i always envisioned myself as a mama to the toddler with the long hair + a slouchy beanie.
jonboy pictured his son in cutoffs + a shoelace belt. {just like himself}

it’s kind of funny how things end up.
let me explain.

we couldn’t find a shoelace small enough for a newborn so jon ended up taking the leather one
right out of his church shoes + putting it in the hospital bag.
you bet we took it to the hospital. right along with the striped beanie that i bought the day we found out j was a boy.
the same beanie that i dreamed of him wearing every single night until he got here.
ironically, it still has the tag on it.
did you know jonah came out with a full head of grownup hair?
it wasn’t thin or spotty + it never fell out either. {so many people told me it would}
we were smitten by his locks from day one. i hated to cover it up, so i never did.
which is the exact reason why he despises hats now. hoods included.
he finds it rather amusing when i try to put one on him.
ay carumba!
it drives me crayyyzaaay.

you win the hat battle, mr. too cool for school in your striped pants.
but i’m telling you right now, the day you discover the key to your mama’s heart, it’s game over for all of us.

moral of this lengthy pointless awesome story ::
i am the one to blame for j’s hat hating heart + i will stop complaining now.
jonah gets his style from his dad.
+ roll with the punches.
that is all.

ps ::  he got the lid off his sippy by himself. not to be mistaken for a slobber ring.

living a few blocks from the temple is the perfect excuse for a visit.
even though we don’t make it down there nearly as often as we’d like, it sure is b e a u t i f u l when we do.
the workers wrapping the lights on the tree were a sweet little reminder that christmas is right around the corner.
have you seen temple square at christmas time?
good gracious, i can hardly wait.

i know things have been a little dry around here lately.

thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your kind words + recognition.
my heart is full.

{ instagram // gparrish }

i’m in denial.
little j is not so little anymore.
look at him, he’s huge.
i mean, he’s mature + stuff.
he throws away his own diapers + takes off his shirt for the bath.
he knows where the broom is, jumps off the coffe table when you count to three,
+ flushes the toilet nineteen times a day.

jon has a l w a y s been gung ho for long hair on our boys.
i’m glad he stuck to his guns on this one. the longer it gets, the more it grows on me.
he’s in the heat of the awkward length stage + totally owning it.
it accentuates his jon jr. personality. i tell ya, the kid’s a natural entertainer.

let us pray that he softens up to wearing a beanie before the snow finds us.
a beanie jonah is a must on our christmas card this year.

dear dannika,

jonah + i have been looking through the picts we took when you last came to see us.
we have come to the conclusion that we miss you!
we are proud of you, but we miss you an awful lot.
it’s like you go + break your phone. how do you expect us to stay sane without you?

keep following your dreams, you have touched so many along the way.
we are counting down the days for the road-trips out to watch you dominate.
keep on keepin’ on little d.
weekends aren’t the same without you.
but you are where you need to be!

love,
ginger + jonah j

last week we schemed the greatest surprise-attack that logan has ever seen.
they didn’t see us coming + boy did it feel GREEEEEAAAAT!
{i had frosted flakes for breakfast today, thank you very much}
we drove up there in the middle of the day + didn’t tell anyone.
i wish i knew more about videography, because the look on kylee’s face was worth a million bucks.
grandma finally got to take jonah to pick out a punkin at the pumpkin patch.
she has only been waiting to do that all summer.
he left with one in each hand + a permagrin painted on his mug.
those two make up the dreamteam, an unstoppable pair.
if you haven’t noticed, my mom is theee bees kneeees!
lucky me. lucky jonah. especially lucky me.
happy fall ya’ll.

my new friend, sharon garofalow from cupcakes + cutlery
tagged me to participate in this nifty blogging chain.
i am honored and still a little giddy that i was chosen.

enjoy my q + a.
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can your life be best described as a ballard, rock or film score? 
rock! i’m married to a total rockstar.

what would you do if you had an elephant in your back yard? 
instagram it immediately, then call jon.
we don’t really have a backyard.
but i’d guess that we would turn it in to a competition of some kind.
something like whoever gets 10 peanuts from the guest bedroom window
into the elephant’s trunk first, wins a 5 minute back tickle.
we are weird, i know.

what is your favorite TV show, past or present? 
REVENGE was the last craze we went through.
it’s slightly embarrassing how many shows we have whizzed through on netflix in a week.

