GENDER REVEAL!

This second pregnancy has been totally opposite of how it was with Dodger, so needless to say, I was 99% sure that meant it HAD to be a girl! So, I was completely and utterly shocked when I saw blue peaking out of the surprise box. It seriously took me the rest of the night to actually convince myself it was a boy, because I had been calling our baby a girl this entire time and even pretty set on naming her Indie! haha The next morning I woke up soo incredibly happy I was wrong and that it was a boy, because I couldn't be more excited to have two boys! To have a brother so close in age to Dodger, will be so much fun, and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to bring another little man into this world. We can't wait to smooch and love on our new bundle of joy!

The due date is October 25th, and that seems so soon to me right now, most likely due to the fact that we are also building a house and I am completely set on having this damn house done before I birth our baby! So, pretty much Im hoping to keep him in my belly until we are done with construction and its definitely cutting it close, because we'll be lucky to be done by October. Building in the tiny town of Moab, has proven to be an extremely slow process.

Side note- I have a super adorable video of the entire reveal, but the internet and my computer hate me, and refuse to load it to my blog. So hopefully I figure out how to get it on here soon, but until then...

here are a few photos of the day!! 

BODY SCRUBS THAT WILL CHANGE YO LIFE!

I'm not kidding you when I say, I'm addicted to body scrubs! There was honestly a time (about six months ago) when I thought I might have a serious scrub problem, because I was using my homemade scrubs every single day...and let me just say...my skin is fabulous because of it! It's the best addiction I've ever had.

My all time favorite is the coffee and cinnamon scrub...it makes me drool just thinking of it. Not only does it give my skin such a smoothness and radiance, but it also helps tighten my skin and reduces the appearance of my stretch marks/scars/cellulite and who the hell doesn't want that!

So, today I've teamed up with Mom.me to provide all you beautiful ladies with a quick tutorial video on how to make your own scrubs at home the way I do!

Take a peek!

A big thank you to Mom.me!

MOAB ADVENTURES

MOAB.

My husband was born and raised in Moab, and like a lot of people in this town, it's been his families home for generations. Like seriously, I don't think people born in Moab ever actually leave, and if they do..they always come back!

It's become quite the tourist spot the past couple decades, so needless to say its crazy expensive to live here...Like ridiculously expensive! so I never thought we'd be able to live here. It was always a nice dream to move our little family to Moab one day to be closer to family, but we figured we'd most likely stay in Southern Utah because we loved it there so much! It was a huge surprise when Matt applied for a great electrician job up here on a whim and we we're shocked two months after he applied when they finally called and hired him. 

We sold our house and moved into our in laws home in Moab, while we build a new home here. Of course, the move here was straight out of a some wretched nightmare. Our toy hauler, filled with all of our belongings, flipped on the freeway and completely destroyed almost everything inside. I'm starting to believe we can't go through any big life changes without experiencing a car accident too. We might be cursed! No big deal. But we're also so blessed. No one was hurt in the accident and what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. (I know that's extra cheesy but it's totally true!)



I have been visiting Moab every few months since I started dating Matt, seven years ago. Unfortunately, our family is extra lame and apparently don't like to go do all the touristy things around town, instead we like to just sit at home and eat and get fat. But who doesn't like to do that? So I've never really seen Moab like it should be seen, and therefore I've made it my goal to go do everything this little town has to offer now that we live here!

Moab is gorgeous. It's small with a population of only about 5,000 people, but boy does it pack a whole lot of beauty all around it.

I'm not going to sugar coat it or lie, this move has been incredibly stressful for me. Southern Utah was the longest I've ever lived anywhere, and for someone who's family moved more than 20 times in 6 different states before I was 16, staying in one place felt so good to me. I didn't want to leave all my beautiful friends and I especially didn't want to leave the comfort of a city I knew so well. But living in Moab has so many perks, and I want my Dodger boy to grow up the way his daddy did. Surrounded by loving family, and growing up in a small town gives you a life you just can't get anywhere else.

