Before (and even after) having Penelope I read my fair share of baby books! I requested on my Instagram Story to have people send me their favorite baby/parenting books and received a huge list with a lot of people recommending some of the same titles.
The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting by Brene Brown (suggested to read on Audible!)
Surprised by Motherhood
Attachment Parenting
12 Hours of Sleep by 12 Weeks
What to Expect the First Year
Parenting with Love & Logic
Power of Positive Parenting
Whole Brain Child
Rules for my Unborn Child
Simplicity Parenting
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
The Child Whisperer
Everything
Elevating Child Care
Sleep Sense
The Baby Sleep Solution
Brain Rules for Baby
I’ve read the ones that are hyperlinked and out of all of them, my favorite was Get Your Sleep On by Christine Lawler. She has basically read almost every single book for you and condenses it in an easy to read (literally took me an hour and a half to read) and she gets right to the point. It has totally been my go-to! Highly recommend. You can follow her on Instagram too @the_peaceful_sleeper for more tips & tricks!
If you prefer listening to your books, you can get two free audiobooks on Audible by clicking here!
A couple weeks ago in my Instagram Story I asked people to share with me their favorite book they’ve ever read. I had a lot of requests to share the list so here you go!
Starting with the Top 10 Most Nominated Books
The Nightingale(so thrilled this was nominated the most! One of my absolute favorites)
The Happiness Project & Better Than Before – these books might not be literary masterpieces but they are really what catapulted my journey into self-help/bettering myself. I also loved learning about tendencies and understanding other people better as well.
Here are the rest of the books people recommended!
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
A Man Called Ove
The Help
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Alchemist
The Happiness Advantage
Big Magic
The Happiness Project
Red Queen Series
All the Light We Cannot See
How to Win Friends & Influence People
Shoedog
The Bried Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Power of Habit
The Goose Girl
You are a Badass
Magnolia Story
The Motivation Manifesto
The Book of Joey
The Woman in the Window
Blink
Proof of Heaven
Mere Christianity
Essentialism
The Color of Water
We Were the Lucky Ones
Gone Girl
The Rosie Project
Unbroken
Devil in the White City
Secret Life of Bees
Language of Flowers
Half the Sky
This is my Words
This We May Be One
Behind Closed Doors
The Couple Next Door
The Breakdown
The War that Saved my Life
Heaven is Here
Angela’s Ashes
Little Fires Everywhere
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
It Ends with Us
Big Little Lies
The Traveler’s Gift
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Love Does
Educated
The Guardian
Lilac Girls
The Sky is Everywhere
Letters to a Young Poet
History of Love
Uninvited
What Was Mine
Night of Rain and Stars
The Perfect Couple
Same Kind of Different as Me
Cloud Atlas
The Spirit Catches You and you Fall
Tuesday’s with Morrie
Brain on Fire
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Between Shades of Gray
Everybody Always
Eve and the Choice Made in Eden
A Little Life
The Language of Flowers
The Great Alone
Dandelion Wine
Tailormade
Firefly Lane
Everybody’s Son
Need to Know
The Invention of Wings
The Kiss of Deception
One Tattered Angel
Half of a Yellow Sun
The Sunflower
The Alice Network
The Night Circus
The Hiding Place
Sister of my Heart
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell you She’s Sorry
This is Our Story
Poisonwood Bible
All the President’s Men
Creative Confidence
Hector & The Search for Happiness
Everybody Needs a Brain Tumor
The Orphan Keeper
All of Grace
Perfect Match
I Stopped on the Way Home
The Dressmaker
Bright Blue Miracle
The Boys in the Boat
My Plain Jane
I’ve also had a lot of requests to share the baby book recommendations that people shared with me before Penelope was born so that post is here.
I’ve had a few really great birthdays in the past but I don’t think that this birthday will EVER be beaten! We took our daughter to Disneyland for her first time and there was nothing better than spending the entire day with family at the happiest place on earth.
Disneyland is fun… but Disneyland with a baby is even better! I know she is so young but seeing everything through her eyes was the sweetest thing. I’m sure it was overstimulation at its finest but she seemed to love it?
Will is somehow a FastPass wizard and practically has it down to a science so we didn’t wait in one line! Most kids are back in school so the lines weren’t crazy anyways but it was so nice to hurry and go on rides while someone waited with our daughter. There was 11 of us in our party so everyone was nice enough to take a turn sitting with her and then we did the “spouse switch” afterward so everyone could get a turn to go on the ride! And my mom hates roller coasters and those are my faaaavorite so it was a win-win there. Gimme that new IncrediCoaster ALL DAY.
