.Unless there is love...

As the years go on and the lessons become more real, it's increasingly obvious that nothing matters unless there is love in your life.  In every form its powerful, humbling, it makes life's trials easier to bear.  

Throughout the daily annoyances and frustrations, and the many "why can't things be fair??" life moments, I still have so much to be cheerful for.

Thanksgiving last year, the year before, and when we announced our pregnancy the year before that :)

.Sweets.

Two (and a half-ish) is lighthearted, exhausting, and the most amusing thus far.  Dylan is impossible, Dylan is the best, Dylan makes sure that life is never boring.  Halloween this year was packed with fall festivals, our first time trick-or-treating with friends, a lot of sweets, and an adorable teething shark & chef :)

Even better, we now have loads of candy that's being put to good old-fashioned bribing use (play school is putting the pressure on potty training!).  

P.S. Halloween dress-up last year and the year before.

.That time we went out west.

A few weeks ago we went out west to Colorado!  I had a conference in Denver, so the Tyler family flew out for another adventure.  It was our first trip with two littles and there were no boring moments!

Mila at four months old was a breeze to travel with; Dylan at two years old was a little more of a challenge to keep occupied and still on the flight.  Luckily, G and I are pros now at working together to divide and conquer, so this trip went smoother than anticipated.

While this was a work trip, we did have time to explore downtown Denver, Boulder (Pearl Street was so fun!), Red Rocks Amphitheater, and Rocky Mountain National Park.  It snowed one day we were there, so while I was in sessions Garrett spent hours with the girls at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and they LOVED it.  Packing and the logistics for four for a {cold} cross-country trip was overwhelming, so unfortunately our camera was left behind.  Here are a few snaps we caught along the way though!

Colorado, in the short time, we fell in love.  Our awesome airbnb apartment didn't hurt either!  We have so many places on our travel list we tend to avoid repeat visits, but I really can't wait to go back again.

P.S. Other family/ work trips to Savannah, Hilton Head, Nashville, and San Francisco.

.Where we've ended up.

I only posted once last month.  Once!  What's happened to this little space of mine, where I could reflect and reminisce and process and obsess over anything and everything?  Well, with G and I carrying two jobs a piece (that we, fortunately, love) and a toddler and infant to enjoy, it makes time for any of the previously mentioned reasons to blog more challenging.  But I did want to spend some time sharing some recent pictures taken of our little yogurt shoppe.  I swell with pride over the place, and the second family we've grown with the incredible people who help us run it.  Remember when we first announced our plans here?  How much we've learned since then.

We'll be coming up on the shoppe's first anniversary soon, and I really can't believe just how different we are since then, in the best way possible.  Mila is now four months old, and Dylan is such a vocal little lady, and it's pretty hard to deny what adults we feel like right now.

It's hard, but also the best.

I can't wait to look back at these shots years down the road to see where we've ended up since then.

P.S. These beautiful pictures were taken by an Instagram-friend-turned-real-friend (it does happen people! :)) Dianne.  Check out her work here and here!!

P.P.S.  I'm coming to terms that my instagram is pretty much my condensed blog.  You can follow here if you'd like to keep up.

.On enjoying life.

During the season of busy, you either feel overwhelmed or fulfilled.  Right now, it feels like we're thriving and I'm so grateful.  Dylan is adjusting to play school as good as one could hope, the yogurt shoppe is flourishing and Garrett with it, Mila loves days with her Gigi, and so far I have found teaching very rewarding.  Not to say that life is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we complain so quickly when things don't go our way, it's important to look around every so often and realize that despite the hard work and long days, we are so very blessed.

Here a few pictures from our Labor Day weekend at Callaway with friends and family (it's been said, but September already??), where it's easy to see, life can be pretty grand.