Short Siesta

Okay, blogging and photography are very important to me, but I need to take a short break. Freak not out. Trust me, I'll be back before you know it. In the interim, I would like to leave you with some cute pictures. My blond baby sure is growing up. (Seriously, where did the blond come from? I can't get blue eyes, but I can get blond hair!)

Dad's Day

I apologize to Tyler for not posting this sooner. Father's Day is important to me. And we had an excellent time this year. We partied man-style. In case you are wondering what man-style means, it most certainly involves steak.

Check out our smokin' grill. Yummy goodness.

I let Tyler decorate the table and he did that man-style too. Yes, those are tools, and no, we did not use the power saw to cut the steak.

We brought back our one-time tradition of ice cream tasting that we invented three years ago. Oddly, Brian, I swear you are wearing almost exactly the same shirt. Weird.

It was a blast. It says Jared was the winner, but Brian and he tied and we rolled for Grand Champion. Our tie-breaker flavor was Late Night Snack with chocolate covered potato chips. (Yes, this is a real Ben & Jerry's flavor.) We made the men come up with their own name for it. Jared chose Coco Puff Carnival and Brian named it Chicken Tracks. (Neither of them guessed potato chips as an ingredient...go figure.)

Another fabulous Father's Day under the belt. Dads—you rock.

My own Dad is pretty great too. Can't wait to see him soon. Oh, and Mom, I know it was your birthday and I totally forgot to do anything for it, including call you. I am truly shamed, and I will make it up to you somehow.

Father

Photos of the week:

I was a little slow this week, but there was no doubt about what I was taking a picture of...my hotty husband, of course. I mean, the distinguished father of my children. Tyler is a great father. He is the perfect partner in all my endeavors. I feel that together, we can accomplish anything. Love you, babe.

Oh, and I know I already used this picture, but I think it fits under 'Father' as well and bears repeating.

Carnival

This evening, our ward had a carnival to raise money for the youth. I was really impressed. You could tell that a lot of people put in some serious time and work. We actually didn't sign up for anything, and were planning to take it all in stride with our five, but at the last minute some friends of ours got sick and asked us to man the dunk tank. (Sorry Jetts, hope you feel better soon.)

It ended up being a hit. We had such a blast. The girls watched long enough that they wanted a turn sitting under the soaker. There was just a box up above and it didn't look like it would hold that much water. It was cleverly deceptive. Here is Robyn throwing to drench Nathan. She actually got him twice.

But revenge is sweet. I love how you can see him grinning in the background while Tyler showed Robyn what the deluge was all about.

Oh, and Tyler hit the target twice as well.

June had her turn being doused. I hit the target even while holding Pearl. (Okay, I had to throw it a few extra times.)

Daisy was happy because although we didn't take her around to all the booths, she got a whole thing of cotton candy to herself. She ended up with the five o'clock cotton candy shadow. (And facepaint.)

Horse rides were a favorite. I made the girls save their tickets until the end since the horses came later. I think it was worth it.

Pearl was chill the whole time. She even made a little boyfriend. He sat and fed her cotton candy and shared his sucker.

I guess it is never too young to use your feminine wiles to coax sweets from the boys.

So fun.

I Mustache These Memories Away

Tonight as we finished dinner, Tyler said, "Let's draw mustaches on and go for a walk." This he said brandishing a permanent marker. (Don't worry, I talked him into eyeliner instead.) And then we went for a walk, with mustaches.

Is it sad that this is the best family picture we have had for a while. Or maybe it is really cool? Either way, it is good to break up the monotony.

I took a close up of Hitler, because she is pretty darn cute.

And then Daisy wanted in on the action, because she loves having her picture taken. LOVES it.

And then d'Artagnon came downstairs. (By the way, apparently there is a new Three Musketeers movie coming out. Do you think they will ever tire of remaking that movie?)

The other two ran off, so you only get those three. We are keeping with the Three Musketeers theme.

Holy Busy Batman

I am busy. My mind is having trouble wrapping itself around all the things I need to accomplish. I am sure it will all get done, it always does. But I find myself leaping back and forth between projects without finishing anything.

In the meantime, I have not been picking up my camera. Not that I don't see the photo ops. If you love photography, you see life in pictures, and I hurt a little inside when I see an excellent picture opportunity, but I ignore it because I am doing one of a million other things. But it is good to do other things too.

