new years in sand point.

now, not many people can say they had a big fat DANCE PARTY with their parents for new years. I CAN.  

My family, the Leavitts, the Trussels, the Davises, and all us kids had one crazy night. It was So fun and the dance party seriously lasted for hours. Max stayed up for part of it and I think he was totally blown away. Sawyer (the little Davis) slept through the whole thing just one room away. Which blew ME away. I can't even tell you how loud it was. 

yea celeste, work it girl.


my mom- she's the one in the turquoise shirt. my aunt and uncle (aka white boy) are behind her and to the right. My sister is in the tie die shirt and vest, looking a little high. only she is just like that normal. 

 Kaitlyn, Kailey, Ashlyn, ME. Yes, that is DANCING QUEEN playing in the background.

Los Chicas. Mom, Me, Kenzie.

Me and my lover. Nice shot. 

We also celebrated Christmas with my side of the family! Max got the cutest little wood toys and a mini piano from my parents. Love it. Danny got this sweet gps/blue tooth thingy (way rad), and I got the most amazing pair of boots and shoes. There is actually a little saga concerning the boots (got ruined returned them, couldn't find a back up pair EXACTLY the same) but I will spare you. I prefer to keep my most shallow moments to myself. there may have been tears. 

There is always lots of love for NANA. 

we even had a little photo shoot. I just want to kiss his face off in this picture. 

more to come. 

Overall, an amazing time at the Lake House as always but the Holidays and GREAT FRIENDS always make it that much better. I miss it.....

thursday. studio 5.

jenna. she's got the whole lookin' hot on camera thing figured out i'd say.

Celeste and I are going to talk about lookin' like a major babe on camera

both from the photographer's perspective and the subject's perspective.

THURSDAY- STUDIO 5- on KSL 5- 11:00 am

be there. i will. =)

the boy and his throne.

just guess what he's doing. 

that's right! hangin' out on the john. ha! max has started to show some interest in the potty- when I change his clothes and diaper he likes to run his little naked bum into the bathroom saying "potty? potty?" where he promply takes a seat. . . 

with the lid down. this could be a mess at some point, but for now, it works. =)

I think the lid up makes him feel like he's going to fall in, but he's warming up to the idea!

he loves to unroll as much t.p. as he can get away with, pretend wipe and then stick it in the potty behind him (when the lid is up) or in the garbage.  SO FUNNY! Then he climbs down and says "bye bye poo-poo!" to the toilet paper and water (no actual poo is ever there, but whatever floats your boat kid). then we say "yaaay max!" and he asks to start again. 

just stopping for a water break. it's necessary sometimes. 

btw. maxwell does have normal little boy parts, but we thought it best to save him the embarassment and blur them out. =) no need to avert your eyes. ha!

done with the cup and reaching for more (more?!) t.p. WOW. 

Won't it be nice when he's really potty trained? For now we're just enjoying the charade. 

the sweetest thing

can you believe how big? and for that matter, how ADORABLE?? don't mind the bed head. =)

my dear holga.

over the summer I decided to try out Holga phototgraphy. i just developed my first roll and had it scanned to a cd ($20 later thankyouverymuch!). apparently, I wasn't winding the film correctly and many of the frames overlapped. they were scanned individually, but after looking at the film strip itself, I pieced them back together digitally to look the way they do on film. an unexpected, but whimsical result. the guy on the left is my little brother Jordan, who is currently off serving a mission in Spain. these were taken in downtown Seattle just a few months before he left. I sure miss you brother. =) even though at first I wished that each individual shot had turned out as planned, I ended up really liking the way it looks now. i think jordan would have too. 

baby boy

i love you more than i can say. all the words in the universe in any combination don't describe it just right. how, WHY did i get so lucky? i've been thinking about how blessed i am to have you, you and your sweet laugh, you and those eyes that look up at me, you and those cheeks. 

those. cheeks. begging to be nibbled. you and your laugh, the laugh that makes my heart flutter. 

tonight you danced, flailing your arms, twirling in circles and singing. cuddled your dad and let me hold you close while we read no more monkeys jumping on the bed. we shook our fingers at those silly monkeys together. you rested your head on my shoulders while I held you to my chest, pulling your arms in tight. 

ni-nite little guy. mommy loves you. 

be mine, be little. be this way forever. 

why god, does it all have to happen so fast?

and if you insist on growing, just remember that no matter how big you get, you're still my baby boy.

love the scentsy. hate the party.

so. 

you know how you get like 20 invites a month to go to your neighbors house for a jewelry/candle/vinyl/headband/fancykitchencrapi'llneveruse/moreuglyjewelry party? yeaaaaap. sortof done with it.  You feel bad if you don't come, then worse if you come and don't buy anything (especially at the jewelry ones).