Will surprised me with a birthday scavenger hunt around the park which was really thoughtful of him. I had to find 10 birthday themed items in the park to get a prize (which was a Disney macaron!) and I had so much fun trying to find them all.
Penny Arcade!!! We want to re-create this picture every time we go to Disneyland! (also, do you ever think about how weird it is that we are in the background of so many random people’s pictures?!)
We got to take her on some rides too which was the BEST! We took her on Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie and the Poo and Heimlich’s Choo Choo train and she looved them all. Well, at least we think she did haha.
And then she was SPENT at the end of the day haha. She did great in the park and napped in her stroller a lot but then around 10 pm when we were driving home she literally screamed her head off the entire way home. The saddest thing!
And lastly, it also made it the best birthday because we ate at one of my favorite restaurants! If you ever go to Disneyland, eat at Naples in Downtown Disney. They have the BEST pizzas to share with the family. We ordered the Margherita and pepperoni. Highly recommend!!! Please go.
This is a summer I definitely wished lasted forever. I’ve always SO looked forward to the fall season but I’m a little worried about the cold weather and a baby! I love going on walks with our daughter in the morning and being outside is pretty much my saving grace these days. Hopefully Utah’s winter this year will be nice to us 🤞🏼Probably not so here go LOL.
Here are some more pictures from our family Newport trip! Our trip this year was definitely a slower pace than it usually is. We all loved just sitting around the pool in the shade, reading books and relaxing. I usually want each and every hour of my trip planned out but with a new baby, that’s just not the case. We tried our hardest to adjust around her nap schedule and it all turned out great. Turns out my entire family needed some relaxation and downtime too so it was great for all of us.
This girl gets bigger every single day. When I lift her out of the crib in the morning she is truthfully heavier and bigger than the day before! The clock is moving faster than ever before 😩
Hahahaha she cannot be bothered…
Also loved seeing friends that live in California! Now they can move home, please.
More houses 😍I could drive around and look at houses all day.
These two are just a hoot and a half (if you can’t tell). They are the sweetest cousins to “our girl!” and smother her with kisses all day long. She has no idea how lucky she is to grow up with cousins so close to her age!
I kind of look brunette in that picture and I kind of don’t hate it?? Did you know I am naturally a brunette?!
The new Clare V. store in the Lido District is amazing.
She lasts about 2.5 seconds in these haha. I do love using the Wild Bird as much as I can though!
I finished The Kite Runner on the trip (which I loved by the way) and decided to read this again since my sister had it with her! Such a great book if you’re looking for a self-help book (contains some bad language, obviously).
The sunset really showed off for us our last night.
I’ll share some Disneyland pictures later this week too!
We had so much fun on my families annual Newport, California trip! I’ve been going to Newport beach every year since I was a little girl so taking my little girl was a dream come true! Obviously, I know that our daughter will never remember any of it but we loved traveling with her and showing her all of our favorite spots. She was the best little traveler!
One of my favorite things to do while we are in Newport is to drive or walk around neighborhoods and look at the homes. I remember when I was a little girl I completely DREADED when my parents would do this but now I can’t stop. A real estate agent saw us walking past and asked if we wanted to come to look inside and we were in heaven. The most darling little home… selling for two million dollars… and we thought Holladay had a crazy high market! Haha.
I will take this one, please!
We’ve gotten a lot of questions about our stroller so I’ll answer it here! We have the UppaBaby Vista Strollerand car seat and we LOVE them both. We totally realize they are both pretty expensive but our philosophy is might as well get durable products now and use them for all of our kids than go cheap and have to get a new one later on. I love that this stroller can fit up to three kids!!! You can add another seat to it and then the standing board on the back so I know we will use it for years and years to come. You can click also the car seat right into the stroller and travel with the car seat without the heavy base which is a huge bonus. Highly recommend.
Out new absolute favorite spot… Baja Fish Tacos!
We love stopping by the Crab Cooker everytime we come to Newport and were so sad to hear they are tearing it down in a couple weeks! Such a fun tradition that we’ve loved the past ~20 years or so.
Another FAVORITE thing to do while we are in Newport is going on walks in the morning! The beach is so accessible from where we stay and luckily our daughter is liking walks more and more… She lasts about 30 minutes on the DOT before she starts crying but I’ll take what I can get! My entire life I’ve looked forward to going on morning walks with my kids and now it feels surreal that it’s a reality.
