Speaking of Butterflies..

I saw this gorgeous one while out on a photo shoot.  So of course I snapped a quick picture.  I love butterflies!  Even little boy ones :)

A Braves Butterfly

I Love You

Mandy tells me she loves me every single day without fail.  In fact many many many times a day.  So today – I just wanted to return the favor.  I love you Mandy Moo!

Baby Batman

Isn’t he adorable?

But do you know what is really adorable – he came up with the name “Baby Batman” all by himself.   He is so funny sometimes.

Gymnastics, Ballet, and Tap

I thought I would share a few pictures from Mandy’s gymnastics/ballet/tap class.

They start off each class with about 20 minutes of stretching and tumbling.  Here Mandy is doing lunges :)

Then they move on to about 20 minutes of ballet. 

Mandy was getting pretty good at the plies.

They even did a couple little routines to music.  Let me just say – HI-larious!

They ended the class with 20 minutes of tap.  Mandy just liked the sound they made when she jumped!

Poor Layton, he wanted to go out there and play with them so badly!  You do recall that he loves to dress up in a tutu.

Happy Monday

I am going to be crazy busy this week editing pictures from 3 different photos shoots this past weekend.  It is the busiest I have ever been.  I have three more scheduled next weekend!  Whoo-hoo!  And to celebrate how well my little business is growing I just wanted to share my three favorite pictures from this past week -

Oh wait, you thought I was going to share favorite pictures from all the photo sessions I did?  No way – my favorite pictures will always, always, always be of my 3 favorite children :)

Story time…

Click Clack Moo is a favorite around here.  I am pretty sure that it gets read at least daily.  When I am busy Dallin is nice enough to fill in for me so that Layton doesn’t feel deprived from his love of cows that type.

Activity Days

I now have a new calling in my ward – the Activity Day Girls leader.  We had our first activity last night.  And while I won’t say that it was perfect – I think it did go very well and we all had a nice time.

Instead of speed dating – we did a little speed friendshiping.  We had separate tables set up so that the girls (and leaders too) were divided up into groups of two or three.  On each table was a bowl with questions in it like, “What is you favorite book?”, “If you could go any place in the world, where would you go?”, “Who is your favorite prophet?”, “When I grow up, I want to be ______?”, “If I had the time to learn a new talent, what would it be?” and so on.  After each question we each moved to a different seat to ask a question of the new person sitting in front of us.

It was a fun activity to let us all get to know each other a little bit better.  Then we planned out activities that they would like to do for the rest of the year.  They were awesome at coming up with ideas – we have a great few months ahead of us!

Don’t you love my favorite three activity day girls over on the left?  Since we were taking a picture – they absolutely felt the need to jump in there too :)

Dance

Mandy is so excited about her dance class today she can barely contain herself!  She has been wearing her ballet shoes constantly since we got them!

A Friday Date Night

Courtesy of Nathan’s mom, we got to enjoy a little date night last Friday.  So we took a drive out to the St. Johns Town Center to enjoy a little P.F. Changs.  If you look closely here, you can see my new short haircut.  I love it.  I should have cut it shorter at the beginning of the summer instead of waiting until the end.  But well, I’m not always the smartest and think of things like that until after the fact!

This was my very first experience with Changs and it was delicious.  I had sesame chicken.

And Nathan had this super hot Dali chicken dish.  I’m telling you it was so hot, the fumes from it burned my nostrils.  But according to him it was super delicious.  I can’t imagine how anything that is so hot that it makes your nose run could be considered delicious – but it was to him so that is all that mattered!

It was a nice night.  No kids is not something that we get to enjoy very often, so when we do we savor it!

He’s more than we expected…

Layton is such a character and so much more than we ever expected.  Having gone through everything with two other the children, we thought we knew what we would be dealing with when Layton came along.  Not so.  He is completely original and we never know what he is going to do next.

Do you know that we have had that self same dirty clothes organizer since we got married?  Do you know that not one other child has ever found his way into it?  But then comes along Layton and he of course finds a way to climb in – and of course then can’t climb out!

But then should I really be surprised?  I mean this is the same child that found his way into a toilet and then couldn’t get back out again.

That pictures still makes me laugh after all this time!  It never gets old.

I had a bad dream…

When the kids woke up this morning, they had a very sweet little story to tell me.  Apparently Mandy woke up early this morning and told Dallin that she had a bad dream.  Dallin climbed down out of the top bunk and laid down beside her in her bed so that she would feel safe.  Considering how much time I spend daily trying to break up fights between those two, it never ceases to amaze that when they really need each other they are always so sweet and caring.  It makes my heart smile!

Homework

Who wouldn’t enjoy doing their homework surrounded by your own little support group?

Everyday – without fail – when it is time for Dallin to do his homework, both Layton and Mandy gather round to “help” him out.  Sure it is a little distracting – but it is also very sweet.

Family Reunion

Every year on Labor Day Nathan’s family holds a reunion.  Nathan’s Uncle Walter always mans the grill and there is always tons of really good food.

And of course lots of talking,

catching up,

picture taking,

and best of all – lots and lots of swimming!!!!!

Layton was being his usual crazy water bug self.  He adores dunking his head in the water.  We don’t know why – he just loves it!

He is also getting very good at “swimming”.  We are pretty sure that by next summer he’ll be out there swimming on his own with the big kids!

If you haven’t already seen them, check out some pictures from a fun maternity session here.

How to Seal a Deal

I had a couple come over on Saturday with their daughter for a few minutes to talk about the possibility of me taking pictures of the daughter’s wedding next March.  While I was quite seriously explaining my services and showing them some sample pictures and products, Layton came over and climbed into the chair with me.  Then in his gravelly low voice, that sounds almost like a growl, he quite loudly announced, “I need CHOCOLATE.”  It completely broke up the seriousness of the moment and filled the room with laughter.  I think his cuteness sealed the deal for me and they signed a photography contract for me to do her wedding next year and to even do an engagement photo session as well.  My little Layton sure knows how to help a mother out!  I’m thinking I should include him in all my business transactions :)

Taking Pictures of Layton

I decided I needed some updated pictures of the kids to put into my picture frames.  So being me, I decided to create my own little studio in my living room to take the pictures.  So I got out my lovely white sheet and set it up.  Took a few pictures of Dallin and got a cute one.

Then took a few pictures of Mandy and got a cute one of her.

And then we have Layton.  I’m almost embarrassed to say the total number of camera clicks it took to get a workable picture of him.  Here are a few out-takes to give you an idea…

 

And what is really sad is that is not even all of them!!!!!!!!!!  I did eventually get one picture that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to put in a frame in the living room.

Oh my goodness, what am I going to do with this boy!