insta-life

Bow c/o Beck and Belle
"My girly momma dreams came true this morning when I put this dress on Mia and watched as she twirled and told me it was a "'eautifuw dwess!" Then she literally threw herself in my arms and gave me a hug when I told her mommy and daddy picked out this dress on our trip last week Eric lived in Mexico for 2 years so it was his idea to pick out a couple little outfits for Mia. It's SO cute seeing a piece of Eric's past that means so much to him on our daughter!"

Family date night!

"It's like she thinks these appointments are for her :) When I told her we were going to the doctor today she yelled, "YAY!" while fist pumpin' the air I can't say I blame her for getting so excited... I love getting the chance to listen to baby brother's heart beat! Everything checked out and we seem to have a healthy, strong babe in the works!"

Because the babymoon trip that Eric and I got to enjoy together can't go unmentioned on the Instagram round up :) I love this man so much!

Dress c/o Lularoe Laura

When Mia dresses herself then smiles at me like that...  

Little moments I don't want to forget::  

The first time Mia put a towel on her head and walked around the house saying "mommy hair!" Then looking in a princess book and saying "It's 'angled!! That's my mommy!" (How will I ever chop my hair after that cuteness?!)  

The moments I hear her singing to herself after we put her to bed through the monitor. Such a sweet little voice! (I love that the songs we are teaching her bring her comfort!)  

The way everything comes to a halt and she lights UP when daddy gets home! He has the same effect on me too, girlfriend! 

 I spy with my little eye... a tiny little Mia who will change the world! Our last night in Mexico we experienced another incredible sunset complete with cotton candy skies- then woke up to a crazy little storm the next morning. Once the lightning/thunder passed I took her to the beach to run around. The clouds were tumultuous looking, the wind was still raging & we were showered with rain drops... Mia looked so tiny/fragile (on both occasions) for this big, crazy world but I quickly realized that her heart is as soft, big & beautiful as the cotton candy skies! She has a personality so fierce that will help her weather any storm that comes her way with more grace & love than I ever could manage myself! I have so much to learn from her!!

I finally subscribed to Chatbooks (use my code "RUKMQR4C" to get your first book free!) and I'm pretty sure that's the reason I've been on a grammin' spree! I love having the little things (as well as the big things) documented and, well? It's a good thing Mia is as obsessed with looking at herself as I am because I'll be filling up these books like no one's business, ha ha! If you want to follow along you can find us at courtbrink! 

way down in Mexico

June was such a crazy month of work for Eric so when he had a stretch of 5 days off, we decided this was the perfect opportunity to take our last vacation as a family of 3 and escaped down to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) Mexico! (I would have recapped this trip sooner but we came home to a broken laptop- that is still in the process of being fixed. I can't wait to catch up on my blog stalking once it's done!) We absolutely fell in love with Puerto Penasco and I'm already dying to go back!
Where do I begin when describing why I loved Rocky Point so much? The first reason is the most obvious... I was on vacation with my favorite people! This was such a little slice of heaven though with our stay at a beautiful (incredibly nice for Mexico, it didn't even feel like we were in Mexico, if you know what I mean) resort, amazing beach and perfect ocean water! I've never been in ocean water that warm and it was so calm that Mia could run around and play in it as the tiny waves just lazily rolled in! Now we know why Arizonians vacation in Rocky Point instead of California... it's closer, cheaper, more laid back (relaxing) and warmer (air and water temps) We really couldn't have asked for anything more from our trip!
We really kept it simple with this vacation. Eat, sleep, swim, on repeat every day! We started our mornings at the beach, made our way to the pool, drank virgin pina coladas, floated around the lazy river (where Mia pretended to be Ariel riding her sea horse, which was actually a pool noodle :) I love her imagination!) then stopped for lunch and naps. Every time Mia woke up we'd ask her what she wanted to do and her answer was always, "SWIM!" So of course we went back to the pool/lazy river after naps, then we'd go out to dinner in town. The Mexican food and sea food totally hit the spot, yum! Mia's favorite part was getting a soda with every dinner, since we didn't trust the water (and water bottles were too boring, we were on vacation after all!) After dinner we took Mia down to the beach each night where she quite literally frolicked and ran around, played in the waves and burned off all the sugar energy from her sodas :) We also spotted whales from our balcony, ate tons of junk (Mia couldn't believe it!), enjoyed spectacular sunsets each night, did some touristy shopping and woke up to a storm the morning we were leaving. That was a real treat to watch the storm across the ocean from our room! Oh how I wish that was our every day life :)

Our first night in Mexico... could there be a more perfect "welcome"?!

view from our balcony

Our pretty little Mia fit right in in Mexico ;)

 This pool was our favorite with that gorgeous infinity edge overlooking the ocean. The lazy river is a close second, but I didn't get any pictures of that.

