Taylor & Jaycee

My good friend, Kellie, wanted me to make a tutu for her daughter, Taylor. I really wanted to see how it looked so we decided to go to Thanksgiving Point & get some pictures of her wearing it & some cute pictures of Jaycee with her guitar. Plus, this wonderfully talented supervisor of mine, Mary, knit this adorable little jacket for Marley & I wanted pictures of her in that. I still cannot get over the quality of Mary's knitting...the jacket is BEAUTIFUL! I found that taking pictures of kids that actually listen & can sit still makes photography so much more fun & relaxing! Taylor & Jaycee cooperated beautifully! It was such a good experience!

Marley, per usual, is NOT cooperating with me to take pictures! So, of course, these photos, which are mediocre at best, are the best ones I got. But you can see how cute that little blue knit jacket is!


I like the pictures of Taylor & Jaycee together.



The only time Marley cooperated was with Taylor & Jaycee...so I really like the ones of them together. Marley is actually smiling & looking at the camera! I really like the one of Taylor & Jaycee looking at each other!



Taylor loves the camera & the camera loves her. She took some great photos!


I love that Jaycee brought the guitar on her own accord. I think Kellie was skeptical about having it in the pictures, but I thought it turned out nicely!



I love the sepia colored on where Taylor's sitting in the chair sideways, but I cut off her face when I made the collage! Dang it!


These action ones are awesome! I love, love, love Jaycee's rocker poses!

Labor Day

For Labor Day this year we convinced the Larsens & my brother, Seth, & my sister, Alece, to go to Huntsville, UT. Several people at work told me to go check out Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity monastery. I bought some of the honey that they are famous for (which is actually pretty good). We tried to see the monks in action, but timed it wrong & missed the chanting they do in the church (which I have also been told is really cool).

We also stopped by the house Pres. David O. McKay was born in, but sadly missed the tour by one week. They close for the winter September 1st! The house was really pretty & in a beautiful area...maybe next time!

I was really impressed by how beautiful Huntsville is and that it's considered a Park City with a lake. Hopefully it will stay small & not become another Park City!

Is it worth it?

My absolutely wonderful friend in Phoenix, Chantae, was kind enough to make these absolutely lovely pettiskirts!! Mandi & I took our daughters to Thanksgiving Point to take a few photos here & a few photos there. Sounds easy, in theory, right? Not quite. First, meeting up was this huge deal because we were waiting up for each other on opposite ends of Thanksgiving Point wondering where the other one was. After a couple text/phone calls, we finally met up. BUT, we weren't allowed to go in this certain area to take what they call "portrait" photos. So we packed everything back up & drove to a different location in Thanksgiving Point--to an apparently "portrait" photos-appropriate area. So now it'd be downhill from there, right? Again, not quite. After getting the kids all decked out, I started to take some pictures, but of course no one wanted to cooperate at the same time. Sometimes one would be good and the others would fuss or one would start to fuss & it would cause a cascade of emotions. Mandi even had huge lollipops as a bribe, which, you guessed it, did not work. Two adults is just not enough man power for getting three little girls to cooperate for the camera. Out of the HUNDREDS of photos taken, only about ten percent actually turned out decent enough to actually display. It was seriously stressful, time consuming, & draining! Next time we will prepare better & bring an extra set or two of hands, or pay someone else to deal with it!


I love Sadie in action! She looks so funny twirling in her skirt & running down the path!

These are some of my very favorite photos of Sadie. The stars were in line and everything fell in to place!!

Sadie looks adorable here as well!!

These pictures were a little more difficult as she didn't cooperate as well!

Marley was being an absolute pill during this! I really don't like what I did with the black & white one, but I was kind of stuck with it. Ugh!

These are a little better...

I think that these are the best ones of Marley. I really think that they turned out well. It's weird that I had more turn out of Sadie than anyone else...at the time I was taking the pictures, I definitely wouldn't have guessed that!

Kinley did really well when we first started taking pictures. I love her little smile & especially love the one where she's looking up at the camera.

As sad as it may be, these are the best shots I had of all of the girls together. I can't even express how tough it was to get pictures like these. And they are mediocre at best!!

"30 Sucks"!

My friend, Necia, from all the way back to elementary school, turned the big 3-0 this year, along with her twin bro, Clint. A big surprise birthday party was thrown in their honor. They pitted Necia's friends against Clint's friends in a Pros vs Joes battle royal which involved layups, dribbling, and slam dunks. In the end, the teams were tied 71-71! Happy birthday Necia!

Each of their birthday cakes had 30 candles on them...they both about passed out trying to blow them out!

"30 Sucks"! Necia's sister-in-law made these cute little 'sucker' cookies...what a clever idea!

Picture Time

I convinced Mandi to bring her kids up so we could try and take photos again. Fortunately, for me, she's nice enough to go along with it, being as I'm still quite the amateur photographer! I don't practice nearly enough to be really good at it. But it's fun to practice when I can. I still can't decide if these pictures of the girls are worse, better, or about the same as the tutu ones...and the kids weren't really any more cooperative than the last time and it took a little bit of bribing!

I love the one on the bottom far right hand corner...Kinely's face is so sad but so adorable!

I love that Sadie gave Kinley kisses!

I tried to add Marley to the mix but she wasn't having any of it! The first few photos probably would've turned out if Marley wouldn't have been screaming her head off! After I changed her outfit and gave Marley time to cool down, it got a little better!

I love Sadie's smile in the bottom far left picture because it's so sweet and genuine! I also got Sadie to do the pageant wave!

How can you not think this little baby girl is not the cutest thing ever!! Kinley actually was the most well behave throughout the photo shoot!

I looove the face that Kinley is making in the top right hand photo...doesn't it make you want to give her a hug and kiss?

Babywood

Our friend's adorable little twins turned one! I was so excited for their party because, of course, Amie went ALL out! I thought her idea of "babywood" and having the twins be the stars of the show was so original and so cute! Loved the red carpet, the velvet ropes, and the "babywood" sign! Happy birthday Avery & Court!

Mack Attack

Marley's little buddy, Mack, came by one day during an evening walk. As you can see they hit it right off and are going to be best of friends :)