We Heart Crazy Hair Day

The princess has been planning for this day for almost a year now. Let's just say crazy hair day is kind of a big deal around here! This year we went with an octopus themed hairstyle. She really wanted it blue, which I'm not to crazy about (I think it looks a little spider-ish,) but what are you going to do? Even with its dark hue I think it turned out pretty awesome!

In Case You've Missed Us

As usual I have been horrible at updating my blog. Since January is almost over, I've decided we've kinda missed the boat on posting what we were up to in December. In case you are still curious though, you might as well head on over here. My sister-in-law did a nice little post that pretty much shows what we were up to. Most of the pictures and activities done would be the same, and I'd hate to be redundant...so I will only copy this picture of the family instead of her entire post.

Maybe we'll expand on some of our December activities at a later date, but for now I'm thinking this is enough! 

Jack Skellington

Last March, while in Disneyland, the prince wanted a Jack Skellington hoodie. He is a huge fan, it's one of his favorite movies. I wasn't willing to pay $50 for a toddler's sweatshirt however, and immediately thought, "I bet I can make him one." It's been a few months, but I finally made it. I figured now is the perfect season for it. It was my first attempt at freezer paper stenciling, but I doubt it will be my last. 

Let me just say, it's a hit! He doesn't want to take it off and he's been singing "Nightmare Before Christmas" all morning. Just in time for Halloween.

Better Late than Never

My babies are growing up right before my eyes. The prince had his first day of preschool earlier this month and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. It seems that every time I blink weeks have passed me by. All he needed was a totally awesome batman backpack, and he was ready to go. I on the other hand am just a little bit sad. I must admit it is rather strange for me to have time at home with no children there. I do kinda miss them. They are fun to have around most of the time. I hope they are off having wonderful adventures, and I can't wait to hear about every single one of them.

Super Boy!

I finally got a the Prince/Punk's pictures done. They turned out better than I thought they would. I have to admit I was worried. The boy doesn't hold still for long, but I think we captured him perfectly. Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot.

 Such a stud!

First Day of First Grade

The princess has her first week of first grade under her belt. She LOVES it! Everyday we pick her up the first thing she tells us about is lunch.The girl is excited about the cafeteria. She is so happy to be in first grade and be going to school all day. I must admit that I am going to miss having her around all day, but I couldn't be more pleased that she loves school so much. I took my camera to the school with us to get pictures with her and her little friends on the first day, but she wouldn't let me take any.  Apparently I am already embarrassing, so I just have to settle for the ones in front of our house. Can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Sugar and Spice + Spunk to Spare

I've been terrible at pictures lately, so I decided it was high time we did a photo shoot with each kid. I have one shoot finished and am thrilled with how it turned out. Let's hope the other one turns out this well. (Fingers crossed.) I am having such a difficult time even picking which ones to show here because I love them all so much!  

I cannot tell you how much I love this girl!

Disneyland

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to California for the princess’s National Cheer Competition (more on that to come later.) It just happened to take place right across the street from Disneyland, so we went there too. Our kids are the perfect age where they can ride pretty much everything, but are still young enough to be into it all. Plus, they had never been before, so we were all really excited. My sister-in-law and her husband met us there for a couple of days, and we had a blast. We literally had no down time. We fit everything in in those few days, in between all of the cheer stuff. We totally lucked out on the schedule this year. We’d wake up early for competition, and then would race over to Disneyland after, then repeated it the next day. The princess came home decked out in Pirate gear and has decided on a pirate themed birthday party this year. While the Prince was obsessed with Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas. Both sang "Yo-Ho Yo-Ho, a Pirate's life for me." for a couple of weeks. Not your typical choices for most kids at Disneyland, but I love it. We all came home thoroughly exhausted, but oh so happy! Can’t wait until next year, although I need a nap just thinking about it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of All Ages...We're Going to the Circus!

I can not say this very often, but I am going to say it now. I was deprived as a child and have never been to a circus. So you may understand why I am beyond excited that we just won tickets to the upcoming show. I was reading the Babes in Hairland blog, and noticed that she was having a contest for circus tickets. All you had to do to be entered in for the first pack was come up with a fun circus hairdo on one of the kiddos, and the judges would pick their favorite one to win. I may be a total dork, but we had a lot of fun with this. Erika decided that she wanted to do something with a tightrope, and from that idea sprung forth a fabulous hairstyle. (Drum roll, please.) And now presenting...The "Tightrope Side Pony" in all it's glory!

The Luckiest Unlucky

Sorry I have totally neglected the blog. Sometimes life speeds along and it takes awhile for me to catch back up with it. On Father's Day my little prince fell into a bush. We took him to emergency thinking he would just need some stitches, but a CT scan and a few minutes later they were life flighting him up to Primary Children's Medical Center, the local children's hospital. They discovered that a stick had entered above his eye, followed along side the optic nerve, and had weaved itself through his brain narrowly missing his carotid arteries, and then just stopped short of his brain stem. The next few hours seemed like an eternity. Sitting in that empty OR waiting room, I prepared myself for the worst and thought of everything he'd never be able to do again. They prepared us for the likely posssibility that they would have to open up his skull to retrieve the stick, but they assured us that they had a surgeon who specialized in cutting the skull, another whose job it was to stop the potential bleeding, they had a specialist for every possible thing that could have gone wrong. Luckily, we didn't have to use most of them. Miraculously, his doctors were able to pull the stick out of the original wound without causing further injury. 

