Flashback Friday

Okay, so since I didn't get a Ten on Tuesday written this week - I thought I'd do a Flashback Friday instead.  This is where you go back in your files a year and see what pictures you had around this date. 

 

Wow!  She is so little here, just eight months old!  We were living in the apartment then (ugh), and it was boiling hot out - just as it is now.  I picked out this outfit when I was pregnant with her, and I just loved having something new that Lauren never wore.  Plus the dachshund has a special place in my heart...  it brings back memories from my childhood of dressing my Grandma's dogs up in my doll clothes.  It is amazing that the same dress that fits a Cabbage Patch Doll will work on a wiener dog.  Hee hee!  Poor things - they were so sweet to me!

Happy Friday, everyone!

IV Reunion

Last weekend we were able to go to Flagstaff for an InterVarsity Reunion. This is a Christian group that we belonged to in college. Aside from all the wonderful friends and fellowship, IV is very special to Justin and I because it is how we met, and one of their events was where he proposed! It was great to get to see these friends again and to escape the heat once more! We had a great time - but those of you who weren't there were VERY missed!!!

We started the weekend off with dinner at Galaxy Diner.


Our friends Tim & Stephanie were nice enough to let us stay at their home! Lauren LOVED it because they had chickens. She thought it was great fun to chase them around!!!



I kept Paige inside mostly - she was way too eager to jump right on top of the poor chickens, and dogs! ;o)


On Saturday morning we had coffee at Macy's (YUM) and then went on a little walk at a large park. It was surprisingly warm!!!


On Sunday we headed to Thorpe park to play and have a picnic.


Lauren was dancing here - too funny!


Paige l-o-v-i-n-g the swings:


This shot cracks me up - are they holding each other up with their heads or trying to push each other over?!? LOL!


The whole group -


What a great time! Can't wait to do it again in five more years!!!

July Camping Trip

As soon as we arrived at our spot, Lauren jumped out of the car screeching about the butterflies!!! The last time we were at this spot, it was still much too cold for any bugs - but this time, from 9AM to dark we had tons of Monarch butterflies for neighbors. They were all hanging out in this little run-off area full of daisies and sunflowers. Lauren called it the "Butterfly Forest", and it entertained her for many hours of our camping trip!

Here comes Kallie to join her!

The guys started right away with some "Cowboy Golf".

Paige was just content to practice getting as dirty as possible!

About halfway through the trip, Lauren learned how to catch the butterflies! I was referring to her as the butterfly whisperer because I was amazed that any four year old could be sneaky and quiet enough to catch them! She came up to me with at least a dozen - being ever so careful to only hold them byt the wings and never touch their body so they could "fly home to their families". =) You can see one that she captured at my Frame-A-Day.

Here is my method of "catching" them.

Doing a little sand art. I save the really messy crafts for when we are outside! LOL

Here is a better shot of what Justin used to call Paige's scarecrow stance:

I just think she was disappointed that Lauren wasn't handing over a chip... or the whole container!

Justin got some time to practice his archery, and Devin was fascinated by the whole thing! It was great to watch J be able to share all his know-how!

One of my favorite things about camping is how the smallest things will entertain children.

Hee hee!

But we really had a great time, and I was pleasantly surprised that the girls slept well (at night) and we were able to relax and just enjoy the cooler weather and mountain air!

The winner...

The powers that be at Random gave me the number of 5 - so the 5th commenter, my dear friend Jaclyn, will be receiving a little something in the mail from me this week! Thank you all for being so supportive - I plan on having many more giveaways on my business site as time goes on!

Speaking of that business site - I created a blog button:



If you would like to show a little love and add it to your sidebar, you are more than welcome! ;o)

Camping pictures are coming soon. Love you all! Happy Monday!

I just realized I forgot to post pics from the 4th of July!  Here are all the kiddos on Jen's couch - we took over her house to use the pool since they were out of town (Thanks again, Jen!)!

Here is a shot of my girlies - it is nearly impossible to get them both to be happy for a picture these days, so I just take what I can get!  =)















We are getting ready to go camping this weekend and were baking up a batch of de-lish chocolate chip cookies.  Lauren is quite the chef and just loves to help out - but she was even more excited when I took the beater off and asked her if she wanted to lick it off.  At first she looked at me as if I had lost my mind, but it quickly became her favorite part of the whole process! 

 

Does she have the BIGGEST pupils you have ever seen?!?  I seriously think her eyes are dilated all of the time!!!

Not to be left out, I gave Paige a little taste on a spoon, and she was all about it too!

Have a great weekend everyone! 

It's HERE!

 

That's right!  The website is finally ready!!!

I hope you will forgive my lack of a TonT post yesterday, because I was busy finishing this up.  *whew*

It is a work in progress, so please forgive any sudden changes that might occur when you visit.  ;o)

Also, do me a huge favor and let me know if the website looks wonky in any way on your monitor.  Since you just never know if your monitor sees things the same way as everyone else's does.  You can also add it to your feeds if you like, since I will be blogging over there as well!

And, as promised - a suprise will be sent to a random commenter (on the business page, not this one).  So head on over and leave a comment - a little special something will be sent out to someone on Monday!

The cool mountain air

Okay - these took FOREVER to get posted, but better late than never, I suppose!

On July 3rd we and our beloved friends, the Swope family, used the holiday to play in Flagstaff and escape the incessant heat of Phoenix!

