Name that book

I took this picture on one of the first couple days of snow because it reminded me of one of my favorite childrens story books. Can you guess it?

Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas celebration

My Grandparents have a family get together every year around Christmas. This year we did our annual bowling, then went to the church for games and food and a program. I was pretty proud of my kids for singing and it turned out to be a very nice program. Afterwards there was Volleyball, Basketball and card games. I didn't bring shoes for sports (plus I suck) so I tried my hand at a little sports photography.

It was young against old. I have no idea who won. lol.



My family makes tall boys.




This one is just funny.


Sadly, my favorite card game, Nertz, is not loved by many. I need to find more fans and have a Nertz party. :)

Our ghetto Christmas tree

We were planning on going to Seattle for Christmas this year to visit Dave's family, so we didn't get a tree. We did, however, wrap a floor lamp with garland and hung ornaments/lights on it just for a little decoration at home.

Then about a week before Christmas all the crazy snow storms started and we canceled our trip. I wanted to get a tree, Dave didn't, so we put it to the kids for a vote.

To my surprise, the little punks sided with Dave and we stuck with our ghetto tree.

But, it worked, and we had a lovely Christmas. For some reason, I don't take a lot of pictures on Christmas morning. Just enjoying it, I guess. But I do have one of Gabe digging into his stocking and you can see the ghetto tree in the background. (he's holding up an ABC church book to look at during Sacrament mtg.)

Still no teeth

Clara is almost 8 months and toothless. But it allows her to make the cutest little faces.



When did your kids cut their first tooth and what did you feed them pre-teeth? She wants to eat everything.

Little Jovie is 1!

My beautiful niece turned 1 and I took pictures. :) Here are just a couple to tide y'all over.









and...check this out...I made her birthday dress. :)





and....I'm excited to say she's starting to tolerate me. :) It's a great improvement over not liking me at all. lol

Santa baby

I wanted a picture of Clara in this dress and the santa hat...but she didn't like the hat. She'd rip it off instantly.


So I held her arms down with one hand and shot with the other.


But it made her sad.


So I let go and she was all GET IT OFF ME!

In an attempt to be postive....

Good things about having more snow than should ever be allowed in one spot...

1. I learned how to put the chains on my van.

2. I met my neighbors when they towed me out and later gave them some homemade bread.

3. I made bread that turned out for the second time ever.

4. Lots of time to catch up on projects.

5. Snow Ice Cream.




5. Shoveling snow twice a day is a good work out.

6. I'm learning to cook with what we have instead of just running to the store at the last minute.

7. My kids are coming up with creative things to do and are getting along surprisingly well.

8. Sledding. And a 7 year old who was brave enough to take the jump. (this was the 2nd time...he caught air the first time)


9. Lots of time to read.

Feel free to comment with your positive snow thoughts!

Carrying on tradition

Every year when I was a kid we made Graham Cracker houses on Christmas Eve and then Santa would judge them. I hadn't yet started doing this with my kids, but this year we did and it was really fun!



My favorite part was how each house reflected my kids' personalities.

Gabe...stuff in as much candy as is humanly possible.


See how the walls have expanded?


Aria...make it perfect and beautiful.


Nathan...use math to create patterns.


All done! We made them a little too early in the season. But they said they wanted santa to judge them so they set them out.


They were devoured by the next day. They decided that if Santa can see us while we're sleeping and when we're awake, then he must have seen them already and he could still judge them and leave them notes on Christmas Eve.

Baby with style...

I love it when clients bring things to shoots that are personal. Things that help the pictures tell a story.

A recent shoot did exactly that. And I loved it.

Some favorites.

My girl is 6.

Where does the time go?

She had a little Hannah Montana merriment with her friends.

Ever economical...I took the picture of Hannah off the party blower thingies and they used those for pin-something-on-a-poster.




Gabe getting in on the action...boa and all.


Musical Chairs...several of them had never played this before!


And cupcakes...exactly what she wanted.


On her real birthday, we went out for manis and pedis with Rach and Mae. There was a panic moment when a guy manicurist went over to Aria...oh, the tears...but we stopped him and had a girl do it and all was well again.


Getting some bling.


Pretty, pretty! And festive! And a little irritated with me because of all the pictures. lol.


She claimed it was the best two days of her ENTIRE.LIFE. ahhhh....success.

It's a teensy bit snowy outside.

I went out at 8 and shot through saran wrap to protect my camera. Made for some funky focus stuff...kinda cool.





By 9:30 the kids wanted to go play.








They came in for a while then headed back out around 11.


And it's STILL SNOWING. It may never stop. I will admit it makes cute pictures of the kids though.

Almost caught up...

I finished my cousins engagement pictures.

I had fun proofing these. I went a little farther with the post processing than I usually do and it was a blast. (Shout out to Boutwell's Totally Rad Actions! I love those things!)

Here are a few more favs.