White Christmas

It's snowing! It's Snowing!!!!  I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present! I've got my fire going, the tree a blazin' and the record player cranked. There is something magical about a snowy Christmas Eve, right? The last time this happened? 2008. We were long overdue and I'm enjoying it so much! 

This morning I slept in and got up after everyone had been awake for awhile. My kids are absolutely wired--about the snow, the impending parties, the GIFTS and cousins...oh the cousins!  Olivia was quitely sitting by the tree in a nightgown stolen from Allie and it just looked so......Christmasey(theres that word again.)  She reminded me of a sugar plum fairy, an angel and the nutcracker ballet all at the same time.   

So here are some images I got...enjoy and Merry Christmas to you and yours.  May your days be merry and bright! xoxo!

Family Time

Our last family photo was in 2010. You would think I would do them more often.  Nope. I have TONS of my kids....but the last family photo was just disastrous enough that we didn't try again until yesterday, but we got it.  I'm happy and no one was harmed in the making of this photograph.  Win. Win.  Ha....Sure love these people of mine. Xox!

So close...

 

This photo was almost a winner. Almost. It was too small....as in not enough megapixels.  Boo.  I actually took this a few years ago and my camera then did not have the capability to shoot as big as the publication I submitted it to needed. *sigh*  I'll try again.

 

It's still one of my favorite pictures.

 

Old Fashioned Christmas

Christmas time always brings about memories of my childhood and the older I get, the sweeter those memories become.  Therefore, I like my Christmas to be on the "old-fashioned" side.  While I love the bright red and green that fills the aisles of Tai-Pan(and I have given in to that trend on my basement tree)...my home is filled with things of yesterday.  Let's call it "vintage" so that it sounds cool, okay? ha...honestly though it reminds me of my grandparents and my parents and of a simpler time.  Was it simpler? Is simpler a word? Well...let's say it's a word and pretend it was a simpler time for my benefit, okay?;)

I am already getting sad that in about two weeks my Christmas will come down. I love how cozy and warm my house feels. I love making it smell delicious and leaving my tree lights on all day. After last week's horrific school shooting, I have felt the need to spend as much time in my home as possible. I spent most of the weekend curled up watching old sappy Christmas movies. It was just what the Dr. ordered.  I hope my kids have fond memories of their Christmases....and maybe put out a few things that remind them of their childhood.

 

This star candle holder was given to me by a friend at a bridal shower. It's been out for every Christmas since. I have several items from when we were first married. I don't believe in getting rid of the old to make room for the new-(at least not at Christmas time).  I like that these decorations have been with us since the beginning of our marriage. It adds to their story and charm.

 

 

 

My most very, very, very favorite item at Christmas time.  My record player! I found a stash of Christmas records at DI and I play them-a lot.  My favorites? Bing Crosby & Perry Como.  Yep. OLD.  They crack and pop and sound like my grandparents house on Christmas day. When I was younger, it was pure torture to sit through the movie "White Christmas" and now it is one of my favorites. I watch it every year while I wrap presents. It's my very own tradition with myself.

Speaking of movies....."One Magic Christmas"  Have you seen it? My parents took me to see this movie in the movie theater when I was 9-years-old and for some reason, it left a real impression on me.  It is, hands down, my very favorite Christmas movie. I curled up in my favorite chair and watched it on Sunday. It's so good.  If you have Netflix, watch it.  It's a little sappy, but oh so good!

I can't forget about my iPod...my favorite Christmas tunes?  Carpenters and Alabama.  My childhood Christmas soundtrack!  My mom always had them playing in our house.  It just added to the magic that she always created.

It is snowing out my window right now.  I'm doing the happy dance and turning on every set of Christmas lights in this house.  Gotta enjoy this while it lasts! 

