Swore Farm field trip

There is a local farm that has a pumpkin patch and corn maze that we went to today. The boys loved the big tractor.

 And the lazy dog.

 This my kids' buddy Mason.

 It was sort of bright in pumpkin tent, that is why the squints.

 Tanner and Ashlyn in the tractor tire.

 

Oh goodness

This is Ashlyn's hair after her nap today. I love her hair, but it is getting pretty unruly.

 Dallin and Tanner are really into coloring these days. They got this coloring activity and Tanner colored the top of the pumpkin, and Dallin colored the bottom. He is very much a perfectionist. Covers every inch.

Ashlyn turns 1 on the 24th. Can't believe it! 

She went to the dentist this week with the boys. Looks like she will have to have a labial frenectomy someday like I did. That is when they clip that little webby thing between your upper lip and your gums. That is, if it doesn't tear on it's own. She will more than likely have a gap between her two front teeth until that muscle is clipped.

2011 Family pictures

It is that time of year again. We are so lucky that Jordan and Michaela moved back to Idaho, so she could do our family pictures. And I get to do their pictures this week. She has done them for us for a couple years now, and always does a fabulous job. We are a difficult bunch to work with. Some of the ones with the kids smirking are my favorite though. She got some of me and Nate also. It isn't very often that we are both in a picture together.

 

  

I got a hair cut this week too. I am growing it out (ha ha we will see how long this effort lasts), so I had my friend do some layers to make it bearable through this awkward length.  I really like it.

Then and Now

Those of you who got a wedding invitation remember this picture on the left? It was taken in 2005.

 

We took family pictures last night and this six years later. It is fun to see old pictures.

We'll try again later

Well, this photo shoot didn't got as I'd hoped. They rarely do. I thought I would take some 1 year old pictures of Ashlyn, but she wasn't in the mood. All she wanted to do was play with these necklaces and whine. Maybe we will try again later. I want to do a cake smash with her. Those are fun.

 Stinker!

Shelbey-newborn

I did another newborn's pictures yesterday and love how the turned out. She was pretty easy to work with and my sister in law Michaela made it a thousand times easier by assisting me with all the posing.

 Thanks Michaela! 

And my friend, Cami, let us borrow the fun outfits and accessories. Thank you! She has an etsy shop where she sells them, if you are interested.

Check out many more pictures on my photography blog.

 

Michaela helping out. 

Miscellaneous goings on

 Ashlyn is braving the stairs these days. Only one of them. What do you think, should I protect her from them with a gate, or let her learn how to climb them?

We went to the park during the priesthood session of conference.

Tanner had a game today, and their team has improved a lot. Tanner scored 2 goals!

 Me and 4 friends are doing a co-op preschool. It was my week this week and the theme was the letter D. We are teaching 2 and 3 year old kids. So since donkey starts with D we played pin the tail on the donkey. 

We are really enjoying preschool. We only do it once a week and then we do story time and music and movement at the library. We will be sad to leave in a few months.

Spence cousins

Mickie, my sister-in-law, and her kids came from Washington for a visit. All the Spence cousins were together so we had to get pictures. We even made matching dresses for the girls. All of us Spence wives had baby girls this last year. I love how they turned out.

 You can tell these two are siblings.

 Ashlyn loved Maylee. She didn't pick on Capri as much, but she loved to grab Maylee's head.

 

You can see the crazy excitement in Ashlyn's face when she was sat next to Maylee.

 

 These were the two good shots that I managed to get.

 

And the Spence boys: Ty, Dallin, Tanner, and Calin

 We got a little bit of this...

 And a lot of this.

 Mothers and daughters

 

All of the Spence kids together.

 Dandelion distraction.

Some practice shots on Tanner that I like.

Clements

I love taking pictures for friends. I feel comfortable working with them, and their kids don't usually fear me. 

And these kids were awesome. And Audrey is a beautiful expecting mom.

You can see more on my photography blog

Have you ever used kettlebells?

I hadn't until recently. I've been doing a kettle bell boot camp class twice a week. I love it, but they don't love me. They beat me up actually. If you've never seen kettle bells used, you swing them. I swing 20 lbs usually, so when that hits an arm or knee or whatever, it leaves a mark. The instructor said if it is hitting your arm to hard you need to up your weight. I was scared, so I just took the beating. Maybe next time.

 This was just an out of control swing. It is easy to lose proper form when you are tired. Too bad it means a wrecking ball banging whatever is in its path.

This is the exercise that bruised my arm.