10 happy things

1. When Bryson and Quinn pretend to go on trips with luggage, adult shoes, hats. They go on missions, church meetings, dates, grammie's house, school. When Bryson tells me he tries to suppress his smile so much and his dimples are so apparent. Quinn has that deeper voice with furrowed eye brows and a serious face. They love playing together

2. Today the 3 boys played doggies. Crawling around then house like a dog, up and downstairs, into other rooms, they played so well together, I don't even know what they did they just played!

3. Casey teaching the boys how to hit balls today. Each one taking their turn getting up to bat, SO excited when they actually hit the ball. This is what all my parenthood dreams are made of, playing baseball in the backyard with your small children! It was magical

4. When Max takes Easton on the tramp all by himself to play with. Easton loves all the attention Max gives him. Except Max doesn't love all the attention Easton gives him i.e. getting into his toys he's playing with. Max carries Easton over to me and exasperating says "you deal with him!" They are the best

5. When Casey comes home from work the boys often hide and then everyone tries to scare each other. Casey does such a wonderful job at coming home so happy to see us, even if he's tired. He's just the best dad and husband

6. My robot vacuum, seriously it has changed my life and 100% made my home cleaner! I love turning that baby on sitting back while it cleans the downstairs!

7. Reading my scriptures so much more during the day! I love understanding the stories better/again, following characters and lineage, knowing Im doing what I am supposed to each day and going to bed happy and not feeling bad. I love the way I feel all day long!

8. My mom texting me stuff during the day that she's thinking of me. I'm so glad I get her as my best friend. We're lucky to have each other!

9. Watching Easton walk everywhere! After a week of learning to walk he just took off and he's everywhere! I love being surprised every time I see him toddle into a room! He has the sweetest smile

10. Watching shows with Casey at night, I love that we can find stuff we like together :)

Little happy things

One great thing about our backyard is the fire pit! The boys have loved it whenever we do a fire. They are so great around the fire and they have so much fun. They all eat WAYYYYYY too many marshmallows, everyone is ridiculously sticky, and then the laundry because of the smoke, buuuuuuuuuut it's worth ti. 

 See all the crying faces, this happens lots while we are out there, lots of tears amidst the fun.

 I kinda hate waking up before the sun is up, but I sure do like seeing beautiful sunrises through my kitchen window! Makes the mornings a little more worth it!

 When all 3 boys get along (for literally like 1 minute before someone starts crying) but it's cute when it lasts! Max was reading them books here.

The end :)

These are the days.

I have so much to be thankful for. This is probably one of those sappy cheesy posts about how "great" my life is but it's not supposed to come out like that. I'm just truly grateful for the circumstance in my life right now (even thought it's FAR from perfect or ideal!)

After an hour or so of Casey being upstairs from putting Max to bed I went upstairs to check on them and found them both fast asleep in our bed.

These are the days.

Days when your oldest is a mere two years old, hilariously saying NO to literally every request and throwing down that tantrum on a weekly basis. But I love it.

Days when your babies are beginning to put put around the house trying to follow you from room to room and oh so happy when you tickle them and just get down there and pay attention to them.

These are the days your heart melts over the stinking cuteness of their faces and personalities and everyday doings.

Days when your husband is in school and you talk about "the future" and one day will do this or that while holding hands on the couch for your Friday night (or really every night) date night because you're too dog tired to leave the house.

Although these are physically exhausting days of walking up and down stairs a million times a day putting babies to bed and getting them up and changing what seems like 20+ diapers a day mostly being poop and listening to more crying than you wish because you can't hold 2 babies all the time, I wouldn't change these days for anything.

I'm going to look back at these days some day and want them back so badly.

Heavenly Father is oh so wonderful with all that He gives. I am forever indebted to Him.

This and that in words

I've reached that point where I don't feel like a regular blogger anymore, and that makes me so sad! I'm so tired in the evenings and now that Casey and I watch shows together I haven't been as consistent, I'm so stupid! Maybe once the twinsies start sleeping through the night I'll get back to it…someday.

In the meantime here are 10 random things I've thought about today

1. Routine is good. Wow is routine good and I am SOO much more responsible, reliable, happy, and productive when I stick to our routine (as are my children). Never ever ever did I think I would be one of those routine people.

