on love and photographs.

danny arrived today and we had the most beautiful evening with joe and brittany at the beach. the guys went running, the boys ran around in the sand, splashing and throwing rocks, the moms, we watched. and of course i photographed. it really was the most perfect, beautiful night. i have a ton of pictures to share, but right now i am getting ready for bed and just savoring the evening.

i have been thinking about the balance of living in the moment and capturing the moment. sometimes i hear people say that sometimes they have to put down the camera and just BE in the moment. i get that. i TOTALLY get it. but i also feel almost exactly opposite 99% of the time! to me, i feel most ALIVE on nights like this, beautiful setting, my family, best friends, and camera in hand. everything just feels right. i believe i actually enjoy the moment more completely when i capture it in a photograph. i am also the kind of person who prefers to do two things at once- movie and a craft, internet and music, bath and a magazine, clean my house and talk on the phone, i enjoy each aspect more by doing them at the same time.

i have felt for some time now, that because of my relationship with photographs, i see the world differently, i see my life differently. i am more aware of the beauty all around me, i see the art in everyday life as a mother, the little details stand out in a different way. my son's eyelashes or a sandy toes, the colors in our halloween pumpkins, the way the light peeks inside my kitchen in the morning. it's all clearer, it's all better, i appreciate it more.

there are of course moments that can't be photographed, only felt. tonight, just after the sun went down behind catalina, the sky was bright peachy-orange and the water so blue. the colors danced across max's skin and glistened in his eyes in a way i have never seen, it was absolutely breathtaking. i already had a couple hundred images on my memory card that i just knew i would love, but all i wanted was to catch this moment in the most perfect way so i could keep it forever. but wouldn't you know, max was wet. a little cold. and just wanted a snuggle. i squatted down in the sand for some hugs and just let my camera hang from the strap while i just snuggled max and watched the fleeting light on his face, just inches away myself. it was beautiful, emotionally and artistically. no buttons to push or focus to adjust, but it was art just the same. i thought to myself that even though i couldn't actually take a picture of this moment, that i would take a little mental snapshot and always remember his sandy fingers at the nape of his neck and his soft cheeks pressed to mine, while that orange light touched us both. part of me was sad for a second that i missed the shot but i am finding my mental snapshot to be just as rewarding to come home with as the many physical images from the night at the beach. nights like this i am truly so thankful for my happy, simple life and the little family we have created together and that god has given us. the opportunity to step back and look at it through my lens has shown me just how remarkable it is.

california. it's fun here.

oh. my. goodness. we are having SUCH fun! max is having the best time with owen, brittany and i are of course loving every minute together too. and we think our boys could totally pass as brothers. don't you? their hair and eye colors are so similar it's uncanny.

i don't even want to write about this, seriously we are all traumatized... but it's something i know we are going to look back and crack up over for years. so on this otherwise perfect beach day, britt, the boys and i were fully attacked by seagulls. long story short, we had food, they wanted it. they seriously SWARMED US, we were running around newport with our boys and a hundred seagulls screaming just feet above our heads. brittany and max cried. owen laughed his head off - totally oblivious to everyone else's distress, i didn't even know what to do. i sortof laugh in a weird way when i am freaking out like that. finally we ran back to the car and max was BESIDE himself. it makes me sooo sad to think of how upset he was! pretty sure he will be scared of birds for life.

THANKS A BUNCH TO ALL YOU JERKS WHO STOOD AROUND STARING AT TWO MOMS WITH YOUNG CHILDREN BEING ATTACKED BY 100 BIRDS AND DID NOTHING TO HELP. especially seeing max was BEYOND terrified. all i have to say is KARMA IS A BEEEYATCH.

the best is when we all calmed down, owen started walking back toward the beach and max starts screaming (and crying) again

" NOOOOOO OW-ONE!!!! IN CAAAAR!!!! NOOOO, BIIIIRDS!!!!"

i think he was afraid for his friends life. it was so sad. but so funny. every time we came near any seagulls for the rest of the day he ran to me crying.

umm, right before this, owen was SWIMMING in the sand. so freaking funny.

our boys throw sand. a lot.

right before he remembers his bird fear and books it toward me for safety.

above, totally framing this one. below, oh i could have cried i laughed so hard at this next one. little show offs.

look, it's us.

