Taking Pictures!

Oh how I love taking pictures! I have always imagined myself as a professional photographer capturing images that evoke feeling and emotion! Little did I know that the best captured emotion is that of FRUSTRATION!!!!!

My dear friend Michelle and I love chatting about this and that and have a common interest in photography. Although we have opposing cameras we have the same lense that just makes you say "YES!" I have these grand ideas for artistic approaches that I'd like to carry out, which sometime come out just as imagined.

Well, on Sunday the whole family was matchy/coordinating. My hair looked awesome! And I was super proud of myself for making a shirt into a skirt in about 45 minutes on Sunday morning! My dear sweet husband wore a purple tie with his black suit. In my mind's eye pictures would be fantastic!

I was wrong. One child was squirmy, one was defiant, one was hungry, one was impatient....yes that was 4 children (husbands included in this category). My good friend snapped about 50 shots. And none were quite right. Apparently I took a little nap, Reese is pulling some weird face, Layne is chewing on her hand and Blake is throwing a fit about being on the grass. But you can see how great a shot this COULD have been!


So day TWO! We make it to the pumpkin patch in the same clothes as Sunday anticipating great shots with the orange background. Again the dear sweet subjects are not on the same page. And would you know it but I made it to the pumpkin patch while my above mentioned dear sweet friend, Michelle, had planned to go. She sweetly again snapped away as my children and I struggled to get our act together! Big Sigh!

Well , it didn't stop me from taking a gazillion pictures of the kids in action. And wouldn't you know it but the less forced, less posed shots are the ones that melt you! I just wish all family photos turned out as fantastic as the one of all us in the brown at the top of the blog....oh, well!

At least we have these to make us smile and laugh!

Small things!

The girls and I spent some time playing with these small legos! We had a fun time!

Small baby loves to get her self in this small space!

Disneyland!

We LOVE having Disneyland passes! It is so fun during Halloween through Christmas! The decoration are amazing! Here's a few shots of us from two different trips in October! (we went once just me and the girls...no other adult to help and they were FANTASTIC)

Happyy Halloween! From Disneyland with love!

The whole state of Utah enjoys coming to Disneyland for their short breaks! So we were SOOOOOO lukcy to meet up with some of Dan's cousins....on BOTH sides of his famil! The cute little thing in the pink is Andie, she belongs to Brent and Allison. Allison is Dan's cousin on his Dad's side! We had a fun afternoon riding some rides and playing around Toon Town!

Cute Cute Aubrey! Is Dan's cousin on his Mom's side! We had a great time with Aunt Barbie, Uncle Brad, and cousins Aubrey, Connor, and Emmie

Super....MESS!!!!

Reese spent the better part of 3 days wearing this costume.....sometimes she had a princess dress over it! We went to all aroud town with her as super girl....and looking like a super mess. I wish I could pull of the "oprhan child" look as well as a 4 year old!

General Conference

We had a fun time watching conference with our cousins....thats all we could do was watch and NOT hear a thing! When these kiddos get together they are CA-Razy!

Look who had birthday!

Pink Boots and Halloween Sock!

A phone!? Hello, thank you Grandma!

Presents Everywhere!

Birthday Baby! She's 1.....wow!

Gratitude

Stephanie Aurora Clark Nielson- Utah

I do not know this woman. I will likely never meet her. But her story is one to share. I happened to come across her story through a bit of "blog hopping" and feel ever so grateful for her touching words. They hit me to the core. Today I struggled with my children and tirelessly try to teach them daily how we can be grateful. This week I have been chatting with my husband on his upcoming lesson in church on gratitude. And here is a woman who defines gratitude despite conflict and trial. We all have it, conflict and trail, but I was so touched by the story of such an amazing woman, a darling wife, a gentile mother, and a daughter of God. She truly taught me a lesson. One that I may have needed to learn. A lesson more important than my kids appreciating that I make them dinner or wash their clothes. She taught me that not only are my comforts, family, and health are things to be thankful for daily, but that my existence on this earth is truly a remarkable thing. Knowing that my Father in Heaven has fantastic things in store for me. And that my Savior truly is the way to happiness. My eyes are red. My cheeks are wet. My heart is full.

If you have forgotten or need some reminding please watch her video. She will help you remember who loves you. You will feel the love of your Savior and will be compelled to to drop to your knees and thank your Father in Heaven for the precious life you have been given.

Our Family!

This is probably the best picture I have seen of my whole family. Maybe some amazing photographer will do some family pictures for us before Christmas rolls around!