Loving Life

Catching up...

2012-02-01T16:01:00.000-08:00

This is a long post for me so make yourself comfy :)
I feel like I don't blog about our day to day life as much as I used to, so here is a nice long post that does just that.

We spent Saturday working around the house.
Started the day off with pancakes then I got to work cleaning my house while Matt started outside.
These two played very nicely together while I cleaned.
They had quite the little tea party set up.

Then we all headed outside and I helped Matt the rest of the day. We accomplished quite a bit. We rototilled some compost into our front yard and got it all smoothed out (we had already rototilled all the dead grass and raked it out). Now we are just about ready to seed.

The kids had fun playing outside while we worked...
getting nice and filthy and looking like ragamuffins :)
That's how Saturdays should be, right?

We keep trying to teach her how to pedal the trike,
she hasn't gotten it quite yet.

We called it quits around 4:30 since we could hardly move.
It was an order in pizza and watch a movie kind of night :)

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Sunday after church I decided I needed to get into a few pictures since I couldn't find one from the month of January with me in it. I try to get in at least several of them a month for the sake of my kids :)

And an arm shot of me and my honey....

Shortly after my mom came over and watched the kiddos while Matt and I got to go out all afternoon. The best part is we didn't ask her, she asked US. She missed the kids and wanted to spend tiem with them. Aren't grandparents the best??? We headed to the movies and saw "One For the Money". I've read a lot of those Stephanie Plum books and enjoyed the movie.

After the movie we cruised on over to Hangar 24 (a local brewery) and each had a beer. I had a chocolate stout that was super yummy. It was such a beautiful day out and we got to watch the sunset. After taking our time there we headed over to Mill Creek Cattle Company and enjoyed some good meat for dinner. The best part is we also had gift certificates. The only money we had to spend was on our drinks at Hangar. It was so fun to spend the afternoon together. The best part was that we got home just in time to put our kids to bed and then enjoyed a nice quiet evening.

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I had to post these two pictures of Matt and Alayna cuddling on that same afternoon...
so precious.

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I figured since January is over I'd post the last couple of projects I did. The flu seriously hindered my progress, but that's okay, I still feel happy with the things I accomplished.

Matt helped me hang these frames in our hall.
By help I mean I begged him, and then told him where I wanted them,
then he did the rest.
I've had the frames for months and am happy to finally have them hung.

I also made this cute little project after seeing it on Pinterest.
It's been fun to have this little message board in our room and sweet to write each other little notes.
It definitely makes me smile when I see a new note for me :)

I was excited to use one of my vintage belt buckles that have been sitting in my craft supplies. I also made two burlap flowers and used one of my vintage buttons. The frame was actually new.

Alright, I think that's about it for now, whew, hope I didn't bore you :)

Alayna's First Haircut

2012-01-25T07:51:00.000-08:00

Matt and Ethan got their haircuts this weekend so I had their hairdresser trim up Alayna's hair too. This was my baby's first haircut (aside from me mangling her bangs a couple of times, which is whey I am now growing them out).

She did so great! She was excited to get her hair cut and wear the Nemo cape. She even got curls at the end, so cute. Now it doesn't look so scraggly.

All done and eating her lolly

Back to the land of the living

2012-01-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

A full six days of sickness and I finally re-joined the land of the living yesterday. I haven't been that sick in years. Whatever nasty but I had really knocked me off my feet! I wouldn't wish it on anyone!

Saturday morning I finally felt like eating since my throat started to feel better. Ever since Matt and I were married (almost 10 years ago), Saturday mornings I make a yummy breakfast. This week it was blueberry waffles. yum.

My family approved :)

Love happy Saturday mornings with my family :)

The kids like to pretend they are going to school (specifically Ethan). They put on their backpacks and "go to school". It's so cute. Alayna likes to carry her lunchbox too :)

I spent the morning cleaning my house. After being sick I felt like I needed to bleach my entire house! Oh how I'm praying for health for us all for a while. I want to be back at the gym feeling strong again :)

Neither of our kids napped yesterday. The one nice part about that is early bedtime. So we put them to bed at 6:45 last night and grilled up some yummy shrimp. I made a side dish that is one of my favorites. It has orzo, fresh Parmesan, cherry tomatoes and basil. It's yummy. It was nice to enjoy a quiet dinner with some nice conversation.

On the menu tonight: Rachel Ray's Mexican Chicken Lime Soup (found the recipe on Pinterest, this is my first time trying it) along with homeade whole wheat bread.

That's all for now :)
Hope you're having a great Monday!

This Week...

2012-01-17T09:16:00.000-08:00

Ever feel like you just can't catch a break? I kinda feel like that's how January has been for us. Alayna was finally healthy and I thought we were in the clear. Then three days later here I am with a fever, body aches, pounding head, swollen lymph nodes, a throat that is on fire, and just all around miserable. I'm on day two of feeling like this. Ethan had it for three days and Alayna for four, so I'm supposing I have at least one more day of misery. I must not have a very good immune system. Do you know of any tricks to have a strong immune system? I thought working out was supposed to help, but apparently it makes no difference for my body.

Thankfully yesterday my mom was off for MLK day and so we went over there and she entertained the kids for the morning while I layed on her couch. Today I begged Matt to stay home. I'm super bummed because I had planned a little tour of Bass Pro shops for our mom's group at church and now my kids have to miss out. I was looking forward to taking them too.

Ethan was drawing me a picture yesterday to help me feel better :)

In between Alayna being sick and my coming down with it we did have a few nice days :) I even got my camera out. The sun was setting on Friday and the light was gorgeous so I took Alayna out front and tried to get a few pictures of her (Ethan was taking a late nap).

She loves to climb on the pile of mulch we have out front...

I don't love it so much as she usually gets filthy

Later that evening we had our family date night. I made a pizza, we made the kids "special sodas", which is just an Italian soda, and we watched a movie. The kids love their special sodas.

Thankfully the day before I came down with this nasty bug I spent the day cleaning my house and grocery shopping, so at least I get to be sick in a clean house :) I even spot cleaned all of the stains out of my carpets.

In the middle of family date night on Friday when we were trying to watch our movie the dog comes running through the house after having just been sprayed by a skunk. We chased her down but before we got to her she rubbed her nose in the carpet. Oh my, have you ever been that close to fresh skunk spray? It's putrid and makes your nose burn. It was freezing cold on Friday but I still opened up our windows for a bit to try to get some of the smell out. Cookie got relegated to the garage for a few nights. Look how sad she looks.... not getting to be with her people.

Stupid dog is just too curious. This is the second time she's been sprayed like that right on her face, then run inside and rubbed it on our carpet. Since you can't really use stuff like tomato juice or the mixture of baking soda and peroxide that is recommended right on her eyes, it's super hard to get out. Really the only thing that helps is time.

Alright, I'm going to close my eyes for a bit. I'm kind of bored of being sick.... I'm too miserable to actually enjoy the laying around. I'm really hoping Matt is not the next victim of this weird nasty bug and it goes away for good.

Cell phone pictures

2012-01-13T12:01:00.001-08:00

I rarely take my Dslr with me, but I always have my phone, so I actually end up taking a lot of pictures with it.
Between Ethan and Alayna having the flu we had three days of health and gorgeous weather. We went to the park one day. Another day we went hiking in Oak Glen with the Oates.

Then poor Alayna had a fever for four days and was miserable.


This was a random picture from one evening when the sunset was pretty. It was reflecting off Oak Glen. The view from our backyard.

Today was the first day we got a good night of sleep and the weather is still gorgeous. That meant we went to the gym so that I could work out, then we headed to one of our favorite parks in Yucaipa. The kids were SO happy to be out and feeling good, and I was too! :)

More Progress

2012-01-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

My motivation and progress to accomplish things around the home took a major break this week while Alayna has had the flu. The poor girl has been miserable and sick for the past 4 days. Today she finally played a little and perked up and that fever she had finally got below 100. It's still hovering around 100, and I'm hoping it gets back to normal.

We've been house bound and I've been trying to keep her happy. I'm a little close to loosing my mind since Ethan had this same bug last week as well (although only for 48 hours). I'm hoping that we can resume our normal activities soon because the kids and I are going stir crazy and the TV has been on waaaaaayyyyyy too much.

This morning was the first time she played and cracked a smile for days....

This morning I was able to get to one of my To Do projects. I tackled the hall closet that has not been organized since we moved here a little over a year ago. We mostly just threw stuff in there. I tried to take a before picture but it's really hard to tell what is what.

A few hours later and I can walk in to get to things! yay! I wouldn't say this is really pretty, but it is highly functional so that is 1 point. Wow, so much work for only one point, lol.

I needed something cute to organize my vitamins that sit on the counter. I have to keep them on the counter because if they are not visible every day I will forget to take them. I shopped my closet that I cleaned out and found the perfect solution :) Functional + pretty + free = 4 points

I've been wanting to organize the kids' puzzles. When I came across this Melissa and Doug puzzle organizer on sale for $13 on Amazon I had to get it. I wouldn't really call it pretty.... but it sure serves a handy purpose. The kids have once again been enjoying their puzzles. 1 point.

