ThompsonX4

Photography Workshop!!!

2010-01-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

I'm in a contest and I want to win!!! Lol, really anytime anyone enters a contest the point is to win. So here's how I need your help! Go here,and vote for me! It's that easy! You can only vote once from a computer so if you have multiple computers vote from all of them! :) I'm really excited I have so many friends and family who can help me out!! Thanks sooo much everyone!!!

I've been a little MIA from the photo world but in case you didn't hear....

2009-09-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

I know it's been forever since you've heard from me. I have been hiding away! ;)

I decided it's time to get back in the game of things so I'm having a huge fall deal!

Book your session by 9/30/09 and you get $10 off the session fee PLUS I will throw in a FREE set of holiday photo cards!!

The details...
Just remember, you book by 9/30/09 but your session doesn't have to take place until 11/30/09! That gives you 3 months to actually plan your session! I probably wouldn't wait that long due to the time of printing for holiday cards....that's just a date for you procrastinators out there ;)

The session fee also includes $75 print credit and a 4x6 spiral bound album of up to 15 images!

I also want to inform you that a set of cards is 25 but I will give you a steal by offering any additional set of 25 for only $20! Try finding that anywhere else!

Want more???

How about if you refer me to your friends or family and I will give you a FREE 8x10 for every new client you send to me!!

Playing Catch up!

2009-07-22T00:11:00.001-07:00

So did any of you hear about the family whose picture was found as an advertisement in like Europe or Russia or somewhere? Apparently a guy was on a business trip and saw his neighbors on a sign for a business. Their family picture must have been stolen off a website or blog so I'm going to be extra careful these days and either put my logo on my pictures or size them small so printing is more of a pain. You never know what types of pictures are going to fit someone elses needs. Anyways, read below to see what we have been up to the last few months. I also finally got full time at work so I have been majorly busy.

This is my niece Aubrey. We took her to the Air Show with us. We had a really cool opportunity to go the Friday before it started as Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. It was nice we didn't have to fight the crowds and it was also nice cause it was overcast for the most part. Somehow I of course still got sunburned. It even sprinkled a few minutes while we were there. The unfortunate part was that the pictures just look kind of blah due to the blah sky.

I love having a zoom lens lol.

These were pics I took on Memorial Day. I went out with my boys and my parents to put flowers on graves. I love seeing all the flags everywhere on Memorial Day and everyone remembering those that have passed on and showing their respect.

This photo is my dad looking at his fathers headstone, who served in WWII, I think the flag is very fitting in this picture and it's one of my favs.

So lately I have been trying to go and visit my grandparents 1-2x weekly. I had not been very good at visiting them and they only live like 10 mins from my house. About 2 or 3 months ago my grandma was moved from the assisted living facility she was living in with my grandpa to across the street to a place more like a nursing home. I kept telling myself I really needed to get over there but kept letting other stuff get in the way. Sure I'm busy just like any other working parent out there but I realized it was really about priority. So one day I happen to be with my mom helping her clean out my grandparents home and after we were done stopped by to visit. Wow, I was in for a rude awakening. See, my grandma has dimensia and in the past it's always been kind of a funny thing like wow she asked that question 5 mins ago and this is the third time she's asking. But when I saw this woman I have known my whole life and who in years gone by has been known to not be very nice, this was not the same woman! She was basically a lot more gone than I had realized and boy did I feel guilty! So from that time on I have made it atleast once a week and most weeks twice. I made a decision that I did not want to be filled with regret when my grandparents passed and I had not made the effort to show them I loved them and for them to feel loved. That first day I visited my grandmother knew who I was. The second day she did not. I was very emotional that first visit and I still get a little choked up but I cannot tell you how happy I feel when I walk in that room and ask my grandmother if she remembers who I am and she does! She never ever complains or asks for anything. She is just happy to have visitors and watch my boys fight and play on her wheelchair. She's always in good spirits. Sometimes she remembers my boys but mostly she doesn't. I'll admit I sometimes struggle for what to talk about cause sometimes it feels like I'm telling her things again and again (cause I am) like where I work and who I'm married to. But the thing is, I feel better having gone even though it's a struggle taking my boys to her small little room and them fighting. Or the joys of when AJ or Brock decides to befriend a passerby in their wheelchair and scary things happen lol. Like the other day when we were there AJ was talking to a woman asking her if she needed help. She was in the process of pulling parts of her dirty diaper (only #1 thankfully) off and touching AJ on his arms and face. She was about to tuck the ripped off pieces into the front of his shirt when I rescued him! We were sure to immediately wash his hands, arms and face. Note to anyone thinking of visiting (which I highly encourage), go in the later evening like 8 and the other residents have gone to bed. Anyways, I really feel badly for my grandmother cause she just wants to go home which we are sure is not going to happen until she leaves this world and goes to her Heavenly home. My grandpa is also very lonely and even though he used to be very impatient with my children most of the times we visit he loves hearing them talk to him and watching them play. I love seeing this softer happier side of my grandpa but he is still very lonely. One day my mom and I took my grandma over to see my grandpa and he just couldn't wait to kiss her. It really choked me up. I can't imagine how that would feel if I were in his shoes knowing that my wife can't live with me anymore and I'm just trying to pass time until the Lord takes me home. The first week I saw my grandparents 3x and that was a very emotional week for me. It is very sad but I'm greatful I have this opportunity to visit with them. Right now it just feels like something I have to do but also something I get to do. Like I said before I don't want to feel regret of letting other unimportant things get in the way of showing my grandparents love before they die. I know if it were me, even if I didn't remember anyone I would want to be visited. So here are some pics of one of our first times visiting. I also want to add that if any of my family are thinking of visiting but don't necessarily want to go by themselves I will happily go with you to help break the ice and make it a little more comfortable. Just give me a call!!!

Good biz opportunity??

2009-05-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

So for all those who would like to come you are ALL more than welcome!! Anthony is playing in the Kaysville Guns VS Hoses (PD vs FD) at Davis High School Friday May 29th (this coming Friday) at 7pm. I'm thinking it will be a hoot to watch and a pretty cheap date! It's only $3 and it's a fundraiser for the National MS Society. There's gonna be raffle tickets and a silent auction. I think it will be pretty fun and for a good cause.

Here's where the biz opportunity comes in...I'm a sponser as Amber Thompson Photography and I'm going to be the event photographer as well! I will have some pictures and a portfolio on display as well as my new business cards set up at a table and I'm hoping to be able to get some new clientelle from this event. Sooo hence the non blogging for the last little while cause I definitely have some things I need to blog about and pictures to add (of course lol)! I also had a fun opportunity to photograph some girls as models for a girl who wants to become a designer. She dressed the girls and then they modeled for us (a few different photographers). It was so much fun and I got some really great shots and have not even had the opportunity to fully edit them all yet. I also have to edit some soccer pics of my nephews and email them as well as some pics of my nephews/nieces to my bro who is in Afghanistan. So as you can see I have some work to do and don't even get me started on the neglect my house as well as kiddos have been feeling since I'm trying to get ready for this event. Anthony laughs at me and says I'm acting like it's a bridal show...yeah sort of, a FREE one! lol.

Anyways, I miss my blogging and sharing with ya'll cause that's usually when I get caught up on my blog reading as well and I feel sooo behind!

Hope to see you Friday!!!

PS I'm waaaaay excited cause I also got a new logo that a completely amazing friend of mine did fo me. I'm sooo loving it and have gotten way good comments on it so far. If you jump over to my biz blog you can see it there!

Playing with my new toy!

2009-05-12T12:42:00.001-07:00

Okay well it's not a toy but it's still sooo much fun! I got a new camera...finally upgraded to keep up with competition. It's amazing the color and clarity it has! And lots of new gadgets too! Here's a few from yesterday sooc (straight out of camera) that means I have done absolutely no editing on them. Good thing you never saw what my other pics looked like sooc my old camera! ;)

A post with no pictures??

2009-04-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

I know, crazy of me huh? I can't believe it either. Well I can really it's just that I'm at work and felt the need to update my blog but I obviously don't have any pictures on this computer lol.
Hmm trying to think of what's been going on the last few weeks....

Well for those of you waiting to hear the news about my job..I did not get the full time position. I am very bummed about it but what can I do? So you won't find me sitting around sulking about it but when I think about it I do feel sullen for a moment. I was a little surprised at how many people were as shocked as I was though. Definitely re-affirms my feeling of loyalty to my Weber County Family ;)

We finally got our taxes done just 2 days before they were do and boy did we get a surprise...very little money! We knew it wouldn't be as big as it had been because of the fact that I mistakenly forgot to file the taxes that Anthony made in 07 so we owed the IRS a little over 1K. But we didn't realize we had somehow "made too much money" this last year. Really? Who took it?!? Where did it go?!? Cause I was sure feeling we had made a lot less than the last few years and have been hurting financially. Whoops is this airing my dirty laundry? Oh well, I don't care. I'm not the type of person that dwells too much on what others think of me lol.

