Merry Christmas!

I have been a bad, bad blogger! This month has been so extremely busy for us. I have been doing work for an organization that oversees all of the archery business in the U.S. Archery Trade Association (ATA) I haven't had time to really do anything else! Some highlights from the month:

1. Chris shot an elk... our freezer will be well stocked for a very long time!

2. Anna had her first dance performance (and Alli had 3 different occasions she danced this month)

3. I have been asked to attend the ATA tradeshow in 2 weeks to photograph it and I am super stoked because Blake Shelton will be performing and I get to be the photographer!

4. I got a new camera (due to the aforementioned job)... my dream camera... and I am going to have to learn to use it really quick!

5. I also got studio lighting equipment and I am excited to get a studio set up in my house. (We never use the formal dining room anyways... might as well make it useable space!)

6. Christmas is here and this is the first year in a long time that I will not be making homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning... frozen Rhodes rolls will have to do because I just don't have time this year.

We are looking forward to having old friends come and stay with us next week. There should be plenty of snow for you Linze!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Disneyland

We had the opportunity to go to Disneyland for the past two days with the kiddos. It was a lot of fun but extremely tiring!

Some highlights of the trip:

1. Waiting for 2 hours to take pictures with the princesses only to find out that Cinderella left 3 minutes before we got to the front of the line (She is the only one we wanted to see). Anna was SO disappointed! She didn't want to take pictures with any princess after hearing about Cinderella. Here are the pics we did get...

What a long wait!


Anna wouldn't take a pic with Jasmine


We got her to stand by Ariel but she was mad...


She was finally OK with a picture with Belle


2. Alli and Justin were both tall enough to ride every ride. It was so fun to go on all of the "scary" rides with my kids and experience Alli's first time riding roller coasters. She loved them! Her favorites were Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. She didn't care for the Tower of Terror but did say she wanted to try it again next time.

3. Rain... the weather forecast called for rain starting early Tuesday but thankfully it held off until we were leaving the park at 9:00 that night.

4. The dog... Roxy got to go to Disneyland too. She stayed at the Disneyland Kennel Club. It is a great service that Disneyland offers that you can board your dog in a kennel right outside the main entrance. We were able to go and walk er a few times throughout the day and I actually think she enjoyed it because she had a cage right in the front window where she could "people watch" all day long.

5. Sleepy kids... Anna got carried out of the park both nights. Once she falls asleep nothing will wake her. We carried her from stroller to shuttle bus to the hotel and put her in bed without her even waking up once.

6. Yummy food! We love going to the Rainforest Cafe and there is one at Disneyland. We were able to celebrate Chris's dad's birthday and our sis-in-law Jessica's birthday there. (They have the same birthday!)

Overall it was a good time for everyone!

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of our family pictures! I was able to swap photo sessions with another photographer. We decided we wanted to process our own pictures so here is her photography with my processing on it.

I am saving my favorites for our Christmas Cards but here are 3 that I have done so far.

Snow!

Although it came a little later this year than we are used to, we got our first "real" snow last night. Anna and Abby were so excited to go play in it that they decided to go out bare foot (in pajamas) while I was showering. I had to hurry and throw some clothes on to go rescue my daughters who were crying outside because they were cold. Once everyone was dressed we went out to play and boy were they happy!

Better late than never... Happy Halloween!

I am a serious slacker on getting this post out. But... Happy Halloween... 4 days late. I once again made the kids costumes this year and I once again wondered why I did it. We went to buy the kids costumes but I am too cheap to pay $30-40 each for "Made in China" stuff that will just fall apart. So, I spent less than $10 each and made them. All of the girls were fairies and Justin was a Jedi fighter. On Halloween night, we went to the church "Trunk or Treat" and got tons of candy. Then I let Justin and Alli go around the neighborhood. We only had three groups of people come to our door for candy (due to the trunk or treat, no one went out real trick or treating). Needless to say, we have a ton of leftover candy and I'm ready to throw it all away!

Here are a few pictures:

One of my faeries

This year the girls are all being faeries (I love that spelling of it...). Alli had a Halloween party tonight at a friend's house so I had to hurry and finish her costume. Once she was all dressed up I, of course, took her next door to get a few pictures of her. Hopefully I can get the other two costumes finished in the next few days!

My daughters...

Chris took Justin out of school early yesterday to go fishing so I had the girls to myself all afternoon. Since we are headed into winter I thought it would be a good idea to get their pictures taken. We headed over to my new favorite spot and started taking pictures. We got cut short though because right after we showed up four other families showed up to have their pictures take as well. Here is what I got so far...