The other day, the girls were playing in this small pool I got them. (Small enough that I don't have to worry about Pearl as much.) I watched Pearl play with the hose and put it in her mouth. I wanted to race down and snap a ton of pictures, but I was busy, so instead I looked out my window and took this.

I love when they all place nicely together. They are all going to be such good friends when they are older. I hope they are close and rely on each other.

Tyler has been much better about getting out the camera. I noticed that almost all the pictures I downloaded recently were taken by him. (And trust me, he is busier than I am.) I liked that he caught Pearl oogling the neighbors. Our neighbors are the cutest. They have four adorable boys and my girls love to play with them. Pearl likes to watch them from her secret hiding place.

She likes to squeeze back and forth behind the garbage. And of course Claire goes with her.

I laughed when I looked through the pictures Tyler took. I came across this one.

It is funny to me, because I went outside to be ALONE since I wanted to talk on the phone and not be interrupted. You can see how well that turned out. I do remember I was suddenly bombarded by the usual chaos and noise, but oddly, I don't remember Daisy being naked. Then again, maybe I am just so used to her parading that way, that I don't notice.

You will be pleased to know that she doesn't undress in public, unless you count her shoes. I can not keep her shoes on in the least. I am debating about duct taping them on her feet, but that might be a little extreme. I've tried different kinds of shoes in hopes she will like one enough to leave on. I've given her flip-flops so her feet won't get hot. It doesn't matter. She must be part Panda. (Get it. Bear feet.)

Okay, it's time for me to go to bed.

Wordless Monday: Mascara

The Beauty of Motherhood

Okay, I must put these on here pronto because 1) I am the queen of broken promises (Don't mention Martin's Cove or I will wring your neck or break into tears, and 2) They need to be seen. Like today. Now.

I didn't want to overload you, so I told myself that I would limit it to my favorite five. Um...don't count the pictures. OKAY, there are six, but I am not counting the last one because that is a cute family shot. Sheesh, five is a very small number. Unless you are talking about children. Speaking of which, this is Melissa's fifth baby, and fourth boy. Her family is adorable and they were so easy to work with. I know, by now you are thinking I should just shut up and show the pictures already. All five six of them.

I love that these two are so different in height. It is sweet.

Melissa has the loveliest dimples. I hope her baby gets them.

See, cute family.

I can't wait to meet baby.

Party

Photos of the week:

Man, it sure was a party tonight. Keri just formed up a Bunco group and I made some new friends tonight and had a lot of fun. It was just what I needed. Especially since last night ended with one of my children yelling, "I hate you Mom." It is fulfilling maternal moments like those that make me feel very good about a night out. Don't worry—all children and mother have made up, and today was a much better day.

The other continual party (which you are not invited to) is my seasonal allergies. It was very heartening to get a message in my email from the Pediatrician stating that I should expect a severe allergy season this year. Awesome. I know I was bragging a blue streak about how I was going to go get me some drugs, but truthfully, I don't have a good doctor, and it is such a process to convince someone new that you aren't faking the whole not-breathing-for-three-month-out-of-the-year thing. So I have put it off, and I am paying for it dearly.

It doesn't help that I ended up over at a field that was intentionally built to kill allergy sufferers one by one. The kids were playing softball and I was gawking at the amount of cotton floating about. Seriously, it was literally snowing. Amazingly, I could breathe just fine, but that is because my body likes to open up all the pores and inhale everything it can, so it can go into destruction mode later in the evening. Like when I am trying to sleep.

It just floated about in the air.

It stuck to the grass and was littered everywhere.

It built up snowdrifts at all the corners of the sidewalks.

I couldn't decide if the black and white showed the cotton better or not. Trust me, none of these pictures really do the scene justice. But aren't the kids cute playing dodge ball with the coaches?

This is my favorite though. I redid this photo in black and white and it looks like aliens are coming to take me away up into a star-speckled sky. (Perhaps they have some procedure that will get rid of my allergies for good.)

Teaser

This is all you get for now.

There is much more to come. I had so much fun doing this shoot and loved almost every single picture. But tonight I am tired. So instead of loading pictures, I finished this book. (Which took me FOR. EVER. because it was slow and boring, BUT which I decided I liked because in the end, it seemed to describe what true love is. Still, I am not recommending it.)

Then I also ate practically a whole half loaf of this.

I really love artichoke hearts and now I have a whole jar in my fridge waiting to be used in whatever recipe I choose. I'm making cobbler tomorrow. Do you think?...no, just kidding. That would be going too far. But maybe some avocados...

