a weekend in montana

kendrick has some family that live in west yellowstone, and one of our favorite things to do is drive out there and visit them while enjoying the beautiful scenery that montana has to offer. the last time we were there was two winters ago, and we spent the trip snowmobiling up and down the gorgeous snow-covered mountains. this year, to switch it up a bit, we decided to make the trip during the summer.

as soon as we were off work on thursday afternoon, we began the four hour drive, putting us in montana around eleven. obviously, we went right to bed.

kendrick's cousin, shelby, was at girls camp until around noon the next day, so we decided to get some time in alone before she got back. we grabbed some breakfast sandwiches and pastries at a local bakery, and then drove into the park.

i have not been to yellowstone since i was little, and honestly forgot about how pretty it is! .. and stinky. ;)  (warning: picture overload)

it was a super hot day, and we quickly decided not to stay in the park long (we were both in long jeans, while everyone else was in shorts). however, before heading back, we obviously needed to make a stop at old faithful.

we assumed that the geyser would be going off within fifteen minute of our arrival... well, joke was on us.. because we ended up waiting for about an hour and fifteen minutes. once it finally went off, we snapped our pics, said our goodbyes, and then went on our merry way.

once back at the house, we met up with the rest of the family, and headed over to the grizzly and wolf discovery center. my favorite park was watching the bears- they are the cutest yet most terrifying animals. 

after that, we all headed into town for some dinner at the taco bus, and to do a little shopping. i found myself in a fur shop, dressed up as an animal pretty quickly...

later that night, we all went to see the new bourne movie. kendrick's aunt and uncle own the theater in west yellowstone, so it didn't cost us a cent, which was obviously pretty cool. the movie was pretty great, and now kendrick and i are currently having a bourne marathon, as i've never seen them before now. (wife of the year right here!)

the next morning was an early one, as we went to an old car show parade. kendrick and his cousin drake particularly enjoyed it, as they both love old cars. i was just there for the candy.
we headed to the park right after, where all of the cars were parked, and you could walk around and take a closer look at each. i immediately loved this van, that even had a table and benches in the back of it. um, road trip anyone?

after the park, we all headed out to the mountain man trading post- which was a huge circle of white tents, all filled with really cool things for sale. kendrick and i made this goal, where every trip we go on, we have to bring back a unique piece of decor for our home in lieu of a typical souvenir. i used to be all about the key chains, and magnets, and shot glasses.. but in the end, those just look tacky sitting around your house and you don't really know what to do with them! our goal is to have our home filled with all sorts of fascinating and unique things that will remind us of all the places we've traveled together. so with this in mind, i found a few nice things that day that would fit into our place nicely. 

(funny side note- all of the booths sell real animal fur, and one in particular was selling strips of beaver fur. i kid you not, it was hands down the softest thing i have ever touched... so i ended up buying one for two dollars. literally have no idea what i'm going to do with it and it was definitely the most irrational purchase i've ever made.... but it was just so soft) 

once we were done at the trading post, we had a quick lunch and did some shopping around town. after that, we all met up at the house, before heading out to the ranch for some horseback riding.

 this was the part of the trip that i was looking forward to the most, because i had never been before! it's been on my bucket list since i was a little girl. 

Still laughing at the fact that kendrick ended up getting a mule.

i feel so fortunate that my first horseback riding experience took place in the beautiful mountains of montana. you really can't beat that, it was honestly too pretty for words. 

my horse was particular hungry, and literally ate EVERYTHING that she walked past. she had a mouthful of grass, flowers, and weeds the entire time.

we rode our horses down to a gorgeous scenic lake to rest our legs and so that the horses could drink some water.