To help relieve the anxiety and stress that comes with selling our home, moving, building a home, car accidents, and dealing with a million other things being thrown our way, I have to kick myself outside so I don't just sit in my Pj's and watch netflix until all my stresses are gone (and I have a feeling stressful crap will happen to me for the rest of my life, so I better not bank on it every going away haha) I've made it a priority to get Dodger and I out everyday exploring every little part of Moab, so I can fall in love with this place and really make it my home and my families home. We've only been around to a few little areas, but I'm already madly in love with the landscape and the people here. It's such a cute and quirky vibe in Moab, and I think it fits us pretty perfect!

Of course, because I can't help it, I snap photos every time we go on a little adventure! So here's what we've been up to lately in photographs....

Throwing rocks into the icy creek, because that was the obvious choice as soon as we walked by it.



Kickin' dirt around with his big boy boots and looking like he's all grown up!



He does this a lot. Climbs big rocks, then chickens out as soon as he stands up and proceeds to demand mommy to come get him.



I feel like this is a glimpse into how his future flirting with chicks will look like.
"How you doin'?"



He's got mad jumping skills...well sorta haha



Exploring "Hole in the rock"





Climbing.



Rolling in the leaves!





Always chasing him around!

RED RIDING HOOD

It's the first week in October, so obviously the only thing I can think about is the ever approaching holiday, Halloween!

My excitement for the spookiest day of the year started creeping in on me weeks ago when one of my best friends asked me to model for her Halloween photoshoot. Obviously my immediate response to her request was "fetch yes!". Who would say no to that? No sane person would. So we began plotting and planning for the exciting upcoming shoot and I've been dying ever since to see the final product. 

I knew the photos where going to turn out great, but I had no clue they were going to be "I've got chills down my back and butterflies in my tummy" great!

The level of talent and pure epicness that Chelsy Boucher possesses is completely jaw dropping. Not only is she a stunning person, but she has magical photography powers. Her work is gorgeous and I feel so lucky to have just been a part of this shoot.

She trusted me enough to style the shoot and to figure out the Red Riding Hood outfit, which was so fun! I convinced my grandma to sew up a cape from the red velvet fabric I bought from Joanne Fabrics (it took her an hour to sew) and I rented the red dress from Rent The Runway. Easiest costume to throw together and it turned out absolutely perfect!

What really turned my cape and dress into a full blown Red Riding Hood Costume was Blow Beauty.

They hands down have the best hair and makeup team EVER! They did an absolutely unreal job on my hair and makeup. I don't think I could ever get ready for Halloween without them ever again. Thank you to Julie and Chantry for being my glam squad!

So I'll stop typing now and just get to the good stuff....

I hope you love the photos as much as I do!

HOW TO HAVE THE PERFECT TRIP IN TULUM MEXICO

Vacations rarely go as planned. 

Luckily, if you're with the right person, it doesn't ever matter.

I'm crazy grateful I have a person like that. My hubby. He could be lit on fire, and not complain about his flesh melting off of him. I know that seems like a graphic way to say he never complains, but it really seemed like the only way to go. 

He's annoyingly easy going. So am I. So we usually have a blast no matter what we are doing, or we get stuck in the lobby of our resort discussing what to do because we are so damn easy going that no one can make a decision, but we still have a good time just sitting around being annoyingly indecisive. We're those people. 

Yeah.

Point is...there are a million "what to do in Fill in the blank" or a "Complete Guide to Fill in another stupid blank" out there on the world wide web. If you're like me, you read every single one of them you can find before you leave for a trip. I even read the incredibly irrelevant and absolutely unhelpful "What to pack" lists. 

So Im going to do the unpopular thing and tell you to...FORGET ABOUT THE DAMN LISTS! In my experience, vacations never go like the guy who writes a big travel blog told me they would. I'm sure it's just me and everyone else who read the "lists" experience the exact thing that list told you, you would experience. So just ignore me, if you're that person. For anyone else out there, here's my advice and what I learned from our AMAZING trip to Tulum, Mexico!

Go with the flow and don't over stress about doing exactly what you imagined you would do on your trip. I really wanted to swim with the sea turtles, and I had read online that you could do this on your own instead of booking a tour. So when we got there we actually befriended one of the locals that worked at our resort and he took us to the "turtle" beach to snorkel with the sea turtles! We ended up spending about $30 US dollars on each snorkel set, so I suggest either bringing your own or being ok with purchasing some there and then bringing them home with you. 

