We're back!

My new years resolution list is short. thank goodness because that means I might actually stick to it! One of the items on my list is to get this blog going again.


Here's a quick recap of the last eight months or so:

• We sold our home of 10 years. 

• We moved into a cramped 800 sq ft  basement apt, stuffed all our belongings into two large storage units and proceeded to go stark raving mad as we endured 4 months of roughing it. We battled ginormous spiders, a daily horrid sewage smell coming from our kitchen, an insomniac landlord who lived upstairs and kept us up too, outlets in the ceiling, an ant infestation, Barbershop Quartet music played above us almost nightly, absolutely no natural light from our tiny windows, and stir craziness and depression brought on by all of the above.

• We watched in almost pain staking slow motion as our new home was built and completed two months behind schedule. We came up to visit our lot on a daily basis as a way of maintaining our sanity throughout the process :) 

• In the end, we moved twice (sorry Clayton!) but looking back on all of it  I can say that it was completely worth it ;) We moved in on August 2nd and have now been here in our beautiful home for 5 months!! 

• Adam started 1st grade and is waaay too popular with the girls at recess. He is an awesome little reader and makes friends very easily. He is liking school this year but when asked about it he will tell you that his favorite parts of the day are "lunch, recess and coming home!"

• Cooper started preschool and loves wearing his "papack" (backpack). He loves riding his scooter and is a little speed demon. Those short little legs move so fast! He's also completely obsessed with the Skylander's Wii game and is always trying to talk one of us into playing it since he's not quite old enough to play it yet.

• Clayton got a new (OLD) car. It's a gem. I'm talking crushed red velvet interior. Your jealous, it's ok. He also started school- BYU/Idaho online and got straight A's his first semester. my hubby has a 4.0!! woot woot! 

• I enjoyed water aerobics 4 nights a week all summer at the outdoor pool and was so sad when it was over.  (can't wait till May!)  The busy photography season started about 4 days after we moved into our new home and I just shot my last session of 2013 about 2 weeks ago.  I had 52 photo sessions scheduled in the past 4 months! It does get crazy hectic at times but I love it. I have really worked hard over the last year and I'm proud of what I've accomplished. You can check out my stuff anytime on my facebook page or my blog  :)

• We decided to turn our adoption papers in again! I know. Crazy right? We just know that this is what we are supposed to do. Whatever happens, we are so happy and blessed and grateful for the family that we have but we are excited to see what 2014 will bring!

Here's our most recent family photo, Clayton shaved his mountain man beard about a week ago so I don't have to endure that awesomeness anymore ;)

Show and Tell: Playing catch-up

SUMMER is officially here.

We're soaking up the warmth one day at a time.
First things first, we bought a trampoline and
BOY do we love it.

Clayton and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.
No pictures..too busy havin' fun!
Clayton's sister took our boys and we had 2 WHOLE days and nights alone! Woo Hoo!

The boys have been keeping each other busy.

We've gone camping and fishing already.
No fish caught just yet but Adam is looking forward to it!

Camping was an adventure to say the least.

Long story short:

We had a trailer but NO keys.

So we bought a tent.

10 years ago I vowed I would never sleep in a tent again and I kept my word.
Until this trip.
It was as bad as I remembered.
Made worse by the plug that was MISSING from the air mattress.

Somehow we all managed to survive. Even me.

We celebrated this wonderful man on Father's Day.
He's the best dad ever.

This lovely picture taken on our camping trip was obviously shot BEFORE I was informed that the plug was missing from the air mattress.

My camera has become an extension of my body.
I can't stop taking pictures of our beautiful boys.

When I'm not shooting my family I'm shooting someone elses.
With my camera. of course.

See that adorable doggy above?
That's MiLO
He was my very first baby. I love him to the moon and back.
For 5 years I dressed him up daily and spoiled him rotten.
Then he went to the family he was meant to be with forever.
It's a different type of adoption story but it's an open adoption and that's the best kind.
Someday I'll write it down and share it.

See more of my images here and here.

Busy, busy, busy and lovin' it.

December In a Flash

I can't believe Christmas is in a week....holy crap!!

Adam had his first preschool program last week. I thought for sure that I'd cry the whole time but I was too excited and happy to see my cute little munchkin up there singing and dancing.





He did an awesome job smacking these sticks together. Is it any surprise that in the process he also ended up smacking the girl next to him and making her cry? oops...I guess that's what happens when you give a 3 year old some sticks to smack together!


Playing the drums proved to be much safer.





He shared lots of giggles with his friend.


Over the weekend we had our family Christmas party.



Santa couldn't make it but he dropped off a bag of toys for the kids.
Adam was super excited to find out that he got the mammoth he has been asking for!

Meanwhile it finally snowed!!


We went outside and built a snowman as soon as we got a chance.





I think he was a very handsome snowman.




Then Adam decided it was time for him to write another letter to Santa.



I'm pretty sure this was the cutest thing I have ever seen.

He spent over a half an hour "writing" his letter, all the while saying out loud everything he was "writing".

After about 10 minutes of listening and watching him as I was cleaning the kitchen, I finally realized the importance of this moment.