By the way, you should check out Jamie's website.  Not only does she have fabulous recipes everywhere (all that I have tried, I have liked), but her pictures of the food makes everything look good. She is a chef with photography talent. How could I not love this lady?

Okay, but seriously. Bed.

Fabulosity at its best

No pictures today, because I may be inundating you with plenty in the near future. I did two maternity shoots this last week, and I love, LOVE, love the pictures. So, that is coming.

In the meantime, Tyler was very surprised that I hadn't mentioned that we went to see Les Mis. It was so fabulous, words don't really do it justice. It is probably my favorite Broadway Musical of all time. If it didn't cost $100 a ticket, I would go every time it came to town. That and Phantom. Two all time bests. Please do not hate me for not adding Wicked in here. Because I didn't think it lived up to all the hype. Yes, I know I probably just lost like half my blog readers (all three of you) but I can't tell a lie. Let's just talk about Les Mis some more.

Actually let's just revisit the highs and lows:

High—We went to the Blue Lemon for dinner, which was trendy and fresh and I might have moaned a little when I took a bite of my turkey avocado sandwich. So delish.

Low—I am not sure about the punctuality there. They forget I had fries, and we got our smoothies (which we reminded them about four times) after everyone finished the meal. Perhaps they were dessert smoothies and I didn't know.

High—I got a cushion to sit on. I was actually hoping to help my lower back, but the cushion wasn't all that cushiony, but those extra few inches made all the difference. You short people who go to theatres all know what I am talking about. There are no good seats for a short person. Except maybe the aisle. Maybe.

Low—I found out about the cushions approximately 35 seconds before the doors closed. Since I didn't know the doors were closing, I left anyway, and sadly the lady shut them in my face. Literally, I could touch the handle but there was no going through.

High—I got through anyway. I am not proud of how it all went down. Basically there were several very frustrated individuals when the doors closed. I merely sat there baffled that the lady would have instructed me to the cushions with 28 seconds to spare, and wondering if watching Les Mis from the foyer was worth $100 a ticket. People continued to open the doors since there were four doors and only one lady guarding them. Some were getting through and others she was dragging out. Most who made it through were still being stopped at the second set of doors by other ushers. You could tell she felt horrible, but was trying to stick to her guns. She had one weak moment in which she mumbled, Fine, go in, and she didn't have to tell me twice. Luckily, I made it through the second set of doors because the guards were detaining a lady off to the left. (See why I might not be so proud about all of this.)

Low—I slunk to my seat feeling greatly relieved and not just a slight guilty, only to see my mother-in-law's seat was empty. She had gone to the bathroom, and I knew where she was now; on the other side of the impassable doors. So, the first ten minutes of the show I basically sat there on my tall cushion feeling about two inches high. I should have just stayed out in the foyer with her. (Although I didn't know she was out there...see, I still have guilt.)

High—Vicki (MIL) probably got the best show of the evening. Frustrated patrons turned to irate patrons, then to riotous patrons. There was literally a police escort to help one man deal with his issues about not making it through the door. (Although he was yelling very loudly that he had second row seats and I can only imagine how much that cost.) I can feel his pain, up to the point where I made it through the doors. And Vicki was back in the theater ten minutes later, so it wasn't the end of the world.

Low—Wait, there are no more lows. It was Les Mis. Even if Jean Valjean sounded slightly weird on the high notes of Bring Him Home, it was still incredible. And I was a little surprised that since they had a black Eponine (who had a really good voice), they didn't have a black "little Eponine" earlier in the show. But whatever, the show went on...and I loved it.

High—We got to go with Tyler's parents and some friends of ours, the Eddys. It was so fun to sit by people we enjoy talking to. I think it was everyone's first time seeing it (besides me). It was such a fantastic evening.

So there you have it. Splendid evening, splendid company, and no pictures because I was just basking in the splenderosity. (Ooh, I like making up new words.)

Looking In

I took my kids to this little park last week and when I saw Pearl peeking through the holes, I knew I wanted to go back and get some pictures.

Photos of the week:

Pearl loves the tube. She goes back and forth and when she sees you coming she scurries back in, afraid you might be coming to take her away.

 We also finally got the computer under the stairs for the kids. Sometimes they close the door and it is almost like they aren't there :) And no, I don't let my children play the computer late at night, but I thought the shot would be more fun lit from within.