deeper in love.

Do you think she's asleep yet? If not yet, soon. She zonked.

Ice crystals near the river's edge.

Throwing snowballs  and watching a big splash. (See, it was warm! I'm not even wearing gloves!)

My favorite picture from the day.

Next weekend, back to the mountains we go.

Sweet as Honey Baby Shower

Remember Jessica? My dear lifelong friend that hosted the most perfect Little Red Riding Hood shower for me last year? Well the only way I agreed to have her host my shower was that, in return, if she ever got pregnant again, that I would host her shower.

And it happened.

She is beautiful and glowing and due any day now with a little girl (fun fact: her due date is on the same day as Juliet's first birthday! Wouldn't it be wonderful if her daughter and Juliet shared a birthday?)

We talked months ago about possible themes, and one I kept coming back to was honey bees. Pink and gold and sweet. Perfect for a new baby girl. Jessica loved it and I was over the moon to begin planning.

Oh and what a fun time it was.

Invites were pink and gold honeycomb inviting guests to tea.

The fact that my china is gold was a detail not overlooked. I could not wait to pull out all of my china and share with my friends in welcoming this baby girl to the world.

January 19th arrived with sun and freezing temperatures. Perfect for an afternoon tea with friends.

After seeing some ideas on Pinterest I decided that I needed to make some bee hives. Gold lanterns, some skinny wire and floral bees ended up with the centerpiece of the decorations.

Finger sandwiches, scones and sweets accompanied the tea. I love eating (and making) finger sandwiches, so I was happy. 

I was most excited about the yellow (lemon!) cupcakes with the edible sugar bees. They were so super darling and so easy! And my cupcake stand was just three pieces of china stacked with mugs between. Genius!

E made scones beforehand and they were the star of the show. They were served with honey (of course), jam, and honey butter.

Having a setting of sixteen was perfect, since we used every teacup and saucer.

Favors were honeycomb soap and beehive soap. Darling.

Jessica is stunning. Look at her! And her beautiful Mom.

We are all hoping her baby girl has beautiful red hair like her Mama.

Party was a complete success!

Scrub a dub dub two kids in the tub

Long luxurious locks

First she starts crawling and now she has long hair! Who is this big girl? And what did she do with my baby?

*And thanks Melissa, for the adorable onsie!