seattle aquarium

a week ago we met up with some friends at the seattle aquarium. jack is really into finding nemo right now so i figured he'd be excited, but i highly underestimated how awesome our visit would be. he is finally at a fun age where he can understand and look forward to learning new things and he was delighted at every exhibit and creature. being there with his three favorite guy friends made it even better. they raced from one spot to another, excitedly calling "over here guys! come see this!" at every turn. it was adorable.

here are a few pictures from our day (all from my grainy iphone :( no time to carry my big camera around when i'm also toting an active 9-month-old) -- it was such a fun day.

they've got a huge fish tank in the lobby, so we hung out there for a while and even got to watch a diver go inside to feed the fish! an eel came out to say hello as well -- jack is still talking about that one. (not jack in the pic...haha.)

the four little musketeers:

this octopus was totally swimming around his tank -- it was so cool to watch:

true to form, jack was squeamish about touching anything...until he saw jacob & ian doing it. if they're in, he's in. hooray for peer pressure ;)

little boys are so much fun. i loved watching them interact and run around all morning. before we left, we headed out onto the pier for a picnic lunch in the (cold) sunshine and watched boats and the great wheel. it was a perfect morning and i'm so glad we have fun friends to share our adventures.

concert date

b and i discovered the head and the heart right after we moved to seattle -- they're a local band, starting to get more famous around the world. they've been one of our favorites ever since, and last fall when i heard they were planning a couple of hometown shows as part of their 2014 tour, i snagged a couple of tickets for b's christmas present. 

feb. 22 we headed out to the paramount, dressed in our finest hipster apparel. ;) they were SO good and it was so much fun. going to shows reminds me of my younger years spent moshing my brains out to every pop-punk band in the western US...these days i much prefer sitting in a comfy seat, listening to mellow tunes. 

we left during the encore because i'm insane and incredibly paranoid about staying till the end of any live event. haha. i'm trying to be better about that but really we had to get home to let our babysitter go. i was singing another story for three straight days. such a fun date with my favorite guy. 

these kids

LADIES MAN

yesterday was a particularly cute day for the wells boys. we started out with jack's sports class (he's currently on the basketball rotation, not the easiest sport for preschoolers!), made a costco run and had his friend emery over for the afternoon. playdates with 3-and-a-half-year-olds are increasingly becoming my favorite thing. they seem a bit more volatile than ever, BUT they are hilarious too. i love eavesdropping on their little conversations ("did you see frozen?" "yeah, with my mom." "i like markers." "me too, what is your favorite color?") and watching them actually interact, without needing as much supervision. after hours of toys and bikes and the park, i put finding nemo on and the two kids piled onto the couch like this. HA. young love?

ANATOMY OF A SELFIE

while those two were gallivanting around, huddy took a nap and hung out with me. at the park, i tried entertaining him by showing him his image on my front camera. these pictures are the result -- from ambivalence to interest to delight. third one down on the right is my very favorite. those gums!

i really love these boys. 

valentine's day 2014

i LOVE valentines day. i've come a long way from hating it as a single person, to tolerating it as a married person, to now pretty much being obsessed with it. i was offended this year by friends who thought it was silly to treat it like a major holiday (even b questioned me when i asked why people had to go to work that day) but hey. having kids and making valentines has turned me into a valentine zealot and i am perfectly fine with that.

we kicked off valentine week by decorating sugar cookies in memory of my dear friend jen who recently relocated to nor cal. she used to host a cookie party each year and i miss her, plus i love cookies, so friends came over & we did our own this year. yum!

jack's awesome preschool had a little party the day before v-day, so we spent one very chaotic morning putting the finishing touches on his valentines (free printables from the internet with dollar section pencils washi-taped to the back, thank you very much -- practically free) and cranking out jello jiggler hearts before dropping it and him off at school. he is the cutest.

our actual valentines day was kind of crazy. i made a valentines day breakfast before we skipped off to seattle -- a friend had called late the night before to offer us tickets to the seattle symphony's kids series, so i couldn't pass that up! we enjoyed a valentine safari from orchestra members, then headed back for a play date, target run, lunch date and doctor appointment (hudson had an ear infection).