2. I love when people tag me in giveaways they want to win on IG. I don't know what it is, ha. I almost feel it like a compliment that they would think of me to tell me about this cute stuff!

3. I think March is the point where winter gets really bad for me. Everyday it's cold out it kills a little bit of my soul. I can't wait to be hot and sweaty outside again, bring on the humidity any day!!! (Truly, I think "Only x more years until I lvd in Arizona and we can play outside in the winter, boo hop for me!")

4. Meal planning your week(s) is about a million times better than not, I've come to find out. I still haven't don't it a ton of times but oh heck does your week end up so much better, you eat more vegetables, you have better leftovers, and the list goes on!

5. Movies we've recently watched: Draft Day, Fireproof, and Heaven is for Real. All great and all rented from the library. That's my new thing, just putting holds on DVD's at the library for all the movies I want to watch. We also picked up Modern Family Season 1 from there and are thoroughly enjoying our nights.

6. Crispy M&M's are BACK! And after going through an embarrassingly amount of bags the last week we are out and and at night that's all Casey and I can think of. Addiciton? Probably. Freaking yummy? All the way

7. Yesterday was one of those awful, no good, very bad mothering days. Luckily today did not follow suit and was very good indeed, I was ever so grateful for that. See, friends, the hard days hit us all.

8. A crepe place opened JUST by my house and I am overly enthused for it. I went on the official opening day and am so excited to try all the flavors before we move! Some people love ice cream, I am much more of a baked good/sweet breakfast treat fan

9. I sit in the rocking chair rocking the twinsies a surprisingly large amount of the day. I mean it's not a ton ton but compared to how much I just sat and rocked Max it's a lot. Funny how mothering twins and a toddler changes that.

10. After that terrible no good mothering day yesterday I went to Target and wondered the aisles for about an hour or so looking at everything i potentially would would, things for out 72 hours kits, the clearance sections, and took pictures of (3 pairs of) shoes I would like for mother's day. It was a wonderful way to spend my evening. And then I came home to the sweetest treat from my husband.

Over and out friends.

a little dirt never hurt

this morning we went outside to play.

we do that all day everyday it feels like.

(man oh man i wish there was a fence around our backyard area).

as soon as maxson stepped outside he found the mud.

mud is like a magnet to him.

he's drawn to it immediately and goes all in.

like i said a little dirt mud never hurt.

it builds their immune system right?

the dirtier they are at night the more fun they had during the day.

like the picture on my wall says, let them be little

these pictures don't do his muddiness justice, we took a bath asap once inside.

while sitting on the steps watching maxson play i got to thinking about the overprotective world all around me. you wouldn't believe the amount of people who told me/maxson no to play with certain objects, playing on certain things, climbing places, etc. he's just a curious little boy, let him play, let him explore! i am very much a "if he gets hurt then he'll learn" mentality. and you know what, he hasn't gotten any serious repercussions thus far from that thinking. everything is new, why not let them try? trust me, i watch my boy like  hawk and while he climbs scary bars at the playground my heart is pounding with every step he takes. when he slips, he's learned to hold on tight and yell for help (he doesn't know it's help, he just yells to get my attention, ha). but kids learn. let them learn. let them explore. let them get dirty. let them be little.

small surprises

i love finding unexpected things all around the house to remind me what a joy motherhood is.

examples:

opening the bottom drawer in the kitchen to find a hot wheels car mixed in with the tupperware.

stepping on a squeaky bath toy in the shower left over from his bath.

unexpectedly kicking a toy underneath all my sheets once i slip into bed.

finding small toys mixed in with the groceries when they sit on the kitchen floor too long.

coming into the kitchen to find all the lower cabinets and drawers emptied of their belongings.

finding a trail of cheerios anywhere in the house.

there are countless other moments that belong in this category and i know i will only gather more through all my years of little children.

just like i don't mind putting away my husband's scriptures everyday he leaves them out after breakfast because that means he is reading his scriptures,

i don't mind picking up after this cute little munchkin all day everyday long, because that means i have a happy, healthy, curious, learning child in my home.

normal day activities (but really only the morning)

i feel like i'm in a blogging rut.

