My beautiful sister and cute little nieces!

I just posted these pictures on my photography blog, but I had to put a couple on here. These are just a couple of Becca that I shot while we were up the canyon today, I love the one of her and Emma. She is so beautiful, inside and out. I am so proud of the woman she is becoming. She is making so many good choices, and she really tries to turn her life over to the Lord and do what he would have her do. She is so much more mature than I was at her age. I love her so much, and I am so grateful for how wonderful she is to me and my kids.




While my nieces were out here to visit, I did their pictures for their Christmas cards. They have such sparkling personalities and it really shows in their pictures. I love them so much and I am so grateful that they waited to come till my kids were here too.

25 pounds

Well in case no one has noticed I am now 25 pounds lighter. Ever since my test results came back normal, my health seems to be getting better by leaps and bounds. The weight seems to be falling off me. I am still eating healthy and excercizing, but just the same as I was before. I know the Lord is blessing me and I feel so grateful. I can't believe how much better I feel, it really is a blessing that we take for granted to be in good health. It is wonderful not to have pain everyday, and to be able to play and run around with my kids without getting tired. I still want to loose about 25 more pounds, so keep your fingers crossed that the next 25 will be as easy as the first. My docter thinks that with all the weight I have lost it will be a lot easier for me to get pregnant, we have been trying for over a year now, so it would be such a blessing to be able to have another baby. Keep us in your prayers.

GO BYU!!

We had so much fun on Saturday. Mom and Ron have 4 season tickets to the BYU games, and they take turns taking us kids. Saturday was our turn, and we had so much fun. They got all four of us BYU sweatshirts to wear to the Utah game. They surprised us on Saturday and told us that they had gotten tickets for us to go with them to the BYU Utah game in November. We are so excited. My cousin Brock plays for BYU and it was so fun to get to go and watch him play. After the game we went to Goodwood with Brock and his family. Thanks Mom and Ron for taking us, we had such a great time.



Me and my sweetie!

Chuck and I with Brock, my cousin, he plays for BYU, we are so proud of him.

A few more!

Just a couple more pictures from the shoot we did up the canyon last week. The leaves were so beautiful. We had a lot of fun, the kids loved running around and throwing rocks in the river.







This is probly my favorite picture ever of Emma. I don't know why, it just looks like her, and her eyes aren't squinty.

Family pics

I didn't really love the pictures we took of our family a couple of weeks ago. I loved all the pictures except the one of all of us. So we went today and took some more up the canyon. The leaves were so beautiful. One of our friends used to be a photographer so I traded with them. I did their family and he did ours. We had such a great time and I am so happy with how they turned out. This is the picture that I am going to blow up for our house. Let me know what you think.

Catch up.

I am so behind in my blogging. I have been so crazy busy trying to get this new business up and running. I am happy that I have been so busy because that means I am making money, but it is a lot more work than I thought it would be. I love taking pictures, it really is one of my passions and I feel so lucky that I have found something that I love so much that I can also make money at. I only have a couple hundred dollars left to pay off my equipment, and I will be so happy when that is all payed off. Anyway, I have 4 photo shoots that I have done in the past 10 days that I still need to edit, so blogging is the last thing on my mind. I wanted to put in a little update about our trip with Amy and the girls. We had so much fun with them and I was so glad that they came out to see us. I think it was so good for the girls to spend time with Chuck, I think he reminds them of their daddy. Their first day here we took Cayden and the girls to a Halloween cooking class that they had at Thanksgibing point. They loved it, and they got to make a bunch of differnt Halloween treats, and paint aprons. After the class they rode the horses.




Friday we took pictures of the girls and they got to go to preschool with Cayden. Then friday was Becca's birthday and we went to dinner with my family to celebrate. Then Chuck and Amy took all the kids home so that I could go to a movie with my mom and sisters. I had so much fun, I love when I get to spend time with my family. These are some fun pictures of all of us at dinner. Did I mention we went to Tepanyaki's, like my favorite restaurant ever. Thanks Mom and Ron for taking all of us to dinner.






Saturday Jessica got sick and we spent the next 2 days all getting sick and resting. Cayden got sick on Monday night and was up all night throwing up. I had to wake the kids up early to take Amy and the girls to the airport and Cayden was dry heaving into a garbage can on the drive. I felt so bad for him, I hate it when my kids are sick. He never once complained.