This isn't part of the contest....
but these two flowers from the 99 cent store displayed in my pretty milk glass makes me happy :)
$2.00 well spent in my opinion :) I need some prettiness around here since I've been surrounded by nasty illness.

Oh, and one more exiting thing....
I re-designed photography blog (this is what I've spent most of the week on).
So fun. I love it. I think it looks fresh and feminine and elegant.

Check it out.
Now if I can just get to the website.

Alrighty, that's all for now.
I actually did a project from Pinterest today, I'll have to post that later :)
That makes a total of 6 points for this post.
Is anyone else keeping track?

Around the House

2012-01-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

I'm going to join Leslie's little "Pretty vs. Practical Home Challenge" for the month of January. I can use any extra motivation that I can get :)

Last week I was rested, had Christmas cleaned up, got several good nights of sleep (sadly this has not been the case this week) and didn't have any work to do. That meant I finally got to a few projects on my "want to do" list!

I painted these frames that I had purchased for super cheap at various thrift stores and Matt hung them for me in Ethan's room. I've been wanting to do this forever. I love how it turned out.

We used a gift card that Matt received to purchase this little organizational bookshelf thingy for Ethan. He didn't have much space for his toys. It makes me so happy that everything is cleaned up in there and looking good :)

I hung up this pretty wreath that Jolene made us for Christmas. What I love about it is that she saved all these corks from wines that we enjoyed together and then made this pretty wreath. So clever.

We also got this new couch... it's new to us anyways :) My friend Teresa was getting rid of it and I've actually always loved it and wanted one like it. We worked out a little barter and we are enjoying our new couch.

When the four of us wanted to watch TV we had to squeeze on our one little couch, which is now in the playroom/living room.

Soooo.... let's see, that means I get points...
Here is Leslie's point system:
If I accomplish a task that pretties up the house I get a point. +1.
If I accomplish a task that practicals up the home I get a point +1.
If I do a task that both pretties and practicals up the house I get +3.

If I do a task that does either task, and it costs zero money I get +1.

Ethan's Room = +3 (bookshelf) and also +1 (frames)

The new couch = +3 because it's practical and pretty and +1 because it cost me zero money (just labor, I'll be doing her baby's pictures).

Hanging the wreath = +1

Total = 9 points

I'm totally motivated to accomplish some much needed work around my house!

Also on my to do list:

-cleaning out the hall closet

-hanging pictures in the hall

-hanging something pretty above my bed

-making Ethan a bunting banner with his name on it for his room

-making a wooden H that I want to glue wine corks to

-new labels for the toys in the playroom (and probably re-organizing them)

-working big time in the backyard (with Matt) so that we can make the back half a playground for the kiddos (this will not get finished in one month)

So, how about you? Want to join me?

New Year's

2012-01-03T14:28:00.000-08:00

Super mellow seemed to be the theme of our holiday season. New Year's was no exception. We went to a birthday party on the morning of New Year's Eve. The kids had fun eating treats and playing.

Ethan and his friend Madyson... he loves this girl :)

Alayna enjoying a cake ball

Unfortunately later that evening Ethan came down with the flu.... not the stomach flu, but the miserable fever/achy kind. He spent the next two days laying on the couch miserable. My poor buddy. Since New Year's Day fell upon a Sunday and Ethan was sick he couldn't go to church. I had to teach Sunday school so Alayna and I went.

Matt made some ollie bollen, because it just wouldn't be New Years without this traditional Dutch treat :) They were yummy and I think Alayna ate more than Matt and I.

mmmm.... the one time a year we deep fry :)

Ethan is feeling better today and I'm praying no one else comes down with the bug he had! I'm anxious to get to the gym and work off some of this holiday bloat :)

2011 in Review

2011-12-31T13:38:00.000-08:00

At the close of each year I like to look back and reflect.
2011 has been a year filled with growth and learning, as well as quite a bit of challenge and of course joy.

After 9 years of a relatively easy marriage Matt and I had a year of growth and challenge. Every marriage faces challenging times, and this year was one of those for us. I'm happy to say we've come through and feel like we have a stronger marriage now than ever before. We look forward to celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2012 and hope to get away somewhere tropical for a week :)

The second half of the year brought a lot of emotional challenges for me. I faced a lot of anxiety. I discovered a huge source of my anxiety and why it surfaced around the anniversary of my father's death was that I had never actually grieved his death. I shoved it under the rug and didn't allow myself the grief process. In return it came back to bite me 9 years later. I finally found a good therapist, one I clicked with and trusted, and she helped me deal with a lot of emotional issues through EDMR therapy. I highly recommend this if you have any sort of traumatic event in your past. It's amazing how quickly you can work through something with this form of therapy.

We faced some pretty big challenges with our family this year. Praise be to the Lord for bringing a family member through some very hard times and to a place of healing and restoration.

It felt like nearly all of our loved ones faced very challenging circumstances this year. Illness and loss seemed to weave their way through a lot of our loved ones. The economy certainty played a huge role in that. I'm praying 2012 is easy in comparison for our loved ones.

In August Matt's grandma Van Laar went home to be with the Lord.

Through all of the challenges I experienced growth. We wouldn't be strong without facing challenge. I learned towards the end of the year to finally praise God for my challenges and discovered that they have helped mold me into a better woman. It's really only when I finally did this that I could look beyond and see the rainbow.

Despite being a challenging year, there was a whole lot of joy. My photography business flourished and grew, and I'm still in the process of learning more about that every day. Running your own business is a lot of work, but oh so rewarding. I don't think I've ever cared so much about something work related or poured my heart into something as much as my photography business. It's funny, I spent 4 1/2 years in college learning how to become a teacher and it never moved me as much as photography does. I feel like I still have a lot of room to grow, and look forward to that in 2012.

Watching my kids grow each day is obviously full of challenges and joy. I'm happy not to currently have a three year old in my house right now :) I'm enjoying my kids being 2 and 4.

As we say goodbye to 2011 and await the the start of 2012 I feel encouraged at the growth that I've had and look forward to a year of peace, calm and joy. I don't make resolutions, but I do pray for a calm, peaceful and joy filled 2012 :)

I thought I'd end this post with highlights from each month.....

January

Matt and I getting to go to Coronado for 2 nights by ourselves.

Febrary

March

Going to Vegas with the Oates for three nights

Spring pictures of my kiddos

April

Snow at the end of the month

Easter

May

A fun family day at LegoLand

Putting in our back lawn provided our little dirt monster with a lot of fun

June

Alayna's first time at the beach...

she ate a lot of sand.

My niece Amanda staying with us for two weeks.

Father's Day.

He's such a great Daddy.

A visit from my dear sweet friend Crystal and her son Gideon.

July

A night away with the Flores.

Dinner and magic at the Magic Castle.

Lots of fun and dirty playtime outside.

August

Lots more dirty playtime outside :)

Love this picture of them hugging in their swimsuits.

September

Photographing my first wedding

Alayna's 2nd birthday

A new car for Matt.

October

A trip to San Diego with my hubby to celebrate my 30th birthday.

A day at Glen Ivy with Faith to celebrate my 30th

Oak Glen with the Flores family

The pumpkin patch

Halloween with Lightening McQueen and a bunny rabbit

November

Ethan's 4th birthday party,

with a dump truck and construction theme

Photographing my second wedding and having my hubby second shoot with me

"A Day Out With Thomas The Train"

Thanksgiving

December

Lots of holiday fun with my sweet family and friends

Goodbye 2011 and hello 2012....

you're going to be a good year!

Happy New Year!!!!

Boxing Day

2011-12-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

This was the fourth year in a row that we spent Boxing day at the Flores casa. It has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. While everyone else packed up their Christmas decorations, we continued celebrating. It's such a relaxing day. It's a lot of fun to be able to spend a day together instead of just a dinner.

My kids were exhausted from all of the Christmas festivities and I was very relieved that both of them took naps over there. Goodness knows they needed it.

The kids had fun exchanging gifts (as did the adults).

Of course we played some Wii.

Do you like my awesome step aerobics?

hehe

My latest obsession (thanks to Krista mentioning it on her blog),

Hanging with Friends.

Jolene and I were playing while we sat on the couch.

Some of our yummy food and drinks...

I was having fun with the Christmas light bokeh.

This is my favorite picture of the day....

Aren't these two cute?

The Flores boys are going to have to fight over which one gets her ;)

Isn't this boy a ham???

hehe.

Alayna and Jonny sitting at the table

Ethan gave me some snuggles after his nap.

He's so affectionate.

I hope he always stays that way :)

A nice ending to the evening...

the kiddos in their jams watching Cars 2 while the adults got to have some adult conversation.

Ahhhh, such a great way to end the festivities of Christmas.