So on a better note, I am finally cleared from physical therapy and the chiropractor so I just got a nice check in the mail ;) Too bad it has to go somewhere useful even though we "make too much money" lol. (Just alittle hint, it's amazing how much of a difference paying your tithing makes in your tax return)! Anthony will be cleared soon as well so that will be nice to not have to juggle our schedules around that anymore.

Those of you who are on facebook know this but I have been working out the past few weeks and I am feeling great! I feel like my life is finally going in a better direction and even when we have downers (like not getting the full time job), it doesn't get me down.

AJ is doing really well in school and is learning a lot. He leaves us little notes (mis-spelled severely) but we love that he is writing and trying atleast. Anthony won't like me posting this but one day he was being quite grumpy and AJ had wanted to play the x-box with him. AJ ended up giving him a note that said, "dad I dispise the way you are acting and don't want to play the xbox with you anymore." Wow, it was a huge wake up call to Anthony but also we were surprised that AJ used a word like dispise and used it correctly! AJ just wrote another note last night while we were working and we tried to reading it last night when we got home but asked AJ to translate it for us today but he said he didn't know! lol what a funny kid!

Brock is definitely his own little person and knows what he wants! He wants to be big like his brother and likes to copy him but I think that is more out of love than not sure who he is. He hates it when we go to our jobs and he loves it when we come home. We never get sick of him running up, screaming our names and throwing his tiny little strong arms around our legs and hugging so tight!

Anthony got a surprise from work. He has driven his patrol car into the ground and they are finally getting him a new one. As of 7-1-09 he should be driving a brand new Dodge Charger! You're so jealous aren't you? I know I am and it will be parked in MY driveway! LOL!!

Well I think I will stop there. I would love to post more about Easter but I will save that for when I have pictures to post with it. I'm sure, as always, I have some random pictures to post as well. Until then......Oh yeah one more thing. Take a look at my new photography blog.

Sucking me dry.....

2009-03-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Okay so maybe really it's my electricity lol.

So last weekend I heard someone say they splurged and bought those compact florescent lights fo their whole house. They said it was kinda expensive but they last way longer and saved them about $50 bucks a month on their power bill! We had bought some at Costco awhile back and spent a bunch of money. Then Anthony replaced our kitchen lightbulb and I freaked out. This is how it looks....

UGLY WHITE FLORESCENT LIGHTBULB! UGH!!

Anthony and I were at Home Depot in Layton last night and saw a 4pk 60W for $1.85. I had heard that they didn't come in a tungsten color (like yellowish and warm). I was thinking "hmm save some money and help the environment, or keep the nice warm feeling of my home?" Well guess what? I can do both!! We found these!
Soft White light bulbs!!
The clerk says they are about half off right now until probably the end of the month. And this is how the lights look in my living room with regular light bulbs...

and now the soft white florescents....

There is not a huge difference. They are very bright and still have a warm feeling to them. I will be watching to see if it makes a difference in my power bill and even how long they last. I think we will definitely be putting more of them in the house.

Mommy Award

2009-03-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so it's not like I really deserve a Mommy Award but this is a tag I saw on a friends blog and I couldn't pass it up.

Here are the rules:
1. Admit ONE thing you feel awful about involving being a mom. Get it off your shoulders. Once you've written it down, you are NO LONGER allowed to feel bad. It's over with, it's in the past. Remember, you're a great mom!
~ I hate that I have a short temper and I'm a YELLER! Patience is surely not one of my virtues and I think that has a lot to do with my temper (by the way, thanks DAD!)I really want to work on that with my kids, especially AJ. I'm sure the poor kid thinks he can't do anything right. And to any of my neighbors that read this, sorry for rattling your windows when I yell lol. Ok so maybe I'm not that bad but I'm sure they have heard me before, but I hope not.

2. To remind yourself that you ARE a good mom, list SEVEN things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you. These are the things to remind yourself of EVERY DAY that you rock!
~1 I love that Brock is such a cuddler. He really is a tough brick of a kid but he's so lovey at the same time. What a great combination!
~2 I love it when AJ comes up and gives me surprise hugs and says "I love you mom". We are always in a power struggle so the sweet moments are oh so sweet!
~3 I love hearing my boys play. Brock wants to be just like his big brother. I adore their companionship and I'm so greatful they have each other.
~4 I love going to the park and having family activities. Last summer we had fun times going to Lagoon, parks, and the Raptors games.
~5 I love how smart AJ is and the talks we sometimes have (that is when he holds still long enough to listen lol).
~6 I love how tough Brock is, he just jumps, climbs, runs, falls and hardly ever cries about it. That kid has NO FEAR!!
~7 I love it when my kids become little artists. AJ likes to color nice pictures and Brock is my painter. That kid could paint for hours!

I award:
Stephanie Thompson
Mandy K
Kristin
Mandy C
Delia
Sara
Carrie
Melanie H
Melanie T
Raini

Penelope!!

2009-02-24T23:44:00.000-08:00

If you have not seen this movie you need to! It's gonna be my newest favorite romantic comedy! Especially this scene that I'm posting, I hope I do not ruin the movie for anyone but, nah I don't really care. I love it too much! Let me just say this if you have not seen the movie don't watch the clip but I guarantee that once you do see the movie you will want to watch this clip over and over just like me!! LOL. I will warn you though this clip has the S word in it so if that offends you don't watch it. Also the score for this scene is very very well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PYG3HoWvug

Big weekend followed by a big week!

2009-02-24T15:40:00.000-08:00

Wow so Anthony decided to take off this whole week since it's our anniversary. We had this idea in our heads of relaxing together all week and just being able to hang out. Hmm what's that saying where "when you make plans life makes different ones" or something like that.

Well Saturday we did sit around and do nothing all day. Wait, let me take that back. We did stay home all day but Anthony did several batches of laundry (go him!) and I sat down and ended up designing a custom birth announcement. My first one ever! I will change the info on it to make it more generic and then post it on here so ya'll can see what I will be adding to my photography business. I will also do highschool graduation announcements, baptism announcements, Christmas cards, etc and they will all be custom! That means you would tell me which pics from the session you wanted to use, what colors you liked, we would discuss a style and I would design it! Okay so enough with me selling myself.

That night we did get to sit down and have a date night after the kids were in bed. We rented Quarantine. I was quite impressed. I had heard it was actually scary but lately all the "scary" movies have been lame. This one was good enough that I made Anthony come with me downstairs afterwards to change the laundry! LOL. He thinks I'm silly.....okay me too ha ha.

So then Sunday we had to get up really early and head down to West Jordan to see my newest little 1st cousin once removed get blessed! Ha ha that's a funny sentence. My cousin had a little boy and they were blessing him . He is soo adorable, I might be doing their family session soon and I'm hoping to be able to do a few shots just of him (hint hint Delia!!) After that we drove home, had a little bit of a nap, the home teachers came over, and then we went to my moms house for Brock and my niece Aubrey's bday parties. I was driving everyone nuts cause they were watching Grease 2 and I LOVE that movie!! Really, I'm weird cause I like it better than Grease. I'm a bigger Michelle Pfeifer fan than Olivia Newton John. And I think they made Olivia too slutty at the end of the movie. Anyways I was singing all the songs and my family was all pretending I was bad. Yes I can say pretending cause they really can't say I'm a bad singer.
So Monday came and I realized I had not done my drug testing so in the morning we took AJ to school, went to the chiropractor, I set up appts for drug testing and then after AJ got out of school we headed off. First to Ogden to hit a few clients there and then we drove up to Logan so I could test my clients up there. It was amazing cause for the first time everyone tested quite fast and I didn't have to do any waiting around. I had a few guys that said they had just gone so I told them drink 8oz water and sit for 20 minutes and you will have enough. Since we were that far north we headed up to Preston Idaho where my sis in law Jane lives and surprised them with a visit! The boys were really excited to see the horses and cows and rode in the tractor and brushed the horse. Anthony took me for a ride on the 4 wheeler and it was rainy and cold. Here I am dressed in my nice clothes from doing drug testing out on a dirty 4 wheeler and getting in a dirty truck to feed the horses. I love that kind of dirty work and getting my hands dirty. In a few weekends we will be spending the weekend up there while Anthony paints and I told my brother in law Wes I'm bringing my grungy clothes and I want to go out and work with him. He thinks I'm crazy I'm sure! Heck, now you all do! HA HA. So after that we had hamburgers for dinner, with beef that was right off their farm, man it was gooooood beef! And then we went into a town called Lewiston and they have this really awesome movie theatre that's either styled all old fashioned or has just never been redecorated! I'm talking, I was expecting a stage instead of a movie screen. It's only $2 per person and all treats and drinks are $1 or less! They play a family movie every monday night and we saw Marley and Me. Oh my awesomely sad movie! lol. I cried, Anthony cried, I think 90 % of the people there cried! If you haven't seen that movie you need to see it. I will warn you though it was a little less family oriented than I thought it was. I'm just waiting for AJ to ask me what sex is! lol. There wasn't any dirty scenes just a few of Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson making out, ya know that before hand stuff that always happens in movies but never in real life LOL. And then of course they said the word sex quite a few times. Cross my fingers and knocking on wood, he hasn't asked me yet!!
Today Anthony is out with a work buddy and one of our neighbors snowmobiling. When he gets back he is working a game tonight at Davis so I will be going with him.
Tomorrow we are gonna try to find a car to buy and we STILL do not have money from the insurance company! I finally called them today and they said they will send it out tomorrow and we should get it on Thursday. Thursday we will probably be car shopping again and then I am still working Thursday and Friday. So all I wanted for our anniversary (which is tomorrow) was to go Snowboarding....Well it's not gonna happen so I told Anthony he owes me big time. Today was the day we were gonna go cause Wolf Mountain (Nordic) has awesome deals! If you like to ski or snowboard and don't need to go somewhere fancy you should head up there. On Monday nights it's family night so a family of 4 can ski/board for $40!! And individuals are only $10 for night skiing. Tuesdays is buy one full price ($25) and get a 2nd for $10! That's why we were gonna go on a tuesday but I'm a super awesome wonderful kind generous supportive wife so I let him go snowmobiling instead. So maybe next week or who knows, we will go snowboarding. I'm just not good enough or experienced enough to go night skiing cause that's when the snow gets harder and more frozen and it makes it harder to snowboard. Maybe once I get better I would love to head up there more often and just do night skiing for cheap. And if anyone is interested we would totally love for someone to come with us! If you ski or board and want to try, Wolf Mountain is an awesome place to go!
Well that is about it for what has been/will be going on in our lives. Hope you enjoyed!

