Okay, So Let's Backtrack a Touch.......

So back to the beginning of December when all the hustle and bustle begins! Here we are at Mason's Christmas concert this year. I really like how his school divides them up by grades so that you don't have to sit through hours of everyone else's kids "singing & dancing" so that you can see your kid perform for a few minutes. His program was 30 minutes and they sang several numbers, it was great. Mason definately has rythmn I was so proud of him up there rockin to the beat. He is definately a kid that loves music and it shows.

This is how Sam enjoyed Mason's concert. ;)
Tatum did not have school that day (it was in the afternoon) but she was pretty excited to see her friend from class and her teacher there. We love Tatum's kindergarten teacher, she is awesome. Tatum is so bummed on the days she has to stay home and doesn't get to go to school. She is full days Mon & Wed with the odd Fridays.

There he is right in the front and loving it!

Mason is such a great kid and we are always proud of the way he treats others, especially his family and friends. He is happy, giving, caring and kind and that's a pretty great combination for an 8 year old.

Of course the next post will be Tatum's concert in which I show off the absolute worst photography skills imagineable!!! Seriously, someone teach me how to use red eye reduction!!

Sunday at the Park.....

Nothing like a nice chilly Sunday afternoon at the park - right? Our kids had fun, of course - they had their pretend cousins with them. By that I mean that these kids really believe they are family and I guess they are minus the blood lines. :) I'm pretty happy with these pics since I was told several times by several individuals that we were not there to take pictures - you'd think they would know by now that when we say we're going to the park it means mommy is bringing the camera!

Awww, such cute lil crazies!

They don't hesitate when I say it's time for crazy faces. :)

Ta Da!

And clearly by his lack of presence in this photo Sam had enough. He's off trying to lose his Spiderman guy so that we can all search the entire park for it later........

Alrighty Then.....

So, I get these messages on facebook "you need to update your blog, we're sick of looking at your broken truck" Well, it's Tuesday and that happened Saturday!! But I get it, I've been slacking on my little family's happenings and the truck smash was convenient blog material. So let's see what I can conjure up for ya.

Things have been going really well for us here, Tatum & Mason are in indoor soccer right now and really enjoying that. Charlie is of course busy with work but very happy to be back in the swing of things and out of the lab!!! My business has grown like crazy over the last 3 months and it is so dang fun. I can't believe the new people that I'm meeting that are becoming my new friends. I am very blessed to be able to do what I love.

I am trying to get into the Christmas swing of things but I haven't gotten any decorations out yet, my studio is in my living room and must remain there till the end of the month. My last studio session is on the 29th and then down to the basement it all goes until January. We are working on the basement right now, turning most of it into a studio for me = :)

So, for now the Christmas tunes blasting is all the Christmas whatnot going on at our house, but it's all good.

Let's see if I can find some sort of picture to round up this post, can't post without a photo - that's pretty much criminal in my mind. Hmmmm, what do I have.......Okay for some reason it put the photos at the top and so at this point you've already seen them. I found these little beauties in a folder I labeled "Loonies". Hmm, wonder why I called it that?

Beautiful Saturday Morning.......

So this is what we woke up to this morning, what looked like a hit and run. The guy that hit our truck actually left his information with our neighbor at 5:30am which of course was a huge bonus. He came around the corner and smacked it so hard it bumped up onto the curb!! He was driving a car he just bought 2 weeks ago - sucky for him.

See the dry spot behind the truck (the one the length of the truck) that is where we were parked!

The rest of our Saturday was actually quite good. Mason had a soccer game this morning and I hat a great family session this afternoon. Charlie got the garage spic n span and then headed off to work. Very good day despite our poor jeep's early morning smash up. :)

Sorry Kels, here's a little more Halloween!

So here we have Clone Trooper, Alice In Wonderland, and Iron Man

This is in front of the Coombs house just before we hit the streets!

Always in character - this is pretty serious stuff. ;)

This is what I get from Sam everyday, whether it's putting him in his carseat, or he's just finished breakfast or just finished up in the bathroom - I get the thumbs up. Sometimes two but mostly one. Sam is the funny one of the bunch - for my siblings, you'll see why at Christmas.

And Alice, you may think by looking at her that it was a nice warm day. No, if she wore a jacket then nobody could see her dress, if she wore a long sleeve shirt under she wouldn't look like Alice. Short sleeve shirt would be "too bunchy". So Alice trick or treated for hours just like this and refused her jacket every time I offered. Her arms were a little purple when we got home, but at least everyone could see her dress and knew that she was Alice In Wonderland. Oh my.

HaPpY HaLloWeeN!!!

Well, we could not have had a better Halloween in Spruce Village! There were TONS of kids on the streets and it was just a little bit chilly- no snow and no jackets!! Tatum did not even have a shirt under her Alice In Wonderland dress because it "was too bunchy" and if she wore a jacket no one would be able to see her dress! So, I carried her jacket and periodically asked if she wanted it but was consistently refused. The kids had so much fun, we went with the Coombs kids and the big boys stayed out for hours with Celena.

