keeping busy.

sorry for the lack of posting, but we are having a busy summer! and really, the only reason i am posting at all right now is because i can't sleep.

sweet boy wiped out in the neighbor's drive way and decided to stay there. love his tousled (white!) hair and grubby cheeks. not to mention his bare feet!

little sister came to visit this week and we are so happy about it. and nana is coming tomorrow!

and well, me. i debated even posting these because really, how silly. but you know what? someday i will be sad that i am not in any of our pictures. so here's me, not sleeping in the middle of the night. took them about 20 minutes ago. i threw a tank on just for the occasion, not sure why. some days i miss tank tops.

keeping it real.

the face my two year old makes...

...when we tell him we're going to visit cousin TY TY. 

quickly followed by:

"maMA?!"  [grandma k]

"toDEE!?"  [cody]

this is the life.

sigh. 

i mean really, does it get better than chubby toes, sail boat pajamas and rice crispies (even if they are all over the floor)?

i think not. 

tonight i am thankful. 

thankful that i now see the light at the end of the tunnel with all the work i am catching up on, 

thankful that it means more down time with the little mister, 

thankful for my sweet baby boy and the love he smothers us with, 

thankful for a husband who moved my old side table to the basement and the new chair into the office (thanks husband, really), 

thankful that it's warm, 

thankful we are spending the weekend with family, 

thankful for our very own neighborhood swimming pool, 

thankful for evening bike rides, 

otter pops, 

thankful that he's thankful, 

that last night in my hurry to lay max down for bed 

that he reminded me. 

he lay in his crib, hands folded over his chest, persisting

"faaadder! mama, faaadder!"

father. 

i could have cried. we are extra thankful to him, who blessed us with it all. 

thanks for the reminder little guy. 

me + mine

hallelujah for the weekend, and for fathers day, and for 1:oo church, and that we had sun for all of it. it was fantastic. 

i am so thankful to have such amazing men in my life, happy belated f day to danny, my dad, and his dad. and of course our grand-dads!

we are so lucky. 

p.s. yay for having one room in my house that feels semi- finished. i just want to do some cool molding/woodwork on the white wall and we will be good! and then hang a canvas...

model needed friday!

I need a couple to model for a mentoring session tomorrow (friday) night at six at wheeler farms! A girl about college age or a young mom would be my second choice. Leave me a comment or drop me an email if you are available! Its a great opportunity for FREE pictures. =)

new header.

it was about time to say adios to our wintery header. don't you think? 

balance

there are:

e-mails to write, 

pictures to edit, 

laundry to fold, 

beds to make, 

shoots to schedule, 

snuggles to give, 

bike rides to take,

groceries to buy, 

BLOGGING to do, 

husbands to kiss, 

...the list goes ON.

sigh. 

lately it's been hard balancing 

all of THIS

because i love, LOVE doing this!

and soaking up every second of THIS. 

my sweet baby boy. and come on, look at him. it's basically no contest huh?

i really, REALLY love this guy.

while i believe that as women we can do anything we choose, 

i do NOT believe that we can "have it all."

so here's to another day struggling to find

BALANCE.

how do YOU do it?

home again.

 

we had SO SO SO much fun in new york. i could seriously live there. take the subway, eat magnolia bakery cupcakes, ride bikes and watch performers in central park... SHOPPING in soho.... what a life. thanks mom and dad for taking us on such a fun trip! it was amazing. we love traveling so much but i am loving just being back at home with our little dude. we missed him. 

more to come on our new york adventures...

bounce baby

well, i'm out of here. again. this time to a little town called

new york ciiiitaaaay!

can't wait! so i will be returning most e-mails and phone calls next week. but don't be surprised if i make time for a little blog update here or there, at least from my phone. =) and do any of you have any fantastic off the beaten path nyc spots you care to share? do tell.

oh, and if that picture of max and his main squeeze jumping like a couple of crazy people doesn't put a smile on your face, i don't know what will!

california...

i haven't been to orange county in over a year and let me tell you, it was WAAAY too long of a break! britt and i try to get together as much as possible, but its lots more fun when we all get to play at the beach. duh. so britt, the boys and i spent the first day shopping (weird!) and eating. i had to have pacific whey and wahoo's pronto! no pictures from that day, we were too busy!

the boys loved the beach (seriously owen would live under water if he could!). i especially missed laguna- shop and surf, the perfect combo!

celeste and sawyer came after a couple of days and disneyland was our top priority. 

dumbo was probably max's favorite! he calls elephants "fatsis" for some reason. who knows. 

but he FREAKED when we had to get off! it was bad. hehe. 

