Tiny Town for Pearl's 2nd Birthday!

June and I got to tag along to Tiny Town for my niece Pearl's 2nd Birthday last week, and although I'd seen pictures of Tiny Town online, we'd never been! So, both June and I were excited to go when Aunt KiKi invited us!

As you can tell, it's exactly what it sounds like! A tiny town for kids to play in, with a doctor's office, mechanic's garage, grocery store, diner, hair dressed, library and more! June just kept walking around pointing at things and saying "It's so little!"

Other than both Pearl and June having a few meltdowns due to having to share certain rooms with other kids 😂, it was a super fun time and they both loved it! We will definitely go back again. 

Happy 2nd Birthday Pearl! We love you!

Camels & Llamas

A few weeks ago, on a very cold Saturday morning, we went to a local Alpaca farm for one of their open house days. My sister-in-law Kelsey told us about it, so we met up with them to let the girls, Pearl and June, run around and see the animals.

The entire time we were there June called them "camels" and Pearl called them "Llamas", no matter how hard we all tried to correct them. 😂

One of my favorite moments was when T.J. was trying to keep one of the alpacas in one place so Kelsey could take a selfie with it. It totally didn't work, but was a solid team effort and gave us all a good laugh anyway.

We couldn't believe how tame the alpacas were, and how little they seemed to care that hundreds of people were walking around in their pastures with them. They did pay a little more attention to you when you tried to give them some of their pellet food, but other than that, they literally just walked around and ignored you. (Which made all of us look like a bunch of idiots trying to heard them into one place and take photos with them!)

In typical June fashion, she didn't feel comfortable getting down and walking around until we'd been there about 30 minutes... but by that time we were all freezing and ready to go! T.J. did get to snap a few photos of June and I though, which was nice. 😊

Also, I'd like to point out that I'm sure not I've ever seen Kelsey so happy as she is in the second to last photo below, where she's taking the alpaca for a walk. 😂 Pretty sure her dreams were coming true right then and there.

Visit Eastland Alpaca yourself! Follow them on Facebook. 

O Christmas Tree!

Quite possibly everything related to Christmas is more fun when you have a toddler, and getting and decorating our tree was no exception. It's not that June wasn't fun last year, she was! But being that she was only 10 months old at the time, she wasn't even crawling for us then. She actually started crawling on Christmas day... which was very exciting. Anyway! This Christmas has just been such a sweet season in our lives. Busy with work, but also filling it up with all the things we love about the holidays.

We started off by getting our tree from a little, local, roadside stand here in our small town of Manheim. It was SO. COLD. the day we went to get it. June was turning blue within minutes, so we picked our tree super duper fast. All of their trees were beautiful though! So it wasn't hard to choose the perfect one quickly.

While T.J. paid for our tree and loaded it into the van, June ran laps around their little wreath shop, giggling up a storm. 

For the last several years, T.J. and I always watch Arthur Christmas while we decorate our tree. But we opted out of that this year because we knew June wouldn't focus with the TV on, or "fee-vee?" as she calls it.

We gave June her ornament(s) for the 2016 year and showed her how to hang them on the tree. She was thrilled that Nemo and Dory were on her tree. It was precious. Also, note that sweet outfit she's wearing. 😂 We purchased new shoes for her about a week ago cause she's growing like crazy, and she's wanted to wear them ever since they arrived in the mail. She also did not want me to tuck her shirt into her skirt.  Bless her.

Annnnnd the ornaments came off immediately. She's been taking them on and off the tree everyday now, to play with them or take them in the car as toys. Thankfully they're just plastic and styrofoam, cause she's sent them down her "slide" a few times already.

For every year that we've been together, T.J. and I have also gotten each other an ornament. This year, T.J. got a gold microphone for me -- to represent 2016 being the first full year I've had with my voice in yearrrrs. (I had voice surgery in late 2015 to remove a large growth and regain my vocal functions! Praise Jesus!)

And naturally, I got T.J. a grilled cheese ornament -- because 2016 was the year we started Grilled Cheese Tuesdays. Yes, it is exactly as awesome as it sounds. A different grilled cheese sandwhich every Tuesday night at our house, with friends.

When T.J. pulled it out of the box, he said "Ohh this is great. I'll add it to my food section on the tree." 

June chewed on her Nemo and Dory ornaments HARD one day while in her carseat. Ha ha! How perfect?! At first I thought, "Eh, I'll just get her new ones." And then I was like "NO! This is perfect. What a funny thing to remember." #twoyearmolarsaretheworst

We love our little Christmas tree this year and can't wait to open all the sparkly gifts underneath it on Sunday! If we last that long.... cause T.J.'s already given my 2 of my gifts. 😂 He just gets too excited! I love it though.