I love our Boxing Day with the Flores' :)

Silly Kiddos

2011-12-29T14:43:00.000-08:00

We take this break in Christmas posting to bring you a few random pictures of my girl...
she's always game to let me snap away at her,
and I'm always looking for a willing subject :)

We came inside and did some coloring

Ethan had just returned from having his hair cut and was looking rather handsome :)

I'm not sure why he looks so surprised here, but it makes me laugh

Ahhhh, I love my silly kiddos :)

Christmas Day

2011-12-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

We continued our low key Christmas into Christmas Day. We awoke around 7:30, got ready and I made baked french toast (Pioneer Woman's recipe) and a baked egg dish (that I had prepared the day before and kept in the fridge). Matt's parents and my mom joined us for breakfast. Both dishes turned out delicious. We let the kids open their stockings and spent the rest of the morning hanging out and playing with the new toys.

Alayna and my mom playing with her new tea set.

Ethan's favorite gift this year... a MobiGo from my brother

It is a "learning" video game for his age.

This is the best photo I could get of us in front of the Christmas tree :)

Alayna playing with one of her new gifts

Matt got me a set of macro filters to put on my 35 mm lens. Basically they are an inexpensive way to play around and pretend you have a macro lens :) Here are a few pictures using one of them....

Alayna's first Christmas ornament

Ethan's first Christmas ornament....

he sure was a cute baby. Gosh that feels so long ago.

Can you tell who this is? :)

This one is my favorite...

my lil' girly

After nap time (well, only Alayna napped), we headed over to Matt's parents' house for Christmas dinner and more gifts. His brother Mike and family joined us. We had a scrumptious ham dinner and then opened gifts. Since Ethan didn't nap his behavior was quite challenging, but we made it through the evening and enjoyed our time together.

Alayna posed SO cute in front of the Christmas tree.... I love it :)

Ethan gave me his best cheesy smile :)

Mike and Heather's three kids (and they have another on the way).

Gift time!

This is our 13th Christmas together.... wow

Mike & Heather

Mom H. was surprised when she received an IPad (which Matt had already set up for her so it was ready to go when she pulled it out of the box).

It was a very Merry Christmas indeed.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas with kids this age, it really is magical.

It's almost like you get to re-live your own childhood through their eyes.

My heart is overflowing with thankfulness.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

This was probably one of the most mellow Christmas' we've had in quite a while. No one was out visiting and we really didn't do a whole lot. In fact, I never left my house on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve morning we let the kids open a couple of presents.

They both got pillow pets. A dolphin for Alayna and a monkey for Ethan.

The kids and I hung out around the house and Matt finished pruning one of our many trees out front. I prepped all of the appetizers for the evening. My mom and my brother came over for appetizers and our Christmas celebration. We ate lots of yummy food and had fun opening presents.

It was so much fun watching the kids open presents this year. They were so excited.

This cracks me up...
Alayna received a little purse, a skirt, and clip on earnings inside of a backpack. She promptly put them all on and spent the evening wearing them :) It made me laugh every time I saw her with those earrings on.

Cookie even got a gift...
I wrapped it and put it under the tree for her, she was pretty excited ;)

This dog LOVES my brother. She never leaves him alone when he is over at our house. It makes me laugh because he actually prefers cats over dogs.

Ethan and Grammy playing with his new Lincoln Logs. Such a classic toy :)

The festivities ended a little earlier than usual because my brother needed to get home and do laundry and pack for his trip to Colorado (he went on Christmas morning). The kiddos took quite a while to go to sleep after all of that excitement :)

One last picture of me and my cute hubby. He did good and got me some fun gifts that I didn't even know I wanted (plus the one thing I asked for. Good job honey!

Cookie Decorating

2011-12-24T10:25:00.000-08:00

We had our annual Mom2Mom Christmas cookie decorating at Faith's a week and a half ago. My kids had a blast decorating and then immediately eating their cookies.

In true Ethan fashion he ate sprinkles directly off the counter.

Ethan's creation

I guess she wasn't getting enough sugar from her cookie, so she ate frosting directly out of the jar. yum.

Alayna's creation. Yup, there's a cookie underneath all those sprinkles. Notice her black fingernail on in the picture... that was from slamming her own finger in Ethan's door a few weeks back.

Catching Up...

2011-12-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy busy few months for me.
I've been doing LOTS of this....

And I just had to post this one of Matt in action at the same wedding :)

I've been blessed with a ton of business during the past few months, and I've loved all of it. However, I've been working non stop. I officially finished my last shoot of the year last Friday and it feels good to have a little break. I'm happy to be able to catch up on life stuff and just breathe a little :) Now I'm thinking/planning/brainstorming about what I want to do differently next year with my business. One thing I know for sure is that a brand new website will be in the works in January/February :)

Matt and I went out and celebrated last Friday. We were joking that it was my company Christmas party :) My mom babysat and we had dinner at our favorite place... The Farm. We realized we hadn't been there in nearly a year! It's our splurgy place, and this past year we've been trying (not always successful, but trying non the less), to stick to our budget. It was SO nice to get out together. We enjoyed every moment :)

On Saturday I did my Christmas baking. I can't say I love to bake, it's really not high on my lists of enjoyment. Sometimes I enjoy baking one batch of something, but a whole day of it, whew, it wore me out. I guess really it wasn't a whole day, since I baked from 8:30-1:00, but still, it was a lot of baking! Especially since I had my "helpers" underfoot. Matt was out front hard at work trimming one of our many trees.

On Sunday I did all of my Christmas wrapping. Matt helped and we finished in less than two hours, woo hoo. Wrapping is actually my least favorite part of Christmas. I would pay someone to wrap my gifts if I could, lol. I'm super sloppy with it, but my kids won't care :)

Alayna loves her sparkly glasses. She decided she needed to eat breakfast in them the other day :)

She also needed to paint in them when the kids did their Advent activity....

The necklace was from my mom. She got to pick it out the other week when we went shopping. I love that she loves girly things :)

I was on my way home from a photoshoot the other week and thought the sunset was super pretty reflecting off the mountains (I was two blocks from home when I took this).

This was the other side of the street.... not quite as pretty, but I liked the picture through the fence :)

Last week shortly before naptime I looked out back and saw this...

Ethan and Alayna were walking around the backyard holding hands. I asked what they were doing. Ethan's reply: "We're playing house. I'm Alayna's wife and she's my son. We're wearing wedding rings (which were slinkies)", haha! It was super cute :)

Alright folks, I'm gonna wrap up this post.
Don't worry, there will be lots more to come :)

Alayna and Minnie

2011-12-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

I took these the other day right after Alayna had awoken from her nap, hence the super messy hair. Her hair reminds me a little bit of Goldie Hawn, lol. She was taking Minnie for a walk. She had put those shoes on herself (on the wrong feet). This girl cracks me up, she really has a funny personality. She's such a little clown sometimes.

Toddler Bed

2011-12-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

(I started this post two weeks ago and never finished it)

A couple of weeks ago Alayna decided that it would be great fun to climb out of bed instead of sleeping. When we put her down she immediately climbs out of her crib. We have tried everything. We figured since she was launching herself in and out of it that we might as well convert it to the toddler bed. Now that buys me a little time to find her a "big girl bed".

Honestly, this makes me so sad.... the crib is our last "baby" item around the house :( Both kids slept in it. We have to make sure that her light is turned off and we keep the child lock on her door, because as soon as you lay her down the girl is up trying to play. The stinker. She's getting less sleep lately than she used to, and I'm hoping the novelty of being able to get out of bed will wear off!

Of course when I asked her if I could take pictures of her in her bed Ethan had to hop in as well.

My Office

2011-12-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

I realized I haven't ever posted pictures of my work space. This past weekend I did a couple of fun little things for my office so I took a few pictures.

This is where I spend several hours a day :) I almost always work during the kids' naptime and then a little bit at night when the kids are in bed (sometimes a lot of time at night). My office is also the laundry room and my craft room :) I just love having this much space for my use, especially since I spend around three hours a day in here. It's painted granny smith green and yes, I love it :) I know it's not a color that is for everyone, but it's bright and cheery to me.

I bought these cool photo clips at the Photography Museum at Balboa Park in San Diego. I thought it was cool that I could make a little collage and just clip whichever pictures I want together. I like the simplicity of it, and being able to display quite a few pictures in one place.

I made these little print outs in Photoshop a while back. Underneath them is my white board that usually has my to-do stuff on it. As of today, I can cross out most of that stuff, yay!!!!!

This is my laundry area, and it's filled with utilitarian things. Notice the mops and dog dishes, the ironing board, etc :)

I painted these two thrift store frames a cheery red to go with the pops of red I have in my office.

I picked up these retro frames (actually I think they are candle holders) at a yard sale a long time ago. I painted them black and then put fun bright fabric in them. The color is off in this picture.

There you have it... my work space! I didn't bother posting the other side of my craft room/office, since I already have.

