DYI haircut by Macie

We woke up to find this in the garbage.

Apparently in the middle of the night Macie got up because her hair was "bugging her" and chop a section off. "I just didn't want it there anymore" Problem solved I guess. Luckily it looks like she has layers in the front now and the will just grow out....I still can't believe she did that!

I sware I am going to get my Cmas cards out this week...seriously it was taken me way too long! I still have 2 extra cards if anyones wants one :)~Kell

Clarity...

I was driving home from a session last week and I pulled over to watch this beautiful sunset.... It has been the first time in a long time that I have had time alone to think. I thought of my kids, thought about the guilt I had been feeling and I came to a conclusion. My biggest fear is that my kids will grow up not feeling like I did in my home. I dont want to play the pity card..with all the abuse and crap that went on in my home my Mom didn't/couldn't take the time to show us how she felt. She did her best to keep our family from falling apart and there wasn't much left for hugs and heart to heart talks. So bottom line is all that really matters to me is that my kids grow up knowing that I love them. That is it. SO it doesn't matter that I don't have bake fresh cookies when they come home from school (who does that anymore anyway???), or that I don't come into their class rooms to help like most moms, or that I work way too much...what matters is that I tell my kids everyday that I love them, and how prefect I think they are. What matters is that I hug them, and listen to their stories about what happened today on sponge bob (ugggg) and I let them know how great they are. That is it. Is it that simple? It is to me.

Check this out!

Just to pass the time while I am wait for Sessions to upload.....I made my family into elves! Enjoy!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1189935719

Cmas Cards

So I have about 10 extra cards left over this year. If any of my bloggin friends wants one... Please email or leave your addy in the comments and I will send you one out!

...the rest of the story

I didn't really think about writing how I broke it :) We went hiking in Zion National Park on Thanksgiving, we were coming down a pathway of sandstone stairs...which in my defence were totally covered in sand...and I slipped. My first reaction was to grab my camera because that would suck if it broke, well that threw me more off balance and I landed smack on my butt ...really hard. I thought I was ok but the last week has been extremely sucky. Anything up against it hurts...pants and undies are so uncomfortable...I feel like I have hemorrhoids...seriously I have to switch sides every few mins to avoid the pain! I wish I didn't have to edit because sitting here sucks sooo bad! Oh well it will heal soon! My niece suggested I go and get a cast on it...WHAT? Does she even know where my tail bone is? The last thing I need is a tail....lol!

I broke my tail bone...

Yep how cool is that...sitting on a donut constantly rubbing my butt crack is all real cute. You should all be jealous of me!

Just to remind myself...

My good friend Megs sent this to me and I want to share it... sometimes I need to remember what God sees in people not what everyone else sees.

A Baby's Hug

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, "Hi." He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.I looked around and saw the source of his joy. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map.We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. "Hi there, baby. Hi there, big boy. I see ya,buster," the man said to Erik. My husband and I exchanged looks. "Whatdo wedo?"Erik continued to laugh and answer, "Hi." Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, "Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo." Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk.My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence - all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who, in turn,reciprocated with his cute comments.We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. "Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik," I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's' "pick-me-up" position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man's. Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship.Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain and hard labor cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, "You take care of this baby."Somehow I managed, "I will," from a throat that contained a stone. He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, "God bless you, ma'am. You've given me my Christmas gift."I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, "My God, my God, forgive me."I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking,

"Are you willing to share your son for a moment when He shared His for all eternity?" The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, "To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become as little children."

Thank you thank you!

It seems like so many of us struggle with the same thing that I am struggling with. Being a Mom is really hard and I think no matter how much I do I will feel overwhelmed or inadequate. I've had some amazing advise and I am going to save them in a file on my 'puter so that when I start feeling like this I can re-read. Thank you! I seriously bawled through everyone posts and personal emails, they all helped me so much!

A Very Personal Post

I am struggling with all the responsibilities I am juggling. I don't know why it is hitting me so hard tonight, but I need to get it out of my mind and this is the best way for me to vent and for me to share what I am feeling. Being a mother is the most important thing in my life, the thing I have always wanted to be, the thing that gives me the will to live. It 's also the hardest thing I do, and lately I feel like a complete failure at it. I am so overworked, I have no time, no patience for my little kids. I watch them grow up so fast and I have all this regret, all of this pain. I am missing so much, I am losing all this time with them and it is so hard. In the same breath it is easy for me to dive into my work, easy to focus there because it is reward and you know what being a Mom is hard, it is damn hard and it takes everything out of me most days. I feel so overwhelmed, I feel like I am right at my breaking point. Overworked, sleep deprived. Justin says I do it to myself, which that statement alone pisses me off! I don't want to be the money maker, I don't want this responsibility. I have to work and some days I resent him for it. Do get me wrong, I love what I do, I am grateful for the amazing growth my business has had BUT there are some days where I just want to be the Mom, I want to get up take my kids to school clean the house and watch TV. I just want to be a normal Mom. But I know if I was back to that life, I would find something else to occupy my time, I would be doing as much as I am doing know. SO really what I need is a better method to juggle and divide my time. In the end I am doing the very best I can do. But is that enough? Will it ever be enough?

