Hello, my poor abanded blog!

Hi there, it's been a long time.

I was feeling the need to reconnect with you. I love looking back at old posts and remembering the adventure we were on.

We've been on many adventures that haven't been written down. This makes me feel sad because those memories get lost. Life is so busy, crowed with stuff, and I get so overwhelmed by it all sometimes.

If I had to describe how I've felt the last couple of months it would be with the word: OVERWHELMED.

I'm not sure why...

I recently finished a book called Carry on Warrior:The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life. In one of the chapters she talked about gifts. Each of us has one. This gift is what we do that gives us joy. You must do that thing and not worry about the outcome. And I started thinking about what brings me joy. What makes getting out of bed in the morning worth it? What do I do that makes me excited?

I love capturing moments. I really do. I used love my camera, and I used to love this little blog of mine. But, then I started looking outside. My pictures weren't as good as I wanted, I didn't have anything profound to write. I was looking at what others did with similar gifts and felt like I wasn't good enough. That what I brought to the table was just junk. So, I've missed out. Letting that little voice of doubt become the only voice I was listening. This did not fill me with joy, duh. I was letting that voice that told me that I am not enough, rule everything.

So, I decided it was time to change the thinking... one baby step at a time. I pulled out my camera (not my phone) and took the kids to the Springs Preserve on one of their short days. We had fun, and I capture some sweet moments:

 Have you ever noticed how many pictures of you kids' backsides you get?

This weekend we took the kids up to the mountains to hike, and I took my camera. Do I love all the pictures I took. No. No I don't. I realized how out of practice I am. But, and there is a huge BUT, the moment was captured.

 Seriously, how cute are these three? Ephram wanted to walk with his ammama.

 I was BRAVE. I gave my hubby the camera so that I would be in some of the pictures.  I can do scary things!

Yesterday the moon was big and bright. I got my camera out and took a few pictures. Then the kids and I played with long exposer and a flash light. So fun.

When Beka and Ephram were in the bath that night, they looked so cute. I grabbed my camera and took a few fun shots of them.

Life has to be about more than just surviving moment to moment. We have to find how we can bring a little joy to the world. To bring our gift to the table and be OK with what our gift is.

This is what I am going to be working on. Being OK with what I bring to the world and squashing that voice inside of me that says you aren't! Squish! Squash!

Hello SUMMER!

School is over. Holy cow, this year has gone so fast! The kids have grown so much... don't believe me? Check these first day/last day pictures:

Riley 3rd grade

Teacher: Mr. Doug Hardy

Favorite subject: science

Favorite color: red

Favorite food: burgers

Best Friend: Jacob

Least favorite subject: Math

Emmaline: Kindergarten

Teacher: Ms. Jenn Schy

Favorite Subject: drama

Favorite color: hot pink

Favorite food: shells and cheese

Best Friend: Lydia

Least favorite subject: none

Rebeka: Preschool

Teacher: Mrs. Cindy Taylor

Favorite Subject: Painting

Favorite color: orange

Favorite food: Chinese noodles

Best Friend: Kenya

Least favorite thing about school: Getting up to go

Ephram: well, he's just cute!
Likes: chocolate, shells and cheese, making messes
dislikes: nap time, being told no

Hope everyone has a safe and fun summer!!! We have a crazy summer... we are moving! Wish us luck!

Pictures Overload!

So, New Year. How did that happen? I swear this year flew, seriously flew by me! Welcome 2014! It just dawned on me that next year I will be celebration my 20 year high school graduation! Good heavens that was a long time ago. Well, this post is really more about sharing some fun family pictures I got to take the last couple of weeks.

My mom wanted a family picture, so we did a quick on at Thanksgiving. It's not my faviorite pictures ever, but everyone is looking cute:

I took Soren and his sweetheart out one afternoon in November:

Did I mention they got engaged a couple of weeks ago? YEAH!! So excited to have a new member of the family!!!

I had the family go out the day before and scout out the light and area for the session. I got this super cute pictures of my girls.

I also got to do Brigham's family in December. I really love taking pictures of family. It's so much fun!

So the day before Christmas I decided I just had to do a family picture with my kids... I'm not sure why I felt this weird need... But I did. So I took the kids out to the park and asked, no begged them to be nice. I got a few really cute pictures, and after Allen came home we took a family picture together.

Finally, I took Demya and Benson's family picture a couple of days ago. I really like how the turned out! I got a new lens for Christmas and this was the first trip out. It was so fun to have a new toy to play with.

I made Demya do some head shots with me. She a band director and I knew she need some for her website and programs and such. I LOVE how this turned out:

So, there you have it! I take too many pictures, hee hee. Really, I love doing it. I like making people feel good about the way they look. It's been neat going through some older pictures and seeing how much better I'm getting. The improvement has slowed down a bit because I haven't been taking as many pictures lately, but I'm going to be working on that this year.

Happy New Year!