20:52

I have been taking pictures, but I haven't been posting them. I will, promise. I have been so very busy with clients and they come first. But I wanted to share one today. My kids gathered some chairs and made their own train. Do you think we like trains at our house? Somehow Cache was the conductor but he wouldn't stay on the chair for very long. Reagan and Crew were happy to be the passengers.



*please ignore the mess that lays all around them. it's just all a part of the play;)

19:52

This kid and his balls. He loves them. This is a new experience for us as Crew is only into things with wheels or/and a motor. I got to spend the weekend with this little sweetie, just me and him. It was so nice to have the time to give all of my attention to him. I adore his age. I love watching him explore, learn and discover. Always something new and always a smile on his face. Such a great time with him!

18:52

This kid and his trains...

17:52

Love this kid

16:52

Playing catch up...

15:52

I don't think there has been a year that I have been so excited for the snow to melt and Spring to come! So happy to finally see some blossoms on our trees out front! Couldn't wait to get out there and snap a few pictures. Loving the new life and promise of a new tomorrow!

14:52

So I finally took Crew's 3 year old and Cache's 1 year old pictures. I'm only 2 1/2 months behind but again, they're done. phew. I was feeling that task weigh me down every day and it got heavier with each day that passed farther from their birthdays. But alas, they are done and it was fun! I did the grey backdrop again, I kept waiting for some nice weather, but as you know, the weather hasn't been cooperating the last couple of months. The days that it was beautiful were the days that I couldn't pull it together to take them. The days I had everything planned and scheduled, it was nasty outside. So I gave up and took them inside.

No, these pictures are not of the session. I took these after the session as Cache was running around my mom's house. I LOVE his curls! I love his curls peeking out under this hat! Seriously! I wish he would wear it more. But it only lasts a few minutes. But, I got some pictures so I am happy! I'll hopefully get the other pictures edited and posted in a timely manner. No promises.

13:52

Ok, so I am really late getting this up. This is a couple of weeks ago picture. Sorry. At least there it's here! I am so happy to be doing this challenge this year. I am loving the pictures I am getting of my family! Who would have thought???

This is a classic Bear Lake picture. My monther in law has buckets of pictures on this exact bench of all of her grandchildren all through the years. They always choose a hat and it's fun to watch them grow. Anina doesn't want my children left out of this tradition, and I'm glad for that. 

12:52

Last weekend we spent at Bear Lake. I was really looking forward to playing outside. But, as you know, all it did was snow. It was windy and cold and it snowed. Yuck. I was more than bumbed. I guess it kept me inside which proved to be where I needed to be. But... the kids had a great time playing outside. I don't know how they can stand it, but uncle Phil brought up his super cool new motorcycle and we just couldn't get them off. So fun.



12:52

Our Primary does a fun thing we call "Scripture Hero". We got the idea on Sugardoodle a really great site full of ideas for primary, young women's, and relief society. There is probably more things you can get ideas for, but I generally go straight to the primary section. Anyhoo... the kids eat this up! We have a member of the ward come in at the beginning of sharing time wearing a cape and mask. The kids sing Scripture Power and the ward member flies around the room. After the song they share their favorite scripture or a scripture, or one that is special to them. It has been so fun for the kids to see the scriptures alive in the lives of those in our ward. Too fun.

11:52

My Princess. My Race Car Driver. My Cuddle Bug.

None of them can wait to get outside!

10:52

My battered and bruised little boys. How will they ever survive? How will they not? They are a bag of contradictions and I can't get enough of them.

Love my boys.

9:52

This is a normal scene at my house during the day. My kids love books. I mean love. We have a lot of books and I wish we had more. Steve thinks I'm crazy as we don't have room for the books, but can you ever have enough books? Especially children's books? I really don't think so.

After a morning of running, playing, imagining and trouble making, we settle down for quiet time. At this point I'm usually very ready for nap time but the clock tells me to hold off just a little bit. So we pull out the books and have ourselves some quiet time. I love this time of day. My kids pour through the books, they show each other the ones they love the most and Reagan will tell stories to Cache. It is so fun to watch. For some reason we don't have fights during quiet time. Some days I let them stay up way too long because they are being so good and I love watching them. So here is my picture for the week. An every day occurance that I treasure.

8:52

It snowed all day long today. As much as I long for the days we can go outside and play, get rid of a lot of pent up energy, I can't help but be mesmerized by the falling snow and the perfectly white mounds on the ground. It truly is beautiful. And I don't mind staring at it out my window. I don't mind at all.

The snow sparks something inside of me. It feels new and fresh. Clean. I do miss the warm sunshine, but I am glad for the beauty of the snow. So for now I will enjoy it and hope this feeling gets me through the cold days until the warmth comes.