Love is in the air....

2009-02-18T00:04:00.001-08:00

In light of it being February and the month of LOVE - I thought I would post these few fun works of art. As you know, not only did we just celebrate Valentines Day but on the 25th will be our 9th Wedding Anniversary! YAY we made it! Enjoy! ;)

Family Night, we played Jenga....... Like Brock's tattoo?

Photo Contest!!

2009-01-28T08:38:00.000-08:00

In case you missed it on facebook, I'm doing a photo contest where you can win a FREE photo session! Go to my photography blog at www.everlasting-images.blogspot.com to see all the details! Hurry, it ends Feb 3!!

Good luck and get commenting!!

Happy Birthday Mama C

2009-01-22T01:13:00.001-08:00

This is my beautiful mother in law MamaC.

She is an amazing person who is the best Nana to my kids. She is smart and caring and would do anything for the people that she loves. She is one of the strongest women I know. She has gone through a lot in her life and never let any of it get the best of her. She persevered and pushed through the tough times. She learned from everything in her life to help her be a better person. She is so humble. She works very hard. She is an amazing helper and a great example. She is a great wife, mother, sister, Nana, friend and neighbor.

Thank you for all you do. I love you MamaC.......

Jensen Park at Sunset

2009-01-04T18:19:00.001-08:00

So the other day I was just coming home from...geez I can't remember, but it was about sunset so I stopped off and grabbed my camera. We drove around not really sure where to go but ended up at Jensen Park. The boys have been wanting to go there so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone! These are just a few of the images I got. The boys were really silly and I had no coat! By the end Brock was getting cranky cause he was cold. I love these pics of them being brothers and being boys. AJ had thrown on his boots so he has one pant leg stuck on the top of his boot! LOL. But I still adore these pics.

Good ol' Holiday Times!

2009-01-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

This is how we spent our New Years Eve this year and it was pretty nice. Turns out we weren't the only ones to not be out b-bopping. Lots of people from my work said they just stayed in too.

I let Anthony sleep while we "watched" movies, hee hee. I woke him up at 11:45 and that 15 minutes went fast! We took silly pictures on his little point and shoot camera.

I can't tell you the last time we got a picture of us KISSING! So if you don't want to see it just keep scrolling HA HA.
Anthony kept complaining the flash was too bright, so he makes silly faces.

When it was midnight we threw on some clothes and went outside. There was like no one on our street outside! Party poopers!! So Anthony decided to do the whole lights and sirens thing and when I took this pic someone had just let off that firework, talk about timing lol.
Then I set up his camera on timer and put it on our mailbox so we could get pictures together. This batch of pics will surely make you laugh! We had a good time being silly and taking pictures together. These take me back to our very first New Years together.....we partied like it was 1999! :)

We thought it would be funny if we did a picture of us jumping like in the Toyota commercials. It was hilarious cause I was always jumping way too early.

Then we went in and got back in bed to watch a little more tv before going to bed. Anthony had to work by 6am the next morning :(

Here's some late Christmas pics. Anthony and I finally got to Temple Square to see the lights. AJ had been naughty we we decided to leave the kids with a sitter and go on a date. It was really nice to have a couple of hours to ourselves. Anthony kept taking pics of me and each time he would step closer and closer so I decided to flash him my prettiest smile :)
Here we are by the flagpole where he proposed to me on 12/22/99! The way he was acting I almost thought he was gonna get down on one knee again but I don't know what he would have asked me this time! LOL

Anthony's work had two Christmas parties this year, one at Maddox Lodge for the adults and then a family potluck at the fire station. AJ and Brock both had mohawks that day, don't they look cute!

Some privacy please!

2009-01-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

Hey all readers of Thompsonx4 Blog. I have decided its time for me to go private. I'm tired of all the drama in my life from people misunderstanding me and jumping to STUPID conclusions. If you would like to be included, give me your e-mail address and I will gladly let you continue to read my blog :)

Thanks a bunch!

Oh what a thud X2!

2008-12-31T14:43:00.000-08:00

Alright so for the second time this year someone hit our vehicle! Onlu this time it was the Buick (if you recall from "oh what a thud part 1 Anthony wanted it to be our buick).

I really cannot believe how.....stupid, crazy, dumb, people can be! So we are driving down a road and someone turned left in front of us. I kind of felt like they were cutting it close, they should have just waited another few minutes. Well the car behind them started to turn, then hesitated, then followed through with the turn and SLAM! Hit right into us. Now I'm not talking we hit their car or even we hit on the front of the cars, I'm talking SHE HIT US! Right into our driver side door! She hesitated soo long that when she followed through she drove right into us! I mean really how dumb can you be!!
As you can see from the above picture - she hit right into our driver side door. Anthony accidentally left the car in drive and it didn't even go anywhere! LOL
This pic is looking at the front of our car, behind us is the cop car and to the left in the back is the Ambulance. The bright red lights above the cop car are from the Fire Truck. The officer had them dispatched out cause the other drivers airbags deployed.
The kids were just fine. AJ told our chiropractor it wasn't scary or fun, just kinda scary when mom was screaming "oh my gosh". LOL. And then the paramedics brought them stuffed animals and a neighbor brought over a sucker for each kid. AJ did cry however when he heard Daddy say they would tow our car. He was so sad they were taking away his favorite red car.
This is just another view from the sidewalk. Anthony couldn't open his door cause it was smashed in. And I couldn't open mine cause we were shoved into a snow bank. I had to crawl out my window.

Overall, everyone is okay, just a few sore necks and backs. We are all making trips to the chiropractor though.

On a happier note, atleast for my dad, he will finally be getting paid for his car! :)

Completely Random Post

2008-12-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

I just realized all the pics that are supposed to be vertical are horizontal! LOL but you will have to deal because this post was waaaayy too long for me to change it.

This is my hot man in his uniform! This is just on my dumb camera phone but one day I will probably do a real photoshoot and he will rock it! ;) Dont be jealous, it doesn't make you look pretty j/k!

We went to Cabella's and the boys loved feeding the fish.

This year Anthony took over the Christmas decorating and put up the house lights, Christmas Tree, garland on the banister and above the kitchen cabinets, and decorations on the piano all by himself! It was such a relief not to have to do it. I have a great man! Isn't our tree cute!? I'll be sad to see it go.
Most of you have probably heard by now that my parents moved out of their home they have lived in for nearly 33 years! This is the new and improved Bishop residence. We are all soo excited about the change and my boys love that grandma is that much closer! We had our traditional Christmas morning brunch and even though the house was a little chaotic and messy from the move everyone had a great time. The feeling of family was a lot stronger this year and even the guys joined in the kitchen to help out with the cooking!! I will have pics of that to post later...yes Chelle I will be posting them LOL!!
The boys got babysat by their favorite sitters! When I picked them up this is how Brock looked. There's always some little surprise whenever they go to their house lol, (like getting their toenails and fingernails painted!) LOL! We went to Classic Skating in November and it was the boys first time there. They had a blast and at the bottom of this post is a video of Brock "skating". I had to take a pic of this man skating, I swear he time traveled straight from the 80's. He was wearing these purple pants and a green spandex (yes I said spandex) leotard (yes I did say leotard)!!! He even knew a bunch of tricks and did a bunch of twirls! WOW it was hillarious!!

