Family Pictures

This summer has been a wild one! It has been full of picnics, swimming, fireworks, birthdays, party's, warm nights at the park, family, a baptism, Hawaiian ice, friends, a concussion, bike riding, girls camp, running, lots and lots of ice cream, and the list goes on. Somewhere in there we were able to squeeze time in for some family pictures. Here are some of the fav's~

Poor Rylie had strep throat and wasn't feeling awesome, but she was a little trooper.

Family pictures are always good times~ ha! Actually, I have to say that this time was much less traumatic than our last go round. Besides a stubborn 3 year old, and some hungry kiddos in the end, the night went pretty smooth. Thanks so much to Sharstin~ girl you are such a sweetheart, and we can't thank you enough for sharing your amazing talents with our family!

~xo

Craziness~

Yesterday after church the kiddos had a sudden burst of energy. They were jumping on my bed and being crazy! Of course~I couldn't help but grab my camera.

A few of these pictures I am absolutely in love with...

Rylie pointing out where Parke knifed my bed... little stinker!

Hello~ melt my heart...

Happy Monday!

Back to reality~

{My heart is heavy for the people in Japan.

Sending lots of prayers and hope their way.}

Check it out~

If you like giveaways, you're gonna love this one! The uber~talented Sharstin Miller is giving away a photoshoot, very cool eh? Hop on over to her blog for some serious inspirations and to put your name in the pot! View our fam photos here. I'm still dying over what a disaster the candy canes turned out to be... a big fat "e" for effort, right?

Baptism and a Christmas Card

Have you ever had a picture that no matter how many times you see it, it brings tears to your eyes? That is this picture- to me. You see, my Kaden {my eldest baby} is going to be turning 8 this next year, which means he will be baptized a member of the church. As you can see from this picture, he is not alone. There are times I question how we ended up where we are, or if this is the place we are really going to raise our children. When I see this picture, my questions are easily answered. I know this is right where we need to be... surrounded by great examples. Kaden's friend Davis was the first to turn 8, and his darling {and very talented} mother Heather decided to put this picture together. I am forever grateful that she did... I am just envisioning another 11 years down the road when these boys are turning papers in to serve the Lord all over the world. I just know I am going to blink, and that time will be here. There is my handsome little guy right in the middle...

At the baptism all of those boys got up and sang 'Armies of Helaman.' It was precious, and of course caused more tears. It got Kade really excited for his special day. After the baptism everyone was looking mighty cute, so we ventured out to the nature park in hopes of snapping a pic for our Christmas card. The kids love the nature park, so it wasn't a difficult task...
Can you see what a great big brother Kaden is? When he's not cranky, he's the sweetest thing ever:)!
Love. All three of them. To pieces!
It was difficult to decide...
But this was the winner!
{the one I made everyone trudge through the mud and stand in front of a dumpster for:) Nic complained, and thought I was crazy, but loved the results! See hon, just trust your baby}

Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful holiday season!!

A Few of My Favs

Steph wanted some family pics for her Christmas card. I am far from experienced, but thought what the heck- what do we have to lose by trying. It's a good thing I had some darling specimens to work with. They have the most darling little family, and I love every one of them! Here are some of my favorites from our little photography adventure...

{Photog friends, I learned a whole new respect for what you do. It really is an art. This was so much fun, but... I think I'll stick to the hair bizz:)}

Photography 101

You might remember that for my birthday this past year I asked for a new camera. A Nikon D60 SLR, to be exact. And Nic, being the precious pea that he is, gave in and got it for me. (Or it was compensation for the week long hunting trip he went on and left me on my birthday.) One way or another, I got it. Since then, I have been trying to master the art of photography. I have always admired beautiful photography, and it has sort of turned into an obsession of mine. So I signed up for a basic photography class and yesterday was my "graduation" if you will. I feel like I really have learned a lot, and enjoyed learning something new. It has been quite a while since I've been in a classroom type atmosphere and it felt so good to actually use my brain again. (You know what I mean.) I've added to my vocabulary words like aperture, shutter speed, depth of field, ISO, white balance, polarizing filter, UV filter, F-stop, camera raw, just to name a few. I never realized that taking pretty pictures could be so technical. I'm signed up for the advanced class that follows and am looking forward to hopefully continuing to learn and get better. These are my pictures I submitted to our teacher at the end of the course.

I know, I know, I am still an amateur...