Advent Activities

2011-12-05T14:30:00.001-08:00

I purchased the E-book "Truth in the Tinsel" after seeing a few friends talk about it on Facebook on Black Friday. It was only $1.99. It has an Advent activity each day that involves reading the scripture and then making an ornament to go along with it. The kids have been loving it so far. While it's a little above Alayna's head, she still tries :) I love that I've been reading from the Bible (not a kid's version) and Ethan has really tried to get it. This is a first :)

A crown because Jesus is our king

A light... because Jesus is the light of the world

haha, this was our Mary... you might not be able to tell :)

This year I finally got around to making an Advent Calendar. I purchased these burlap bags and then just used paint and stamps (thank you Krista) to put the numbers on them. They aren't displayed as prettily as I'd envisioned in my head, but this was one of the few places they would fit and that the kids would not be able to play with them. So it works :) The kids love opening the bag each day and look forward to it.

The surprise this day was some Christmas stamps

Deocrating the Tree

2011-12-05T14:11:00.001-08:00

We pulled out our Christmas decorations the day before Thanksgiving. Sounds odd, I know. Matt took the day off and smoked 2 pork butts for us to eat the next day, and we were all home with nothing we had to do... so it was our chance to decorate :) I like to enjoy things for the entire month of December. The kids absolutely loved helping and I let them hang ornaments on the tree. While it was a tad frustrating and the control freak in me wanted things to be perfect, it was fun to have them help and enjoy it :)

Don't mind her uncombed hair :) Just keepin' it real here.

The kids have been loving the Christmas books (which are only set out at Christmas time). They love to sit next to the tree and "read" them. So cute :)

You Are More

2011-12-05T13:16:00.001-08:00

Do you ever feel like the Lord brings you to a place of brokenness so that you'll rely on Him more?
Sometimes it's hard to see the beauty in struggle and pain.
Lately I've been brought to a place of beautiful brokeness, and it's made me rely on Him.
That's what I'm supposed to do all the time, right?
I call it beautiful because it makes me cry out to the Lord at the start of each day,
and really that's what I should do every day.
I'm such a control freak, I try to take the reigns of my life and sometimes I just need a reminder.
Sometimes I need a reminder to rely on Him...
to let Him be in control.

I absoutely love the Hillsong Live "God is Able" album.
I've been listening to it a lot lately.
It's been blessing me big time.

This song in particular just speaks volumes to my heart right now.
Thought I'd share the video and the lyrics so it can bless you too :)

On the day I called
You answered me
And the hope in my soul increased
I lift my hands
And turn my eyes
To the God who heals my heart
And gives me peace

You are more than
My words could ever say
You are Lord over all
Over all my days
I will see this season through
I will fix my eyes on You
Only You
Only You

I worship You
And lift You high
God forever let Your name be glorified
I lift my voice
And sing Your name
For you gave Your life to cleanse my sin
And took away my shame

You are more than
My words could ever say
You are Lord over all
Over all my days
I will see this season through
I will fix my eyes on You
Only You
Only You

Hallelujah
The earth will sing
May Your name be glorified
Hallelujah
The earth will sing
May Your name be glorified

You are more than
My words could ever say
You are Lord over all
Over all my days
I will see this season through
I will fix my eyes on You
Only You
Only You
[x2]

Chocolate Ganache Torte

2011-11-29T13:13:00.001-08:00

I'm mostly posting this recipe for my friend Kelly, who loves all things chocolate and rich :) I made this while Matt's family was visiting when they all came over one night. This is hands down the RICHEST and most diet unfriendly dessert I've ever made :) In fact, I cut this tort into 20 pieces and could not even finish one whole piece. I dare you to try it :) It's soooooo yummy!!!!

The original recipe I found online called for a chocolate crust, and I modified and made a graham cracker crust instead, and I'm glad it did, it went well together.

Chocolate Ganache Torte Recipe

Ingredients

The Shell

One package graham crackers
1/4 sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
Melted butter (1/4 cup or less)
9 inch spring-form pan

The Filling

1 1/2 to 2 pounds of the best available semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, well chopped into small pieces (use brick chocolate, not chips)... I actually only had half good chocolate, so I used chocolate chips for the rest, and it turned out just fine.
More melted butter (up to one stick or 1/2 cup)
1 cup (or more) heavy whipping cream

The Sauce

Melted butter (one stick, a 1/2 cup, or a bit more)
Cane sugar (a pound or less)
Heavy whipping cream (1 cup - or more)

Method

1 Prepare the crust. Use a food processor to chop up the grahmn crackers and nuts. Mix with 1/4 cup sugar and melted butter. Press this into the spring-form pan (along the bottom and halfway up the sides). Bake in oven at 350°F for 12-14 minutes, put aside.
2 While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. In double boiler melt the butter and then add the chocolate. When chocolate is swirl-able, slowly add the whipping cream, stirring slowly, until mixture is blended and smooth. Pour mixture into the prepared shell. Refrigerate for at least four hours.
3 Prepare the sauce before serving (the sauce, served warm, should accompany the torte, served cold.) Melt butter over fairly high heat. Add sugar until saturated (the heat must be high enough for the sugar to dissolve; when no more will dissolve, the solution is saturated). Stirring only occasionally, let the mixture “burn” just enough to turn into a rich caramel. Add the cream, stirring briskly until well blended and smooth. Strain if necessary for smoothness.
4. If you want to be extra decadent like we were, you can also put a dollop of freshly whipped whipping cream on top :)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

Since we were looking all spiffy and coordinated I had to do a little photoshoot before we headed over to Matt's parent's house :) I actually loved how these turned out.

This is such a natural and real smile of Ethan. I love it.

My silly girl

A rare picture of both of my kids looking and smiling :)

I set my camera on another chair and used the self timer to get a shot of all of us. My trick to get the kids to look and smile...

I told them to "find the blinking light and laugh at it", haha.

It worked!

We had around 22 people (kids included) for Thanksgiving at Matt's parents house. My mom and my brother joined us and all of Matt's siblings were there. It was such a fun day. This was the most relaxing holiday we've had since having kids. We didn't have a baby to chase after, and Ethan spent the entire day playing nicely with his cousins, it was awesome. We even got to sit and play an entire game of Cranium with Mike and Heather.... we hadn't played a game like that since before having kids! It was a great day :)

We had quite the spread! In addition to the turkey that Marlene made, Matt had smoked two pork butts the previous day.

Me and my mom and my bro

This was quite possibly the most hilarious moment of the day...

when my mom and I played teatherball.

I have not laughed so hard in a long time.

I also had not played teatherball since grade school :)

My mom was quite the worthy opponent and we had a very competitive game!~

We were both out of breath, and I forgot how much physical activity is actually involved in teatherball!

I played my brother too

I love this picture that Matt took of our brother in law Mark

The dog even plays teatherball!

Four of the cousins playing outside. They had a blast roaming around Grandma and papa's huge backyard (they have an acre). They all found sticks. You would never know it was freezing that day since they didn't have jackets, lol. The cold doesn't bother you when you're a kid and running around.

My bro

My mom reading to Alayna.

Marlene and Annette

What a blessed Thanksgiving :)

To be together with family is so wonderful.

A Day Out With Thomas

2011-11-19T15:46:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks back Matt's parents treated us and his brother's family to "A Day out with Thomas". It took place at the train museum in Perris and it was so cute. We all got to take a ride on Thomas, ride trollies, a caboose, and look at all of the cool old trains in the museums. Ethan loved it all (as did Matt, hehe). My favorite part was definitely the cool trains in the museums.

We all got to take a ride on a train pulled by Thomas. The kids loved it :)

I just love the look of awe on his face as he looks out the window (this was a trolly we rode).

This was the old caboose we rode. The kids got to ride up at the very top... so fun.

Ethan and Clayton. Clayton is 16 months older than Ethan.

Can you see the reflection of the trains in my glasses?

What a fun day!

Thank you so much Sid and Marlene for taking our family!

A Perfect Fit

2011-11-19T15:40:00.000-08:00

I try not to complain too much about Ethan, or really go into specifics about my difficulties with him, because I don't want him to look back through my blog books one day and focus on those kinds of posts. With that being said, he is a challenge :) I used to beat myself up over how hard I thought he was, and thought I just must not have been a good mom... and then I had Alayna and realized how truly different children can be, even with the same parenting. I realized that I am doing my best, and that is all I can do. God made him who he is and instead of constantly trying to fight it (which I still find myself doing at times), and wish he were different, I just need to love him and work with him and appreciate him for who he is.

I was having a particularly hard day with Ethan the other week and then one of the blogs I read (thank you Salt and Nectar) posted this quote, and boy did it ever resonate with me... in a big way. It's been running through my head constantly. Just thought I'd share it. I'm thinking I need to print it and put it in my purse :)

“Motherhood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you would have. It's about understanding that he is exactly the person he is supposed to be. And that, if you're lucky, he just might be the teacher who turns you into the person you are supposed to be.” - Joan Ryan

God gave us the children we have because He thought we were the perfect fit for them. Parenthood is most certainly the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. I must surrender my heart and my selfish desires to God on a daily basis and pray that I can model His love to my children.

