stone mountain!

stone mountain is one of my favorite things in atlanta so far.  {at the time the memorial of "stonewall" jackson, robert e. lee, and jefferson davis was carved, it had been fifty years since the civil war ended and slavery was abolished.  and, although it seems a little strange that people in the south are still "celebrating" the confederacy represented in the memorial, i think it's more of a "southern pride" thing than a south-versus-north thing.  people of every race and ethnicity were at the fireworks and laser show, and the laser show had an overreaching message of equality, love, and american pride.}  basically i loved it because the laser show was freaking awesome.

^^^ this is us, enjoying each other's company before the show.  we met up with some friends and even met some byu alums in the crowd.  isn't it great how the church is everywhere, and you can have immediate friends wherever you move?  we love it.

also, hazelnut started sitting up.  on her own.  i think it was the slant of the hill... but still.  where did my baby go?!

our wonderful friends!  they are just great.

that one time we went to chinatown.

oh, how i love the weekend.  ours was wonderful.  it's so nice to get out of the house on weekends, because usually i am confined to our little apartment and anything within a square mile of it.  and you can only do so much walking around in 90 degree weather with humidity to match it, ya know?

on saturday john took hazel and i to chinatown!  at least, that's what we're calling it.  we found it quite by accident one day when we had nothing to do but i was desperate to go on a drive/walk in new territory.  so i typed "mall" into my phone map and it came up as one of the options.  all i can say is, hallelujah!  there are too few authentic and yummy chinese food places in the world.

this place is legit.  john and i had a meal just like what we would have had over a year ago in taiwan/china.  {ie. not panda express}  it was delicious.  and, there's a nice stinky chinese market and live music too!  it made for a fun outing.

when we became a two-nap family.

big news around here....

hazel has switched from an indeterminate number of naps each day.... to two naps per day!

for months i had been doing everything in my power to get her to take a nap longer than forty minutes.  white noise, darkening her room, cio, stroller naps, car seat naps, putting her down earlier, putting her down later, nursing her to sleep, not nursing her to sleep.... i seriously tried everything.  it was a wonderful day when she would even take three-ish naps a day, and one of them even lasted for an hour and a half!  sometimes.

and then, last monday, hazel made up her mind that she was going to take two naps a day, and that they were going to last longer than forty minutes.  and it was glorious.  she is a lot happier now that she gets the rest she needs.

also worth noting:

at church today a lady and i started talking.  she suggested that her daughter {age one and a half} would love to play with my daughter, whom i was holding.

her:  how old is she?

me:  5 months.

her:  wow she's big!

me:  yes.  maybe she wouldn't be the best playmate for your daughter.... (since your daughter can walk and talk and all mine does is hang out in the jenny jump-up and watch baby einsteins...)

world of coke.

newsflash!  i love anything brown and bubbly.  but i especially like coke zero lately.  and coke is just an american classic.  the world of coke is one of the must-see sites here in atlanta, so we made the plunge with some friends last saturday.  i am so glad we did.

some highlights of the trip:

1} learning the history of coke, from when it was first made and how it was first served, to how the secret recipe has been kept secret for 127 years, to the introduction of new coke and its recall, to the worldwide phenomenon coke is today

2}  watching coke commercials from as far back as the 60's  

3}  seeing how coke is packaged and learning about the process firsthand

after w.o.c., we went to anticos!  because hello! yum.

and also, yum.

life lately.

peruvian.

the other day, john and i were driving around atlanta and we spotted "contigo peru".  it advertised "fresh seafood!" in the window, and whenever we see "peru" and "seafood" in the same place we think just one thing:  ceviche.  so we made a date to go there over the weekend and i am so glad we did.  we dedicated the meal to sam, my amazing brother serving a mission in peru right now.

things i love:
snuggling with a sleepy baby
picnicking under a tall, tall tree
the tickle of sand in-between my toes
conversations with strangers
red velvet
southern thunderstorms
singing to hazel when she sings back
warm, clean sheets
nibbling on tiny toes.

a day at the pool.

occasionally, hazel and i go to the pool.  it's fun to let her splash in the water, and it is so dang hot lately, that there's nothing else for us to do!  i do wish they would heat the pools here though. 

for once, we took the real camera.

savannah, georgia.

we had a great time in savannah.  it's such an old, quaint town.  and although it is a popular tourist spot, we reallly enjoyed our little trip.  

after spending the morning at hilton head, we drove back to savannah and enjoyed the most delicious lunch ever.  we then visited the colonial graveyard, several civil-war monuments, churches, etc.

we spent a lot of time walking up and down city market and river street.  we browsed through some delicious candy factories and watched them making turtles and taffy.... and browsed through souvenir shops.... 

