Capturing Magic

8:04

2009-06-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

the most beautiful 8 minutes and 4 seconds I have seen in a LOOOOONG time....my girls LOVE this song....and now I love it even more.....

Summer part 3

2009-06-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

visited the waffle cart on Lombard today....it was indeed a "cart" which was a suprise to us all as I actually thought it was a restaurant :)

Five girls in their PJs at 8 a.m. getting the yummiest waffles I have ever tasted...I am sure we will be back soon.....very very soon! you should go too *wink*

Summer vacation part 2

2009-06-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

went strawberry picking today on Sauvie's island...one of my favoritest places EVER!!
picked a whole flat of berries in 30 minutes.
Rylee had to pee 5 minutes after we made it out to the first strawberry field and peed all over her brand new flip flop.
Natalee eats way more strawberries than she puts in her carton.
Emilee loves her new outfit that she is wearing today (and so do I...I might steal it from her)
Karlee had to pick berries as far as humanly possible into the field because that is where the best "bewwies" are...(someday I will be so sad when she starts saying her "r"s right)
Rylee asked me what bees sound like when they laugh. she also had to close her eyes and say "mmmmmmmmm" every time she ate a berry....was the cutest thing EVER!
we bought corn on the cob, rhubarb, four mini watermelons, 6 fresh peaches, and five honey sticks before we headed home.

life is good.

Summer vacation....part 1

2009-06-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

The pools are up by approximately 6 p.m.
Eat dinner.
Kids are in pool at 6:30 p.m.---temperature=65 degrees outside and the water has got to be -10 degrees currently as we just finished filling the small pool....forecast for the rest of the week does NOT show too much sunshine for the next ten days....do you think that matters to these girls??? NOPE! they are C.R.A.Z.Y.

and I love them like crazy.

I dare you....

2009-06-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

to watch this without smiling....it would be IMPOSSIBLE!!!

found on Tara Whitney's blog......totally made my day :)

Softball

2009-05-14T16:51:00.001-07:00

This is what alot of our lives have and will consist of now through the middle of July. I honestly LOVE being at the ball field and LOVE that Ems loves to play softball so much. I dont think there is any way in the world I myself could have gotten her to play but her best friend Bri is a very BIG influence in her life and Bri and her family convinced Ems to try out last fall.....she fell in love. She is actually a really good little ball player too (yeah, didnt come from me) except for her nerves....once she gets a little confidence going she is on top of the world. A few practices ago she came home literally FLOATING because she played catcher during practice....I freaked out inside but didnt let it show because she was SOOO happy and excited!! She caught during her second tournament and she did an awesome job...I was a wreck watching her but was SOOO proud of her too. It has been a rollercoaster trip so far with this little sweetie...its like she needs to re-gain her confidence with every single game she plays which is really hard for me as a mom...I know she has soooo much potential but only she can believe in herself enough to perform....so for now this mama will be cheering from the sidelines (usually very loudly) and praying for the confidence to settle in for a little longer than one game....

man its tough being a parent sometimes........but boy do I love it! :)

I love this picture...its Bri pitching and Ems catching....it makes me smile :)

my sweet little catcher....she did SOO good this game! :)

Trish got this picture of me....pretty much sums up how I feel when I am watching that girlie play....told you I am a wreck :)

seniors 2009

2009-04-09T22:35:00.001-07:00

some of my favorites from this year...just a few for now...because I am getting emails from people that I need to update :) Lots more to come of these...I had to send some of these in for the year book in the last few weeks so I had them readily available to upload here!! Let me know what you think!!!

Jealous?

2009-03-17T22:56:00.001-07:00

I got to hang out with this little sweetie for a while today......sneak peek for his mama because I love her and she's one of my favorite people EVAH!! LOTS more to come...*sigh* Isnt he beautiful???

x two

2009-03-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

Two babies really are twice as much fun and twice as much sweet and twice as much WORK!! :) These two little guys really did give me a work out...when we put one down he would cry while the other was happy and content with mama....so we would switch and the same thing would happen.....we went on like this for quite a while until "AHA!!" they are happy with mama so lets let them be with mama :) (DUH TANYA) and then they were happy and THEN......then we got some magic....and I LOVE what we got!! These little boys are SUCH a blessing to their parents and I cannot wait to watch them grow--but not too fast!!! :)

Waiting..........

2009-03-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

We are waiting (not so patiently) for this baby to arrive so in the meantime here is a sneak peak of a before version....full before and after to follow :) (very very very soon)!!!!

Inbox

2009-02-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

This was in my inbox this morning. It inspired me and I hope it inspires you.

By having the courage to be yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.
-Edwin Elliot

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

The girls and I were very excited for our Valentine's Day suprise for Karl!! We made him an all red (and pink) dinner and everyone pitched in to help...it was SOOO much fun!! We had red meat (rare in our house but one of Karl's favorites), pink mashed potatoes, red jello, and red velvet cupcakes for dessert!! Natalee made a beautiful craft at school that we hung on the window for "decoration" and we decorated the table with candles (Ems and Nats idea) and Valentine confetti and we drank out of grown up cups with red drinks (cranberry juice and sprite).....

