My little ballerina

Gracie was in Ballet and Tap this year. She did such an amazing job learning two different dances and performing them. I'm so proud of our little ballerina. She is possibly the cutest kid I have ever seen.

Evie is 3!

For Evie's birthday this year we were in Park City with my family celebrating Thanksgiving. It is kind of crazy having a birthday on a holiday but, we made it work. She wanted a care bear cake and since I have been really sick, we did the best we could with what we had. Beau went to the store that night and got her balloons to wake up to and then made balloon animals for everyone. Evie loved it. She is such an amazing kid.

My beautiful Evie had a great day. She doesn't love the attention as much as her sister does but, she did like being recognized all day.

When we figured out that I was pregnant with Evie we were pretty surprised.

Gracie was just a year old and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle two babies.
Gracie had been such a hard baby (cried for the first five months of her life basically non-stop) that I wasn't sure I could ever do it again.

Her pregnancy was really really rough. I was in the hospital four different times for dehydration and other problems. I was miserable.

And then she came. 

And when I looked at her, I felt the breath of life come back into me.

Her birth was pretty scary. Read that here.

But I have never felt the insta-love as much as I did when they finally handed me that baby.

We named her Evie. A name that didn't come to us until everyone had left the room, the hospital was quiet, and we were finally alone with our lady. 

Evie means life.

And that is exactly what Evie is. She is life. 

She is crazy, and sneaky, and funny, and fully of life. 

Just as with Gracie, I didn't know my heart could grow so large.

We love our Evie Ruth Gibbs.

I am so glad she is mine.

 

Thanksgiving was really fun and relaxing. We missed my sister Marisa but, it was fun to be with my whole family. We ate a ton of great food, went on some good walks, swam the weekend away, and just had an all around great time. The girls were so exhausted from our vacation they slept so well the whole next week! It was such a great time.

Sometimes, we just keep taking pictures. We are just missing Ris and Ry. 

My grandma, my crazy brother, and my mini me Maggie.

Sometimes when we get together, things get a little crazy.

This lady right here is my best friend. She is such an amazing example of strength, independence, and bravery. My grandma has been a vital part of my entire life. I don't think it has been more than a week where I haven't talked to her on the phone. I'm so happy she is close again so I can see her and so my little's can hang with their favorite lady.

 

Evie Ruth

My little lady is turning 3!! I can't believe it. I feel like these last three years have gone by so quickly. This kid completes me. She is so funny and very smart. I like to just lay in bed and ask her questions because she comes up with the craziest answers. Here are a few things about Ms. Evie Ruth Gibbs:

*She hardly cried for the first year of her life
*She LOVES to watch movies (woovies) and Carebears and Daniel Tiger are her favorite
*If she doesn't want to do something she will say "I can't, my legs are shaking."
*She has a temper and it's SO hard not to laugh when she gets mad because she usually yells something ridiculous "Gracie you make me FRUSTRATING!" "IF YOU TRY TO HOLD MY HAND I'LL SLUG YOU!" "Mom, I don't want to ever ever do anything like that ever."
*Her favorite animal is a brontosaurus and she wants to ride one
*Her favorite color is purple
*She loves cheese. LOVES cheese. She won't go to bed without her string cheese at night.
*She will only ask for water with cold ice. (Beau says this is partially my fault)
*She loves to make up songs and sings them. ex- When singing "I Love to See the Temple" instead of singing "a place of love and beauty" She sings "a place where I'm a smoothie"...with feeling!
* Everyone is her friend and she talks about nursery and all her friends all the time
*She is trouble...seriously. This kid causes more trouble than I know how to keep up with
*When she has something she isn't suppose to have or is doing something naughty all I have to say is EVIE and she will run and yell back "NOTHING!"
*She LOVES to snuggle and will lay with me all day long if I let her
*She is very hesitant with people at first...Gracie likes to tell people "this is my sister Evie, she doesn't really like people"
*She knows her ABC's and can count to 15
*Evie is very inquisitive and if you let her, she will ask you about a million questions. I love to tease Beau when he gets home from work by telling Evie to go ask him what he's doing. She will follow him around the ENTIRE house asking question after question.
*She will eat an entire bag of cuties every day if I don't stop her
* She loves treats
* If you tickle her and then stop suddenly she will say "woo, that was a good tickle."
*She won't go anywhere without her "Lovey" an afghan that her Grandma Gibbs made her when she was born. Seriously, she won't even go to the dinner table without it and she talks to it like it's real. "Lovey, what do you want for dinner? You ready for bed? Need to brush teeth lovey?"
*She sucks on her ring finer and middle finger then rubs her nose with her pointer finger. She has done this since birth and I just can't stop her. Don't worry, the dentist says it isn't ruining her teeth. :)
*Evie potty trained herself at two. She handed me her diaper one day and said "no more bipers momma." She rarely has accidents. Miracle!
Evie keeps us laughing and smiling all day every day. She is the naughtiest little bugger but, she is also the cutest so, we are going to keep her :)  Happy Birthday beauty queen! Momma loves you!!