to combat this blogging rut, i want to write more, not just post pretty pictures. read/skim if you wish to hear about a normal day for us

like today:

maxson woke up at 7, that's sleeping in for him lately, ooy. hopefully all this traveling in the next couple weeks will royally mess up his time clock so we can reset it properly. after nursing, maxson terrorized us in bed for awhile while we tried to catch a few more winks. casey got up to take a shower as i guarded maxson from falling off the bed whilst he played with the curtain strings, his favorite activity (luckily they're on casey's side so he mostly crawls all over casey in the mornings to get to them and not me, yayyyyyy). once casey got dressed he took maxson down stairs with him to eat breakfast and such while i got 20 more minutes of sleep, bless that man. and at about 7:57 he brought him into me, we say couple/family prayer together and he bikes off to school quick as a hamster (that was the first quick animal that came to my mind...)

i coaxed myself out of bed (maxson is usually the coaxer as he no crawls to the edge of the stairs and peers down, don't try it kid). a quick out of bed it is to go save my child's life. we change the diaper, but not the pj's. i believe in staying in pj's until after the first nap of the day. downstairs maxson ate waffles and peaches for breakfast. i had good old honey bunches of oats alongside him. i love that he can feed himself all of his own meals these day, talk about helpful. also he doesn't just feed himself, he devours it.

walking group was quite chilly this morning. i wore my fleece lined leggings and a sweatshirt. therefore i bundled maxson up in his fleece footed pj's, a hooded sweatshirt, a blanket, and  a rice bag to really make sure that kid was warm. i think he may have sweated his guts out on that walk, but at least he won't be catching a cold! walking group is small this year, but through we be small, we are mighty. the park was good. the sun was shining, kids were laughing as they chased each other, and maxson was excitedly stuffing all these new rocks in his mouth. we swung on swings, rocked back and forth on those springy horses, went down slides, played peek a boo in playground tunnels and just enjoyed ourselves to our full measure. i don't want the weather to get cold. i'm so much enjoying the warmth of the sun and laying out on the grass in the afternoons and evening with my neighbors and all out babies just relaxing and letting the children explore the grass, leaves, dirt, and bugs. please don't come fast winter, i will not be happy.

on the way home from walking maxson fell asleep. i transferred him to his crib when we got home and he slept about another hour. we ate lunch with daddy.

**all the above was written the actual evening of that day**

now it's the day after and i can literally not remember anything that happened beyond that except i made potato soup and sanded blocks for a MOPS craft while watching granite flats.

moral of the story: if i don't keep a good record of small daily events, i forget them immediately.

a peek into last week

some of my favorite pictures are the ones i take on a moments notice.
real everyday things.
like looking outside to see a few of the husbands outside talking while watching the children, all for no reason.

a giggly boy in his high chair.
the 2 top right teeth are in as well as the 2 middle bottom, the two top left have officially popped through today as well!

popping his knee up while eating

easy frittata with the over abundant supply of tomatoes and bail on hand.

quick and easy baby entertainment:
1. the dishwasher, he loves when i have to put things in it
2. our front door. he looks out the window for at least an hour total everyday. who knew watching the outside world could be so enthralling for a little one. i will make sure our future home has a window like this babies can peek out of. cars are constantly going by, people walking to school, neighbors coming by talking to him, we both just love it. i especially love how he has to stand on his tippy toes to look out :)

also as i side note: i wanted to put it out there that WE ARE A PRO-VACCINE family and we loved how this article says it. i urge other pro-vaccine families will voice their opinion too.

AND i listened to an incredible rendition of i need thee every hour. i think i'm going to start singing that song when i'm having a difficult time with maxson in the middle of the night.

i watched this video which reminded me of why to use paper towels instead of hand blow dryers. ewwwwwww.

AND tonight i'm headed to a church meeting especially for women to strengthen and uplift us as daughter's of God. you can/should watch it live here too! (it starts at 6 pm mountain time 9/28)

a list of awesome things

here's the cold hard truth:

life has been super wonderful and fun lately.

reasons why.

1. MAXSON IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!and when i say maxson is sleeping through the night i mean 10-11 hour stretches meaning i'm sleeping through the night too, hallelujah! all this crawling and pulling himself up on everything all day long business is wearing him out good. he's sleeping all night long and nearly always takes long naps during the day, i think we're turning a new leaf over here!

2. casey finished his last class/final of his first year of dental school, hip hip hooray! now he's got boards to take in a couple weeks and the first and hardest year of dental school will be behind us!