Lastly, do you Believe? In this house there is no option....you BELIEVE. (or you get nothing. ;) 

Night time

Playing around

The other day I was telling my best friend that I had a photo blog. She was like, "You mean, like a business? Are you doing pictures for people now?"  I told her that I DO do pictures for people....if they ask me, but that my photo blog is just that: a photo blog.  She just stared at me. 

"You just put pictures on there?"

"yeah...basically.  It's a place for me to put pictures that I have taken without cluttering up my family blog."


*silence*


"Oh. That's cool."



hahaha......my friend owns a point and shoot and 99% of her pictures are courtesy of her Iphone.  Photography does not interest her-at all.  I laughed about that all day. I'm sure the idea of a "photo blog" seemed completely pointless to her.  haha!

Our elf, "Franky" has done some crazy things at our house this holiday season and last night was just about the craziest.  The kids stumbled in for breakfast, all sleepy-eyed and bushy haired and found the elf like this:

 

That woke them up! haha....my kids are half terrified of the elf.  Which is hysterical to me.  We will be sad when Franky goes back to the North Pole on Christmas Day. (I secretly think Easton will be relieved. HAHAHA...)

Fisher Price little people. Everyone has them, right? Well Olivia is my first child to actually play with them and I mean really play with them.  The stories that she tells while playing are funny/odd/smart and loaded with imagination.  She is hopin' and wishin' for that princess castle set.....and if she stays on the "good list" she just might get one. ;) 

So yes, I took pictures of the Nativity set.  Look people, my kids only allow pictures for so long and then I have to make do with animals, landscape and......baby Jesus.  ;)

.....aaaannnnd snow globes.  Who, by the way, buys the castle snow globe at Disneyland? My husband does.  It sits on our dresser.  My husband is as crazy about Disneyland as he is about Christmas lights.  It's his happy place, okay? We are going back there in January and I swear to you, he is just as excited as our kids.  His face lights up like a Christmas tree when he talks about it. Who goes to Disneyland when their kids are grown and gone? WE will.  ha!

It came!

My new camera arrived today. I literally screamed and hung up on Paul when I heard the FedEx truck. It was pure torture waiting for the battery to charge.  ha.....my kids(well...two of them)were good sports and let me follow them around with a camera for a bit.  We nearly got hypothermia and we were only out of the car for five minutes.  


Easton doing his spelling words.....

The birdy in my tree. :)  On Sunday, me and my family watched "Christmas Oranges" (cute show...I highly recommend) and we decided to make popcorn and cranberry garlands for our tree.  It was fun to all sit around talking and making them and I LOVE the way they look on my tree.  I think a new tradition was born that day.

 Allie and Paul went Christmas shopping together tonight....so it was just me and these two.  I love the Christmas Villages in town.  Some of them are exactly the way they were when I was a little girl!

That isn't a flash reflection.....that is the actual light inside that building.  I love the outline of her bear ears on her hat. ha!

Merry Christmas!

Then one foggy Thursday morning....;)

We are currently sitting in a thick fog. I love it! It couldn't look more Christmasy(yes its a word) if it tried! Living without a camera(even if its for just a few days)is pure torture for me! I knew I had to get this picture today, so I pulled out what me and Paul call "the old gray mare" camera.  It's an oldie point and shoot canon. We bought it in 2007. Ha...  It takes four batteries and feels heavier than a brick, but I was desperate.  I don't even want to think about what this picture would have looked like with my new camera that is currently "in transit"

Anyway.....this is what I got.  My friend said it looks like heaven and I agree with her. The temple just made this place that much prettier. Love living here.

FYI-....did you know that any pictures you put as your cover photo on facebook is public? As in, anyone can see them AND anyone can download them, share them.....whatever.  How did I find this out?  Several months ago, I put a picture of Easton swinging a golf club as my cover photo and just recently I noticed that someone had "shared" that very photo. This was a person I didn't know. I followed their blog and another and another and found MY picture being used to advertise golf lessons for youth at a Texas golf course. I of course emailed them and explained that they were using MY photo without permission and that I would like to be compensated.  Needless to say, the picture was down within minutes.  It made me mad and I decided that I need to start tagging my photos and I also learned how to protect my photos on my blogs also.  It kind of creeped me out.  I took most of my cover photos off facebook....because I also found one of Olivia that had been shared in Egypt! I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.  Creepy, right? Anyway, I thought I would pass that along. It was something I wasn't aware of.

