Catch up yet again...

Can I just say I am dreading this. I have been putting off blogging because I know how long it is going to take. I have been super busy lately with photo shoots and trying to keep up with editing and the kids that I haven't had time to post or edit my own stuff lately. So today I decided to make time. I guess I will start by saying we had a great week with Josh off work. We went down to Annapolis and walked around down town and hung out at the docks, we went to Ocean City for a couple days and enjoyed the sun and water. We rented a boogie board and it was so much fun catching the waves. It reminded me of when we lived in Hawaii. I don't think I have boogie boarded since then. The kids had fun too. We also went to a place with Go carts and other fun things for the kids to do. We had a blast. And then we spent a day at six flags. We rode a few awesome roller coasters and then went to the water park to soak up the sun and cool off. The kids had a blast there too. Especially Deacon. He couldn't get enough of it. It was fun to watch him. Here are some pictures from the beach. Deacon relaxing on the beach. Here are some pictures of the kids together. I took them with my little point and shoot camera so the quality is not as good. I was just wanting to see if it was even possible for me to get a good picture of the two of them together. It took a lot of tries to get what I did get. Now I just wish I would have used my nice camera and background. Arlie got her first hair cut. The other day. She did really good and enjoyed getting it cut. Here is a before and after pic. So I guess that is about it. We are enjoying the nice weather here. Oh and I joined weight watchers 3 weeks ago and am really excited about my progress. So far I have lost 6 lbs. Maybe I will finally be able to get back to what I weighed when I got married. We will see.

Just playin around

Here is a picture of Arlie in one of my new dresses for my prop box. I decided to let her wear it to church today. I guess I was too excited and wanted her to try it out. Josh is home and it is so nice to have him back. We missed him so much. We had a nice fourth of July even though he was not here and Arlie loved the fireworks. We haven't done anything too exciting since Josh got back accept we did go to a Baysox game. That was fun. We are planning on going to the beach tuesday and wednesday this week. Not sure which beach yet and then friday we are planning on going to six flags. I am sure I will take lots of pictures. We are enjoying our summer so far. The weather has been really nice this year, not too hot and not too humid. IT is going by way too fast though. Deacon is growing and changing so much everyday. I think he is going to be walking in about a month. He likes to stand up on things and then let go and stand all by himself all the time. I was walking with him holding his hands around the house and he stopped and pushed my hands away so that he could stand there all by himself. He also has a little push car that he has started pushing around and walking with. I am sure it won't be long.

8 months old today

Wow I can't believe Deacon is already 8 months old. It has gone by so fast. He is growing and changing so much. He is so much fun and he has such a sweet spirit. I am enjoying everyday I get to be with him. It is going to be over before I know it.

For All you Fathers out there

Getting into Mischief

This is what happens when my kids are left unattended.

Some videos of this month

IT was Arlie's last day in gymnastics so we had to get some shots of her doing her thing.
There is a video at the beginning of the month right before Deacon started crawling. He has been crawling now for a week.
And a couple of videos of Arlie on her birthday. We had to get a video of her riding her car. THis is a nightly occurance at our place.
And of course singing happy birthday.

Trying to catch up

Wow it has been a really busy month so far and I haven't had any time to post about it. My mom and brother Travis came out and we had a really great time. It was so much fun spending time with them. We went to the National Zoo,


toured around DC,


went to the Temple,


went to Six Flags,


and celebrated Arlie's 3rd birthday.

I can't believe she is already three. First I will start this post out with a few pictures of my growing girl.
She was born June 8th, 2006. This picture was the day we left the hospital.

Here she is at 1 years old.


On her 2nd birthday:


And this year on her 3rd birthday:


THe past three years have gone by fast and I can't believe I am now a mother of two. Arlie has been such a joy to have in our family. She is so funny and sweet. And I love the new things she comes up with everyday.
Thank you to my mom, Travis, and Alyssa for being here and celebrating my beautiful girls big day. Also thanks to Alyssa for making the yummy bday cake.

We also decided to plan a last minute party with a couple of friends. We got the slip and slide out and made princess crowns. THe kids had fun but it was a crazy party. I did a retarded thing and decided to show the kids how to use the slip and slide with my clothes on.
THis is what happened to me.



I told the kids to stand and watch and my neighbor kid came out of nowhere and I think I got a knee to the nose. IT doesn't look that bad in the picture but it was gushing blood and bled for a few hours. 2 weeks later and my nose is still tender. Also we had a glass plate fall off the island and shatter into a million pieces. It was like an explosion. So needless to say it was an eventful party. Good thing it was a small one. I took a lot of pictures while my family was here but I am just going to post a few of my favorites. Of course I had to get some nice pictures of my mom and my brother while they were here.


And here are a few fun ones from the zoo. A butterfly landed on Arlie at the Elephant exhibit and it drew just as much of a crowd as the elephants did. It really liked her and kept hoping from her hand to her shirt to her shoulder to her eye and then back on her hand until she finally blew it off. It was very pretty.


Sweet baby Deacon and Travis hangin out.


And this last one is of Deacon looking through the glass at the monkeys. They were his favorite.

Memorial Weekend

We had a great Memorial weekend even though Josh wasn't here to spend it with us. People were nice and took pity on us and we were invited to a dinner or BBQ every night of the weekend. How awesome is that! The weekend kicked off with a 5k race saturday morning. I haven't ran in a race since before I had Arlie. It felt really good to get out there and do it. And I can't wait for the next one. I came in with a time of 31:30. Which for me at this point is really good. It was fun to run with friends too. After that we went to the pool. It was the first day of it being open. The kids had fun but the water was a bit cold so we didn't stay too long. I got a couple of pics of them but not any in the pool. I was too busy watching them to worry about a picture.


We are doing ok without Josh here but we do miss him a lot. Alyssa's birthday was on Monday and we went to Olive Garden for Lunch and then walked around a greenbelt near the Columbia Mall. We also had to stop and do a little shopping. I have been having a cupcake fetish lately and went to william sonoma and got a package of Sprinkles cupcakes to make for Alyssa's B-day. Yummy red velvet cupcakes. They were pretty much amazing.
Our good friends Aaron and Miranda Clark are in town visiting so I got the chance to hang out with them this week as well as take their baby's pictures. He is absolutely adorable! Maybe one of the cutest babies I have ever photographed.
My mom and my brother are coming out to visit next week. I am so excited to see them!!! It is going to be so much fun to just have them here. Yay!!!

One More

Fun New Stuff

So I got some new backgrounds for my studio that I am totally in love with. And I also got a neat wood floor from lowes to put in my studio as well. I am totally loving the look that it is giving me. I just had to post. I know the pic of Arlie with the wood floor is not the best pic of her. She really didn't want her picture taken. Just look at the floor and the background.
Also in other news- Deacon is getting 4 more teeth!!! All on top. Crazy! And Josh is leaving this week for another deployment and won't be home till 4th of July. Bummer. We will miss him.