Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Busiest time of the Year

I realize I have been slacking tons on my blog! I worked an extra shift last week, had two days off, and now I am on my second shift (tonight) of three more. I didn't realize how much that extra shift last week would put me behind! I have been keeping up with my December Daily Album and I will post actual pictures from that album later. It is turning out awesome!

I still have so much do to and not a lot of time to do it! Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 2009 has been an great year for our family from moving into a new home, finding out we are expecting another little boy, and growing much closer as a family! It has been a wonderful year for us and we are so blessed! We couldn't be happier.

This just might be my last post of 2009. We will see! Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 14, 2009

December Daily: Day Fourteen

Someday my son just might sit still for ONE picture and let me capture that perfect picture I have in my head. Someday. But until then, this is what life looks like through my lens...
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Even when he does cooperate, I will still love him the same as I always have. I will love him for being him. I will laugh at his wild moments and cherish the quiet ones. I count my blessings everyday to have such a special person in my life. He is my joy!

December Daily: Day Thirteen

I had to work all weekend (until I got sick on Saturday) and so I was unable to attend the Park Family Christmas Party. I was sad I didn't get to see Trevin sit on Santa's lap. Colby got some cute pictures and Mac did some awesome videotaping.

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He asked Santa for Thomas the Train and then growled at all of the kids like a scary monster. On the video it was quite hilarious! He has been into watching the movie Monsters Inc. and The Lion King and he thinks it's fun to growl at people.
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When Santa asked them all to turn around and sing songs, Trevin wanted to keep his eyes on Santa only. He kept turning back around to see Santa.

I was glad he didn't scream when he sat on his lap like he did last year. Today, all he can talk about is Santa!

When Colby and Trevin got home last night, I didn't even recognize my little boy. He had his haircut after the party and he looks about ten years older. The first thing he explained to me was how Pooh Bear had his honey (our neighbor has a blow up Pooh). We said a prayer and went to bed. I was so glad to have them home!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

December Daily: Day Twelve

This is what my life looked like at 7:00 a.m.

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I walked out of the hospital after a long night of blowing my nose, coughing, and dealing with my first migraine headache to find it was snowing. The cold froze my already sore nose and chills ran through me.

But, I was excited it was snowing! It doesn't snow very often here in St. George. As I drove home, I enjoyed seeing white cover the trees and christmas lights.
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After changing my clothes and taking a HOT shower, it was the perfect time to go take some quick photos outside. Snow covered my backyard and my green ivy.
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Then I was sad. Sad because I realized I was home alone. Sad because I wanted so badly to take Trevin outside and play in the inch of snow. I longed for a hug from my husband and a wet kiss on the cheek from my little boy.

I went to bed to sleep the winter day away in my husbands t-shirt and sweat pants, only to pretend that he was laying next to me keeping me warm while I slept.

Then, I woke up. The snow was gone but my cold and headache were not. Another long night by myself...

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

December Daily: Day Nine

Judging by the way Trevin's room looks in this next photo, you can understand why I am behind on my December Daily Post for today...
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While I was cleaning my house, I thought to myself, "Trevin has been sleeping for a long time..."

I went to wake him up and this is how I found his room. He had pulled one of his small chairs over to his dresser, grabbed the powder bottle, and went to work! There was powder EVERYWHERE!
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When I walked into his room, the only thing he said to me was, "Oh No! Look, Mess!" Later when I described the incident to my mom, she asked if I put him on time-out. I explained to her the first thing I did was tell Colby to grab my camera. She was not completely thrilled with my awesome parenting skills. Maybe next time mom. He did however know he was in trouble because his hand went straight to his mouth like mine does when I get nervous. He inherited the habit of biting his nails from me.
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I did however make him help me clean it up, tell him it was a "naughty" thing to do, and then sat him on my lap and told him big boys don't do things like that. He replied, "Ok mom. I'm sorry" and started to sing "the clean up song."
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He told Mickey and Donald he was sorry and that was the end of the story. The powder bottle now is no longer visible and will hopefully NEVER be dumped all over his room again.

P.S. The entire bottle of powder was gone by the time he was finished with his little art project! Awesome Right?

December Daily: Day Eight

I was reading a scrapbook magazine yesterday when I came across some super cute ideas for Christmas Tags. I decided to branch out and give one of their examples a try...
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So I have downsized some Black and White Photos of Trevin to 2x2 inches. I have created a document in photoshop so that I can print more than one image on one 4x6 photo sheet.

Then, my plan is to cut out each 2x2 photo and place it on a handmade tag I am in the process of making. Each present Trevin gets from us will have his picture on it. This way, he will be able to find which gifts are his without the difficulty of reading his name. He loves looking at pictures of himself and family members so I figured this was a great way to encourage him to find his gifts under the tree on Christmas!

