Hello.

There is so much I have to catch up on, and so many little tidbits that I need write down here. I have been so busy with photos this season, that it's sort of taken the fun out of it. I am looking forward to a break! 

November was filled with great family time, and plenty of photo shoots. 

So far December has been wonderful. I set up the rest of our decorations, and the kids love them. They aren't anything fancy, but it's perfect for us. My heart is just full of love this time of year, and I hope that I can pass that to my children. Crew loves finding where is Elf is at the next day, he loves dressing up as Santa, and writing many many many lists to him. Crew is seriously at a fun age. He can be so so sweet, and helpful. This month has been busy with my church calling. I am in the YW with the girls in our ward. Each of them are so sweet, and I'm really enjoying it. 

Here are just some photos of the kids lately. I have many more on my phone I have to upload. 

For GG

An update for GG...because she asks for one quite often! Here's what we did today: 

-took pictures of Peter

-Played outside a lot. 

-Ate candy. 

...and did laundry...

Peter boy is gaining some serious weight and I love it.

This is how long bubbles last in our house...

Sharing Swedish Fish

Cheesin' for the camera. She's becoming quite good at that.

Peter's Newborn Pictures

I have so many other posts that I want to work on (my valentine, and other randoms) but I have got to put these up here before I forget! I snapped these on a whim when I noticed my camera was nearby. I am itching to get some of Crew and Peter together for their room--so hopefully I'll get around to that soon! 

My mom leaves tomorrow. 

Totally scared. 

I can do this though. A lot of people do this. 

I think. 

 Those yummy baby yawns are my favorite 

 Fun Fact-I cannot for the life of me get newborns to sleep during my sessions...even my own child. (no the first picture doesn't count. He just happened to close his eyes for 5 seconds)

^^^This is their relationship right now. She has turned a new leaf...and it's a little frightening. 18 months here we come! 

An Update

We are still out here in Alabama just trying to fill our days with something. I don't want to be a complainer but man summer sales isn't for the weak... people! Daily I have to give myself pep-talks (out loud) on why we are doing this job and how I can be a supportive wife and what not. I actually talk to myself out loud often. Anyone else do that? 

We soak our Sunday's up with our favorite guy. Church, naps, dinner and Sunday walks are on the agenda over here. Laid back, but that's how we like it! (actually church is never laid back...but this stage will pass...in a lot of years. I got this.) 

Crew loves going to nursery, and nearly cries every time I take him out to go potty. I know he has to go--but he hates going at church! Needless to say he is a happy boy when in that room having snacks, singing songs, and playing with toys. Every week he tells us what song he learned that day. He's my little music boy and I couldn't be more excited about it. When can I sign him up for Piano lessons?!

He says the funniest things lately that leave me literally hunched over laughing my head off:

-"mom please don't see me."-this was after he ran to the bathroom because he had an accident in his pants. He was so sweet about it all. Then he tells me to not scream but say nicely, "it's ok Crew." haha I have NEVER screamed at him...he is the funniest boy.

-"mom! Wanna do applesauce with me? Like this.."-then he proceeds to try and cross his chubby legs, but says, "oh this is too hard!" hahahaha He meant cris-cross-applesauce.

-He couldn't get his toys to cooperate with something and he was grunting and sighing the whole time. He finally came to me and said, "I'm freaking out! PLEASE help me!" haha As much as I wish he didn't know that statement...it makes me laugh.

I could go on and on about the things he says! He can also be a little stinker and isn't so nice sometimes, but he is 2 and we are working on it. I guess you could say that he visits the time-out corner a lot. (last time he was in it, there was a teeny spider on the wall, and now he refuses to go to that corner)

Alex is doing well at work which makes this gig all worth it! (kind of) He calculated that he walks about 8 miles a day or so...can you tell? Poor guy has lost all of his weight! He'll gain it back in no time...I sure :)

I'm thankful for my family who puts up with me wanting to take their pictures so much. I can't help it! I feel like everytime I take pictures I learn something new. The more I practice, the more I learn! Can't wait to get these framed this fall. That's my goal. All I want is a photo wall with Pottery Barn frames. Pleasseeeee.