(thank you kendrick for this super majestic picture)

as you can see from the dark clouds, a storm started rolling in pretty fast. we seriously could not have gone at a better time, because by the time we got back to the ranch, it was pouring rain and they ended up having to cancel the group right after us.

before heading out, i took a quick selfie with my new friend.

that night, kendrick, shelby, and i went hot tubbing (super, super sore bums). it was the perfect, relaxing way to end our trip.

sadly, we headed back home the next morning. it was so, so hard to leave! 

already can't wait for our next trip.

family bear lake trip

for the past few years, my family has made a weekend trip up to bear lake. with our family getting bigger and bigger, we rent out a huge beach front property, and enjoy watching movies, playing board games, and swimming in the pool. this year we went on the weekend of the 30th (little myla's birthday!). 

view from our deck

on saturday morning, we all went down to the swimming pool for a few hours. i waded in the water for about thirty minutes, until it got way too cold. zoey and i ended up snuggling under multiple towels while everyone finished up swimming, which was even better in my opinion. 

love, love these pictures. she is the cutest.

after swimming, we headed to my favorite place, coffee and crepes for some lunch. if you plan to pay a visit to bear lake anytime soon, this place is a must. and you have to get the raspberry crepes.. you just have to. 

getting some boston snugs... i promise he likes me back.

after lunch, kendrick and i ended up passing out on the couch, which we were fine with as it had starting raining outside. however, while we were asleep, the sun came out and everyone else headed down to the beach. we didn't mind, sometime sleep is just better.

for dinner, everyone met up at the one and only mexican restaurant in bear lake (that i know of, at least). i'm not a huge fan of mexican food, so didn't get much, but everyone else seemed to really enjoy it! 

absolutely love sweet little myla's face here

the rest of the night was spent relaxing in the condo, playing games and watching movies. kendrick and i decided to get away for a bit, and picked up some shakes and took a drive around the entire lake. we were able to see a gorgeous sunset and even saw some fireworks let off over the lake. 

the next day was spent packing up, and getting a few last looks at the lake. naturally, the last day of our vacation was sunny and pefect. 

after one last crepe and italian soda stop, we were on our way home.

zoo day

annual zoo day with my family! not much to say about this day... except for that it was hot, the slushees were overpriced, and i have the cutest nieces and nephews in the world.

enjoy the pics!

a night out with boston

we may not have kids yet, but we sure do have the cutest nieces and nephews that we have the privilege of stealing (and spoiling) any time we want. last weekend, kendrick and i both felt like we needed some time with our favorite six year old.

boston first hopped into the car to find the avengers lego set waiting for him on his seat. in retrospect, we should have given it to him afterwards... because he immediately said he wanted to open and build it right then. we were like, no boston, you have to hang out with us! haha

for dinner, we stopped at mcdonalds, boston's choice of course. it was over the fries and chicken nuggets that it was brought up that boston wanted a fish. kendrick and i quickly decided that if the kid wanted a fish, he was going to get a dang fish. (we decided to pick it up at the end of the night so that it wouldnt be sitting in a hot car)

after dinner, we went to the one and only nickel mania! this was boston's first time going, and i don't think i've ever seen a kid's eyes get so huge. his absolute favorite things in the arcade were the racing games that had a motor cycle or snow mobile that you could hop onto and steer. no joke, he played the motorcycle racing game at least six times in a row, and each time the game neared the ending, he'd quickly tell me to feed more nickels into the slot. whatever you want boston, whatever you want.

boston ended up leaving with the motherload. his loot included a mini gum ball machine (he ended up hating the gum inside, so we got him m&ms instead to fill it with #pushovers), a mini off-brand lego set, and invisible ink pen, some candy, and a mouth piece that flashed bright colored lights- that ended up being his favorite of all, don't ask why.

and the last stop of the night- a fish for boston! he picked a large orange one, called a shubunkin and he immediately named it rl stein. we also got him a small tank, some pebbles, and a plant to go inside. we spared no expense on operation fish.

love you, boston!

over halfway to thirty

kendrick did it. he hit the milestone of being halfway to thirty. when did we get so old?

we mainly celebrated the weekend before his birthday with a delicious breakfast of homemade waffle luv on the deck and jet skiing on echo lake with his family.

on sunday, we had a birthday dinner with his family and my parents. after dinner, we all took a short walk up the gorgeous green canyon. 