LA County Fair

2011-11-18T13:19:00.001-08:00

I recently popped in my memory card from my point and shoot camera, and found these pictures from back in September. We took the day off and met up with the Flores Family at the LA County Fair. Our kids had a blast. Outings like that are so much more fun now that our kids are old enough to enjoy it and can survive the day without a nap.

We had fun watching the pig races, eating some junk food, looking at all the animals and displays, watching a few horse races and just hanging out. Ethan's favorite part was when I took him on the sky ride. He was in heaven.

2 weddings in a row

2011-11-18T12:52:00.001-08:00

We had two of our friends get married two weekends in a row back in October.

The first one was the wedding of Jen Dahlin and Quenten Leenstra. They got married up at the Arrowhead Springs Resort. It was so much fun for me to be back up there. I have SO many childhood memories from that place. I only had my point and shoot with me, so I just took a few snapshots of us and our friends. I didn't even try to get a picture of the bride and groom. I figured I'd leave that to the people with the big cameras :)

The next weekend we had the wedding of David and Caitlyn at the Serendipity Gardens in Oak Glen. David and Caitlyn are part of our weekly dinner small group. The weather was perfect and it was a gorgeous place. We had so much fun sipping wine, dancing, and having grown up conversation ;)

It's not often we get to get dressed up all snazzy two weekends in a row! :)

A few scenes from a day through a wide angle...

2011-11-14T20:41:00.001-08:00

A few scenes from Sunday evening through a wide angle lens...

Playing with Legos

Playing with toys and creating messes

Dance party....

us Hekmans love a good dance party.

Matt was practicing with the flash :)

What's up?

Hmmmm....

what's wrong with this picture?

Oh, you mean you didn't notice the 4 year old boy wearing his sister's play high heels?

I thought everyone rode a scooter in high heels!

He looks like a giant from this angle!

Matt took this.... I like it.

Our house through the branches of one of our California Redwood trees.

Dump trucks are always in action around here....

Wide angle lenses are fun...

I was sad to have to mail this one back.
It was the Canon 17-55 2.8 (not an L series but still pretty awesome).

We rented it to use at our wedding this weekend, it was fun to play with.

Today

2011-11-13T12:13:00.001-08:00

We are recovering today from the wedding we shot yesterday in Dana Point. It was a crazy day; mostly because the rain decided to stay during the entire time we did pictures :) We made do with umbrellas, ran under the cover of trees, and tried our best to find a covered area (which ended up being the tiniest of porches, but it worked). The bride and groom were awesome and up for anything. Matt second shot with me and I loved having him by my side all day.

So today we are recovering :) Weddings take it out of you! It's noon, I'm still in my jammies... coffee and pumpkin scone in hand. I made the yummiest scones this morning that are JUSt like Starbucks pumpkin scones (my favorite).

These scones are to die for. Good luck eating just one!

Here is the recipe for the scones if you want to make them :)

Since we're on the topic of autumn (kind of),

here is our Thanksgiving tree. This is the first year we've done this and it's so much fun. Every night when we sit down to eat the first thing Ethan wants to do is write his little thankful tag. Alayna doesn't quite get it it yet.

Another little touch of autumn in our house....

One last scene from this morning....

Happy Sunday!

Guess That Movie....

2011-11-09T19:17:00.000-08:00

If you can guess the movie where this hairstyle is very present throughout the entire movie...

then I'll think you're really cool ;)

Ethan's 4th Birthday

2011-11-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

My little guy turned 4 on November 1st.

I asked him a few questions about his favorite things and these were his answers:

The Saturday before his birthday we had a birthday party for him. The theme was dump trucks/construction. Ethan was in heaven and loved every minute of his party. I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves :)

A big thanks to my friend Leslie for some of the fun decorations (leftover from her son's party the week before), and a huge thank you to Jolene for the fun and tasty cupcakes!

The kids loved the sand and mini tractors.

Here's to hoping that four is easier than three :)

All American Alayna

2011-11-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

My All American Alayna...

pigtails,

dirty face,

a football in one hand,

a flag in the other :)

Life Lately

2011-11-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

...it's been pretty crazy.

*Between last week and this week I'll have had 8 photoshoots and I'm shooting a wedding in a week and a half. 8 shoots in two weeks is a lot. During those two weeks I've also had Matt's birthday and Ethan's birthday party (I have lots of pictures to share from that). To say I'm busy is a tad of an understatement. I'm looking forward to things slowing down at the end of November. I love all the business, but being this busy is doing me in right now :)

*I had my very first photoshoot this past weekend where the clients had found me from simply searching Google. I have two more shoots like that booked this month. I have photoshoots with people I've never met all the time, but those people usually find me from someone else. These people had no connection to me. It was pretty exciting to reach that milestone :) Here is the sneak peek I gave them from their shoot, I loved how it turned out.

*In the past week and a half Alayna has napped twice. So frustrating. I don't know what is going on but she just barely turned two, she cannot possibly be giving up naps??? She went from napping great to all of the sudden she just plays and talks for two hours in her crib. Hoping this is just a kink in the road and it passes. I mean, my four year old has been napping more than her!

*Made it to the gym twice this week so far and finally felt strong again. I guess my body took quite a while to feel better from all that sickness. Makes me appreciate feeling good. I also got my very first flu shot today (I've never had one).

*Took Ethan to get his four year shots today. I was a little nervous about it, but he did great. I got my flu shot first so I could show him how to be brave :) He cried, but no one had to hold him down, he layed there. I had brought along a HUGE lollypop as his reward, so he was stoked for that.

*Little things like this make me happy.... these are leftover from my shoot on Sunday...

*I'm looking VERY forward to tomorrow evening (Friday), because it will be my first evening at home in almost two weeks. I'm not going to work on any photos either :)

*So sorry I'm not very exciting, literally all I've done lately is keep my head above water and do photoshoots and edit :) Oh, and I did birthdays last week. I'll be back soon with pictures from Ethan's party. Alayna is currently yelling at me from her room (after not napping AGAIN).

Halloween

2011-11-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

Since becoming an adult I never really cared about Halloween. I have to admit, having kids who LOVE to dress up and trick or treat and partake in all the fun, gets me much more into it. My kids were thrilled to get into their costumes this year, especially because they had both picked them out :)

My bunny rabbit and Lightening McQueen.

We started off the day stopping by The Redlands Christian Home to show all the "papas and grandmas" their costumes and of course get a little candy.

After Matt got home we stopped for a quick dinner at El Pollo Loco, then went over to Trinity's Halloween Happenin'. This was our first year going to that. We stayed for an hour and Ethan had a blast playing the carnival games. Alayna was a little intimidated by it all.

We went home and ended the night trick or treating around our neighborhood. We live in a very dark street and the houses are pretty far apart, so we really only went to a handful of houses (which was fine by me). Our kids are some of the only ones on the street so of course everyone told them to take handfuls of candy.

Hallowii 2011

2011-10-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

We had our annual "Hallowii" dinner at the Odenbaughs this year. It's kinda funny because the Wii did not get turned on at all. We did however have fun having a reason to dress up and enjoy dinner together :)

I was a kitty cat and Matt was animal control.

The Odenbaughs....

Leighann is a cougar, Thomas is a 70s guy,

David is Curious George and Jonathan is the "boy" with the yellow hat.

The Cuys were so cute...

they came as s'mores :)

The Oates as pirates.

The Mercers as a Smurf family

Matt's 33rd Birthady

2011-10-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

It was a simple day.
He awoke to the bar decorated with streamers and balloons and presents awaiting him.
We loved on him and wished him happy birthday and sent him off to work.

Mama had a very long and hard day with the kids.
Took them outside to play and take a few pictures before Dad was to get home, which cheered all of us up.

Began preparing his special birthday dinner (all things he requested).
Welcomed him home and loved on him more,
tried not to let the stress of the day show through.

Put the kiddos to bed very early (as neither one had napped).
Enjoyed a VERY tasty dinner alone, in our own home :)
With candles lit, music playing, and no littles running around, it was quite nice.
I made roasted asparagus, rolls, and Pioneer Woman's short ribs with wine and cream over roasted mushrooms. VERY delicious.

Went to prepare the whipping cream for the dessert and made a bit of a mess...

We giggled,
cleaned it up,
and enjoyed a very tasty caramel pie.

All in all, not the greatest day (for me, for Matt it was nice, he was at work away from the drama, lol),

but it was a super nice evening :)

Happy Birthday Matt!

2011-10-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

My super amazing husband turns 33 today, so in honor of his 33rd birthday I'd like to list 33 reasons why I love him :) In no particular order....

