Dancing Queen

Yep, it's another session, I told you I've been busy! This is one of my summertime Mini sessions, with one of my favorite Nieces, Okay, they're all favorites, how could I choose out of all 7 of them? Katelyn is in dance, and I got to take some seriously fun pictures of her in her costume for her recital coming up.

She looked ADORABLE, and this was my very favorite shot of the day! Check some more out here.

The {B} Family

Between trips to the lake, school, swim team, gymanstics (thank goodness that's over), naptime, playdates, and some very interesting conversations with Halli about how the baby got in my belly (more on that later), I have been busy with photography, and I love it!

Last week I got to photograph the {B} family, and their two adorable little kids. I think Kevin's sick of me editing photos in the evening, but I am having so much fun, and learning so much with every session I do.

Check out some more pics from theit session on my photo blog! They have some seriously adorable kids, and they were so fun to work with!

Playing at the Lake

This past weekend we packed up everything we could and took off for the lakehouse with our good friends, the Monsons. The girls were beyond excited to have them join us for a weekend of playing in the water and on the boat for the first time, Kevin and I were pretty excited too, nothing like good friends and playing!

We pretty much spent the weekend on the "beach" (thanks to Kevins dad and brothers for covering all the rocks with sand so the kids could play down there), and on the boat. The kids all just loved it out there, and loved watching each other try out the innertube.

So, just so ya know there are WAY too many photos ahead, you have now been warned!

This is the "casita" as Alan calls it, when looking at it from the lake. It's a little two bedroom, one story house with some AMAZING views. The house you see behind it, is the "casito" also according to Alan (aka my father-in-law). They're renovating the inside of the two story house right now, so between the two we'll have five bedrooms to get everyone into when we all head up there. look at that awesome beach too, the kids just LOVED to play down there.

Well, what else do you do at the lake? We headed out on the boat, and the look on her face says it all, talk about a good time. Izzy and Lexie did alright on the boat, they just didn't quite understand why they couldn't walk all over and play with the controls.

Okay, that may have been more Lexie than Izzy, but considering how young they are, they did really well.


Halli LOVED tubing, and could stay on that thing forever! As soon as she was done, it was straight into the water. Yeah, she started a new fashion trend, tubing with goggles, gotta love it!

This next picture shows why she was able to stay on for soooo long....she just kinda hunkered down in there and held on tight. It's nice to be little for things like that!

Kevin took Peyton out on the innertube too. She didn't go quite as fast as Halli, but loved it all the same!

As long as dad was hanging on tight.

We even got little miss Lexie out there. They went nice and slow with her, and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't at all worried about her going in the water. I know she had a life jacket on, but there's something about seeing your baby out on that big lake. She did great though!

Then it was Kevin's turn. He eventually had to let go, cause he was losing his shorts. The Monson's thanked him for that one.

Peyton and Braden on the boat, looking adorable, I just loved this picture, and I just love these kids!

Here's Isabelle with her life jacket on. She didn't really smile at me all weekend, but she is dang cute anyway!

What else do you do on vacation, especially when Allie and I are in charge of grocery shopping, of course there were sweets to be eaten, and boy did those kids eat them.

And make a mess....

And eat some more..

When we didn't take the boat out, we put the inner-tube out off the boat dock and let the kids float on it and swim in the water.

Somehow after all that, they still had the energy to jump on the swings and play. Have I said how tired I was monday morning when we had to get up and get ready for school?

Maybe by the end of the summer miss Peyton will know how to pump herself on the swing, that would be amazing!

Even when the kids were just playing on the sand, we made them wear their lifejackets. The water was just too tempting, and so was the boat dock. They kept playing on this thing, running up and down it, between their dads and the sand.

I really don't know what these two were doing in the sand, but they kept laying in it, then jumping in the lake. Whatever it was, they were having fun doing it!

Isabelle really loved the sand, the loved eating it too! By the second day I think she had mostly figured out that it wasn't all that good.

Another view of the man-made beach.

See what I mean....yummy sand!

Lexie just kept throwing it in the water, she was COVERED in sand by the end of the day.

We had such a fun trip, and had it not been for the snake...yes, I said snake....that we saw swimming in the water right were we had been playing, I would say it was the perfect weekend. But for some reason I think that snake thinks the dock is it's home, and that is a little annoying, considering just how terrified I am of water mocassins (has anyone watched the movie 'Lonesome Dove'?) Yeah, saw that as a teenager after reading the book, and I have been terrified of them ever since, even when I was in California, and they don't live there!