I dropped what I was doing, grabbed a pen and paper and sat down so I could record what he was saying.



Meanwhile this little munchkin will be 4 months old on Monday!!



He rolled over for the first time this week!! This picture (above) is actually the picture of him about to roll over :)



Cooper is the happiest little munchkin that we know.
He is quick to smile and giggle. He loves sucking on his hands and drools so much that I have to keep a bib on him at all times. He soaks through about 4 bibs a day.



Let me also add that the Bumbo (pictured above) is the coolest creation on the planet. I love this thing!! It keeps my little man happy most of the time and that means I'm free to try and keep some order and cleanliness in our home.


Tonight we made our 3rd attempt to go see the Hogle Zoo Christmas Lights...I say "attempt" because once again we failed.

Traffic is out of control ridiculous around here lately and we inched our way towards our destination ever so slowly until we realized that we might not make it before they closed for the night. After 1 hour and 45 minutes of stalled traffic I called it a night and turned the car around. Cooper doesn't like the car. He also doesn't like his car seat so as you can guess our car rides aren't the most enjoyable experiences. I'd say he cried through about 80% of our trip today.

Adam was disappointed that he wouldn't get to see his favorite animals or get to ride on the carousal tonight but that was all forgotten when suddenly out of no where he threw up in the car on the way home...not once, but twice. By the time we got home he had a fever and chills too.

Awesome.

I cleaned up the kids and got them both in bed (did I mention my hubby is out of town this weekend?) and then sat down and snarfed down a huge bowl of ice cream....aaaahh comfort food..where would I be without you? ...oh yes....lighter.

Anyhoo

Then it was on to Christmas stuff. Right now I'm working on our boys birth mother's Christmas packages. Hopefully I can get them done and to the post office by Monday!

The Provo FSA Chapter's blog has some awesome Birth Mother gift ideas for the holidays you can check out the list here


There is only 1 more minute left of this day...hopefully it will be smoother than the first 12 hours of today have been!

Is it Christmas time yet?

I love this time of year!!

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As I write this, snow is falling outside and everything is covered in a soft white blanket. I can't wait to get Adam bundled up tomorrow and head out to play!
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Every morning for at least the last month Adam has asked either Clayton or I the same question...
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"Is it Christmas time yet?"
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My answer is the same every time...

"Not yet..We need to be thankful first and there is a special day set aside for that called Thanksgiving. Then the very next day it's Christmas time!"
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His answer to me is always the same too...

"I. AM. THANKFUL. EVERYDAY!" and yes, he yells this at me.
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He's getting a bit impatient so I'm relieved that by the end of this week we will be able to say YES it's Christmas time!! But I'm sure he will come up with something new like "Is Santa here yet?"...hahaha.

don't worry I'll keep you posted.
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Anyhoo...as I said I love this time of year! I love decorating the house, baking yummy treats, shopping for all those special gifts and of course sending out Christmas Cards to everyone we know!

My favorite website for all things "photo project"
related is Shutterfly.com

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I love all their products! Their site is very user friendly, its easy to upload photos and their tutorials walk you through any project you are working on. I've made several Photo Books about our family. They make great gifts too, I've sent them to Adam's birth mother, and I even made a special book just for Adam about his many adventures. It's a story that I wrote about him and he loves to look at the pictures and asks us to read it to him all the time.
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I ordered Coopers birth announcement through them and it turned out SO cute!
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The one thing I haven't done yet is order my Christmas cards from them. I chose several different ones last year from their site but in the end I procrastinated and ended up having to make my own just so I could hurry and get them mailed!
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Well that is NOT going to happen this year!
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I have been swooning over their Christmas cards for about a week now trying to pick the perfect one but they are all so cute I can't make up my mind!
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I'm even more excited than usual this year because with the help of one of my dear friends we were able to get some awesome family photos this year. I like to take my own but it's getting harder and harder so this year my friend came along to help make sure Adam was smiling and press the camera remote so I didn't have to worry about anything! I love how our pictures turned out!
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I'm going to be shallow for a minute and be honest with you...
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the reason I like them so much is because for once I actually look good!!
(if you don't agree with me be kind enough to not say anything and just let me dwell in my delusional state)
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I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I've lost 48 lbs and I finally have a hair cut that I love.
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Here are a few of my favorites from our family pics that I want to include in our Christmas card this year....
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Not bad eh??
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I have two criteria for our Christmas cards this year.
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1. It has to have room for multiple photos because I know I won't be able to choose just one picture.
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2. It has to say Merry Christmas because I'm a firm believer of keeping Christ in Christmas.
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Here are a few of the ones I love.
for the sole purpose of not making this post days and days long, I'm only sharing 5 but there are SOOOO many cute ones.
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I need some help narrowing down my selections so let me know which one of these is your favorite!!
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And if you haven't already, go take a gander at all the cute Christmas stuff that Shutterfly has to offer. Happy Swooning!
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Christmas photo cards
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photo holiday cards
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· calendars
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· Christmas invitations
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· address labels
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· Christmas gift tags


And don't forget, I need help picking from those cards so let me know which one pops out at you!