Karl's gift to me was a heart box of chocolates which I LOVE...(and a day later they were all gone...not because I ate them all but I think four little helpers were pretty sneaky all day long the next day :)

We also got daddy the movie "Flubber" as part of his gift because that was the first movie Karl and I saw after we got married in Hawaii....I think we liked the movie a little more than the girls did but they were all snuggly on the floor with popcorn (we were on the couch behind them) and it was truly a perfect Valentine's Day...hope yours was just as special!!!

Amen.

2009-02-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

"Ask yourself, 'How long am I going to work to make my dreams come true?' I suggest you answer, 'As long as it takes.' "
--Jim Rohn

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

2009-01-29T22:03:00.000-08:00

This girl.....

2009-01-29T16:20:00.000-08:00

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......

2009-01-27T22:23:00.001-08:00

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.....

2009-01-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

This little one woke us up saying VERY loudly:

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

Perfectly imperfect....

2009-01-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-01-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-05T22:04:00.001-08:00

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!!!!

2009-01-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

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?

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-12-01T16:07:00.002-08:00

I really do! I love everything about this holiday season! I love the decorations, I love to bake, I love to make crafts with my kids, I love shopping, and wrapping, and the music...I love IT ALL! It makes me happy!

I came across this today and it gave me chills: watch the video please...seriously.

www.adventconspiracy.org

We are trying to focus on a "smarter Christmas" this year. We have been talking to the girls about how we need to be making good decisions about our money and focus on quality, not quantity. I think they get it and it makes me really proud of them. In order to do this we are following this theme:

Something to wear,
Something you need,
Something you want,
Something you need.

My girls however, being the smart ones that they are, decided that since Santa does not have to actually spend money they are asking him for the really expensive stuff...LOL!!! Pretty smart girls hmmm???

Anyway, just wanted to share that link today as it really spoke to me! Happy Holiday season everyone!!!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-12-01T16:07:00.001-08:00

The Magical Week before Halloween......

2008-10-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

Our magical Halloween week began on Monday when we (ahem..KARL) carved pumpkins after getting a jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphys...a tradition I am sure that will continue...cutest pizza ever dont you think??? The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever!!

The final masterpieces ended up looking something like this....Karlee's is on the left with many different hearts and faces carved into the entire pumpkin...Emilee's (suprisingly pleasant considering her past carving experience), mine (that Karl carved because I was completely obsessed with finishing the Twilight series fourth book and could not take time to even carve my own pumpkin), Rylee's "teensy tiny pumpkin that is little...like she is", and Natalee's ummm, polar bear...whose ear got poked off shortly after carving and had to be fixed emergently.....tears averted. :)
Lucky for us not one girl is squeamish when it comes to gutting pumpkins....

I found this cute little idea to make witches brooms for goody bags and had the bright idea to make 52 of them for the girls' classes....thank you again to Karlo for helping me put together all 52 goody bags at 11 o'clock Wednesday night :)

Emilee was Irkle from "Family Matters" and stayed in character pretty much the whole night....except for the brief moment when we drove past a little boy on the sidewalk that she apparently knew because she ripped off her glasses and ducked down in her seat faster than I have ever seen her move.....
Natalee was a bunny...deciding to wear the costume that I bought her last year that she threw a fit about and REFUSED to wear...but apparently this year it was PERFECT....and she really was the cutest bunny I have ever seen....
Karlee originally wanted to be a toilet for Halloween....and after aloooooooot of talking decided that maybe she would just be toilet paper......and thankfully decided on a kitty costume that we had already from previous sisters.....and she made a much cuter kitty than a toilet.....THANK GOODNESS!! She was also the child I constantly had to remind to NOT say "stinky feet, smell my feet, give me something good to eat...if you dont i wont care...i'll pull down your underwear!!!
Rylee was a beautiful Sleeping Beauty who threw a fit because her hair did not look like the Sleeping Beauty pendant on her costume but thankfully she got over that pretty quickly after I put sparkly makeup all over her face and she got to wear lipstick...:)
Best Halloween costume picture I have ever gotten of my girls.....notice how Emilee is still "in character"......
Quick drive out to Gresham to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa and two of the cutest butterflies I have ever seen at the Roadhouse...(YUMMY)....and notice Ems is still "in character"...............
Back to St. Helens to meet up with an Irkle twin (Emilee's best buddy Bri), batman, and a very very cute (and nice I was told) spider Ems STILL "in character"....
Natalee got to see one of her best buds Teagan at "grandma Jan's"..... who loves Halloween more than anyone else I know...my kids LOVE her house all decorated and could hardly wait to trick or treat there.....

see, its pretty neat huh??? Its taken a few years for them to actually not freak out about going up to her porch but I think they were over it for the big bowl of candy waiting at the other side :)

I'm thinking that this next house was part of the reason I was up with Rylee all.night.long. because of her nightmares about.......spiders.

and one last shot of the two Irkles....STILL in character...LOL...

It was truly a magical Halloween week with three ballet parties to dress up for, FOUR class parties, and ending with lots and lots and lots of candy that seriously should last us until next Halloween!! We are now snuggled up on the couch watching the movie Twitches on Disney...my favorite way to end the night. Hope yours was just as magical! :)