Winter Wonderland Couples Shoot

I really love how these pictures turned out!  Such a cute couple, though.. how could they not?  It was so cold, and they were great to brave the snow with me.  Here's a little smidgen..

 

 

Thanks, Megan and Greg!

Always Naughty

 Nothing sums up my kiddos better than that!  This is my card from last year, and I thought I would share.  Our family couldn't get over the fact that Bauer is actually tied to the chair.  We noticed neighbors looking out their window wondering what was going on.. No big deal, just the next door neighbors tying their three year old to a chair.

 

 

 

It was an easy thing to put together, only took an hour for the pictures and a simple photoshop card.  I'm sure there are all kinds of naughty picture ideas you could come up with!  I thought about making it an every year thing, but baby Taytum is too sweet to be included in the naughty card just yet.  Next year.

Colorful Family Shoot

Lots & lots of cuteness from my family!  Their colors were so cute and you can't help but see their personalities shine through.. cause these kids have personality!  Love you guys!

 

Bentley's Baptism Invite

I really can't believe my little Bentley Ray is eight years old! But she definitely had her own ideas of how she wanted her invite to look, and the pictures she wanted us to take, and this is what we came up with.

 

 

This is the outer shell of the card, I put a verse from one of my favorite songs on the outside..

 

 

 And this is the inside of the card.. It was a great day!  Lots of tears over my little girl growing up!

Bradley Family Shoot

These guys were brave enough to try a new spot with me, and it was a bit of an adventure. There was some strange kind of race going on a round us, and plenty of ducks. But, as always, with a great looking family like this, we got some great pictures! 

 

Bauer's 4.5 year old studly shoot

Meet my Bauer Boy.. He is as sweet as he is intense.  I wanted to grab a few pics of him to blow up for his wall in his room, so I wanted the shoot to feel as much like him as it could.  Within ten minutes, I had more expressions than I knew what to do with.  And he even threw in some of his own poses, which were amazing.  Why do boys always bust out the chin resting on the fist Napoleon Dynamite style? 

 

Enjoy my little stud muffin!

Fall Family Shoot

I have been busy doing who knows what, but I have the feeling that this little sweetie may be taking up some of my time.. Taytum is growing so fast, and the poor thing is already learning how to be patient for pictures.  This may be one of my favorite pictures of her.. one thing I love is the tears welled in the bottom of her eyes.  She had been screaming and pulled it together for me.

 

Ah I love her!

 And one in color..

Just thought I'd share my little winter baby shoot.



The Bell Family

Went out for a little shoot with these guys over a month ago.. and here are a few of my faves from the shoot..

 

I don't know what we'd do without them!  Bentley loves Karmin as her sunday school teacher.. and I'm sure it doesn't hurt that she always brings the kiddos awesome treats!

 

The whole family.. I had a lot of fun with this group, thanks for having me!

so cute fam

Swinging back into things with these amazing friends from the ward who are getting sealed soon! 

We started at Draper temple, and had some fun there..

 

 

Is this not one of the cutest little girls you've ever seen?

 

 

Love this!

 

 

 

 

 

So cute and happy!  I luff you guys!

 

My layered extendered skirt

After buying an extender slip for thirty dollars from a local boutique, I have been wanting to make one for myself.  Being pregnant, this has come in so handy because my dresses keep getting shorter as my stomach grows.  I just used a knee length slip I already owned and found some different white and cream lace from JoAnne's.  I feel like using the different shades of white help it go with more things.  Adding lace to an existing slip is as easy as sewing straight lines, so trust me- if I can do it, anyone can.  But there are many tutorials on Pinterest, including this one   http://icandyhandmade.blogspot.com/2011/08/tutorial-extender-slip.html

I'm definitely a skirt and dress kind of girl, so this has saved me!  Plus, I love the added texture under skirts.

LDS Baptism Invite

It's pretty unbelievable to me that my little girl and her friends are getting baptised in this next year. Ella is the first of this year, and I always love taking her pictures.. look how cute she is! This was an opening card, giving us four pages to fill.. so I knew I needed some cute paper. I found plenty to love on www.lillybimble.com

This is the first page..

And when you open, you see this. Most of the fonts I use I get from 1001freefonts.com There is always plenty to choose from, and I feel like it's so simple to download. You can click on the picture to see it without my side bar shtuff covering it.