Mia's first time making sand castles! I was definitely not angled right for this photo, if you can tell by her little hand, her reaction was the BEST! She was SO excited about the castle!

She loves the beach!

Finding tiny crabs in the reef when the tide went out each evening!

Beach bumpin' {26 weeks}

How was that for a photo dump (oops!)? I could have posted a million more photos, but stopped myself with just these :) I love all the memories these photos hold from this perfect getaway with Eric and Mia. I'm already dreaming of the day that we get to go down again!

red, white and blue - this is how we do

Oh 4th of July, we love you so! Sadly Eric had to work so Mia and I road tripped to Utah to celebrate this holiday with the Brinkerhoff's with small town, redneck fun ;) We missed Eric like crazy but were grateful to spend time with family!

Our morning started bright and early with a 5:30am wake up call from Mia... what the heck, kid?! She must have been so excited for the festivities to begin, ha! We went to the parade that morning and Mia LOVED the fire trucks, horses, tractors and (town and rodeo) princesses! Such a good mix of tom boy and girly girl :) Of course the best part is all the candy they throw... they don't hold back in this small town!

We headed to the park after the parade and were first in line to ride the horses! Mia was SO excited about this, definitely her favorite part of the day! Mia waved at everyone during her ride, just like the rodeo princesses she watched in the parade :) There are fun activities, booths and food at the park but we didn't last much longer thanks to Mia's early morning. We headed home and enjoyed nap time, ha ha!

Mia's Dress c/o Olive the Things Star Clip c/o Beck and Belle

Of course we indulged in a family BBQ because hello? 4th of July!! Then I ended the night with a girls night to the demolition derby with my sisters (in law) and niece, complete with fireworks! Again, we missed Eric like crazy but we couldn't be more blessed to celebrate this amazing country with our amazing family! And there's no better excuse to enjoy a bit of redneck fun ;)  

27 weeks {babybrink#2}

Size of baby: I'm really having a hard time with my food comparison size findings on the internet these days. Baby is the size of a cauliflower, but I'm pretty positive I found that a couple weeks ago as well sooooo.... ha!

Movement: he is always on the move! I can feel him stretching from one side to the other! It's a fun shock to feel him jab both sides at the same time :) Proof that baby is growing even though I have no idea what fruit or veggie to compare him to ;)

Cravings: fresh fruit, popsicles and smoothies!

Miss anything: I've been thinking on this question for a few days now and I honestly don't have anything (new) to say. I really am happy to be growing this boy but I will be even happier when he's in my arms ;)

Random: I've been crying and complaining over my pregnancy acne (ha ha) but I finally remembered to pull out my bottle of Melaleuca essential oil and I've noticed an improvement with my breakouts, YAY! So I just had to share that tidbit in case it helps anyone else!

Best moment of the week: this is technically from last week but we went on our last vacation as a family of 3 and had the BEST time! Plus all the weight free time I got to enjoy in the pool? Heaven! I can't wait to recap our trip!

all American sweets

Happy 4th of July eve, my friends!! I've been MIA these past couple of days because our computer is having issues, again! Second time in a matter of weeks... sheesh! And to make matters worse (because who likes spending money on repairing a computer?) it will be out of commission for like a week and a half, UGH! Luckily we are visiting family for a few days and I can use their computers in the mean time!

Anyway, we are huge 4th of July lovers over here and I can't wait to celebrate with Mia! Each year gets better and better with her and I'm counting on this year being the most exciting for her yet :) It's also no secret that I love to stuff my face and a holiday is the best excuse to indulge! I've seen some simple, adorably festive ideas on Pinterest and wanted to share my favorites here. I definitely won't be making any due to the fact that I'm pregnant and visiting family... and just plain lazy ;) But if I were to make something... fruit is first on my list! So refreshing, so simple, so delish! This watermelon, these fruit kabobs and these strawberries, yum! This fruit parfait would be just as refreshing and so patriotic! Try and tell me there's nothing more satisfying than popsicles in the summer? These would be perfect for the 4th! And because I do like a good treat these oreo pops are SO easy and SO cute and I'm a total sucker for chocolate dipped pretzels!!

I hope you all have the happiest of celebrations tomorrow and stay safe! Eat lots of good food ;)