Our first stop was the park to let the kiddos burn off the steam of being strapped into the car for almost two hours:



Check out Lauren's "swinging face":



LOL! Paige was loving all the climbers this day and was happy to go up the steps and down the slide about a hundred times!



Lauren and Porter waited very patiently for a turn on this bouncy-seat dinosaur while three big kids played on it. When it was said that these tyrants, er- children were not going to be done with their turn any time soon... here was the result:



But, she was easily distracted with the phrase, "Let's go play in the woods!" The woods being a small section of trees just south of the play area which was for BBQ's and picnics.

Harper is already quite the outdoors-man!



And Paige did her fair share of romping in the rough...



A building a rock tower -



I was pretty impressed. ;)

After lunch we headed up the mountain to go for a little walk. It was just beautiful!



There were ladybugs, so Lauren was in heaven!!!



Here we go out on our little "walk":



Did you notice the dark gray sky looming above us? Nah, we didn't either!



Well, after a few minutes of playing in this field, we got drenched! It started out as a little harmless hail, but quickly turned to sudden bursts of downpour!!! We hid under a tree for a while, since the car was quite a jaunt away - but after we realized we were getting wet anyway, we decided to make a run for it. R.U.N. At like 8500 feet... riiiiiiight. I think my lungs are still burning 10 days later. :)

But, it was an adventure! And we dried off in our cars and were none worse for the wear!



It was an all around fabulous day in my book!

The first time, but certainly not the last.

My first ever experience photographing a birth, and let me tell you - it was nothing short of amazing! It was a long day for all involved, but little London was worth it! As you can tell, Mom and Dad are quite smitten!!! Congratulations H family!

Ten on Tuesday

1.  I feel like I have fallen off the face of cyberspace for the last week.  I am in the middle of a TON of proofing, so I hope to be back to normal again sometime soon!

2.  I am a website building yo-yo.  I go back and forth constantly with what I think I should do.  I have a very specific idea of what I want my business site to look like - but I can't decide if I need to do that right away, or go with something cheaper until I am making some money.  I have half-built three different sites in the process, and am happy with none of them!

3.  We had a blast in Flagstaff with the Swopes on Friday -- and got caught in a crazy hail storm.  Pictures to come on that soon.  Sadly, they haven't even been downloaded off my camera yet.

4.  I had a family photo shoot on Saturday that reminded me why I want to do photography.  They were amazing, willing to do whatever I suggested, had helpful insight, and were constantly laughing and having fun!  There wasn't any stress on their faces, and they just went with the flow.  I love that about on-location photography!!!  I truly believe that my blood pressure rises upon setting foot into a studio.

5.  Four of my subjects had Scottish accents.  I.LOVE.ACCENTS.  I wish I had one.  ;o)

6.  The birth that I photographed was equally amazing.  Slide show to come soon!  But 22 hours at the hospital sure does take it out of you!  It took me four days to get back to my usual sleep patterns!

7.  I have never been so glad to not have television.  It is sad when anyone dies, but I don't need the details of Micheal Jackson's funeral repeated over and over!!!

8.  If you like Kashi products and shop at Target head over to Money Saving Mom.  Target has extended some coupons that get you the products super cheap!  Yesterday I got two boxes of crackers and a box of frozen waffles for $1.63!

9.  Only since being a mom of young children have I thought that it is totally fine not to see fireworks on the 4th of July.  I think it has been five years since I saw any!

10.  I guess it is time to get out of my PJ's!  I think it is nuts that I manage to get my girls dressed right after breakfast, but not get myself ready for hours afterwards.  Maybe it is because it takes much longer to get myself ready... I need the perfect skin of childhood!

It's finally happening...

A certain baby will be born today!  I have gotten the call to come photograph the birth I have been so anticipating!  Because of that, I might be unreachable for the next 24 hours or so.

I am so excited!!!  I can't believe I get to be present for someone else's miracle today.  What a blessing! 

Hopefully I will have some baby-fever-laden shots to show you very soon!  In the meantime, here is a little cuteness from our trip to the park today:

Ellie-Roo-Bee

Justin's sister, Tamara and her family came for a visit this last week - and on Friday we had a birthday party at Jen's house for Ellie's fourth birthday.  I can not even explain to you how fun it is to have three cousins within six weeks of each other - they are just too cute, fun, and hilarious together.  Even when they just walk around telling each other what to do.  ;o)

Ellie's nickname as a baby was Ellie-Roo.  I think her sister, Taylor started it, but I am not sure.  So Ellie-Roo soon turned into Ellie-Roo-Bee, and now most of the time it is just Ruby.  This took a little getting used to for me, but after just a couple hours - her spunk and pre-schoolerness came out, and she is most definitely a Ruby!

 

Having a swim before dinner.

Grandma Nel playing Duck-Duck-Goose with all the kids.

 

Paige was just wishing she knew how to play!!!

 

Pretty Camryn

 

Time for cake!

I think she was excited!!!

 

She did a great job on the candles!

 

I just thought this was hysterical.  Holding her purse with both hands through the staps, but gotta get the thumb in there as well!!!

 

Brandon and Jamie surprised all of us by flying in!

The whole family got to be together for a change - SO great!

 
 

I can do a post without a little Lauren thrown in.

She was not excited to pause the eating of cake for a picture.

"Priorities, Mom!"