savannah, we really enjoyed visiting you.

we went to the beach!

last weekend we went to hilton head/savannah.  the beach is a four-hour drive from atlanta, but we really wanted to go, so we made a day of it.  we drove until 11 p.m. and so hazel didn't go to sleep for the night until late, and then we woke her up to take these pictures so she was grumpy!  that's okay, she's still pretty cute.  {stay tuned for the savannah portion of our trip, coming soon.}

walking dead sites.

about two and a half years ago, my brother sam introduced me to the walking dead, on christmas night.   if you'd like to read that post, you can check it out here.  i couldn't sleep that night, and swore off zombie-movies forevermore.  but then, over this last christmas break, john and his friend played black ops zombies a lot.  i actually played some, too!  and then, i saw a little clip of the walking dead on tv, and was actually able to sleep that night.  so, john and i started watching it again.  i could finally let myself be enamored with the story, and i became obsessed with it, just like all the other amc viewers out there.

now, as fate would have it, we are in georgia!  where they film the walking dead!  so of course we had to venture out to see some of the film sites.  they have a lot of little old towns out here, way older than anything in utah, and it makes it the perfect state to film in.  i didn't think i would find it as cool as i did to see where they filmed in real life.  i got so excited it's kind of embarrassing.  

another video of hazelnut.

the best giggle ever! from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

the georgia aquarium!

the past couple weeks we have really started exploring what georgia has to offer.  the aquarium was at the top of that list, and it was absolutely incredible!  even hazel loved it - she just stared and stared at all the fish.

the fourth!

the fourth of july started out kind of depressing for me.  it was the first fourth away from family and even though i was with my little family it still felt kinda lonely.  it was raining the entire day so we didn't go to the parade, and i tried to make it special by cooking breakfast for everyone in the morning.... and ended having to go to walmart four times to make it happen!  then we all took a loooooong nap, ate ribs for dinner, and finally made it out to lenox park for fireworks.  that's when i finally started feeling patriotic.  despite the rain, we were able to have a great time.  

got stuck in the car outside of the grocery store for about 30 minutes.

fireworks. from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

life lately.

lately we've been hanging out a lot in front of the mirror, because hazel loves it....

and going to taqueria del sol....

 and taking more selfies in the mirror....

 and eating at antico's pizza... {yum!}

 and laughing and giggling and learning and growing....

 and traveling in style....

my four-month old.

this darling little girl is just over four months old now.  while we are still working on getting good naps and going to bed on time, we are making leaps and bounds with standing, sitting up, laughing, and smiling.  i swear, she will smile at any old stranger in the store with very little prodding.  she is so fun and beautiful, and gosh, do we love her.

three years ago, i made the best decision of my life.

it was the decision to be with you, forever.

our routine.

i got a snapchat from a friend a few days ago.... "you haven't blogged in FOREVER"

to which i responded....... {crickets chirp}

i've been in a rut lately.  not because i don't really like it here (because i do), or because i have nothing to do (because i don't), but probably because i am laaaaaaazy.  but, her little reminder helped, and, spirits renewed, i have now added several blog posts into the mix where they should have been.  {ie. JUNE.}

and now, a little bit about our routine over here! {since i know you're all dying to know how hazel and i keep ourselves busy throughout the day!}

between 4 and 6 a.m.:  hazel fusses awake and i feed her.  we go back to sleep.

between 6 and 9 a.m.:  hazel wakes up and i feed her.  we again go back to sleep.....!

9:30a.m.:  hazel is awake and bright-eyed.  just like this:

so we play, watch baby einsteins, and do tummy-time!  {which she hates, by the way}

11:30 a.m.: hazel is crabby and ready for a nap.  i nurse her and she goes to sleep.  then i hurry and take a shower.  she only naps 40min on a bad day, 1.5 hours on a good day. ;)

12:30 p.m.:  i eat lunch, then we embark on one of the selected activities for the day.  viable options include a long walk, a walk to and around the mall, a trip to walmart, or a picnic in the park.  we always stop for a $0.79 diet coke at "on the go", no matter what.

3:30 p.m.: hazel eats and naps.  i prep for dinner, make a headband or two, and watch alias on netflix.

4:30 p.m.: we play some more!

5:30 p.m.: yay!  daddy is home! i finish dinner, we eat - while hazel attempts to sit up in her bumbo {she's so lazy!}

7:00 p.m.:  hazel takes a bath, we play while mom and dad watch a show or two.

9:00 p.m.  hazel goes to bed.  darling wonderful night-sleeper.

wasn't that the most exciting story evah?!