Remember the day you heard about the "questionable envelope" at the Syracuse Junior High? I was outside that day taking pics of Brock playing and I kept seeing the Channel 2 News Helicopter flying over our house. I asked Anthony to check the news cause I knew something was going on. It's not everyday you have a news chopper fly over your house like 10 times! So when I went to pick up AJ from school (which is right across the street from the JH) I saw the chopper in our neighborhood park and lots of news media as well as the Davis County Mobile Command Unit.

I'm not sure what Brock was crying about but he was laying on my kitchen counter and had the cutest pout on his face! Like the runny nose? lol
On November 18th we took the boys to see the frontrunner for the first time. We had a fun ride, going to Woods Cross and then back home. Bare with me, these were all on the camera phone.

I love this pic of my hubby. Man he is hot!!
I did not make Brock put his cap on sideways, he did it on his own. Therefore I had to capture it on camera cuz he looked way too cute for his own good!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T00:56:00.000-08:00

So it has been foooorever since I have blogged! I have tons to catch up on but for now I'm just posting these. This Christmas Eve we spent time as a family watching The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. AJ has never seen it. Brock was tired and fell asleep. I thought my family looked so cute sitting there lit by the tree and the tv so I thought I would do some experimental shots. This is what I came up with....
For the family shot I just used my timer.
Here's Tony and Brock, man my husband is hot!!
AJ sitting by the tree, not as sharp as I would like but I was holding the camera instead of using a tripod.
Tony's dog Kiska, (she's really old), sleepin by the tree.
AJ took this picture of me. He loves takin pics just like his Mama! He's so funny about it too cuz he will try and tell you how to pose and everything. Everytime I get my camera out he wants to take pictures too.
He made this cute little ornament for me at school. I don't have any glass ornaments on my tree due to 2 year olds and dogs but I wanted to play around with taking a picture of something in the tree and I chose this. Not too bad for handheld, my shutter was way low.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

TWILIGHT!!

2008-11-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

Okay so I'm sure by now some of you have already seen it and I'm jealous! But that's okay cuz I'm going on Thanksgiving night so it will be a memorable one!

I saw this one someone elses blog so I took it and I'm posting it on mine! I think it's pretty accurate of me.

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

More to come because we have had a little excitement in our family. I'm just behind because I have been busy with the photog business YAY!! It's finally growing more and into a real business! So check back soon, hopefully this weekend I can spend some time blogging!

2008-11-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

Okay so I know Halloween was like 10 days ago and I'm finally posting for it! Geez, about time! The boys are hillarious, let me tell ya. Brock didn't want to dress up unless he could dress up like a pirate like AJ did. But when the trick-or-treaters started coming and taking "his" candy he got pretty upset and got the idea. He chose to be a Lion (it was that or a skeleton). Anthony had to work so we all got ready and Anthony was awesome being Mr Mom (he's totally been spoiling me with that lately and it has been niiiiiicccceeee!) Anyways, he was answering the door, giving out candy, straightening up, and cooking dinner. What a man, what a man! So once we are all ready and ate dinner I took the boys out trick-or-treating. AJ wanted to bounce all around the neighborhood but I wouldn't have it. While we were out we saw some fun and exciting things!

First the neighbor behind us totally goes all out with decorations. So much so when AJ first saw it (a few weeks before Halloween and in broad daylight might I add) he was scared! Silly kid. But they had fun looking at all the stuff that night.
Then across the street from there a man is a firefighter so they got some suits from the firehouse and hung them up and then two people were in the suits to scare the kids. YES! My kind of people! That is one thing I totally loved about Halloween was when the adults would do some scarin'.

This one is a little hard to tell but the silver suit has a guy in it and there is a "jester" in red and black going to get candy.
Then the Syracuse ambulance kept driving through the neighborhood handing out candy and glow sticks so it was fun for the boys to see them.

There's also a long street in my neighborhood that ends with a culdesac and they always party it up hard! Okay family style that is. They had taken a trampoline and turned it on it's side and then taped lights to it to make a gigantic pumpkin, they had a bon fire in the middle of the road, and some blow up halloween decorations including a "haunted house". Of course music was blasting and goodies galore! We stayed there for awhile until I finally dragged the boys back home. It was a pretty good night other than the fact my water bottle spilled on my cell phone and I didn't know it but it finally dried out and now it sucks! Ha ha. Sooo sometime here it will probably die all together on me and I'll have to go buy another one. I'm not up for a new phone for like a whole year. :(

(I also recently learned about using my flash for fill light instead of on automatic, I wanted the night effect without the harsh lighting from my flash. I think some of them turned out okay.)

Obama's TRUE identity!

2008-11-03T08:22:00.000-08:00

WARNING: Obama decided for Halloween to show his TRUE identity! Witnesses say it was a scary thing but someone dared snap this photo! I knew I had to post this so everyone would know the truth! Please don't be hypnotized by his charisma any more - I have faith in you that you will see him for what he really is. I know it's scary but scroll down to see the truth for yourself!!

HA HA HA Happy Halloween!!!

New Website!!

2008-11-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

I'm sooo excited to announce the launch of my new website!!

www.everlastingi.com

Be sure to check it out, I'm also running a HUGE promotion for the month of November to celebrate!! Just in time for Christmas!!

Jeepers Creepers!!!

2008-10-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

So the other day I got out of the shower and as I was drying off I felt someone watching me....So as I'm looking around this is what I find!The sucker was HUGE!!! I was screaming for Brock to get me my boot cuz I knew I couldn't smash this sucker with just plain ol' little tissues!! So he brought me my work boots and I still was freaking out about smashing him. Finally I did and he was about the size of a dime AFTER I smashed him! Yikes..I HATE SPIDERS!! I know the quality isn't that great, I took these with my camera phone.

AJ's 6th Birthday at Chuck E Cheese!!

2008-10-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

This week AJ turned 6!! I can't believe how big he is getting and my little boy is going away :( He is loving school and is learning a lot. He gets frustrated easily though if he doesn't know something and he'll just say "I don't want to do this anymore." But then mom and dad have to practice "tough love." We actually do that a lot with him...hmm makes me wonder!! Well he has been bugging us forever to go to Chuck E Cheese and when we realized they built one in Layton it was perfect timing for his Birthday. They had a blast playing games and winning tickets and Chuck E Cheese himself even made an appearance. Brock was scared of him but AJ loved it. But he's never been shy or afraid of things like that. So to sum things up a fun time was had by all. We opened presents and ate cake. Even some of the adults had fun playing games and acting like kids like Uncle Dustin....oh nevermind he is a kid, what am I talking about! :) We appreciate everyone that was able to come it meant a lot to Anthony and I.

New Logo

2008-10-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So I decided I need a new logo, like a real honest to goodness design logo of my business name. Here is what I came up with. What do you think?

Ice Skatin'

2008-10-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

This blog is all about Brock! My little sweetness of a boy that he is. This last week we took the boys ice skating. AJ wasn't thrilled about it cuz he doesn't like to fail, and he doesn't like to try. But Brock has been obsessed with hockey since AJ played it and he discovered it on tv. He is such the silly boy, he would rather watch sports on tv than cartoons! He's not even 3 yet!! But we all know he's not all ruff n tuff. He's a big cuddler and snuggler. So as you can see he is just adorable in his skating gear and there's some little videos below as well to see how he did his first time skating!

Try no to laugh!

2008-10-20T23:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, okay so I must not be in a great mood right now or I would have laughed really hard! But I'm posting it on here in case anyone needs a good laugh and I will probably come back myself to watch it when I'm in a better mood so I laugh harder. Tell me what you think!

http://view.break.com/531711 - Watch more free videos

Maternity Session!!

2008-10-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

Some favs from a maternity shoot....

Takin pics as usual!

2008-09-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

So last week I went up to Logan and on my way home stopped for some photo ops. Below is a couple of my favs.

Also a couple weeks ago I assisted with a wedding reception and shot some fun candids. Here's some of my favs.

You can see more of these here.

Headshots of the boys!

2008-09-24T22:02:00.001-07:00

Alrighty so I finally got the boys headshots done, BUT once again something went wrong! Ha ha. Well kinda sorta maybe. By the time Brock was in a great mood and willing to do pictures it was getting dark so the images aren't the best quality BUT once again he is such a major cutie that they turned out GREAT otherwise. Okay okay so maybe I'm biased (just a lil'). So I may end up doing his again just so I have some great ones that are also great quality.