This one of Alli and Anna didn't turn out as planned. Anna was getting cold so she just wasn't feeling the photo shoot anymore. Alli wouldn't sit on the ground because there were rotten apples (but not where I wanted her to sit). I think I will head back there and try and get all the kids in the apple grove.

Just one more

... of Justin the other day. I decided to try a texture on this one...

My son

Justin got a new beanie over the weekend and wanted me to take some pictures of him wearing it. Justin found a really neat old barn/shed that is going to be torn down so we snapped some shots there. I guess now that he is 8 (and is missing teeth), he has decided that he is "too cool" to smile. I like how they turned out despite the seriousness.

Gardening...

The time has come to tear out the garden. We could get snow this weekend so the growing season has ended. I sure have learned a lot... like to start stuff outside as soon as possible and use the little mini-greenhouse things. And I have learned that you can never have too many cherry tomatoes when you have two girls named Anna and Abby. And that little Jack Russell Terriers named Roxy LOVE to eat peas in the pod and will go over and bite them off the vine whenever no one is looking and eats so many that she gets sick and throws up nasty green slime... But, most of all, learned something very important...



There is such a thing as WHITE CARROTS! Who knew? (and how did I end up planting some?)

A tag...

10 years ago I:

1. graduated from high school
2. was starting my freshman year at BYU
3. met the most awesome friends a girl could have at 144 M Smith Hall
4. met and flirted with my hubby
5. learned to snowboard while flirting with my future hubby

5 things on today's "to do" list:
1. get all my work done for my various side jobs
2. Make homemade French bread and split pea and barley soup
3. laundry (like every other day)
4. finish editing the multitudes of pictures and work on getting them to the people
5. is it too early to put the kids to bed

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. unbaked cookie dough
2. brownie batter
3. Chocotoff and Cote d'or (Belgian chocolates)
4. Leonidas (better than Godiva)
5. I love me some chips and roasted tomato salsa

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. pay off our mortgage
2. pay off student loans
3. invest the rest
4. ok... maybe take a vacation too
5. and... splurge on a new camera and some nice glass for it

5 places I have lived:
1. Duluth, MN
2. Brea and Escondido, CA
3. Tampa, FL
4. Provo/Salt Lake City/West Jordan, UT
5. Heber

Five jobs I have had:
1. JC Penney-- Young Mens dept and Shoes
2. I was a clown and did face painting (for a temp job)
3. Receptionist
4. Still run my own business
5. Best Job of All-- Mommy

I tag... Anyone with enough time to fill this out (or who would rather do anything than what they should be doing at the moment!)

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 or more people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

It finally happened...

Being a mom to 4 kids you would think that I have seen it all when it comes to kids and the crazy things they do. There is one thing that I have never experienced before that happened to Abby the other day. We dropped Anna off at preschool and when we got home, Abby went straight upstairs. I had a few phone calls to make and when I was finished I realized Abby was being awful quiet. I went upstairs to find this...


I finally had a kid fall asleep on the floor. At 9:15 in the morning no less...

Saturday Fun

We decided to go for a drive up Guardsman Pass to scout for deer for Chris's hunt coming up next week. Unfortunately it started raining as we were making the drive up the mountain. We changed course and drove down through Deer Valley and decided to see if Olympic Park was open. Unfortunately the alpine slide and zipline were closed due to rain but we sure lucked out on our timing of going to the visitor's center. The Chinese National Aerial Team was practicing in the splash pool at the time and we got to see quite the show of some awesome ski jumping.

This is the scaled down ski jump that they launch off of...


Here is one of their best guys. I was able to take 6 pictures within 2 seconds and then composed them all together to see the whole jump he did...


We watched for quite a while and then decided to go inside the museum since it started raining pretty hard. Here is Alli running the Olympic torch...


Then she passed it off to Justin...


Then the kids decided to take on the 4 man bobsled...


We plan on going back next week when Chris's parents, brother, and Belgian aunt and uncle are here. Hopefully the fun stuff will be open and we can get our thrills in. Someday I plan on spending the money to ride the bobsled too...

Avast me mateys!

Ahoy! Me thinks it be mighty important to inform me lassies 'bout me favorite land lubber holly day.



Would ye like ta join me and unleash yer inner pirate?

Fer yer pirate pleasure...