My last week has been spent playing catch up on work stuff. We had such a great visit with Amy and the girls and even though half of us got sick I really enjoyed seeing them and spending time together. We love you guys, thank you so much for spending the time and money it took you to get out here to see us.

Sleeping Beauty princess party!

Cayden and Emma's cousins Katie and Jessica came to visit us this past week. Their daddy is in Afghanistan and Amy (my sis in law) wanted to come visit while he is gone. My kids had so much fun with their cousins. They love them so much and were so excited for them to come. We did lots of fun things, and we all got sick for a couple of days. I will post more later about our week, but I wanted to post these pics really quick. They got here late Wed night and went right to bed, so right when they woke up Thursday morning I had princess clothes for them to put on, and of coarse prince clothes for Cayden, and we had a Sleeping Beauty princess party. Sleeping Beauty just came out and so none of them had seen it before. We had so much fun dressing up like princess' and a prince, and reading princess books and watching the show. I enjoyed having them here so much and was sad to see them go this morning. I will post more pics and details of our fun trip tommorrow.

I want to be so pretty like mommy!!!

Even though it looks like she is dressed up for Halloween, this is just what happens when Emma puts on makeup. During conference we let the kids play upstairs and as long as we got to listen we really didn't care what they were doing up there. We were usually checking on them every ten minutes. We realized it had been really quite for a while so we went upstairs to see what they were doing. Emma was sitting on my dresser with all my bare minerals makeup poured out on top of the dresser and she was smearing it all over her face. And that stuff is not cheap, she literally ruined over $200 worth of makeup. Good thing I had just been listening to conference, otherwise I probably would have beat her. I asked her why she got into mommy makeup and she told me "I want to be so pretty like mommy." When their that innocent you can't really get mad. But I am still really frustrated that I have to go get all new makeup that I can not afford. Oh well, I guess this stuff happens when you have a two year old. At least the picture is priceless. If she ever starts giving me attitude when she's a teenager, I can just pull out this picture and remind her of all I went through to raise her.

Apology

OK, so apparently a few of my neighbors read my blog when I was talking about Cayden being naughty with his friends and they felt bad, and thought I was singling out their kids. I just want to say I'm sorry if anyone felt bad, I really wasn't frustrated with anyone elses kid but my own. I love all the kids in the neighborhood, and I want Cayden to be friends with and get to play with them. My frustration was completely with Cayden. I in no way blame anyone else or their kids for my childs behavior. I understand that they are four and they are going to do naughty things, this does not make them bad kids. I just want to teach Cayden to make good choices when he is with them. It is not any one child in particular but any time he is with any friend he seems to be more naughty than when he is at home playing with us. I understand that this is normal, we just had a couple of big things happen within a short time period, so I was feeling frustrated. Anyway, I would never intentially hurt someones feelings, and I am sorry to those who felt that I was singling out them or their child. I love my neighbors and I am so grateful for the frienship and service that they are always giving to us. I feel that the Lord has really blessed us to have friends all around us that have kids the same age as Cayden and Emma, and I really enjoy spending time together. I still feel that I want Cayden and Emma to be home more than they are out playing. I want being together learning and playing to be what occupies most of their time, but that is not because I don't want them playing with their friends. I just want Cayden and Emma to be each others best friends, and for them to love being home. We will move a few times before Chuck will get the job he will keep, and I don't want them to be devastated every time we move. I hope that as long as we have each other we will all be OK. Anyway, I really am sorry to have hurt anyones feelings. I hope that we can all try to give each other the benefit of the doubt, and realize that sometimes people are just struggling. I would be willing to guess that most of the time all of us are struggling with something. Maybe instead of judging each other we can try to love and understand one another better. I know I am guilty of that often. Isn't it funny how as women we want eveyone to understand when we are struggling, but we are so quick to get offended or judge others when they are having a hard time. It's like Pres. Hinckley would always say "Forget yourself, and go to work." I can do a much better job at forgeting my own troubles and focus on serving others. That is what makes me feel better anyway.

Family night in Paradise, Conference, and our Prayers!

