a post inspired by my mother

it is march. hello? when did this happen?

seriously. father time, do me a favor. take three deep breathes then a day off. i can't keep up man! my mom sent me this pic on saturday of my families 'week in review'. which reminded me, i have weeks to review! life is so sweet + i don't want to forget how wonderful everything is in this moment. problem is, life moves pretty fast. if you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it. (life lesson from ferris bueller #273). 

jesse + i had a fun date for vday but our real valentine date plan had to wait until monday when we had the day off of school. it was an entire day event for us and so much fun! we started it off right with all you can eat french toast at kneaders. i'm not the biggest fan of french toast + had never had kneaders french toast. i played it safe and got a breakfast sandwich while j got the french toast. long story short: i immediately regretted my decision + probably took one too many bites of jesse's breakfast. whoops. i learned an important lesson that morning. never say no to kneader's french toast. never. 

post breakfast we had a couple hours to kill before our reservation at the crater. excellent planning on our part! naturally, we wandered down to the nearest petco + dollar tree. j made friends with a ferret and we laughed for days at this fish. what the heck? it's like a hover craft of the fish world. 

sometimes, j finds things that send him into an instant transformation from a 25 year old man to a 9 year old boy. nunchuks were no exception. finally, we were off to the crater. unfortunately, i don't have any pictures inside but such a cool experience! here is where i realize i haven't mentioned what the crater is. it's a huge volcanic like crater full of 90+ degree natural hot spring water. it's over 60 feet deep and to get to it you walk through a cave in the side of a mountain + bam! you're in a huge water filled crater. it was such a random/cool thing. 

also, lets pause for half a second + look at jesse's new favorite sunglasses. i have nothing more to say about those. 

because we were so close to salt lake, we stopped by city creek on our way home from the crater to get j fitted for a suit his parents gave him for his birthday. mmmm. love that man in a fitted suit. we made an appointment at apple to get his phone fixed + yet again, had time to kill. again, naturally, we decided to try every couch in restoration hardware. 

onward + upward with our next item of business. california. my sweet grandpa reed passed away in february so me + christine + adorable tiffany made the drive to california to attend the funeral. fact: we spent more time in a car then we did in california. but it was so worth it. my grandpa is an amazing man + it was such a wonderful opportunity to celebrate his life. plus also, we got to see so many family members which is always one heck of a time. basically, all my pictures from cali involve tiffany because heaven help us if this girl were any cuter. and she was a dream to travel with. a dream i tell you! props to her tiny two year old body taking on that drive. 

i'm not going to explain what is happening in that first picture due to sister code privacy restrictions. but it is a moment i will remember + cherish for my entire life. gotta love her. we stopped in st george for some in-n-out. years + years ago when in-n-out first came to phoenix, me + michelle made a goal that we would always walk under the crossed palm trees if we ever got out of the car + didn't drive through (don't ask why, cause i couldn't tell you). clearly, my word is my bond. too bad when i sent this picture to michelle she had no recollection of this promise we had made to one another. now i'm hoping it wasn't a dream + for years i've been walking under crossed palm trees for no reason..

things i want to remember from this trip. :: time spent with family + how blessed i am to have the family + extended family that i have. :: the hotel we stayed at the night before the funeral also happened to be the hotel of choice for dogs + groomers alike attending the nearby 'crazy dog groomer' competition. the things we saw... sometimes i worry about this world we live in. :: meeting my b e a u t i f u l  niece cambri for the first time. in love. :: dropping handfuls of skittles down katters shirt that lodged in her bra. :: when telling my uncle kim about jesse. when he found out he was from layton he got a smug look + said 'oh. so you've been lanced in the heart.' *wink wink* (the lancer being the mascot of layton high). to which i laughed + pretended like that made any sense at all. that man is so funny. :: learning all the amazing + powerful things about my grandpa nilsen. such an example. :: christine driving the suburban in the funeral procession. also, matt driving the buick (on fumes) like a maniac + christine having an anxiety attack. watching stephanie in the back seat of the buick having an anxiety attack. then the moment the officer bowed his head in shame for leaving us behind. :: christine sleep talking to me + my cousin rich on the drive back to utah. "i'm so cold. i'm melting!!" "i wish i had mail. i have stuff to write!!". classic.  

okay now onto the important stuff. f o o d. i found a recipe for pretzel rolls i've been dying to try. they turned out so yummy! also. wild. zucchini. you guys. where has this been all my life? street italian food. definitely one of my top three favorite restraunts which is saying something because that's a competitive top three. the seasoning. the flavors. the atmosphere. the fat + happy italians. good vibes. great food. and a most definite must go. 

