aunt Corbynn gets married!!!!

it's a little hard to believe, but my baby sister is now a wife!  and she was a beautiful bride!

 we had so much fun in California, hanging out with our family and preparing for the big day.  the girls were so excited to be flower girls again.  it was beautiful being able to attend the Temple with my siblings, i'd never had a chance to do that before. 

also exciting, being the photographer, bridesmaid, and mother of 3 fo the 5 flower girls. i could not have pulled this off with out a diligent husband, and an awesomely talented, and immensely fun second shooter, my cousin Erin of Erin T Photography!

it was really great to meet Ty's family and know that my sister was welcomed with open arms into their family. 

i love these next two shots because they show how quickly families can grow:

one side effect of shooting the wedding while being in the wedding was i misplaced my camera bag for a small lifetime.  i turned around to leave the Temple and it was missing.  panic ensued, but i kept it inside, i soldiered on to the luncheon, praying someone i knew had grabbed my bag to "help" me.  slowly, i eliminated this as a possibility, my bag (lenses, laptop, cell phone, wallet, etc.) was simply missing.  so was my husband, because he had gone on a detectives mission to FIND my bag.  i love this shot Erin grabbed, this is Jason after finding my bag:

once that craziness was over, i felt SO much better.  and i was able to be in the moment again.  doesn't Corb look happy!

my brother and his cute little fam, including my super sweet new nephew Charlie!

Erin and I took the happy couple down to the beach for some bridals.

later that night we rocked the reception with fun times for all and a little photobooth for guests (or photographers) to ham it up!

my little angels didn't last long at the reception after this fun day!  Maddie fell asleep in her pasta, and Avery conked out in Jason's arms.  but before that, they had a great time!

lower temps = dirtier kids

we're back to playing outside again!!!!  we require more baths.....

hole in one!

 it's no secret that a favorite pass time in our home is golf.  Jason is thrilled when the girls want to come out and chip with him in the back yard.  ( this happens like 3-4 nights a week)  he always tells me Anna is pretty good.  but, i'm pretty much a golf moron, so i blindly believe.  i just say, "that's great."  well, even a moron knows that a hole in one is GREAT!!!

it's quite a shot, as you can see.  even daddy doesn't do it every time. 

way to go Anna.  your one step closer to that college scholarship your grandpa is always talking about!

holy zucchini

my zucchinis really didn't perform this year, they were late and then all seemed to rot out.  but this one appeared out of nowhere.  it was so big Avery couldn't even hold it. 

i also have some watermelon and cantaloupe making a late showing....any advice?

silly sock day

spirit days are back!  today was silly sock day, and Madeline went all out.  these are some silly, silly socks!

i get a lot of summoning from this girl.  "mom, take a picture of me like this!"  how can i resist? 

this little girl can't wait to be a big school girl as well!  she is so interested in all that the big girls do.

the beach!

so we were in California for Aunt Corbynn's wedding, and there will be a more thorough post on that soon.   but the second reason we visited was to get some much needed beach time!  and while we did that, Jason's wildest dreams finally came true.  his girls were not afraid of the water, and loved bodyboarding!!!!

okay, so loved may be a little overboard where Madeline is concerned, but she did it.

 our little gidget!

 this little beach baby finally got over her fear of the sand!

 no one was around to take a picture of this, Avery loves to pick and pull at my face.  i think it is an expression of love. 

 love these high-fives!

 we did some shell collecting too.  each girl found many and we will be using them in some crafts soon.  any ideas? 

going to the park - California style!

we got in to my parents' house at 2am on Thursday, and then left at 9 so wedding prep could begin.  after a fun breakfast at Arthur's (Jason had never been.  what?) we were a little stumped on what to do for an hour before we could check into our hotel.  then it hit us.  we were driving with the windows down.  it was cool outside.  we could do whatever we wanted!!!!!!  we went to the park, the outside park!

Avery loves the "baby swing." she could stay in here for hours on end.

"look mom, the slide isn't burning my rear!"

Madeline is the sweetest big sister.  unfortunately, Avery is a bit of a tyrranical baby sister.  she takes so much advantage of Maddie's sweetness.  she'll grow out of the terrible twos, right?  here they share a moment of harmony.  see, Avery isn't kicking, hitting, pulling hair, or biting.  what a happy day!

my sweet little model, always has a pose she wants me to capture!

we just don't have parks like this in the east valley, everything is too new.  i love all the old archetecture, like these "castle steps", the old shady trees, the green grass, cool air.  okay, summertime in AZ makes me a little homesick.  especially when it's starting to be autumn everywhere else!

works of art

i tell myself i'll take pictures of the girls artwork instead of keeping it all. i usually end up keeping it for a while.  until it falls apart, or starts overcrowding everything in my office.  here's the latest:

 in Anna's preschool we we studying the color orange and letter G.  the kids went through magazines to find things that fit the mold.  Maddie found a G and some orange jewelry, but then she focused only on jewelry and never quite got back on task:

 Anna found a lot of things, mostly focusing on orange.  then she neatly arranged everything on her paper in rows before gluing them down:

it's fun to see how their different artistic personalities develop!