As for AJ goes, he was just all ready to pose it up and of course we had to do some of him frowning, growling, and showing his "raptor claws". Those of course will not be posted on here, lol. I had been wanting to get some of me done also so I would have a picture of me to put on my website that wasn't cropped from another picture so I thought "what the heck, he loves taking pictures, knows how to hold the camera so I will let him play photographer today too!" He didn't do to bad a job if I say so myself. I did the settings and posed myself (of course, his ideas were a little.....out of the ordinary...to say the least! :) And then I had him snap away! So without further ado......

(You can see the graininess of this image due to the image being too dark)

You only get small pictures of me cuz' I ain't as good lookin' as they are! lol!!

Moon pics

2008-09-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

So tonight was pretty much a full moon so I decided I wanted to try my hand at some moon pics. Naughty little Brock wouldn't go to bed tonight so I finally brought him outside with me and tried to take a picture of his cute little profile lit by the moon. Obviously I moved but he wasn't the best little model and that was my very last picture I took, I was getting quite frustrated laying on the ground (that's the angle I needed) and getting eaten by mosquitos!

Enjoy!

Sharing some good times...

2008-08-24T13:55:00.001-07:00

One of my best friends Darel works for Syracuse city. He used to babysit me when I was a kid. One day he invited the boys to come see his truck. The front of the truck has a long huge tube and it's basically a vacuum. So after they dig around the manhole and are done cleaning it out they vacuum up all the dirt and rocks and replace the grass. It was really loud but the boys had a good time watching it. Darel is amazing with kids, always has been, and he had AJ believing he made his dinosaur toy disappear. He had shown them it was a vacuum by putting some garbage under the hose and it got sucked away. Then the boys kept finding garbage they wanted to put in the hose too. The boys had a good time and they looked so cute watching I had to snap some pics on my camera phone. (Darel is the mountain man in the red shirt).

Recently the primary had a bike parade. I took AJ down and we decorated his bike and then they rode up and down Banbury to show off their bikes. When we got back to the church we all had popcicles and then as a surprise the fire department came and hooked up their truck and sprayed all the kids. It was a blast. All the adults that didn't want to get wet waited by the church doors and the kids were way out in the parking lot. When the water started to spray everyone went running and screaming! The water sprayed way farther than anyone thought and all the adults were running away...if you ask me I think the firefighters did it on purpose to get a laugh. It was pretty funny and even from where I was standing I was getting wet myself. They were parked on the furthest west side of the parking lot and I was on the furthest east side. Man I never knew how far those trucks could spray.

Picture Time

2008-08-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know, every year I take my boys somewhere and do their pictures. This post is a little backwards because the pictures of them are at the end of this post. We went to Legacy Park and they were on one, mostly Brock. He didn't want to have his picture taken and I was feeling very frustrated at first. That frustration made me feel like I wasn't in my element and even I had to warm up to doing the pictures. So I'll probably end up taking the boys somewhere again and re-doing their individual pictures. But I was able to get some really cute ones of them together. After that we went across the parking lot and fed and pet this horse. There are more horses in the field but this one was the only one to come to the fence.

Busy busy weekend!

2008-07-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Mommy & Sons

I had the rare opportunity to go do something fun with my boys this weekend. We were going to go to Lagoon but with holiday weekend it was so busy we didn't even park.

Instead we went to Layton Park and they played with the ducks and had a blast on the merry-go-round. I don't think either of my boys has ever played on one before. Thankfully I had a blanket in the back of the car so I just chilled in shade.

After awhile they were really over heating. My kids don't tend to sweat out their heat very much and their faces turn bright red so people think they are sunburned badly. So we decided it was time to get out of the heat.

On our way home we stopped at the library and I got a new library card and we checked out some easy reader books for AJ. And after that we stopped at the gas station and got some drinks and they got to pick out a treat.

While we were there I saw Great Harvest across the street and realized I hadn't eaten their bread in a long time and so we went over there and got a slice of bread each. We had fun just sitting and eating it and taking pictures with my camera phone of us being silly with the food in our mouth. I'll spare you this time by NOT posting pictures of that! LOL. Later that night is when we had the firework show.

Go Raptors, Go!!

My father in law has season tickets every year to go to the Raptors games so he invited us to go. We also found out there was a tailgate party before the game and there would be food, YAY! So off we went with everyone in their best baseball fan attire! Man it was an exciting game. I had fun taking these pics of Brock being a pitcher. He has one heck of an arm!

After that the boys had the ball players sign their baseballs.

Playing the waiting game, it was really hot while we waited for the game to start. Poor tired little Brock, he didn't get to nap.

This was a hilarious story. This player had run I think from 1st or second and run home....only problem is he missed 3rd base and both Umps completely missed it! So all the fans are shouting at the Ump and they discuss it and then call the player out for missing the base. Well that didn't make him happy, not at all! He was all up in the Umps face yelling at him and so he got thrown out of the game! Then he pursuid to fight the Ump some more, thanks to some team mates they helped keep him out of more trouble!

This is the best action picture I got, I'm not really great at action shots. I have to take a ton of them to get a few good ones.

The boys loved Oggie. Anthony took Brock over to meet him and he loved him....that is until he bit AJ's head!! Atleast that's what Brock seems to think. He liked Oggie from far but if he came close Brock would start crying and saying "head head" and he was really afraid that Oggie was going to bite him! We even showed him this picture and AJ's head to show he had no owies but it was no use. He was sure Oggie was a real dinosaur!

This was another event that happened. The pitcher got hit in his pitching hand during a line drive. It took a few minutes for his hand to be okay and he had to pitch a couple of practice pitches to make sure he could.

Later, there was some more events that unfortunately I didn't get pictures of (my stinking battery died) . One of our pitchers caught a line drive and then thew a guy out at second for an amazing double play! And then when we were up to bat the bat split in two (almost the whole fat part of the bat) and the pitcher on the other team caught it cause it flew right at him!

After the game we were waiting for this photographer to come and take pics of us with Major Leaguer Rudy Lugo of the NY Mets. He used to be in the AAA's (I think that's what the Raptors League is) and I believe lived with my inlaws while on the Raptors team. But the boys were standing above the dug out and behind them is the good ole USA Flag! I just took this with my camera phone.

And then this is me in my baseball fan get up. I never, like ever wear baseball caps but that day I thought what the heck it's been a long time I'll try it out. I think I look pretty cute in a baseball cap!

Oh, what a thud!

K so completely funny story. On Monday we went to Lagoon A Beach and had a blast swimming with the boys. AJ is really turning out to be quite the fish like his mommy and you already know (from the Snowbird post) that Brock is a fish by heart. Hmmm or is he a duck cause come to think of it he's always been a duck and they swim too! LOL.

Anyways, coming home we were on Antelope in Layton and stopped at a red light. All of a sudden THUMP! We get rearended. I actually wasn't too upset considering all the bad stuff that's been happening in my life lately. (I know, you wouldn't know it by all the good stuff on here but I dont like to concentrate on the negative or blab it to the world either so that will just be between me and anyone else who already knows.)

First Anthony tells the dispatcher the wrong location because he told them 1000 E in Layton when really that was the Eastern boundary for Clearfield! So they went to the wrong address. When they finally pulled up you can imagine AJ's joy to see TWO MOTORCYCLE COPS!!! Oh my goodness did he have fun with that. As you can see the cop was very good in entertaining AJ and even letting him sit on his bike! What a nice guy. Well the blonde thing (I'll use thing for lack of a better word that's not going to offend anyone, lol) sitting in the bottom of this picture is the Skater Mom who hit us. Yeah she had a sticker on her front windshield. The poor dear, she didn't make her insurance payment, and she hit us cause she was bent over looking for her horizon card and she *sniff* kept um crying *sniff* but amazingly *sniff* there were NO tears! *sniff, sniff* She was just talking in a whimpy voice and sniffing over and over and over....Ya know, been there done that. I can have as much sympathy for that happening as the next person because I did it last year! On July 4th! Hitting a pregnant woman! But come on, if you're not gonna cry fine, but don't fake it!! We are not stupid!! None of us, not one, had sympathy for her. She was wearing pants that didn't tell me she needed a horizon card, and I know her shoes cost more than $20! That's more than I usually spend on a pair of shoes. Long story short, despite all her *sniff* crying *sniff sniff* and begging *sniff* to not report it, Anthony still reported it.

This is the bumper of our vehicle, surprisingly no damage, thank goodness!! We decided we wished there would have been damage and that we would have been in the buick so we could get a new car since the buick is once again broken down for the third time in 2 months.
And this would be the bumper...or I mean front fender of her car....surprisingly No damage there either!! That's right folks, her car looked like this BEFORE she hit us!!
But all in all, atleast it gave me a good story to tell on my blog and added one more adventure to our weekend!

