for the sake of documentation

our little ladies loooooove to play outside. 

and what adventures they can have on the yellow farm! 

t & i love our home. 

we also love our family. 

this habitat of ours is brimming with love & stuff, basically.

when millie was a little baby i used to really, really care about how she looked in photos. 

she had to be wearing a bow, her clothes had to match, her face clean and for goodness sake matching socks were a must! 

i couldn't care less about that anymore.

because when you have a two year old & a ten month old... bows fall off while they play, spit up lends to an endless rotation of onesies, outside play demolishes a clean face and socks get pulled off as soon as possible. 

but there is beauty in the mess.

mismatched outfits & a lack of socks won't keep me from posting photos of my girls anymore!

because i have to document the way millie tries to help riglee stand up:

& the way riglee's eyes sparkle & shine in the sunlight:

the way the girls fit the farm like a glove:

how the trees completely envelope the house on all sides:

or how riglee looked when she started walking:

{she's only ten months. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE RIGLEE? this is not ok!}

the world is so BIG when you are so small. 

can you imagine?

shout out to travis. 

he worked hard this summer & last to get our lawn looking great,

he is amazing & the farm never looked so good!

what a hottie. i am a lucky broad.

 xo lauren

A Day at the Yellow Farm

Being from Arizona, i love all things hot & summery. Winter is SUCH a drag in my opinion, and i have no idea why it even bothers to show up at all--let alone every single year without fail. Boise should get some better bouncers up in here. STAT.

Thankfully, spring is slowly slowly beginning to make its appearances & this mama cannot contain her excitement when it does!!! Here are a few photographs to document the happy happy day: complete with a handsome daddy, a 20 week pregnant mommy, an adventurous 15-month-old Millie Mae & a Smokie!

^^ see those cows across the street? they are millie's best friends. ^^

she loves to tell them "mooooooooo!" whenever she sees them".

^^daddy's still got it!^^

millie was super jealous & kept trying to climb the base of the tree until travis came down.

toddlers attempting to climb trees = adorable.

^^darling girl. let's get a closer look at that baby bum, shall we?^^

^^ah! i love that bum!^^

^^ we are the whiting family! i love us!^^

millie is not a fan of family selfies. 

she did not want to be kept from exploring the yard for even a moment. 

^^ I LOVE HIM FOREVER & EVER!!^^

just when we thought the fun would have to end, Uncle Kameron stopped by to bring us a gift!

he made us a swing!!!

can you believe it? i can't think of a more perfect thing to add the farm than a swing. 

so thoughtful of him! he took a burn pen & etched our name & the farm in himself.

we love it! thank you Kameron!!

^^ the best of brothers and OUR SWING!!^^

& happiness prevailed throughout the land. the end.
xo lauren

The Yellow Farm

T & i love this little Yellow Farm. Everyday we thank Heavenly Father & our lucky stars we were able to find it when we did.

Almost a year ago now, we were freshly graduated from BYUI & had moved in to Trav's parents' house here in Boise. The move from Rexburg to Boise was a welcome change for me, i was now able to go to Target any old time i wanted! Heaven! The plan was to stay with Trav's parents for only a few months while we found ourselves a starter home. Well, month after month passed & nothing was working out for us. It was discouraging to say the least! Eventually we decided to give up on the home-ownership route & just find ourselves an apartment to rent.
But even with our lowered hopes, nothing. Absolutely nothing was working out for us & we found ourselves getting very dissappointed indeed.

Then, Bev.
Glorious Bev.
Bev is a longtime friend of Trav's family. She mentioned to us that she knew of someone down the road from her that was renting out an old house. We were excited about the prospect of a house! We drove over in the same hour to take a look at it.

At first, we drove right passed it. It is easy to miss from the road.
When we came up the drive, we saw nestled in a smattering of oak trees a very small, square yellow house that looked like nothing short of a piece of work. The windows were all boarded up & the paint all around the house was peeled and chipped.

"It's called The Yellow Farm,"said Jerry, the old man who rents the surrounding acerage for his cows as he unlocked the front door.

Inside was even worse.

"It's 85 years old," Jerry sputtered, as he walked through a cobweb,"and i don't think anyone's lived here for a few years."

The entire house was dusted with cobwebs, dead flies & dead spiders, and a healthy coating of dust. It was a little gross, to be completely honest. The grime seemed to travel from room to room as we did, it was on the kitchen's floor to ceiling vintage white cabinets, the living and bedrooms' original hardwood floors, the bathroom's brass clawfoot tub and every door's beautiful glass doorknob. Mounds & mounds of dust, old dirt & insect carnage.
We told Jerry we'd think about it & got in trav's truck to leave.

The entire time inside the house we weren't sure what the other was thinking.
As we pulled out to the road we each said our answers on three.
"1...2...3......"

"YES!"
"YES!"

Still I am amazed we both fell in love with the house so very quickly. There was SO much work to be done. We turned right back around & told Jerry our good news, and he handed us a key on the spot.
We struck a deal that any work we did on the house we would be marked off our rent. All of this happened in late August. We cleaned & painted & worked our little bums off for two months & finally moved in in mid October. We did a lot of work on the farm to make it our own, Trav put in a wood-burning fireplace all on his own and installed a shower/bath combo into that old bathroom {i was a little sad to lose the clawfoot tub, but unfortunately it wasn't in good working condition}.

The Yellow Farm sits on eight acres of land, all of which we can use as our own. It is home to a small herd of Jerry's cattle, an orange barn cat, a chicken coop {which will house a few chickens this spring!}, our airedale Smokie, and four wild peacocks & a wild turkey! Strewn across the acreage is an old forgotten workshop and an abandoned barn, probably ten or so old cars and trucks that now have moss growing on them and a million other strange things. I always find something new when we go for walks around the farm, the other day I found two old Schwinn's and a huge cauldron!
The oak trees that surround the house were the warmest shades of orange when we moved in in October, i can only imagine how beautiful they will be in the spring!!
It's a magical place really, I have completely fallen in love with our Yellow Farm.
It has been so fun for me as an interior designer & as a mother to turn this old dirty house into a home.
I'll post before/after pictures soon!

xo lauren