she's one. wait what?

my family came down for trudy's birthday and made it even more fun. they all love her so much and it's so fun to watch them all interact with her. these days with all the pressure for a crazy out-of-this-world themed party from blogging or pinterest or whatever.... i started wondering what to do for her party awhile back. then i realized that i like to look at pictures of those pretty pretty parties and also admire all the creative mommies (and i do mean that sincerely) out there, but all of that just isn't me. at least not for her first birthday anyway. i was mainly just excited about watching her eat cake for her first time. i did like the idea of having a babushka/matryoshka/russian doll theme so that was my inspiration for her cake. i sort of struggled with it but i had fun. i loved using this chart to help me mix up the right colors with food coloring. we ate the babushka cake and then trudy had her own cupcake cake to destroy. she ended up being scared of it instead (totally not what i was expecting) but did eat some of it. we had her party at the park right by our house and the weather was almost perfect.... just a little windy. trudy loved her presents.

currently she loves to play with dolls, blocks, cups, pans, my makeup and most of all her food. she's been walking since right around her birthday and keeping me very busy. she is such a delight and light's up people's faces wherever we go. i will have to get a picture of her pigtails because i tried them out for the first time today and about died of cuteness overload. her spunky, sassy, stubborn but almost always happy personality is so fun. we just adore her.

i never blogged about my b-day 3 months ago

grant gave me the funnest birthday and i forgot to post about it. it may be hard to believe but here in albuquerque we have the longest tramway in the world. we've wanted to go since we moved here and my birthday was the perfect opportunity. grant surprised me and planned it out perfectly so that we would be at the very tip top at sunset. it was beautiful. a little too windy but still beautiful. i love seeing these pictures of the baby bump. i can't believe that was our sweet little trudy.. just hanging out in my tummy! sometimes i really miss that bump. it was so fun feeling her inside me. after the tram we went to a very yummy italian place in nob hill and ended the night at walmart. walking down all the aisles because i would get so uncomfortable sitting or laying down and i just liked walking around. it was my exercise too. it was a really fun night.

july twenty seventh, nineteen eighty three

grant has been working about 4 hours away from where we live for about a month now. the area he's been in has been great for us as well as the company. the downside is that he leaves every monday morning and then i don't see him until saturday night. this last week i went down with him and stayed for the first half of the week before i had to come back and chaperone our stake youth conference. it worked out great since his birthday was tuesday. we made the decision to go down together very quickly which made planning his birthday a bit more difficult for me. kinda funny celebrating a birthday in a hotel room. plus the town we were in was a very small farm town with only a walmart, so i had limited resources. we planned to get him a new suit for his birthday this year and we will for sure get to that when we have more time. i got him a birthday present a few months back and i've been really excited to give it to him; a leather scripture cover. i bought it from this company, i really really love their stuff. all of their products look so much better in real life. i thought the idea of it and just the style fit my granty poo perfectly. and as it turns out... i know him well. can't wait to see him in a new suit holding his scriptures in his new case. 

july 27th is quite the special day. he proposed to me three years ago on that day (his birthday). and i'm so grateful he did. he has changed my life. it is just so awesome to me that i get to spend my life with not only someone who i'm incredibly crazy in love with, but having his example around me constantly makes me feel so lucky. he has a ba-jillion qualities that i love and want. i hope that i can be more like him every day. when i see pictures from the night he asked me (read the story here) i can't help but smile from ear to ear. cheesy? probably. but the thing is... it's true! i can still see his face looking up at me while he was down on one knee... "give me the best birthday present ever, make me the happiest man alive!"

happy birthday britt!!

24 years ago Brittany Marie Jones (now Barnes... thanks to me) was born. Every April 15 while the majority of Americans scramble to figure out what number goes where on their 1040's and scurry off to the post office stressed out of their minds, I have something (someone) a little more dear to my heart to think about. I love my wife. She is so talented. She is so patient. She is so caring. She is so loving. She is so compassionate. She is so intuitive. She is so smart. She is so crafty. She is so funny. She is so sexy (can I say that on here?). She is so spiritual. She is so intriguing. She is so Brittany.

I think she deserves the world and I try to prove that to her every day, if you want to leave her a sweet birthday message, feel free to comment on this post.