Okay, enough about that, hopefully someone will get rid of it before we head up there again, yeah, I'll just tell myself that!:)

But really, what better weekend could you ask for? We can't wait to do it again!

The {adorable} Williams Kids

I love being able to photograph some of the cutest kids I know! These aren't my adorable williams kids, but my sister-in-laws, and man are they cute! They didn't really LOVE the camera, but they did awesome considering they're three, and very busy.:)

There are a few more on my photo blog for mom, check them out here, and enjoy!

Swim Team

So we're into our second year of swim team with Halli. It takes up some of our evenings, not too much, but some. It also takes up a good part of our saturdays, and this past saturday was spent in the rain, talk about fun! But we wouldn't change it, cause this girl LOVES swim team. Not only that, but she happens to be pretty good at it too.

Her first event this past saturday was the relay, and she didn't even breath till she was half way across the pool, that'll save some serious time!:)

But because she stays underwater for so long, I didn't get a good picture, it was basically the back of her head and water splashing around. So here she is after finishing the 25 freestyle.

It's so much fun to get to watch her compete, and she has so much fun so it's all totally worth it!

There was a lady at the meet this weekend that was painting dolphins on the kids faces, gotta love some team spirit!

I just loved this picture of Blake, and since he'll be part of the family someday (hehehe) I figured it alright to have pictures of him as a kid!:)

Here are the two competitors enjoying they're after race treat.

Last week my sister was staying with me while her husband was out of town, and I was able to snap these fun pictures of my niece. She is such a great baby. Hopefully our little guy will be this easy, but even an easy baby makes me a little anxious about having a newborn in the house again...so much work! Good thing they're so dang cute!

Sweet baby E {Newborn}

I was able to take some photos of the most adorable little newborn boy this weekend. He was a doll, and did great! Not to mention his mom and dad, who are first time parents were WAY more relaxed than I remember being with my first.

It was fun holding a newborn again, and kinda got me feeling like I may just be ready to meet our own little boy in a couple months! Yay for that! Check out some more photos here, on my photography blog.

I'm also going to be starting Summertime Mini Sessions for June only. They'll be 30 min. Sessions for 1-2 kids only, 6 months to 18 years, no family portraits. If you wanted to do more kids than that, email me and we'll work something out.

This is a great chance to get some updated shots of your kids, especially if you have any sort of birthday or other celebration coming up. The sessions will be $25, and will include the CD with your digital images on it. this is for June only, cause after that, I'm hoping it's not TOO long before we get to meet our baby boy!:)

A girl and her car

Tonight, I was making dinner, Halli and Peyton were upstairs playing, and Lexie was outside on the trampoline. We (meaning the adults, including my sis. Brittany who's here for a few days) looked outside and happened to see this little munchkin playing with her new favorite toy on the trampoline.

The girls got a barbie car for christmas, and just recently Lexie has taken a liking to it. She even took it out today to play on the trampoline.

I love her tongue, and that it's always sticking out of her mouth when she's concentrating on something.

Seriously, look how happy she is with her car!

She even tried to jump with it. She really loves being out there without her sisters, although, because she jumps with them alot, her coordination on the trampoline with older kids jumping around her is pretty amazing!

She likes to take it with her wherever she goes, too bad it's not more compact.

I just really loved this last picture of her, and how completely involved in her jumping she is.

Man, I have the cutest kids ever! :)

Why I love being a mom!

Let's be honest, this past week was kinda long. I had three sick girls to take care of, who of course all seemed to need me at the exact same times. Then, just as they were all recovering, Kevin headed out of town for two nights, and didn't get back till saturday evening. This meant that I had to take the girls to the swim meet on Saturday by myself. It wasn't too bad, and luckily the weather was nice and cool, but being pregnant, I just have no patience, and just having dealt with them being sick all week, I had even less.

Let's just say I was ready to bolt as soon as Halli finished her last race. But I will say that she did awesome, and I love watching her compete and try her hardest to do her best. It really is so much fun! I don't have any pictures cause I figured with three kids and ho hubby, I wouldn't get any anyways, so I didn't even bring the camera.

Later that day I took Halli with me to Sams club to get a few things for mothers day that I needed, especially since Kevin was out of town and couldn't do anything, (he may have planned that on purpose, I don't know.) While we were there Halli kept asking to buy me somthing for mothers day. I told her no, but she could point out what she would buy if she could.

