"Live each day as if it were your last because someday it will be"

This girl.....

is one of my favorite people in the whole world. she is unbelievably motivated, talented, kind hearted, sweet, caring, honest, loving, funny, waaaaaay to hard on herself, gorgeous, going after her dreams, needs more confidence, disciplined like no one else I know, an amazing listener, and she is very very very very missed. She is also celebrating a birthday today and I am so sad I am not with her right now making her eat chocolate instead of chicken for once!! Happy Birthday my friend. I hope you know much you are loved by this entire family! Its not the same here without you!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Before and After......

I have been holding on to these images for quite a while....mainly because I knew I was going to be taking some pictures of the brand new baby that would be following along quite shortly after...so here is a before and after post for all those new mamas out there that are thinking of having belly pictures but are not quite sure. I personally am so disappointed that I never had this done...for myself and for my girls mainly. I never felt super "pretty" while I was pregnant (I dont think anyone can feel super pretty when they are puking nonstop for 9 months) but now that it is all said and done if I had to do it over again I would rather have had the pictures taken than not....and sadly there is NO talking Karl into having another baby just so I can have belly pictures....believe me I have tried!!!

ANYWAY......I think these are my favorite belly shots to date....and lucky for me this little mama had alot of ideas and went with me on pretty much any idea I had...some of them worked, some of them didnt, but I think these are ALL amazing....and for the record....I dont think it is fair that someone nearly 8 1/2 months pregnant looks THIS beautiful...

And the "AFTER" version.....This beautiful little baby boy has SUCH a good mommy....He was not such a happy baby for his photo shoot and I know that it was stressing mama out something horrible...I was worried we didnt get too many amazing shots until I started going through them and I definitely found some that took my breath away.....I dont think there is anything quite so beautiful as a new mommy with her baby....seriously. Its one of my favorite things to witness...And again, I know that it is probably the LAST thing some new parents want to do is have newborn pictures taken in the first few weeks because seriously, its a tough time....you dont sleep, you are SOOOO tired, you dont feel pretty......but believe me....you will never regret recording the first weeks of your baby's life and the connection that you have...it is one of the most powerful and beautiful things in this world and it was truly an honor to capture these moments for this brand new family. It was especially an honor that they took time out of their visit (from Utah) to let me do this for them so a special THANK YOU goes out them...Next time we are getting daddy in the pictures too!! :) Congratulations you three!!!!!!!

Sunday morning.....

This little one woke us up saying VERY loudly:

"get the Christmas decorations back out....ITS SNOWING!!!"

Perfectly imperfect....

So one of my philosophies during my photo shoots is "capturing it real"...I really do want to capture a little moment in time for families and children and really any situation I find myself photographing. Back in October I wanted to get a family picture of us at the perfect spot that I had been watching for months...it has trees hanging over an abandoned path and the light is absolutely beautiful in the fall...for some reason we just couldnt get the timing right until one day when I knew we would have 30 minutes tops of beautiful light before the sun went down. I set up the camera on the tripod and set the timer and...well, this is what happened: I had a hard time beating the timer the first few tries...as evidenced by my whipping hair and frazzled expression.......





these crack me up...Rylee picking her nose in one...Emilee's "peace" sign in another.....

Emilee oh so helpful with the bunny ears....



Everyone getting a little tired and frustrated at this point so we decided to do something fun just to make everyone smile....meanwhile the light is fading quickly and I am thinking the picture is not going to happen....decided to have everyone sit down for these.....they are not perfect....there are blades of grass covering faces but there is just something about the very last one that I love...and you know what....perfectly imperfect is truly perfect in my eyes.

WOW.

The faces of so many of my friends from the past and present and from the past who are now in the present again flashed in my mind while I watched this. It unbelievably powerful and it will make you cry. It made me realize how lucky I have been to have such AMAZING friends in my life and how very much I need them. I love you my friends...you know who you are. This is for you.

Missing it already

So all the snow is finally gone from our yard...just a few little lonely piles left and it is sad to drive down our hill and see nothing but wet, soggy green. This Montana girl misses the snow...and sad to say, I miss being home with my girls and school being canceled so all we have to do is snuggle in, drink hot cocoa, and bundle up four girlies to go out and play for HOURS in the snow...literally hours! I miss the chaos of getting everyone into snow pants, boots, hats, mittens, scarves...I miss how Rylee could not hear with her hat and scarf on so she would yell everything she said with a HUGE ball of snow in her mitten to eat...i miss hearing the screams of the girls out the back as they would pile on a sled and fly down the slope...i miss watching them make snow angels...i miss watching them take care of each other and pull each others sleds and let the little ones ride on down with them....I'm so glad that they got to experience some of the same memories I had growing up for once....sledding to their hearts content until it was dark...and those red rosy cheeks when they come in....oh yeah, I miss it..I miss it alot!! Good thing its only January...this mama is hoping for MORE SNOW SOON!!!!!

PS: I miss seeing my Sadie girl playing in the snow too...she loved it as much as the kids did!! :)

A new year

Neil Gaiman : I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

Happy 2009!!!!

Here are 37 goals I have for 2009. Why 37? Because that is how old I am going to turn sometime this year :). At the end of the year I will show how close (or how far away) I actually came to achieving this goal. Some of these are silly, some are very serious, and some are really out there...I think it will be fun to see what I can accomplish and experience for the year of 2009!! BRING IT ON!!!

1. Learn how to knit.
2. Go to Disneyland :)
3. Launch a website.
4. Attend a major photography seminar.
5. Participate in a 365 project.
6. Learn how to make a quilt.
7. Write in a gratitude journal every day.
8. Pray more.
9. 200 (Karl knows).
10. Go to Montana.
11. Open a spare change savings account.
12. Make someone feel SUPER special on their birthday.
13. Get business cards printed at Moo cards.
14. Get my girls albums caught up.
15. Learn 10 new recipes.
16. Get more than one pedicure a year.
17. Read 20 new books.
18. Print out my pictures instead of keeping them on the computer.
19. Blog at least once a week *wink*
20. Exercise regularly.
21. Finish decorating my house.
22. Go to 5 new restaurants on date night (not on the same night though).
23. Take my girls to a hockey game.
24. Mail out New Years cards.
25. Get advertising printed and distributed for my photography business.
26. Go to a Kite Festival.
27. Make a new friend.
28. Go on a guerilla art adventure with my girls.
29. Buy a trampoline.
30. Make the playroom a happy place to be.
31. Have a "date" with each one of my kids alone.
32. Go snorkeling.
33. Teach my girls kindness.
34. Donate something meaningful to someone who needs it.
35. Reconnect with an old friend.
36. Focus on one bible verse each week as a family.
37. Find balance.

Good bye 2008. I cant say I'm sad to see you go. I'm looking forward to what this year will bring. What will it bring you?