life according to my iphone lately

baby gavin !! (thats one of my best friend's rachel's son). he is SO adorable its unbelievable. he will be one in two weeks. i can't believe how fast time has gone by this year and im not even his mom! i must say that i am a very proud auntie though.

also i have pictures of myself with my little sister addison. she is adopted from china. she is so cute and smart. we went to a hockey game with my dad that night (he's in one of the pictures as well). at the hockey game we decided to have a little sisterly photoshoot. there were about a billion more pictures of just us but i love the ones i put up the most.

then there is baby lyla.

at last but not least, my small weekend getaway to utah. my cousin annie and i went to this little luncheon lodge place while everyone else went sledding. we were just too cold to be outside!

life according to my iphone as of christmas

kitty phelps.

one of my best friends (and the prettiest mama i know) rachel. 

me reading a christmas letter to baby gavin written by moi. 

kitty leo. 

sister addi reading her new book. 

my daddy. 

christmas tree at my dad's house. 

addi's new guitar.

ps that leifsdoddir dress i am wearing is one of my most favorite dresses. i acquired it from anthropologie.

boise trip circa july 2011

sorry for the delay of these photos as well. i got to see so many wonderful, beautiful people while i was home last month and finally made my decision to move home as soon as possible. im back in boise this very moment visiting right now and (so excited at this news) getting a new car, but hopefully ill be all moved back by the end of september. wish me luck. enjoy!

a trip to the capitol and the capital

so last friday my cousin dianna and her husband chaz came to town. they were visiting chaz's sister and his other family that he has here. i was so excited because i knew they were going to go explore and do some fun things and i really wanted to tag along. anyways we ended up venturing into the capitol and the capital. im not quite sure which one goes to which...is capitol the city or is that the building? HELP!

 this was obviously the most interesting artifact there considering it was invisible. apparently the person who wrote that note thought it needed to be more detailed though.

wouldn't it be so much easier if we picked which bills were passed by spinning this wheel?

i love the note that the first person wrote. if you can't read it it says "i wannah go home. i hate this place." that was HILARIOUS. also, this is chaz's sister's baby riley. i feel like the caption should be "ORDER IN THE COURT!"

"here bend down in front of us like you're our child." -cousin dianna...obviously you can see that the fourth picture in this box is most definitely the most flattering photo of me EVER.

After this we went out to eat at a place by the baseball field called "Cooperstown." imagine alice cooper + baseball + sports + sports grill food + insane loudness...and you've got cooperstown. i got a hamburger and it was pretty good! but my favorite was the onion rings that my cousin dianna ordered. mmm.

after cooperstown, we drove back to tempe and we went to chaz's other sister's little boutique. its called "ivy boutique" and she resells higher end clothing with brands such as BCBG, True Religion, Joe's, and some Anthropologie/Free People brands. it was really cute! there was one dress there (a BCBG) that i absolutely adored. i would have gotten it too buttttt alas...i didnt have the money to get it :(

my big adventure !

on sunday, april 3rd, 2011, i set out on my big adventure to Tempe, Arizona, so that I could start my new life here. I stopped in draper, Utah (a little town south of salt lake city) and arrived at approximately 11:06 pm! it only took me a record 4 hours and 50 minutes and i hardly sped at all. in fact I jut drove with the flow of traffic but it ended up bein such good timing !

I cried alot and I mean a lot when I said bye to my mom. Sunday she went to church early just so she could spend time with me before I left. so after church we went to breakfast, then I went and got my oil changed. afterwards I went and bought "tangled" because my little sister got it for me as an early birthday present, and then i went and said bye to my sisters. holy heavens I miss them so dearly. I cried when I said bye to them too...I cried a lot this day! after that I went home and packed up my entire car and the said bye to mom. then bye to cricky. then bye to sabra. I miss my best friends so much! I want to convince them to move here !!

here are a few pictures from me starting my roadtrip:













okay so I guess since it was dark out I didn't take pictures driving from Boise to salt lake, but I did try to take quite a few from salt lake to Tempe. ps if you're wondering why I took a picture of the bed...my aunt and uncle have this huge bed i slept in. I'm only 5'3" (barely) and the bed came up to the middle of my chest. I swear. I loved it ! they were so kind for letting me stay overnight ! thank you aunt kathy and uncle steve

here's what I have from salt lake to Tempe:




























and I just want to add on this last photo here, where that railing is, well that stops people from driving over a cliff that has got to be at least 1000 feet tall! it was beautiful. it made me think of lion king when rafiki holds up simba for all the animals to see. oh goodness...I would compare it to that wouldn't I?

