Giselle

Halloween was a blast! I had a lot of fun making the costumes Eliza & Spencer asked to have. Spencer has been in a Peter Pan phase. He told us that he was going to be Peter Pan, Will would be Captain Hook, and I would be Wendy. He wanted Eliza to be Tinkerbell, but she didn't want to. So, he decided Jane would be Tinkerbell.
He was in heaven when he got to sword fight with Captain Hook. It was so fun to watch him!



Eliza has wanted to be Giselle since last year, so there was no convincing her to go with the Peter Pan theme.
I think she made a beautiful Giselle and she acted the part very well. In fact, our radio station is having a "Princess" contest and I entered Eliza's picture in her Giselle costume. If she gets the most votes, she'll win a trip to Disneyland. It's all based on votes, so if you can, go to http://www.kosy.com/pages/disney_on_ice/

and vote for Eliza, Entry #179.

I have wanted to cut her hair for a while, but decided I'd wait until after Halloween. So, the Monday after Halloween, we took her in to get her hair cut. She had decided that she wanted to cut off the full 10" and donate it to Locks of Love. She's learned quite a bit about cancer lately and thought it was pretty neat she could give her hair to someone who didn't have any. These pictures make me cry--not because I miss her hair, but it's been so touching to watch her. Kids are amazing. She didn't even act like it was a big deal. It's been nothing but excitement ever since I told her about it. She is such a sweetheart.

Summer Wrap-Up

I can't believe our summer is over! It feels like it went so fast, and yet we did so much.

All three of my kids love sun, water, and popsicles; and our summer was full of them!




My mom and I worked on my grandmother's life history over the summer. She came down to a few times so we could really collaborate and focus. We got a lot done, and we also had some fun. The kids enjoyed going to the zoo with Grandma.





We were also able to go to the Manti Pageant. Will & I were married in the Manti Temple, so we love to go down there. This year we decided that we would try to finish reading the Book of Mormon as a family in time to go down there for opening night. We did it and it was so fun to have Eliza say, "I remember when we read about that!" I'd like to make that a family tradition.
Eliza celebrated her half birthday in June. We let her have a party on her half-birthday since her birthday is on Christmas Eve. It has been working quite well. It's nice to be able to have a lot of her friends come over and play in the backyard.
Will was excited to go on a 50 miler with the scouts. He sure enjoys doing that. He spent a lot of time getting ready for it. We had fun making a hammock and tarp for him to take on that. He planned and figured for weeks and I sewed it for him.

I had a really great summer. We had a lot of fun, and I feel like I got a lot done, too. I took pictures at a few weddings. I also enjoyed doing a few family and senior portrait shoots. I spent a lot of time planning the curriculum for the coming year of preschool. I've decided to do my own since there are so many kids in our ward that are Eliza & Spencer's age. We have 8 kids that are going to do it this year. I've been yard-saling for supplies all summer and I'm really excited about it all! I also spent a lot of time working on my grandmother's life history, as I mentioned earlier...But I'll save that for another post.

I loved summer, but fall is my absolute favorite season and I am really looking forward to it. Happy Autumn!

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day, so I decided I could demand family pictures. We just went out back after church, so it's nothing special. But, I am happy to have taken them.

Spencer was hilarious! He begged to have his picture taken. He jumped up on the chair. I asked him to fold his arms. He did. But once I got behind the camera, he put his hand up to his cheek and gave me this pose. Such a good model.

Eliza does not enjoy pictures half as much as Spencer. She kept saying, "Can this please be the last one, Mom?" Poor girl.

Today was just a very special day. I am so glad to be a mother. I am grateful for my mother. She is such a good example of a woman of truth & righteousness. I am grateful that she taught me well.

I am also grateful for Will's mother, that she taught him so well. Will had a pretty busy day today. He sang with a few other guys during sacrament meeting, and then gave a talk about the divinity of motherhood. He made dinner, and really made my day. He is a wonderful husband & father.

Prom

I got to take pictures of some young men & women who went to prom last week. It was so fun! It brought back some fun memories--although I am not at all tempted to relive high school. It made me think a lot about the youth. I sure hope there are a lot of teenagers like these ones--trying to make good choices and do what is right.

I am quite scared to have to raise teenagers of my own, but I am so grateful to have the gospel. I can't imaging raising a family in this world without it. I can't imagine how hard every aspect of life would be without having a strong testimony of our Savior, our loving Father in Heaven, and His plan of happiness. I am grateful to have been taught Truth all of my life.

Wedding Photography

I'm obviously not very good--or consistent--at this blogging thing. I'm trying...

I've had a fun & busy picture-taking week.

I love doing weddings. I'm always surprised to hear photographers say they hate doing weddings (people are picky, high stress, things never go according to plan, etc.). I absolutely love it! Everyone looks their best, it's the happiest day of their lives, etc.

I also love it when I get to take pictures at temple weddings.
I love the temple. I love to take pictures of and at the temple. It is wonderful.

I also love to give newlyweds their prints. I know they will treasure them forever. Have I mentioned I LOVE it?

Pictures

I am taking this lighting class at BYU, but since I am not officially in the photography program, I can't use their studio. So, Will helped me set up a make-shift studio in our living room.

I think it turned out pretty good. We played with the lighting and took pictures of the kids. When we finally got things set up, it was Spencer's nap time. So, I only got a couple shots of him while we were still figuring out the lighting. Then I had Eliza pose for me while I kept changing things. Half-way through, Eliza said, "Mom, this isn't my favorite thing to do." So, we let her go play.

Then we tried to take pictures of Jane & her "twin cousin", Rachel. However, I think we waited until it was too late for them. This is one of the only ones we got of them without their thumbs in their mouths.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun. I love figuring this out and I really am enjoying this class. It's really nice to be able to go learn. I am very thankful that Will is so supportive of me pursuing this. He takes his lunch during my class so he can watch the kids. He is wonderful!

Doctor

Last time I took Jane to the doctor, Spencer almost punched the nurse! He is VERY protective of his little sister. Plus, Spencer really doesn't like going to the doctor. So, when the nurse measured Jane's head, Spencer tried to stop her. He tried to get between Jane and the nurse and yelled, "Don't!" over and over, with more and more force. I tried to calm him down and talk to him about it, but he was way too worried about Jane. Then the doctor came in and Spencer just glared at him the whole time, with this look of, "If you make one wrong move..." After all of that was over, the nurse came back in to give Jane her shots. Spencer tried to stop her, but eventually came to terms with the fact that he was no match for this nurse. He just hugged my leg and looked so sad. It was pretty heart-breaking.
Since that experience, I was worried about taking all of my kids to the doctor in January (Eliza turned 4, Spencer turned 2, and Jane turned 4 months old). We scheduled Eliza's appointment one week earlier than the other two. She didn't have to have any shots or anything, so it was just a good experience. They had fun in the waiting room, the doctor was nice and fun, the nurse was so nice. Spencer wanted to have a turn at everything (checking weight, height, blood pressure, etc.). They got stickers. It was a real success. I left thinking Spencer was over his fear of the doctor.
So, for the next week, we talked about how fun it is to go to the doctor. The day of Spencer & Jane's appointments, we were all singing and dancing, "Going to the doctor!" Spencer was excited and singing. We got in the car, he's still singing and happy and waving his hands from side to side, "Going to the doctor!" Things are going great.
One block away from the doctor's office, Spencer stops singing mid-sentence, "Going to the..." and yells, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

It was a bit of a struggle, he did alright. He did have to have shots, and he cried...until I let him rip the bandaid off. Turns out, he hates the bandaid more than he hates the doctor. Hopefully, we'll have another year before he has to see the doctor again...