Awkward. 

Perfect solution. My smartie pants sister in law leslie started up a scentsy website so you can order online! that's right, buy what you want,  no pressure, WHENEVER you want (for me that would be 2 a.m. in my pj's, thankyou), and you can pay SECURELY with a credit card- no writing checks or cash or praying your friend doesn't lose the piece of paper with your card number on it. 

I think I hear angels singing. 

my favorite products at the moment?

check it all out HERE

www.scentsy.com/lesliem

and tell the vinyl people you're busy.

sweet ella

my lucky friend chelsea went to the hospital on december 30th and came home with HER.

i know. i'm jealous too. 

congratulations ryan, chelsea, hallie and lauren on 

the newest, SWEETEST addition to the family!

oh. and see more of our newborn session together over HERE.

sneaky

a while ago I thought I'd try to take some fruit pictures (why.... who knows! does anyone even like fruit pictures?? no.) and Max was NOT okay with the idea! 

Pears are for eating. Not for photographing. He was SO mad at me. 

But I am super thankful to him- I think my fruit pictures turned out much better this way!

And for the record, my guy is no baby. Sliced fruit is so yesterday. He'll take his pears, apples and bananas WHOLE please, peels/skins in tact (minus the banana, which he prefers half peeled). 

Oh. And if he eats most of the core too, don't judge! It's probably high in fiber or something. He screamed for 10 minutes straight tonight for a "baaaapol!" [translation: apple] while we stood in line buying groceries. He didn't quite understand that unlike the fishy crackers and fruit leather we busted into halfway through the trip, we had to weigh and buy our produce first before eating. The agony. 

He went crazy over that thing- ate it non stop all the way outside and on the way home. Even after it hit the pavement on the way out. I had no choice! Upon arrival at the home front, the whole apple and most of the core were resting happily in his full tummy. ha!

He eats his orange peels too sometimes. whatever. 

season's greetings

For anyone I missed (and to all of my blog friends!) here is this year's christmas card. 

From us, to you. And designed by me! I might be patting myself on the back right now. I usually use templates for cards, but I designed this one from scratch. Hard, but a good learning experience! I should have taken pictures of the real thing- I had it printed on sparkle card stock and it turned out kinda pretty I think. 

thank you amy f photography for the pictures ! love them!

{front and back}

{inside spread}

Christmas with the Kettles

'twas the night before christmas...

and the kettle cousins were having a GRAND old time. We got to spend the evening with everyone except Mandy's family (they came Christmas morning!) and when all these kids are together, it is the most fun CRAZY party around. I guess that's what you get with 9 (and one on the way) grandkids 6 and under. ha!

Max's first present- a sleeping bag from Grandma and Grandpa K. 

playing in boxes with cousin Tyson

I guess its true what they say about kids liking the packaging more than the presents at this age. haha!

Christmas Morning!

max and the vaffo- my favorite picture from the day!

it started out like EVERY OTHER DAY. with a "vaffo!" In max-ese, this means waffle. and by waffle, he means anything that comes out of the toaster or resembles bread of any kind or whole wheat eggos (obsessed). he woke up (as usual) and immediately let us know that he need a vaffo ASAP!

this present was the BIG HIT of his Chrsitmas. His own little guitar! It's the real deal too (and by real deal of course I mean $25 at target)- no little musical buttons or pretend strings, it's just like a mini guitar! Thanks SID (or dis, as max calls him) for tuning it today. Our ears thank you. 

MOO was his Santa present!

Max also got a little assortment of wooden toys from mom and dad and santa. Like a wooden tool set, building blocks, things like that. Oh and a ball that bounces SOOO high! He loved it! We tried to keep it pretty simple, a few toys and some things he needed, socks and under shirts (ha! his Daddy asks for socks and undies every year too!) and some snow gear and shoes. He's not even TWO after all, and I hate having tons of toys that just lay around. My toy philosophy is wood not plastic, less but higher quality, and if it makes noise, he's making it himself. i.e. his harmonica guitar, not a fire truck with sirens.  But don't worry, his grandparents and auntie Tiff spoiled the little guy with  a new coat, the cutest little stuffed tiger, and lots of other fun things!

Lovin' on Daddy!

