Page 302 - Road Kill

I had a small Halloween party for my family this year since I was too busy to plan a big one for friends too. (Next year right?)

Anyway, it's a tradition to have dinner at our Halloween parties and we always serve dinner from a dead body. Ryan made the food this year so needless to say the dead guy has never been so yummy!

Page 302 - Halloween in Utah

I grew up in California where you celebrate a holiday on the actual day even if it falls on a Sunday. Here in Utah, if a holiday falls on a Sunday, the whole state celebrates it on Saturday instead. I'll just look at the bright side since I get to have 2 Halloweens this year :)

While Ryan went trick or treating with the kids tonight I stayed home to hand out candy. That and dressing up are some of my favorite parts of Halloween. I am one of the cool houses that hands out regular sized candy bars so I love the reaction I get from kids when they see.

To kill time in between door bell rings, I took pictures of myself in the bathroom mirror to at least get some record of all the work I did to dress up. In case you can't tell, I am the Bride of Frankenstein and yes, I made my costume :)

Page 301 - LuLu the Kittie

My Lu insisted on being a Kitty for Halloween. This was the best I could do for a costume and she looked pretty cute. Today she wore her costume to preschool so of course, we did a photo shoot.

Day 300 - Perfectionism

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DAY 300!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Had to point that out to y'all)

Anyone who knows me well enough knows what a perfectionist I am. It's especially difficult in my photography. I get pictures in my head and try so hard to make my vision come to life. It doesn't always happen and sometimes the actual picture I get is better than I imagined.

I had this vision for a picture of my girls for their room. I tried last week to get it and didn't. I got pictures I really liked but none of them fit what was in my mind's eye so I just couldn't decide what to do. Today, with the help of two amazing friend's, I did a re-shoot to try and get what it is I envision huge on their bedroom wall. I still have to go through them and see if I got it this time but for now, here is one I took of my 6 year old that took my breath away the second I saw it.

Page 299 - Finished

I am finally finished. No more sewing, embroidering, ironing, sanding, painting, hammering, or drilling.

I am just waiting for two dolls to come in the mail and the prints of my girls I took and the room I have been working on for almost a month is finished. Can't wait for you to see.

Page 298 - Merry Christmas????

Why are we having the craziest weather ever this year??? We usually don't get this much snow until December or January.

Page 297 - First Snow of Winter

Everything looks better back-lit, even the clouds.

Page 296 - Fall Leaves

My favorite fall leaves are from a maple tree in our front yard. It has every color of fall in it.

Page 295 - Here Kitty Kitty

OUr church had a Halloween party tonight.

Ryan won the chile cook-off with his own recipe. He loved all the compliments he got.

Page 294 - Ewok sighting

Today while doing a family shoot I spotted an Ewok by hit little hut. I don't think he liked us taking pictures by his house ;)

Page 293 - Just Say No

This is Drug Awareness week at my daughter's school. Every day they dress or wear something special like wearing their clothes backwards. Today was western day and Abby had to wear a red headband. Here she is telling you to say "no" to drugs.

Page 292 - Silly Bands

Silly bands are just that, silly. I don't get the hype of them but every one of my kids including the almost 14 year old wants them and loves them.

Silly.

Page 291 - Bliss

I am finally finished with all the bedding and details of my girl's room which theme I've named, "Birdie Bliss". I just have to paint the walls and do a treatment on the accent wall then I can finally put it all together.

One of the details I wanted was new pictures of my girls to put on one of the walls in their room with colors that coordinate with their bedroom. I don't know why it is so hard for me to take pictures of my own kids. I got some that I love, but I had this vision in my head and couldn't get it since my girls just did not want to cooperate. Maybe I'll have to redo them :{

For now, here is one of my favs I did get...

Page 290 - Mums

I think mums are one of my favorite flower since they bloom in the Spring and again in the Fall. The colors are so gorgeous too.

Page 289 - Peek-a-boo

Today is our last day with Arianne and Alex. I have to admit we were so blessed to have them be in our home the last few days and my heart breaks to think how much I will miss them. I hope grandma lets them come over again soon.

We went to the park and it was perfect. There was an amazing fall breeze that blew yellow leaves everywhere.

Page 288 - La Boh'eme

My hubby LOVES the opera. Our first kiss was on the night he took me to see Les Miserables.

Tonight we went to see La Boh'eme. I didn't bring my camera so this was taken with my iphone. I love it so much I wish I had had my camera so the quality could have been better!!

Page 287 - Alex and Arianne

I can't have kids this adorable living in my home and not go take pictures of them!! So excited to post the rest :)

Page 286 - Family of Seven

I will be taking care of this sweet little thing and her older brother for the next 4 days while their grandma who has custody of them goes to a wedding in California.

I'm in love already and want to keep them. Look at those eyes, can you blame me??

Page 285 - Cascio

This is another friend I made thanks to photography. I have done their family pictures every year since I got into photography (this is the 3rd). When I post the rest of the pictures on my photography blog I should post one from each session to show my progression :)

Page 284 - Sleeping Beauty

Shopping with mommy can be exhausting!!!

Page 283 - Embroidery is For The Birds

Yet another project for my girl's new room. My first attempt at embroidery. Not fun and soooo time consuming! Won't try that again.

Page 282 - Sisters

I did pictures of my oldest brother's kids today. Oh how I love all six of them as if they were my own. This one is my fav of Emily and Aysha.

Page 281 - Helping the Tooth Fairy

Ryan was giving the girls an elephant ride on his back and thought it would be fun to buck them off. Not his best decision. Their heads collided and instantly both girls were screaming and blood started pouring out of Abby's mouth.

We called our dentist for an emergency visit and he ended up having to pull out her front baby tooth. I am so sad. She just lost her two bottom teeth and her two top ones weren't even loose. So much for one last picture with that cute little mouth full of baby teeth :(

She was such a trooper we drove up to Brigham City to eat at one of our family's favorite restaurants...

The sunset was gorgeous on the drive home so I stuck my camera out of the window on the freeway and took a picture so you could see it too :)

Page 280 - Steph Part 2

The first time we tried to do her family pics a storm was blowing in so we didn't get many pictures.

Tonight was part 2 and turned out so much better!

Page 279 - Pine Needles

My favorite fabric store. Been spending a lot of time here lately :)

Page 278 - Dr. Frankenstein

Love this light my brother and sister have out as a Halloween decoration - it looks like something out of Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory.

Page 277 - Still Sewing

Got the second quilt done today.

Page 276 - Busy Busy

Today I sewed a twin size quilt and painted a dresser for my son.

If only I still didn't have another twin quilt to sew plus pillows and a room to paint.

Page 275 - Happy Kiss-a-versary

Today is the anniversary of when Steph met Neils and they first kissed.

Congrats you two. You are amazing together.

Page 274 - Spooky Stories

'Tis the season for spooky stories. BOOOOOOOOO!!

Page 273 - HALLOWEEN!!!

I'm sooo excited for October! The fall is my favorite season and Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Last year I was so swamped with editing and photo shoots I didn't even get to decorate. This year, I will not make the same mistake. My goal was to at least get one decoration out on October 1st - check!! Now I just need to finish decorating and make our Halloween costumes! Yay!!!