Batman....

This is C's new favorite-get-him-to-smile word...  IT actually works and he has no clue who or what Batman is...he just loves to say it and smile and...sometimes giggle...hey its a funny word!!!

(Please ignore my poor little boys dirty face...)

Time to Download Pictures...

Whoops.....I haven't downloaded pictures off of my camera in awhile..... I'm only behind by say 965 pictures taken in the last month.... Whoops....  Hope my USB drive has enough memory left...

Two!!!

Our little stud muffin turns TWO today!!!  That's right, you heard me say ....TWO!!!  He is an awesome little boy and we all LOVE him to pieces.  It definitely doesn't not feel like two years have past since he joined our family.  I wish I could just push pause and slow time down a little bit to have more moments to soak in this fun (and sometimes trying...) stage.

His stats at his 2-year Check Up were:

Height:  34.5" 56% (normal height for his age)

Weight:  24.5 lbs  11%  (Do ya think we got a skinny mini on our hands...wish his mom had that problem)

His little rays of sunshine that we adore about him right now:

-He has the absolutely biggest eyes ever.

-He adores and loves his sisters so much....even when fighting there is love

-Still calls McCall - Call Call and calls Oaklie - Call Call...but he knows the difference and has started to somewhat say Oakie.
-His crooked little cheesy grin.  Makes my heart melt.
-His deep desire for "rides" (Ranger/four-wheeler/(tractor if possible)
-He loves baths!
-He likes to volunteer for prayer...He raises his hand when his dad asks who wants to say prayer and then he just smiles the whole time while your helping him.
-He loves his snuggles at before bedtime and his snuggles in the morning.
-He ADORES tractors, tractors, tractors, and did I forget to mention....TRACTORS!  He is in seventh heaven when we go up to Garth's or when the tractor is at Grandpa Call's.
-He loves to help feed and check up on all of the animals.
-He has THE cutest little colt whinney you have ever heard.
-He wants to wear his "boos" (boots) all the time.  Looks pretty studly with his footie pajama's and his boots!
-He is a daddy's boy...but sometimes he lets me in on the action and becomes a mama's boy (which I'll take any chance I can get!).
-Lately, he does not like getting out of his jammies... He likes to snuggle in them as long as he can!
-He is starting to love the Big Slide at the "Big Slide Pool" (as M calls it (aka Brigham Pool)).  He likes going down with his dad.
-Loves mooing at the cow and riding the horses.
-He still has a very devoteness to his binky, his bottle and his blankie...still a little concerned he may never get weaned of any of those three things :)
-Loves, loves, loves Creamies, Otter Pops, and Ice Cream
-He looks absolutely adorable in his little Cinch jeans.  Downright handsome I think....

And there are a couple things he is not to fond of right now:
-Eating (unless its junk food)....just kidding...well maybe not...
-Sharing...especially in nursery....he gets kicked out often
-Others sitting on his mom's lap....especially in nursery...
-Maybe nursery????....
-Coming in the house at the end of the day to get ready for bed...too much fun outside I guess
-Losing the his binkey
-Going to bed...he'll shake his head "no" when its time to go and he gives a best puppy dog eyes to get out of going

We LOVE and ADORE you little buddy!!!

XOXOXO,
Mama and Papa

Girls - Training Wheels

The girls took their training wheels off today and are determined to ride their two-wheelers. Both crashed but are doing pretty good.  Cash is copying them...he laid his bigwheel down on the ground sideways and laid down a couple feet from it and said "I dying."

Happy 31!!!

Happy Birthday 31st Birthday Joe!  We all LUV you tons and tons!!!  We appreciate all you do for us!  Hope you have a fabulous day!

Yay!!! A Photography Class for Me!!!

J got me a nice Digital SLR Camera for Christmas last year and I have been interested in taking a class to get better at my picture taking skills. I am pretty darn excited that I was able to take the class. It was taught by a photographer out of Ogden named Veronica Reeve. She does awesome work and is a great teacher. After the first week though, I wanted to cry because I think I got worse than better. But through practicing a ton I "think" (think being the operative word here) have gotten better. Other than I think I ruined my kiddos. I think they will run in the other direction the next time I pull out my camera! Here are some of the pictures I took through out the class and then at the on-location photo shoot last Saturday!

Assignment Pictures - Week 1 Objective: Exposure - Apeture, Shutter Speed, ISO

The first ones are pretty bad - I couldn't get my exposure quite right. Shooting in Manual is a lot harder than one thinks! And trying to bribe/fight/try not to lose your patience while taking pictures of your own kids is HARDER!! They did not want to participate in the least bit. Let's just say I probably gained more grey hair and pulled out the non-grey hair that I had!

Assignment Pictures - Week 2 Objective: Composition w/Exposure
So after first week I was feeling a little bad since I think I got worse.  But things seemed to get better after the second week.  I started getting my exposure "closer" to being right and my pictures started becoming more vibrant in color and looking tons better.  But still a long ways to go...

Assignment Pictures - Week 3 & Photo Shoot Objective - Everything plus Lighting
The last week we had class and an on-location photo shoot and I was NERVOUS because my pictures weren't looking too hot.  They were getting better but I think I wanted it to happen over night and be great at it, but that's obviously not how it works for me.  I was still struggling with getting it to "click" in my head with the exposure and working with a grey card.  Practice, practice and more practice is what it is gonna take it get better.  The first hour of the photo shoot I was struggling because my 50mm f/1.8 lens is suppose to be an auto-focus but that feature on the lens (I found out) is not supported by my camera.  So on top of dealing with exposure, lighting and composition I got to deal with getting my manual focus right too!  But my 50mm is a better lens than what came with the camera so I had to just deal with in.  Some of the pictures turned out a little blurry. :(  The pictures that I took at the beginning of the shoot are first and then the pictures at the end were from the end of the shoot.  I think I got a little better by the end of the shoot.  The pictures turned out pleasantly better than I expected.  These shots are straight from the camera.  And I can just say that I LOVE MY KIDDOS so MUCH...but...it was nice not to have to fight or bribe to get a smile during the on-location photo shoot. The models were great and didn't complain one bit about how slow I was or how we had to take the same picture over and over again.

I absolutely LOVED the class.  It was so much fun and I learned a ton.  I am thankful I was able to go and even more thankful J chased the kids around.  I did miss a few of O's games which made her sad but it was good to take a few moments for myself and learn something new.  I will just have to keep practicing and practicing some more so I don't lose what I learned.  If I could just get my kids to let me practice on them....they run from the camera now...

Happy 9th Anniversary

Happy 9th Anniversary Joe! I sure love you and appreciate all that you do for me and the kiddos!