30 things to do before I turn 30!

Doing hard things is hard, that is true. But, doing hard things teaches you that hard things are not impossible. That stretching yourself past your own limitations is actually a release. You can banish your own pre-concieved notions of who you think you are and become someone better, someone you actually want to be. I never want to look back at my life and wish I would have spent the better part of it being stronger/braver but, allowing myself to be held back. That is why I made the list. To find that person I want to be and love her. People have asked "So, what's on your list?" For a long time I didn't want to share because there are many things on the list that merit explanation, which I will not be giving. But, if I can inspire someone else to make a list and conquer yourself than, I will do it! Here is my list, love it or hate it I don't really care, these are for me.

1. Run a half marathon. (Moab other half, OCTOBER BABY! WOO WOO!)
2. Get in touch with five old friends and make them my five renewed friends.
3. Photograph 4 weddings.
4. Visit 10 new places outside of Utah.
5. Get a tatoo
6. Read BOM cover to cover
7. Write 50 "Just Because" notes and send them
8. Apply for masters degree
9. Floss teeth every day for a year
10. Go on an overnight backpacking trip
11. Finish my book
12. Learn a foreign language and then plan a trip to practice it.
13. Sing at an open mic night
14. Learn the guitar
15. Take kickboxing classes
16. Conquer a fear
17. take a cross country road trip
18. Find my personal relationship with God again
19. Take a community class, maybe cooking...
20. Complete my girls baby books
21. Print a batch of pictures every month
22. Buy postcards and leave them in random places with messages of hope for others to find
23. Pay for someones meal without them knowing
24. Do one hard thing every day
25. Forgiveness
26. Take ballroom dancing classes
27. learn to knit/sew successfully
28. Stay in a house on the beach
29. Take at least 1 photo a day of my children and then put my camera down and help them grow
30. teach my girls to enjoy simplicity and unplug electronics 

Moab summer shoots

Amanda Gibbs Photography- Taffee's maternity pictures

So, I have a friend that has been my friend for years. Seriously, since I was in Beehives. We met at Girls Camp. She was from Green River and I was from Moab but, our camp sites were by each other. I specifically remember the day I met her and her friend Amanda at camp for the first time! It is crazy. She was the coolest. Always made me laugh, so fun to be around, and just an awesome person to look up to. She graduated two years earlier than I did and so, after my sophomore year, we kind of lost touch. BUT, miracles happen, and through facebook, we found each other again. Turned out that she was still awesome, fun to be around, and more hilarious than before. Then, another miracle happened, and she moved to Logan which is right by ME!  We have gotten together many times and each time is just more wonderful than the last. She has three darling kids, one more on the way, and so I bullied her into letting me take maternity pictures for her. I realize that now that I am not on facebook anymore, people don't get to see many of my photography posts. I have a website but, I need to update it! Also, you don't need facebook to view my business page so, go see! 

www.facebook.com/amandagibbsphoto

www.amandagibbsphoto.com

Anyway, here are some of my faves that I have edited so far of my super awesome and have I mentioned gorgeous friend? I don't look this good pregnant, I can promise you that! 

California- 2014

Beau and I decided that we needed a little trip to the beach once he finished school for the semester. I was tired of the cold and he was tired of the every day life so, we packed up and left last weekend for California. We stayed with my awesome brother Kris at his gorgeous West Hollywood apartment and then spent three days at the beach in Santa Monica. It was great. The girls got to play in the water and in the sand and I got to read and lay in the sun. They traveled great and I already can't wait to go back.

Back to blogging

It's only been a year, that's not too long right?