the last few days in Boise

I am SOOO sorry it has taken me this long to finally start blogging about being here. i currently don't have a computer so getting to one to write is almost nearly impossible. thank goodness though that I found an app on my phone and it let's me write blogs and insert pictures ! but it's a lot harder to do so if it at first the entry doesn't look super great...bare with me :)

anyways here are some photos of my last days in Boise ! as you could see earlier the last three weeks there I worked at my mom best friend jen's daycare (which was so fun ! she has SUCH a beautiful center.) and i played a lot of dogopoly ! but I also went to my dads and said bye to him, my little sister addi, and my stepmom ruthie. we got my favorite pizza in Boise along with my favorite salad in Boise from Protos ! and we watched princess and the frog. it was addis movie choice but with my love for disneyI was so happy she chose that. she really is a little sister after my own heart!

dear mom,

well hello...this weekend has been...hard, to say the least. ive had lots of things happen that i didnt expect but i know that everything has happened for the best. ive cried a lot and been extremely sad and thank goodness that this person has constantly been there for me.

my mom.

she has been so supportive and amazing to me these past few days. she has shown me unconditional, irreplaceable love. she has just been a wonderful mom. all the times i have mistreated her make me so sad to think about now because when i have needed her most ... she has been there. no questions asked. she put our bad memories aside and has helped me to face a lot of hardships this weekend. 

she has helped me to see that i have a gift that i need to share with people. she has showed me that i need to get out of boise, and start figuring out how to find more of myself. she has shown me that i need to regain focus in my life, and learn how to be happy. she has helped me to see that i need to start believing in myself and learn how to love myself and respect myself. these next few weeks and months im going to need all the support i can get and i am so thankful that i have her right by my side. no words can express my gratitude and appreciation for the mother i have. i love her with all my heart. thank you for all you have done for me. 

i love you mom.

 [the first photo is of her and my aunt.]
[the fourth photo is of my mom with her boyfriend, tim. he makes her really, really happy.]

dear pop pop, you are dearly missed.

dear grandpa,

not a day goes by that i don't miss you. you were quite the character. always keeping us entertained by something you were saying or doing. you were an amazing man. i mean you helped raise ten children and not to mention the basically twenty grandchildren as well. i'll never forget the way you'd yell up the stairs "HEY UHHH KAIII-LEIGH!" i think bo may be the only person to do one of the best impressions of you doing that. 

 you gave me my love for new york city and for me i cannot thank you enough for that. you helped provide me with a love for gardening because you helped share that love of gardening with my dad. in turn, he shared that passion with me. 

if there's one thing i wish i had more of...it was more time with you. i wish i could have given you more hugs. i wish that i could have sat down with you and talked more. but i'll never forget the times i did have with you. and i will never forget when we were at the diner and you said "i like my women how i like my coffee...BLACK." only you grandpa. only you :) you didn't care what anyone thought of you. you set a great example for me to follow. you were just you and you didn't care what anyone thought about that. 

i am proud to say i am in our family. i love being a gibbons :) you were (and are) so wonderful. thank you for the many ways you have made an impact on my life. thank you so much for the wonderful family you created. thank you so much (again) for my love of new york city.

i love you so much. i hope that heaven's gardens are looking fabulous :)

LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU EVERYDAY. 

rest in peace james francis gibbons.

february 13th, 2010.

 

 my granpda is on the far left.

 

on the far left again. such a handsome grandfather i have.

 

the 3rd from the left. black suit. such a classy man :)

 with my uncle jimmy and cousin bo.

with my dad and sister addison. one of the last times we saw him.

with aunt jen at my grandpa's favorite place. the shore :)

just laying in bed with aunt nancy

for grandpas birthday i went to new jersey. we threw his ashes into the ocean (don't tell anyone!) and so this is my grandpa. literally. i love this photo :)

 granpda's house that all my family grew up in. 40 kipling way.