hunter’s top + skirt + similar shoes  |  hudson’s similar top + pants  |  houston’s top + similar jacket + pants  |  joe’s top + tie + pants + shoes  |  harpers romper + shoes  |  my dress  |  hayden’s romper + shoes

Fall is making its way into the air here in Northern Utah. Fall screams cozy sweaters, halloween, and for a lot of us, the dreaded Family Pictures!!! Haha! I think just about everyone can agree that family pictures bring out allll the emotions. Whether it is the stress of outfit planning, the toddler (or husband) tantrum, or even feeling a little sentimental, they are full of emotions and can be a challenge, especially with a lot of people to coordinate. You typically just see our final “perfect” product at the end here, so today I wanted to do something a little different and show you the real life behind the scenes of getting family pics with us + I’m sharing a few tips and tricks from lots of years of practice to help your family pictures go a little smoother!

CAN YOU HEAR . . .

“PLEASE don’t spit.”  ||   Joe, “I am smiling, it’s FAKE but it’s a smile.”   ||   “Don’t pick your nose.”

Now that you’ve seen how family pictures really go for us, let’s talk tips!! While I’m not claiming these will make you love family pictures, they are a few tried and true things I do every time that have really helped to save our sanity!

(candids are some of my absolute favorite images…so don’t stress if everyone is not looking)

hunter’s top + skirt + shoes  |  harpers romper + shoes  |  my dress  |  hayden’s romper + shoes

:: PICK YOUR OUTFIT FIRST 

If I could shout this one from the rooftops I would! It is so so important. Mom’s aren’t really known for dying to be in the picture with our little people. But you guys, we need to be part of the memories too! By picking your outfit first, you will guarantee that you feel confident + comfortable. When you feel good about yourself you’ll love your pictures more!! Trust me on this one.

:: THE LESS MATCHY MATCHY YOU ARE, THE BETTER

If I’m being honest, all of our last-minute pictures where I’ve had to throw random outfits together that necessarily don’t match perfectly always end up the best. Figure out a main color palette, and then focus more on everyone being comfortable instead!

hudson’s top + pants  |  houston’s top + similar jacket + pants  |  joe’s top + tie + pants + shoes

:: TIMING IS KEY 

Timing can be the difference between smooth sailing and a total melt down! Try to do a time when you know your baby or toddler will be happy. Like right after nap time, or dinner. I think this helps the mom’s stress level a million times. Also, make sure your people are all fed and not hungry because that makes a huge difference with their moods. Gosh, I even get hangry sometimes!

*TIP: give them time…and take their mind off of the actual pictures. Like ask them to pick their nose and trust me you’ll get a smile!

:: GET THE MONEY SHOT FIRST

If there is a shot you have in mind that you have to have, do it very first. Usually for us, it is the full family shot. Get the must haves out of the way in the first 5 minutes. You never know when someone is going to lose it so get what you want most first!!

:: BRIBERY WORKS

I see absolutely nothing wrong with bribes for family pictures!! I usually have skittles or gold fish for the kids in Joe’s pocket and will pop one in the kids mouth here and there when they are listening. AND, tell your kids they can get a reward like ice cream or a night at the park if  they will listen to the photographer without a fuss. It always helps and we really go and do it afterwards, because who doesn’t need ice-cream after all of this craziness!

 joe’s top + tie + pants + shoes  |  my dress

Hopefully these tips and tricks are helpful when your family pictures roll around! Remember, like the video shows, it is never perfect smooth sailing for everyone. Just be your natural self, try to roll with the punches, and I promise the moments you want to pull your hair out will probably turn into your favorite raw real pictures!!

(also let their personality come through…it’s those little quirks you want to remember)

photos : aubrey taiese 

baptism dress  |  similar hair clip  |  necklace (awesome discount for you coming on the 27th!)

You guys! Somehow I blinked and this sweet girl is EIGHT years old! I cannot believe it. It feels like time has flown by, but at the same time it is hard to remember things before our little firecracker joined our crew. She has always had the most hilariously fun personality, with a little dash of spicy in there to keep us on our toes, and we couldn’t love her more! To celebrate her big day, today I wanted to share 8 things I love about my Hayden girl.

::SHE IS HILARIOUS

If you’ve been around Hayden for even 10 minutes, you’ve probably heard something hilarious come out of her mouth. She always has us cracking up and is definitely the funny one in the family. Some of our very favorite videos to watch are from when she was little because she has always been all attitude and such a crack up.

::  SHE IS STRONG WILLED

As much as this characteristic can be a struggle as a mom, I love it so much about Hayden. She knows what she wants and does not settle until she gets it. I can already see her determination and strong will is going to do big things for her in the future and I can’t wait to cheer her on.

:: SHE IS SO TALENTED + BELIEVES IN HERSELF

This girl. The talent that comes out of her little body is mind blowing at times. She is kind of a natural at just about everything she has tried, we just need to get her to focus on what she loves the most so that talent can grow. I think a lot of it has to do with her confidence. She is never too scared to try something and has so much faith in her abilities. It never comes off in a cocky way, she just truly believes in herself and pushes herself to be her best.

