Yellowstone

We had a really great summer full of action-packed family fun!

One of the trips we went on was to Yellowstone National Park -- which is somewhere I've always wanted to go. I took a million pictures but decided to just share a few faves....

Date night!

This is bear country!

The creepy cowboy in Cody Wyoming. 

My morning run. 

pretty wildflowers. 

Yellowstone Lake. 

Old Faithful. Which, learned isn't as faithful as we thought. 

Family photo. 

Buffalo or Bison?

Bison crossing. 

In the wild. (as wild as a national park gets...)

The hike was worth it. 

My little snuggle bums.

Classic family photo. 

A stunning rainbow to end our time in the park. 

I loved Yellowstone! I can't wait to go back and spend more time in the park and hiking the trails. It was a great family vacay and perfect way to unplug!

Hunter's First Birthday {A Celebration}

It was a joyous day!!

My sweet Hunter turned 1 year old! It was such a wonderful and happy day and I loved spending this special day with my two favorite boys. We made new memories and reminisced about the moments a year before when our lives changed forever for the better.

We started the day with a hearty breakfast, Hunter's favorite, banana and cheerios. Then we headed out to go to Thanksgiving Point to the petting zoo. It was a beautiful day in Utah and we soaked it all up.

Sunflower fields.

All Hunter really wanted to do was walk....

Later that day, we had a little BBQ and party for our main squeeze. Joined by close family and friends it was the perfect intimate celebration. My brother, Matthew represented the Hunt family who wasn't in Utah to join us for the party.

Hunter's face when he saw his cake!

Needless to say he loved it.

Like, really loved it.

Hold my drink.

Hunter had his Uncle Cam mesmerized and following him around so he could walk everywhere.

Smally friends!! Hunter's favorite twins just moved to Utah and came to his party!

So this is what two feels like....Hunter and Luke are just a few months apart!

Ryan's good friend Steve and his cute family joined us for the party too!

Things got messy so naturally Cam and Matthew deemed it necessary to go shirt-less.

Opening presents. Thanks Uncle Camsy for the city-friendly Basketball Hoop!

Uncle Matthew was obsessed with Hunter all night. It was the cutest.

This party wouldn't have gone off without the help of my favorite sister in law, Olivia! She's amazing.

Hunter loves his Grandma!

Family pic.

Of course as a mom, I felt it was my duty to spend endless hours custom making decorations. Or maybe it was just cathartic in helping me cope with the fact that my son was turning 1. Either way, it happened and a few friends have asked me for photos so.... here's a few more photos. 

The many faces of Hunter.

Timeline of 'Firsts'

Who doesn't love a summer bbq?

My in-laws have the perfect backyard for hosting parties! It's gorgeous.

It was such a wonderful day and we are so grateful for the family and friends who continue to support us as we have become parents and are navigating this new stage in our life! Hunter is a bundle of joy and we love every second we get to spend with him.

Baby H {12 Months}

Photo by the talented Tiffany Rebecca

12 Months!! My sweet little baby is one!

It only took me 6 months of preparing for this moment to be ready for it and you know, I'd like to think I embraced it gracefully. 

- Figured out how to eat grapes all on his own. He likes to hold the bag and feed himself!  I think I can safely say grapes are his favorite food.

-Loves to walk around holding onto his daddy's hands. In fact, it's new favorite thing and has given him a new found independence. Sometimes its the only thing that makes him happy.

- Inherited a new little piano and loves to stand and play with it. If I'm lucky, he'll start dancing too-- which is the cutest thing!

- H got his 8th tooth this month!

- Tantrums. Serious tantrums if he doesn't get his way. Arches his back, screams, etc etc. It is not fun. Its awful and I'm afraid it will only get worse.

- Let's not talk about sleeping ... I'll just say we are all on a 'summer' schedule.

This little man is the light of our lives and brings so much happiness and joy to us!! We are so grateful for him and can't remember what life was like before he was in it.

A Visitor! {Best friends make the best visitors}

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's July and our first visitor of the year just came to town! You would think with all of the adorable pictures of Hunter people would be banging down the door to get in and visit but not even grandparents have come in 2013! Crazy! (Hint hint we are great hosts).

So, we were delighted to have my childhood bestfriend come to Chicago and we had a blast. This was Corky's second trip to Chicago (her first was at Christmas time so there was so much to do and see this time that she didn't do last time). H fell in love with her and we had the best time hanging out, sipping tea, shopping, architecturing, being Hawks Fans and gushing over the amazing new Art Exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. Oh, and eating lots of delicious food of course!

I let Corky take the official pictures of the trip on her camera, but here are a few teasers from my iPhone.

First things first, we went to tea at the Drake, which was so lovely.

Prime seating by the fountain and the harpist.

Hamburgers on pretzel buns for dinner, with homemade grilled fries. Yum!!

 

A beautiful sunset from our apartment.

The Fabulous Miss Corky with her signature fan on the architecture cruise!

H staying cool with his water bottle.

A gorgeous day on the lake.

After lunch we headed to Navy Pier where the highlight was the stained glass museum. Corky was teaching H early about art. H likes the blue tones we learned.

We let H get his wiggles out by crawling and walking around.

An evening picnic and concert in Millennium Park.

After a rough evening and morning and some meds for H, we headed to Oak Park for the Frank Lloyd Wright Tour.

Lunch at Graziano's-- the best Italian sandwich in town! H loved eating with Corky (she shared her yummy mozerella)

We had an AMAZING afternoon at the Art Institute, but no pictures allowed...so here's one from online. This is one of Corky's favorite pieces of all time, it was so cool to see in person, along with all the other pieces from the D'Orsay!

On our walk to dinner we ran into at least 30 maybe 50 zombie brides...which if you know Corky, she was excited about!

Dinner al fresco at an irish pub, tapping into Corky's heritage. Delicious! And H was of course hamming it up with anyone who looked his way....

We finished off the night with Sprinkles! Yum!

 Corky, thank you for a fabulous visit!! Can't wait for your next one-- you are welcome any time! And I hope this will entice our other friends and family to come and visit us!