so grateful.

i'm grateful for this boy. my sweet love. i'm grateful that God let us be together.

i'm grateful for our future family, and our whole lives forever together.

for all the happiness that we're blessed to experience.

that we get to know that God loves us and wants us to be so happy, no matter what stinkers we are.

i'm grateful for my family and for my burke's family. i missed mine today, but thoroughly enjoyed burke's. they treat me like their own, and i love them for it.

i missed my family's crazy ways, and i'm so grateful that we're all a little bit nutty.

i'm so grateful that everyone is alive and well.

my heart aches to be with my loved ones that are too far...but, i'm so grateful that i can trust that God is taking care of everyone.

i'm so grateful for all the beauty of the earth, for every creature that God let's us love.

for fresh crisp fall days.

for breath-taking sunsets.

for cute new puppies cuddling on my lap.

for the promise of warm days...in just a few months.

for yum-town food.

for the beautiful work of talented people's hands.

for creativity.

for good literature.

and amazing music.

most of all, i'm grateful for the hope of the future.

some exciting news...

some of you may know that we have been babysitting a little puppy for animal ark (the pet store i work at) for about 2 months now. we fell in love with her from the get-go. she is darling. we decided to call her something generic, to try and remain unattached. we named her sweet pea, but we became attached anyways.

when i first brought her home, she was having a hypoglycemic attack. i saved her little life more than once...and i think that she knows it. her price tag was too much for us, otherwise we wouldn't have thought twice about keeping her for good. it broke our hearts to think of her leaving. everyday we would explain to her that she wasn't really ours.

last week i took her back to the store to hopefully be bought by a loving family. i was telling the store owner that i was going to see if my mom could buy her...and, that's when she told me that i could just have her! i couldn't even believe it. on my break i called burke and he could not believe it either. he told me to double-check and make for sure for sure that she really meant it. i think that i've asked my boss about five times since then.

it's true though. it's a dream come true. we get to keep our little sweet pea. (i'm still not sure if i want to keep that name, but burke said, "no, she is sweet pea," so seriously that i think it's for good). isn't her fro killing you? her personality matches that little fro - she is spunky, sassy, and too smart for her own good! she's a poo-chi (that's poodle-chihuahua) which is one of my favorite mix-breed names. you could say that she's an intelligent chihuahua or a cuddly poodle. she is the perfect dog-child addition to our little family.

do you see sweet pea spooning kira? too funny.

she gets along with frita and kira so well. it's hilarious. they have a dog.town throwdown like every night. they all play so well together. the best is when they all chase each other doing fast little laps around the coffee table.

lsat prep and craft.town

burke has been busy studying with these people:

to prepare for this baby:

for some reason, he's really enjoying it. which, i'm so grateful for. burke is a very smart boy, and he's completely driven to get the best score that he's capable of. i'm thankful for his drive and discipline, but that doesn't keep me from being grumpy about it. he HAS to study hours and hours each day. he works all day long while i'm going to school and working. so, when we would usually be spending time together, he's completely devoted to LSAT instead. so, to keep myself busy (aside from homework) i've been crafting.

i got this cute monogram idea from this blog.

i can't decide if the buttons are cute or too busy. but, i love it on our little shelf. let me know what you think.

the little wire thing on the right is a sculpture of one of our mugs. it was for my 3d design class.

you can find more of my crafts on my poppy.in.love blog.

alpine loop 09' - part 2

the big one-one.

it's this studs birthday today. the big 11! happy birthday, will!

william is one of those people that you just think about and smile. he's a quality kid.

he collects coins, and has the most extensive collection i've ever seen.

he saved all of his allowance money until he could buy a nice leather wallet from the department store.

(he was 5).

"um hey, aunt sawuh," were my favorite words out of his mouth.

he's an avid reader, and is always recommending books for me.

when he was 3 or 4, he wouldn't rest until his mother mail ordered a specific pair of overalls from gap kids.

before he knew how to ride a bike, there was a certain bicycle at my mom's house that caught his fancy. i watched him stare at it until he said, "aunt sawuh, i'm going to learn how to ride that bike." even though he had never ridden one before. i was leaving for an errand, and i was planning on helping him upon my return. a half an hour later when i came back, he was riding that thing all around with that quiet and proud little face that only william could portray. no one had helped him! he had quietly taught himself.

i love his tender, determined and masterful disposition.

way to be, will!

i have the best nephews ever.

my b.f.s.t.g.f.

i've had so much to catch up on, so sorry about the overwhelming amount of posts. but, that's good, right? i love all the people that i love in my life! and, when i get to see them and do fun stuff with them, that's when i get all blog.town! ahhh, happy.

meet my b.f.s.t.g.f. (best.friend.since.third.grade.and.forever) crystal leigh havens jensen! (her twin sister, lacey anne havens carney, is my other b.f.f. but, i don't know when she was added...do you remember, lace?) any rate. crystal lives in daybreak, which is only a hop.skip.anda.jump away....but, we don't see each other NEARLY enough! it's pathetically sickening, actually. we did get together FINALLY the other day, and it was pure bliss! crystal's all cute and with.child, and she is just glowing - as pregnant women always tend to do.