 

my friends. how cute are they!

small world. wow. so max was sooo excited the whole time we were in line and kept yelling "boooat!!" once we got into the tunnel, he got nervous. but obviously it didn't take long for him to warm up!

he loves loves loves this ride. for better or for worse...

max and owen waiting for their turn on the carousel.

sawyer was in heaven

owen and max were less sure about the whole thing. 

i think max had as much fun waiting for the tiki room as he did inside! he was cracking up at the talking fountain thing. 

o baby was excited for tiki room too...

mesmerized by all the birds.

lunch time. it was so nice to sit for a second. 

sawyer was so proud of her suckers and was so nice to share with the boys. 

sweet owen

umm, max kinda got tuckered out from all that disney. at nap time he fell asleep and was so out  hard that i was even able to change his diaper after he fell asleep and he didn't even flinch. it's seriously amazing how heavy of a sleeper he is!

now, of course we had to hit in and out on the way home. half the fun of california is revisiting all of my favorite eateries!

my friends and i are such a classy bunch. can you tell by our pics?

two's company, and apparently three isn't so bad either. such good sharers!

the kids were all over the place. wierd.... ha! the stickers seemed like a great idea at the time, until we had to take them off that is. owen was so sad! sorry bud...

sawyer has this special talent for seriously hilarious pictures. it kills me!

of course pink berry wasn't so bad either. so much better than all the other yogurt chains! 

original yogurt with raspberries and mango- divine. 

they agreed, but mostly they thought the chairs were cool.

britt and owen, we miss our besties so much. it just plain sucks that we live so far apart! =( i am also super glad that celeste and sawyer got to meet my california friends. it was seriously the best of both worlds! love you guys!

if you want to laugh so hard that you either:

a. wet yourself

b. cry so hard that mascara runs all over your face

c. start snorting and making other unusual sounds

you will watch 

the funniest skit EVER 

from the SNL season finale. 

oh, and for the record rachel and i basically did all three. 

appy mama day

at least that's how max says it! it feels so nice to be home and have my little family under one roof again. we missed danny so much! we did have a pretty great time in orange county and seattle though and now we miss our friends and family there!

mothers day was so relaxing and fun, i feel so lucky to be a mother to this beautiful boy and to HAVE the most amazing mother. i love her so much and she has taught me so much about being a good mother and woman.

here's us today after church... look how sweet max is trying to hug us both at the same time! awww...

after talking to jordan this afternoon (who is doing GREAT on his mission in spain. we are so proud of him!) we decided to go for a drive. while max slept in the car (calm down, the windows were down and we could see the car the whole time) we had to jump out and check out this gorgeous field. i'm pretty sure this isn't the last time i will be visiting.

me.

him. i love him.

danny decided to bust out his photography skills and took this picture- i actually love it. he did it all, even told me where to sit! i thought it was going to be lame so i seriously have to give the boy props for this one.

after our drive we put the kid down for the rest of his nap and had some much needed alone time (wink!) and a nap, followed by dinner at suzie's with matt, celelste and sawyer. all in all the day was perfect...

so appy mama day to all you mama's out there (and especially mine!). you earned it.

p.s. my friend brittany got me this cute shirt- aren't i lucky? 

Check ya later.

Well, the first leg of our trip is coming to an end! Max and I had the best time with Brittany and Owen and Celeste and Sawyer in Orange County! We went to the beach, went to Disneyland, ate lots and lots of food, and the shopping. Ooooooh the shopping... It was all I could have hoped for! Of course the weather was warm and I'm so happy I got to get together with Tracy and Rachelle too. Man I miss California already. But max just can't wait to see Nana and Bapa and Ty and Kenz and Wilson. They are the best! Hopefully I will do some more updating in Seattle but for bow I'm just trying out the blogger app for iPhone.





Here's me being silly at urban outfitters. Thoght danny would get a kick out of this pic!!

-- Post From My iPhone

A Special Day For The Most Amazing, Beautiful, Loving, Mother and Wife!!!

SO I NEVER ever have, nor do I care to get into the blog thing. That being said I realize that blogging is a big part of my lovely wife's life!!! So here I am trying to figure it out so that I can wish you, Jessica, a very very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We love you so much and think that you are the greatest wife, mother, and friend.

We love you!!!

DK and Max

angel baby. kinda.

well, looks can be deceiving. yesterday afternoon this was my boy, sweet, curious, thoughtful, soulful even. i practiced some different techniques with my 50 mm lens and he just let me follow him around. i loved it. somehow, photographing him makes me love him even more. my photography is so close to me at times, and is perhaps even the way i show love. i love him just  how he is, no shirt, looking out the window, his messy hair and soft eyelashes. i wouldn't change the moment for anything. 

fast forward to tonight. boy howdy he was a different kid. put the phone down the heating vent, tried to use his car to climb up onto the sink (at least he was just trying to brush his teeth!),and had a cow every time daddy was out of site.   And oh,  he threw a tantrum tonight like you wouldn't believe. he cried his guts out and we're still not totally sure why. something to do with wanting our chicken instead of his chicken..? i thought his daddy was going to have to leave (what is it with men and crying? i swear i barely hear it) he was so flustered. wish i had a picture of THAT to compare it with, wouldn't that have been perfect? well anyway, the funny thing is that i wouldn't have changed that screaming, furious kid with tears running down his face either. i kinda like him too. 

back at home.

hallelujah we finally have some sun. i wanted to cry when we got off the plane and stepped into the 30 degree slc weather. these days max loves playing "side." i have maybe caught him sneaking out a time or two (yes, he can undo our deadbolt). this is my favorite time, nice and warm with beautiful golden light. yes please.




balls are still the best thing ever. 

his faces are my favorite. i mean come on.

we don't do so well staying out of the street...

he only wishes this was his bike (thanks kael).

i vote for more and more and more where this came from.

nope. just kidding. it's going to rain for the next four consecutive days. awesome.