I have also made some other tags for people in our family we are giving gifts to. I love photography and felt like this was a personal touch to add to our gifts this year. Who knows, maybe it will become a tradition!

I will post photos of my tags later...

I would love to hear what other fun ideas everyone else has!

Monday, December 7, 2009

December Daily: Day Seven

Today has been a not so ordinary day. It's been a little gloomy down here in St. George and my day has well, lets just say, not went as planned...
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I woke up early and got ready before Trevin woke up. I had an ultrasound appointment scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Colby had to be in Cedar City to work on a project for finals week. The babysitter was supposed to arrive at 9:30. She never showed up. I tried calling my neighbor and another friend of mine to watch him. No luck. Needless to say I missed my appointment and had to pay a $50.00 fee to reschedule. Bummer.
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So that lead to Trevin and I eating cereal together ON THE COUCH and watching Toy Story 2, Again. We made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. I just now got him ready for the day and it's only 3:00 p.m. He wanted to take a picture while we were eating lunch and these are the results...

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I wish I could capture just how tight he was squeezing me in these pictures. I love his little hugs and cute expressions.

Now, we are just waiting for dad to get home...

P.S. He is in major need of a haircut! I know, I Know. Maybe this weekend that will happen.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

December Daily: Day Six

Today we went to church, watched Toy Story 2 (Thanks Melissa & Logan) and ate dinner with Scott & Missy. We played games until 9:00 p.m. We enjoyed the day together as a family. I didn't have a lot of time (nor did I think about it) to take a picture today.

I decided I would include our family Christmas Card in our December Daily album....
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My family means everything to me. Tonight as we bent down to say a prayer at Trevin's bed, I was reminded of just how lucky I am!

I have a wonderful extended family who loves and cares for me, I have a roof over my head, an abundance of food storage, a wonderful job, and the greatest little family anyone could ever ask for. I am reminded daily about just how special it is to belong to a family. I enjoy hearing my son call me "Mommy" and to get kisses from him daily. I enjoy laying on the couch with Colby and talking until 2 a.m. I appreciate a husband who tells me how cute I am even if I am six months pregnant and counting. I am grateful to have a husband who supports me 100% in everything I do and will go the extra mile no matter what!

I felt it was a perfect addition to my December Daily album to include something so important to me!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

December Daily: Day Five

This morning I awoke to a little boy pulling the covers off me in bed and saying, "C'mon mom. Wake up. Let's make cookies!"

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I am not sure why he likes to cook things all the time. Cookies in the morning for breakfast is not what I grew up on or what any mother would suggest for breakfast, but we made cookies anyway.
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Colby had bought these pre-cut sugar cookies with this BRIGHT RED frosting to go on top. The frosting stained his little face and covered his fingers. We had the best time making cookies this morning (Colby included).
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Another Side Note: Colby also made us awesome French Toast and we ate that first before eating our cookies.

Friday, December 4, 2009

December Daily: Days Three & Four

About thirty minutes ago this is what I was doing...
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Cherishing a small moment with my son who was interested in everything I was doing. At the time I was painting my toe nails. He wanted to be right next to me...
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He enjoyed making little "paths" out of my nail polish for his cars to go through. He stacked the nail polish, lined them up, and smashed them with the cars. Once again, the pictures are VERY grainy, the lighting is TERRIBLE, but the moment was worth capturing.
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After working the last three nights, it's understandable Trevin wanted to be right by my side ALL DAY LONG. It's completely normal that he wanted to hug me, kiss me, and make cookies with me. He missed me and I missed him more.

While we were enjoying our little moment together, work called...

They left a message explaining they needed someone to be on call with a good chance of coming in. Premium pay. No, I didn't call them back. Sorry fellow co-workers, no money was worth it. Tonight was my night with my two favorite boys.

Now, it's time to enjoy a little moment with the other hunk in my life. It's movie time with a lot of fattening popcorn!

Side note: If you notice the dirty bathroom floors and dusty doors, please understand my cleaning will be saved until tomorrow.

Yesterday:
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I didn't have a lot of time yesterday because I had to work. For my album I wrote a letter to Trevin. In this letter I talked about some of his favorite things. I told him how much I loved him. I explained how when he saw Santa on the Polar Express he said, "Hi Santa!"

Remember the little things in life...

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

December Daily: Happiness Is...

I was blog hoping the other day and found an awesome idea. A blogger posts photos of things that make her happy. I decided to try this out for myself! Right now in my life...

Happiness Is...
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More to come...

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

December Daily: Day One

This is the year...the year I am actually going to do a December Daily Album and complete it! I designed an album last year and NEVER put it all together (nor did I take a daily picture to place in that album).