Okay, that’s all I can do tonight… gotta run and fold the laundry ☺️
I’m so excited to share that I accepted a full-time offer with Tiled! While in San Diego a couple weeks ago, they offered me the position and I couldn’t say yes fast enough.
I’ve worked for Tiled part-time now for almost two years while having various other jobs on the side but I am so excited to finally be able to focus on ONE job! I’ll still teach Pilates some mornings but to have one real job will be such a breath of fresh air! I can’t wait to put all my (work) energy into one thing. I had to quit Denton House which is sad because I truly did love the people there but this is a better fit for me and my family!
While in San Diego, Will would bring Penelope over to the office to feed and I loved being able to hang out with them in the car. This job will allow me to work from home (the majority of the team is in San Diego) so I’ll schedule babysitters a couple times a week so I can focus on work but I don’t have to go into an office every day! I feel extremely lucky to be able to be a mom and still have a career.
If you are not familiar with Tiled, it’s a software that helps mainly field and inside sales teams communicate in a more efficient way. Companies can create what we call “MicroApps” (design based, no coding involved!) to sell their products and also gain insights and analytics to see how it’s being received by customers. For example, with Tiled, someone could knock on your door to sell you pest control, share with you their MicroApp, and they’d get alerted on their phone with a push notifications if you open it up/how long you spend inside their sales materials.
To get an idea of what a MicroApp looks like, view my MicroApp business card HERE! Kind of fun.
Here are more pictures from our week in California!
Penelope seriously did amazing on her first flight! We stayed with our friends for one night in Dana Point and then headed down to San Diego for my work retreat.
The other day I was in a store and they had all their Fall decorations out and I about fell over… How is summer already almost over?! This summer has definitely been different than in the past but I’ve still loved it all the same. It has seriously been SO hot in Utah so having a little newborn can be nervewracking at times… I am constantly worried she might be too hot! But she loves the pool so 🙌🏼
Here are some things we have been up to lately.
I finally mailed all of our baby’s baby invitations out! We used Artifact Uprising and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out.
I am trying to exercise 4-5 times a week but running is just not cutting it for me anymore. MY BODY DOES NOT MOVE LIKE THAT ANYMORE. It’s the weirdest thing. I am hoping one day I am able to run again but for now my walks will do ☺️Because that way I can slow down and really admire the pretty houses. This home is a new one in Holladay by The Fox Group.
Our daughter is growing up every single hour I swear. Every time I grab her out of her crib she’s bigger. She is generally a pretty happy baby and I feel so lucky she’s ours. She REFUSES to take a bottle or a binky so we are trying to work through that right now but I’m sure we’ll figure it out! Right now we are practically glued to the hip at all times and I can’t be too mad about that.
We’ve had a lot of friends come into town for weddings and what not which has been so much fun too. Why do friends have to move away?! I think it should be against the law 😉
On Sunday we drove up to see the wildflowers and they were absolutely incredible! They are blooming right in Albion Basin and I’m so confused as to why I’ve never been up there to see them before. There are still so many things in Utah I’m aching to see. Including the arch and the salt flats… I know I know, I need to get on it!
Some of you may not be familiar with the 24th of July, but Utah basically has two 4th of Julys! It’s Pioneer Day and most companies take the day off of work which is amazing. We went up to Bear Lake again just for a night but being there is seriously my favorite thing on earth. On the drive home I seriously told Will I’d rather buy a boat than a house 😂I mean… maybe we could live on the boat, right?!
I’m still working full-time and trying to soak up my days as a mom. Some days are better than others and trust me, some days are really hard. But at the same time, I feel so grateful to have our daughter. Being her mom is the biggest blessing in my life!
Tonight we are going up to Deer Valley for a concert and tomorrow we have a going away party for my little brother Jensen. He is leaving on his mission so soon and I am already prepping for all the tears that will ensue over these next couple weeks. Here’s to soaking up these next couple days all together as a family!
Every year for the 4th of July, the only place I want to be is in Bear Lake! It is hands down my favorite place on earth. My grandparents have owned this cabin since 1996 and it’s only a little over two hours away from our home. Any weekend I have free, I just want to be there. As some of you may remember, last year my grandpa died in a car accident on his way up to the cabin for the 4th of July so this was a great healing year for all of us to be there. It really was his favorite place and I feel so close to him while I’m at “his kingdom”!
I’ve been SO excited to bring my kids up to the cabin since I was a little girl so this has been the highlight of my motherhood so far! The entire drive up I got to sit next to her in the back and couldn’t stop staring at her. Those dang lashes!