After the Santa was done, we headed upstairs for adult breakfast while Max watched [i mean actually sat still and WATCHED!!!!!] his new movie from grandma, TOY STORY. Out of all the cool characters on that show, who does max love? woody? no. buzz? no. 

that would be the dinosaur. aka "dido". . .    ? 

Then we got dressed in the Christmas outfit (and sporting the new Christmas Vans) and were ready to rock. 

Think he likes it?

In case you're wondering, I was actually at christmas. The whole time. Unfortunately, there's not ONE dang picture to prove it. yes. that would be one of my new years resolutions. 

though stay tuned. I will be making a guest performance in a movie made by the cousins. 

Danny and I scored too I have to say- Danny got a new set of crazy cool tires for his car. Yes, I think this is incredibly boring, but he was thrilled. 

and I.   MMEEEEE! was surprised with the new mac book pro!! what? really? I must have been extra good for Danny and my mom and dad to collaborate on such a rad gift. though really I wasn't, so they must really love me or something. =)

Also thanks to Mom and Dad Kettle and Grandma and Grandpa D for the christmas money. I looooove the after Christmas shopping! The BEST!

More to come on Rexburg adventures, followed by pretend Christmas and NEW YEARS at the lake house with the Rands. Yay!

what's that? a MOVIE?

now, i could have posted about christmas tonight (and should have)  but instead I chose to do nothing. this little vid is max and his best girl doin' their thing. Not too interesting other than Heather's ABC's and Max's adorable, infectious, saweeeeet as they come giggle. it's just SO him I had to share. 

this video was make possible by our sponsor Apple photobooth. 

nightly polies

played with the little guy (and his baby) who is obsessed with photo booth.

we BOTH went to bed early. for once!

btw. had dropped off some medium format film to be developed and scanned onto a cd. 

TWENTY BUCKS. 12 images. is that normal?

first there was hanukah

Maxter had so much fun at his first ever Hanukah party at our neighbor's house! Sid (Max's future father in law) was raised Jewish, so we had a little celebration for the first night. It was really fun learning a bit about the traditions and food...yeaaaaah Latke (or however you say/spell it?). Thanks for the fun night Sorias!

the kids loved the candle idea...

Max kept trying to blow them out and Heather kept yelling "Happy Bir-day!!!" 

You should have seen it. You would have been rolling too.

young love

Of course the kids had a little Hanukah gift exchange

 (ahem. don't mind the Christmas tree in the background. k?)

can you see the excitement? Know why? Because Max got his very own...

baby.

and he love love loves it. He walks around holding it over his shoulder saying

 "bebe! bebe!  sh. sh. sh. sh." 

and then he smells its butt.

and I don't even feel kinda bad about it. =)

it's wearing blue. ok?

incidentally, Max got Heather a wooden tool set. 

oh the shame.

Listen. I have been a bad BAD blogger and I'm sorry. I like it here. I like you guys.  so I'm trying to be better. I've missed you. Have you missed me?

 Here's to a new year filled with new posts. One of my goals this year is to not allow myself to get BEHIND so much. On work, on blogging, on gulp, LAUNDRY (who am I kidding. danny does the laundry). You know? I feel like I am always playing catch up which makes everything so much harder and it tends to just snowball for me. Tomorrow will be a day devoted to catching up so I can start fresh and catch up no more. Staying on top of things is such bliss when I can manage it. Good luck to me. 

we are home from Sand Point after a ridiculously long drive (note. never drive again, no matter how expensive airfare is!).  Hence the laundry, blogging, and work I am scrambling to get done. More to come tomorrow. THAT's A PROMISE!

"snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes..."

well, our chistmas in rexburg was DEFINITELY white, and this little guy is one of my 

FAVORITE THINGS

for sure. hopefully soon i'll have time to post all about christmas, but for now, enjoy a snowflake resting on max's eyelashes to tide you over. =)

family pictures- FOR ME!!!

Recently I did a little trade with amy furstenau for some family pictures. I love them and I had so much fun editing some pictures with ME in them. It's a rarity! Amy, thank you so much for taking these, we will treasure them always and you are one TALENTED photographer! See the ones I took of Amy's family here. 

#1

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#3

i must say, husband is looking pretty hot in this one. it's my favorite of him! And I tried a new editing technique that turned out pretty cool. Amy of course composed it PERFECTLY.

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

this one made us laugh SO hard. At the end of the shoot this kid would NOT 

relinquish the apple!

which one's YOUR favorite (like if you were going to blow one up on a HUGE canvas)?