Back to School Extravaganza

I thought if I put a fancy name on my post it might make it seem more exciting than it really is. Let me know how that worked for you, okay?

Aubrey started HIGH SCHOOL. She's a sophomore. In the HIGH SCHOOL. That doesn't make me a mom of a high schooler though, because that would be OLD. She's not excited about school. I don't know why for sure... I'm thinking because she's too cool to be excited. She was also not excited about getting her picture taken. Or her hair. Or her outfit. Sigh... I believe we have an official teenager on our hands. Nothing to do but wait it out...

I made Tyler's friend Christian get into the first day of school picture too. Middle school boys... oh, what could be cuter? Tyler was kind of a little excited for school but not really.

Now you have to guess how Cooper felt about school... which picture shows his true feelings? If you guessed the frown... you're WRONG. He was the most excited about school. As I predicted, this didn't last long. Last night he said he didn't really want to go to school anymore. One day of excitement, that's all we got. Sigh... this is going to be a looooong year.

Well, enough about school. I didn't get the pictures of my boys in that last post about Idaho vacation (and there's more to the vacation, but obviously I haven't got around to posting about it yet). This was before haircuts for the boys, so try not to scream from fright when you see them.

I know... it's hard to tell if they're boys, or if they're wooly mammoths. I assure you, they are boys. Or wait... maybe they are wooly mammoths. I get confused sometimes. Which ones are messier? That's what they are... whichever is messier.

Aubrey took this photo of me, and I actually really like it. It's really hard to be the one having your picture taken... it's good for me to be on the awkward side of the camera every once in awhile... I learn a lot about how to be a photographer, seriously! And a little more about me me me: I'm still training for that crazy thing they call a marathon. I'll have to write more about it later, but it's been kind of an interesting journey. I'll be running the longest run I run before the actual marathon Saturday... 20 miles. Whew. Gulp. Huh. Help?

And... I've had some really fun sessions lately. I LOVED this session with a senior from Colorado. She was so cute, and it was one of those days when things just went really well.

Well... Aubrey just called. I have to go pick her up at the HIGH SCHOOL. It's weird that I have to pick kids up from high school when I'm NOT the MOTHER of a high schooler. I'm not old enough.

i heart faces... got to wear shades

Idaho Part of "the Vacation"

Yes, the Smith family went on "vacation" this last week, and let me tell you... it was BIG. When we go on vacation, we don't do the boring stuff everyone else does, like Hawaii, or Disneyland... no, we think bigger than that. We go to Dayton, Idaho, and Salt Lake City. Whoa! I know!

The first part of our trip was spent at the Smith Farm, and it was actually WONDERFUL. Seriously perfection. Imagine complete relaxation, steak, sourdough biscuits from heaven, and my favorite... rhubarb crunch. (There was pie for the less refined folks ;). I seriously love that stuff... way too much. We were fed SO well, and I hardly helped with a thing. (Mom kept saying we were on vacation... but I felt guilty anyway. ;)

I also got to run my 12 mile long run Saturday morning, and it was wonderful! I wish I could run every long run in the country. Seriously, only 2 cars passed me... oh, and a GLIDER PLANE with Brandon waving at me from it. That was a highlight for sure. He was supposed to run the last half with me, but decided to ride with a friend in his glider plane, and I don't blame him one bit. It looked like so much fun!  The kids had a blast playing, running around, riding the 4-wheeler, reading, relaxing and spending time with cousins who think my kids are super cool.  Brandon spent time with "old girl" (his truck), and was totally content.

We even had a fun photo shoot in the gorgeous fields... isn't this one fabulous? I love it! Ahhhh, how I love the farm. Thank you so much for making the first couple of days of our vacation perfection, Mom & Dad! We loved our time with you so much.

I'll blog more of our super fabulous HUGE vacation when I get around to the photos...

Cute, Huh?

Sometimes I really really wish I could have another baby. Other times, like when I'm spending an entire day trying to get my kids to clean their rooms... I'm okay with just three.

I'm Alive! But Just Barely...