:: SHE IS SUCH A GOOD FRIEND

Hayden has always been such a good friend. She loves being around other people so being social has always been her thing. That being said, she does not put up with crap from anyone, and will walk away from a friendship if it isn’t worth the drama to her. To have that figured out at such a young age is amazing to me, because I think that is something we as grown women struggle with!

:: SHE IS SUCH A BIG HELPER

Hayden is totally in the big helper stage and I LOVE it! She loves to take the babies and play with them for hours. I know I can trust her to help me out with chores around the house and she is always willing to just be there and help me out!

:: SHE THRIVES ON ONE ON ONE TIME

As much as Hayden is growing up so fast, I love that she still lives for one on one time. She loves to hold my hand and go out just the two of us. Even if it is just a Target run or just the two of us playing a game, it is her favorite thing. It can be hard at times because she craves that attention so much and I have to split myself between everyone, but that one on one time is so special with her.

:: SHE IS ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING

Hayden is never one to sit around doing nothing or complaining she is bored. She is always going from crafting to playing soccer to coloring and she never stops. I love that she finds joy in so many different things in life and never limits herself to what she can do. It really makes her so fun to be around.

:: SHE IS A TOM BOY + GIRLY GIRL ALL IN ONE

As I mentioned before, Hayden doesn’t let anything stop her from doing what she wants. That includes things that are typically more gender specific. She loves fresh nails and lip gloss as much as the next little girl, but a skinned knee and dirty face from playing outside is usually just as common. I love that she is such a fun mix of tough and girly girl.

Now that I’ve shared a little more about our sweet + sassy Hayden, I wanted to talk gifts. Since I’ve mentioned her birthday, I’ve had a lot of requests for gift ideas for 8 year old girls! And since Hayden likes doing just about everything, I thought a roundup would be perfect!

. . . SHOP HAYDEN’S FAVORITE THINGS . . .

photos : aubrey taiese 

hudson’s tee + shorts + shoes  ||  hayden’s top + shorts + shoes  ||  houston’s tee + shorts
my dress + hat + shoes  ||  harper’s dress + shoes  ||  hunter’s tee + jeans + sandals

As much as I hate to admit it, Summer is coming to a close and we are officially back to school. I say it all the time, but this summer really flew by so dang fast!! We were constantly on the go and trying to fit in all the things, which I love, but I swear it made it fly by even faster!! So since we did so much that I didn’t even have time to really share, I thought it would be fun to do a little summer cat up recap!

houston’s top + similar jeans  ||  joe’s tee + shorts  ||  hayden’s top + shorts  ||  hudson’s tee  ||  harper’s similar romper  ||  my top (sold out) + jeans  ||  ballon banner

:: BIRTHDAYS

We love our summer birthday boys!! In July we celebrated our little Houston turning 4 and insisting he is NOT A BABY anymore. I am so big mom! You can check out some more updates on him and funny things he is saying here. Then in August we celebrated our Hudson turning 10!! He is so sweet and also such a big helper! I shared a few of my very favorite things about him over here. I can’t believe how quick they are growing up!

. . .

hayden’s tank + shorts + flip flops  ||  similar suitcase  ||  harper’s top  ||  houston’s top  ||
my top + jeans + sandals + sunglasses

:: TRAVEL

We spent a lot of the summer traveling! Although being cramped in the van together may not be my favorite thing in the world, making all those memories together as a family was so worth it!!

hunter’s cardigan + shorts  ||  joe’s tee + shorts  ||  hayden’s top + shorts  ||  houston’s shorts  ||
my top + similar shorts + sandals + hat

So our first big trip was to California for Hudson’s baseball tournament. Harper was quite the terror in the car, so we made a pit stop at Nana’s house to calm us all down and take a breather. Then it was on to California! It was full of a lot of baseball games, but we managed to squeeze in some fun in the sun and yummy food too!

hunter’s similar tank + similar shorts  ||  hayden’s top + similar shorts  ||  harper’s similar romper    joe’s tee + shorts + sandals + hat  ||  hudson’s tee + shorts  ||  my tee + shorts + hat + sandals

At the end of July we headed up to Idaho to spend some time with Joe’s family. It was so fun to just relax and catch up with them! Then we continued on up to Yellowstone for a little vacation with my sisters. We stayed at my brother in law’s family cabin right on Hebgen Lake, and it was stunning. We loved getting to go out on the boat. The bigger kids got to try wake boarding and surf for the first time and LOVED it! I even showed my stuff and proved to them I could ski! I’m pretty sure they thought I was too old to do anything cool. haha!