Pathetic

Yes that is how I feel about my kids right now. Halloween is suppose to be fun....not a day filled with complaints and melt downs. We went to 3 houses and Kase had already hit the wall, his legs hurt, he only wanted to go to his friends houses no one else. Macie had already had her melt down early in the day so luckily trick or treating was fun for her. But I just wanted to call it night. This is suppose to be about them isn't it? We go for them....seriously what's the deal?

Yes I have pictures to support the facts...

Finally one smile...

LEGOLAND

Seriously this was better than Disneyland for the kids, it was calm, there where no lines, we had so much fun!

Seriously honey those glass have got to go!

I am so mean I pretended I was going on the scary boat ride and I snuck off before anyone noticed...they are all not so happy with me...I just didn't want to puke!
This was the coolest ride, there were stop lights and stop sign and you had to stay on the correct side of the road!

What a crazy weekend

I had a shoot Saturday morning and a wedding in the afternoon/evening Then I flew out of Vegas Saturday Night at 9:30 (barely making my flight) I was picked up at the airport by the Dyers. We drove to Oceanside were we met Justin and the kids. Justin decided that last minute he was going to head out to Cali to spend time with us all. I did family pictures for the Dyers on the beach Sunday and Newborn pictures of their sweet little Tessa on Monday plus we spent half of a day at Legoland. We headed back home around 7:30, got home around 1:30 and woke up to start another busy work week! I wonder why our life feels so crazy sometimes! But we had a lot of fun so all in all it was worth the sporadic-ness of it all!

Yep this is the first thing she does, squats and gets dirty, there is no stoppin her!

Moo and Sassy Pants
Bubba running from the waves
I hate the Justins hand in on my tummy like i am prego, it really bugs me BUT I love love love the kids in this shot!
I had this idea for a while, I had originally wanted the reflection in the sand but this worked too!

Pics from Colorado

In our Hotel room after our spa day
We had to stop and get pics of us rawking our 80's style (side ponytail and the huge sunglasses)
These really are not in focus I messed up the shot...oh well!
Theres my honey!

80 hr weeks

Yep that is what I have been pulling, it sounds like I am exaggerating but I am not look at my typical day....

8:00 Wake up Get Kase to School

9:00 Work on editing until 1st shoot

3:00 Photoshoot

5:00 Photoshoot #2

7:30 pick up kids

8:00 Dinner, homework and reading

9:00 Bedtime Lay in bed with each of my kids and listen to their stories from the day

9:15 Finish up editing

2:00 or 3:00 go to bed

next day start all over

I FINALLY hired on some help. My good friend Lisa is going to help me out until the winter rush is over and my niece is working twice a week for me also. It is SO nice to have help because I can't keep up! I feel like I am running my business horribly so I hope this helps!

We are heading out for much need "US" time

When we get too much work and we both start to want to kill each other so Justin and I are heading to Colorado for "US" time. Our last big trip together was to Hawaii which was over a year ago so I can't wait! Originally Justin wanted to go to New York but after my DC trip I could not handle another "walking vacation." A told him all I wanted to do was sit in hotel room, I don't want to go anywhere, see anything, do anything. I want to have a couple days of nothing. He decided to book spa treatments for us also, so we are getting massages, wraps and facials. What a cool husband to go and get a facial just to spend time with his wife. He is too good to me! Here is a picture of the resort we are going too. There better not be snow on the ground when we get there!! Don't you rememeber I HATE snow!

After our little getaway We are heading to Glendwood Springs for Senior pictures, My SIL has some senior boys lined up for me to photograph and I can't wait. I have all of these ideas for senior guys just no willing participants!

Be back in a week!~Kell

Macie's New Hair clips

I get into these little addictive patterns where I buy a lot of one thing. It is ALMOST an obsession, say almost because I am not yet willing to admit that it is a problem :) What I do is i'll buy lots of hair products, or canned food, or shoes or whatever. Even though I have plenty of canned corn, everytime I go to the store I will buy more canned corn. I have to get more. It is a wird little thing I do I guess...seriously this is turning out to be a long long story for such simple pictures!