I haven't taken a picture of my house so I thought I would include that too. You know, for record sake. I love my quaint little house. I love it's character. I love that it's ours. Our first home. Our special home.

7:52

This week, in honor of Valentines Day, I decided to take pictures of the ones that I love. We spent the weekend in Bear Lake and had an oh, so wonderful time. It snowed like crazy outside so after the fun out on the sleds and machines, we bundled up to our favorite Disney sing-a-long movie and watched the snow fall out the window. It couldn't have been more fantastic.

My Sweetheart.



My Bud.
(is it any surprise that I could only get a picture of the back of him?)



My Lovies.

6:52

This week I chose two pictures. I'm not exactly sure why. There really isn't any rhyme or reason to my weekly photo's, just as long as I continue to take them, for me, without any other alternative motive.

This week we celebrated Crew's birthday and I saw this lone balloon and I kinda felt like that balloon when it was all over. Just let me lay there on the floor with nothing to bother me, push, pull or kick me around! Ha, ha!

This other one I took while I was waiting for a client to show up. I am on this baby a lot. No exaggeration. It is kinda my connection to everything outside of my family. Sad, but true. I remember when Steve gave it to me for my birthday and I didn't know how to use it and thought I never would. Way over my head. Now I don't know what I'd do without it. So what is going to take over my life next? I think I'll wait for a while to figure that one out.

5:52

Happy Love month.

I hope you are enjoying yours.

I sure am enjoying mine.

4:52

I have to say that this month seriously flew by. I am beginning to see that time is only going to speed up and probably never slow down. Don't get me wrong, there are days that I feel might never end, but most of the time I find myself completely boggled that my life seems to be blowing me by. "Where did this day go?" I often ask myself. I don't know how to change that, or if I really want to, but I am noticing.

We are on week 4 of my 52 Picture project. Yay! Tonight I pulled out all of our furniture in the basement, found our biggest blanket, and made the kids a tent while Steve was outside helping Sky with the snowmobiles. My kids love tents. I remember being small and finding the nooks and cranny's or even throwing a blanket over my head to hide. When you are small the world is so big, but inside a tent everything can be just your size.

We are watching Tinkerbell and snuggling in the blankets. This is the fun stuff. A night in as a family. It may not happen a lot, but let it be known... it does happen!

I love this girl, and I love that she loves her "Buddy" aka blanket. For some reason her thumb automatically pops in her mouth the moment Buddy is in hand. It's just the way it goes.

ps. for those of you into photography...
f3.2
1/50
ISO 4000

(I love my camera!)

3:52

phew... Thought I was going to miss last week's picture didn't you? Thought I couldn't keep this goal, didn't you? You didn't think any of that? I have to admit, I kinda did. But look at me! Here it is. Yeah. I am relieved.

This (these) picture is depicts another of my goals for this year. Can you guess what it is? Anya sent me a link to a blog that she follows (one that I now follow as well) who had an idea for home organization. I really took to this idea. As I told you here I really wanted to conquer cleanliness in my home last year. I didn't. It really made me sad. I have decided to continue trying this year and see how much progress I can make.

This little binder is what is going to make the difference between this year and last year. I am easily overwhelmed. The thought of trying to deep clean my entire house every week makes me want to pass out. I just can't wrap my brain around it. This binder helps me break all the tasks apart and makes cleaning manageable and something I can do. I don't have to do everything everyday. Who would have thought? I sure didn't. My eyes have been opened!

So, I made a list of everything that I believe needs to be done every week in my home (ie laundry, wash windows, vacuum, bathrooms, etc). I'm sure your list would look different than mine. It was just a list of what was important to me. Then I decided how many times those things needed to be done. Like laundry is more than once, obviously, I also need to vacuum more than once a week. So then I split up the tasks throughout the days of the week minus Saturday and Sunday. I want those days to be for my family. Then every day I have nighttime tasks like dishes, wash counters, and clean up clutter.

I started using the binder last week and it was rough. I didn't get everything done. Most days were crazy. But I can say that I got a lot more done than I usually do. I am committed to getting tasks completed that I usually don't think I could ever do. This week, I am more determined to make my schedule work. My goal is to make my schedule second nature. That each day I know what I need to do and I find a way to get it done without much hassle. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

2:52

Another week has gone by and I think this picture gives you a good idea of what has been going on at our house...

It has been an adventure this week trying to potty train Crew. Love this kid. Love that he is completely his own person and does things his own way. With each child I am having to learn new techniques and tricks to help them learn and grow. I think he's almost got it figured out, the question is am I brave enough to test it???