PhotoJenic Photography [blog]

While we are still trying to get the kinks out of implementing a new schedule around here, everyone seems to be adjusting well to days in school.

This was a B I G year with Dawson finally going to Kindergarten @ his big brother’s school.  All plans and expectations for the tears and dramatic holding for dear life on the leg were thrown out the door.  This kid was ready, brave and walked himself alone right through the gate to his new life of S E V E N hours of school!  Thankfully since he didn’t cry, neither did I…but my heart did hurt a little as I sent him on his way HOPING he would do ok and cope well.

“Yes mom, this smile is as painful for me as it is for you…now can I go play?”

Brennan…he on the other hand is an old pro at the school stuff.  The camera/posing/smiling stuff…well, he’d rather have none of that…after all it was “TOO BRIGHT” and “Mom, I really want to go so I can play basketball.”

This is our new life, Dawson = no concept of time/fast/schedule/bell/recess. Brennan = DIES if we are not there RIGHT when the gates open.  I know, you’re jealous you can’t spend mornings with us =)

Well of course we are Equal Oppertunity around here.  Where one gets a backpack…so does the others =)  (oddly enough she’s the one that isn’t going to school and yet was the only one to get a NEW backpack this year. I let the kids use their old ones cuz for once I realized…they REALLY ARE JUST FINE…and hey…this one was only $5!). The boys can get new ones this year when the old ones break…I’m sick of having a million backpacks. =)

Stylin’

No boys today? Of COURSE I’m excited MOM! Maybe I can actually PLAY with my dolls without someone grabbing it or throwing it.

Our SUPER SHORT…but INSANELY HOT walk to school =)

While the boys are away…the girls WILL play.  A few photos before we headed out to lunch with friends.

And no First Day of School is complete without homemade cookies and  some milk…

And yes, Dawson IS mad at me in this photo…what he most definitely HAS NOT adjusted to is being happy/nice/respectful when he gets home…he is tired! Hopefully, over time this will improve. In the meantime the cookies sure help…both of us =)

Today is his birthday.  One of the things he loves more than birthdays is posts about him on my blog…I tell ya, this is his FAVORITE thing…even more than replacing a water heater on his special day =)

So we don’t want to let the day go without a big shout out to the man of the house…these are the presents you didn’t know you got today…

The boys loved you SO much, they asked as soon as school was over if you were home yet.

In fact, Dawson loved you SO MUCH he threw his first big tantrum at school that he was going to miss out on giving you his present and that he was most definitely “NOT STAYING HERE” and absolutely going to “RUN OUT OF THAT GATE!” Once informed the gates were locked he screamed that he would just “GO THROUGH THE OFFICE THEN.”  But then once the teacher said, “please stop yelling at me, I’m not yelling at you” he started crying and then settled for a call to mommy and making a card for you at school.  See, I told you he loved you…oh but you knew that already didn’t you?

We worked REALLY hard to make sure you could tell our home was full of love today. So that’s why the sink is still full of dishes…cuz it’s a reminder of those sweet kids you gave me. And the laundry you tripped over? Rest assured ONE load of it was washed and EVEN PUT AWAY TODAY! We KNOW that’s a present.

Emery sure showed you her love when we showed up to your office to have lunch with you and she would have nothing to do with you, cried loudly when you picked her up and only wanted Mommy.  She just didn’t want you to have to carry her down to the car since we know sometimes that gets old.  But she was sure happy you could give her that candy since she was magically your friend again after that.

And you know those REAL presents you got? Well, the truth is, those presents weren’t your ONLY presents because I KNEW you’d be more excited about this one.  YESTERDAY…AND TODAY your air was kept all the way up at 81!  It really started out as a mistake, but then it became a challenge…and it was a challenge I conquered (except for yesterday when at 5pm I turned it down to 78 for awhile). I just know how happy the summer Electricity bill makes you so I conserved two days of energy keeping the temp at 81.  And now I’m glad your birthday is over, cuz you see, I am NOT doing that again.

And tonight when, if you ever go to bed…IF…when you snore…I’m not even going to hit you or yell at you. And I’m going to try REALLY hard not to KICK you too.  Unless you don’t roll over like always…then I make no promises.

Happy Birthday!

Wish I could say this image was taken on our recent (soon to be blogged) trip to St. Lucia.  But since I couldn’t pack my favorite photographer in my bag, or convince her to come…this was a beautiful image taken in Newport last year as we vacationed with them =) Thanks girl.