1.He is selfless
2.He has really cute dimples... and they make my heart skip a beat :)
3.He shows our kids how to be a good spouse by the way he loves me.
4. He is my rock and support. I can talk to him about ANYTHING and he truly listens and cares for me
5. He loves God
6. We are foodies and share a love of good food and drinks and delicious coffee
7. He is tall and makes me feel so little
8. He is amazingly talented and smart in all of the areas I am not. He can think specially and designs things in 3D all day long, which is beyond the way my brain works.
9. He would do anything for me
10.He always makes me feel beautiful and loved and secure

(c) Stark Love Photography

11. He is forgiving
12. He plays with our kids all the time
13. He rarely raises his voice or yells, and that is something I struggle with big time.
14. He is patient and always models that to me and the kids (something else I struggle with).
15. He never complains.

(c) Stark Love Photography

16. He is fun. We always have a great time together, no matter what we do.
17. He calms me
18. He works hard to support our family and provide and makes it a priority that I stay home with the kids
19. He supports me with my business, helps me with the books (I'm bad at that part), helps me with the marketing and with new ideas and encourages me to grow.
20. He is handsome.

(c) Stark Love Photography

21. He works hard around our home to keep things working right
22. We share a love of funny movies and TV shows.
23. We are both music junkies and share a love for house music (I think maybe he kinda swayed me in that direction, and now I love it).
24. He makes it a point to make Sundays a day of rest for our family (stopping and resting isn't something I'm always so good at).
25. He loves my cooking :)

(c) Stark Love Photography

26. He is super affectionate
27. He lets me be me, loves me for me, and never tries to make me feel like I should be anything else.
28. He keeps our yard looking spiffy, and is working hard to get our crazy jungle nice
29. He'll gladly help me vacuum, fold laundry, wash dishes, and do any other chore I need a hand with
30. He is super smart and knows a lot about theology. I admire that about him. I love hearing him teach adult things :)

31. He has a very giving heart. He would gladly give of his time.
32. He loves his mom and dad, and is always willing to help them out and spend time with them.
33. He's pretty darn handsome :) He still makes my heart go pitter patter after nearly 10 years of marriage. I love him more today than I ever have before. I appreciate him like I never have before. I adore him.

(c) Stark Love Photography

I could keep going on and on :)

Matt,
I hope you have a Happy birthday honey.
I hope you feel loved and treasured today, because you are, so very much.
I couldn't have dreamt up a better husband than you.
I pray the Lord blesses us with many, many more years of your awesomeness.
I love you "all the way to Amanda's house and back"!!!!

Love, Jess

Don't compare yourself to "perfect pictures"....

2011-10-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

I love the "connected" age we live in,
but I also struggle with it.
I love that I can go online and find so much amazing inspiration from so many amazing women.
However, it can leave me feeling paralized.
It's like I'm bombarded with too much of a good thing,
so instead of doing something,
I spend my time looking at things others have done and wanting to do them.

It's so easy to paint a pretty picture online.
I always go back and forth with how "real" to be on my blog and Facebook.
I don't necessarily want the world to know my dirty laundry,
my struggles,
my tears.
So instead I focus on the good things.
The little things that bring light to my day.
I don't share my piles of laundry,
my struggles of balancing a little business and full time mothering,
my floors that need to be mopped,
that I have too much on my calendar this week and I'm stressed,
that I lost it one too many times with my kids today,
that I'm struggling in a big way with my oldest child,
that I struggle with anxiety,
that I'm finally going to therapy 9 years after my dad died because I realized I never really grieved and it's time to fix myself,
that so many people I'm close to are hurting and struggling and how I just want to fix things for them,
that life is just FULL of struggles.

Nope, that stuff is no fun to blog about.
It's too real,
it leaves me feeling much too vulnearable.
Some days I just NEED to focus on something good,
and my camera helps me see good and happy things.
I can pick up my camera and take a picture of my daughter coloring and focus on that sweet moment, and block out the huge pile of things that need to be attended to behind her.
It makes me happy.
It helps me focus on the good things in the middle of hard times.

What we post online isn't always the "real" picture.
It's just perhaps what we want to focus on and share.
Don't compare yourself to the perfect images you see on Pinterest, or blogs, or FB.
Life is hard,
it's full of struggles,
and it's OK if we use the internet to focus on the good.
Just don't let yourself feel like you are not good enough because of someone elses "perfect" pictures :)
We all have strengths and talants,
and just because we didn't take amazing step by step pictures and blog all about something cool we did,
doesn't mean it didn't happen :)
So...
give yourself permission to take a step back and give yourself a break and embrace the today :)

Colors and Painted Toes

2011-10-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

She loves to color.

She will sit and color for 20 minutes at a time.

She asks me to tell her each color of her markers or crayons.

She chatters up a storm.

She is sweet and affectionate.

She is very easy to spoil.

Time alone with her is rare...

so when it happens I have to treasure it.

Last week when Ethan and Matt were getting hair cuts I painted her toes for the first time.

She picked the color.

She was in heaven and has walked around for days telling everyone to look at her "beautiful toes".

Gosh I love this girl.

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to taking the kids over to one of our local pumpkin patches (Greenspot Farms).
We had such a fun morning.
We didn't pay to do the actual tour, but we had fun walking around and exploring.

At one point a school group came around us and the kids ended up getting to feed the animals for free.

The kids picked out pumpkins and then decided to put them back so they could keep growing :) I was fine with that because I didn't want to buy them anyhow, lol.

They have this old locomotive there and the kids had a blast climbing in and out of it and pretending to drive it. Ethan said we were on the island of Sodor :) Who knows what that's from??

They have a little area with teeter totters and an old metal slide. Fun.

I might have sampled a fig that I picked off one of the trees near the play area. It was yummy :)

One of Ethan's favorite parts was the hedge maze. He led us through it about nine times :)

There was also a cool bee house and the kids loved seeing the bees up close. I didn't get any pictures of that. We ended up staying at the pumpkin patch for nearly two hours.
As we were leaving Ethan was in tears and saying "I want to come here every day!".
I guess that means he had fun :)
I was happy that we could have such a nice time together and I only spent $1.00 (on a treat for them).

Our Fall family Pictures

2011-10-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I did a photo swap with my friends and talented photographers Jhen and Jon. I had pinned an idea on Pinterest a long time ago and when Jhen mentioned she wanted to use the same setup for photos I was stoked. She set up everything. I brought along a few of my own touches (just the donuts, juice and cake stands), and we did a little photoshoot trade. She shot my family first and then I did hers. You can see her pictures here.

I LOVE how these turned out. I want to frame so many of them. Here are some of my favorites...

After taking some family pics I wanted some pictures of just Matt and I.

I LOVE how they turned out.

I know... this one's a little racy, lol.

Ethan had his first little crush on their daughter... it was pretty cute, and he had great behavior trying to impress her! haha.

Thanks for the precious pictures Jhen!!!

Annual October Flores Fun

2011-10-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row we had the Flores Family over for a sleepover and then went up to Oak Glen the next morning. They came over Friday evening and left Saturday afternoon. We dined on chili and cornbread and pumpkin cake with fresh whipped cream. In the morning I made an egg casserole and the yummiest pumpkin coffee cake. If you want the recipe click here. Jolene brought along some pumpkin spiced caramel corn and pumpkin cheesecake bars that were oh so yummy.

We tried letting the big boys sleep in the same room, but finally around 10:45 Jolene pulled Christian out because they just couldn't stop chatting, lol. It was really funny. They were just so excited to be together :)

It's always fun when you can enjoy your friends and they don't have to drive home. We went to bed around midnight. Unfortunately the Flores boys didn't have the best night of sleep... Christian awoke at 3 am from the bright moonlight thinking it was morning and proceeded to wake his brother. oops! After breakfast and hanging out we headed up to Oak Glen. We first stopped at Snowline to get some apples, apple donuts of course, and some fresh cider. We then headed over to the park (or as Ethan refers to it "my favorite park with the tire swing").

I've been teaching Matt to shoot in manual, and ALL of these pictures were taken by him (except for the first one), and then edited by me (in Lightroom). :) I'm super proud of him. He's a quick learner! He loves landscapes and wide angle shooting (two areas I don't do very much), so it's a perfect combo. I'm actually bringing him in to second shoot with me at the wedding I have coming up in November. I'm pumped that I'll be able to have him by my side the entire day.

Anyhow, here are a lot of pictures :) Enjoy!

Nothing like fresh apple cider.... so tasty

The four kiddos.... this is the best we got

Can we say "cheese"???? :)

I feel kinda vain posting so many pictures of myself.

I guess I'm Matt's favorite subject ;)

Danny and Jon on the slide

ahhhh, my little sweetie

My little family

The Flores fam

Love this picture of jolene... good job Matt

Love that you can see my whole family in the reflection of the glasses

We stopped into the Old School House Museum since we were right there and it was open. The kids has fun sitting at the old desks.