She then tells me that she knows daddy got me something. I was pretty skeptical, cause, really Kevin isn't usually on top of the holidays that well, (although he has suprised me a few times in the past). So I asked her how she knew, did she see it? she says no, so I ask her if daddy told her what he got, and she says no. So I have no idea why she thinks Kevin got me anything, and then comes the answer..."it's not something you can see, it's LOVE!"

She literally said that, and she's right. I know that my husband and my girls love me, and the fact that Halli ran into our room on mothers day and woke Kevin up to go make breakfast proves that she was more excited about the day than anyone else. The girls made me some great homemade cards, and Kevin got me some roses, and a promise to get tickets to go see Wicked, which I have been dying to go see. He even said he'd go with me, yay!

So while my kids are keeping me busy, and as this pregnancy gets farther along I'm more exhausted than ever, I know they love me, and sometimes they actually appreciate what I do :)

I really do love being a mom more than anything. It can be so hard at times and at those times I'm also so thankful to be surrounded by so many amazing mothers to help support me and give me the advice I need, especially my own mom.

I'm also incredibly thankful for Kevin, and for the support that he gives me as well, that he's such a great dad, and for the fact that he has the energy to wear the girls out after having a long day at work himself. These early years are hard, and exhausting and I really do want to be able to cherish them and enjoy my kids while they're home with me and I can, sometimes I just need a good reminder that that is where I really need to be.

lil cupcake

I know I haven't blogged much about the girls lately, but they've been home sick all week, so nothing fun going on here. I'm just sad Halli's missing her field day today at a school, but she seems to be taking it pretty well. It seems like we're on the mend with Lexie and Peyton, so hopefully by the weekend we're all healthy again and maybe ready to go jump in the pool for the first time this year, can't wait!

While we're trying to get healthy, here's a little freebie for those of you that are digital scrapbookers.

Last month my sister-in-law had a fourth birthday party for her twin girls, and it was a cupcake theme. She asked me to make some party circle/tags for her, and they turned out so cute that I decided to make a scrapbook kit to go along with them. Not only that, but I've got the party circles, the party invitation, and a few other party supplies for those that want the whole party package. It's all available for sale in my esty shop! For now though, enjoy the scrapbook kit!

Papers

Embellishments

Our family room

I've come to the conclusion that I can't buy things for my house without having a specific plan of what I want to do with it. Mind you, this is in regards to decorating only.

This can be a good thing, I don't spend money on things I don't know what to do with. Hopefully I'll have a purpose for the stuff I do buy. At the same time, it seems to take me a long time to atually come up with a plan, so my house looks kinda blah.

Take my family room for instance. All we've had in there since we moved in were our couches, a glass table that belongs to my mother-in-law, (and I don't love glass tables), a bookcase, and our armoire for the TV. Plus, my fireplace mantel was kinda sad looking.

Just not very inspiring, although Kevin did splurge on that mirror for christmas, so we'd have something pretty up there. I just didn't know exactly what to dowwith it all, plus I wanted to keep it cheap.

I love thrift stores, and tjmaxx. You can find some great stuff at a GREAT price! I started collecting a few things and this past week got to work putting it all together, and I kinda love it!


basicaly everything on that mantel is under $5. Except the platter and the candle holders, that don't hold candles.:) i just need to get a vinyl 'W' to put on the plate, and some pictures for the frames by the mirror. Those white pitchers were really gaudy looking cheap ones I got at thrift stores, then just spray painted white, you'd never know to look at them. The topiaries and the wreath were made by yours truly, and that was pretty much all there was to it.

Then it was time to get rid of the glass table. We're moving furniture around upstairs anyway because of the baby, so I moved this dresser down from the guest room. It was black, with all the drawers, but no drawer pulls. I thought it would look better cream, and with some baskets in it instead. I still need to make a burlap table runner to go on top, but otherwise, love it!

Last, it was time to finally finish that coffee table that we got before christmas. I've painted lots of things, but had never stripped paint before, so I was a little worried about how it would turn out. It took quite awhile to get it all off, but it was well worth the effort.

Now it just needed paint and stain!

We LOVE this coffee table. It's cozy, the girls can do no harm to it, considering how distressed it looks on top, and it was only $50 on craigslist. It's amazing what a little elbow grease can do!

Lest you think I came up with the mantel display on my own, here is the picture that inspired me. Check out Layla's blog, the lettered cottage, for tons of great ideas. She has AMAZING taste, and they're remodeling their house on the cheap. I love her style!

So, there are still a few things that I need to do, and curtains will eventually make a HUGE impact in this big two story room, but for now, it's finally feeling a little more homey, and I love it!