53 Week Family Life Project - Week 4

  Kassie has been obsessed with Ballet ever since the ballerina came to story time last November. Acutally she has wanted to take dance far longer then that. We took her to the Nutcracker over Thanksgiving and that just added fuel to the fire. I decided to look into Ballet classes.  When I told her I was signing her up her first response was "Will it interfere with my school schedule?" HOW OLD ARE YOU?  Stop being so responsible! Ok I am kidding. I like that you are responsible. Anyways it doesn't interfere with her school schedule.  After we resolved that concern she was very excited!  We took her to the Dance Shop and picked up her ballet slippers, leotard, and skirt.  Our friends own the shop and gave her the cute dance bag to hold her ballet slippers.
  The day finally arrived for her first class.  It was AGONIZING to wait ALL day for the class. (note first picture) She was ready hours before it was time to leave. Finally it was time to go (note bottom picture). Honestly we left early and were there about 30 minutes before the class. I just couldn't make her wait any longer.  The class went great. In fact, she was invited to join the performance group as well.  (Maybe they say that to everyone but I am going to pretend that they don't and the my daughter is just amazing)  She declared after the class that today was the BEST DAY OF HER LIFE!!! To bad we have to wait a whole week before the next class.

Family Life 52 Weeks Project: Week 3 - 3

We are just a techy family. What else can we say?

Family Life 52 Weeks Project: Week 3 - 2

I have been really enjoying my Family Life 52 Week Project. The kids were out of school on Monday and I took the opportunity to take some pictures of my oldest daughter in her new vest.  She found the best a few weeks ago while we were out shopping. She really didn't need it and frankly I had spent a lot of money on her in the last month with her birthday, Christmas and baptism so I told her if she really wanted it she would have to earn it by cleaning out the dishwasher and doing all of dinner dishes for a week to earn it. She enthusiastically agreed.  I need to find something else she wants so she will keep doing the dishes. ;)  Anyways she finally earned the vest so I thought - perfect opportunity to take her picture.

Family Life 52 Weeks Project: Week 3 - 1

I mentioned last week, I do really have two other children. I just don't take pictures of them as much because they are at school all day. Well with the long weekend I took the opportunity to capture my oldest child and only son at play.  For Brock, having 3 sisters means that there is always excessive amounts of pink and girly toys including this doll house that Santa brought the girls 2 years ago. Now you might be fooled into thinking that doll houses are only for girls to play with. Apparently that isn't the case. It also makes a great sling shot. Especially if you wrap a rubber band around the four post at the top of the stairs. 

I love seeing my kids all play together. It has always been a huge priority for me that my kids are best friends with each other first an foremost. Friends come and go but family is forever.

Family Life 52 Weeks: Week 2

Ok, this is the first picture I took after I committed to doing this project. The girls were sitting in the hall and I loved the lighting and moment.

I thought I would add a few rules that were created specifically for this project. I think they will help keep the moment real.


You may not quickly change your child into matching clothes right before you take the photo because it's going to actually be printed and put in an album. Whatever they're wearing goes.
You may not rush around and pick up all the toys on the floor and put away the jackets, shoes, whatever is lying around before you take the photo. Whatever your house looks like at that moment goes.
There will be the occasional prompt that requires you to be in the photo. You may not skip over those ones. Obviously your kids know that you're there every day, but 10 years from now will they see it in the photos?


Here are a few more I took this week. 

This picture cracks me up because Allie always pretends to be asleep whenever you open the van door to get her out of her car seat.  She thinks it is so funny so I was excited to capture her "I fell asleep" face. 

My goal for this next week is to take some pictures of my other two kids. They are just at school all day and not as accessible. 

Mikele's Baptism Day

Last Saturday Mikele was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was a beautiful and perfect day. We woke up to a couple of inches of snow.  It was so clean and white.  Everything went smoothly.  The baptism was on a stake level so 2 other children were baptized that day.  After Mikele changed into her white cloths I showed her the font where she would be baptized. She wanted to touch the water.  It was nice and warm.  We were fortunate enough to be able to have both of Mikele's Grandma's give the talks.  Grammy Norris spoke on baptism and Grandma Murdock spoke on the Holy Ghost. Jason baptized Mikele and Papa and Uncle Calvin were the two witnesses. After the baptism Mikele was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Jason gave her a beautiful blessing.  The following priesthood holders stood in the circle - Bishop Anderson, Papa, Uncle Calvin, Uncle Jared, Uncle James, and Dave Denton.

  We headed over to our church building for a luncheon.  We served pull pork sandwiches, chips, salads and dessert. It was a perfect day and I hope Mikele will always remember how she felt on this special day.  We love and cherish our beautiful daughter and are so proud of her for making this decision in her life. 

Now for some more pictures. 

Family Life 52 Week Project: Week 1

I have been thinking a lot about my life and how I am "enjoying the journey" or "savoring the moment." It as caused me to have a strong desire to capture the everyday moments and relationships of my family's life. I couple of weeks ago I pulled out my camera and captured these photos of Allie and Kassie.  They are becoming such good friends. Today I was reading one of the many blogs that I follow. Brooke Snow is a photographer and teacher who I took some classes from and admire. She shared that she was going to do a Family Life 52 week project.  With different prompts she is capturing her family in a photo each week.  Of course you can take more then one but to capture at least one everyday moment each week.  This was perfect! What a treasure I will have after 52 weeks to pass on to my kids. I am discovering more and more that my style or what inspires me is when I capture a relationship. These type of photos speak volumes to me. Join me! Leave a comment if you want to participate and we will encourage each other.

These next couple were actually taken first. The girls had just finished their baths and were getting ready for the day. Allie looks up to her siblings and mimics almost everything they do and say.