We normally do the same things every time we go up. Eat Raspberry shakes, go boating, play yard games, read books, watch movies, ride the ATV’s and just relax as a family.
These two love “Baby!”
On the morning of the 4th, we walked out to the beach and saw the most incredible bald eagle perched on a branch right above us!! If that’s not All-American I don’t know what is… we even saw it dive into the lake, grab a fish, and eat it. What!
That water! So blue. I’ll never get over it.
If you ever want me to show you a picture of MY HAPPY PLACE, here it is.
We also love celebrating the 4th because it is this kids birthday! I can’t believe he leaves on his mission in a month. I have no clue what I’ll do without him for two years… just might have to plan a trip to Peru.
Promise she had a blast…
Photography by Luella… and I see you eyeing my creamie, sis.
Until next time, BL! Hopefully for my birthday in August!
(sorry if the title of this blog post is stuck in your head for the remainder of the day… #MammaMia)
Hi hello!
Since I mention our budgets from time to time, I receive so many direct messages/emails asking about how Will and I handle our finances/save. I wrote a blog post on what we did a couple years ago but have some more updated thoughts towards the matter so here we go.
(Disclaimer: This is what works for US. What works for you may be entirely different and we aren’t professional money savers! If you have any advice that works for you please feel free to share.)
MINT!
Mint is seriously my go-to resource for budgeting. I check it first thing every morning (okay and maybe afternoon… and night) just to see where our spending is at. Every single transaction we make fits into a budget and I really try to stay within the budgets we set in order to save. Will and I both have individual budgets for our personal spending/shopping each month (his golf goes in his budget!) and that has helped us A TON. It helps us prioritize what we actually NEED vs WANT and I highly recommend everyone setting this budget for yourself. If we go out to eat with friends or by ourselves money is taken out of these budgets. I even have a budget for Penelope! Because heaven knows I could shop for her all day long.
HONEY
I always try to find the best deal possible and Honey is a life saver for that! (if you are viewing this blog post on your mobile, view it on your desktop so you can download Honey as your browser extension). Before I check out ANYWHERE online, I click on Honey to help me make sure I’m getting the best deal possible. Serious GAME CHANGER! You can download it to be an extension in your broswer. I use Chrome and it pops up right to the side of my search bar.
WUNDERLIST
If you know me at all, you know that Wunderlist is my BEST FRIEND. I make to-do lists all the time on it with deadlines etc. and a list I love is the GROCERIES list. I add things throughout the week that I know we are out of/need and when I’m at the grocery store I buy strictly off of that list. I hate going into the grocery store without a list in hand because I always walk out with pointless things that I don’t need/will go bad.
UNSUBSCRIBE
This has helped a ton. Unsubscribe from emails that make you constantly feel like you need to buy! I am currently only subscribed to small/local shops that I love. No more J.Crew, Gap etc because every day is an amazing deal I feel like I’m going to miss out on if I don’t shop immediately. Don’t worry about missing the coupon code because if you actually do need something if you have Honey to get you the discount code that is currently available.
SHOP AFTER HOLIDAYS
If you are like me and love home decorations, shop AFTER the holidays to get the best deals! I seriously buy all of my Christmas decorations on the 26th, July 4th on the 5th etc. etc. It’s all usually 50-70% off and makes it so fun to pull out the next year because it’s all new to you!
SELL YOUR STUFF
I think a great way to make money is to sell the things you don’t use anymore! I love using Poshmark, KSL, eBay, Craigslist etc. Sometimes, if I’m really wanting a specific item like for example a pair of shoes, I’ll tell myself I can’t get them until I sell things that amount to the cost of the new shoes. It feels so good to clear out my closet before I buy something else! Poshmark is my favorite channel for selling clothes.
LOWEST POSSIBLE AMOUNT IN CHECKING
Someone who is a financial advisor once told me to keep the lowest amount possible that we can live off of in our checking (or whatever account your debit/credit card is linked to!). If you are in the situation where you are saving a little bit of money each month, transfer that over to your savings where it can’t be touched at the end of each month.
SHOPTAGR
Do you ever hate buying something because you have a feeling it will go on sale soon? Shoptagr is another extension I’m using in Chrome to help notify me when items go on sale.
DAVE RAMSEY
And lastly, try to avoid debt (if possible). I know Dave Ramsey is deemed “extreme” to a lot of people but I really like the advice he has on what to do with your debt and how to pay it off as quickly as possible. I listen to one of his podcast episodes every day while I’m driving and try to implement his advice with my spending. He is not everyone’s cup of tea but I really like his stance on debt and “Living like no one else so you can live like no one else.” haha!
