{Jonah and my Dad}

Tomorrow marks the 62nd Birthday of my wonderful Dad if he was still here today.

I think of him every day. He has been gone for 8 1/2 years now. It makes me sad that he couldn't be here to see my kids grow up and be here for their milestone's.

I'm not trying to be depressing or anything. I just miss him. I'm still glad I have my Mom around to be there for those things. She is fabulous!

Jonah will be 12 this coming Sunday. I am almost 37 and it is weird to think about how we thought as youth. The parents always seemed really OLD to us. Now I'm that parent. (I'm not THAT old.) I also remember thinking how slow time seemed to go. Not anymore.

Jonah is such a good boy. I can't believe he will be 12 so soon! He is a good example to his dad and I. He is eager to learn and be close to his Heavenly Father too.

He will be a Deacon. Crazy. Where does the time go?

Anyway, I'm proud to be his mom and friend.

Happy Birthday Dad and Jonah!

{NEW BLOG}

For those of you who follow or check in on this blog, this

blog that I need to update way more than I have, go see

my new photo blog.

It is HERE!

If you are thinking about family pictures, go now!

I am doing Fall Mini Sessions and I'm only doing a limited amount of them because I get so busy in the Fall.

Thanks! I hope you are well!

{June}

UPDATE**- I already have 5 people booked for that June special. Email me if you need pics and I might still give a discount:)

I am doing a June Special on my photography blog.

Go check it out! The link is on the right side of this blog!

If you are wanting family pictures, you will want to check it out. If you know someone who needs family pictures, pass this along to them. :)

I am also doing mini sessions for $85 which is for a 45 min. session of up to 5 people($10 each additional) plus a cd of 10-25 images for print. I don't have this on my website, but thought I'd mention it.

Email me if interested!

Thanks!

Working Out

So, I have found that I don't workout consistently unless I find people to go with. If I know someone is counting on me to pick them up or whatever, I will go! I have been really good about working out at least 4 times a week and sometimes 6. Crazy me, huh? I joined my local rec center and I have been going at 5:30am. It is busy at 5:30am! I'm happy to have a variety of things to do there though. I can even swim! Yay for me!

Now I just need to figure out my eating and I might lose weight!!! Ha!

My "workout buddies" and I decided to meet and have a meal idea swap so I have ideas of what they are eating. My "workout buddies" are doing great and losing weight.

I need this!! I feel good, besides my shin splints, and I want so badly to be healthy and not die at a young age like my dad did.

Anyway, those are my thoughts today. I need to be better about writing things down more often. I haven't been on this blog in months!

PS- I have great kids! I love them!

{I like to win stuff!}

I'm hoping to win a workshop that would be awesome! I'm always looking for ways to boost my skills as a photographer.

Anyway, here is the link. Go check out her talent, if you feel so inclined!

http://shop.nicholeV.com

Wish me luck!

BORED?

If so, take your shirt off and do this.

(Gavin and friends)

{8}

Gavin turned 8 last month! It is crazy to think how fast they grow up.

We had a little pool party with a few friends.

Gavin loves to swim. He loves to read. He loves to eat pretzels or any other salty snack.

He loves Sonic the Hedgehog. He is an artist. He has a great laugh when he laughs really hard. He loves to read the Book of Mormon. He writes in his journal. He is a good big brother to Breck.

We love having him in our family!

He is getting baptized this Saturday and he is excited.

I am too. :)

{Electronic Summer}

Well, as soon as it gets too hot outside(which is now),the summer becomes full of electronics!

It is starting to drive me nuts.
"Mom, can we play the Wii?" "Can I play on the computer?" "Can I play on the itouch?"

Mom's reply:

"NOOOOOOOO!!!! I don't want you to play anything that has a screen!"

"I want you to play outside or clean something." "I want you to find a friend to play with."

"Okay, you can play for a little bit I guess."

Typical day right now.

It does help, however, that my boys read for about an hour and a half every night at bed time.

If they didn't, I would totally NOT let them play any sort of electronic game thingy in our home!!

We Are Family- Part 1 of California trip

I love my family! I love to go visit them!

We went to Lake Arrowhead first to stay in our traditional cabin that is owned by a family friend. We cram into the 3 story cabin and although we don't sleep very well, we have a lot of fun.

This year, my brother Andy, changed things up a bit. He was able to "rent" a Pontoon boat so we could ride around the lake and knee board. Hahaha! Silly.

The kids loved it though.

Andy also brought up some electric scooters so we could cruise around the area.

Good times!

Here is my side of the family:

All grandkids:

Nobody can make a straight face when getting their photo for anything important:

This was Andy's boat license he had to get that day to drive the boat.

(Click to see larger)

Poor Jake was in charge of getting the tow rope out/in the water and he burned his knees on the hot cushions he was on. He is okay now.

Jay with no shirt on.

Andy and Shawna

Robyn and Jenna

Ryan

Taylor and Jon

Oh, yes! I know what you are thinking about Jake. "Wow! He has great posture!"

