the weaver family!

i was back in california for christmas, and had some photo sessions while i was there. now it may look like a beautiful day at the beach, and it was, BUT it was pretty chilly! the kids didn't want to take their shoes off in the sand because the sand was so cold!

christmas can be confusing!

why, you ask? i'll give you three examples...

first - i sat down at the piano to play some christmas songs for my kids. when i asked blake what his favorite christmas song was, he said "jesus had a little lamb"

second - when looking for the angel piece of the little people nativity set, he asked "where is the fairy godmother?" "you mean the angel?" "no, the fairy godmother with the wings"

third - blake also asked me "so mom, is it jesus who is watching us all the time, or santa?" (guess i'd better revise my threats!)

the pugh family

what do you do with a little one who only wants to be in her stroller? put on the long lens and take pictures in the stroller! :)

the pugh family was one of my shoots that had to be rescheduled because of the rain. luckily, it was a beautiful day for us the second time around!

the chamberlain family

the chamberlains received a gift certificate from some family members that i did a shoot for up in utah. i always love to meet other parts of all these wonderful families!











apparently this tongue thing was something new for her. there were lots of fun smiling ones, but i just loved this one!

the bohne boys

i heard there might have been a bribe involved in getting these brothers together for some portraits for their mom. i can't confirm it, and i don't know what it was, but... :) no matter how they got there, i think the boys were able to relax and have fun!

the hansen family

sugar and spice!

the sherrill family welcomed a new little girl a couple weeks ago! you could tell big sister just loves her so much!

the campbell family

the campbell's wanted something other than a park, so we used some more unique backgrounds! their mom even brought big suckers for the kids which were so cute!

i love when he stole the sucker from his sister and ran :)

the decker family

leisel was in some portraits with her friend while they were both pregnant - and here she is with her beautiful family! their little girl was smiley at first, but then she got really tired. we even got some cute ones of her sleeping at the end!

the guymon kids

these kids were so great! we did portraits at their home in cave creek. their mom even made cookie dough to do some christmas cookie pictures at the end! i think my favorite was the santa cactus that their dad decorated :)

my inspiration

today i decided that i wanted to update my family wall of photos. the last full shoot i did for my own kids was back in april!!! i love when i get to experiment without feeling any pressure to get certain shots. i went not knowing specifics, but with a couple thoughts of what i would do. my kids are normally great with pictures, and my husband puts up with me and all of my ideas and does whatever he can to help me :) i am SO happy with how they turned out!

thanksgiving weekend!

yes, i do know that it is december already, but i'm a little behind on my personal blogging :)

we had a great thanksgiving! it was our first year by ourselves! no other family!! we usually go somewhere for the holidays, but i had a couple portrait shoots, so we decided to stay home. it was actually kinda nice to just relax quietly!
we started out the day with a little turkey bowl where i dressed the kids and myself in all usc clothing in honor of the big game. needless to say, in the middle of all the asu fans, we were not very popular!





our thanksgiving table... very fancy :) we even used real plates!





after eating, we went with the kids to see the bee movie. they thought that was cool. everything we did, blake asked "do we do this on thanksgiving?" one of those things was gamecube. i guess he got tired!





i LOVE CHRISTMAS and have been dying to decorate, but owen made me wait until after we ate so that thanksgiving was kind of over. the kids each have their own tree in their rooms so that they can decorate them however they want. i do a different color theme each year - sometimes for a reason, sometimes just because i feel like certain colors. for each kid's first christmas, i decorated the tree in blue (for blake) and pink (for tyler). this year the kids used the ornaments from each of their first christmas' on their own trees! i thought it was really cute!











this year's color theme is silver and gold. its one of those "just feel like it" years for the theme.





i also broke my mom's heart and a three generation tradition by purchasing stockings instead of making them myself. i do feel bad, but after three years of glue-gunning felt at midnight on christmas eve to create a makeshift stocking, only to have it fall apart christmas morning (you would think once would be enough!), i felt it was time to break down and buy some!





(by the way, yes, my stockings are stuck in the cover of the piano because i have nowhere else to put them!)





this is as close as i get to decorating. i basically have my piano - the only flat surface in my living room to put some decorations on. i got all sorts of christmas-y stuff and put it in jars. i thought it turned out cute, but for all you out there who are really talented at decorating, you're probably cringing right now!











another exciting thing this year... our grandma gave us another piece of our nativity set! we now have the shepard and stable animals!! only a couple more pieces left and we'll have it all!

the day after thanksgiving, we did our gingerbread house. both last year and this year, grandma gave them the kit to make the houses, and they have been DYING to make it.





that about covers our weekend! we definitely missed our family, but managed to enjoy ourselves :)

the farnsworth family

i was able to do the ainge's family portraits in boston, and they were with the other side of the family for the thanksgiving holiday - so it was a perfect time for portraits!

personally, i think this should be on the christmas card :)