INVESTING
Okay lies, I guess I have one more that just popped into my head. Investing. IF you do have money to save each month, maybe consider investing your money so it’s not just sitting in your savings account. Be smart about your investments and talk to someone you trust about where to invest your money. It will grow faster investing than sitting in your savings account.
I hope that answered some of your questions! Once again, I’m not a professional money saver and don’t know everything but these are currently things that we do to help stay responsible with our income.
Let me know what works for you/if you have any input!
Life with our little girl seems to be going fast. However, at the same time, I feel like I’ve known our daughter for what seems like years if not forever. Time is a funny thing… and a big thief.
Here are some pictures of what we’ve been up to lately!
For Memorial Day weekend, we went down to St. George which was our daughter’s first trip ever! She slept the entire car ride both ways which was what we were most stressed about. We spent our days relaxing in the warmer weather and watching a whole lot of basketball.
My friend Eleanor brought a film camera so it’s been so fun to see the images come back! Her baby is coming in August and I can’t wait for my daughter to have a bestie!
We’ve also been gearing up for my favorite holiday! We’re heading up to Bear Lake for the 4th and I CANNOT wait to show my girl my favorite place on earth. It’s now such a hard time of year because it was my Poppy’s favorite but I can’t wait to show her his “kingdom” as he liked to call it. I can’t believe it will be a year since his passing this week 💔
My daughter also got to meet my best friend Karli’s baby little boy! They are in town from San Francisco and I’m trying everything in my power to get them to move back… LinkedIn please open up an office in SLC, thank you.
Another thing we’re loving lately is our WALKS! Holladay has been especially beautiful lately and I love getting out every day with our daughter to see the sunshine and pretty homes. Her age is a little hard though because I never know how long I can go out for! Some days she’ll last a long time and some days she hates it haha. Always so unpredictable.
(I took this picture on my iPhone! I’m so obsessed with it!)
A favorite home of mine.
I’ve tried going on some runs and it’s just not going well. There are times I get discouraged that I’m so out of shape but then I realize that I just gave birth to a nine-pound human and understand why hahaha. For now, my walks will do ☺ and for now I’ll walk WHEREVER in these running shoes! If you haven’t shopped at Outdoor Voices yet, use this link to get $20 off your first order over $100.
I’ve also come to realize how incredible it is to see how much people love your baby. As soon as I walk in anywhere people immediately run to her and give her all the attention and I wouldn’t have it any other way. She is so loved and I feel so grateful for that!
It’s also wedding (and baby) season and I couldn’t be happier about it. Why do weddings (and babies) make me so incredibly happy??
I’ve also been busy kissing these cheeks all day… which is basically the best thing ever.
And last weekend we had a college friends reunion up in Deer Valley! 18 of us traveled from all over the country to be together and it was seriously the best weekend ever. How is it that I started college 8 years ago? Once again, where in the world does the time go?? We are all spread out now so being all together again was a dream come true.
Every time I lift our daughter out of her crib in the morning she’s honestly gotten bigger. I know I tend to talk about how fast time goes on here but seriously… can it please slow down at least a LITTLE bit?
Even the days zoom by. All the sudden I’ll look at my phone and realize its 5 pm and have no idea where the day went.
Looking through pictures, she honestly doesn’t even look the same anymore! Will and I looked at her hospital pictures today and can’t believe this is the same baby only six weeks ago.
I’m having more fun as a mom than I could’ve ever imagined. She is such a doll and I feel so grateful she’s ours.
Life with her really is the best. We are getting into a routine which is making us both happy and I can always count on her to make me smile BIG. She sleeps super well and only fusses when she has reason to. I feel like I’m in for it big time when she’s older because I’ve been so spoiled with her being a good baby!
I’m still working for Denton House & Tiled and am going back to teaching Pilates in a month but it all still feels manageable because she’s a great, easy baby. I just take it day by day. Some days I work 8 hours and some days I work 2 and I’m grateful for that flexibility. I still feel like I have no idea what the crap I’m doing but hopefully, I don’t screw her up too much 😬 the pressure is real!
Some of you may not be familiar with the 24th of July, but Utah basically has two 4th of Julys! It’s Pioneer Day and most companies take the day off of work which is amazing. We went up to Bear Lake again just for a night but being there is seriously my favorite thing on earth. On the drive home I seriously told Will I’d rather buy a boat than a house 😂I mean… maybe we could live on the boat, right?!