by the time we finally got home we were all wiped out, and b worked late, so i scrapped my v-day dinner plans and we laid low. not super exciting. but my FAVORITE part of all this year was the valentine swap i host on my stationery blog. this is the fourth year i've done and this time was by far the most successful -- more than 300 people signed up from all around the world and everyone seemed so enthusiastic. i always add my address when i send out swap partner information, just in case people have an extra val to send me, and i got a tonnnnn of valentines in the mail this year. it was so delightful to open my mailbox every day and find a stack of pink, red and gold envelopes with my name on them. i don't have good ideas very often, but this swap thing is definitely one of my better accomplishments.

sunday snow

last night b and i watched captain phillips (intense!) and when it ended, i checked instagram and saw a bunch of local friends posting about snow. it had been sunny most of the day and i'd been totally engrossed in the movie so i didn't even think about a weather change. i looked outside and gasped so loud b thought someone was breaking into our house -- it had totally snowed!! haha. we got about three inches and woke up to a winter wonderland.

hilariously, it was enough snow to cancel church! after living in utah for a few winters, i find this hilarious -- but there are tons of hills around here and facebook informed me that a bunch of friends got stuck / slid out / freaked in the snow so i guess it was a good call, though in our area all was fine and clear.

jack was suuuuper pumped to play in the snow. we spent at least a good hour out there, making a snowman and throwing snowballs and exploring. his favorite thing to do is make a snow angel. b has taught me the importance of having proper snow attire and i give him full credit for making sure jack is good to go -- between his snow pants, boots, "football gloves" and down jacket the kid doesn't know it's cold outside even when he's rolling around in snow. he was SO happy out there today. 

it worked out nicely to not have to go to church, actually, because i ended up taking hudson to urgent care. the poor little bug caught jack's cold last week and has developed the WORST hacking cough ever...he's so, so sad and doesn't even want to crawl around, so you know he's not feeling well. poor buddy wouldn't even smile for the camera phone:

i included this photo also to commemorate his sweet little hands. see how he's holding onto me up there? that is the default huddy hand position. ever since he was born, his little hands have grabbed onto mine any time they are near and i love it. i always feel bad when i have to pull my hand away to do something else. anyway, turns out he has RSV and we are hoping he gets better soon. :(

all in all, a fun day to spend together with family. but i can't wait to get back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. ;)

grant got married.

my brother got married on january 17! i still sort of can't believe it, that all three of us are old enough to be married and have now done so. when b and i first got married and lived in LA, grant was still in high school and my parents lived an hour away so we hung out with them all the time. grant and i used to go to midnight movie premieres together, b used to go shooting and play video games all weekend with grant and my dad, we always played games together and went shopping and goofed around. i sort of still feel like that is our reality, as if i've forgotten that grant has since graduated, gone on a mission for two years, went off to college AND now has gotten hitched.

anyway, whitney -- my new sis in law, who i didn't actually meet until the wedding (lol) -- is from rigby, idaho, so they decided to get married in the idaho falls temple. in the dead of winter. in a place that has a super tiny airport not easily accessible from seattle. awesome! we rented a minivan and drove 12+ hours to be there, but more on the road trip later. we got in on thursday afternoon and friday morning we all got up and got ready together. my parents rented a big house in idaho falls (vrbo is THE best use of the internet in the history of the world, in my opinion...okay, maybe not, but i sure do love it with my whole heart) for them, us, my sis & bro in law, my grandparents and my aunt & uncle to all stay in together and it was so fun. then we headed to the temple!

it was a blur: quick sealing, standing outside in the freezing sunshine, then photo time! mr & mrs payzant:

jack was so cute and excited to see uncle grant. he fell in love with aunt whitney in about five seconds and followed them around the rest of the day.

our little fam, freezing our butts off (it was 26 degrees):

after the ceremony we went to a luncheon at the church for some delicious bbq. jack hung out with his buddies the whole time (i love this pic below). i took him on a potty break at one point and said, "isn't it so nice to be with our whole family?" and he replied, "yeah, it's really nice to be with aunt whitney. can she move in with us?" 

we went home for about five seconds to try to put hudson down for a nap, then it was back to the church for the reception! the cultural hall was decorated super cute and they had a hot chocolate bar and cinnamon rolls. it was tasty but i was starving. ;)

we hung out with these two the whole night, probably my favorite people on the planet. hudson and jesse share a special bond.