other than that, here's a random pic of when i pretended i was a tourist at city creek. i was still wet from the crater swim + looked like a mess. everyone at city creek was so fancy i figured pretending like i really really didn't belong was my best disguise. see what i did there? reverse psychology. and finally to wrap this up, here's one of my favorite pics of j. for no reason in particular other than it is hilarious. i love that boy. always has me smiling.

so there you have it! a blog post that was far too long but things i hope to never forget. a small attempt at trying to slow down + take in the happiest moments of life. thanks mom + thanks ferris. you keep me grounded. 

peace!

roses are red violets are blue

valentines day. considering the massive amounts of pictures i am contributing to this post, i'm gonna go ahead and keep the writing to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking. 

i came home from school + work to find this little surprise on my desk. 

when he came over a bit later, i made him take pictures with my gift. naturally. look at him. i could just eat him up. the sweetest thing about all of this is the work he put into the flowers. random kim fact number 254: i collect/love glass bottles/jars/bowls/etc. love the old looking glass stuff. he found this sweet glass bottle, wrapped it in burlap (because i love burlap) and hung some old rusty antique keys he found with twine because i had mentioned how much i love the look of old keys. then a sweet note expressing that rather than a huge bouquet of flowers, he wanted to keep it simple. and then the note went on to explain the significance of each flower. and then of course, a caramel covered oreo apple. this guy. winning for days. 

we went to macaroni grill for dinner because duh. pasta. it's a day of love + what's not to love about pasta? after we took a sporadic trip to deer creek reservoir to run around on the ice. about that... 1. sporadic meant we were not dressed appropriately. 2. utah is hitting it's period of bipolarity. meaning, for a week you think + almost truly begin to believe its spring and then utah has the last laugh + dumps unfair amounts of snow everywhere. she's enjoying her week of false hope which means warm weather + melting ice... but we both decided in honor of our love + valentine's day, it would be the perfect trust building exercise. while jesse searched shore to shore for a reasonable spot to try to get on the ice, i took refuge on a cinder block protected from the unusual amounts of mud + slushy snow. 

 our first location proved to be unsuccessful, so after cleaning the snow out of his shoes, we were off to the other side of the reservoir. 

still far from any walk-able ice, jesse was determined. i stood at the top again while he went to check for a spot we could get onto the lake without treading through ice cold water. after a few short minutes i realized he was throwing rocks into the water. at that moment, i knew he had released his inner boy + that we would be here for a while. you can dress them up, but you can't keep them clean. such is life. and i wouldn't have it any other way. he put his 13 year old eagle scout to the test and built a surprisingly sturdy rock bridge. 

once on the ice we pretended it was really safe + chose to ignore the inches of melted slush we were walking through. thanks to the olympics, i was feeling like a real athlete + let my inner gracie gold shine through. 

 the evening ended with a kong kone + a movie. and that's a wrap! valentine 2014. 

oh and if you were wondering what i did for j,  i decided to keep it cliche + make him a coupon book. also, jesse's sweet mama judy drove all the way down from layton to give us each a gift. j got a black belt + i got these leggings. so sweet of her! 

ain't no rust on the happiness bus

oh look! a post! i've been pretty absent as of late. turns out when you actually have a life + actual things to post about, it's hard to document it. irony, amaright? anyway. onwards! i should probably take this opportunity to catch up on everything that has been going on, but meh. i'll just tell you about my super fun date with my better half. this handsome man turned twenty five this past week. the other day we were driving in the car he kept glancing in his rear view mirror with a look of concern on his face. after several checks in the mirror he finally exclaimed 'i have wrinkles on my forehead. wrinkles.' needless to say, a date loaded with childish + sporadic fun was in order. 

the evening kicked off with a visit to california pizza kitchen. i didn't know where we were going for dinner initially but he took me there because he remembered me saying that that was where my favorite caesar salad was. i applaud you jesse. you are genetic proof that men have ears. after dinner, the night was ours! as we stood outside in the rain we i decided that a caramel apple was an absolute necessity. come to find, jesse doesn't even really like caramel covered apples so as i got a giant oreo apple, he opted for a chocolate covered marshmallow.  did i feel selfish? yes. indulgent? yes. fat? double yes. you hold your judgement. the estrogen made me do it. caramel + chocolate + oreos wrapped around a juicy apple? hello people. i would do anything. we sat in the food court to people watch + enjoy our spoils. after that we went down an up moving escalator. do this before you die. next it was off to the clark planetarium. coolest! but more on that later. first! we had about forty minutes to kill before the show started so we played in the museum.  

