oh, that's just typical

weather in utah.
it's funny.
teeter-totterin' it up one day

and snow the next

we've had spring break this week
i had wanted to do something adventuresome
so we had an impromptu mountain climbing adventure while the weather was good
we just parked the car and started walking

and didn't stop walking until our view looked like this

if you look closely you can see a black spot where the road ends...that's our car

these girls are such troopers
they just followed right along with their momma's/aunt's crazy whim
and it was exhausting
i seriously had a hard time getting out of bed the next morning
(of course, that's nothing new...)
and here's my favorite shot of the day..
which was actually taken by Swede my 7 yr old.
this is Sofia
all ready to climb a mountain like a pro

 it's funny how when we started hiking
the girls were complaining about walking through the field of weeds and brush
to get to the base of the mountain
but, by the time we got done climbing the mountain and back,
the weedy, brushy field was like heaven compared to the steep mountain
sometimes, all we need in our lives is a little perspective

PS: so happy instagram is now on android!!
you can find me there now (sugarblossomboutique)
let me know, & i'll follow you back :)

sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

we had a lot of rainy days with no sunshine last week and by a lot i mean like 5, but it felt like a month!  

i told jeremy i don't mind the rain, i'd just like it to be rainy above us and sunny in the western sky so that it lights up the whole valley....yeah, not too much to ask, right?  

Rain and sunshine at the same time is one of my very favorite things!

well, low and behold a few days later, while walking in the walmart parking lot the rain was pouring and the sky opened up in the west & we were blessed to have the whole place lit up. 

so beautiful! 

Lindsay (from aisle to aloha) told me they call it "liquid sunshine" in Hawaii....that's a perfect name!  It is like walking through wet sunlight. gah! i love it!

picture me walking thru the parking lot pushing Sofia in the cart whilst exclaiming "this is so beautiful! this is SOOOO beautiful!!" yeah, umm, got a few weird looks!

also, i didn't get a good picture :(

it's really much prettier in real life, and i took the pic about 2 minutes too late

and this happened:

at a restaurant we frequent (and by frequent i mean, it's like Norm going into Cheers when we walk in there) we had a pizza-sized cookie.  It's hard to tell from the pic but this thing had 6 large scoops of ice cream on top, and drizzled with chocolate and caramel.  the cookie is so hot and the ice cream melts allover it...it's the bees knees!  i'm drooling now just reminiscing of yesterday, thinking i may have to go back soon...it today tooo soon?

and i heard about this cool way to do hair from leonora at yellow heart art...she tweeted about this tutorial.. so I gave it a whirl, what could be more fun than a hair bow made of hair, right? :)

mine turned out a lot messier than the original, and my bobby pins won't stay in, and i think i need to put it higher on my head next time, but other than that, i love it...it's simple and cute.
added the mustache to distract from how crooked my bangs are in this photo! :/
well, i'm off to trim my bangs and sew... watch for some new headbands coming to my etsy shop later today!  a sneak peek:

oh, and aren't the children supes adorbs?!

hope your day is full of little things that make it great!!
xo-Danielle
linking up here with these lovelies:

enjoying a lazy day

over the weekend we were puppy-sitting my niece's little pup

Harli

isn't she super adorable?!

so we stayed outside most of the weekend 

because she isn't potty trained (is that what you call it if it's a dog??)

and we stayed in our jamjams and played with the doggy all day

#perfection

this photo is particularly sweet because Swede didn't dare come close to Harli at the beginning of the weekend, and she finally started to warm up to her by Sunday night

and Sofia's always been obsessed with puppies

before she could even talk she loved puppies

so, it was just a matter of making sure puppy was safe from 3 year old 

sofia

ingrid

swede

this pics are particularly sweet to me because the very next morning i fell in aerobics class (again) and twisted my ankle (again) and couldn't play "fly like superman" for a while. and the weather was so perfect that day! and it has been very cold since then...here's hoping for a warmish autumn!  What has your weather been like?  soak the sun in for me if you have any, k? xo- Danielle 

the adventures of borgie and muddbutt

jeremy and i traveled 3 hours by car and countless hours on foot to reach palisades, idaho a place jeremy had told me about for the last 10 years.
for those of you not interested in an agonizing 6 hour hike with large backpack on i guess i'll share ;)
yes! freeze-dried dinner...not too shabby!

DAY 1: we slept in the back of our car and had fun taking goofy photos using super-long exposure :) check out these fun photos

wrote my name with a flaming stick!

aren't those cool? i didn't do anything to them, that's just how they turned out...

we were having fun photographing until i heard a noise..we turned our flashlights around to see two shiny eyes staring at us.  we don't know what animal it was...i asked jeremy what if he thought it was something dangerous he said  no, it was probably a skunk or porcupine.  uh, hello, getting sprayed by a skunk or pricked by a porcupine doesn't sound like fun, but...we just went in the car and stayed away from those shiny eyes!


DAY 2: the hiking began...uh, if your shoe feels "a little uncomfortable" at the half-mile mark, you're going to want to shoot your foot off by the 15 mile mark to relieve the pain. (i know this from experience)

me, and my foot pain...just wrap it in tape.  that's what climbing tape is for, right? oh wait....no, it's not.

here is one of 2 lakes we saw during our trip, it was so pretty and had moose in it

when we finally made it to camp (about 4 hours) we set up the tent, had "lunch" and i took a nap while jeremy went fishing

lunch: beef jerky, pistachios, and crystal light, mmm :)

so, i have never fly-fished in my life until now, which is crazy because jeremy was teaching me how to fish when we were 1st married....but i never got around to actually doing it.
it was actually a lot of fun

 however, asking me to walk up a river in waders is like asking a very clumsy person to walk on a moss-covered tight rope with clown shoes on....

falling on gross mossy rocks right on my butt....hence, the new nickname "muddbutt"

 had an awful nights sleep in the tent...nightmare woke us all up with me yelling "get out of here" at the top of my lungs at 1:30 am...ok, i'm not gonna get into that :)
DAY 3: hiked to the upper lake which had crystal clear turquoise blue water.  very beautiful!

upper lake, palisades idaho. seriously beautiful.  the lake, not me, haha

on the way back down to the car we had to pass by the lower lake, the lake w/ all the moose in it.  we were walking down the trail talking loudly as to scare all the moose away...well, apparently we weren't loud enough as i got within 6 feet of a bull and a cow moose hiding in the willows!! i startled them and they ran off into the lake.  these moose are like 9 feet tall, y'all! it was FREAKY! we continued down the path, jeremy in the lead this time....and he ended up about 10 feet away from a mama moose and her calf...i was freaking out...(whispering freaking out, but freaking out nonetheless!) luckily the mom moose didn't charge us and walked away. gah! talk about adrenaline rush!

death by moose trampling? no thanks

These are some of the little things that made all the difference

1. eating a fruit roll up after 5 miles...seriously a fruit roll up NEVER tasted so good!

2. hubby offered to carry my backpack the last 100 yards or so

A true gentleman.    #swoon

3.  jeremy filtered water for us every day from the stream w/o complaint

he's so good to me :)

4.  i didn't get trampled by a moose and die

5.  fallen leaves along foot paths are one of my favorite little things

4.  we went and got juicy delicious extra large hamburgers french fries and milkshakes at Rulon Gardner's Burger Barn when it was over....right before our bodies shut down, haha

good bye palisades, you rock...but i don't plan on coming back for a while

xo- Danielle