sister is going to have a wee little soon

my older sister is just about ready to welcome her first little...
after almost twenty years of trying to get pregnant she's finally
going to have a little boy. i can hardly wait.
and neither can she.

love this miracle.

aren't they all so pretty?

A WINTER'S NIGHT : MOUNTAIN YURT

:: annual yurt trip

:: ceej, older brother, older sister, + good friends

:: starry nights

:: warm fire and soup to eat

:: sister turned 40...so there was cake to celebrate

:: blisters on our feet

:: combing maps

:: tea drinking

:: story telling and knee slapping

:: wool sweater

:: cozy resting high in the mountains


...more to come

it's spring break and a little peek at what we've been up to...

just wanted to stop in for a quick hello. and it has to be quick.

it's spring break, and i'm dying to go play outside, but i have thousands of pages to read...

if it warms up enough perhaps i can read comfortably out in the back yard at least.

we've been enjoying lots of gatherings with friends and family,

making lots of perfectly tasty meals, building bonfires,

and riding our bikes to the grocery store and to the park.

i have lots more moab photos to share with you

as well as some film images from my trip to england last summer.

happy spring!

christmas morn and how the gift-giving began

we spent our christmas eve night sleeping under our christmas tree...

which was a bit problematic for ceej since the glow of the tree kept him up a bit,

but he was a good sport and stayed the entire night with me under the twinkle lights.

oh how i loved waking up christmas morning under our tree!

we began the unwrapping as soon as we had some christmas tunes going

since we had many places to go throughout the day.

there were sweaters for both of us, books for all (this year was the year for academic books!),

a wooden spoon from germany from ceej, notebooks for thoughts, gear for mountains...

it was a lovely simple morning.

we were quickly out the door to see family. the joyous traditions began,

and continued until late at night. i slept soundly that night.

hope your christmas found you surrounded by loved ones.

will be back tomorrow with my favorite moments from 2011.

twinkle lights, snowflakes, and kin

it's here. i feel like christmas has already arrived.

family members are slowly arriving from all over the country--

by sunday everyone will be here. we haven't been together for 4 years.

this is incredibly exciting for me. 

tomorrow all the festivities begin:

friday ceej and i celebrate eight years of marriage. 

how lucky i am to have this incredibly kind & brilliant mountain man in my life.

how did i make such a great decision at the young age of 22? 

most of my decisions at that age were lame-o...but i think, somehow, i had some help with this decision!

here's to many more years of road trips, camp-outs, skiing, building furniture, cooking breakfast, dinner, and lunch, cuddling on the couch watching movies, conversations about the world and politics, comedy hour just before bed time, dancing in the kitchen, the living room, and the hallway. love you ceej.

christmas eve will be filled with seeing old friends and more family.

christmas day...will be marvelous. the whole fam will be here. hallelujah!

merry christmas to all of you dear readers. thanks for reading. it means a lot to me.

about thanksgiving and my cute little scarred pies

our holiday was cozily quiet and low-key...other than that crux-of-a-moment

when all of the food is about to be ready and we're all running around the kitchen

trying to remember which timer was for which dish, and which dish goes in which dish.

my pies got a little scarred thanks to my slovenly use of tinfoil. oh well. they had character. and tasted delish.

there were only eight of us this year. so there was plenty of food, and plenty of opportunities for post-feast naps.

we finished out the night watching a little movie about a fox. 

i quite like a quiet holiday.

hoping yours was festive and restorative.

today we ventured down to the basement for christmas decorations...more photos to come.

{photos by ceej}