the clark planetarium was an adventure. fairly certain our host was high on more than one drug, but i tell you, it made for a wacked out, crazy cool laser show. but drugs are bad. don't do drugs. except laughing gas. when given the choice, always take the laughing gas. 

perfect amounts of rain + love made for a hilarious stress free evening that both of us desperately needed. life is so good.

in other news: jesse discovered this weekend that i have what he calls 'octopus hands'. so i have a little extra webbing. okay. a lot of extra webbing. 

but check out the distance on that piece sign. and i'm not even stretching as far as i can sooooo i'm basically elastic woman. and she's a super hero. so yes, i have super powers. but don't treat me any differently. i am but just a woman. 

making love to the canvas

i woke up this morning with every intention of going to the library to spend my entire saturday studying. but while i was getting dressed this little ditty shuffled on my ipod (yes, i have this on my ipod) and so our story begins here. 

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLO7tCdBVrA>

bob. oh bob. this is my world! i am the creator! i wanted to find freedom on my canvas. so i said forget you library! i am a free woman!! and just like that, i was on my way up the canyon with my bow + arrow in tow. windows down + blasting my bob ross jam like there was no tomorrow. on the way up the canyon there is this little produce stand on the side of the road that i have been dyyying to stop by but i never seem to have the time. but wait! there are no limits! good lookin' out bobby. so i pulled over. this beautiful little lady had fresh corn. fresh corn people. i lalalove fresh raw corn but it's so unfortunately rare to find good fresh corn. grocery stores just don't cut it. ya dig? but the heck. she sent me off with three ears of corn for a dollar + a paper towel + a wink saying 'here, you'll need this'. bless you produce stand lady. bless you. so my journey continued, up the canyon, free as a bird. i love running off the trail through the mountains + there's a spot i always go to shoot. i took a different route this time and heavens! i found a tree house. whaaaa? who is cool enough to build a giant tree house with a rope bridge at the top of a mountain + more importantly, why am i not friends with them?? 

 from the top of the tree house. are you dying? 

okay this picture. i know i know. i'm fully aware. like really, what kind of pose is that? kim why? why do you do this with your hands? but keep the judgemental eye rolls to a minimum, this is my canvas! i can do whatever i want, i believe i believe ladeedaaaa. 

from there, it was archery in my wooden arena. i think it's safe to say i come here at least once a week and never once have i seen another soul. the beauty of this hidden gem of a park is the only people who come are here are here to trail ride on their bike, but heavens! there are some seriously amazing things off the trail that no one takes the time to explore. so yes. this is where i shoot.

naturally, i took a dramatic selfie. because helllooooo there are no limits here! you can do anything that you wanna do, total power, have a good time. dadoo doo doo doo dadoo doooooo. bob, you get me. 

this corn was seriously burning a hole in my backpack + also, making love to the canvas works up a real appetite ya know? i sat on a log across the river + wished with everything in me this corn would be delicious. i believe i believe... one bite and bam! sweet milky goodness. yes! you guys. i'm not just saying this for dramatic effect, but a single tear fell from my eye. joy. pure joy. it's the little things... 

       

my time at the canyon was coming to a close but not before stopping back at that beauty of a produce stand. you see, i bought three initially to test the integrity of her corn. of course any sweet little lady will say her corn is yummy but really? is it really? i'm thrilled to report yes! yes it was! which meant i was a sucker for not just her corn but those peaches. those big fat heaven sent peaches... i love peaches. just like that, she sent me off with ten ears of corn + sixteen peaches for NINE dollars. i'm telling you, this lady is as sweet as her fruit. i literally gave her a huge hug + said thank you a million times for making my life. best news? she's open until november. november! life is good peeps. life is good. 

thank you mr ross. thank you for making my saturday 'at the library' look like this.

happy saturday folks! 

this post can + will change your life

i'm going to share with you a beautifully dangerous secret. now understand, the knowledge i'm about to bestow upon you is not for the faint of heart. or for those concerned about their body fat percentage for that matter. no no. this secret is for someone who kicks dieting in the butt + embraces their estrogen. we're talking chocolate ladies. and you need to know that if you choose to scroll any farther i am not held responsible for the weight gain that will inevitably ensue. i will, however, take responsibility for the craze amaze increase in happiness you will experience. 