I was lucky enough to get my own special treat at one of the houses we stopped at. Sam and I were the tail end of our group and the man at the door told me to wait just a second because he had something special for me too. Curious. He comes back and puts something in my hand and tells me to put it in my pocket for later, and that the Moms that trick or treat should get something too for being out there. No it was not a baggie but yes it was airline size booze!!! At least if I needed to warm up I had options! Oh my. Thanks buddy for thinking of us moms! All I could do was laugh and give it to someone down the street who looked chilly. ;)

Alot of people in our neighborhood really get into with the decorated homes, which was really fun for the kids.

Yes, there are more photos but we need to head out for groceries so I will meet you back here after the kids are in bed!

ADORABLE!! (or something?!)

Okay, so I have taken alot of really cute kids pictures lately, BUT when I sat these little angels down I knew that they were the cream of the crop, and that I would get my best photo to date from them. I am not disappointed. This is definately goin on the wall! :)

For Aunt Jessie & Uncle Jonny....

Tatum requested a "pretty" photo shoot so that we can show Aunt Jessie and Uncle Jonny the pretty dress they bought her in Paris last spring. So 6 months later here we are showing off the dress!

This shot is so that "they can see my earrings". What a funny girl, she's my favorite daughter!! ;) So there you go guys, enjoy.

I am heading to Chicago tomorrow for another workshop so I will post some more when I get back - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I'm missing the turkey whatnot but I'm sure Chicago will make up for it.

Oh My!

Today we played photo shoot, which consists basically of me really wanting to take their pictures and them ending up with alot of promised treats! Kinsley and Sam actually play together quite well these days, and after promising them 6 pieces of gum each I got some funny and some really good shots from them! The hat Sam is wearing I picked up in Utah when I went shopping with Angie and her twins - yes, we went to a children's boutique with 2 year old twins!! Sam is calling it his "detective hat".

Oh Yeah, The Baptism!

Nice one Caylee - oldest son gets baptized and I blog about it a month later! Sorry family. So on September 6th Mason was baptized by his Dad. It was a really good but surreal day for me. My baby is 8 years old - how did that happen? It really doesn't seem that long ago that we were in subsidized housing and just had that tiny boy with all that hair and big brown eyes. Mason is growing up to be such a good kid and better everyday. I am so proud of him for the decisions he makes, the friends that he has, and the good example he is to his brother and sister. It's scary and fun to watch my kids grow and develop everyday. Being a mother is the best job in the world and I would not trade it for anything. I learn so much from them - which I have heard people say before and thought (kinda cheesy) but it's true, I really really do learn from them and they help me be a better Mom and person. So here's a picture of Charlie and Mason just after the baptism, I didn't get the classic white jumpsuits shot because I was late for my own son's baptism but we don't really need to go into that. ;)

Those are 2 dang good lookin Secretan boys!

Tatum's New Do....

I was away last weekend at a workshop and while I was gone, Tatum got a new do! She loves it and I think it really suits her even though it was quite a shock for me first thing Tuesday morning. :) By the way I didn't photoshop her eyes, they are that blue.

Tatum's giving my camera a little love on the green couch, I do love her (my daughter!). Okay I love the couch too. ;)

Hey Look It's Nolan!

This is for my siblings who might not check out my photography blog - though who knows why they would not look at it! ;)

I've had the chance to spend some quality time with Nolie the last couple days while his mommy & daddy went to Las Vegas. He is such a good baby, good eater, good sleeper, and constantly smiling (well, except when I brought out the camera!). So here he is with my cute new couch affectionately known as Velvet Apple.

Back To School!

Here's Tatum with her kindergarten teacher!

Putting on her indoor shoes...

Getting settled in!

Here she is all ready to go.

Mason was sooooo ready to go back, I walked him to his classroom and he didn't really seem to need me. :( Which is good, I guess.

Update on the sweet landscaping - Charlie has 6 posts left to cement and then the pickets for the fence go up! Woohoo! Closer and closer to having a real yard. :)

Nors, again!

Oh Norah, why do you look at Aunt Caylee like that? She can't see me behind the lens so she's not sure what to think. Everytime I peek out from behind the camera I get a smile - but then no picture!
As you can tell she is devastated, this is the part where I had to tell her she was leaving me to go back home. It was hard but we made it.

When I said "more tomorrow", clearly I was a liar. Here are a couple more of Norah - and me actually in a picture - WOW. She loves me the most I'm pretty sure. ;)

Today was the first day of school for Mase and he had a great day. He loves his new teacher and was quite happy to be back with his friends he missed over the summer. Tatum's first day is tomorrow and she was quite disappointed this morning not to be going to school! I will have to post "1st day of school pics" tomorrow since the ones I took of Mason this morning are shall we say - not so good. Try again tomorrow morning with the 2 of them!