3. maxson figured out the pincer grasp last weekend (thumb and pointer finger to pick things up) and has been trying to pick up those baby puffs all the time. he used to gag hard core when i'd put them in his mouth, but he doesn't mind putting them in his mouth himself, so fun learning new things!

4. i've also discovered other things he's learned that i didn't realize i teach him: 1) if he's crawling around looking for me he goes to the kitchen first 2) he's learned if he wants more food while i'm feeding him to leave his mouth open and look to me/the spoon. seems like a strange thing to realize he's "learned" but he really did have to learn it! 

5. i took a "facebook fast" for a week and am so much happier for it. i realized i was getting on it like a jillion times a day just to see what was new and it was wasting my time. i deleted it off my phone and didn't get on it on my computer for a week. during that week i got way more projects done that i'd had the past few months (pillow covers, stenciled shirts, organizing clothes/rooms, better meals). it was such a wonderful week! i still do get on facebook now i just don't feel so compelled to do it all the time. so friends, do a facebook fast, seriously, it's well worth your time

6. but before you do your facebook fast, get on there and go like my photography page! i've been wanting to "officially" set up a photo blog/business/fb page for awhile now but always felt so inadequate. there will always be people better than me but i too have something to offer! something in me just decided to finally suck it up and do it and i'm so happy! going through all my old photo shoots helped me remember how much i really DO love taking pictures. and the more photos sessions i get to do for others the better i'm going to get for future ones! it's so fun how they turn out and seeing the happy people in front of my lens. i'm hoping to do a bunch of fun sessions this fall so let me know if you want to schedule ;) the blog page is here: kcutlerphoto.blogspot.com

7. i finished listening to a fun book called the chase by clive cushier. quite the fun historical fiction mystery read if i do say so myself

8. i've been diligent at working out again the past few weeks during the first time period that maxson is awake and i'm feeling great! that feeling of being sore and tired and pushing your body to the max feels great.

9. i'm more than halfway through the book of mormon! the last 2 weeks i've been more than pitiful at reading everyday and have let other things get in the way and i truly have been missing out. tell me, are you reading it too? if so where you at???

here's to a great week!

hop on pop

one afternoon, maxson decided he was too cool for sleeping.

i needed a mommy break and gave him to the daddy.

not too long after, i came back downstairs to a book reading session.

it was so tender.

not too long after reading books, maxson finally fell asleep on the couch :)

good news minute!

happy BIRTHday to miss ruth lova woodruff!

little miss ruthie was born in the wee hours of leap day today and we're so happy she's here!

we'll get to meet her a week from friday!

little ruthie is so chunky and cute.

and two hips and a hooray for mama blair with having no epidural.

yowza, way to go sista!

this was the picture i woke up to this morning.

twin noses with annalee and phoebe!

blair and logan were so sweet to let me video chat with that cute little baby only hours after she was born!

she was just precious.

and then later in the afternoon we video chatted again with the new big sisters, annalee and phoebe, being there.

annalee loved holding little ruthie and phoebe was just so excited to show me her!

phoebe's enthusiasm got the best of her and she started patting on lil ruthie harder than she knew,

logan quickly stepped in and began with the whole "soft, soft, phoebe."

ruthie started crying as annalee was holding her, and annalee firmly declared "i got it, she likes me" and she pushes the pacifier into ruthie's mouth.

sucking noises quickly followed and no more crying was heard.

oh how i wish i were there!

***

is it just me, or does the vitamix guy at costco always have you hooked for, like, 10 minutes.
man that guy can sell a product well.
makes me feel like i NEED it!!!
a whole pineapple mixed with green pepper,
k i'm a believer.
he could put a the rubber sole of a shoe in there and i'd believe it tasted good.
yeah, i think i need one...

***

sewing is just so much fun.
i really am enjoying it.
i love that i'm learning proper techniques on how to do things and not just sewing blindly.
i'm hand hemming my skirt as we speak!
today i just sat at home fixing stuff in my to-fix pile!
putting darts in some shirts, taking in some pants legs on my jeans, lengthening and widening casey's pants.
i'm just so happy i'm confident in sewing now.
the next step is just buying the fancy dancy sewing machine, if only...

