Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Riley Jean // 1 year photos

Remember this precious little babe?


She just turned one and I had the chance to capture some photos of her a few days before her first birthday. With a frosted cake in front of them, it's always a toss up whether a one-year-old will go all out and get frosting on every inch of their body, be very dainty about it, or want nothing to do with it. Riley was somewhere in between the last two, and I think the photos are so priceless! And between rain showers we managed to get in some family photos.









Friday, June 20, 2014

wedding invitations // john+dani

'Tis the season for weddings, weddings, weddings! We have four this summer and fall, and I'm excited for every one of them. You know how sometimes you go to a wedding and it doesn't mean too much to you? Yeah, all of the weddings we're going to will be the exact opposite of that. So pumped! First up is John and Dani's wedding. For all of their wedding suite design, I took inspiration of Dani's wedding Pinterest board - vintage + soft hues + shabby chic at it's finest.





Monday, June 16, 2014

summer project // landscaping

Since moving into our house exactly two years ago, we've had a running list of projects big and small, inside and out. During our first summer, we tackled a lot of the smaller, inexpensive projects - painting, changing hardware on cabinets, adding lighting, etc. Last summer we added the deck, which we LOVE and use many evenings for supper and bird watching. This summer's big project was landscaping the front of the house. When we moved in, the landscaping looked like this:



It was completely overgrown with perennials, shrubs, and weeds. Don't mind the tub/cooler in the front lawn - we must have just gotten back from a camping trip. We knew we wanted to change it eventually, so shortly after we moved in, we tore everything out and have spent the last two years staring at a big dirt expanse in the front of our house which would inevitably fill up with small weeds during the summer. It was ugly. I'm sure our neighbors were just as excited as we were to get this project done.

Fast forward to three days ago. After getting a couple yards of dirt and rock dropped off, purchasing plants and shrubs, and hauling three car loads of landscape block, we were ready to begin. And by we, I mean Tim...while Jack and I supervised from the shade.



A couple weekends ago, we visited a local nursery to look at our plant options and ended up going with:
+ 1 lilac-colored azalea
+ 2 dwarf spruce trees
+ 2 prairie grass plants
+ 3 barberry bushes




And after 18 hours of hauling, spreading, measuring, cutting, and planting, it was complete and a BIG improvement from the overgrown daylilies/weed-invested mud hole. Tim did such a great job and along with master deck builder, he can now confidently add master landscaper to his resume. 



Other upcoming projects:
+ new landscape to the right of the front door
+ spruce up the sunroom
+ replace the front door
+ till up a garden plot

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Memorial Day Weekend // the unofficial tradition

For the past several years, we have spent Memorial Day Weekend with Mike and Katie. It's almost become an unspoken/unofficial tradition. Tim and I weren't even dating when we first started this tradition. Through the years, we've spent the weekend on sections of the Superior Hiking Trail; last year we hung out in St. Cloud; and more often than not, we end up at their cabin. This year was a cabin year, and this year we added our kids into the mix. That still seems so crazy - we have kids! We ate good, spent 90% of the time outside, sat on the dock (with monitors in hand) after putting the kids to bed, and went for a hike with the babes, which I'm pretty sure Mike and Tim have been dreaming about for years. As always, it was a blast and refreshing to be around good friends.







Saturday, May 10, 2014

Today I am...


Many thoughts are running through my head this morning, realizing that a lot has happened on this weekend in the past and I have much to be thankful for.

THANKFUL FOR



+ the sun that has finally come out from behind the endless rain clouds
+ friends and new babies
+ the newest edition to the Miller clan, Henry Michael
+ my mama
+ my almost 6-month-old boy who is getting so big
+ art projects and finally getting some things hung on the wall in Jack's room

REMINISCING ABOUT






+ 5 years ago - graduating from college
+ 2 years ago - preparing to move into our first house
+ 2 years ago - celebrating Mandy graduating from nursing school
+ 1 year ago - hearing Jack's heart beat for the first time
+ 1 year ago - leaving for our big Yellowstone/Grand Tetons trip and spending my *first* Mother's Day watching buffalo graze in Lamar Valley