[taken by ashlee raubach, edit by me]

can you believe it? us. i am so excited to see the rest of the pictures my super talented friend ashlee took of us last weekend. max was even pretty good for most of it! probably won't be posting more until after we figure out christmas cards, but here is one she sent me to preview.

it made me happy.

bed bug.

it's funny, for a kid who is never too excited to go to bed when it's actually BED TIME, he has SURE been spending a lot of time in bed lately just hanging out. seriously, i made my bed like 5 times the other morning because max kept climbing up, burrowing under the covers and just generally making a mess of everything. he also likes to get in his crib, bring a ton of toys in there and JUMP. i totally let him. but really, don't you just LOVE hanging out in bed? max, i totally get it. here's some silly pictures of danny and i joining in the fun. =)

yes, there is still yellow paint sample up in my bedroom wall. it's probably been there for almost a year, no joke. if it helps though, i think i have a new color picked out. painting party anyone?

just for fun...

i got together with my friend chelsea yesterday to play around with some photo stuff. she just got the new 5D MII so of course i was dying to check it out... =) we decided to head out for a couple minutes and take some pictures of our little stinkers and even switched cameras for a while. we were both so lost with each others cameras it was hilarious! i am not much of a canon user. anyway, here's what i got on my camera.

eat lunch, not boogers.

so today i was driving along with max in the back seat.

it was a little quiet.

so i asked, "Hey Max, what you doin'?"

he answered.

"umm, uh no. eat booders."

let me translate:

that's max-ese for "i don't know, eat boogers."

now if that answer doesn't take you for surprise, i don't know what will.

so of course i say, "oooooohh nooooooooo max. we don't eat BOOGERS! yucky."

"WHY?" (his favorite word next to "what")

then i launch into that noses are not for picking, that those boogies are dirty and have germs and if we eat them we will get very sick (is this even true? i don't know.). blaaah blaaah blaah....

"ok? so we don't eat boogers."

"otay."

.

.

.

"eat.... LUNCH..?"

much better.

a small favor. ok. somewhat large.

hey guys! important question. this weekend, might i borrow your canoe? you think i am kidding. only i am really not. its for a shoot of my family... PRETTY PLEEAAASE! Be your best friend....?? the thing is we won't even actually put it all the way in the water. let me know, ok?

halloween, halloween, haalllooooweeeeEEEN!

i always get that song stuck in my head, thank you tyler for playing nightmare before christmas 100 thousand times. =) speaking of tyler, here is my little dude wearing uncle tyler's costume from 20 YEARS AGO! my mom made the little shorts and suspenders for him when he was 3 or 4. =) i am so happy they fit max! i only had to buy a new black shirt and leggings, he already had the yellow converse and mickey hat (a shower gift from brooke, since i went into labor with max at disneyland!). the whole get up was just plain adorable, even if he would NOT let me paint his nose black or wear his white cloves! little stinker. but really, we were lucky to get him in any of it, so i can't complain!

but let's be honest. if i were a GOOD mom, i would have made him a puppy costume. because my mom hand made costumes for ALL of us EVERY year, i feel like store bought is out of the question! and i just didn't have time to make one this year. boo. seriously, every time i saw him running around the house BARKING while wearing a MICKEY MOUSE costume, i wanted to CRY. next year buddy, i promise!!! maybe even for christmas...

we had the BEST time spending the holiday with danny's cousins the scotts, our three kids were the cutest trick or treaters on the block! first we had a super yummy dinner at Kathy's followed by trick or treating in Kathy's neighborhood and grandma D's neighborhood.

without further hesitation... here's our mickey mouse (pronounced MIT-NEY MOUSEY).

totally blurry, totally my favorite halloween pic.

max took some convincing at the first few houses (so cranky and wanted to be held the WHOLE time!), but after we opened up a piece of candy and gave it to him, he put two and two together and started RUNNING from house to house with his cousins! I died when he yelled back at me, " 'MON mom!! MOOOOOAAAA! [more]"

oh yea. who doesn't love a little chicken (and monkey) fight? i died laughing at this picture of boston and sadie!

hitting the houses hard.

more candy!! more candy!!!

boston taking a juice break! whoever handed out caprisuns is a genius. sorry there aren't more pictures of sadie, but that woman was faster than her older cousins!

getting the hang of it!

back to Kathy's!

going through the loot.

trick or treating and kisses at great grandma's. =)