Anyways my addiction this time is hair bows, and clips. I can't even begin to think what I have spent on hair stuff for Moo Moo but these little clips are totally adorable. I got them at Chloe in Style the link is in the sidebar under Shopping------>

Oh and that chair...I picked that beauty up at the Brigham City DI! Saaaweet! :)

A little Day trip

I can't believe that less then a hour away from us there is freakin snow on the ground! It is totally retarded. I hate snow, I hate the cold, I am such a grouch when it comes to all this cold crap! Do I sound bitter? Well it is because I am, I wanted to go for a drive to get some good Fall pictures of my kids but when we get there, there is snow on the ground, the kids are cold, I am cold, my feet have snow on them because I wear flip flops year round...yeah not what I expected!

" Fine if your not going to smile do SOMETHING!"

Check out this cool bus, We are totally coming back when it is not so freakin cold!Proof that my toes are cold!
BUT Justin did make us all laugh with the band aid on his butt, FYI he was peeing when I took the shot! hehehe!

Crazy couple of weeks

I feel like I am treading water, I am barely able to keep my head above the water. Justin is working out of town for this entire month, I am crazy booked with work and I get to manage the kids, the bills, the house all by myself. I don't know how I am going to last the entire month. I am already over worked, already stressed. yuck I am just not looking forward to it all! I guess the only perk is that I get to sleep without any interruptions. No one elbows me, or "snuggles" up to me with a little surprise in their pants at night. So for that I am totally happyto hold down the fort while he is gone!

Have you seen this site?

http://tracyjoy.com/index.html

Oh my gosh her bags are yummy! I have been looking for a tote around bag, one I can grab my and camera and one lens and go! I love these! She is super busy so she has a waiting list but I am definitely getting on it!

So this is how I spent my birthday...

Well actually this was the day after... I was at Swiss days all weekend. Saturday we got rained out which was cool because I kinda wanted to have sometime to relax. I was a little bummed that I had to work on my birthday but it turned out to be really cool. I sat at a my booth and everyone loved me! They all commented on how beautiful my pictures are! It was great! Then I went home and ate Ice cream cake YUM my favorite! THe only bad thing is that I am slow getting closer to 30 and I really don't like that, birthdays are starting to not be as fun anymore!

I think my new website is done..

I am sure in the next little while I will be fixing somethings

....especially typos so if you see anything else I need to change tell me!

Does anyone know why there are little green controls in the left coner of the page? They showed up after I change my songs but I really dont like them!

Check it out!

http://elementsphotographystudio.com

100 bucks

I just happened to go into Roberts today and they were having a huge moving sale! ....oh my gosh I am soo glad I did. I didn't get a lot of scrappy stuff but check out all I got for $100.00.... yep that totally rawks!

That candle thingy was only $25...I have wanted one for a long time!
$5 a piece for these...I got all three for photo props!

Guess whos no longer blond.....

he! he! yep I went dark! It is such a change :) but I think I like it!

and no I don't take pictures like this every time I get me hair done....I am working on updating my website!

One of these are for my original website.

I can't decide between these two Any suggestions?

Which ever one I pick it will be in B&W

This one is going on my new senior/wedding site that I am working on and that camera is my grandmas...It was a struggle to get it but I am so glad that I finally got it!

I guess I am into spending money...

If you have ever been to my house you know that my bedroom is not decorated....I have been waited for the major pieces to pull it all together. I have been looking for a new bedspread for over a year....It is hard to find a nice one that I like. Thanks to my sister Heather and her introducing me to Linens and Things I found a beautiful bedspread! It looks all fancy which is usually not my style but I really like this set! I am so excited for it to get here!!!

Whats new with me...

The summer is offically over, school started, we just got back from our last vacation (we went to Idaho and worked so it really wasn't a vacation), we are gearing up for a busy work season and slowly getting back to a routine. Both kids are in school, Kase is gone all day and it's alittle sad and a little nice all at the same time. It is all serious now, I have to excuse him when he is absent, sign a note when he is tardy, fix him school lunch, take him to and from...it is weird. Weird that I have a 6 year old little boy. Weird that my kids grow so fast.

Work is busy, I love that I am busy but it is hard all the same time. I don't know how I do it most days, I don't sleep, I rarely have time to eat (but I am still fat). My Grandpa said if I am too busy I need to charge more, which is true but is so hard for me to do. People are cheap in this town, and alot of people in my church expect things for free. It makes it hard to run a business sometimes. I guess it couldn't hurt.

Anyways...I am rambling. We had a great summer, I can't believe it is over, I wanted more family time! BUT I am soooo happy that I got to see to sooo many of my friends this summer!

ahhh hopefully I am back to "regular" life...

What do you do?

What do you do with a child that isn't punishable? Nothing works with little Macie. I've spanked her she says that it doesn't hurt. I've given her a small teaspoon of vinegar and she doesn't blink. Time outs, taking toys away it doesn't matter what I do with her,

shes going to do what she's going to do.

I am totally out of options with her!

I would love any suggestions! I don't want her to be like this the rest of her life!