Or no more freedom…depending on who you’re considering.

I leave for a week and I come back to find this cute lil’ thing has used her time away from Mommy and Daddy wisely.  At 2 years 5 months it has never dawned on her to climb out of her bed…but it finally hit her…and thus the beginning of the end…now she will determine her schedule a little more than I will…

Can’t you just see the little snicker in her face…”ha ha mommy”

Since we were super smart and didn’t buy a bed that converts into a toddler bed, this newfound experiment has me a little busy figuring out a new bed for her this week. In the meantime I didn’t want to forget how cute she was as a toddler in her baby crib…

I’ll miss greeting this face in the morning and after naps as she waits for me to get her up.

She would NEVER let her brothers get her up, only mommy or daddy or a sitter.

How could you not just love this face?

Her smile brightens my day…so many times a day.

This adorable red head recently had his birthday, last week to be exact. This year he celebrates 8 years! I can’t believe it…I think this means I’m getting old. He has grown to be such a little stud. Super social, SUPER sporty, helpful when he wants and of course a tease being the big brother.

One thing I’ve really come to love and appreciate about Brennan though, is his love of learning. This kid can sit and do math or really any work for hours. He makes a game out of us giving him complex problems that he wants to figure out in his head. He has also grown to really love reading. The other night after being in bed for 2 hours, he came to my desk after 10pm to show me a paper. On it was a bunch of numbers…math problems in his own handwriting. The total sum of all the numbers I think was 284. He then began to show me a stack of books he’d just finished reading instead of being asleep like we asked. He added up the number of pages in each book and then brought me out the list so I could see how much he read! I thought it was the cutest thing…I was surprised it didn’t put him to sleep like it does me =) Along with his love of learning has been a budding testimony. He takes in everything he is taught about Jesus Christ and remembers it with so much detail. He loves to hear stories from the scriptures and is constantly objecting when we read together so he can ask questions or talk about what we’re reading. I LOVE this. If there is one thing I want my children to really learn it is a love for the gospel and an appreciation for all the joy it brings to our lives.

Today Brennan will be baptized. In our church children are able to be baptized at 8 years old. Brennan is so excited to take this step. And what’s more important is that he really understands why he needs to be baptized and he knows it is a special experience that will bring him many blessings.

Today we will celebrate with him. Proud that he has a desire to do what is right and grateful for the Lord’s hand in blessing our family.

I could never be a Mother.

I came across this image today that I don’t believe I ever blogged.  It makes me happy.  He loves her…and she loves him and that just makes anyone smile…just like playing human cannon ball.

This image was taken in Newport Beach  just after sunset by the talented Marnee when her family graciously hosted ours back in September for a beach and Disney vacation!

*Shot at ISO 400, F 8.0 200

Proof that for one moment…a second…or maybe just a millasecond…they all loved each other!

I love Valentine’s Day because I just love “LOVE” and the excuse to do something extra special for these people who I love so much! Tonight we had candlelight dinner, the 5 of us and we tried to teach the boys what Valentine’s is all about. While discussing with them what love is and all the different ways we show love, we enjoyed intermittent songs from Emery of “Happy Birthday to You” every time she noticed the candle was still lit at our table.  =)

Here are the valentine cards we made for the kids classes…I should have taken a photo with the candy attached, but hey, that was more work than I cared to do…Brennan’s had “fun dip” attached to the right

and Dawson gave Hershey “Kisses” to his classmates!

Of course one of the best parts of this holiday is a date night and one on one time with my honey…that always makes me very happy! As does these photos courtesy of the fabulous Marnee Marriott.

He makes me HAPPY and I am so blessed.

I woke up that morning and didn’t take long to realize the course of my day would be a little different than planned.  I had “PLANNED” to have an early baby to space it out from Valentines (she was due February 13th), I had then “PLANNED” to wait until Valentine’s the next day so my first girl could come on that special day, well this little one had her own “PLAN”.  So for the first time in my 3 pregnancies, I experienced having my water break at home, just as soon as I got up that morning. It was so fun, my little secret I waited ’til after I showered to share with my hubby…and even though I was SO EXCITED, I never knew how truly fun she would be!