We spent one day in the park too to check out the sites! It is such a gorgeous place and we couldn’t believe all the amazing things to see! Our favorite spot was Grand Prismatic because the colors were unreal!!

joe’s tee + shorts + shoes  ||  my tee + jeans (+ similar) + shoes + sunglasses

Our last trip this summer, Joe and I took a little weekend trip to Boston. Neither of us had ever been, and we had so much fun! We loved seeing Fenway, shopping, and eating our way through the city. You can check out all of our favorites as well as a ton of recommendations from you guys over here.

. . .

my tank + leggings + similar shoes here + here

:: NEW PROJECTS

And of course it wouldn’t be summer without a few home projects to make us crazy?! So call us crazy, but we decided to add on a home gym on the side of our house, and Joe convinced me to do a pool in the backyard!! We did the majority of the gym ourselves with the help of my brother in law and it is just about done!!

As for the pool, it was full of a lot of delays thanks to the weather, but just in time for the last week of summer we got it done!! As a result, the kids have spent basically every minute possible in it and we are already loving it so much!!

. . .

That about sums up our summer! So as much as we hate to see it go, we are ready to take on a new school year and some more routine in our days! So I wanna know, what was your favorite part of summer?!

  hayden’s jacket  ||  blue lunchbox + gray lunch box + food containers

We are already heading back to school and I can’t believe it is already here! While we’ve done our best to live up every minute of summer, and I love having more structure in our days, I’m going to miss my bigger people being gone all day!! But with Back to School on the mind of everyone, I’ve been getting a lot of questions on how we do the kids lunches and if we have any kind of system. So today I am sharing my 5 tips to simplify your kids lunches and help it be more their responsibility!

hudson’s jacket/top  ||  hayden’s jacket  ||  blue lunchbox + gray lunch box + food containers

:: ORDER YOUR GROCERIES ONLINE

If there is one thing in the world I want every busy mom and really person in the world to know about, it is Walmart’s Online Grocery ordering. I’ve been using it consistently since we moved to Utah, and I don’t know how I functioned without it! They have two options and I am obsessed with both of them. The first one is the grocery pickup. You can order everything you need from the comfort of your bed, pick a time you can go pick it up and you are done. They bring it right to your car and load it up for you! It is a game changer!! I recently started doing their delivery option and am loving it even more. We even ordered the kids school supplies and lunchboxes using it! I love that I no longer have to worry about running out of bread or other lunch necessities and having to make a late night run to the store.

:: ASK THEM WHAT SOUNDS GOOD TO THEM WHEN PICKING OUT YOUR GROCERIES

Save yourself the drama in the morning by letting them help pick out what you are going to put in their lunch, especially when it comes to the snacks and sides. If they don’t get to have a say in what they are eating, chances are it is going to go to waste, because you won’t be there to stop them from throwing it away. Or worse…the dreaded full untouched lunch when they come home because it was “gross”. I love to have the kids sit down with me when I am ordering our groceries and pick out the things they want in their lunches. Walmart has some awesome options in bulk individual servings, perfect for quick packing. We avoid fighting over getting all the cookies in the store, but still get what they will enjoy eating. Any drama you can save yourself in the morning is worth it!

. . . SHOP OUR LUNCH FAVORITES . . .

:: PREP WHAT YOU CAN THE NIGHT BEFORE

I’ll be honest, we are not perfect and this tip doesn’t happen every day for us. But when it does our mornings go so much smoother. We don’t prep sandwiches in advance, but we will get all the sides that don’t need to be refrigerated, and put them in each lunch box in the pantry. Fill up their water bottles and have them nearby as well. Before bed we will set out all the tools needed to make their sandwiches, so it saves a few more minutes in our prep time. Taking the time to do what you can the night before when things are calm, frees up the much needed minutes during the morning rush.

:: GIVE EVERYONE A JOB

One thing I try to teach my kids is that jobs around the house are always a team effort. We work as a team and everything is not just my responsibility. The same goes for lunches. Everyone has a job. Someone is on sandwich duty and makes all the sandwiches so we aren’t in each others way and it gets done quicker. Another job is to pack all the sides the night before. Someone else is on water fill up. We work as a team to make it as efficient as possible!

. . . SHOP OUR FAVORITE LUNCH BOXES + ACCESSORIES . . .

:: HAVE A LUNCH DRAWER OR AREA

Last but not least is probably the biggest game changer tip to help simplify your kids lunches. Set aside a designated area in your pantry or kitchen as your kids lunches station. Make sure things are within their reach so you aren’t having to micro-manage anything. As you will see in our pantry, we have a couple of drawers that serve this purpose for us. I will order in bulk from Walmart, and instead of putting away the big boxes, we separate. The granola bars go in a drawer for easy access. Things like goldfish crackers are individually bagged in lunch size servings so they can just grab a baggie and put it in their lunchbox. Taking the time to stock this area after each grocery trip and have it ready to go save sooooo much time in the lunch making process.

. . .

I hope these tips to simplify your kids lunches was helpful for you! Remember as much as we want to do it all for them, this is such a good learning opportunity for our kids to take on more responsibility. So I wanna know, what are you lunch prep hacks that simplify your mornings?

in partnership with Walmart

photos : aubrey taiese