Bryson, finally...

Starting in July, I began taking my kids out one at a time to take some pictures of them. I did Eryn first, then had a couple of crazy weeks before I could take Kaitlyn. After Kaitlyn's we had some more crazy weeks before I could take Hayden (and we took his when the other kids were in school) then MORE craziness - soccer, school, and my first wedding, for which I did engagements, bridals, and the wedding pictures all within a month. Like I said... CrAzY! Finally, it was Bryson's turn. He is my best model. He is my little photography buddy and budding photographer. He is the one who takes my dad's old Film SLR and says "okay, mom... stand here like this. Oh wait, let's find some better lighting... there! Perfect!" and pretend-snaps all kinds of fun pictures of me. He is the one who ALWAYS volunteers when I say "could one of you come outside and sit for me while I figure this new flash thing out?" when everyone else huffs, puffs, and quickly walks away... He's the one that says "Hey, mom... can you take a picture of me?" He is so great! So when I told him that I found a place that I wanted to try out for pictures, he was actually excited! He is funny. He loves to come up with his own poses, and "spots" to pose. Hayden came along, too, but of course was much more interested in picking up sticks and old pieces of cement. Anyway, here are Bryson's 6-yr-old (6 months late) fall portraits... finally! When I look at these, I can't believe how big my little buddy is getting. 1st graders are just so grown up! (And don't mind the good 'ol watermark... I already had them sized and stamped to put on my photography blog, so I just used the same ones. :) )

And, of course I have to post a few of Bryson's own, original poses. When your kid is saying "here, take a picture of me doing this..." how can you say no?

4-yr-old Portraits

So little by little I've been trying to get each of my kids out for a little photo shoot. Hayden's just happened to be a couple of weeks ago. I decided to take him out while the others were at school. I think it was the second day of school, in fact. It was fun to have just "mommy and Hayden" time. I'm not sure he felt quite the same way, since he's 4 and doesn't really like my camera much. I offered a small bribe, and he agreed. The first spot we stopped at, he was walking down the hill and slipped in some mud and landed right on his bottom (getting the backs of his legs and shorts muddy). Guess what? No big deal! I stayed nice and calm and made sure he was ok (which he was, of course) and remembered that we had a package of baby wipes in the car! The mud came right off his legs, but not so much the shorts. Good thing we take pictures from the front most of the time! He cooperated for a very short time... and the last place we decided to shoot, he was really tired of it, and decided that he really didn't need what I had bribed him with. "I don't care, mom. I already have one of those." So we stopped. I really didn't think I had gotten anything good, because he kept blinking his eyes, and half the shots were of them closed, but when I downloaded them to the computer, I was pleasantly surprised. I love my little crazy guy! Next (and last) on the photo shoot list is Bryson. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks... then we'll have to go out for our fall family pics. My poor kids. I think the sometimes wish my camera would somehow get lost.

Rock Star

Kaitlyn was invited to a birthday party last Friday, and she was supposed to dress as a ROCK STAR! Here is what we came up with... I thought she looked really cute. We originally were planning to get some temporary hair color, and streak her hair with some fun colors, but I never had the chance to get any... so she was a little concerned that she wouldn't look very Rockstarish, but I think she did, and she was really happy with how everything turned out.

They played Rock Band, watched the Hannah Montana movie, and had a great time :)

Kaitlyn's Turn

So I've been trying to take my kids out one at a time to get some cute pictures taken of them. I took Eryn first, and that same day Kaitlyn asked, "When's my turn?" It was a couple of weeks later when she finally got her "turn" and we had tons of fun. And it's been a couple of weeks since we did her pictures, but life has been so busy that I just haven't posted them before now.

And here are a few more:

B is for Bubbles!

My boys LOVE bubble baths. They are so funny in the tub. I'm trying to learn how to use my new flash, and they were the perfect models! I wanted to capture a memory of how much fun they had taking bubble baths. When I think about how fast they are growing up, it makes me kinda sad. One of these days, they aren't going to want to play in the bubble bath together anymore. It's already killin' me that B is going into first grade, and Hayden is in preschool for the last year. Where did my baby boys go? I love them so much. The conversations we have are priceless. They are getting really fun as they grow up, but I just can't believe how fast time flies. It's such a great reminder to me of how much more I need to be playing with them, before they don't want to play with me anymore. I love my little buddies!

