A Lefty??

Emma has really started to love coloring and writing. So far she has been writing with her left hand most of the time. Once in awhile she will color with her right but most of the time she will switch to her left. She also holds a pencil or pen pretty well. I like the idea of a lefty like me! Now I'm off to clean the pencil off the tile, marker off of her face, and crayon off the walls....

Soccer

Here's a few pictures of the kids from soccer. They both had fun and played hard. Ethan is getting a little better at being more aggressive and paying attention. He had a good coach that taught them a lot. Madelyn played hard. She also tried out the goalie position for the first time and loved it. She did a great job at it too. I didn't like her playing goalie...it made me a nervous wreck. Yes I'm one of those parents who get into the game (in a good yelling way :) )

Punkinaze

Here's our annual trip to the local corn maze. The kids had been dying to go to the Punkinaze since it opened in Sept. It was pretty cold so we didn't take Emma. Maddie and Ethan had a good time trying to constantly hide and scare us in the corn. What is it about walking around in corn that instantly creeps you out. I guess I just have to think more Field of Dreams and not Children of the Corn (or crazy nanny for you OTH fans). Although Field of Dreams is still dead people walking in the corn....

Sorry about the blurry pics!

Cute Little Red Chair

Here is my new photography prop to play around with. Isn't it cute!

P.S. I'm talking about the chair, although Emma is cute too!

More Photos

Here are the latest two pictures I did for my assignment for my photography class. It took me awhile but I really like Ethan in these two pictures. These are straight out of the camera. I definitely have the photography bug. I think I'm a little obsessed!

Photos

I'm taking an online photography class and I am slowly learning how to shoot in manual. It's frustrating and exciting all at the same time. This has been a great class and I've learned a lot. I took Emma and Maddie to Jenna's (Chad's grandpa's place) and played around with the camera there. Here is a fun picture that I've played with in Photoshop afterwards.

Fall

A few weekends ago we took drive up the canyon to look at leaves and take some pictures. It was fun hanging out with the family. We went on a little hike. The kids were loving every minute of it especially Emma. Here are a few of my favorite pictures. I'll add a few more later.

Staple Drama

Just an update on the staples. After a week of having them in we went back to the doctors office to have them removed -no big deal. Wrong! One staple came out just fine but the other one was stuck. I mean really stuck. They pulled and pulled and pulled all the while Ethan was crying like I've never seen him cry before. He usually has a high tolerance for pain. They could not get it out. They numbed it a few times, tried to cut it in the middle, and numbed again. The scissors and tools they had in the office couldn't get under the staple and cut it. After almost two hours in the office, lots of tears, two doctors, numerous nurses, numbing the head three times including litocane and one dollar store wire cutters they got it out. Yes they had to run to the dollar store and buy some wire cutters! Turns out when the staple went in the ends turned out instead of slightly inward. During all of this Emma was there running around, pulling things out, crying for Ethan, getting shots, crying for herself, getting in the garbage, etc. etc. etc. I was exhausted by the time we left. All is well now and healing nicely but not a fun time! The doctor felt awful and called the next day asking about Ethan. She said it stressed her out that whole day! Here is a picture I took with my cell phone.

Accident Prone

Ethan is absolutely our clutziest, most accident prone kid. Wednesday he spun on our computer chair and then took off running down the hall!?! He smacked his head on the corner of the post by our stairs. He started crying and then I saw the blood running down the side of his head. I could see that while it wasn't terribly bad it would need something. He's already had glue and stitches so this time he got 2 staples in his head. The doctor also put a blue tape around his head to keep some gauze on it for a little while. Ethan at first was mortified that he would have to wear it to school until I showed him the wound and he reluctantly agreed to wear it (I would've let him stay home that day but he insisted on going). I was just glad to keep dirty little fingers off of it. After he got home he apparently had grown quite fond of it and didn't want to take it off for quite awhile. Here's the proof:

Tradition

Last weekend we went to the annual Eastern Idaho State Fair with my family. It's kind of funny that we are still going to the fair after all these years but my kids love it. They love hanging out with grandma and grandpa and cousins, looking at things at the fair, and seeing all the animals. I love the food and Chad digs the horse races. The Indian Relay Races are pretty exciting. Here a few pics from the weekend.

Ethan's first day!

Here is Ethan on his first day of kindergarten (sorry the pictures are a little distorted...still working on how to post larger photos!) He was so excited. It was really hard to wait a week after Madelyn started. He picked out his own clothes and couldn't wait to ride the bus with his friends. It was quite a sight at the bustop with all the momarazzis and our cameras. We then drove over to the school and waited for the kids to get off the bus and we walked them into class and took a few more pics. Chad teased me about it but -a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do. He was so cute and grown up (except the mom and camera following him part). He had a great first day and first week so far. He has a great teacher and I know he'll have a great year!

Just for you Jenna!

Great Service Project Idea

I saw a great service project idea and thought I would pass it along. I'm thinking of having our Primary do this or at least my family. It's a great cause!

