*two-week photo shoot*

While Wendel and Oliver were at church last Sunday, I pulled out my camera and took some photos of Joshua.  Babies change so quickly at this age.  I'm so glad I took the time to do this little shoot (even though a little nap would have been nice too).  Here are some of my favorites.

 I will add my favorite image after I send out birth announcements. I love our sweet little boy. 

ETA my favorite:

Maternity Shoot

I had a little maternity shoot the other day. I am six months along and wanted a shoot now before I get too huge (the third trimester gets a bit scary for me, especially toward the end). Wendel took the photos of me and my friend, Autumn, took the shots of Wendel and I together. We went out to a grove of trees here in Maricopa. It was a beautiful setting and the light was perfect. Other than being eaten alive by mosquitoes and the humidity in the air making it feel like a tropical jungle, I think the shoot turned out pretty well. Here are some of my favorites. (I just can't share the family photos yet since I will likely use one of them for our Christmas card this year.)

These pictures are so precious to me. I value photos that capture emotion between me and my family more than almost anything. I'm getting excited for our second little boy to join us. My mom and sister are coming into town this weekend to help me paint his nursery. I'm so excited to put it together and get ready for him. And now...I am so tired, I am about to fall asleep while I am typing. Goodnight!

resolutions and family photos

Are you surprised to see another post from me two days in a row? Or does anyone ever read this blog anymore? I am leaning toward the latter. In case anyone is still reading, I will share my New Year's resolutions with you. I will preface them with this quote: As we reflect on the value of resolving to do better, let us determine to discipline ourselves to carefully select the resolutions we make, to consider the purpose for making them, and finally to make commitments for keeping them and not letting any obstacle stop us. Let us remind ourselves at the beginning of each day that we can keep a resolution just for that day. - N. Eldon Tanner (I specifically like that he points out to carefully select the goals we make and consider the purpose for making them. I am all about being minimal with my goals this year, therefore only selecting a few goals that I really want to commit to.) 01. Blog more often (hence blog posts two days in a row). 02. Read from the Book of Mormon daily with Wendel. 03. Write in my personal journal at least once a week. 04. Work on Oliver's book regularly. 05. Use my scripture journal with my personal scripture study at least one time each week. 06. Work out 3x / week.  That's it. Most of my goals are focusing on family history this year. It is too important to let it keep slipping.

One thing I really wanted to do before leaving Seattle was get family pictures taken with the Seattle skyline behind us. I mentioned this here before but the most frustrating thing about having a hobby in photography is capturing other people's family but not being able to capture our own. Luckily my friend Julie was willing to take our photos for us and actually rearranged her whole schedule to make it happen. Things were a bit chaotic - we were in the middle of packing for our move, I was finishing up my practicum, Wendel had a lot of work projects on his plate with deadlines that needed attention...but we went for it anyway. Of course we forgot the diaper bag in our rush to get there, including Oliver's shoes, so we had to stop at the mall on our way and buy new shoes for him. It's always something in our busy lives! Oliver was so happy all the way up to Gasworks Park but when we got there he completely fell apart. He would not smile and was fussy and difficult. So it goes. Nonetheless, Julie was able to get some good shots. She was probably wondering why she volunteered to do this for us but she was patient and we are so grateful for her willingness to capture our little family. Here are some of my favorites (edited by me).

I love this one.

And this one.

Oliver is 20 months old in these pictures.

And here is one of Julie and Me. 

 

impromptu self-portraits

It is quite a task trying to take a decent picture with my SLR in one hand while holding a squirmy 5-month-old in another. These photos are far from being technically perfect but I absolutely love them because they capture me and him right now. I can't look at them without smiling. Any photo that can make me do that is perfect to me.

a few things

1. I start graduate school tomorrow. I am feeling a little intimidated. For the first half of my undergrad, I didn't work at all and for the second half, I had a very low-key part-time job. It will be interesting to see how this goes. The good thing is that I'm not caring about my GPA as much like I did before, so that takes some pressure off. Overall, I feel pretty good about this next step and I'm even a little excited about it. Bring on the midnight papers. And feedings.


2. I am feeling like I have the energy to go forward because we had a nice, relaxing break over Christmas in Long Beach, WA. We actually opened our Christmas presents at 1:30am on Christmas Eve (because when will we ever be able to do that again? Never.), slept in on Christmas morning (because that is what we love to do), got up and made a yummy breakfast, played some Mario on our Wii (my brother gave us the Mario game for Wii, which is really fun) and then we headed out to Long Beach, where we spent the next five days. We slept in every day, read books (W read Frankenstein, which was really depressing and I read Tuesdays with Morrie, which was very inspirational and touching), we worked on a puzzle, watched Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea, swam in the indoor pool, watched Buffy, made food, went out to eat, went to bed when we were tired, I did yoga, we took pictures...essentially we relaxed, which was so nice and needed. It was fun to have that last little vacation together before our little guy is born.



The scenery was so pretty there, we had to do a little photo shoot with ourselves. We set up our tripod and had some fun.







3. I am finishing up the last of client photo shoots and then we aren't booking any more until I'm done with grad school (other than a few special exceptions). I'm sure I will miss it in a way but I also think it will be good to have a break from it for a while. There is no way it can fit into my life right now. I have been updating our photography site with shoots if you want to take a peek. (Many more to come - I'm very behind with posting.)

4. I still need to post about our 5th Annual Holiday Gala and how special W made Christmas for me this year. Hopefully soon.