daybreak is a very picturesque community. it's just perfect. like you're walking down the pretend neighborhoods in disneyland. i loved these bright yellow fall leaves up against the almost exact shade of yellow in that cute house.

crystal has the most darling doggy named grizzley, who is still growing out of his puppy phase. which is such a fun age! so, i brought my doggie.children up to have a play date. kira and frita didn't want to admit it, but they had a blast. :) there was growling, snarling, chasing, snapping, barking, yapping, and oh so much entertainment. :)

i love you sweet crystal! i wish lacey were here. (face)! let's not wait as long for our next visit, k?

ronin and his cough/laugh

awww, mer and her lil' boy. isn't she beautiful! and such a good mommy. i have the best sister-in-laws!!!

josh and his big baby boy! speaking of josh, it was his birthday! that's why we all went out to dinner! happy birthday, josh!!!

we tried out the new restaurant "communal" (from the makers of "pizzeria 7.12" which is soooo fabulous). it was wonderful. the style is so different and refreshing. best of all, it's about 3 blocks west of us. a little out of our price-range for frequent dining...but, every once in a while we can just stroll on down!

isn't it cool how they have a big ole' table for tons of guests? and it's all family-style dining. perfect.

look at this guy! he's so full of personality.

oh rex. :)

ronin is growing and changing every day!!! he is so enjoyable. he's at that point where he can almost crawl, and it frustrates him to no end that he can't. he's babbling and laughing, and making himself laugh. his cough/laugh in this video is just great. everyone likes to make me talk to him because he talks back to me so well. we'll just sit there and have a great conversation. and you know why? because i too have a baby voice. it's fine, i know i do. i've accepted it. the best perk about it is that babies and animals love it. those are the top two things on my list of joy...so, you know...good, whatev.

nephew time!

there will be many people who will tell you that they have the cutest nieces and nephews in the world. but, I am telling you..I HAVE the cutest nieces and nephews ever! in the whole entire world. i promise. I mean, you've all seen ronin lately, and he's part of the gene-pool that i've married into! cute kids are bound to come out of us. (um, someday soon...please)?

morgan loves the camera.

my cute sister with number 5. (yep, that's five little boys. any of which i would steal away with out batting an eye - upon her consent, ha).

we went to byu where clay and julie met up with some of their old professors, and even one professor that went to school with them and graduated at the same time. it was in his classroom where the boys were able to meet a player on the byu football team. he was quite impressive/large, and they were awe-struck.

while visiting with another old professor, henry and morgan decided it was time to get into a fist fight. they were very disruptive to all of the students currently learning in the widtsoe. that's when i decided it was time to take the boys back into the sunlight of day and let julie and clay finish their visit in peace.

that's when the boys decided that it was time to sprint up all 9 flights of stairs of the widtsoe building. and i raced after them..at a much slower pace. where did all of my child-like energy go to? when i got to the top, they were sitting in this order. morgan got 1st place, henry got 2nd, and will was 3rd. they're perfect.

joseph (now officially a teenager), thought it was extremely amusing that he was taller than i am now. he kept saying things like, "i just feel so sorry for your age group, aunt sara. how old are you? and you're shrinking?" in the above picture he was "melting" to show my anti-growth. too silly!

i took them to the eyring science building to do all of the hand's on displays that they have there. the boys loved it. we would have stayed longer, but morgan ran head first into the display where they create a mirage of a 5 dollar bill. he made such a huge "bang" and fell backward - everyone was looking at us and some people were coming toward us...so i gathered the children and high-tailed it outta there! morgan was fine, he thought it was pretty hilarious, actually. he's a tough kid.
they were very interested in the "tree of knowledge" (or is it wisdom? i can't remember). they wanted to play on it like a jungle gym.

i had so much fun. i wish that they lived here! well, i wish that we lived in california, actually. can't burke's family move to gridley?

sara.blog - revamp

i just did a little makeover on my blog - now named (for good this time) poppy.in.love.

i love being back in school, i'm learning so much, and i so enjoy what i'm studying. everything finally feels right. i'm still so hesitant to post the things that i make, because ...ya know...i'm not as good as all the amazing artists that inspire me. but, i'm going to be better, because it's a record of my progress. and, i'm going to just keep on improving! i hope. so, you're welcome to join me in my journey. :)

one my favorite flowers are poppies (i'm a botany minor...i can't choose just one)!!! and, my little jazz-juan sister nicknamed me poppy. it has always so appropriately fit my style in all walks of life and design. i've settled on the name "poppy.in.love" for my blog because i have burke now. i never could have progressed with out him. he inspires and motivates me constantly to be better and do more. i AM poppy in love - in love with life, in love with the beauty of the world. i see it all through rose-colored glasses now. thanks to my sweet soul mate. i don't know what my art would've have been with out my mr. austen...but, i know it will be beautiful now.

alpine loop 09'

every autumn we make our way up the alpine loop at least once. saturday was our first trip of 09'. the aspens were not quite all the way turned...maybe in a week. (we'll be returning for that). but, the red in the maples. oh the reds! absolutely stunning.

it was quite chilly up there, so...yes, the dog-children are in their coats.

oh we love it! special times in that place. such as this lil' thing.