Last night for family night we went to the new Paradise Bakery for dinner. Can I just say how much I love it. I always go there whenever we are in California and I was so happy when they built one here. It was so yummy and my kids loved it too, which is rare. Lately for Family Night we have been doing a theme for the month. If we talk about the same topic all month and do fun activities to reinforce it, then they understand it so much better. We also memorize a scripture and learn a primary song about our topic. Our new topic for this month is "The Plan of Salvation." Last night we learned the basic's of the plan of salvation. Cayden was fascinated with the idea of "Spirit Prison." He kept saying "Mom, are they like locked up in jail." I love when a topic can help us explain why we need to follow Jesus. I explained that we need to keep the commandments and follow Jesus, so that someday we can all be together in Heaven. That is why mommy always wants them to make good choices and act how Jesus would act. Cayden really seemed to get it, I love when you can see it clicking in their little heads. Chuck explained that for us to go to the highest place in the Celestial Kingdom we need to get married in the temple, and that is why it is so important that we are married in the temple. Cayden said "Dad, I already said I am getting married in the temple." I think Emma is still oblivious to what we are talking about, but it brings me so much Joy to see my children learning about the Gospel, and understanding what's important.

I was so grateful for Conference this year. I loved Elder Perry's talk about our basic needs in life. I need to do a better job at realizing what is really important and simplifying everything else. There is so much that I think are necessities that really I could do without. I am really going to try and simplify our lives and realize that all our stuff is just stuff. And none of it really matters. I also loved Elder Bednars talk on prayer, and how we can create our day spiritually by praying to our Father in the morning. I notice on days that I say my prayers first thing, I am so much more patient and kind with my children, then on days when I don't get to it until their nap times. I am going to start to make a conscious effort to do it every morning and to ask for the spirit to guide me through the day. I really loved Pres. Monsons talk as well. He is such a wonderful man and I love him so much. I am so grateful for such a kind, and compassionate Prophet. His talk made me really look at what I can do better to enjoy today. I don't want to keep thinking that life will get better when Chuck is done with school. Even though it is hard right now, It can still be filled with joy if I focus on today, and this moment. I want to enjoy my kids more and remember the simple moments that fill me with Love for them. They will only be little once, I really want to remember this time with them. Ok only one more, I loved Pres. Eyring's talk on Unity. I loved his lesson in the Ensign on Unity, and Chuck and I were already working on doing a better job at this. His talk added so much to what was in the Ensign and there are so many things that I want to do a better job at.

Our cousins Katie and Jessica are coming to visit with Auntie Amy this week. My kids are so excited. Their daddy is in the air force and is currently serving in Afghanistan. Every night in their prayers Cayden and Emma pray for Katie and Jess. Cayden will always ask that they will not be sad while their daddy is gone and that Uncle Mike will come home safely. We have so many things planned while they are here and we are getting so excited for them to get here tommorrow. Cayden really wanted to go and do the haunted train (the heber creper). I called and found out what it was and it would be way to scary for the kids. I told Cayden that it was too scary so we coudn't go. Last night this is how his prayer went "Heavenly Father, please help Katie and Jess to not be scared to go on the train. I really want to go, so help them to want to go with me." He went on about it for like 3 minutes straight. Chuck and I were trying so hard not to laugh. Anyway, I will post more about our fun visit in the next couple of days.

I was so proud of Cayden, he put this Dinosaur puzzle together all by himself. It was almost as big as he is. He was so excited when he finished with it. He loves to build things and put things together. He is really flourishing this year. I think a break from his friends was just what he needed. He is being so much better and is making better choices when he is with them. I am so proud of him and how hard he is trying to be a good boy and do what Jesus would want us to do. He is so funny, I try to explain to him why something is not OK to do he will say, "Yeah mom, that's Satan's plan, but we want to do Jesus' plan."

Of coarse when I took a picure of Cayden with his dinosaur Emma had to have one taken of her too. She is really thriving right now as well. She never stops talking. A couple of nights ago, Chuck and I were putting together some packets for our calling and it took us about an hour. Emma walked around the entire time talking to her babies and talking on the phone to "Auntie Becca." She will put her babies in time out and then a couple minutes later go get them and explain to them why they can't be naughty. It is so funny. But literally the entire hour she was talking nonstop to herself.

Super Hero for a day!!

Today Cayden asked me if I would do super hero pictures of him. So we made him a superman cape and out we went. While we were out taking pictures, Emma started asking if I would take some of her too. We had so much fun, it was the first time my kids were actually begging me to take pictures of them. They were so excited about it, that they were more than happy to pose for me. Usually they are hating to get their pictures taken and I have to bribe them just to smile. It was fun to get to do what I love with them, and have them enjoy it too.

I think this is one of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken, and my all time favorite of Cayden. His eyes look so green next to the green tractor.