ahh still reading are you? you curious little soul. well, while i was enjoying my stay in the berg with christine + rich, they shared this new discovery with me + now i literally have a box of brownie batter in my nightstand drawer + one in my car + a bag in my backpack + one in my purse. because like i said people, we are talking instant happiness. this stuff is like crack. but how do you eat brownie batter in all those places kim?? you ask. how do you not make a mess + how do you keep it from going bad?? wouldn't you like to know. the answer? a spoon. anticlimatic no? that's it! no oil, no egg, no water. just the box + a spoon + some very active salivary glands. and if you think you don't have very active salivary glands, this is literally pavlov's dog theory 2.0. i start daaarooooling when i even think of this stuff. just like that. you take a spoonful of the dry mix, put it in your mouth + magic i tell you! it taste just like brownie batter. it is uncanny. forget the eggs! forget the oil! say nay to the water! you can bring this stuff with you anywhere. anyyyyywhere. no matter where you are if your mind says craving you say satisfied. chocolatey brownie goodness just like that. go ahead, buy a box. you'll never go back. 

oh + also, family size for the win. 

laboring in the berg

the other day i was on campus and heard someone say "oh so you did your undergrad in the berg?" it didn't take me long to realize he was talking about rexburg. part of me wanted to throw up in my mouth but now i'm using it as a blog title? funny how things like that work. but yes! labor day weekend! baby brown eyes + carousels + endless laughs. such is life in the barker home. 

one. i could eat this girl up. equal parts cute + sass. 
two. i officially had my mind blown this weekend. i would consider myself a connoisseur of all things cold + delicious. and believe you me, this frozen treat was nothing but pure bliss. who ever you are karie anne, you have totally rocked the snow cone world. and i, salute you. 
three. carouseling for days. this is probably one of the most hilariously random things the berg (see? i did it again! curse you infectious nickname) has to offer. a tiny college town with a giant carousel? don't mind if i do.
four. the family i worked for this summer moved recently + redid their little girls room, so when she asked if i knew anyone who would want pink blinds i instantly thought of christine. i knew they would be quality because this lady is all sorts of brand name crazy, we're talking pottery barn kids or die. so when i passed the word on of course christine rich was ecstatic to take them off her hands. 
five. pink nails surrounded by fat baby fingers on a carousel. tiff is perpetually breaking cute barriers left + right. 
six. grandma sent me up from arizona with this little rocking chair for tiff. tiff was all about sitting in that pink rocking chair that said princess staring at herself in the mirror of her pink vanity. i told you, equal parts sass. 
seven. and here is where we all stand up + clap for the dad of the year. i'm not sure how many laps rich made around + around + around that carousel waving at his little girl. it was actually quite the scene. 
eight. gosh they're cute. with the exception of that demonic looking horse. 
nine. group photo. because it's just a must have. le duh. 

tiff quite literally thinks christine is the funniest person in the universe. i'm serious, it doesn't matter what she is doing, tiff will think it's worthy of a sincere belly laugh + a couple tears for good measure. and unfortunately, when your standard of funny is set at christine barker, everything else pales in comparison. exhibit a. "wow tiff we are on a carousel!!" "ahhh!". my attempt? recorded approximately .3 seconds after the first picture? not even slightly amused. i just can't compete.  

christine requested i bring all her old monkeys from the attic at home up to her if i had room in my car. tiff found this raggedy little monkey in the pile of them all + carried it with her everywhere she went. don't you just want to melt over little kids with stuffed animals they will not separate with? she was no exception. 

i was going to upload a video but blogger is testing my patience so i guess that's a wrap. a big thank you to the barkers for yet again, an amazing weekend! 

a phoenician summer

there are few things quite like an arizonan summer. sure it's hot but secretly, that's like the best part. there is an unspoken unity + respect that bonds every arizonan to one another. making it through summer is like making it through initiation. and if you do, your in. and once you're in, you begin to learn all the little things that make arizona hands down the best place to spend summer. so crank that thermostat up to roughly 118 degrees, shine a really bright light on your face, put on some sunscreen + virtually enjoy a little piece of an arizonan summer. my gift to you.