Big Changes

Eryn is growing up so fast! She is going to be in 6th grade this fall, which at her school is MIDDLE SCHOOL! I can't believe I have a kid that old. She is such a great daughter. She's so fun to be around. She decided a couple of weeks ago that she needed a haircut. Her hair was getting so long, and it was hard to manage. Brushing was a pain! So finally, after days and days of asking, I called our friend who cuts hair, and she came over and gave Eryn a really cute haircut.

Then, the very next day, we headed to the orthodontist to have braces put on! Another crazy thing for me to think about... I was in 9th grade when I got my braces on, and didn't get them off until my Jr. year in High School (which was SO frustrating!) And now, here's my sweet Eryn getting braces in 6th grade! Lucky kid! All the crazy braces memories are coming back to me, like how sore your teeth are when they get tightened, how weird they felt the first few days, how depressing it was to not be able to eat certain foods... but Eryn is going to do great. And doesn't she look so cute!?!?

Pictures

My sister-in-law asked me to take her bridal pictures, so I wanted to find some great places that were close-by to use. So I took Eryn out to see what we could find. Kaitlyn came along as my assistant. She held the reflector, carried my camera bag, said crazy things that made us laugh, and was just a great sport. Eryn was a great model, as usual, and I got some fun pictures that I can't wait to have printed. Now Kaitlyn is asking when her turn is for pictures. So then, the next week, we took Marie and her fiance Jeff out for some bridal/groomal pictures. It was SO fun and I think we got some good ones. Here are the results of our outings.

And a bunch more...

It has been so fun getting to know Jeff, and we are so happy for him and Marie. They have been able to come down from school and spend several weekends with us. Marie has been going to BYU Idaho, and Jeff has been at Utah State. We've had so much fun playing Apples to Apples, with popcorn and lemonade, and just hanging out. Jeff is such a great guy, and we are glad that Marie has found him. Our kids think he's a jungle gym. They just love him! It's been fun seeing Marie grow up. I think she was about 10 when I first met her, and now she is getting married! Time sure does fly... WE LOVE YOU JEFF AND MARIE! We wish we could be with you in Virginia for your wedding.

Hayden's Birthday!

Well, time sure does fly! Hayden turned three (yep, 3!) last week - July 16th. It's hard to believe it's been 3 years. He is such a sweetie (a little wild, really busy and curious, and ALL BOY!) We had a little cake and gift party as a family on Wednesday, then on Friday, Grandma, PapaBob, Jodie and Corey came over for MORE cake and ice cream. His favorite gift was his bubble mower!

Then, on Friday I took Hayden (along with a little BRIBE) for Birthday portraits. He did fairly well (for a kid who HATES my camera!)

Feeling "Blue"

Ha ha! Actually, the girls might have been a LITTLE blue about school ending, but we are looking forward to summer! On the last day of school, I picked up the girls and we went "downtown" to take some LAST DAY OF SCHOOL pictures by a cool blue wall I found. It was bright! We went across the street behind some old buildings for some cool brick wall pictures too. These two are growing up way too fast! Eryn just finished 4th grade, and Kaitlyn just finished 2nd. Next year we'll have 3 in school! Time sure does fly!

Here are some more of the pictures we took. We had fun!

Unwilling Model

I finally got some pictures of Hayden, although it took some serious bribery. We had to go up to Highland to deliver a paper so that Eryn could get her savings bond she won in the Arbor Day writing contest... and the boys were being so good. I asked if they wanted to go to the park! I did have one condition... I told Hayden "you can play at the park, but first Mommy wants to take a few pictures." Of course he SAID okay, but actions speak louder than words. He was NOT feeling the picture taking thing today. The only smiling picture I got was a FAKE SMILE. Everything else (almost) was looking at something else, or pointing at something else. So we were satisfied with what we got, and the boys got to go play for a bit. Someday, hopefully he won't hate my camera so much!

Kids and Dogs

Well, I guess it's been about a month now since we got our little dog Mushu. He is still trying to decide if he likes the kids... He is MY shadow. I swore I'd never have an inside dog, but I must admit that he's growing on me. He's pretty good for the most part. He's having the hardest time adjusting to Mr. Hayden (thus, no picture of Hayden with Mushu). I'm absolutely sure that he is named after the dragon on Mulan. He is tiny, but thinks he is big and important. The kids LOVE him, and he tolerates them fairly well.

Pictures of Bryson

These are the pictures I took of Bryson yesterday. He is so
cute to let me practice on him. He had great ideas for
poses. Hayden isn't as cooperative, but I'll keep trying! If you click on it, you can see the pictures bigger.