Happy Turkey Day!

Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all enjoy eating turkey, taking naps, visiting with family, watching football, and my favorite--looking through the ads and strategizing for Black Friday! Have a good one!

Banana Head

I really shouldn't even be looking at these pictures yet, considering I still have a couple of sessions to edit and Christmas cards to design, but I just HAD to. I know that all of you photographers out there know that there are some sessions that you just can't wait to edit. Well, this was one of those sessions.

My husband and I met the "A" family about a year ago and I don't think 2 families could possibly have more in common. Just like us, the "A" family has been blessed with amazing and gorgeous kids through adoption! Well, just recently little L's adoption was finalized and their family headed to the Mesa Arizona Temple this weekend to be sealed for time and all eternity and they wanted to document this amazing experience. I can vouch for them and say that taking my kids to the Temple was the most amazing experience in my life--2 days that will be forever etched into my mind and heart. I have to say that their are definitely some advantages to adopting your kids!

So on to the pictures and there are A TON of pictures. It's late and I didn't want to narrow it down. They all make me so happy.

They even have a Brooklyn, too! I DIED when I saw her hair as I haven't seen her in a while. She is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!



And I love this smile from T. I loved that it was so easy to get a natural smile from him. He called me "banana head" the whole time, which he thought was hilarious. I don't mind being a "banana head" as long as I can get a good smile out of it :).



"N" wasn't too sure about me at the beginning, but it didn't take her long to warm up and then she LOVED being in front of the camera. She is a natural I must say.



And what about these cheeks? Don't you just want to reach through the computer and squeeze them?





Then came play time and the kids loved tackling their dad!





I couldn't forget about mom and dad. They have been married for almost 10 years and yet in this picture they look like they are getting engagement pictures because they look so happy looking into each other's eyes.



Thanks "A" family, it was great seeing you again. I had a wonderful time! I hope you love them as much as I do!

First Book

A few weeks back Brooklyn pulled this book out of her backpack and wanted to read it to me. Not thinking too much about it I said sure. And then, much to my shock, she actually started reading it to me. I couldn't believe it. You should have seen the smile on her face. Priceless. I guess the sight words we have been practicing are sticking. She is one smart cookie I tell you.

I am so proud of you, Brooklyn! I hope that you always have a love of learning and reading!

The Year of TIN

It is hard to believe that 10 years ago today Troy and I were sealed for time and all eternity. 10 YEARS!! Just saying that makes me feel old, but truly that day I made the best decision of my life. Marrying Troy, as cheesy as it may sound, made me complete. In so many ways we are complete opposites, but that is what makes our marriage work. We balance each other out and make up for each other's weaknesses. Together we make one amazing person I tell ya!

So apparently the traditional gift for your 10 year anniversary is TIN or aluminum. At first I thought this was a little different, but then I read why and it totally fits us. Tin is used to describe the first major milestone anniversary because it is both flexible and durable and can be bent without being broken. This is exactly what marriage is all about--compromising, helping each other out, taking the good and the bad-- "bending without breaking". That absolutely describes the past 10 years of our lives. I am a different person in so many ways since I have married Troy and I think that he could say the same about himself. We have learned to adapt and have tried to give more than we take. We have had ups and downs for sure, but through it all we have leaned on one another to make it through. We are both stronger people than we were 10 years ago. We have been bent, we have been molded, but we are not broken!



Troy is an amazing father! He loves playing with the kids and takes every opportunity that he can to be with them. They spend every evening outside playing when he gets done working and I get a few minutes of peace. Yeah!



After dinner you can always find Troy and the kids wrestling on the ground. I love to sit and listen to them all laugh--well at least until they all gang up on me and take me to the ground.





What do you think of his crazy new helmet?





Here is my guy looking so handsome in his new suit from China!



Troy we have had many wonderful years together. I cannot even begin to express my love for you, but I hope that you see it everyday in the way that I live and in the way that I treat you. I see your love everyday in a hundred different ways and I am so grateful for that. I don't know how we ever made it past the first date, but I am glad that you were patient with me and didn't give up. I pray for many more anniversaries together because the best is yet to be! I love you, Troy!

Pencils and Slides Don't Mix

What do pencils and slides have to do with each other anyway?

Funny you should ask.

Brooklyn decided to climb up the slide two days ago at the park next to our house. While nearing the top she slipped. Normally this would not have been a big deal, I mean how many times has she fallen down the slide, right? But, this time she had a pencil in her mouth. Don't even ask me why she had a pencil in her mouth because I have no idea, but she did. Now I didn't see this happening because I was at home and Troy was "watching" the kids while pushing around the neighborhood. Yep, best parents of the year I tell ya. So she came running home screaming. I thought she was being her normal drama queen so I held her for a while and looked in her mouth. I could see the top of her mouth was cut a bit, but I was not overly concerned. She complained off and on for the next few hours and then she started crying all over again. Again, not thinking it was a big deal, I put her to bed, but let her sleep by me.

All night she kept whimpering in her sleep and saying that she couldn't move her head. I felt horrible for her but I really didn't know what to do. I took her to the pediatrician first thing in the morning and by this time she looked miserable to say the least. She wouldn't eat or even move her neck from side to side at that point. The doctor told us that she not only hit the roof of her mouth, but the pencil actually hit the uvula at the back of her throat and that it was extremely inflamed. She called the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist and they told me to take her straight to Phoenix Children's Hospital because it might be something serious. So now I am concerned and feeling horrible that I didn't take her more seriously the night before and actually take her in somewhere rather than just putting her to bed.

After spending about 4 hours in the ER and a few x-rays later we found out the luckily she didn't break anything and her uvula should heal in about a week or two. She does have to wear a neck brace for a few days because the muscles are so tight and she has to eat soft foods, but it really ended up not being a huge deal. So for now we are eating LOTS of popsicles and ice cream and watching lots of movies so she is thinking that life is pretty good right now.

It really is amazing how resilient kids are--she is already up and playing. She even wanted to go to school today, but I figured it wasn't a good idea. She has told me several times, "I won't be doing that again." And I am sure she won't. I guess that we all have to learn from our mistakes sometimes, I mean I could have told her 100 times to not put a pencil in her mouth and climb up the slide, but do you think she would have ever learned anything from that? Nope. But have one accident like this and she has learned her lesson for a lifetime.

As sad as she looks, she still looks dang cute with her neck brace on I must say.




So all of you out there that were planning on climbing up a slide with a pencil in your mouth--I hope you learned your lesson. I know I have.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween! Although by the time it came to get dressed up on Halloween night I think that they were partied out because it was like pulling teeth to get them into costume, but they had a blast once they were ready and headed out for trick-or-treating.





I have to say that Halloween has to be Brigham's favorite day of the year. CANDY, CANDY and more CANDY! He had at least one piece of candy in his mouth and 2 or 3 more in his hands at all times. He couldn't figure out why people would put candy in his basket--he just wanted them to open it right then so he could go ahead and eat it. Why wait???

Doesn't he make the cutest Superman? I had planned on having him dress up as Hulk, but when we got to the store he told me, "No Hok, I Superman!" I didn't think he was old enough to have an opinion on his costume this year, but I was surely mistaken.



This picture capture Brigham on Halloween with his hands full of candy! I love it!