And on the back of the card was this little tidbit..

So here's an idea of the card all as one..

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Love my little Ella bo bella! And I can't believe my own little Benny Boo has her baptism on the way.. yikes I'm old.

DIY Valentine Wreath

Valentine's Day is definitely my favorite holiday and I thought I'd share a wreath I made a couple years ago. I was pretty upset when I left my box full of Valentine's Day decor outside on the deck only to get rained on.. I'm blaming my pregnant brain for that. My feather wreath was all shriveled and sad. So I had to re-do it. But that means I can give you an idea of how it goes!

All you need is

2 wire hangers

1 feather boa

glue gun

ribbon

I really didn't take many pictures along the way since it's so simple.. and I used my old wire hanger because I'm lazy. All I did was connect the hangers together shaping them like a heart. I like using the hangers because they're a thick wire that's bendable without being too touchy and bending where you don't want it to.

Here's what my hanger skeleton looks like..

how sad are all those old feathers still hanging on?

pretty sad

And just when you thought it couldn't be easier, you just glue the feathers straight on to the metal. I twisted the boa around maybe three times, but for the most part I just glued it straight on.

Tie your ribbon and you're set!

This project ends up costing less then ten bucks!

If you have questions, feel free to post them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do It Yourself Valentine Photo Card

Valentine's Day is coming up, and I thought I'd re-post one of my projects from last year.. I did this as a room mom activity for Bentley's Kindergarten class. It's so cute to look at just one year later and see how she's changed.I thought this was a fun idea for Valentine's gifts for parents and grandparents. Super simple.. I just photoshopped the images together. If you don't have photoshop, just print three different pictures and throw them in a frame together. Or put them on a card.. Have a great Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year!

One of my favorite things is New Years Resolutions. I love lists, and a list for the whole year always helps me commit. I usually see changes come from my New Years Resolutions lists. And I'm ready for some serious change! I've been thinking a lot the past month about what's important for me to accomplish, and what I want to change about myself. I found a great article that included many of the ideas that have been circling around in my head. You can link to it here http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marcia-sirota/new-years-resolutions_b_1166042.html. The whole list is great, but certain ones I want to stop..

Avoidance - Come take a little gander through my house. Unfinished projects everywhere. And while I have gotten much better at finishing what I start, I am not going to start anymore projects until all my unfinished, or broken projects are complete.

Having a Bad Attitude - It may just be that I'm three months pregnant, but I need to focus everyday on having a good attitude, and appreciating the moment.

Complaining - Kinda the same thing. But I'm healthy, I have a great family, my husband is a hottie, we have a home, a great neighborhood and family.. what do I really have to complain about?

Gossiping - I've already been trying to stop, but I have to admit.. The other night I really wanted to tell a friend something that had happened earlier that day. It was a story about an acquaintance, and it wouldn't be a story I'd really want shared about me. It wasn't horrible, it wasn't untrue, but it wasn't nice. That's one of the first times I've really felt myself talking myself out of it questioning myself what good it would do. I really did feel proud to stop myself, and maybe a little more grown up.

Co-Dependency - I have been thinking a lot about if I could provide for three kids if something were ever to happen to Jesse. I don't work, and I never finished college.. Time to step up and make sure I could take care of my family if needed. That's my biggest goal this year. Plus.. I would love to be able to buy Jess surprises without him knowing I spent the money first.

Those are some of the ideas from the article.. Here are some of my personal thoughts..

Be a better mom - Have more fun with the things that already should be done.. Have my kids help cook.. Do more art projects with my kids.. take them new places.. take more pictures.. Be patient.. my kids are pretty sweet and they're growing quick. Blog more about them.

Be a better cook - Jess has me beat on this one.. I know it's in my genes (from Grandma Shirley.. not Donna), I just need to give it the effort.

Get better at the things I love - Photography, Writing, Painting, and singing. I want to improve all these things in the next year.

Get Organized - I'm going to start by throwing stuff out.

Budget - Waste less, Save more.

Jess & Me- Go out more.. but different restaurants and different things than movies. I love my date nights.

And of course, Blog more of what I'm up to. I'm really going to try.

Curious.. am I the only one who loves New Years Resolutions?