Sweet Little Norah

Here is my beautiful little niece Norah when I got to see her last weekend in SLC! I wish my nieces were closer - well, and that one day I'll meet lil Pearl. ;) Maybe when I head back to SLC next month - eh Darc? I go back the 18th -21st. I'm headin to bed so more tomorrow!

Update :)

So, I have not neglected the blog - just been here and there and everywhere! We went camping last week as a family in Waterton and had a great time of course. Now I am in SLC till Wednesday (and cooking hot!). When I get back I'll post some Waterton pics and some cute shots of Norah I just snapped before she drove away from me back to Malad! It was really fun to see Kels & Norah for a couple days and do a little shopping. We went and played with Skye, Kennedy & Brittany last night which was of course a really fun time. It was good to see Skye & her kids, it had been a couple years!
Pics when I get back! Bye for now. :)

We Enjoy The Legislature Buildings......

Okay so we've never actually been inside the buildings but we DO enjoy their grounds! We were here 3 times this week having picnics and playing in the fountains. It's such a great spot to hang out for the afternoon with friends.

Sam enjoying some grapes, he loves the grapes!

These girls had so much fun together - our bathing beauties.
To top it all off they have ice cream and popsicles vendors there, how sweet is that? Now we know that we need to have cash on hand when we pack our picnic.
John & Tatum playing in the fountains. He is so funny about her, he follows her around and asks for her, he loves her. Tatum is such a great big cousin to him, she is very kind and likes to play with him. She loves it that he can say her name.

Oooooh, who's this cutie in the fountain?! Oh my.

Being Evacuated Is NOT fun.

Well, today there are no pictures but I just wanted to say a few words about our "exciting" day. I had to have the FJ in Edmonton this morning by 8:45am so I peeled Mase & Tatum outta bed (Sam was already up) and we left the house around 8am. When we got back I was inside and I noticed this weird smell that turned into a taste in my mouth. I went outside and could hear this loud sort of gushing sound (if I was Jessie I could have said that better but maybe you can get the idea). I look over and my neighbors gasline is the culprit - this young man doing the lot grading between our 2 houses hit their gasline on the side of their house and the gas was pumping out. SO, I asked the yahoos that were standing around if they thought of evacuating the block since it's kinda toxic to breathe that stuff in. They had made the call to the gas company - high fives guys, start knocking on doors! So, I ran in the house and got my kiddies in the car and took off. They did end up evacuating our block once the fire trucks and police whatnot got there. We got to come home around 3pm and my house was pretty stinky. Right now it's nice and fresh we have every window in the house open, and we just had a little rain shower. No one was hurt which is good, but my poor neighbor girl and her 5 month old baby slept in the house for 2 hours not knowing what was happening. She said she woke up a little groggy and then saw the flashing lights from the emergency vehicles. So, she went outside to see what was going on and their jaws hit the ground - they didn't know she was in there the whole time. They are okay luckily but what a crazy morning.

Being evacuated is not fun. If it does happen to you try not to freak your kids out like I did. Poor Tatum was crying because I was running them out to the car so we could get away! Bad mommy panic moment.

Holiday Monday!

So, here in Canada, Monday was a holiday and unfortunately Charlie had to work so it was me & the kiddies for the day......... what should we do? Then Mike & Mel called from Wabamun Lake , they were there with their kids playing on the beach and whatnot. So I grabbed what we had in the fridge for snacks, got the kids in their swimsuits and we were off! I'm so glad we went, the kids had such a good time and Mel & I had a great visit. I've been trying to learn a few things about my camera to improve my skills as a photographer, so all of these are the results of that afternoon behind the lens! Such a great day.

Sam & Mase lookin for shells on the beach, there were tons of them.

Thank goodness for ziploc bags - we had something to transport those sweet smelling shells home in. Yeah, they need to stay on the front step to "dry out". I hope some animal doesn't take them in the night! ;)

Sam was having a great time stealing Uncle Mike's sunglasses over and over and - it never got old, such a fun game.

This is the result of the sunglasses pirate getting caught!!


Aaaaawwww, Mel & Kaitlyn just pretty much lookin cute.

That's a pretty cute messy face - little bit of cheetos and sand for decoration.

We will definately be heading back there this summer. It took us about 25mins to get there so it wasn't too bad for the kids in the truck. They have really nice parks and a sandy beach - what more could we possibly need?

Thank You Mike!!

So after pulling my hair out last night trying to figure out the bigger picture whatnot, a simple phone call to my brother in law today solved my problems!! You can't see NOW (thanks to Mike) what those problems were, but they were annoying the heck outta me. So Thanks Mike for your wicked awesome computer skillzzz. I love love love the bigger pics but just didn't quite get it. Woooooohooo. ;)

Let's See If I Can Finally Get This Right......

Aaaahhh! I am trying to get my pics bigger and I've had some help but clearly need more! Maybe tomorrow! Goodnight!