(See burned knees, dollar store shades, and sweet pink helmet below)

"Yeah, I like pink. You wanna mess with me?"

Jeffrey and Trent

Shawna and Breck

Melinda showing off her talents.

Trent, Breck and Ryan. Cousins.

Pretty Mom and Me.

{4 Years Old.....Oh my!}

I can't believe my baby is 4!! She is so grown up! I love everything about her. She is so smart and beautiful and happy. I love how she looks when she first wakes up with her hair all messy and pretty. I love her smile and her giggles. She is a good friend. She loves to make up songs that are silly. She loves to be in the water. She loves primary songs from church. She loves anything that is "baby" or that is "tiny", even the "tiny" toilets in kids bathrooms.

She loves her daddy the most. (sometimes hard for me to accept) She is perfect in every way!!

We had a little birthday party for her yesterday with a few friends from our neighborhood and she had so much fun. They splashed in a little pool and slid on a slip and slide. Party+H2O=SuperFantasticTotallyRadFun.

My talented neighbor/friend made the cute cupcakes and they were so delicious!

Jake was up late decorating our home:)

She was shy when we were singing to her.

I don't know what she wished for, but my wish is for her to stay 4 forever. :(

They grow up too fast and I don't think I like it one bit.

{My little graduate}

Breck and I had a fun year with our preschool group. 6 mom's from our neighborhood decided to take turns teaching preschool twice a week. We had 3 sweet little boys and girls in our group. It was free and fun and it took some work too. Emily, one of the moms, planned a cute little graduation for the kids last night. Thanks Emily!!

I had to hobble over to get some pics of my cutie pie. (I recently had surgery and I'm still recovering, but doing well)

Here are the 6 of them together. They all became such good friends. It was a good experience for us.

{Just in case you don't visit my photo blog....}

Email me at danawillis@gmail.com

This is how Jake jumps off a swing.

Am I old fashioned????

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the skies were blue. I opened my window to enjoy it and I looked down at our nice little park area behind our building and saw two teenage couples laying on each other kissing. I was shocked. I was totally shocked that they didn't seem to care if anyone was watching them out their windows. Ew.

I shut my blinds.

About an hour and a half later, they were still out there. I mean, really? Who are these kids?

Am I old fashioned? Should I be thinking,"Well, at least they are dressed and doing this in a place where things cannot get too heavy." NOPE.

I went outside. I opened my gate and tried to shoo them away with my hand and voice. I said,"go home".

They ignored me!

I then grabbed Jake and the whole family and we went running out with every ball we own and bats and started playing sports on Sunday about 4 feet away from one girl straddling her "man".

By the way, they were about 14 or so years old.

We were yelling and cheering and trying to be annoying.

Within a minute or so, the girls got off of their "men" and just sat there.

Jake even asked them questions,"Are you new to the neighborhood?" They just shook their heads and didn't say much more. They then moved over closer to the playground and just talked for the next hour.

I'm okay with talking!!! (even though I still wanted them to leave our innocent, clean family playground area)

FINALLY, I heard a "mother" yell out to her daughter that it was time to go.

Blech!

This "mother" was okay with her daughter and her friend laying on their boyfriends making out???

It makes me wonder what the "mother" and her friend she was visiting were doing......EW!

I know there are worse things out there, but seeing this makes me want to keep my children sheltered and safe from hearing, seeing, doing anything inappropriate. I'm already doing this, but I think I might do it until they are 30.

I have a feeling this won't be the last time these teens show up and straddle each other on my back lawn. (well, it pretty much is my backyard)

If I call the police next time, will they just laugh at me???(the police, I mean)

{She is full of color}

THIS VIDEO makes me happy when I watch it.

I love that she finds so much color and fun with the world around us. I wish I was more like her.

It's only a few minutes, go watch! It will make you giggle. It is three and a half minutes of creativity!

Here is her blog and I think everyone should follow it.

Logo, I like it.

If you would be so kind, grab the html code for my Logo Button under my logo on the right side of this blog and copy it and paste it under the "Add a Gadget" on your Layout page. Click "HTML/Javascript" and paste the code in the box and VOILA!

I would be so grateful! Thanks and have a wonderful day!

Smarty Pants

I was sitting at my computer, something I do way too often, and I looked over at my 3 year old, Breck. I saw that she was drawing on a piece of paper. I asked what she was drawing and she said, "Cinnamon Toast Crunch". The box of cereal was gone and was still sitting on the kitchen table. I walked over to see and found this:
"Wow!", I said. She would just keep looking at the box and then draw what she saw on the paper. So fascinating, kids. She is such a smart little girl.

By the way, she is left handed. Not sure how I feel about that. I keep trying to tell her to switch, oh well. Is it that bad?

She then started to erase everything she had written because she ran out of room on the paper. I told her to just get another piece. She said,"Don't worry, I won't get tired from erasing." Hahaha! Smart AND she thinks GREEN! Who could ask for more?!

Hooray!

I finally got a website up and going! I'm so excited to have it. It looks more professional than I thought it would:)

Go visit: www.danawillis.com