Back To School

Well here she is looking cute as ever. She was pretty excited to go back to school today...and a little nervous. Ooh I hope she has a great day!

First Family Shoot

Well here is my first "official" family photo shoot. I was sort of talked into it because I am not a professional and need to learn a lot more before I can really do this for others but...here is a sneak peek from it. I think it turned out ok for newbie :)


(p.s. I'm still learning how to post larger pictures that are clear!)

Maddie's Photo Shoot

Madelyn was long overdue for her own little photo shoot. Here are a few photos that we took tonight. Madelyn loves the camera and had lots of ideas for poses. It was a little hard to get those natural shots that I love because she was always ready with a pose for me. She looks beautiful! This was her Gap outfit (including the boots) that we both just had to have and made her feel really special when she tried it on. Too bad we forgot the cute hat we bought with it! Man I miss getting new clothes for school. On another note, I'm really wanting a photography class or another Photoshop class. Anyone have any recommendations?

Business in front...party in the back

(P.S. I know letting your toddler stand on a chair with wheels is not recommended but she climbed up there so fast and started clicking away like she knew what she was doing...I just had to take a picture. The point of the picture is to show her budding pre-haircut mullet. phew!)

The mullet had to go. We had Jenna cut some of the curls off in back so that it would be closer to the sides and grow in thicker. It's hard to figure out what to do when their hair is just starting to grow but no more mullet for us. Jenna had quite the task of trying to use scissors on our busybody.

Is it really that time again??

I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by. I'm having a little summer guilt because I feel like I haven't done enough fun things with the kids this summer. We had our bigger vacation in the Spring to Disneyland and we went on a few camping trips in May and June but we haven't done a lot since. I feel like I should pack the last week of summer vacation with super exciting things. What exactly...I don't know...any ideas? At least the kids are excited for school. Maddie will be in 3rd and Ethan is starting Kindergarten. Last Saturday we took them to the outlets for some school shopping and this week Jenna cut their hair so they're just about ready.

July 24th

We didn't really do too much on Pioneer Day this year. We didn't go to a parade or even watch one on TV. Chad worked and we just hung around the house all day until later on we put the water on under the trampoline (making a big mud pit since we don't have playground material yet :) ) and then Chad had some fun squirting the kids with the hose. When it got dark my parents came over and we had just a few fireworks to enjoy. Just enough to entertain the kids.

I Just Had To

Ok so I know I've blogged a lot this week but I saw this on another blog and just had to share. It's pretty cute. Don't forget to turn off my music at the bottom.

Like Monkeys in a Cage...

Ethan and Emma are enjoying the new toy.


Emma's showing some trampoline love.


Madelyn and Ethan before we got the net on.

More Photo Fun!

Another editing technique

Look what I'm learning!

I'm taking an online photo editing class and we are supposed to try the techniques and post the results somewhere so here is one of the projects. I might post a few more later. I did this using Photoshop Element 6. By the way if you don't have or want to invest in a photoshop type photo editing program I suggest downloading Picasa. It's a great free program where you can do quick and easy fun photo editing techniques. Sometimes I just use Picasa because it's so easy and quick to do something different with a photo.

p.s. I've definitely stepped up my blogging!

A dozen

Chad and I have been married for 12 years today! Where did time go? Here are twelve things I've learned about Chad in the past 12 years.
1. He's a super hard worker.
2. He's definitely the romantic one.
3. If you ask him to name one person who inspires him he'll say Rocky Balboa.
4. He's a terrific dad.
5. He can't tell a joke to save his life :)
6. He will support me in anything I do.
7. He loves watching movies and doesn't even care too much if it's a chick flick.
8. He has his ditzy moments. (Don't we all!)
9. He loves basketball and the Utah Jazz.
10.He's pretty coordinated but can't dance (white boyz got no rhythm)
11.He loves Diet Dr. Pepper (secrets out)
12.He's the perfect eternal companion.

Te Amo Chad!

4th of July

This year good old West Weber was having 4th of July celebrations as part of their 150th year festivities. We went for breakfast in the morning and the kids got to play their games afterwards. Then we went to Chad's parent's house to watch the parade as it went by. We weren't expecting much since maybe 20 people live in West Weber but I'd have to say not too bad West Weber! It was just perfect for us. Not too crowded, plenty of things for the kids, and a pretty good parade that we didn't have to fight for seats. It was a good stress free 4th of July morning. That night we went to see fireworks at Fremont. Emma wasn't sure about the fireworks and we had to walk her around a bit to calm her down but by the end she was pretty mesmerized by them. Overall a pretty relaxing 4th of July!

Long Time No Blog....

I know I haven't updated the blog in a long while. Here's a sneak peek of Emma from the 4th of July. OOh I could just kiss those luscious little lips right now! I will post more soon but it's late so I'm going to bed. I will do better....I promise Aunt LouAnn.