I don't know what's up with this blogging thing, but it just doesn't happen as much anymore. I'm thinking that most people don't even care, so it's not a big deal if I go a long time without sharing some random tidbits. But, since it has been so long, this might be long... I do promise to put lots of pictures on, and try not to be too boring.

I stupidly thought that I'd have time to relax this summer, but alas... I should have known better. I think the word "relax" is no longer a word that applies to me. I guess when you're training for a marathon, photography sessions pick up, and all the rest of the stuff hasn't gone away, it doesn't get easier.

So, in recent news, Hannah had her third beautiful baby girl... June Lydia. It has been so much fun to live close enough to see how much she changes almost every day. I got to do a newborn photo session recently with June, and she was so cute and easy to photograph. It has also been fun living close enough to have Molly & Annie come over when they went to the hospital for June to be born, and when Hannah has doctor visits out in Roosevelt. They're at such a fun age... I miss my kids being little.

I've also lucked out getting to visit with Brandon's mom and some of the sisters as they've come out to help Hannah. I love those girls, and am so glad that they consider me a daughter and a sister and a friend. And... what can be more fun than two 35 year old women and their kids blowing on arms and legs to make fanny burping sounds? (The fanny burp is a nod to Stuart ;) We were laughing hysterically, and I'm pretty sure I had tears. The best was when Cassie convinced the kids that I was pretending to blow on my leg to cover up a "real one". When I said, "yeah, my lips weren't even touching my leg", they totally believed us. Which scares me a little bit... that they'd believe I could actually toot that long and loud. ;)

The fun week continued when my dad and mom came out for a visit since they had a break from working at the temple. Mom helped me and Aubrey go through all of our clothes and clean out our drawers, which was no small feat. We had a fun time though, especially Aubrey and I attempting to get both of us in the same pair of pants at once. We went to the car show, the boring fair, the temple, Golden Corral, and my favorite, Walmart. (Did you hear the sarcasm dripping from that??) I loved having them here! I really appreciated Dad running the last 4 miles of my 16 miler this weekend, and Mom coming with me on one of my photoshoots.

Speaking of photoshoots... I got to do one for this gorgeous singer and violinist, and I even got to make cd covers for her. How cool is that? It was so much fun! You have to let me know what you think of the cd covers, and which one you like best. I'll post more as we go.

In case anyone is wondering (and if you're my facebook friend, you're not wondering ;) how my marathon training is going, it's going great! So far so good... and even though running for over 2 1/2 hours isn't the most fun thing in the world, I am loving the sense of accomplishment each week as I reach  new milestones in distance. (And enjoying my time with Brandon... he loves me enough to run up to 8 miles of my long runs with me). I've had times of feeling so worn down and exhausted, with all the running (127 miles in July) and teaching at the gym, that I don't know how I'm possibly going to make it through this training. Then a couple of days later, I'll feel great, and have all the energy in the world. It's strange, but amazing. I'll make it through. :)

The kids have been themselves, which means I love them to pieces, and they're driving me insane. They grow up shockingly fast, and I still can't understand how all of a sudden Aubrey is so tall and grown up, Tyler is almost as tall as I am, and grown up, and Cooper is growing out of all of his pants and asking to wear deodorant. Last Sunday Aubrey asked me to help her with the back of her hair. After I told her she'd have to take off her high heels if she wanted me to be able to help her, I realized she didn't have high heels on. Sigh.

Anyone have any life advice for me about not feeling hurt when others do hurtful things? Most of the time I'm good with everything, try to give others the benefit of the doubt, and figure they didn't mean it, but sometimes when I'm trying to go to sleep I can't stop thinking about it.

Well, enough of that. I'm bored with myself now, so I'm going to stop. Not without one parting photo though...

Happy Birthday, Jake! ;)

Oh! p.s. Read "The Help"... excellent book. Don't watch "Stranger than Fiction"... dumb movie.

I Heart Faces... Purple

I Heart Faces...Over My Head

I just adore this sweet little smile... and what's cuter than an umbrella over her head?  :)

Check out other "over my head" entries at i heart faces!