The End

Fireworks!!

2008-07-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

K so this was our first year since having kids that we did fireworks at home. Well maybe we did them once when AJ was like 2. I can't remember. Anyhow, I'm sure he doesn't remember cause he was so little and we decided this year it was a must do. Anthony and I both worked 4th of July and 24th of July so this was our only opportunity to do/see fireworks with our chillins.

We did a few around the 6th but Brock had fallen asleep and we kind of breezed right through them cause it was the last night to do them and it was already around 11:30 pm.

Tonight we got started a little earlier as you can see from the sunset behind my cute little house!

The boys were really excited and loved watching the fireworks but they were also a little distracted that our neighbors were outside with family having a b-day party.
:(

I have never really played around with taking firework pictures and some of these were the result. I had fun though and I don't think they turned out too bad. These are a few of faves....you know me I'm a shutterbug!

AJ took a turn taking some pics too, and in some of the pictures you can see him holding his fisher price camera so he could take his own pics.

I also played around a bit with shutter speed.

With this picture I had the shutter speed way low. It looks really cool though.

Oh yeah and it was also quite breezy as you can see from the firework spray.

With this picture I had the shutter speed way up which causes more of a peppering effect. Kinda cool but a slower shutter speed is definitely my favorite for these.

Anthony took the bottom picture, he had to take his turn at playing assistant to the photographer as well. LOL

More slidin pics

2008-07-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

Okay so I now ya'll are probably tired of the slip n slide pics but I just can't help myself. They went again the other day and I just have so much fun taking pics of the event. Here were a couple of my favorites....

So I'm a bad mom and never let my kids drink so they decided to get it out of the hose...j/k

I love this picture, it's almost like you can just hear him saying "Aahhhhh" that combined with the water dripping from his chin and the little "puddles" on the ground in front of him....just awesome!

Chillin as boyz will chill!

Once again, he must be thirsty!!

Splashin' in the water

I don't know about you, but I would consider him safe!

Isn't it awesome to see all the water running down his skin? And I love the amazing blue sky behind him.

Hmmm if it walks like a duck, and looks like a duck, (and most the time sleeps with ducks) It must be a duck!!

We had been teasing Brock cause with his shorts falling down below his butt and his diaper sticking out he kind of walked like a duck. Well here you go folks, this is his best duck impression and I must say I'm quite impressed! But those of you who remember when he was little and his hair flipped out in the back, he's just always been my little duck.

First Day of School

2008-07-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

AJ had his first day of school on Monday! Okay well it was kind of his first day. Apparently in Kindergarten your parents go with you and you do a couple of fun things with your teacher. Then go watch a movie while the teacher explains how her class is and what is expected both from her and from you as the parents. It was also only 2 hours long and then they do testing the rest of the week. He will have his first official day (without mommy) on Tuesday.
He was sooo excited about his Transformers backpack, it came with a transformer dog chain.

Mommy gets a picture too, cause she was going with him. My first day of kindergarten in....22 years! Lol

Then Brock said "me tune" which means it's his turn. He has been mister independant lately and has to be involved in EVERYTHING!

Slippin' N a Sliddin'

2008-07-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

I was soo funny when daddy started to toss them down the slide.

I was lovin how the water looked when they splashed in it.

Daddy decided to join in on the fun too.

With this picture, I was prepared for AJ to go head first like he had been. As you can see, that was not the case but I love how the water looks in this picture!

Ummm yummy water!

Daddy and his boys

Snowbird

2008-07-15T21:09:00.001-07:00

Saturday we drove up to Snowbird for the weekend. We were going to leave around 2 or 3 but it was one of those days where nothing could go right. I woke up early (by my definition lol) and started to get things packed. It was 830 am and for me that is early cause I work on Friday nights til 2am but I was late so I didn't get home til almost 3 am. Anthony was still up and Brock was sleeping in his lap while he was on the computer. Brock would wake up every 45 minutes and was congested. Didn't have a fever though. So he kept us up just cause he wasn't feeling well until 5 am. That really makes 830 early.

So after I got some things packed and everyone was up we went down the Centerville to get the car from Dustins shop. It had been sputtering and overheating so this was the second time we had it down there in the last 3 weeks. We also got the emissions and inspection done (it passed). Then we came home and finished packing up. We were done but we were waiting for my mom cause she was going to take the kids in her Suburban and we were going to put grandma and grandpa in our car cause they are too old to climb into the suburban. Well in the meantime I got my house all good and cleaned and then we decided to wait at her house and get a car wash on the way. So we buy some drinks and get the car washed. Well our car was just too dirty so then we had to hand wash it at my parents house. Then over to Kmart to buy floaties for the pool and then back home cause we forgot Brocks sandals. On the way home the car started sputtering again and the temp was up half way. Anthony was soooo mad. We realized we couldn't risk taking the car up the canyon and we would have to drive the gas guzzler (expedition). So we went home grabbed a couple of items we forgot and put all the luggage and food into the expedition. By then my mom was almost ready so we met her at my grandparents rest home. Grandma and Grandpa weren't quite ready and it just takes a long time to get two old people who can barely walk down a level and into cars. They ended up riding with my mom after all cause our expedition is higher than the suburban. And AJ decided he wanted to ride with them too. Then my mom had to get gas and my brother and his family were already up at snowbird and I was supposed to make dinner!! This was about 615 pm. So we left my mom while she got gas and decided to continue to snowbird without her. Well not 10 minutes on the road Brock is whimpering and crying and pulling at his freaking ear!! So we stopped (AGAIN!!) in Bountiful and got some medicine. I got a cold/allergy medicine cause I wasn't sure what was wrong. Then I road in the back with him and he wouldn't take the medicine but he cried almost the whole way up. So we finally get up to snowbird and get out to unload the car and he starts throwing up!! Thankfully it was his soda so that would wash away with the rain, lol. We finally get everything upstairs and I was gonna start making the lasagna and realized....my mom had the beef! Well my sister in law helped keep my sanity through making dinner by helping out a TON!! But I really just wanted to go in the other room, lay face down on the bed and CRY! I was sooo tired and worn out and felt like I just wanted to lose my mind. Not how I planned my day AT ALL!!! But everyone thought dinner was really good and worth the wait so that was good. We just all relaxed in the room, no pool for us that night.

The next morning I had planned on making pancakes for everyone....thankfully that went WAY smoother than dinner :)

After breakfast we took the kids swimming and they had a blast!! AJ is a really good swimmer, so far he just swims in the shallow but lots of moms at the pool were commenting on it.
Brock would jump in but he wouldn't jump to Anthony and then he would "swim" by putting his face in the water and kicking his legs and moving his arms. He would come up for air and tell Anthony "again!" He did this over and over and over, it was hillarious. He's such a daredevil and isnt' afraid of anything and that scares me to death!! I guess my kids are just going to be natural born fish like their mommy!!

After swimming this is what the boys looked like and how they slept that night. Well atleast for an hour. AJ started not feeling well about 6pm and I made him drink a ton of water because I realized he hadn't drank very much all day long. And he kept sleeping. My oldest brother and his family left that afternoon and the youngest brother (still older than me) came up with his wife and some friends. We went swimming and my mom watched the boys (they were supposed to be sleeping). We had fun playing tennis ball tag in the water and my bro kept throwing the ball too far so it would roll off the pool deck and onto the ground floor below us. On Monday my dad came up with two of my niece's and we took them swimming. I don't have any pics of that because I don't want to take my expensive camera to the pool and Anthony's camera battery had died.

These are my cute nieces playing with my boys an hanging out. I'm really glad I got to spend that time with them. When I was younger and not married I was always playing with the little kids. Not fitting in with the adults and I'm 12 years older than the oldest grandkid. When I got married it didn't change much cause Anthony is such a kid himself. But after I had AJ I kind of had to grow up a little bit and so I was with the adults more and didn't spend as much time playing with the grandkids. After swimming we had to come home so Anthony could go to work. Even though it was only a couple of days it felt longer, not sure if that's good or bad, lol! Overall it was really nice to get away and have a break from the real world. I have sooo many memories of Snowbird since I grew up going there every year. My parents used to have a timeshare up there but they sold it. I really didn't want them to because I knew it meant the end of family traditions for my family, we didn't have very many growing up. A note to my parents, sometimes kids know things....I was right, we didn't have any more traditions after that. Anyways, I want to have lots of family traditions with my own family. Lots of family time, it's very important to me and I'm still trying to teach that to my husband ;)

P.S. Don't blame me for some of these pics cause some of them were taken by Anthony. ;)

BBQ for John and EJ

2008-07-15T00:08:00.000-07:00

K so I totally love this first picture...not sure why. We recently had a bbq for some family that lives out of state. EJ is in this first picture with my son Brock. He is married to Rachel and they have 4 girls. They live in Texas so it was awesome to see them and be able to catch up. My other cousin John is in the Marines and so he moves around and has lived several places and he was in town at the same time so it was really good to be able to catch up with him too. It was like a mini family reunion!! These are some pictures I took while everyone was hanging out. The last one is good too, lol. My dad....I don't even know what to call him! Ha ha. The kids were digging in the garden and my boys got FILTHY!!! So I guess they did their job for the night right? If anyone wants these pics (there are a few more as well) e-mailed just let me know. I have to laugh cause poor Sarah was tired and prego and she caught me just as I took her picture, she's so cute! I love her expression and I wonder what she was thinking. It's like she didn't dare look at me fully cause she knew I was going to take it but at the same time her mouth almost has the beginning of a smirk.....I'm such a picture freak!! Another blog mostly of pics. That's okay they are fun to look at and I'm much better at picture taking than I am at writing I think. And there will be another one cause we just got home from Snowbird so I have all those pics! That will have to be tomorrow though cause it's late and I gotta go to bed!!

