We just got back from our first big trip as a family to California about a week ago. Our first stop was Joshua Tree! I wanted to explore the town a little more, and I also wanted to take Andrew to Joshua Tree National Park. I had already been there before several years ago with my family, and thought it was so beautiful. We were on a really tight schedule, but we had just enough time to drive through Joshua Tree National Park and stop at a few spots!
This past weekend, Andrew, Sage, and I did a “staycation” at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Scottsdale. It was a much-needed getaway for our little family with lots of fun activities in a beautiful desert setting! This was our first staycation together, and I have to say, it’s a super convenient way of “getting away”. We may have to do another in the future, maybe in the summer here in the Phoenix area, to take advantage of the pool! I’ll be sharing more about the hotel, its amenities, and what we did during our quick stay.
My parent’s invited us to come with them to Payson in northern Arizona for a hiking trip! The cooler weather was super nice for a few days, and I’m glad we were able to do a few more hikes before it’s too hot here in the Phoenix area. One of the hikes we went on was a total of 8 miles with Andrew carrying Sage in our Ergobaby the whole time! We were both very tired after this trip and needed several days to recover when we got back home. My favorite part of the trip was the epic view from the rim where we shot these photos of our little family! It was nice spending some family time on this quick getaway.
12 months of Sage Wylder! I’m so glad I was able to capture a photo of my baby boy each month, although it was quite the feat at times, especially once he started rolling over. He also got so long towards a year so it was hard to get all of him in the shot! I was a little relieved after his 12 month photo because I knew we would no longer have to keep this wiggle worm lying down in these shots, but it was bittersweet. I know I will cherish these photos of Sage and how much he changed in his first year.
We celebrated Sage Wylder’s first birthday party a few weeks ago and I’m so happy with how his party turned out! I knew I wanted to do a camp theme, and Andrew helped me come up with the ideas for “Sage’s Wylde One In The Woods”. The decor for his party was DIY, thrifted, or items that we already had. We worked on projects like the signs and banners a little bit every day for a few weeks to get everything done on time! We invited around 30 guests and about 25 of Sage’s guests were able to make it. My brother, his wife, and his nephew as well as my sister and her boyfriend flew in so my whole family was able to be together which was really special. A few of my mommy friends and their babies came and it was so cute watching Sage interact with them. The party went super smoothly and everyone had a great time!
We just celebrated Sage Wylder’s 1st birthday party a few weeks ago, but I still wanted to get up two more update blog posts, his nine & ten month update and his eleven and twelve month update! Momma feels like she is sooo busy all the time now. At nine months, Sage started pulling himself up to sit. On Halloween he started crawling after weeks of trying on his own without our help. Whenever we would try to help him we didn’t really get anywhere, so we kind of just let him do it when he decided to. A few days later he started pulling himself up to stand! Ever since then, things have been crazy around here ;P
How could I resist taking a few sweet photos with baby boy Sage Wylder for our first Valentine’s Day together?! I shot some photos with Andrew and I as well as a few of just Sage a few weeks ago (linked here), but I had a vision for some mommy and me Valentine’s photos and I love how they turned out! We used the same paper heart garland from the other photo shoots, and I picked up a simple bouquet at Trader Joe’s for only $5.99! I actually had picked out two bouquets that we held up for Sage to grab so he got the final say. I love the pretty peach color he went with! I wrapped the bouquet up in packing paper to give it an old-fashioned feel.
I had a vision for some cute Valentine’s photos I wanted to capture with Andrew to remember our first Valentine’s Day together! On a recent thrift trip to Goodwill, we thrifted this adorable red gingham fabric for Sage’s 1st birthday party which is coming up at the end of the month, along with several other camp-themed finds. It has a vintage feel to it that I thought would be so cute for a Valentine’s themed photoshoot! I did a quick DIY paper heart garland with twine and a hole puncher to use as a prop, which turned out perfectly. We shot these during Sage’s 1st nap, but I couldn’t resist taking some Valentine’s photos of him when he woke up!
Before I became a mom, I would see these adorable wooden play kitchens and I knew that I wanted one for my baby one day! I am so excited that Sage is finally old enough to play in his baby play kitchen from Lalo. When Sage and I were living with my parents, he loved watching his abuelita cooking. Now, he loves watching my partner Andrew in the kitchen. Andrew is a chef, and we have already started involving Sage in the kitchen when we are cooking. When he is old enough, he has a wooden tower that will allow him to work at the counter with us. For now, he seems to really enjoy banging around his baby play kitchen with his food and toy sets he got for Christmas!
I thought I would share a roundup of Valentine’s gift ideas for him, her, and for toddlers! As a first time mom, I was the most excited to put together a Valentine’s gift guide for toddlers. I had a lot of fun working on that one, so I hope you guys enjoy it! It’s always a little tricky finding things that aren’t just candy or a little too cheesy. As always, I try to offer ideas for gifts that are classic and timeless. There is something for everyone’s budget as well!
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