what is your favorite beverage. any + all included?
i love a good raspberry lemonade with frozen raspberry chunks + an extra lemon on top.
pizza factory lemonade is the best in the west.
you will always find bottled water, kroger crystal light {smith’s version}
grape gatorade + dr pepper in our white fridge.
i enjoy anything with ‘poop’ ice in it. ya know that little pebble ice stuff? heaven sent.
a poop ice machine is number one on our want list. dear santa?

who would play you in the hollywood version of your life?
kelly rippa.
jonboy told me i looked like her on our second date!
it obviously went straight to my head.

if you could take 3 other people along with you on a tropical vacation, who would you take?
jon, jonah + my mom.

what is the first concert you ever attended? 
i want to say copeland. i could be wrong – – it feels like 100 years have passed since then.

you have 1 hour in a mall with no kids. what store do you go to? 
crate + barrel.
e v e r y single time we go in there jonah throws an over the moon tantrum.
i can’t imagine what it would be like without him.

what is a quirk of your’s that we might not know about? 
i have a treat dish in every room of our home.
i am addicted to candy. i hate chocolate, but i love candy.
i prefer to call it a treat > candy.
i know i could beat any + all of you in a treat eating contest, any day of the week.
i’ll make it easier with one hand tied behind my back + blindfolded.
sour patch kids are the bees knees.

when do you start your christmas shopping?
yesterday.
i hit up the peek kids sale + blamed it on christmas.
heaven knows i won’t be able to keep it in the closet that long, but i will try my darndest.

if you could wish for one frivolous trait for yourself, what would it be? 
to laugh loud.
when i am laughing r e a l l y hard the ground shakes, but it’s dead silent.
i hiccup louder than i laugh.
hiccups are the giveaway that i am laughing and not having a seizure.
my sisters are the same way so you can imagine all of us laughing together.
e a r t h q u a k e
we get it from our mama.
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so, that’s me!
here are the rules that come along with this gig.
i tag 11 bloggers that i want to know more about.

these are the pals i chose ——– >> 
emi of c&e   |   cara of caraloren’   |   sharstin of me&mine   |  elase of thelittelovebirds   |   lauren of busybeelauren   |
alycia of thecrowleyparty   |   dana of danamadeit   |  kenzie of freckledfacemama   |   kylee of champlinlife   |   nichelle of  vintagewannabe   |  sara of wherethebuffaloplay

now you guys get to do the following:
post these rules //
answer 11 questions the tagger posted for you.
create 11 questions to ask the people you tag.
tag 11 people.
let them know you’ve tagged them.

here are your questions :
1 / what do you wish you were better at saying no to?
2 / what do you love most about where you live?
3 / who would you nominate as person of the year + why?
4 / what makes your skin crawl?
5 / what was your first job?
6 / name your top 3 restaurants.
7 / would you rather age forward or backwards from this point forward?
8 / how do you measure success?
9 / describe yourself in 3 words?
10 / what is the very best smelling perfume?
11 / do you prefer to read, write, or run in your free time?

easy as pie.
good luck lovelies!

after the usu//byu game on friday we drove to vegas.
jonah slept like a newborn
jon free styled to the lorax
+ i inhaled 88 grape fruity tooties in approximately two minutes.

we have been all about the road trip lifestyle lately.
something about fall + the changing leaves sucks us in every time.
{not that the vegas drive has much of that to offer, but you know what i mean}
this is also the excuse for my blogging drought. sorry about that.
we wanted to keep our conference tradition alive with g + b.

wasn’t conference absolutely i n c r e d i b l e ?
i am up here on cloud 9 soaking in my spiritual high, hope you don’t mind.
the older i get, the more i appreciate the gospel in my life.
especially general conference.
i’m grateful that my parents taught me its importance at such a young age.
i pray that i will do the same for my children.

we went to the pumpkin patch.
pumpkins, cotton candy, palm trees AND a petting zoo all in one?
i tell you what, vegas is taking fall to a new level!
we watched conference.
we shopped the district + went to a movie,
we introduced jonah to raising canes + ate dinner with the eliason’s.
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a mere 28 hours later, we were back in the car on our way home.
just.like.that.

thank you greg + britt for another exceptional weekend in vegas!