***

scott, megan, tristan, and meli are officially gone.
we helped them pack up the moving truck on tuesday (man, lots of hands make moving a breeze!!!)
and then they drove to warm, heavenly, family-inhabited arizona.
oh how i envy them.
i'm happy for them though, that's where they'll be happiest.

***

with scott and megan moving to AZ, that means they don't need their electric blanket.
guess what the means?!?!?!?!?!
we inherited the electric blanket.
i nearly cried in joy last night as i got into my nice pre-warmed bed.
best invention ever.
i will poprobably use that blanket for the next 7 years of my life all year long.
i promise, people, it's just the best thing ever.

***

had the most tender mercy on monday.
i stranger facebooked casey on monday and essentailly said,
 "hi, i'm a 1st year dental student at University of Nebraska in Lincoln right now. i'm a wydent student too. i know your name from high school football. i'm LDS too. what can i help you with? let's be friends"
i started tearing up as casey read this to me,
what a blessing!
we've been messaging him back and forth for a few days asking all the questions are little hearts desired!
what a kind person.
our worries have been slightly subdued and now we have a path to start on for looking into housing/the ward in Lincoln.
we could not be happier!
sidenote- he said there's currently only SIX other LDS dental school students right now there!
ah, we couldn't be more excited!
(sorry for all the exclamations in this post, i just don't really know how to end sentences when, if you were here in person, i'd be jumping/screaming/grinning like a kinder-gardener to you!!!
there's just so many happy things!!!!)

***

in other news that's not as much good new,

the downfall of bangs:

my forehead is now a perfect petri dish for zits.

i swear without a doubt, there's always a colony of those buggers somewhere along my forehead.

i'll be the first to admit, i've been greatly blessed in my for not having acne problems in my years.

i wash my face with warm water every night,

that's it.

it's usually when i do use cleansers/soaps on my face that something happens.

but other that, 

i completely adore my bangs.

it's been a very fun change that i may be keeping for awhile!

***

i think that about sums up my ramblings on here folks.

peace out.

provo utah bucket list: stewart falls/canyon drive in the fall

so our original plan was to drive up the canyon,
back in all the pretty leaves,
and drive home.
but on our way back down we suddenly thought, why not hike stewart falls right now since it is on our bucket list?
and, oh, what joys we did have!

luckily we went last tuesday, the day before it turned rigid, cold, rainy/snowy here in provo.

the drive was utterly gorgeous.
we saw the mountain sides were alive with colors bursting out in flames.
the smell was incredible, it made me want to go camping right that minute and live out in the wilderness all autumn long.
i honestly couldn't take big enough breaths in. it was so wonderful.
we listened to our beloved country music the whole way driving (did i tell you i converted casey to country music? for all you country haters, it makes us happy and we love it it so don't judge.)
and of course the company was wonderful, i don't remember what we talked about but i remember being happy.


we turned up the canyon and enjoyed every mile.
casey was driving slow,
my head was stuck out the window like a dog taking in the smells and sights.
we'd go back and forth saying "oh look over, there, that's so pretty!"
we saw a huge moose cross the road when we got up to aspen grove.
it looked so majestic with the fall leaves on all sides of it.

after driving through all the aspens after aspen grove,
we turned around and that's when we decided to hike stewart falls!
to say it was pretty is the most boring word i could use.
i'm not much of a writer so i won't try to convey what it was like except that it was so glorious.
seriously.
all the leaves around us were changing colors.
little chipmunks squeaked and crawled up all the trees around us.
leaves littered the trail and looked like millions of little girls had gone before us and dropped their flower baskets.

we ran (on the flats and downhills) to make the hike faster.
it felt like we were in a movie, being chased, jumping over stumps, roots, and boulders in the fall time
it was so cool.


the falls were exquisite too with bright reds, oranges, and yellows trailing on all sides.
the air was perfectly crisp with a slight chill.
and we were out there all alone in God's beautiful creation.
we passed maybe 8 other people.
it was like our own, personal, intimate experience with nature,
one i will never forget.