Me pirate name:
Cheatin' Helga Scarr

Me pirate ship:
The Awful Knave of the Sargasso Sea

Them lovely names were bestowed by the wunders of the internet... Argh!

My new love

Homemade Pesto Pizza! I start with a delicious whole wheat crust, add pesto sauce and pizza cheese, and then I top it with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden. Finally I add a little extra kick... feta cheese. Pure yumminess!

Finally!

Justin sure loses his teeth slowly! I was the same way though. I remember needing to have a lot of my teeth pulled since they did not want to come out on their own. He finally lost his first "front tooth" (on the top). He has been waiting for it for so long that he wanted me to be sure and take a picture of him missing his front tooth.

New blog...

I started a new blog just for my photography now that I am taking pictures of people besides my own family...

Check it out! (It is not finished yet though!)

meansalot.blogspot.com

Marshmallow Mateys

While I was at the gym the other night, Chris had to make some phone calls to set up appointments. Abby decided that since mom was gone and dad was distracted, she would go into the pantry and have a snack. She only likes the marshmallows in the cereal so she dumped out a good sized pile on the carpet and sorted through them to get her prize. This is how Chris found her once he realized that she was being too quiet...

And I have to give kudos to Chris for figuring out how to take a picture with my camera. It was still set on manual and he took a few pictures fiddling with the settings until he got one to be bright enough.

Abby at Old Town

While Anna was at Dance today, Abby and I took the opportunity to go over and check out the cute little "Heber Old Town". They have some awesome old buildings painted in funky colors. Unfortunately, it is hard to get an 18 month-old's attention when you have a camera in front of your face. I was able to get a few keepers though...






This last one is Abby practicing for America's Next Top Model... these are her "fierce" eyes...

Goodnight, Sleep Tight

Due to the freezing/near freezing temperatures in the wee hours of the morning, I will be tucking my vegetables in with a nice blanket at night in order to hopefully extend our growing season... oh the fun of gardening in the mountains!

My little Anna

Anna has been patiently waiting for her dance clothes/shoes to arrive in the mail. We ordered them 2 weeks ago but it took until today for it to arrive. She was so excited to try them on but not so excited to have me take a picture of her. It is so fun to watch her grow and do things that Alli gets to do. She is in a Creative Movement class and has already begun practicing for the Christmas Recital. I'm eager to see how she acts on stage!

My little Abby

I think I finally figured out how to take some pictures of Abby without her turning around and running away. Step 1: Sit her in a lawn chair while she watches her siblings play. Step 2: Put a cute little hat on her that I got at Swiss Days. We will continue to work on Step 3: Look at the camera!

3 down, 1 to go...

Today was Anna's first day of Preschool. We wrestled over the idea of sending her to preschool since she is only 3 and I never sent Justin and Alli to preschool. But, after the last week and a half of having her home with me while the older two were at school, I changed my mind. I signed her up to do the "creative corner" one day a week at the dance studio as well as a mid-week dance class. Hopefully this will help her to get more socialized and have an opportunity to get her creative juices flowing! Here is a snapshot I took of her as I was dropping her off. She was so excited to have a "brown" baby. She wants me to get her one just like it! :)


After I dropped Anna off, Abby and I headed over to Swiss Days. It was pure madness! I think there are more and more people every year. I had a hard time pushing the stroller through the crowd so we didn't stay long this time. I saw what I wanted to see, ate a delicious scone, and heard the yodelers so I was happy.

What's for dinner?

All the hard work in the garden is finally paying off... I just went outside and harvested all these yummies! I think we will be having a squash/zucchini/pea stir-fry with a salad and salsa with that pepper and those jalapenos.

Wedding (Part Deux)

On Saturday we drove up to Idaho Falls for the second part of Jonny and Jessica's wedding. Jessica is from Idaho Falls so her parents had a backyard reception for them. Their backyard was amazing. I would love to have 10 acres and have animals. They had 13 cows (7 moms and 6 babies) a few llamas, and chickens, ducks, peacocks... I had a fun time taking pictures of the kids running around all dressed up. My girls were the "flower girls" and they loved dressing up as princesses and wearing flowers in their hair.








Abby kept grabbing blades of grass and rubbing them on her eyes. I think she liked tickling her eyelashes with them...



They had these awesome suckers that the kids just loved...


Finally Abby got tired...


We are still recuperating from the trip... we drove there, stayed for the reception, and drove home. 3 hours each way with Abby who likes to scream in the car.

The rest of the pictures are on my Flickr.