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!
My Christmas Tree is something I love! I didn't get to put up a tree last year since we were in the middle of moving into our new house. I begged and begged Colby to let me put it up for two weeks, but he won that argument.
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Although I have a fake tree, this tree means something to me. I didn't cut it down from the forest, it doesn't smell like Pine (that's what my Scentsy is for), but we love it! We decorated it together as a family and we admire it daily.
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Now, hopefully Trevin will keep being a good boy and not take off the decorations! Merry Christmas!

Monday, November 30, 2009

The Polar Express

On Saturday, we took Trevin on the Polar Express Train in Heber City. Trevin is the BIGGEST fan of trains and has been for a long time! He loves to hear the trains in Nephi run through town. We always run out onto the deck to watch them pass.

He was so excited to ride the train. He asked if he could sit on the stairs while we were waiting to board...

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My sister-in-law Tana, her sister Tia, and her mom also came along for the ride...
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Getting ready for the train to leave. I wanted Trevin to wear his PJ's and my mom bought him the cutest little blue robe just like the boy on the movie! He looked so cute!
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They gave us Mrs. Clause's homemade cookies and hot (I mean Cold) chocolate to drink. Trevin got most of the chocolate on his face...
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They passed out Polar Express books and told the story while we rode to the north pole...
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Trevin later got to meet Santa and got a bell from him as a gift. Trevin said, "Hi Santa!" and also gave him a high five and "Knucks" when he came to see him.

There are tons more pictures on my mom's camera but I was unable to get them off before we came back to St. George. Maybe I will post more sometime.

Trevin had a blast!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A Moment in Time

I have realized that life goes by fast. I am only 24 years old and I already feel "Old." Sometimes I wonder if I am just letting life pass me by. I wonder if there is more I could or should be doing with my time. Is life all about cleaning your house, making sure the laundry is done, going to work, and paying bills? Is there more to life than always wondering what's next?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the little things in life. As I previously posted, there are stories I want told, things I want to remember, and moments I want to cherish.

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I don't consider myself to be a professional, but since I have been doing photography, I have realized it's the little things in life that I should cherish. I leave my camera close by me at all times and find myself picking it up to flash a split second moment of my son. These are the little things in life you can't take back.

Today as I sat in church, I set some goals (I do this all the time and they never seem to work). I want to live in the moment and cherish my life a little more. I want to worry less about the messy house, the laundry in the dryer, and focus on my life.

I have been putting together the rest of my Project 365 and I love looking back on this past year and remembering day to day. I know its corny to say, but I can seriously remember those days like they were yesterday. I am so glad I have those little moments in my life. They make me who I am and who my family is.

Here's to living my life in the moment...

Sunday, November 15, 2009

It's my Family

I planned for this day all week! I was so excited! I had a vision in my head about all the cute photos I wanted taken...

But we had one little problem and that problem was my two year old! He did not want to be held, sit on my lap, sit by himself, stand by himself...NOTHING! I was starting to get frustrated and then I realized that once again, this is how my son is. This is how he acts. He is a busy little boy and a cute busy little boy indeed!

We started out the session of me holding onto him VERY tight while the photographers wife and cute daughter tried to get his attention. About one picture, and he was done with that idea.

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Then we decided to just let him be himself, play in the dirt (while I was praying he wouldn't get his clothes dirty), and let him do his own thing while Colby and I had our own little photo shoot.
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Finally, he decided maybe he could at least sit on the truck (but not look at the camera)...
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So we tried other things like throwing rocks at him, letting him throw rocks, and also dancing behind the photographer...
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He really liked me pretending I was going to tickle the photographer...
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Then he decided to cooperate by letting me hold him, but no smiles from this little guy...
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So we moved to another location and ate lots of goldfish, cereal, and candy on the way. When we got there we played the tickle game and got a few smiles out of him (but of course I look awesome)...
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So it was back to Colby and I taking a few fun photos of us, alone, without our son...
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Then he warmed up to the idea of tickling us and decided that was kinda fun.

Let me just say this is one of my favorite photos from the session! It may not be posed, planned, or perfect to some of you, but it makes me smile! It shows honestly how happy we are together as a small family! We love each other so much and have TONS of fun together!
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AND THEN, we GOT IT! All of us smiling and looking toward the camera! I Love it! In fact, I LOVE ALL OF THEM! Why you ask? Because that's our family and that's how our life goes. It's never planned, posed, or perfect but we make it through and in the end it's our love for one another that makes us who we are!
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As a side note...
The photographer who took these photos for us lives just across the street from us. They are some of our best friends and we LOVE hanging out with them. I asked him to take a photo of me for my Photography Blog since I don't have a portrait photo of myself.
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I Love ALL of our family photos and couldn't be happier! Just wanted to share some of them with you!