christmas pictures @ the library

christmas dance video 2010

animal hats

These bright, fun winter hats are from Aunt Melodee- thank you Auntie!  I could not catch Josy in a still moment.  (There actually was one Josy shot that worked but it got censored by her Dad).

aspen lane salon

My talented cousin, Holly Lambert, opened her own hair salon this summer after her family moved into their brand new home in Mapleton, Utah.  The salon is attached to her kitchen and is THE poshest home salon I have seen!  Haily and Grandma Carol had appointments Friday morning- what stylish fun!  (And I wasn't sneaky enough to get a shot of Holly herself- she was forbidding me- yet she is one of the most bodaciously gorgeous women I know!)

polka dot baby blanket

Our friends, Matt and Bridget Taylor, (Matt was Aaron's 'best man') have a new little someone in their family. She is teeny weeny at 5 lbs with soft brown hair. Her name is Julia and we are traveling to her blessing tomorrow in Lehi.

heather telford photography

Oh preciousness in a pure form! My cousin's darling, tiny family- the Reeces. That little Hudson is my love- although he doesn't know it yet. Whenever I go to visit he looks at me with the funniest crusty face- I am still fairly new to him. These pics were taken by Heather Telford (heathertelfordphotography.blogspot.com).

autumntime girl

grant elementary

One of the few things I will miss about Tacoma, Washington, is Grant Elementary, school for learning through the expressive arts. Myka and Haily had dance, art, theater and music classes all as a part of their education. They also made wonderful friends that we will miss dearly!







Haily and her homies...take note of Keiffer on the way left...Haily's kindergarten love... She's just a bit taller than the other five-year-olds- sheesh! We have created amazon children over here in the house of Gary!



Isabella, Madeleine and Myka.



Ally and Haily Jane.

tacoma trunk or treat

Here we have Tigress and Viper from Kung Fu Panda. And Baby Josy was a little skeleton. This was all as we were packing the Uhaul and getting the house ready for our renters... exhausting to say the least! Thank you to our friends and family who helped and who came to say goodbye before we all left Washington the next morning.

ymca apprentice circle

Macro shot by Amberly

I got to teach a digital photography class for the YMCA pilot program, The Apprentice Circle. The YMCA is implementing teen and preteen arts programs and I was glad to be a part of their initial class trials. I taught eight teens who were interested in learning to take photos- and we focused on different ways to take pictures as well as the editing process. Here are some of their pics.

Portraiture shot of Teana

Self portrait -in reflective surfaces- byAmber

Self Portrait by Teiya

Perspective shot by Zak

Taking portraits of children- shot by Blayne


Macro shot by Blayne


Shadow and Light shot by Amber


My shot showing color splash for editing process

karate island

Haily invited Denisha over to play. . . and the fun ensued.

josy

My one-year-old is walking and talking. She likes Elmo, the trampoline and most of all- her sisters. Here is her current vocabulary:

Ma
Dada
dat- 'that'
mo- 'Elmo'
hi
no
sheh-'shoe'
nana-'banana'

atreyu broom or edward broom

Friday evening at the Garys:

Myka: No Haily! I am not going to be the boy! I want to be Tigress Cheetah Princess... Momma, Haily is telling me I have to be the prince and I told her I don't want to and-

Me: Oh my gosh girls! Haily- Myka can be whoever she wants to be- she doesn't have to be the boy, OK? OK?

(Haily stands silent looking out the front window with her back to me.)

Me: Myka, just be Tigress or maybe you guys should take a break from playing together-

Haily: I need her to be the prince! I am the snow princess and I have to dance with the prince!

....
....

Me: Here, Haily- use the broom.

Haily: No!

Me: Look it's Edward (I taped the Twilight cover to the top of the broom)

Me as Edward: Snow Princess, please will you dance with me?

Haily: I don't want to dance with a broom!

Edward Broom: (falls to the ground with a smack)

Me: Oh Haily! You've broken Edward's heart! He's dead on the floor!

Myka: (Mom, Haily likes Atreyu, not Edward)

Me: OK well I don't have a picture of Atreyu...

Me as Atreyu: Snow Princess, It is I, Atreyu, The Warrior, will you do me the honor of dancing with me?

Haily: Slowly turning around with a teeny smile...'Yes, Atreyu."

Do I get mom points? Or what!!!!

mehavingmymidlifecrisis

(And don't think it won't happen to you- younger humans- it will.)

So- this September I turned 34 and had a midlife crisis. I mean I went through and am still going through this phase of wondering about all my choices in life and worrying over wrinkles and leftover pregnancy pounds and uhhhhhhhh....

...so then I go to Office Depot with my SD card and I know there are pictures on there somewhere that I need printed for a YMCA photo project and this young, polite, teenage boy employee is helping me load and look through the thumbnails and of course the first one that pops open in full size is this one.

Yep. It's me, taking-'am I still attractive?' shots to reassure the superficial and vain side of myself. And this isn't actually the full picture the poor lad saw- I mean I'm clothed! but I was just 'busting out' all over the frame.

I was horrified of course and apologized left and right to this young man who laughed a bit and was really nice about it- but then had to ask if there were any more shots like this he would need to worry about...I just died.

I won't be going back to Office Depot anytime soon.

jumppics

First in a set

"movin' on up"

Movin' up in altitude that is- Aaron landed a great new job with Intermountain Healthcare headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah! His salary for software developing is going up as well- ye$$- and I get to move back to the mountains and to where I feel it will be best to raise our beautiful girls. (Aaron conceded to applying in Utah with the condition of buying a boat -?- and I was like, 'hey, whatever floats your...boat, honey')

And so although I am bragging about new jobs and more money, there is this one huge thing that isn't so fun to deal with- our house- here in Tacoma- that is under value currently with hope for an economic recovery two years away...grumble...

baby polka dot

(Just had to capture that little red polka dot onesie.)

st.bernard puppies

Uncle Ryan keeps scoring major points for my girls while we are here in California. His buddy from work, Dave, and his girlfriend helped rescure two abandoned St. Bernard dogs they found in a foreclosed house in their neighborhood. The dogs are male and female and they thought they had kept them apart during the female's fertile days of the month...but alas, she became pregnant and had eight tiny puppies! Ryan scheduled a visit for the girls and it was just the funnest little scene! (Those puppies are light! Lots of fluff, but they weighed barely anything).