Happy Birthday Allie!

It is crazy I know. Allie is 2! Here is a birthday recap. . .

Papa and Grandma Murdock gave Allie her rocking chair. Now we have a complete set.

Monster cupcakes for my little monster.

Daddy brought home balloons and got a kiss from his little girl.

Balloons are just so funny!

The many facial expressions of Allie Norris. . .

She doesn't say much but I believe you get the idea.

Birthday dinner - hot dogs and macaroni salad.

Present time!

Her favorite present was the candy from Grammy Norris.

Happy Birthday Allie!!!

T.Greer Baptism Pictures

 I had the opportunity to take pictures of my friend's son. He is getting ready to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. These pictures are for his Baptism announcements.

  T. is a great kid and was fun to photograph. He was happy and good natured about everything I asked him to do. His only complaint was if the sun was in his eyes. Which I would complain about too. Fortunately we were able to find a sun free side of the temple and take these pictures.

  Watch out girls this sharp looking guy is going to be a heartthrob!!! Sorry Mom but your boy is growing up.

Yard Project

The clouds parted (temporarily) and we have finally been able to get started on our back, back yard. Up until now it has been full of weeds. Well actually it still is full of weeds. When it is done we hope that it will not have any weeds except for the ones that will undoubtedly pop up in the garden box. So far we have built Cooper a larger kennel (Jason is tired of the trails through his yard), tore out the back fence and replaced it with a pasture fence, cut down and removed 4 trees, tore out the floor bed that ran the width of the back yard, put down ground cover and filled it with bark, and built a sand box.  We still need to put the edge, ground cover and bark around the trees, kill all the weeds, install a sprinkler system, put in the garden box and plant grass.
   Brock has decided that Allie is lucky because we will have the project done by the time she is big enough to help.  Kassie is good at taking breaks from her breaks. Mikele and Brock saved one tree stump that was destined for the dump but apparently is their table and is now being relocated. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will have a kid friendly oasis to enjoy.

 Location of future sand box.

Dirty bum but happy face.

The completed 8 foot by 8 foot sand box. When I called to get pricing on the sand and told them I wanted to fill an 8' x 8' x 20" the guy told me I was crazy and that most people only put in about 6 inches of sand. What can you possibly do in 6 inches of sand? We compromised and it is 12" deep.

Happy kids. Nightly baths.

Jason is convinced that I have too much ambition for my own good. I have been working him until past dark but it is coming along. We are finally to the part of the project that involves putting thing in instead of taking things out. We will all be really happy when it is done.

Blog Candy on my Scrapbooking Blog

I have an awesome give-a-way worth $55 right now on my scrapbooking blog. Be sure to check it out and enter to win. All the details are in the blog post.

If you would like more information about Studio J, a free one-on-one coaching session or would like to know more about the classes I offer using Close To My Heart products please email me.

Good Luck!!!

Baby Photography - E Pratt

I wanted to share a few more of my favorite photos of baby E Pratt from my photo shoot.  This little guy was only 5 days old. I learn so much from each photo shoot and love seeing the improvement in my photography when I apply what I learned. With this shoot I made sure he was less then 2 weeks old and we turned up the heat in the room we were photographing in.  I was hot but baby E was nice and warm and comfortable. 

  I also learned a little more about my own style. I am not big into props but love to capture the subject and all his parts. ie hands, hair, feet, toes, fingers, ect.  I can see why the number one tip from photographers is practice practice practice. After each shoot I look back and think. "I should have tried or done this." I would love your comments, suggestions, or volunteers to be victims to my camera.

Kassie's End of School Year Interview

About school...
Who was your teacher? Mom, Ella's Mom, Maria's Mom, Abby's Mom, and Lilly's Mom
What was your teachers like? nice and fun
What did you learn? writing, staying in the lines, patterns, letters, nursery rhymes at Lilly's house, vowels, painted bird houses at Ella's, habitats and animals at Maria's house, karate at Abby's house.
What was your favorite thing to do? go outside and play
What was your favorite snack? spiders with peanut butter and cracker with pretzels for the legs at Abby's house
What are you looking forward to about next year? Teacher Janice

About her...
What do you want to be when you grow up? Firefighter
What kind of car will you drive one day? a pink car
What do you like to do for fun? be crazy
What are your hobbies? make beautiful layout and necklaces
What are you going to do this summer? work on my workbook

About her friends...
Who are your friends? Lilly, Maria, Samantha, Ella, Kassie (me), Abby, Brock, Mikele and Allie
Who is your best friend? Allie and Lilly
What do you like to do with your friends? play house and be the big kid and play.

Last Day of School!

Mikele completed first grade in flying colors! She had an amazing fun year with her friends and teacher. I noticed a huge improvement in her reading this year. This year was the year of the lost teeth. She looked like a hillbilly most of the year with at least one of her front teeth missing. She hit the back of her friend's head an knocked the tooth loose and instead of leaving it alone she wiggled it until it came out. As a result it is taking forever to come back in.

