I am cracking up, because I honestly don't look that blonde in these pictures. When I first saw it, it felt like a huge change. I haven't gotten my hair bleached this much in probably 8 years. It felt good to lighten it up & get back into the blonde game again. I was born blonde and pretty much maintained that color until high school. There, I experimented with every color out there: light blonde, black, chocolate brown, red, dirty blonde. I decided to call it quits around 2011 and let my natural color come through. Man it was wayyy darker than I thought it would be. After having Harper, it basically got 3 shades darker. The darker it got, the less like myself I felt. I am so happy to have light hair again and just feel like me! Plus a fresh cut can't ever do you wrong. I'm loving short hair & I don't think I'll ever grow it out again. Not sure what my next hair color will be. Lighter, darker? I'm thinking maybe 6 months from now to go lighter. Comment down below what you think. Also if I had it my way, I'd dye my hair pink. Taylor told me he'd disown me though soo... I might have to hold off until he owes me a favor ;) 

xo, Carly

This last weekend we were able to celebrate Taylor's sister Hannah's wedding. She was so gracious to ask me to be her Maid of Honor. I am so bummed I didn't grab any pictures with her on my phone, but regardless it was a total blast. She looked absolutely stunning & her wedding turned out perfect! Nicole & Kev were the best friends ever and came. Nicole helped set up the whole thing & Kev stayed later with Taylor taking everything down. I seriously love them both to pieces. I don't know what I am going to do if we don't live next to each other our whole lives. 

This trip was such a quick one. We flew into Burbank on Thursday night and flew home to Salt Lake on Sunday afternoon. It was BUSY! We didn't get to see or spend enough time with everyone we wanted to, but it was still such a special trip.

On the plane ride down, Harper held our hands during take off. It was so precious. She was such an amazing girl during all the traveling. I can't believe how much of a trooper she was. When we landed, we got to back to Grandpa Upton's house to go swimming. Harper had total blast. From then on our days were filled with setting up the wedding and running errands. Harper again was such a trooper. I can't believe how big of a girl she is getting. 

The wedding was absolute magic. Harper was prancing around like a little fairy smelling all her flowers and rolling around in the dirt. I am glad I got a picture of her in this dress before it got totally destroyed by dirt, leaves, and waffle toppings. It sure is hard being an almost two year old. During Hannah & Fischer's wedding, I kept having flashbacks to mine and Taylor's special day 4 years ago. I can't believe how lucky I am to have found him. He really is my whole world. 

Hannah & Fischer asked me to give a speech for their wedding. I was so nervous and had so much I wanted to share with them. Due to nerves and time, I didn't get to share everything I wrote to them. So I plan on sending it over to them. But I also thought it would be cool to share it on here so that every one would get a chance to read what I have to say about marriage. I don't know everything. But I do know a thing or two. Being married for a few years, growing my testimony in Christ, and majoring in Marriage Studies has taught me a lot. I hope you can take something out of it & apply it to your own life. So here it is:

Ice Cream. My one true love. Seriously I love it more than cake, cookies, & cookie cake. It's divine. Since the new semester has started, I get to be at home with Harper on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Which is the best ever. I finally feel like a real mom again. I don't know how so many moms work long hours away from home. It killed me. Now I get to be home with Harper 4 out of 7 days of the week. It is so much better for both of us. Yesterday, Harper was being such a good girl. She was behaving when I was running and errands and doing things around the house, she was such a little angel. We were going to pick up Taylor 

So our best friends left us. We've been friends with these two for nearly 4 years now. We met them when they moved next door to us in our first apartment complex. They had only been married for two weeks. We fell in love with them from the start. Since being friends, we haven't spent more than a few months away from each other. But for the first time ever, we won't be living in the same place for a long long time. Taylor and I are finishing up our degrees in Idaho. Nicole and Kevin are doing summer sales in CA, then off to Utah for some post-bachelor classes. Then Taylor and I will be applying for graduate school and Kevin will be heading to dental school. So we will have a lot of years apart. Thankfully we both have family in CA, so we can hopefully see eachother during the holiday season. But I just want to cry thinking that Nicole and I won't be together when we are having babies and experiencing life. She is my soul sister. I am going to miss her so much. I might just kidnap her ;)

We decided to go on one last adventure before they moved. We were going to go to Mesa Falls, a gorgeous waterfall near us, but it was snowed in! The roads were closed and we couldn't go. Snow in April, like where do we live? Anyway, instead we had an impromptu snowball fight and I pretty much got destroyed. After, we decided to drive around and find a cool place to chill and take pictures. We found the cutest bridge and I got up the courage to hop on top of it with Taylor. I am terrified of heights so this was a big deal okay? haha. We had a ton of fun & decided to end the day at the park. Harper absolutely loved it. We hopped on the swings and were just hanging out. At one point I was getting really high and Harper was starting to run near me. I was so scared I was going to hit her that I jumped off. Needless to say I didn't land gracefully. I landed right on my back/side. Literally, those who know me well, know that this is so my life. I am so freaking accident prone.

We spent a few last nights with Kev and Nicole before they left. Seriously they are the kindest, most generous people on this planet. I adore them so much. Nicole thanks for being my girl. You give the best gifts and laugh at all my jokes. You see the good in everyone and everything. Kevin thanks for being my hubs best friend. You support him, encourage him, and whatever else you boys do haha. You both are an amazing aunt and uncle to Harper. You are just the best ever. The most inclusive, the most understanding, the most fun. We love you forevsssssss. Please move by us.

xo, Carly

Taylor and I have made it a priority to have more Family Home Evenings this year. If you don't know what that is, its basically a time during the week that you set a part to spend with your family. We set an hour or two or three or how ever many we want to sing songs, learn about Jesus, tell stories, plan for the week, and do a fun activity. Most LDS families do this on Monday, but this Monday we forgot. Ooops. But we still set some time aside later in the week to spend together. Taylor, the fun parent, wanted to go down to the lake and skip rocks. That whole week him and Harper had been collecting rocks that he thought would work well for skipping. Like is he the cutest dad or what? So we went down to the lake and skipped some rocks. It was so muddy and totally disgusting if I'm being honest. But we all loved it. Harper had a blast exploring and rolling around in the sand. She even tried to dive in the water to chase after the ducks haha. Being the accident prone one in the family: I stepped into a sink hole. My entire shoe and foot were covered in mud. Taylor got some good laughs out of it. It was so fun taking time to enjoy the quiet and listen to the little sounds of nature around us. I wish we could do it more. 

xo, Carly