Charlie Brown special

So.....I am without a camera.  AGAIN.  I sold my camera-my first real camera.....researched the web for hours. I read blogs, forums, and every website imaginable on what my next camera should be.  I knew I wanted to make a jump to a professional camera....the problem was the cost of most of them.  Finally, after driving everyone around me crazy, I made a decision and bought a camera off Amazon.  The day it came was like Christmas around here. I was so excited.....until I spotted a better(much better) deal online. So I boxed up another camera(the new one)-and bought the other one(the better deal one).  If you are already bored with this story....imagine how Paul and my mom feel. ;)



*sigh*



Anyway......here is a picture of Allie. We were watching Charlie Brown's Christmas special on tv.  Maybe one of my favorite pictures ever.  (Last pictures taken with my first camera. The first one I sold. Not the second one I sold.......alrighty then.)

It's great to be EIGHT!

So....I now have an eight-year-old boy.....and I decided that he needed a suit. His FIRST suit! A suit to commemorate his becoming a full blown member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! on Saturday, December 1, 2012. I drug him all over Ogden looking for the perfect one;not cheesy(yuck!-pinstripes) and not too old looking(no thank you grandfather grey!)-and I found the perfect one...in two different places:the pants in a store and the jacket on-line. Ha!... (He not only looks like his Dad...but has a long torso like him too). He looks like a little man! I wanted to kiss his face off!  I was in heaven..... and he was in HELL.  He had it on approximately 10 minutes; long enough for me to snap about five pictures and then he tore into the house and stripped out of it in record time.  Apparently he is also like his father in the fact that wearing a suit is pure torture.  Such babies! I have one word for them: SPANX.  Now that is real discomfort. ;)
Anyway, I have an eight-year-old boy.  In a suit.  I die.......just a little bit.;)

Christmas Card

I love Christmas cards!  Some say they are becoming extinct because of all the social media...i.e:facebook, instagram, twitter etc..but I don't believe it.  I LOVE getting a Christmas card in the mail and by Christmas Eve, my fridge is full of faces that I love! It's a tradition that I, for one, will never stop doing.  I'm having a FIT over my card this year! I had a vision(if you will...)for what I wanted the pictures to look like and they turned out exactly as I had envisioned-that rarely happens.  It was a christmas miracle. haha.....So here is just ONE picture. There are many more that make me jump and down with happiness.  :)

Coke in the Bottle

All three of my kids have dark brown eyes......but Easton's are the very darkest.  His eyes went dark brown almost black within a few days after being born.  I always tell him that his eyes look like the color of Coke in a bottle...because they do.


My brown-eyed ninja boy.......with coca-cola eyes. ;) 

Leaves

I love the trees in my backyard.  They were a gift to us from Paul's mom and I remember that they were the exact same age as Allie when we bought them.  My now ten year old trees create shade for us all summer and then turn the most beautiful red in the fall and then.....as if they haven't done enough, their leaves fall onto the grass, creating a new kind of playground for my kids. I'm glad I grabbed the camera to document some of this fun.  Now, who wants to rake them all up for me? ;)

 

 

 

Not a great picture, technically speaking, but come ON! I love her face. I love the moment. :) 

 

 

 

THIS......is what happens when your brother throws a handful of leaves in your face. haha! 

 

 

 

 

THIS photo will forever be a happy place for me.  Who wants to be a kid again? I do....

I Live Here

I woke up to snow-capped mountains and fog hanging down low on the mountains. For the millionth time I thought how lucky I am to live here.