Sunday, August 28, 2011

blessing - bubba is 3 months!

it's hard to believe that Colin is already 3 months!  why does time always fly when the baby is born, after it has crawled by for the 9 months before!  we were so excited to have our families over for Colin's baby blessing.  Jason gave him a beautiful blessing and we had a lovely lunch!

 the Earls:
 the Beardsleys:
 the grandparents:

 then we adjourned to our bedroom take some family photos with aunt Renee. 



Colin,
you have brought an amazing love and energy into our home.  your parents and sisters adore you!  you love our kisses, smiling and giggling all the time. we can't believe how lucky we are to have you in our home!  i didn't realize how much i wanted a son until you were born.  i can't wait to see what life has in store for you!
i love you,
Mommy

Monday, August 22, 2011

camping

so, our family has a great affinity for camping.  we were afraid that a new baby would make it too difficult to go this year, nothing to fear.  with a little determination, we pulled it off! 

the weekend started a little rocky with a thunderstorm.  we had to pull off the road and park under the cover of a gas station for 45 minutes so that everything we had packed in the jeep wouldn't get trashed.  then, we made it through the sprinkling to Walmart in Payson where i hopped out and bought a tarp.  as we looked at the skies, we wondered if we should turn back;
the rain continued to sprinkle as we hurriedly pitched our tent and threw our stuff inside.  but then, mercifully, it let up and we had beautiful weather for the rest of the weekend!
(the beautiful photos below are courtesy of my budding photographers, Anna and Madeline)
the first thing Jason bought after Colin was born was a bb gun.  he helped the girls shoot, they aren't bad!
there is nothing more fun than hanging out with the family in the middle of the beautiful forest!
bubba was a joy.  he loves the Baby Bjorn and would have probably slept better if i wasn't so paranoid that every sound he made was going to wake the girls. 
after we put the kids down, Jason and i sat by the fire.  we could hear them playing with their Toy Story dolls and looked back to see the action carried out in our own little shadow puppet theater.  i wish we got video, it was the cutest!  "to infinity and beyond!"
jeeping is one of our families favorite activities.  we love spotting wild life, and new spots for future camps.  the girls often take their afternoon naps in the jeep too!
can you stand how adorable my baby is?  i can't!  i have to kiss him every second!
if i had to choose a theme for the weekend, it would be flowers!  the girls showered me with wild flowers.

how beautiful are these woods? every time we're up here, i picture the girls running through these tall weeds in white dresses, dancing around like little angels. 
so, this time, i actually brought some white dresses, and we had ourselves a little photo session in the woods!







i love this shot of all my lovelies headed back to camp!
and lounging before changing back into our grubbies.
my men:
it was a beautiful weekend.  bittersweet to me, because i missed my release as young women's president at church.   but i was able to say my goodbyes the following week.  serving the youth is the best calling!  i hope it comes my way again someday. 

Monday, August 15, 2011

back to school photo shoot

so, i thought it would be awesome to forgo the posed school snap shot on a gnarly green screen background and do our own little back to school photo shoot.  i thought it turned out great.  but, Anna later expressed disappointment that she didn't get a traditional "school portrait."  i might do both next time, but i'm for sure sticking to our own photo shoot to commemorate a new school year!
   i adore this rustic apple.  it was perfect for a back to school session, but the lighting was all wrong at mid-day.  we still tried a few shots:




 Anna brought her old notebook and wanted a picture with her favorite drawing:


 finally, we made our way over to the original location:



 i love this first day of school outfit!  thank you H&;M!









 caught this cute little hair-flip while adjusting my settings:

 if she had it her way, this would be the pose for every shot!  what a ham!




love my little kindergartner!!!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

1st day of school!

the big day finally arrived, our first born is off to kindergarten!
Anna is at Ben Franklin Charter School and loving it!
we all went down to the school on the first day to attend flag ceremony!


 it was so fun, and luckily no tears were shed by student or mom.  Anna marched off to class and never looked back!

Monday, August 8, 2011

CA dreamin"

Autumn takes her family to Idaho every year for a family vacation, and this year she decided to carry that on to California!!!!  luckily she called me and i took my family to meet her.  the kids have been dying to see their cousins for a while! our trip started off on a yucky foot, first trip with Colin and we hit MAJOR traffic!!!  we took an hour detour through the desert and i got to see this awesome sky:
 finally, we reached grandma and grandpa's house and Colin got to meet his cousins!!!
 of course, we hit the beach most days, and these kids got to go crazy in the great weather with their bestest friends!!!


 me and my baby:
 Jason gave the kids a treat with some crack the whip, body board style!  Charlie was a huge fan!
 love these shots of Madeline:
 we spent one day down at Balboa, the pier, Ruby's, fun zone, ferry. in a word: awesome!

 Grandpa and his newest grandson, (newest grand daughter due in January ala Barrett and Autumn!)
 we took some cousin photos in these cute outfits, photos forthcoming:



 proud grandparents of 7 (going on 8)
 in LOVE with this shot of Maddie in dad's VP hat!!!!!  Daddy's little girl!
 grandpa and his girls!!!
 we had fun at the beach with friends:
 went to Irvine park to ride the ponies:
 grandma got the girls matching shirts and they had a blast looking so sweet!!!
all in all we had a blast!  love and miss our family so much!!!