on wednesday, we went to benihana for kendrick's birthday dinner. kendrick picked the steak and shrimp dinner, while i chose the spicy chicken. obviously, neither disappointed.

i particularly had a lot of fun spoiling the birthday boy, and may have gone a bit overboard on his presents. some of his gifts include: the xbox elite controller (he almost cried), a gold space pen (for my pen-obsessed nerd), a good amount of clothes from j crew, banana republic, sperry, and jon varvatos, the martian and jurassic world on blu-ray, a pair of gold cup sperrys, a jack spade wallet, and a herschel dop kit. 

happiest of birthdays to my favorite person in the entire world! kendrick is one of the most selfless, kind, and loving people i've ever met, and i loved being able to make the entire week all about him.

i love you forever, kendrick! here's to 26.

surprise!

as a combined mothers and fathers day present, my siblings and i sent our parents on a weekend vacation and gave their home a much needed face lift as an extra surprise.

it ended up being an extremely exhausting weekend, but was also really, really fun to team up with my siblings and work on something really great. kendrick and aaron tackled the landscaping in the front yard, which included fresh new plants and flowers and a whole new sprinkler system. danny and jeff slaved away all day in my dad's music room, giving the walls and doors a much needed fresh coat of light gray paint (on top of the bright teal walls- it used to be my bedroom). harmony, nicole, and i worked on the garage, which was probably one of the biggest challenges. in the fourteen years that my family has been in that house, the garage has never been used for cars- it was always too full of clutter, boxes, and old pieces of furniture to fit any! we ended up clearing our everything, purchased brand new shelving, and a large quantity of bins and labels for easy organization. and the best part- once we were done, it was two-car ready!

 i'm kicking myself for not getting before and after photos, because it truly was a transformation.

our dad's music room was definitely the most exciting part of the operation. my dad is a talented musician and owns so many great things- but has no where to put them or display them. he's been using my old bedroom as a music room, and as mentioned above, it definitely didn't fit the bill. we ended up clearing out everything, painting the walls, making curtains and comfy pillows for the window seat, framing and hanging pictures, and purchasing new pieces of decor. 

one of the biggest surprises were the canvases that jeff painted- he took characters from all of the stories and songs that my dad has created since we were kids, and illustrated them all into wall art. on top of the collage he hung a plaque that said "storytelling theater"- something that used to hang over the small stage in our old house where we used to put on plays and storytelling nights as kid. nostalgia all around.

 we could hardly wait for my parents to get home sunday evening- seeing that they thought their present was only the weekend trip!

let's just say, they absolutely looooved it, and are still thanking us for it!

an exhausting weekend, but so, so worth it. 

usa, usa, usa!

in true fourth of july fashion, we headed down to richfield for the sparkly holiday weekend. kendrick's parents were doing their annual firework booth, and we committed to helping them during our stay. as weird as it sounds, i love helping in the booth, and i loved it even more this year once paul and trish let me take over merchandising. within two hours (and one adderall courtesy of james, haha) i had both trailers organized, all fireworks price tagged, and labels for everything. it was truly an ocd fanatic's dream.

when it comes to fireworks, my favorite has always been sparklers... no idea why. i still have yet to master the art of writing with them (and capturing it in a picture), but for now... this is all i got:

 kendrick's dad was super sweet to get us a side by side to drive around for the weekend, so kendrick and i took a few drives up into the gorgeous richfield mountains. believe it or not, but these next two pictures were taken with the camera on self-timer, propped up against a cup holder. #skills

 the morning of the fourth was spent watching the parade, of course! it was so, so hot so we didn't stay for all of it.

 and of course, we got our annual picture in front of this patriotic house. three years and counting...

 the weekend was also filled with some killer firework shows. one of the best shows i've ever seen was actually in a guy's backyard. kendrick and i sat near the front (probably not the best idea on our part), so every firework that was shot off completely filled the sky with sparkles. some felt so close, i found myself covering my face, haha.

thanks to richfield, the fourth of july has now become one of my favorite holidays! already counting the days until next year...