Family Reunion in June

2008-07-14T21:16:00.001-07:00

I know June was a while ago now but I have been needing to get this pictures posted. We had our annual McEwen family reunion on June 7th. It was a really fun day and it was great to be able to spend time with family we haven't seen in awhile. We ate lunch and played games and talked and the kids played and screamed and Brock kept running away cause he could get the big heavy metal exterior door open....he's so naughty!! We also celebrated my niece's b-day. The older grandkids did some texting and the parents took naps! Lol. There was also lots of entertainment. The little boys enjoyed playing in the bucket of ice water for the drinks and made a huge puddle on the carpet by the days end. I don't know why but I like taking pictures of kids eating their food! There's something about that innocent dirty face concentrating so hard on putting that bite into their mouth. These are just some of my favorite pics, enjoy!!

Naughy, naughty boy!

2008-07-07T10:15:00.001-07:00

So this morning Brock was a very naughty boy. He had to be in time out. These pictures are priceless in my opinion because even though he was sooo naughty he is still so stinkin' cute!

He was in HUGE trouble because he had FLOODED our bathroom. And I'm not exaggerating when I say flooded. He had closed the drain on the sink and let it fill up, spilling over the counter and into the drawers, spilling over them and into the cabinet below, and then of course there was the puddle on the floor! The brown on his face is from the make-up he had gotten into and was trying to "wass off".

We didn't get any pictures during the clean up because Anthony and I hadn't gotten dressed yet and were still in our underwear LOL. But I was sure to get out my camera and start shooting away at his face right after we were done cleaning up. (Gee only like 25 minutes later!!)

Of course he had to have "ducky" with him while he was in time out. Don't get me wrong he didn't get to have ducky the whole time just mainly for the photo shoot. It's funny to see him somber, I wonder if he's really thinking about what he did wrong....nah, he's just thinking what a mean mom and dad he has! LOL

Venting continued...

2008-07-07T01:11:00.000-07:00

If you didn't read my previous blog, you should read it before you read this one.

Just a side note I wanted to add. I know I'm not the best photographer out there, I have never claimed to be. I know that some people may just not like my work and that is fine, you can't help what you like or dislike. But I also know that I'm not the worst either. I know of other "professional" photographers out there that I question their work and their knowledge. That being said I'm done now and will wait to hear from you.

Friendship

2008-07-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

Okay so I'm normally not the type to be passive aggressive, and I'm normally not the type to write/say anything when I'm upset that is permanent. I might tell a friend or two while venting but I will really think it over before I say or print anything, if at all. I want feedback on this people. I'm done sitting by and wondering and assuming and never knowing and just trying to get over it.

What does friendship mean?? How do you know if you have a good friend(s)?? It is EXTREMELY upsetting when you find out that some of your closest friends don't even support one of your biggest passions! Come on people what is the deal? If you go somewhere else for your business, when you never even discussed it with me how do I not take that personally?? Now if you had spoken to me about it and decided otherwise due to price, scheduling, taste, or whatever else, that is more understandable to me then never even finding out in the first place what I can do for you. I have a lot more ability than people think. I didn't just go out there and buy $5,ooo of equipment for FUN!! But when you have a "business" and I go to your first and foremost when I may be able to get it cheaper somewhere else but you need the money more than the someone else I know, I consider that friendship. Is that not right? If you just want studio pictures instead of location...hey that's a reason I wouldn't take personal! But atleast be upfront with me so I know instead of getting smacked in the face with this information and not know how to take it or what to think about it or even how to handle it for that matter! There are LOTS of people in my life I don't think support me as a photographer, maybe they think I'm too ameteur or it's just not their taste or they just don't think I'm good enough but please judge me on that after you have had a freaking consultation!! Look at all my work, look at the different options that I offer and then dismiss me. That hurts less than when it seems you just have no faith in me at all and don't even consider me as an option.

So now that you have an idea about what I'm upset about let me know what you think? Should friends support one another in things like that? If you know someone who is a house builder do you go to them to build your house or do you go to a complete stranger who's work you don't know and have them build your house? If you have a friend who makes wedding cakes and you're getting married do you ask them or do you find one somewhere else? In all my life it's always been about who you know yet it seems the majority of my clients are either people I don't know who have found me, or people that know me but not necessarily my best friends.

Now for those of you that are my best friends that I have done photography for obviously you can exclude yourself from that last statement.

Thoughts???? Be honest please, I would not be asking if I did not want to know the answer. Don't be afraid to tell me the truth. If your friend asked if they had bad breath and they did, wouldn't you tell them? Hopefully. And if you were honest and told her, would she be mad at you? Probably not. So I'm asking and I want you to be honest and I WON'T be mad.

4th of July

2008-07-06T00:41:00.000-07:00

First off I will start with Brock is not completely potty trained but he is still doing okay. He will wet sometimes in his pull up but still asks to go potty so he's doing pretty good! I'm excited for when we get to put him in underwear! Also I want to put down everyones hopes that I'm pregnant cause I aint (basically impossible during that one week of the month that you feel prettiest :p ). I would like to be but my hubs says we can't until we pay down some debt and finish the family room and one bedroom in the basement. That pretty much boils down to us making more money, so everyone needs to call me for pictures and pass around my info like crazy so I can start (for reals this time) my photography business. I want bookings bookings bookings! Just to remind you it's www.everlastingi.com (website with prices but not updated pics yet....) and www.everlasting-images.blogspot.com (blog with lots of new pictures). Okay so now that I'm done selling myself and letting everyone know I'm not pregnant yet nor will I be unless HE (upstairs) makes it happen without our planning.

Okay so as for my 4th. This year was way different because my ma in law had previous plans for the 4th and traditionally we ALL are there but that fell through and everyone else had other plans. Also since Anthony works he had to do the parade thing and firework deally so I did't get to see him much except during the parade when he was doing his cop thing on his bike (way hot by the way, and I dont mean temperature!! lol) So then he had to deal with the kids getting hit during the water parade (some people saw him on the news). And then he came back to his moms and we chatted for a bit til I went to work. But during the parade I was feeling patriotic and wondering if I'm like one of the only people that gets emotional when the flag passes by the first time and you put your hand over your heart. If you're paying close attention you can hear that the noise level goes down and people are a little more respectful and quiet. I especially felt emotional when the veterans are passing and thinking about the terrible wars they have had to fight in like the Vietnam War and World War II. And then of course our Soldiers who are fighting for us right now. Happy 4th to all of them and thank you for fighting to keep this Nation great!

Officially potty trained!!!....Hopefully

2008-07-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

K so I'm the last person in the world that is going to hold my breath and say that Brock is finally potty trained but so far the signs point to yes!!

It all started when yesterday he said he had to go potty and so he got on and went and we all cheered like crazy for him. And then soon after that he said he had to go poopoo and he got on and went and we cheered like crazy. So I asked him if he wanted to wear big boy underwear like brother and he said yes. Well that didn't last long he peed in them. So I told him I would give him one more chance and it lasted awhile. This time I helped him out and reminded him to go potty which he did. Well shortly after he had gone potty somehow he managed to pee in the underwear and it was not a small amount. I guess everything he had drank caught up to him. So on the diaper goes and he was a diaper boy the rest of the day.

This morning he came in and I changed his diaper. Shortly after that he said he had to go poopoo again so I took him on the potty and he went again! Daddy was sleeping from working last night so I tried not to cheer too loudly but enough to show Brock how proud I was. He had gone pee in the diaper a little bit but not too much. Soon after that it was time to shower (he still showers with us, come on are ya kiddin me? We can't keep him out of the water!) Anyways, so while we were in the shower he got out to go potty on the toilet and then after the shower went potty on the toilet and then after that went potty on the toilet again! This is all without me prompting or reminding him too!! I have kept him bare bumbed since the shower and that may be one reason is he knows it will get all over the floor (this has not worked in the past though).