The first 30 mins of snorkeling I was so focused on finding sea turtles that I wasn't really soaking in the experience like I should have been. Once I realized this, I started to really appreciate all the beautiful living creatures lurking beneath me and it was an amazing experience! My husband was the only one who saw a giant sea turtle (of course I wasn't around when he saw it haha) So I didn't end up seeing any sea turtles, but I did see so many beautiful fish and the gorgeous reef that surrounded us! It was truly one of the highlights of the trip.

It seemed as if the tour boats were a bit further out in the water and I think that's probably the sweet spot for the turtles, so a tour might be the way to go, in order to swim with the turtles. Otherwise, doing your own thing, like us, was a great way to do it too! I like being adventurous and it seemed like a truly authentic way to experience Tulum, so decide which type of adventure you'd most likely enjoy and go with that!

We went during "seaweed season" (July) which honestly didn't really bug us at all, but it did get a bit annoying to continuously have to jump across a river bed of seaweed to get to and from the ocean to the other side of the beach. Even though there was tons of seaweed, we had fun looking at all the hermit crabs living in them, and the beach was gorgeous even with the seaweed!

ps. I have no idea why I look like I'm doing some weird arm dance in the ocean....

My guy.

There was a little area off to the side of the resort beach that had these gorgeous rocks popping out.

You can see the seaweed in the background of the above photo ^

Our resort was truly amazing. We stayed at the Catalonia Royal Tulum Resort and it was wonderful! The staff was incredibly attentive and sweet. The room was very clean and the air conditioning was sooo amazing after being in the heat and humidity all day. It's an all inclusive resort, so the drinks were top notch and the bartenders were hilarious. The food, not so great, but I eat anything so I didn't mind too much. Plus it kept me from eating too much and getting fat on our trip haha

We thought we would inevitably be spending about $500-$1000 on just random things after we got to Mexico, so we figured we would keep to a reasonably priced resort. 

After we got home, we realized we had only spent about $300 on miscellaneous things, so in retrospect, I wish we would have just splurged a bit at the beginning and went with the Fairmont Mayakoba Resort I had been eyeballing and pleading with my husband over. Next time we come, I am definitely staying at the Mayakoba.

Below are a few photos of us at the pool and lounging around the resort we stayed at.

Stopped at one of the pretty bridges inside the resort on our way to dinner one night.

One of the coolest things about the Catalonia Resort is that they built their entire resort around existing jungle and wildlife. These little Coates where everywhere and absolutely adorable!

Another big tip....BOOK A TOUR. You basically have to if you want to go do anything you see online, besides going to the ruins. If you go to the ruins, definitely go on your own. Take a van ride (they'll pick you up right outside your resort and it's $3 US dollars to ride anywhere) and then you can explore the ruins on your own and you're not forced to be there for 2 hours in the scorching heat.

We learned the hard way that you can't just go do everything on your own though. Most activities are located inside "parks" and the only way to do the stuff you want to do is to book a tour one day in advanced. A tour that we almost booked that included Sea Turtles, ATV riding, Cenote diving, Repelling, and a whole lot more I can't remember, would have cost us $80 each if we would have booked with the nice fellow at our resort trying to convince us to book.

We figured he was full of crap and we would be smart travelers instead of falling for his tricks. We tried to go on our own and figured out the Xplor park was closed on Sunday and besides that, most the parks demanded you book a tour or you couldn't get in. The only park you can just walk around and do what you want on a Sunday was the Xel-Ha park. We paid a whopping $130 each and didn't really do any "activities". We still had a blast, but didn't end up doing anything we thought we would. 

So we came out of it being naive Americans who thought they knew everything. Oops!

Because we just relaxed and had fun with it, it was an amazing time even though nothing went as we thought it would. So I figure the biggest piece of advice I can give anyone, would be, JUST RELAX! Go with the flow. Vacation should be just that, a vacation. Forget about the "to do" lists and just live in the moment with your loved ones. That is whats going to make your vacation perfect. At least, perfect for you.

The ruins.

Bicycling in the Xel-Ha park.

Thanks for reading my nonsense advice and I hope that if you do end up planning a trip to the gorgeous Tulum, Mexico, that you have one hell of an adventure!