Photo shoot!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a picture-taking fanatic. Photography is a major hobby of mine and I'd love to eventually take some classes to learn more. In the meantime it's just a fun hobby. I try not to be too obsessive with doing it that my children hate me and are annoyed with me for taking their pictures too much. If it ever got to that point, I'd have to give up photography before I'd let my kids hate me.

A couple times a year I like to take the kids out to a nice park or something specifically to take some nice pictures. It's been a while since I've done it and I've been wanting to get some taken, at least some of September to use for decorations for the brunch after the baptism and for her baptism invitations. So last Saturday I decided to seize the moment and take the kids over to this park that I've been dying to go to for about 4 years. It's right off the freeway in between PG and AF and every time I pass it I long to take the kids there someday for a photo shoot. They have a couple old structures that I always thought would be so cool to take pictures at. Well, early in the morning I started to stress about what to have the kids wear and in the end I decided that I didn't want it to ruin my day and get stressed out over something that's ultimately not that important. So I decided that I'd focus on getting pictures of September for now, and if the other kids were in a good mood and wanted their pictures taken, that I'd take them in between. So I dressed everyone in at least decent clothes just in case. As it turned out, all of the kids ended up wanting their pictures taken and were very cooperative, so it actually worked out. I didn't have to bug them, they were asking me. I like it that way. I ended up getting some pretty cute shots of all of them. None all together, but that's not what I was ever planning on. We'll try some of those in the fall when Matthew can come with me to help me get their attention. In the meantime, some nice singles, and a couple here and there of just the girls, will have to do. Here are a few (o.k. a LOT) of my favorites. There were too many cute ones to pick from!

8 days to go!

September's baptism is coming up next Saturday and I'm getting really nervous! Is she prepared? Have we taught her everything she needs to know? Aughhh! I'm so stressed about it but I'm trying to remind myself that we've done our best job of raising her and teaching her and she'll keep learning as she gets older. It's not like she needs to know EVERYTHING right now. I mean come on, what 8 year old fully understands exactly what is going on on their baptism day? You don't fully understand or appreciate the significance of the day until you're older, sometimes MUCH older. So I'm trying to relax and just be excited for this very special day. But then I start stressing about the brunch we're going to be having after. And when I start doing that I have to remind myself that in the end it's not the brunch that's important. I want to focus on the important things that day. In the end, if the brunch goes to pot (the same way the double-birthday fiasco did a few weeks ago) oh well. As long as September has a nice day and makes memories that will last the rest of her life, that's what's important. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

And speaking of reminders.....I guess this post can serve as one final reminder to all of you that we've been inviting to the baptism over the past few months. With postponing the whole thing a couple months I feel like we've forgotten to "re-invite" some of you and tell you the new information about the date and time. So for those of you who are unaware of the date and time, it is next Saturday, August 30th at 9 am. I know it's early and it's on Labor Day weekend, but we didn't pick it. Our Stake does baptisms all together once a month and next weekend just happens to be when it is this month. It will be at our church which is just around the corner from our house. If you've never been to our house and need an address and instructions, let me know.

As I mentioned earlier, we are doing a brunch following the baptism. We would love to have anyone come who would like to celebrate this special day with September. We did send out "formal" invitations to a handful of people, but if you did not receive one it does not mean that you are not invited. Please accept this "post" as your invitation. :)

Who ordered the cup of Peyton???

I had seen this flower pot at Walmart a few months ago and had my eye on buying it to take some pictures of Peyton in it. This was back when she was still VERY small. Well I'd forgotten about it and got busy with other things. Then I was looking in the garden department a few weeks ago for something and I saw it. I decided to see if Peyton would still possibly fit in it.....and she did. Thank goodness she's such a tiny baby! So I planned on buying it, using it for a little photoshoot, and returning it. Is that wrong??? But I lost the receipt and when I went to return it they had of course gone on major clearance and wanted to give me only $6 for it when I had paid $20! So I decided to keep it. So if there's anyone out there who has a young baby, or one that's not necessariy young but still tiny, and wants me to do a photoshoot with them in the cup, let me know! :) Anyway, the photo shoot didn't go as well as hoped because she was kind of in a cranky mood that day, but a few turned out pretty cute and funny. Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

She was even cute while she was crying. Am I mean?

Great opportunity to get some naked shots too. She LOVED being naked and free! She's a bit of an exhibitionist and wild woman!

I can't believe I let her run loose naked, but I did and she had fun. She especially had fun she she found the elliptical machine and tried to get in a workout. Come on, how do you think she keeps up that nice physique? Thankfully she never peed!

First Day of School

Well, we've almost made it through the first week of school! Things have already gone a LOT smoother than they did last year. I was on the verge of a breakdown every day for like the first MONTH of school last year. I'm sure the fact that I had just had a baby like two weeks before school started didn't help.