Here is Mikele's end of year interview:

About school...
Who was your teacher? Mrs. Jarrett

What was she like? really nice
What did you learn? addition with 2 or more digit numbers
What was your favorite thing to do? write
What was your favorite lunch? pizza
What are you looking forward to about next year? having my friends in the same class (she hopes)

About her...
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Mom that works at home
What kind of car will you drive one day? a van, no a truck, no a black truck, no a blue truck, no a jeep
What do you like to do for fun? run around the house
What are your hobbies? make stuff with paper
What are you going to do this summer? go to friends houses. Grandma camp.

About her friends...
Who are your friends? Kaitlin, Ade, Brittany,
Who is your best friend? Kaitlin and Ade
What do you like to do with your friends? play house

Now for Brock:

 Brock's class did a special project about each of the counties in Utah. They called their project "The Clay Counties of Utah." Each student was assigned a county to learn about and then Brian, the art student, cut the clay into the shape of their county and the student drew and painted it.
  Sanpete was Brock's county. Brian told me he was impressed by how much time and detail Brock put into his work. He did an amazing job!

Here is Brock's end of year interview:

About school...
Who was your teacher? Mrs. Clawson
What was she like? nice and fun teacher
What did you learn? long division, times tables with 3 digits on the top and 2 on the bottom.
What was your favorite thing to do? Recess, lunch and the class auction.
What was your favorite lunch? pizza
What are you looking forward to about next year? Sean and Dixon being in my class (he hopes)

About him...
What do you want to be when you grow up? Teacher or work at West Host
What kind of car will you drive one day? Black Toyota Tundra and a four-wheeler. What do you like to do for fun? mess around
What are your hobbies? legos, soccer and playing my iPod and the Wii
What are you going to do this summer? play legos, soccer camp, play the Wii, and play my iPod

About his friends...
Who are your friends? Sean, Dixon, Blake, Gavin, Trevor W., Trea, Mason, Jace, Dax, Brody, Tyler B., Mrs. Clawson,
Who is your best friend? Sean
What do you like to do with your friends? play

Kassie's Preschool Graduation and Field Trip

The end of the school year is always busy with fun activities. This year Kassie has been participating in the Millville Moms Preschool. Myself and 4 other moms have been taking turns teaching preschool to our girls. For graduation we went to lunch at Firehouse Pizzeria and then headed over to the Logan Fire Station for a tour. We all had a great time but were all a little sad to see this fun year come to a close. Here are a few pictures from our day.

  We had so much fun at the fire station. The girls were a little nervous at first but warmed right up to fireman Josh. 

 The firefighters love that we bring our kids in to meet them. They have a real problem with kids hiding from firefighters in a real house fire because with their gear on they look scary. Josh also talked to the girls about fire safety.

 Fireman Josh said he would give the girl who could lift his bag off the ground a dollar.

 If you go to the fire station you have to drive the truck!

 Who wouldn't love a fireman who can climb the fire pole?

 The fire station has never seen so much pink!

Official Jr. Firefighters.

Happy Birthday to Me in St George

  My amazing wonderful husband planned a weekend get-a-way for my birthday. My even more amazing wonderful mother-in-law came and stayed with the kids while we were gone. Jason and I left Friday morning for sunshine and relaxation. While in St George enjoying the above 80 degree weather, something we have not enjoyed in Cache Valley since last October, Jason and I biked, hiked, went to the movies, ate out, shopped and got as much sun as possible.

On Saturday we went to Snow Canyon national park to bike and hike. Neither of us have done much biking since last summer with the kids so we started out small with a short 8 mile ride.  It was gorgeous. With all the rain the cactus plants were still in blossom. The trait took us up between the canyon. I liked that the only wild life we saw was a lizard and a hawk.
  It is incredible how the side of the canyon dramatically changes from red to white rock. The trail wasn't bad with a moderate incline up and then we cruised back down on the way back.
  Once back to the car we drove through the rest of the park.  There was one trail we decided to hike.  It was up to the cinder cone and was only about 1.5 miles. The problem was that it was all uphill and the trail was covered with loose cinder which happen to be sharp and slick. Word of advise - the view totally worth the hike. The cinder cone just a hole.

  After getting really hot, dirty and sweaty we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the pool. The water was freezing so we just sat pool side and read.  I sat in the sun while Jason sat in the shade.  Works for me. 
  It was so relaxing and child free that it was a little hard to come home to the snow that awaited us back in Cache Valley.  On the way home we stopped at Ikea and bought Jason some shelves and cabinets for his office.  We ate dinner at 5 guys burgers and fries. YUMMY!!!
  The kids were so cute when we got home. They had made a big welcome home sign for us and they wanted to see my sunburn. (I didn't get one although I did get a nice tan).  Thanks again Jason and Dee for making this perfect weekend possible!

Sneak Peak for Marci

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go take pictures of my friend, Marci's baby boy.  He is ADORABLE!!! I know when I have pictures taken of my own kids I can hardly wait to see the finished product and so I wanted to post a couple sneak peaks for Marci. This first one (above) is one of my very favorite from the shoot.

This little guy LOVES his hands and we had a fun time trying to keep them out of his mouth but I did capture those sweet little hands in perfect hand model position.

You would think that this little guy would sleep through most of the photo shoot.  He isn't even a week old yet. Oh no! He was awake the ENTIRE TIME!!! Thank you Marci for letting me come take pictures!