Man of the House

Tyler's been at Grandpa's Farm working for the summer, and boy, do I miss him.  I've had to take care of the dog and the lawn, and it's not my favorite thing.  Cooper's been helping with the lawn... and he's doing a great job.  We're working on not missing spots, but I think for a little guy running a machine bigger than he is, he's doing a fantastic job.  :)

Brace Face

That's my girl... with thousands of dollars in her mouth.

At least her braces smile.

Spilling Some Secrets

My FAVORITE actions and textures are florabella's... I've mentioned it before, but not often enough, that's for sure.  I use them more than anything else in my photoshop toolbox... and that's how I get the look I get. Soooo... if you want a chance to win some, and some other AMAZING prizes, head over here.

Awesome Superfabulous Wasatch Back

Well, we DID IT!  We ran 188 miles (189.5 counting the extra 1.5 they threw in on Joel's last leg)!!  It was definitely a team effort (no other way to do it... unless you're like, super insane crazy ;), and I am so proud of us.

Brandon, Dallas, Adam, Annette, Martha and I were in Van 1.  We started at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, with Annette running her first leg.  We all ran our first leg, then passed the magic slap bracelet on to Van 2.  (Dad, Geoff, Mary, Kari, Lisa, and Joel).  Then we had a little bit of a break until they were done running their first legs, and we were off again.  We each ran 3 legs total, ranging from around 13 miles in all to 21.  (Each leg was 3 miles up to 9.6... all different amounts).

I loved the whole experience... yes, there were a few times where I thought what the hell-o am I doing (like my first leg that was SO HOT, or "trying" to sleep for a couple of hours on the freezing cold ground...), but it really was great.  I was so proud of how well everyone did, even with sickness, injury, and exhaustion.  We had a few moments... like sitting at the WRONG exchange for an hour, and the other team wondering where the heck we were... but nobody cared.  We just had fun, and cheered each other on, and I loved spending time with everyone on my team.  (I don't know how much they loved spending time with me... changing in front of them, sweating, gross, and whiny about the stinky stinky stinky hand sanitizer in the portapotties... but hopefully they love me anyway.

There are so many things to remember... and I can't remember all the things that I wanted to remember, and none of you care anyway, so I think that's all I have to say for now.  Oh, p.s.... check out those awesome medals.  You could knock someone out with one of those babies... they're really heavy.

Now on to serious marathon training... although I've been trying to figure out how to go run the Las Vegas Ragnar... yes, I'm having Ragdrawals.  ;)

I Heart Faces... Celebrating Teens

I had to choose this photo for the celebrating teens challenge... what says "teen" more than jumping on a trampoline in your prom dress??

Check out some more teen pics at i heart faces:

Grinning from Ear to Ear

Guess what?  GUESS WHAT???  Pioneer Woman chose one of my photos for her "bug" contest... yes, this makes 3 times that she has chosen one of mine, which thrills me to no end.  :)  It doesn't mean much besides she likes my work, but it still makes me feel so validated as a photographer, especially when I've had a rough photography week.  Now if I could only win an i heart faces contest.... ;)


On another note, this blog post over at Clover Lane is amazing.  Go read it!


On yet another note... Wasatch Back is THIS weekend!  I can't believe it's here already!  Cheer on team "Runners With Heart" from home, okay?

I Heart Faces... Babies

This is one of my all-time favorite photos I've ever captured. My friends had just adopted the sweetest little baby boy, and I got to be the lucky photographer to document one of their first days together as a family.




Click to see more baby images! (And who wouldn't want to see lots and lots of adorable babies??)