Laney is almost 1! She's not walking yet but is getting closer everyday. She's made this past year so easy for all of us. She's a dream baby! 

Nothing much has happened since Utah! It's really weird not having people or things to entertain us out here. It is so incredibly hot and humid so we only really make it to the pool. The pool water is lukewarm so we actually don't stay for too long--the kids don't love it that much. Counting down the days till we move back home. I cannot wait to have a dresser, and my things again...mostly my bed. I miss my bed so much. I'm so excited to get back! However I know that the rest of the year is going to fly by and then BAM we will be doing this again in no time. I've decided that I want to document where we live each summer so maybe I'll do a post with pictures of our place. This job is such a huge part of our life, and I hate that I don't document our whereabouts more. These apartments are our home for the summers so they mean something to me. As much as I dislike moving each summer, I sorta like what goes on in these walls of our little apartments. I enjoy not having anything pressing to do each summer, and I know that sooner or later that won't be the case! 

Happy

Yesterday we went on our walk finally--the last few days/weeks it has rained the whole day! Then 6pm hits and it's dinner, baths and bed. So we were all pretty excited to get outside yesterday. Crew loves puddles so much. He brought a paper that he rolled up and claimed it was his "treasure." So he was pretty happy to be jumping in those puddles with his keys and treasure in hand. Oh to be little again. Miss Laney has been a serious grumpy girl lately too! I think that her teething and next to no sleep is starting to take a toll on her (all of us) so she was happy to be outside, but still whined during it. I love watching them play together, but mostly they are fighting. Laney can scream pretty loud and when Crew takes a toy away, she screams and looks at me as if she wants me to get in the middle of it. They can be pretty cute together too though. Crew can make her giggle so hard, and when she laughs, he giggles his head off. He still hates when she has to go take naps (which she is fighting so hard these days.) Why do my kids just not sleep that well? I'll never know. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Photography has been on my mind so much lately. I'm learning to become more patient with it. I know what I want my style to be and the end product...but getting there is taking much longer than I thought. I also picked a very expensive hobby so that's why it's taking forever too. Nowadays I feel that getting a dslr camera is so accessible and that everyone is trying to become a photographer! Which is great because we can all help each other...or I wish that's how more people saw it. I follow this photographer who posts all of their photos and then says, "feel free to ask any questions, this is not a competition." I just love that. I love that we have apps for editing pictures now, or millions of tutorials online to help us become better editors or photographers, but it also makes me appreciate the long-time artists or photographers who didn't have all of that back then. They had to learn everything on their own with next to no help from the internet or others around them. I'm hoping that once I get to Utah to visit my family that I will have a lot of time to practice.

We are selling our Utah house this weekend too! What a giant blessing. Everything is under contract and our old renters are moving out on Monday. A big part of me is a little bummed that I never got to fully enjoy the house or the darn island that we worked so hard to put in, but now we are a step closer to buying a house in Arizona within the next year. Hopefully. Staying in Arizona will mean that Alex will be traveling to Utah a lot, but it won't be as hard on me because we have so much family there now to hang out with. So so excited about that. I think about the job that brought us to Arizona and I am so thankful for that experience. Ever since we got married we knew we wanted to move back there and raise our family there. Things happened and we bought the Utah house, and were a little sad that we wouldn't make it to AZ quickly. If it wasn't for the job--we would still be in Utah and wouldn't have an exact timeline on when we would make that big move. So hooray for solar pulling us there! Alex is doing so much better this year in alarms and comes home excited to tell me about his day. This is the first year that we have done things "right" in alarms! Last year was a complete mess, and we were on the 3rd floor of the apartments so I had a bad attitude about that haha This year we are on the first floor and the apartments are a lot nicer. It's funny how things like that can instantly change my mood about the job. (and I'm not pregnant so that makes things so much easier over summers) When we went to Cancun we were around of a lot of couples who had older kids who did this job. At first I didn't think they existed...but they do! I obviously hope that we are not doing this job when our kids are older, but if that's the case, then we have some tips and tricks to help us get through the summers.

