workshop day 1

This past weekend I was lucky enough to get to go to Me Ra Koh's photography confidence workshop. Wow, what an inspiring, fun and empowering weekend for me.

On day one we went over some of the basics of shooting in manual or M mode on our SLR cameras. After lunch they brought in several volunteer moms/babies for us to pracitce on. Oh my goodness, were they good sports. Just imagine....bringing yourself and your baby to a hotel lobby and meeting 6 other families like you. After a couple minutes 25 women walk out with cameras. We were then split off into groups so there were about 3 photographers to a model. We walk up and introduce ourselves and then just start shooting away. One photographer tells you to look up, the other to look down etc. Our mom/baby/big sister were AWESOME! They were completely kind, forgiving and cool,calm and collected. Here are some of my best shots from day one.

Our new place (this is for you, Andrea)

We have been in our fun new place for a few months now and I am finally getting some photos up! I think I'm finally motivated because my cool, interior designer,cousin came to visit and wanted to see my house. She never got a chance, so this is for you Andrea...any any other curious readers out there (all two of you).

 I could not have been luckier to find this house! I searched for weeks, went and saw places and was about ready to resort to apartment living when one morning this beauty popped up on craigslist. I called and went and saw it that very day. I was about ready to kiss the floors when I walked in (they were brand new, and compared to the cat pee/stained carpets I was used to seeing in places in my price range, I felt like I was in heaven). I turned in my application that day and hear back a few days later, it was ours! YA! It really has been perfect for us.

 This house was built in the 1920's but has been completly remodled inside. They kept the original hardwoods, door, hardware and windows though! LOVE IT! So my style!

 The kitchen is all new and has a laundry room to the left of this picture.

 The bathroom is one of my favorite rooms, CLAW FOOT TUB and then new toilet/vanity!

 I love the door knobs!!

1920's door!

All in all, we love our new place. It has so much storage, fits our needs perfectly and is just so fun to decorate!

Christmas!

This year Christmas really did have a deeper meaning to me. I knew going into it that it would be a little different than the usual, and that it may even be a little bittersweet. I did get a chance to really think about what the savior's birth means in my life, literally. I, for one, never really understood the depth of gratitude I owe to him. I have appreciated this season more so than most years because of this reason.

Kason was thrilled Christmas morning to see all the presents, it was so fun!

Thanks to Santa, the golf bag will be retiring from it's part-time job as guitar

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Thank you for...

We are church going people, if you couldn't tell already :) I have been trying to teach Kason to say his own prayers for a while now, and he is getting pretty good at it. Lately, he has wisened up and realized if he makes his bedtime prayers extra long then that means he gets to stay up just a little bit later. I swear, I'm in trouble! Anyway, I'll start him off with the usual opening lines and then he'll take off into ALL the things he's thankful for. Last night it went something like this...

Thank you for scooter

Thank you for tractor

Thank you for mommy

Thank you for daddy

thank you mama's car

thank you car seat

thank you backpack

thank you Jericho, Jaxton,Chad, Megan, Joee, Rushy, Allie (a few cousins/aunt/uncle)

thank you Joseph

thank you Mary

thank you baby Jesus

thank you.. (I finally cut in and wrapped it up at this point)

Every night it's something different, and really does amaze me at how much he pays attention.

He's a great reminder to me of ALL the things we have to be thankful for:)



Oh Christmas tree..

Again, late on the posting but this is what we've been up to this busy busy month!  We went and cut down a Christmas tree this year for the first time in a couple years. We lucked out and caught my parents on their day off. Grandparents really are GREAT! Kason had so much fun. We all got bundled up and headed out to find our perfect tree!  

 My tall boy!

 Since Gpa had to haul the tree to the road where the tractor would come to pick it up, Kason felt it was his many duty to pull a little weight. He would not let go of this thing and all the while saying "dis heavy"

 We put the boys to work :)

Kason watching the tractor drive up with our tree! yay! On top of our little staged nature experience, we also got to write letters to santa (who I'm told will respond!), drink hot cocoa, watch our tree get shook? shaken? shaked? and then wrapped up and put on top of our car. Snowshoe Evergreen Farms in Orting if anyone is interested. Great place!

My "Wild Child"

 Kason got his first professional hair cut this month. After several attempts at trying to do it myself, I saw the completly uneven regrowth and decided it was time to turn it over to the pros. I met Crystal at Wild Child salon when I had a chance to take her girls' photos. She is awesome, I highly recommend her! Kason was not thrilled about this idea. I had been prepping him all day but when it came down to it, he was just not having it. He got to sit in in an airplane seat, watch Thomas the tank engine on his own TV screen, eat a sucker and hold the clippers and STILL the boy was not happy. He screamed and cried and she just cut away as I held him down. I was amazed at how well it came out. 

 Pretty dang handome right? The minute we were done, he was SO proud of himself. He told everyone in the waiting room..."I got haircut".. and for days after retold his tale like it was no big deal!

 Lately my wild man has been making me laugh with his huge imagination. He asked what these things were and I said, stockings. Well of course, why wouldn't we wear them?!

 He is asking Santa for a guitar this year but Christmas is weeks away so he is making due with his golf bag! Constantly coming up to me with pinched fingers handing me a pretend pick!

Who doesn't ride their rocket ship to the bath?

Lovin my wild child!!

Snow day!!

 I know, I'm a little late blogging about this, but better late than never. Well,we got our first snowfall of the year and it was a LOT. I've moved since the last time it snowed, and downsized my car from a Jeep to an Altima. Hmm...well let's just say I didn't make it very far when I tried to venture out for just ONE errand. Nope, about three feet out of my driveway and half way up a hill I was STUCK. Wheels spinning, sliding backward kind of stuck. Luckily I have a superhero big bro. that lives near by who came to my rescue since I couldn't take my feet off the brakes to check out my options.

 On the bright side, Kason and I had a blast in what he called "no-man" Not sure why he added snow MAN to snow, but at least he gets the general idea. We went sledding down our driveway on a plastic bin lid, we had snow ball fights, made snow angels, played with cousins etc.

We did get a little cabin fever, being stuck in our house for two days. Nothing like a christmas movie and a fort to watch it in to cure that!