So far the kids are LOVING school. September is in 3rd grade and her teacher isn't new like we thought she was. She just happened to get married a few months ago and changed her name. Kya is in 1st grade so she is now gone all day as well. When we went last week to check who her teacher was and who was in her class, we didn't recognize anyone. I was a little nervous for her but kept telling her how exciting it was that she'd get to make a bunch of NEW friends. My feigned enthusiasm worked and she was excited about the situation instead of nervous. Eating in the cafeteria has been a new experience for her and she's still figuring things out. She hasn't had enough time to eat all her food (after all lunch time is also recess time and if you spend it all eating you don't get to play.....and come on, what's more important???) so she often comes home with food left in her lunchbox. And then there was yesterday where she didn't eat lunch at all. She apparently didn't hear me tell her that she was supposed to eat lunch at school. (Thursday is pizza day and I had always let September eat at school that day as a treat.) But Kya hadn't heard me say that and she went to go to lunch and noticed that I hadn't packed her a lunch. So she didn't eat! The poor girl!!

Logan will be heading off to preschool in a week and a half and he is getting very excited. He even had to strap on his backpack to go to the bus stop with the girls on Monday. He'll have to wait to actually use the backpack though. In the meantime he has loved having a little more attention. Over the weekend we helped a neighbor move and they had a trampoline that they weren't going to be able to take with them so they gave it to us. So on Monday while the girls were at school, he helped me put it together. I originally brought his soccer ball out back for him to play with while I put it together, but he would have none of that. He was very insistent on helping me. He helped me bring all the pieces to the backyard. I would carry a handful and he would "drag" one small piece. But he was so proud of himself. Then he went around putting the springs in......a couple here, one there, three over here, etc... He was all business! And every once in a while he would say, "Mom, this is hard work!" It was one of the cutest moments I've ever shared with him. I look forward to spending more time with my funny little guy.

Calling all August birthday people...

Things have been a little crazy this summer and we've run a little short on time for certain things. So we thought it would be a brilliant idea to combine both Logan's and Peyton's birthday celebrations since their birthdays are so close together (5 days apart). I originally really wanted them to each have their own separate party because I want them to both feel special and have their own special day, but I figured this is probably the one year that we could actually celebrate them together without it being a big deal because neither one is old enough to really notice or care. So it sounded like a great idea, right? WRONG!! Holy chaos! We were originally going to keep it small and simple and just do cake and ice-cream and gifts. But then my in-laws were going to be coming back from Idaho Falls that day and wouldn't be home til' dinnertime and wouldn't want to come home from a trip and have to throw dinner together. Plus, they took the girls with them and gave us a break for the weekend. So we thought it would be nice to do dinner for them, but then we decided to extend the invitation to everyone. O.k. I can handle dinner at my house and having a bunch of people over. Fine, whatever. But doing dinner on top of TWO birthday parties. What were we thinking?!? I think everything turned out less chaotic than I felt it was, but I also happened to be feeling sick that day and that certainly didn't help. After everyone left I just CRASHED! My body just about gave out. I went upstairs and started getting ready for bed while Matthew was down cleaning up the huge mess and suddenly I got a bloody nose. I NEVER get bloody noses (unless I'm having my ulcer issues, which I haven't lately) so it was kind of weird and random. The next day I was flat in bed all day. I got up a couple times to make sure the kids hadn't killed each other, and just about passed out. I had to drag myself back to bed. Matthew had just been sick a week or so earlier and his lasted for about a week. I was hoping that that's not how it was going to be. I'm a very up-and-going person and can't handle being confined to a bed. But by Tuesday I was feeling a whole lot better.....weak, but better. While I was stuck in bed I watched the DVD we recorded of the party and sure enough, things were a lot less crazy than they had seemed to be in my mind. But I still don't think I'll ever do anything like that ever again!

He was being such a ham for the camera that night. Everyone was getting a kick out of how much he would pose and "act" for the camera every time it came out. I know everyone probably thinks I trained him because I'm such a picture taking queen, but that is NOT normal for him.

His cake had bugs on it, so we decided to stick with the theme and make a GIANT dirt cup!

Tate, Kaylee, Kya and Reece

Tristan (he was being shy and wanted to sit by himself)

Logan being fitted for his crown that Keely and September made for him.

Hammin' it up for the camera!

Here he is being extremely excited about the clothes that Bonnie gave him. What 3-year old BOY gets excited about clothes? Apparently Logan. :) Actually it was a camouflage outfit and he loves camo-stuff, so maybe it was more excitement about the camo than the clothes. Either way, his reaction was hilarious!

He LOVES soccer and only has a small ball, so September bought him this ball with her own money. He was so excited and even started an impromptu game of soccer right in the middle of opening presents. He just took off and it was hard to get him back.

This is a quillow that Gma Stocking made for him. Now he doesn't have to use the pink girlie version of Kya's that he used one day and became attached to.

He was a little confused about the backpack because he thought it was Tate's backpack. We had just given Tate a backpack just like it for his birthday a few months earlier and he remembered.

We had gotten him a bike and we planned on having him open the helmet and asking why he needed a helmet if he didn't have a bike. Well, we didn't fool him. He had seen his bike parked around the corner when he took off for his game of soccer.

Peyton loves this doll.....which was hand-selected by her second mother, Haylie, Kalun and Kristi's little girl who is just a few months older than Peyton.

Peyton loved the silly spoons that Gma Stocking gave her. She wanted to start eating off of them right away.

Peyton didn't really want to have much to do with her cake at first. We finally resorted to feeding it to her, but eventually she came around.

I love this picture. It looks like Peyton is staring longingly at Logan's crown and wondering where hers is.

The cake ultimately got almost finished off, thanks to Logan's help.