Also, Britt has been swamped between working at Shade (even modeling for them! click here), doing her wardrobe styling services for clients, and making flowers like crazy. She won't say it but she has been doing really well with all of them! I don't know if she wanted me to say anything but she has a few new flower designs that are already selling like crazy and they aren't even in the store yet. About that... BRITT'S FLOWERS ARE AT UNIVERSITY MALL STARTING TODAY!!! For the next 10 days you can get one or ten of Britt's Pretty Blossoms at Shade Clothing at University Mall.

Lastly, if I (Grant) should have you or your husband's phone number please text or call me (My old phone is somewhere in the Turks and Caicos Islands along with all my contacts) so that I can have your/their number.


photo from las vegas international 7's rugby tournament

birthday blendtek

so grant turned 26 on the 27th. sadly he worked all day while we had fun at the magical kingdom. which is where i killed it in the buzz lightyear game/ride. leisa was so funny every day, stopping every hour to get another popcorn or lemonade. she always had either one. we picked up grant later, went for some yummy sushi and came back to celebrate with friends.

day four

my mom and i had been playing sneaky for a few months. grant has wanted a vitamix since we got married. we saw the blendtec presentation at costco before we came out and we both fell in love. the blendtec is awesome. so my brother knew a friend of a friend and basically got it for half the price. so i split it with my family and we were all so excited to surprise him. they were able to hear everything on the speaker phone but here are pictures of the great surprise!

(and of course grant loved all the funny messages the boys wrote him on the box. and that it was in dodger wrapping paper). it was a great night and we were so happy grant's family could be there too. luke gave all our friends quite the dance show, which ended up being his birthday gift for grant. his dancing. thanks for all your help mom, we've already made broccoli soup and strawberry ice cream!

Keeping the blog right on track...

Grant turned 25!

7/27/83

I made him his favorite Biscuits and Gravy in the morning. Before church I let him open one present which was a new pair of church shoes and then later that night he got to open some more.....

Before...

After!

My family sent out the whole set of the Harry Potter series. It came in the coolest little treasure chest! Grant was SOOO excited when he opened it up (thanks for making my presents seem lame mom). Grant decided that when we have kids, it will be a rule in our family that when they can read, they will read every HP book. ha ha. Grant's last surprise was...

Dinner up here....

Which overlooked this...

It was the most perfect night for dinner outside! I was so sad that I forgot my camera up there. It was the cutest little set up. Complete with small tea candles that lit up our sushi and sparkling cider. SO fun!

A random pic since I forgot the camera.

Happy Birthday! April 15

Okay so I wasn’t planning on blogging about this but I was looking through our pictures and…. I have to now because I just really had the best birthday ever this year. It started out with Grant leaving for practice early in the morning. I just kept on sleeping (of course) and didn’t even hear him come back home. Next thing I know… the bedroom door opens and Grant was standing there with a cake (funfetti…my favorite!), singing Happy Birthday to me. I refuse to put the picture up that he took of me in bed but here is this nasty picture with my smiling wake up face (hahaha every time I look at it- I laugh and so does Grant). He led me into the kitchen where he had… made my favorite breakfast! I LOVE CREPES! While eating… he brought out my birthday present. I opened it up (and started crying. I really have issues) and it was the cutest little Nano Ipod I had ever seen. My first Ipod! It was such a great gift and a HUGE surprise.

That day I went to lunch with my mom. I love her very much. We had the yummiest lunch from Wallaby's. (the “smashers” are the best). I have so much fun with my mom, we can talk for hours about nothing. She is just the best. That night my family came over, brought me cupcakes and a birdcage. The birdcage sounds weird but its just for decoration and I love it. The night ended with Grant and I eating at Happy Sumo (WE LOVE SUSHI!) and then coming home and watching a movie.

My birthday continued into the next day with a birthday lunch with a bunch of my girlfriends. (Jenn, Kimmie, Linds, Me, Jess, Ash, Trudy).

Jess (BFF) and I are 5 days apart so we did a combined lunch.It was a blast and so fun to bond with all the girls. My friends are way too generous. Trudy spoiled us with cute little scrapbooks and Linds and Ash gave us perfume and Umbrellas! And not just any umbrella…. A Sarah Jessica Parker Umbrella. Hahahaha so fun!!!