Crew is doing well with potty training still. He just cracks us up! He reminds me so much of his dad...they are both going to give me a run for my money when Crew gets older!

We fly to Utah on Tuesday for S I X weeks. Pray we make it that long, and pray that we make it during that flight. I paid a lot of money for a direct flight, so at least we won't have layovers. That would be horrible with the two kiddos. I am so excited to go though. My mom added me to her gym pass for those weeks so at least I'll have someone to make me work out! That will change the whole trip for the better. Ellie turns 13 (whaaaat!) when I am there so that will be so fun. I just can't believe how grown up all of my siblings are!

Saturday Morning Cuddles

So you can probably tell I have a lot of free time on my hands. I just take pictures of them all day, try different editing tools, and post them. Enjoyyyyyyyy.

P H O T O G R A P H Y

Let's talk about this photography adventure of mine. First off-I love love love it. I really do. I love escaping to my little world when I go to a photo shoot and do whatever I want. It's nice for me to get a break from being a mom to being a photographer. I need that. I love when I have sent pictures to clients and they reply with very positive comments. It's a good feeling. I love that this is a never ending learning process. There is always something new in the photography world, new gear, new programs and new styles to try out. It's exciting that I will always be learning in this hobby of mine. 

 Now: this photography thing is very stressful and time-consuming for me. I get frustrated that I need to plan so much in order to just go shoot for an hour. I have SO many ideas for photo shoots that I want to do, but how do I go about just asking people? At some point I need to start making money with this...but I need to practice a lot before I do. Editing? Oh my. That's a whole thing in itself. I think it will take me a good few years before I have found "my style" and how I want my photos look. I'm not a patient person--so that's why this is hard for me. I love it so much, but I just want to see the end result already. 

There are so many lenses I want, and the perfect website, and set up for editing photos. This hobby is great for me because it is teaching me patience. As I was going over the visiting teaching message this month-I thought it was made for me! I have been struggling with patience with a lot of things in my life, so I'm grateful for that message. 

I'll get to where I want to be someday. I know I will-but in the meantime I am going to enjoy taking pictures of my children and others. Just have fun with it-and quit worrying about the logistics of everything. 

Utah Trip and Some Other Stuff

We are in Utah with my family this week and it has been so fun. My parents drove us up here out of the kindness of their hearts. The kids were so good and Crew was excited to make it to "newtah!" 

My parents spent a couple days with us before we drove so we made sure to squeeze in lots of time with them. 

-Crew and Gramma played with Crew's cute animal masks

-Grandpa golfed for 2 whole days 

-Dad worked as usual

-Mom browsed social media for way too long and snuggled the kiddos

 I was laughing so hard watching my mom in her mask. Her makeup is so dark and her lashes are long, so they stuck out of the eye's in the mask. So so so funny. 

 Laney has changed into a whole new person on this trip! She is growing up so fast! She screams SO loud when she wants food or is tired. She is scarfing down sweet potatoes like no one's business...and she also learned that she isn't a fan of the swaddle. So that has been interesting! 

 We had the pinewood derby before we came to Utah and it was so much fun. These boys are so dang cute and get SO excited about scouts. It made Alex and I super excited for Crew to grow up. 

 Crew choosing his treat from the gas station during our long drive. He is so cute when he chooses. 

 He always finds new things to climb up or into. 

Trying a peep for the first time. He wasn't a fan. 

While in Utah I took pictures of my cousins new little baby and she is the cutest. She is alert and was awake during most of these...despite the fact that she was changed and fed before hand. She is five whole pounds. Tiniest thing I have ever held and made me need a newborn so bad. There is just something special about their tiny yawns, bird legs, hiccups, peachy-fuzzy cheeks, and teeny bums. Her newborn clothes drown her. I don't even know what that's like since my babies are almost twice her size! 

The three cousins. 

We are enjoying our trip here. I get stressed out when I'm out of my home for more than a week. Bad I know, but we love being with family.