 

if you live in provo you need to take your canyon drive asap before it's all gone!

ps- the picture above the bottom left picture, is the road we went and took our engagements in,
it was just as beautiful as we remember!!
it's this secret little road up the canyon, you pass a kinda bigger open horse field on your left and it's behind there.
my ultimate dream would be to have a quaint little cabin on the itty bitty road!

another reason why it's great to be going to BYU

you know what's awesome about going to BYU?

there's free food somewhere nearly always.

you just have to make and effort to stand in the really long lines for it.

well we finally did, ha.

the business school had their "opening social" (and bc i'm a business minor i was technically invited:)

we went.

we ate. (insert how much we heart j-dawgs, snow cones, and cotton candy here).

we conquered.

snaps for the marriot school of business.

(i hope you all enjoy the top right pic of me stuffing my boca:)

 
my advice to anyone at BYU or wanting to go to BYU:
make the effort to participate in the free things on campus bc it won't last for long.
and they end up being fun.

ps- we saw the cutest 2 year old boy running around the field aka it looked like our future child:
platinum blonde hair.
BYU football jersey.
running with a little football.
it kinda melted our hearts.


**plans for our staurday**
collecting our bountiful basket.
going to a baby shower.
tailgate with the ward.
BYU v UTAH football game!

happy saturday!

that one time i went to arizona

a few more pictures while in arizona last week.
sidewalk painting.
entertained for like an hour

swimming, swimming, swimming.
these girls are like little fishies!
it's so fun to watch how brave they are in the water!!

the infamous bahama bucks.
happiness.

a cute little butterfly i found in the backyard

i love love love arizona.
flying into the valley makes me so giddy.
going down to the phoenix baggage claim and then out to the street to meet my ride is pure joy.
you go out to the street and the heat hits.
the beautiful heat.
the not humid heat.
the heat.
the glorious heat that i could be in for forever.
i love dry heat in arizona.

after our "fun" car experience, we finally made it home.
wednesday, thursday, and saturday consisted of playing with the girls, naps, feeding phoebe, talking with my mom and dad, and other random joys,
loved it.

see you again soon arizona and family, see you again soon!

this makes me happy.

facetiming with this cute girl.

we miss her terribly

the end.
august 20 something we will finally get to tickle you little one!!!

mrs. curl ice cream

it had been a long day for all of us i believe.

so casey's brother, cody, brought up the idea for us to meet up at this little ice cream joint by the library.

casey and cody practically live there these days so it happened to work perfectly.

everyday i drive by "mrs curl ice cream" there's always a long line which has gotta mean something!

while casey and i waited for our hot dogs,

we ate our ice cream cone topped with sprinkles.

casey also learned from cody that they had frozen bananas for 93 cents!

so he of course had to get one too.

here's our dogs :)
they were so yummy.
casey and cody's were a full foot long, crazy boys.

after eating and relaxing and talking,
we went over to the park and watched jaden run around for awhile.
remember how much fun parks were when you were little?
every one was different from slide to monkey bars, they were all just so fun.
it was relaxing to watch jaden play around on it all and remember how much fun it was for us too.

one sunday, we played in the snow together in provo

so this last week felt pretty much like spring had arrived, it was awesome.

then it suddenly snowed a lot of the day on sunday.

not much of a surprise for provo weather!

since church isn't til 2 stinking 30,

we took a walk and made a little video while we were bored before church.

enjoy!

warning: my outfit is super duper awesome/coordinated in this

Provo snow fun 2011 from Kimber Cutler on Vimeo.

music from Jeremy Larson "engaged" via a beautiful mess

free download here 

ps- side note about recording little home videos and watching them later:
when i re-watch things on the computer, i seriously laugh the exact same way (duration, tone, type, breaths, etc) as when i laugh in the video, so weird!
it's like an exact echo!

pps- blair, can you lip read what i'm saying at about 1 minute in the video when i'm bouncing my hair back and forth? 
kudos to you if you can! 

valentine's celebration

so for valentine's day i left for school at 8 am and then casey and i saw each other 8 pm that night.
cute huh?
we were too tired from our day to do anything special,
cute huh?
but on sunday i attempted to make heart shaped over-easy eggs which didn't work but the eggs were still yummy!
and we went to a baby blesssing!
and i made like a bajillion yummy heart shaped sugar cookies!
and we had a few couples over that we know to play games! (which was hilarioso)

and then on tuesday we got to watch this hilariously cute lil girl for a bit:)
we gave her suckers with with big lips on them,
she liked the sucker a lot.
we liked the big lips on her little face.
(is the picture on the right hilarious? that's her "smiling" these days: she closes her eyes and smiles, so funny)