After we made it through surgery, it became a waiting game to see what would go wrong. Everyone was sure something would. Serious head injuries like this just didn't happen without devastating or fatal ramifications. We watched the families of some of our PICU neighbors with heart wrenching stories say their goodbyes. Fortunately, our luck continued. We were able to take him off all of the breathing tubes, and the first words out of his mouth was, "I want my Mama!" One of the best sentances I've ever heard in my life. His wound stopped leaking CSF fluid from the brain.  He was able to move all of his limbs. We moved out of the PICU to the Nuero-Trauma Unit. After about a week or so, we were finally released from the hospital ahead of schedule. (We were originally told we'd be there a minimum of 21 days.) We had weekly visits from Home Health, gave him a heavy dose of antibiotics every 8 hours through his PICC line, and he continued to make his miraculous recovery. The little guy somehow managed to escape all infections and pretty much made a full recovery.

The past few months have been such a whirlwind for me, and I can't truly put into words how I feel. It amazes me how quickly life can change, and most often during such ordinary moments. It's incredible how frail and  powerful life can be in the same instant. We truly are some of the luckiest unlucky people. It was so touching to see all of the support we were given. Often times from people we didn't even really know. I can't thank everyone enough for all of your thoughts and prayers. They truly worked miracles for us. Thank you! This has been such an incredible experience. Hopefully things are starting to return back to normal and I can return to some of my usual activities again, like blogging. While this pretty much ruled our Summer, I do have a few more things I want to try and post soon. Thanks again for all the love and support--he is still doing great!

Tut Tut...Looks Like Rain

This last weekend ended up being pretty cold and rainy, so much for Summer being in full swing. Honestly, I really don't mind though, because I absolutely positively love the rain. There is just something about it. While thunderstorms and rain clouds may no longer be in the forecast, some of my favorite rainy day photos are.

Some Summer Shots

I realize it's been a little while since I've posted, but I can't really say I'm sorry about it. Where have I been you ask? Well, not sitting here at the computer. I've have been taking full advantage of the finally good weather. I feel like Summer has finally arrived.  I went through and picked out some old shots that are so quintessentially Summer for me, and I don't think I've posted them before (except obviously the first one, but it's still perfect!)

We've pulled out the flip-flops, but you're more likely to catch us barefoot.

And I have three words for you: Sand, Swimming, and Snow Cones...

And this is just the beginning...I've got many more Summer adventures to come!

Happy Birthday!

I just wanted to wish my little prince and princess an Happy Birthday! They are such great little ones and I am so proud to be their Mom. We had such a crazy, fun filled weekend celebrating. We got to go see Shrek 4 with the family, went swimming, had a big ol' birthday bash...and to top it all off it's snowing here today and it's almost June. Slow down, you're growing up way too quickly! Seriously, where does the time go!?

Here Comes the Bridals

I know I promised these forever ago, but here are a few more from my not-so-recent-anymore bridal session. Drum roll, please......

They are such a gorgeous couple!

And We're Back!

I realize that turned into a very lengthy break, but sometimes things just can't be helped along quicker. Our internet had issues once we moved, and consequently it took some time getting things working properly. I don't function all too well without it, but we're back, and now I'm ready for another break. A vacation sounds so nice right now. Doesn't it?

I dare you to tell me that does not look so nice and relaxing. Sigh. Until then, as promised I will get some of my recent shots up and try to get back into the ol' bloggin' routine once again

Penguins, Poodles and Dragons...Oh My!

This last Friday we went to the aquarium (which is the closest we get to see ocean life here in the middle of Utah.) They just got in a new penguin exhibit, and we loved it! All the cute little penguins were so active and fun to watch. Apparently, it got my little princess thinking...she has decided she needs a penguin, poodle and a dragon (we also went and saw How to Train Your Dragon) for pets. She assures us that this is the perfect combination of pets and they won't be any trouble at all.  Really she is so thoughtful and practical! She has it all arranged, really she's thought of it all. She knows where they will stay, what they will eat, what they will do all day. She isn't even worried about the dragon eating the other pets or burning the house down, because she has informed us she is an excellent trainer and her pets will always be on their best behavior. I must admit I wasn't aware that she had any experience training dragons--or any animal for that matter! See what our kids are capable of -- I must say that I have grossly underestimated them. So if any of you have an extra penguin, poodle, or dragon on your hands, please let me know because we may be interested.

Bridals Preview

So I had to shoot bridals in a blizzard last Saturday. Why it had to snow that day, and only that day (the days surrounding it were beautiful) I will never know. My guess is someone up there likes to stress me out, but we persevered and shot anyways. I'm still a little disappointed that we couldn't go to our other locations and the light was killing me, but we really did get some beautiful shots. It helps when you have a gorgeous bride and groom (and little flower girl!) There will be more to come after the reception (the bride wants the ones she uses to be a surprise--and since her readers could easily stumble over here, I will post with caution.) So let this give you a taste of what is to come if you will, and I will post my favorites later!

Jake and Jen's Engagements!

I thought I'd share a few from my latest photographic endeavor, which happens to be Jake and Jen's engagements. I love how they turned out, but it totally helps when the couple is adorable too! I had a lot of fun with these, and yes this will be another post on the pic heavy side.