I still can’t believe this little girl is two, her growth has gone the fastest by far of my 3 kids.  She is the light of our lives, a true blessing!  Never have I enjoyed this toddler stage so much! I suppose it has nothing to do with the insane tantrums and never ending crying the boys seemed to experience at this age!  Emery has her spunk and can talk back like the best of ‘em, but she’s easily distracted still and we can usually negotiate with her over her frustrations so they don’t turn into tantrums…I swear it makes this age just that much more fun!  I am certain she’ll pay us back in the teen years and the boys will likely be easy then =)

Here’s she is, 2…going on pre-teen!  This photo was quite heartwrenching for dad, she just looks too grown up like this!

Here are the things I love about my girl at this age!

- Her cuddles, loves and need for rocking and songs to soothe her to sleep

- How she watches her brothers and follows and copies nearly everything they do

- How she yells at her brothers for everything, now learning a baby version of “dop boys” and “dop B”

- How she sings “Hap bur day to u” and tells everyone Happy Birthday on her special day

- How she scowls at me like this and yells “NO Mommy” to me exercising her new found toddler independence

- How she looks when she runs, so cute to see tiny little people run

- How she runs up to Daddy and wraps her arms around his legs when he comes home…melts my heart

- How she plays favorites, some days a Mamma’s girl, some days Daddy’s girl and many of days she’s the adopted daughter of a few friends or my nanny and she wants nothing to do with us

- How she picks up anything electronic and says “HEWO” as she puts it to her ear

- How excited she is to bring the boys their waters to their bed at night…this IS her job

- How she loves to go “WEE” on the swing or the slide

- She’s a girly girl…loves her purses, shoes and babies. Must have a purse and baby nearly anywhere we go

- How she graciously says “DANK YOU” when people stop and compliment her cute curls when we’re on the go

- How she always wants to go somewhere “mommy, I go bye bye” (she’s definitely my girl…)

- How she cares for her babies, even recently putting Daddy’s deodorant on her baby…she lifted the shirt and put it on her baby’s tummy

- Her smile, her curls, her sass, her cute little teeth and beautiful brown eyes…just her, love everything about her.

Happy TWO baby girl! Some pics of her cute little party will come soon.

Since we are having an unseasonably COLD day…these 60’s are KILLER aren’t they =)…and since the world is suffering from complete BLIZZARD conditions, I thought it might be a good time to share our recent snow day with you! We took a drive up to Flagstaff after our crazy week of winter storms and I have to say, it was my most favorite and the most BEAUTIFUL drive to the snow EVER! Here are some unedited (i.e. no retouching) pics from our day! To start off THIS was our view out our front windshield! I swear our window wasn’t that clean…but isn’t that a GORGEOUS drive?

Truth be told, this little munchkin while cute as can be, was much happier in the warm car than out in that fun, fluffy, white stuff!

Dawson was thankfully really into it this year…he didn’t however like the SUPER DUPER BIG hill.

Brennan was super brave, way more than me! Here he is heading down the hill “surfing” style…scared me to even watch.


Emery was not the biggest fan but showed some interest and was therefore taken down on a sled despite her hesitation…mean parents we are.

Despite our best efforts to teach Dawson how to make an angel, we didn’t have much success! The snow was SERIOUSLY powder soft and wouldn’t form, I had never felt anything like it. You couldn’t even form a snowball it was so fresh and soft! That’s my boy on the top of that hill of snow, this was all the excess plowed from the parking lot!

At the end of our play we had the REAL fun! Who needs, sleds, hills and snowballs when you can just have Daddy LAUNCH you into the snow?

Each time they literally had to be dug out, I didn’t believe them at first but it took a bit to uncover them in the more than waist high snow!

When we finished playing we drove around a bit and I got a few cool shots before heading home…
Can we all say THANK GOODNESS for cell phones? =)



Really? Where do they put the mail?
Can someone PLEASE weigh in on this…is this not ANIMAL ABUSE? THERE in the middle of all of that snow are actually TWO HORSES…yeah thanks for the back blanket thing, but honestly with snow completely covering the legs is the blanket really doing any good? Someone please tell me horses are ok in all of that, cuz I was feeling really bad for them.

And last but not least…loved all the beautiful icicles!

In a moment of PURE SELF INDULGENCE, I decked out my daughter like this the other day…

and took her to church!!!
Such a girl, already knows how to twirl…

And even if it was a bit over the top…how can you resist this face?

And really, when else will she get to wear it?