Pretties

2011-10-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Alayna loves to put on all of her "pretties", which are any sort of jewelry or play high heels. She'll often walk around the house wearing around 10 bracelets and 5 necklaces and her play shoes. Unfortunately Ethan thinks these "pretties" are just too pretty to resist, and fights often break out because he tries to take hers away and wear them himself. Thankfully we have enough bracelets to go around, and two pairs of play high heels. I guess when you're almost four it doesn't matter just yet that these accessories are not really for boys :)

I'm saving this one to pull out when he brings home his first girlfriend.... hehe

And I had to post these...
Alayna has such a fun and silly personality.
I love it.

San Diego

2011-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Matt and I were blessed to be able to spend two nights in San Diego to celebrate my birthday last week. Thank you mom and Marlene for babysitting, and thank you Oates for the use of your timeshare! We had a really nice time getting away, and while I still wasn't feeling totally great yet, at least I felt good enough to enjoy our time away :) I have so many pictures I want to share. We took along my camera and had a lot of fun just playing around with photography. I'm teaching Matt how to shoot in manual right now and we had fun practicing. That's also why there are a TON of pictures of me, lol.

On the way down we stopped in Escondido at Stone Brewery. That place is so cool. The grounds are amazing, the restaurant was really neat and the food was delicious. Really we should have split a meal because I could not finish mine. We had the biggest, most amazing BLT I've ever had.

They have gardens that you can walk through, and where they hold events. They were really pretty.

After stuffing ourselves we headed to our hotel in the Gaslamp District, checked in and took a little nap before heading out to catch a movie. We saw What's Your Number, and it was enjoyable. We wandered around the Gaslamp looking for a place to eat dinner and wound up at Jimmy Love's. They had live jazz and it was right up our alley (we love jazz). It was such a fun place.

The next day we headed Coronodo to enjoy the beach. It was sunny and warm so we enjoyed laying around on the beach for several hours. Back when were dating we used to go to the beach nearly every single weekend. We LOVE the beach :) Coronodo has the best beaches. We were right next to the Hotel Del. We had fun watching all the planes fly in right over us to land at the base. This was the first time all year that I got to just relax at the beach (all the other times I've been to the beach have been for photoshoots or I've had my kids in tow). It was delightful :)

We packed up our stuff and decided to rent bikes. We cruised all around Coronodo and it was so much fun. I LOVE riding bike at the beach.

When we returned our bikes we walked over to a fun little restaurant and hit up the happy hour for dinner. After dinner we walked back down to the beach to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous. Matt was having fun playing around with my camera, hence the large amount of pictures of me. Don't mind that I look totally icky... having been at the beach all day and then gone for a bike ride.

We went back to our hotel and had drinks up on the top deck. We played around with super low shutter speeds on my camera. I love this shot that Matt got of our drinks on the bar.

We might have walked down across the street to McDonalds for chicken McNuggets and cherry pies at some point too, lol. You want to know the best part? Before we realized it, it was midnight, lol. I love that when you don't have kids to take care of you can just do whatever you want and not care about the time.

The next morning we lounged around and then checked out of our hotel. We headed over to Balboa Park and hit up a couple of the museums. I was really excited about the photography museum, but unfortunately only a third of it was open because they were in the middle of changing out their exhibits. I really have never been to Balboa Park and had so much fun just walking around taking in all the pretty architecture and scenery.

We had fun walking through the botanical gardens and taking pictures of all the pretty flowers. I'm thinking we might frame a couple of these in our guest bedroom.

We enjoyed a tasty lunch at the restaurant there (I think it was called Prado's). I even got a free dessert because it was my birthday (well, two days earlier it was my birthday, lol). It was really yummy.

After lunch we wandered back to our car (it was around 4:00 pm, so I guess it was a late lunch), and saw no less than 5 wedding parties being photographed or walking around. It was wedding central around that place.

It was fun to come home and see our kiddos. It's always nice to have a chance to miss them. They had been in very good hands and been spoiled by both grandmas. During our last afternoon there I came down with a wicked cold that has reared it's ugly head all week long. Nothing like back to reality huh? It was a great trip... at least I have the pictures to make me smile now :)

My Birthday Week

2011-10-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

I have to say, my birthday week didn't pan out exactly as I'd hoped, but it was still great :)

For starters the stupid flu decided to make an appearance and take down my mom, Ethan, me, and Danny Flores. That meant I didn't have a birthday dinner last weekend at my moms with crab legs (because she had the flu). Really though it worked out because later that evening I came down with the flu, and Ethan threw up in the middle of the night as well. I spent all day Monday in misery. Tuesday I was feeling about 85 %, but still weak and a little queezy.

Wednesday was my actual birthday and I awoke to a few sweet things from my hubby....
They made me feel very loved :)

The hydrangea is to plant in front of my bathroom window. I've been wanting one. It's my favorite flower and I don't have any planted at this house! The cyclamen will also be planted out back.

Isn't this sign the sweetest?

Matt made it for me :)

So on my birthday I had planned on going to Glen Ivy with Faith since you get in for free on your birthday (and she had a gift card). My birthday is normally gorgeous weather wise, however some crazy storm from Alaska blew in just for me and we spent the day at Glen Ivy in the freezing cold rain :) We still managed to enjoy ourselves, after all it's not super bad sitting in a warm spa with the rain, but we did tire of it and ended up spending about half our time in the locker room spa, lol. There was no laying out in the sun and relaxing that day. My mother in law watched my kids all day and it was nice to just have a break, despite the rain.

Here we are covered in mud

When I arrived home I had these beauties waiting for me on my counter (my brother in law Dan sent them to me):

And Matt making me my requested birthday dinner: grilled steak and shrimp, potatoes au gratin, grilled corn on the cob. He made the entire meal by himself and I was quite impressed. It was cooked to perfection :)

However, that brings me back to that dang flu. The Flores' came over to enjoy my birthday dinner with me but unfortunately Danny came down with the flu on the way over. He spent the evening in our guest bed while Jolene and Matt and I ate and watched the kids. I felt really bad he had to miss out. Jolene made me an amazing tiramasu. I was able to enjoy most of the food, however my stomach was not quite back to normal and my appetite was just not that huge.

Ethan was "reading" to Christian. I love that they are both wearing sunglasses here :)

The next morning (Thursday) Matt and I got to take off to San Diego for two nights. It was a great trip and I have TONS of pictures to post from that :) Guess what I came home with though? A cold! haha. I guess my immune system is not off to a good start this fall. I'm praying I get over it fast and feel good for a while because I have a very busy October ahead of me.

I'll be back soon with lots of fun San Diego pics :)

The sweetest gift

2011-10-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

My dear friend and "sister" Jolene wrote the sweetest blog post for me yesterday for my birthday.

As if that wasn't enough, she made me a video. Gosh, it was fun to watch this and walk down memory lane. I also might have cried a little :) I guess when you've been friends with someone for 18 years you have a lot of memories together! Thank you Jolene for one of the most thoughtful and special gifts I've ever received :) I sure do love you! What a blessing our friendship has been, and continues to be :)

A few randoms

2011-10-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hi!
I'm pretty excited that I am finished processing the wedding I shot two weeks ago. I know you're dying to see all the photos, right? Well, don't worry, you can see all 642 of them right here if you'd like :) I've spent a LOT of time at the computer the past couple of weeks.

I have two more pictures of myself from that day. Mark took them and I think they are pretty cool :)

I shot with two cameras... my new one and my old one, that way I didn't have to constantly switch lenses. I probably won't do this next time, while handy it was a bit cumbersome.

Last week I had a photoshoot at Newport Beach and I drug my family along for some company. It was gorgeous there. While I did my shoot Matt took the kids to play at a playground on the beach. They had a blast and I was happy to have the company in the car :)

When I met back up with the kids and Matt Ethan was happy to see me and gave me a cute smile :)

Want to know something?
I'm turning 30 on Wedensday.
I'm not really super excited about it.
I like the sound of being in my 20s.
30 just doesn't excite me.

I am however looking forward to the week, because my celebrating starts tomorrow with a crab leg dinner at my moms... yummmm.
Then Matt and I get to spend two nights in the Gaslamp in San Diego all by ourselves,
and I am DEFINITELY looking forward to that.
We plan on relaxing, hitting up a couple of breweries, reading, going to the beach, checking out the photography museum... and best of all, just doing whatever we want without worrying about taking care of anyone else! :)

That's all for now...
I need to pay bills and do other fun stuff, lol.
But then we're off to play and do something fun.
Hope you're having a great Saturday!~

Alayna and Minnie

2011-09-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

One of the gifts Alayna received for her birthday was a set of Minnie Mouses that can be dressed with little plastic clothes. She LOVES it and plays with it constantly. She has birthday parties for Minnie and tries to feed her food from the tea set. It really is quite adorable and I love that she can play like this.