Camp & the Amazing Aubrey & a Song & a Birthday

Well, I survived Girls Camp, and actually had a great time!  I took the camera to the lake to see if I could get some photos I like as well as some I took last year... well, here's the story.  (If you're not a photographer this next part might bore you, so you can quit reading... just thought I'd warn you.)  I took a whole bunch of photos that I was pretty excited about, then realized my ISO was set on 3200.  Yup.  That's right... and this was after someone asked if I was a photographer and I said "yes".  Yup.  I felt pretty stupid.  I had it up that high to take pictures at Relay for Life in the dark and forgot.  Anyway, I took some after that, but the "magic" was gone.  :(

I'm so in awe of my daughter.  I was thinking about it as I was watching her pitch at her tournament games last night... I could NEVER pitch... I'd be scared silly, plus I just don't have "skills".  She's also a swimmer, and my swimming skills are laughable. She's so tall and beautiful and slender... she gets more beautiful every day, and sometimes I can't believe she's mine.

I totally got hooked on a song at Girls Camp (no... we weren't listening to music... of course not... it's against the rules... well, not very much anyway.  ;)  Listen to it.  I'm serious. Never Shout Never.

Happy Birthday to Brandon yesterday too... he gets better looking every year.  :)  I made him a banana cream pie after I got home from Girls Camp, but I didn't get a chance to get him any presents.  I'm an awful horrible wife, but he knows I love him.

Relay For Life

First of all, I have to thank everyone who donated and supported me and Aubrey in other ways too... we were able to raise more than we hoped because of kind and generous friends!

I am SO tired, and SO sore, and I have to get ready for girls camp, and I'm pretty sure moving my body right now is an impossible feat.  I'm really glad I did this, though.  I got to know people better, learned things about myself, and saw many brave cancer survivors and heard many inspiring stories.

I walked and walked and walked, and at 2:00 a.m. I ran for an hour.  I was really tired after the running, but it was truly a nice break from walking for my body.  My legs were saying, ah yes, now this is what we're used to.  :)  I walked 15 miles and ran 6, for a total of 21 miles, 84 laps around the track.

There was a boy there who was determined to run 160 laps in honor of his grandpa who died just 3 days ago.  From his diagnosis to his final day was 160 days, so this runner wanted to fight through that many laps, to symbolize each day his grandpa fought cancer.  His was running his final laps while I was running my 6 miles, and he was really struggling on his final lap.  There were a couple of boys who joined him to encourage him, and I joined too.  We encouraged him, and made him keep going that final lap (this is 40 miles... to put some perspective on it) and he made it.  It was a neat experience... and the crazy thing was, he was back out there running again after a brief rest.

Aubrey didn't sleep a wink the entire night and had a blast walking 15 miles and running around playing with her group of friends (mostly kids from our ward).  I was proud of her for her dedication to the relay and so glad she could do this with me.

I have pictures, but I'm far too tired to mess with that right now.  I'll get some up another time... probably after girls camp.  Thanks again for all of your encouragement and support!!

Stuff and Stuff

The last day of school... that certainly went by fast.  I think I just got whiplash watching that year go by.  I'm actually kind of sort of looking forward to this summer.  If I can keep them fed, we'll all be great.

I'm really really grateful for my family and friends who love me.  Sometimes when I think I'm pretty darn unloveable, someone says something so sweet to me, or does something so nice for me, that I think I can't be all that bad.

And this guy?  He's the best of them all.  He knows every fault of mine, yet he still adores me.  I love him with all of my heart.

There's a place I photograph sessions at sometimes, and I took the owners some bread the other day.  She invited me into her lovely house, gave me a complete tour, and inspired me so much.  I want to be that gracious.  I'm going to work on it.

Along with the million other things that I need to work on.  Thank goodness I have a lifetime.

I Heart Faces... Yellow

Same darling girl as I posted the last challenge... but how could I pass up the yellow bus??

Check out some more yellow here:

Undisappointed

The principal is working on things... Tyler says things are getting better.

SO many dear friends and family donated to my Relay for Life fund... you came through in a big way.

Some days it feels like so many things are going wrong, and the very next day that can completely turn around. I love that... it makes life exciting, and helps me know that everything will be better eventually.

Plus, I've got three fun shoots to edit, and another one to take tomorrow. Yes, life is wonderful.

p.s. I'm so embarrassed about my tush... so many comments about it. I'm such a dork.