dougiejess.

guess what. doug's engaged and i actually love his fiancee. true story.

so we took some photos to commemorate the occasion.

i think it's hopelessly adorable that they play guitar together sometimes. i'm such a sucker.

and despite their dog, hunter, being a very hyper boxer he was quite well behaved and photogenic.

steady as she goes.

this little bug is known as quite a creepy crawler. she's two weeks shy of a year and not walking at all. she has proven from time to time that she can take steps but obviously prefers not to. i don't really care but i was quite surprised. so far she has done everything a month earlier than finn did...sitting up, rolling over, crawling.

instead, she stops randomly here and there and just stands up. just because she can.

super quickie.

do i have a good looking set or niece's and nephew's or what? my sis-in-law needed one image for a coupon that was going to expire. we literally got the kids attention for about 8 minutes. and that shows in the amount of photos i got. but it was a beautiful day and we got to dine together so all in all, worth it.

out.take.

finn and juno are #8 and #10, respectively, in the zeller grand kid lineup.

we decided to get the children together for a quick photo op, and this made me giggle. chase and ty look done for the day. fallon and juno are giving the side eye. finn and livs thought now would be a good time for a conversation. zoey - eyes closed. lake is wanting momma, NOW. jude just kind of let his eyes drift away. but Z - great job.

so there you have it. 10 wonderful, beautiful, big-personalitied zeller children.

hey pretty ladiezzzz.

a lovely affair.

since i've known my cousin she's loved the color purple. and it shined through on her lovely wedding day in november. each girl wore a different shade as they surrounded the ecstatic couple. they were effortless - so happy, full of love. i am truly grateful to have been a part of their special day.

different. similar. same.

almost everyone that i know (who also knew finn from birth until now) constantly tells me that my daughter is finn's copy. call it a mother's denial or attempt to establish a clear distinction but i casually mention i think they make look similar but not as much as one would say. so after hearing it again today i thought i would browse through some old files and find photos of both kids with similar expressions at about the same age.

judge for yourself. finn is a few weeks older in this photo but i'm still not sure where i'm laying my cards just yet.

and these two.

are my sweet little cousins. i love the unexpected photos.

family.

am i partial to my beautiful niece and nephew? you bet. but when my sister-in-law asked me to take their christmas card photos and i never promised to be biased.

but aren't they perfect?

hey pinterest, thanks for the inspiration!

THE wedding.

let's get to the meat of the trip... THE WEDDING. and that it was. the details, oh! the details were never overlooked. but for now, let's look at the bride and groom.

here she comes (see what i mean about the details?)

uncle ray and his beautiful daughter.



man and wife.

but seriously? could she look happier or more beautiful?

dancing under mason jar chandeliers? no problem, details.

the family bed.

let's get things straight: we don't let our kids sleep in bed with us. i have tried on occasion but seth is the strong one in this area. but every single morning we follow the same routine:

saz goes downstairs to make coffee. he brings up finn's milk and two diapers and before he leaves for work he brings both kids to me so i can nurse juno in bed while curious george plays. we all rest, we lay together, cuddle, and take our sweet time waking up. on occasion i even get 5 more minutes of sleep. when finn gets riled up we head downstairs to begin the official day.

the same routine applies for nap time. i admit it, i take naps every.single.day. with my children. instead of seth i fill the roll of diaper/milk retriever. more than relaxing we play a sort of hide and seek, pillow cover head game, etc. these are my favorite times of the day and i'm glad i get to spend it in my own bed. (i do think finn likes it since we allow him to have paci and panda in our bed.)

note: i am not above giving finn fruit snacks in bed so he'd take out the paci in order to get an image without a huge, blue thing on his face. yep, i bribe.

the world's fair.

not really - more like the el paso corn festival but the first year i moved to town i did hear several people call it the world's fair.

we were able to pop over with abe, em, and the kid's to get fair food (CORN DOGS!!!! FUNNEL CAKES!!!!) and hop on a couple rides.

seriously? i love these two. i really hope they continue to be such sweet friends.

hey june bug!

i made a picture with my hubs!!

storytellers.

finn's interest in anything physically related to sports is non existent. but give that kid a guitar, piano, music, paint and watch him go.

i walked in to the bedroom and my loving hubs let me know this was finn's version of vh1 storytellers. (note: finn playing and talking for seth, juno, dog, and panda.)