Christmas Lights

A couple of weeks ago we went to see the Christmas light display at the Mesa temple. Ryan didn't think that Gwen would enjoy it/understand it, but boy I'm glad that he was wrong! She sat atop his shoulders nearly the entire visit and she kept squealing in delight. She was making such a commotion that Ryan kept asking me if she was okay.
Ryan: "She sounds like she's really upset! Are you sure she's okay?"
Me: "Yes!! She's smiling!"
I didn't get any of that in this video, unfortunately, because Ryan wanted to keep moving along in the large crowds. Next time I plan to have us walk through once to enjoy every aspect of the display and then walk through again to make a cuter video. Ah, the life of a blogger.....
This video isn't the greatest (hello, I'm not even in it (jk jk)), but I'm glad I took the time to make it.

Christmas Greetings

It's here! It's finally here! We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
I hope you are able to spoil the people you love with gifts (literal or figurative), food, hugs, and most importantly, your time. Eat lots of food together and pump up the Christmas music while you're still "allowed to." I know my husband must be sick of all the holiday music I've been playing recently. I may not post again until after the new year, so I'll be seeing ya! I'm hoping to film a lot tomorrow, so you can look forward to that video. Happy Holidays! 

Tiny Little Baby

I was showing Gwen this tiny nativity the other day and explaining who the people are in it. I'm 99% sure that she didn't understand a word of it, but it made me feel good to talk about Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. It made me really happy to share the story with her, but it also made me feel kind of sad because I realized then that I should be teaching her things like this every chance I can get. I haven't made any cool traditions with Gwen simply because she won't comprehend or remember those things yet. This time next year I hope to incorporate Christmas stories, songs, and scriptures in our countdown to Christmas. 

What fun and/or religious traditions do you have for Christmas time? I'd really love to know! 

Happy (insert holiday here)!

Happy holidays, everybody! Christmas time is one of my favorite times of the year, and it's partly because I can convince my husband to take family photos. (Ha!) He's not one to willingly pose for a picture, but since Gwen was born he's been more accepting of having his photo taken if it's with her. It's ridiculously adorable how big a fan he is of Gwen. We have an unspoken Gwen fan club and our meetings include looking through old photos of her on our phones after she's gone to bed. 

We made a "photo session swap" with a couple of friends of ours- they took these photos, and I took their maternity photos the same day. We then swapped SD cards so we can edit our own photos. Such a sweet deal! Being a photographer is kind of tough when it comes to completely trusting someone else to take and edit your portraits. Whitni and Brandon did a great job of taking our photos, and I know they would have been great at editing them too, but it's much more fun to do it myself. Plus, we didn't have to wait to receive our photos after someone else was finished editing them. If you're a photographer, I highly recommend this idea! 

I hope you're enjoying this holiday season. Happy gift giving! Happy baking!

All photos taken by The Taylor Image, but edited by me.  

Disco Unicorn

I was born a unicorn. Prepare for a photo dump of #dancedancebb

A photo posted by Beverly Houpt (@bevhoupt) on Dec 3, 2015 at 10:42pm PST

Last week I went to a super fun, all girls dance party. It was the best!! Everything was so glittery and sparkly and colorful and amazing. Estrogen! Girl Power! Sweat! I danced for 2 hours and was sore for three days afterward. These dances are probably going to be twice a year, so that's something to look forward to :) I'm always down to dance.

Amazing photos by Sean Huntington

You haven't lived until you've gone to an all girls dance party. 💃🏻💃🏼💃🏽💃🏾💃🏿 #dancedancebb #ourproject180

A photo posted by Beverly Houpt (@bevhoupt) on Dec 3, 2015 at 10:44pm PST

Oak Glen

We were in southern California visiting my mom and her side of the family this Thanksgiving. My birthday was the day after and I wanted to go somewhere fun for the day. I had originally wanted to go hang out at the beach, but seeing how cold it was, that didn't seem like the smartest/funnest place to go. My aunt told us about this place called Oak Glen up in the mountains so that's where we went. We went a little late in the day, so we didn't have much time to explore the whole area before it got dark. But the little spot we did stop in was pretty cute. We had fun window shopping, eating apple strudel pastries, and enjoying the autumn trees and mountain air. It was a chill birthday. Here's to 26!

My birthday was pretty bomb. We went to Oak Glen and tonight I saw Mockingjay with my mom. I'm feeling too many things!!! Ah! I've got an adrenaline rush after watching that movie. #radandhappymashup

A photo posted by Beverly Houpt (@bevhoupt) on Nov 27, 2015 at 10:55pm PST

A photo posted by Beverly Houpt (@bevhoupt) on Nov 27, 2015 at 5:17pm PST

Happies -12-

- This clip ^^^ from God Help the Girl. Yo!! I had no idea that this movie existed until earlier this week when I saw it at the movie rental store. If you love Belle and Sebastian, too, watch this!

- Drinking Pero with hazelnut almond milk creamer and Biscoff cookies.

- Making our home more Christmassy!

- Planning Ryan's Christmas present.

- Gwen's words: "putt-a-buh" (peek-a-boo), "bott-er" (water).

- The dance party I'm going to tonight!!

- All the fun holiday videos on YouTube right now. (24 Days of Zoella and DIY December with Ingrid Nilsen)

- Seeing Eisley and Copeland live last week! Best birthday present.

- Listening to We Are The City on repeat in my car. It feels so good to get into an album again.  They played at the Copeland show and I'm so glad that Ryan suggested we buy their CD. They sold both of their albums to us for $10 and they're worth far more than that.

- Madi Davis's voice and face.

- While watching The Voice Ryan says, "That sounds like a song from Fievel Goes East."

I initially didn't mean for this blog post to be another Happies post. I still need to edit one more video from Emily's visit, edit a video from my Portland trip, and post the photos I took while in California! Ah! Wish me luck with that to-do list.