Does your family give ornaments every year? Or do you have another tradition relating to your tree? I'd love to know! Comment to let me know - here OR on Instagram!

A Merry Minted Christmas

You guys. I did it. I sent out Christmas cards this year. ( Fist pumps like Nick Miller. ) I'm pretttty sure the last time T.J. and I sent a Christmas card was in 2010, when we posed with all FOUR cats in our Smilebooth. 😹 Which, don't get me wrong, was totally amazing, but now that we've got sweet little Junie to take pictures with, pshhhh - our cats simply won't do.

I literally squealed at my desk when Minted ask to partner with us on our Christmas cards. I have ogled over their cards for years - all beautiful and letter-pressed and metallic, and did I say beautiful - and was thrilled to order ours through them this year.

The entire process was incredibly easy and user friendly. They even have this awesome "Find It Fast" feature that you can toggle on, where it'll insert the photo you uploaded into every design. This was a life. saver. Because, I had a whole folder full of "favorites", but when I saw my actual photo in the designs it was super easy to pick the perfect one! 

Everything arrived - invites and return address printed envelopes - in a beautiful box, lined with the names of some of their designers. Being a small business owner who frequently hires other designers to do work for us, this made me smile.

I quickly pulled out our cards and got to work addressing them cause I was so excited! I could have had Minted address both the front and back for me, but I actually like addressing envelopes, so I opted out of that feature.

I've even made you a little guide to addressing your own envelopes, and I'm going to share that with you all tomorrow. (So, come back!) It's really fun to be able to do it yourself and then love the way they turn out. Give it a try this year! (And of course remember, grace not perfection.)

Once I had everything addressed, I used the cutest Charlie Brown Christmas stamps and a piece of colored washi tape to top it all off. 😍 Seriously, washi tape is easily one of the best things to hit the U.S. in the last 5 years. If you don't have some, get some. (Preferably the brand MT, cause they're the best.)

I chose one of my favorite family photos for the front of the card, and a few extras for the back, from a session my friend Liz did for us back in October. You can see all of those photos in the post just before this one -- right HERE. 

So there you have it. Our 2016 Christmas cards. I am so thrilled with how they turned out. And I can't wait for many of you to receive them in your mailbox this week!

Also, I totally believe in YOU to address your own like I did. Just practice each letter a few times on scrap paper and then take your time. Not only is it fun, but I try to take a little moment and think about who I'm addressing it to, how they impacted our 2016 year, and say a little prayer for them.

Merry Christmas ya'll!

This post was sponsored by Minted, but all opinions are my own. There's still time for you to get a baller Christmas card for yourself - shop Minted today! 

Our Family Photos | 2016

I am well aware how silly it is that I spent over half the last decade photographing families, weddings and seniors, all preaching to them about how important "real" photos are, but then when it comes to our family, I'm the worst at it. Ha ha! I'm definitely getting better at bringing my real camera along to certain things, or getting it out here and there at home, but there's still something so magical about having someone else photograph your family. To see them the way they see you.

My dear friend Liz, who used to work for me and my photo team 💕, captured our family on one abnormally warm evening this past October.

June was being SO shy, and at times, incredibly uncooperative. (Trust me, she was, I just didn't include those photos, cause the faces of T.J. and I are like.. 😬🙄.) So, now I can totally relate to those parents in front of my camera being like "Seriously, she's never like this. I'm so sorry!"

How's this one for the baby book? 😂 

June and I both wore dresses from Old Navy that I'd picked out long ago, hoping to get family photos in them! And I love the way all of the colors came out. I also wore my favorite necklace from Elle Lane Designs with June's name on it. #sappymommoment

About half way through our session we switched locations, because Liz and I, like the photographers we are, were chasing after the sun in our cars. Note: me being realllll pumped up about the sunlight in the image below.. and then posing for a much prettier photograph.

June was very excited about all of the rocks in the field and kept going around picking up them and handing them to us, saying "Thank you, please." It was so cute.

When Liz was shooting photos of just June and T.J., she swiped the sunglasses off his face and put them on herself. 😂😎

I am so grateful we had our family captured at this moment in time. It's already fun to "look back" at these and remember what she was doing only two months ago and how much she's changed already. Love, love, love it.

Also, let this serve as your yearly reminder to get photos taken of your family. JUST DO IT. #memories

My dress: Old Navy | My Boots: Target | June's Dress + Boots: Old Navy | June's Beanie: CottonOn | T.J.'s Flannel: PacSun | T.J.'s Jeans: Gap | T.J.'s Boots: F21 Men | T.J.'s Sunglasses: RayBan