sister photo shoot! 

more family. 

b's ridiculously talented cousin made the cute matching ties for the boys. obviously hudson was thrilled to be looking so adorable. 

and where was jack for all the festivities, you ask? oh, just shadowing whitney's 8 year old sister presley. he literally followed her around the ENTIRE night. i saw him like twice, one of the times stuffing a giant cinnamon roll in his mouth. (we intervened.) he was in heaven following the big kids around and it was the first time in his little life that i've seen him just run off and play independently like that for the whole night. so cute. 

then it was go time and b and jesse sent the lovebirds off by shooting fireworks off in the parking lot. i did my part to decorate the car. :) 

the next day was saturday and we all just hung out. i love nothing more than to be surrounded by my family with nothing to do. we all fall into the predictable activities we've been doing my whole life when everyone gets together -- the girls go shopping, everyone goes to a movie, the boys sit on the couch and watch golf, we all go out to eat. all the grown ups went to see the new jack ryan movie but my parents and i took jack to see frozen. we had dinner at cafe rio and ate cupcakes to celebrate my mom's birthday and played card games all night. it was perfect. 

sunday morning, we cleaned up and packed up and got on the road. one last meal all together at the gem of idaho falls' culinary industry, smitty's pancake house:

then we said goodbye and headed back home. the road trip actually wasn't quite as horrible as i was expecting, though i still DEFINITELY prefer to fly with children than drive anywhere. i packed about three million activities for jack to do and just pulled out one after another; between those and snacks he did pretty well and ended up just needing to watch a movie for the last hour of each leg of the journey. hudson, on the other hand, was less easy since he can't do much. we drove during his naptimes so he slept a lot, then i'd stuff him with baby food and mum mums and once he got sick of that we'd have to stop and let him get out of the carseat for a few minutes. 

part of the glory of the trip was our sweet swagger wagon -- those things are so comfy. tons of room to spread out, doors that close automatically, a third row that folds down...i almost wanted to buy one. almost. ;) 

the only thing that made the drive bearable was that my AMAZING friends let us stay in their awesome home in wallace, idaho. wallace is close to the halfway point between seattle and idaho falls, so we only had to drive six hours before crashing for the night and then drive six more hours the next day. the home is more than 100 years old and they have been updating the interior over the past few years. it was so cute. 

fun fact: wallace is also the town they filmed dante's peak in. if you have seen the movie you might recognize some of the downtown. wallace is an old mining town with an adorable downtown. i wanted to stay there all week. 

we were so, SO grateful to be able to break up the drive by staying there. not to mention it was fun to soak up a little small town atmosphere. the house is right down the street from the red light garage, a delightful restaurant with license plates all over the ceiling that doubles as an antique shop. we ate breakfast there on the way to idaho, and we walked over there again on sunday night to see if we could watch the seahawks game. (the house didn't have cable or internet and the seahawks were playing the 49ers for the NFC championship, so basically the entire state of washington was chomping at the bit to see the game -- us included.) 

no one was inside except the owners and another couple, and the restaurant wasn't even actually open but they let us come in to watch the game and they made food for us! hudson started getting fussy toward the start of the 4th quarter and i wanted to leave, but the owners turned down the lights and told me to put him to sleep there. ha! it was so fun and such a memorable way to watch the game -- especially when the seahawks WON and now they're going to the super bowl!! 

if you're ever passing through wallace, i highly recommend paying a visit to the red light garage. 

after six more hours on monday we were finally home! we arrived to find a sunny seattle and it felt SO good to be home. twelve hours later, b left on a business trip to boston -- so he didn't get to relax much, but the boys and i got right back to our regular routine. it was great to see my family and i miss them already, but it feels nice to be home. 

valentine swap

i hardly ever blog here anymore (my life is now documented via instagram -- who's got the time for blogging?) but i really hardly ever blog over on the stationery place, the stationery blog i started back in 2008. then, every january, i make a giant comeback to orchestrate the great handmade valentine swap. this is the 4th year in a row we've done it and every year gets better and better!

sign ups are open until january 24 and we've already got close to 200 people registered -- with a TON of international swappers this year! i'm excited to see what everyone comes up with. click over for details if you want to sign up :)