Apple Cider Donuts at Snowline

2011-09-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

I love living so close to Oak Glen. The kids and pop up there quite often (it's only about 7 minutes from our house). Last week it was rather warm and I thought it would be nice to get out of the heat for a bit and get some yummy apple cider donuts. I lugged along my camera for once, and then felt kind of bad because all I did was try to take pictures instead of enjoying being in the moment. I figured I never take pictures of my own kids in Oak glen (just lots of other people's, lol), so I wanted some for the blog book :)

Ethan scarfed them down and was kind enough to share just a couple with Alayna and I, lol. We got to taste raspberry apple cider (which I loved) and cherry apple cider (which I didn't care for too much), and the 11 variates of apples they had out (all very yummy).

My kids also thought it was really fun to drink out of the decorative fountain they had, but I didn't take any pictures of that (gross!).

They loved watching the lady make the donuts. Since we were like one of three other people there she turned it on and made some just so they could watch her.

I set my camera on the table and took these next three shots of Alayna and I using my timer.

Oh, and if you notice my pictures are a little different, it's because I've switched over to Lightroom from Photoshop and I'm still learning my way around :) One thing I know, is that it's pretty darn awesome and is cutting down my processing time by quite a bit.

Ethan's Scavanger Hunt

2011-09-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

The other day I put together a little scavenger hunt for Ethan to do. I glued pictures of items on an egg carton and he had to go around and find the items and then put them in the egg carton. The activity was good for about 15 minutes of fun for him. He was excited to find each item but refused to find a rolly polly and snail shell. I guess that's his sister's department, lol.

Cookie assisted....

Me

2011-09-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

My latest attempt at self portraits...

I was on my way home from a photoshoot in Oak Glen and thought this place looked lovely. I was by myself, so I set my camera on a stump, and used the self timer. Not too shabby considering I even had to set the focus points to focus where my head would be.

It's kind of a fun challenge to actually take a decent self portrait.

This was taken at the park one day.
I was snapping away at my kids and decided I needed to be in at least ONE picture :)

This weekend was big for me.
I photographed my first wedding (as THE photographer).
The other wedding I shot as THE photographer was just 2 hours at a courthouse, it was nothing like the one this weekend.
I met the bride and groom nearly a year ago when I did their engagement pictures (they found me when they saw someone elses' engagement pictures I had done).
They then hired me to do their wedding.
I've been excited (and nervous) ever since :)
I'll admit, last week was filled with a lot of nerves... big time nerves.
I did a lot of preparation (as much as you can do as a photographer),
rented this really nice zoom lens (which I'm now lusting after big time),
brought along this cool macro lens (which my dentist lent me, is that awesome or what?),
had an awesome second photographer assisting me during the formal portraits (thank you Mark, you totally rock!),
had a very cool photobooth run by two more awesome photographers (thank you Stark Love Photography),
and worked my little heart out.

Seriously,
I have never done anything as hard as that day was.
It was so much fun...
and so much work...
non stop work.
I took 15 minutes to sit down and eat dinner during my 9 hours of shooting.
I came home and have never felt so tired in my life.
It took me a whole day to recover,
popping pain relievers and resting.
But I ended up with great shots,
so I'll be editing all week....
I took a few thousand photos.
Of course I'll only be using the best 500-800 ;)

My next wedding is in November, at the beach.
I'm stoked.
I'm hooked.
I love wedding photography (but I don't think I could do it every weekend, lol).

I'll make sure to let you know when I get all my pictures finished and up in a gallery,
because I know you're dying to see them, right?? ;)

So other than all the photog stuff, I've just been up to my normal mom stuff, and of course still going to the gym faithfully :) I had a goal when I started back at the gym in February that I wanted to look and feel better than I have in a LONG time by my 30th birthday. That is only a couple of weeks away, and I'd say I met that goal. I feel in better shape than I can ever remember. I love feeling strong. Weight wise I've only lost 5 pounds, but I also dropped my body fat from 19% to 16%, so that is great :)

Ethan has been challangeing me tremendously lately.

I know I've said that a lot, but right now he is particularly challenging.

Matt and I talk daily about how to best parent him.

I have to start every day in prayer that the Lord would help me be the mom he needs.

Okay, enough of me :)

I'm going to go read about you...

on your blog :)

Alayna's 2nd Birthday

2011-09-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted pictures of Alayna's birthday, since it was a week and a half ago. It's been an insane week... photoshoots, shooting my first wedding, day to day life stuff.... you know :)

So, without any further delay, here is Alayna's second birthday.
She woke up to the morning and me, Matt and Ethan walked into her room and sang happy birthday to her. She then walked out to the bar decorated with a few presents for her.
Notice the life size Mickey Mouse courtesy of my friend Jessice from TMOMS (thank yoU!)
She was tickled at all the stuff. It was just too cute.
I made a banner of sorts out of some of the pictures from her two year photoshoot.

She was thrilled about her Minnie Mouse and had to hug her right away.

She's really into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

She loved her bracelts...

as did her brother.

We had a few tears over him wanting those.

Thankfully she's pretty graceous and shared with him,

even though he kept trying to take ALL of them.

She loved her sunglasses,

I got her two pairs.

Of course brother had to wear one of them.

After nap time we had a little party for her with our family and the Flores'.

We grilled up some tri-tip,

set up our little bounce house,

had plenty of sugar and lots of fun.

Jolene made adorable (and tasty) cupcakes for her.

I loved the white chocolate mickey mouse heads, too cute.

She was a little unsure about the candle, but quickly figured it out and devoured her cupcake.

She loved opening her presents and wanted to stop and play with each one.

She received a tea set, and pretend ice cream, a teddy bear (with a hand made outfit) and two little plastic Minnie Mouses that you can dress up. Too cute. She LOVED her gifts.

Uncle Mike with Cookie

Matt's brother Dan was in town to visit, so it was fun to have him be able to join in the festivities.

The three Hekman brothers

I just can't beleive my baby is two....
so sad :(
It sure has gone by fast with her!

Happy 2nd Birthday Alayna!

2011-09-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

Two years ago today I met my sweet baby girl for the very first time.
I was smitten, and still am.
I have thoroughly enjoyed her this year, and boy has it flown by.
I made a video/picture montage of her second year.
It's a tad long, since I have hundreds of pictures of her, and even at that, I only chose my favorites.

Happy birthday baby girl...
you'll always be my baby :)
I love you more than words could ever express.

Photoshoot with my kids

2011-09-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

I posted these pictures on my photography blog, but I want them to be included in my blog book, so I'm putting them on here as well :)

Can you beleive I’ve never taken my little ones out with the sole purpose of doing a photoshoot just for them? Now don’t get me wrong, I have tons and tons of pictures of them, but they are always taken around the house, in the yard, or when we happen to be doing something fun. Since my little girl turns two this week and my son will be four in a month and a half I was determined to do a “real” photoshoot just for them. I am a huge sucker for sun flare, and I have almost no pictures of my own kids with the sun setting, so that’s what most of these have I took them out to a field, had my trusty helper come along (a.k.a. my accommodating hubby), and brought some of their most favorite toys along: the dump trucks. These pictures totally encompass who my kids are right now, and I love them.

If you want to see all of the pictures I edited, I put them in a gallery on my Smug Mug site.

Christian turns 4

2011-09-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

Christian Flores turned 4 the other week and we got to help him celebrate at his Cars 2 birthday party. Jolene did a fabulous job decorating and cooking and making everything perfect. I mean, just look at this cuteness...

They even had Danny's track set up around the cupcakes for the "big kids" to play with :)

You can never go wrong with a pinata!

Cool glasses huh?

Making sure she doesn't miss one bite of cupcake :)

presents!

Me with my most favorite hostess with the mostess :)

Can we say dramatic?

2011-09-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ethan can be quite dramatic at times.
I know this is typical for a three year old,
but this boy is passionate.

Is it mean that I happened to have my camera out,
and just couldn't help but snap some pictures of his theatrics?
I think the fact that I was giggling and taking pictures helped spur the intensity of the drama.

Is he not just too pitiful?

Never fear,

after only a few minutes he was happily playing...

....and then even smiling :)

Ahhh,

it's tough being three, huh?

Dining Alfresco

2011-09-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of summer is dining alfresco (aka eating on the back patio).
We eat outside nearly ever night,
with the exception of the few days during the summer that it was nearly 100 degrees at dinner time.
We dine outside with just the four of us,
and we dine outside when friends come over as well.
I love that I've hardly had to clean my dining room all summer ;)

Here are a few pictures from when the Flores family came over for dinner this past week,
always a highlight of the week :)

Alayna and "Uncle Danny".

My man is a master at the BBQ :)

Here are some pictures of my own little family from last night,
dining alfresco.
laying on a blanket and laughing.
running through the sprinklers.
eating popsicles.
and enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

This looks really gross, but it's just a homeade popsicle.

I snuck in some spinach which turned them green :)

Matt and I were laughing at her...

she's so very sweet and loveable,

and she consantly wants cuddles.

She's always telling us "I lub you mom", and "I lub you dad".

She's almost never clean.

One touch from her grubby hands will leave you dirty,

but how can you resist???

The best part about this weekend is that it's not over yet!
Happy Labor Day!