it's just not summer until nilsen palm day has been said + done. my dad does the cutting, the girls do the hauling. due to the fact that we cut at the beginning of the summer, there are usually several nests filled with baby birds that we relocate? send them off to bigger skies? not sure how to sugar coat that for all you animal lovers out there. but it's better than taking away all their shade and then leaving them to cook in the brutal az sun. at least, that's how we justify it. but before you think us nilsen's have hearts three sizes too small we do try to salvage as many orphans as we can, because that's just the kind of saintly people we are. as long as i can remember, we have had a baby bird every summer. i think our record was three days? we just tried feeding them wet bread + spaghetti noodles because they're like a worm? three points for creativity! but this summer when my dad dropped this ugly little face down from our tallest palm tree and i missed (not the best time to fail me hand eye coordination..) i felt like i owed it to this little guy to be his new mama. that is, if he lived through the internal bleeding after the drop. but you guys, google! why we never resorted to the vast world of knowledge google is, i don't know. maybe we thought we knew everything about raising baby birds because obviously with a tract record like three days, we knew everything we needed to know. but after taking a 'what's your baby bird' test online and doing some research, i discovered this little guy was a mourning dove. and wouldn't you know it, mourning doves don't eat worms. i guess this is where i publicly exclaim that we had been slowly killing every baby bird for the past twenty years because we just assumed every bird ate worms? i blame children's books. but after making a make shift bottle and feeding him baby food, he persevered against all odds. it actually got fun when he wasn't so helpless + featherless. we would open our second story windows + call his name + out of no where he would fly up to us + land on our shoulder. no biggie, we were friends with a wild bird. and let's pretend mourning doves are cooler than pigeons for the sake of my heroism because who likes pigeons? or anything of the sort?

ahhh lakeside. most definitely one of my favorite places on earth. the water, the big blue skies, the scorpion hunting, the time with family. it just doesn't get better than a watery oasis in the middle of no where. (i'm not kidding, literally in the middle of no where. one time we took some people out there who were visiting az for the first time. i guess after pulling off the barren highway + driving into the desert on a dirt road for over a mile led them to believe we were going to murder them + dump their bodies in the middle of the desert + not take them to a lake. because how could a lake be here? in the middle of the desert?) but that's just the beauty of it. 

double wakeboarding with michelle. there are few times i laugh harder + have more fun than when i am behind a boat with her. 

our family doesn't really do doctors. or dentists. not because we are scared or against them but if you aren't dying, you don't go. so when my mom scheduled dentist appointments for us + we hadn't been in over three years... i went armed with the lucky baby. lucky baby being the creepy little thing in my pocket. this originated when michelle had her first collegiate water ski tournament. i found this randomly + thought it was so creepy how could i not do something with it? so i gave it to her + told her it would bring her luck. she got a personal record sooo the baby don't lie. this has been passed around whenever any family member has anything big + it always pulls through. haven't been to the dentist in three years? no problem. no cavities. gee thanks lucky baby.

arizona. monsoons. every sweaty back, every time you can't breath because the car is so hot, every burned foot because no matter how many times you burn them you think you can make it to the mailbox without shoes, is worth these monsoons. the thunder, the lighting, the heavy raindrops that smell unreal. i'm telling you, there is nothing more amazing than an arizona storm.

mountain biking in arizona? um are there even mountains in arizona? yes. and the mountain biking is amazing. this summer me + my sister steph found a place called dirty dog basin. so fun + beyond beautiful. i love the desert.

i was so beyond blessed this summer to have the job i had. i worked with this little cutie last summer but did speech with a couple other families as well, so i only spent about two to three hours with him a day. but when this summer rolled around, we decided to do something a little more permanent. i still did speech with him every morning but then just stayed all day and nannied him + his brother + sister. i had the funnest time + absolutely adore those kids.

if you have known me personally for more than about two minutes, than you know i lalalalaloooove chick-fil-a ice dream cones. they are properly named, these things are a dream. who every said you can't buy happiness lies. you can. you most definitely can. i liked to pretend my sisters would run errands with me just because they can't get enough of my company, but we all know it's because they know if i pass a chick-fil-a i stop + get me + whoever is with me ice cream. and no matter what errands i'm running i find a way to 'oh my! a chick-fil-a is located here? who knew!' i can't say no. i just can't.

how precious is this side by side? me + isaac were born on the same day (a half hour apart). we've grown up together so i can't remember life without him. when i'm up at school i just can't wait to get back to go out with him. he is seriously the funniest person i have ever met + has me smiling for days.

sometimes, summer is just too good to be true. and when you summer in arizona, that's just how we do. if you are sweating sunscreen into your eyes + have a killer tan + have more fun than you thought was humanly possible than welcome. welcome to summer in arizona.