So to sum up I'm really really really hoping he is potty trained and we will only have to have pull ups for night time. Cross your fingers!

So as we speak Brock just brought me a pull up. I asked him if he wanted to wear it and he said yes. I asked him if he was gonna go peepee in it or on the potty and he said potty. Hmmm do I put it on or should I try the underwear again...decisions decisions. Okay so now he's whining and putting the pull up in my face I guess I got my answer! Lol

Wish us luck with this new big mile stone!

Makes it all worth it!

2008-07-01T02:39:00.000-07:00

As you know I was sick yesterday and still feeling not quite myself today. I decided to eat some soy beans cause they are nutritious and delicious and hoped they would not be too hard on my stomach. AJ came in and asked if he could have his very own. I cooked them up and showed him how to eat them and sent him off to watch cartoons. Awhile later he came into the living room and said, "thanks mom for letting me have soy beans." I told him he was welcome. He said, "they are really good, I'm glad I'm getting healthy! You're the best mom" (while hugging me repeatedly), really mom you're the best mom in the world. I love you so much mom. I just love you so much that I can't even stop." His hugs and his words coming from this little boy that I fight with so much, just thinking of it brings me to tears again! I pulled him into my lap, ignored whatever it was I was watching (I really can't even remember!) and cradled him in my arms telling him how much I loved him too. These are the moments that make all the tantrums and dirty hands and little boy things all worth it. How blessed we are as mothers for no one can love you like your child. Those cherished moments are not frequent but are the moments to remember forever. I hope that my boys know I love them. That despite all the yelling and tantrums (from both sides lol) that no matter what I will always love them. To my handsome little rugrats! Love Mommy!!

Doin' the church thing

2008-06-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

So today is Sunday and I have felt crappy all day. And I don't mean emotionally. I got this knot in my stomach last night awhile after dinner and I was thinking, "what kind of knot is this? Am I hungry again? I think I'm gonna puke!" I hate throwing up with a PASSION!! I will fight it as long as I can. I'm not one of those people that can force it so they feel better. Anyways, I thankfully never did, I figured it might just be lack of sleep for the past few days. When I laid down I felt a little better. But I still had to prepare my primary lesson (did I mention Anthony and I were called to teach Sunbeams?) this morning and get ready for church and as soon as I woke up I felt sick all over again. So I'm breathing deeply and trying not to squish my stomach too much. At church I was starting to feel a little bit better and wondered if Satan was trying to keep me from church or something like that.

In my class there's this one little girl that reminds me of a porcelain doll. She has pale skin and brown curly hair and she is soooo skinny and tiny and fragile. Well I think she is new to primary cause every week she cries. Today during Sharing Time I had her sit on my lap and she did a lot better and then towards the end I was starting to feel really sick again and it didn't help matters that she was sitting on my lap. There's this other little boy and last week he did just fine, but this week he was sitting away by himself and crying and when it was time to take the kids to the classroom I told Anthony to get him. He just cried and cried and then that got the girl crying again lol. Once we got into class again they did better after a couple of minutes. And once again my feelings of sickness went away for the most part.

Class went pretty good but one thing I don't understand is parents letting their kids bring toys to primary. It's just a distraction and then they get caught up in playing with it instead of learning to sit quietly and listen. I think we let AJ bring toys to primary only a couple of times but he could play with them in Sacrament. That's just too long of a time with too many big words for them to sit still.

Anthony walked home with AJ cause he's always begging to walk to/from church. And when we got home Brock ran down the street to them so he could be with them.

Our home teachers came today for the first time, that was a nice visit. AJ wanted to play hangman (must have learned that at church) so we all agreed he could play one game of hang man. Our home teachers are both named Matt so they told AJ he could call them M&M. Well we barely made it without hanging the hangman. He only needed his nose and one of them guessed the very last letter. It was I by the way spelling Sbtrjni.....we had a great time laughing it up. They were very impressed that AJ knew how to read and spell. I laughed and said I have no idea how he's going to do this. Of course we got that answer when he would write the letters in the order that we guessed them. He was being so funny and cracking us all up. That kid loves to be the center of attention!

Earlier this week we had friends over kind of late and after they went home AJ and Brock went outside to jump while I was vacuuming. When they came in Brock let Goliath out. Lately he has been really good about coming back when we call him so we have been giving him a treat to reward him. Well by the time they told me and I could get outside he was LONG GONE! We went and got in the car and spent about 45 mins driving around looking for him with no such luck. The next day I was babysitting and didn't really get the opportunity to go looking some more. But I called the pound and they didn't have him. So after I dropped off the little guy I babysat we went driving around for another hour looking for him. I knew someone had him but they hadn't called us (our numbers are engraved on his tags) so I was trying to look between houses and through the fences I could. Well no such luck again. And by the way Anthony had driven around for awhile at like 2 am looking for him. Well I had to go to work and while I was there I got a phone call from a lady and this is what she said right after I said hello. "Do you wanna come get your dog?" I was like yeah where is he? Well she continued to rant and rave about how they found him last night so they put him in their yard so someone driving by could see him and say that's our dog. And i'm like we have looked for him several times. She said that he had put a hole in their screen door from scratching all night and I was thinking if you let him out he probably would have come home. She made me so upset acting like we didn't care about him, like we would have known where she lived and specifically went to her house to get him. I guess she has a neighbor that works for animal control and asked her to take him to work with her but she didn't. The thing that bugs me is my kids were so upset that they were going to bed without Goliath home safe and sound. And the first thing that Brock did in the morning is wake me up and tell me we needed to go and get him. It was cute but sad. Well I think I'm done for now...I think I need to take a nap.

Out of the mouths of babes

2008-06-27T03:16:00.001-07:00

So about 2 wks ago my work started a summer wellness program. The goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day. I didn't realize how sedentary my lifestyle had become until I purchased a pedometer and used it the first day. So not only had my diet become....pretty much terrible....but I also have not been moving around very much at all. And that makes you gain weight? Weird! Well wearing this strange contraption on my waist everyday got lots of questions out of my boys, mostly just AJ since he is the talker. Brock just had fun pushing the button that would anounce my steps, over and over!

After wearing this pedometer for about 3 days AJ kept asking me, "how much weight have you lost now mom?" Or he would state, while looking at the numbers, "wow much you've lost a lot of weight today!" What a great supporter..although I finally explained to him you can't lose weight that fast and it's only counting my steps not my pounds. Then he asked me one day, "mom, how come you're belly is still jiggly?" Of course it makes you feel really great when your 5 yr old asks you something like that while patting your belly with his hand.

And that's just the start.

On another day he did it again only this time he asked how come it's not jiggly any more...strange I don't think it was really any different.

Yesterday we went to Lagoon a Beach and of course 90% of the women there are wearing bikinis. While walking through to find a place to park ourselves and our stuff he turns to me and says, "mom I just saw a girl who was hot." Assumming he was referring to her looks and being to busy to react, we kept walking. And then he clarified, "mom, I just saw a girl that was sexy." Hmmm interesting that a 5 yr old knows what sexy is..I knew much worse at his age but he still astonishes me sometimes...and guess where he learned it though...Nickelodeon!! Thankfully I am starting to get him more addicted to kbyu and pbs for thier learning cartoons and away from nasty cartoon network. Have you ever really watched those cartoons? They are strange, and they never have a moral to the story or even a lesson learned. Okay so there's a couple that aren't so bad but a few really make me think what the creators of these shows really want my small child to learn.

Last monday night was the start of Heritage Days here for Syracuse. One of the many events they have is Syracuse Idol. I was going to try out so I could overcome my fear of public singing but whad'ya know I lost my nerve. I also didn't want to feel like a fool amongst a bunch of teenagers and I'm this "old woman" wanting to win a contest! Anyways, this lady gets on to perfurme and AJ for some reason felt the need to inform me how much prettier she was than me. This, coming from a little boy, who is always telling his mama how pretty she is and what a good singer she is. Thank goodness he's 5 so I don't have to take it too personal. But I did inform him that was rude and not to tell me that again.

As for Brock (I can't blog only about one child, come on now!) he is talking a lot more lately. It seems everyday he uses another word I didn't know he knew. These are just a few....
noise
c'mon
away
loud
and basically at this point in my morning, after coming home from work, that's about all my fried brain can remember.

He is very good at letting Goliath out and Goliath has been pretty good about coming back when we call. However last night I was vacuuming when they came in and by the time I made it outside he was long gone. So off driving around we went calling and calling. It's actually very cute to hear Brock yell "Go go!" and try to whistle for him. AJ learned how to whistle now and so he's been a good helper calling for the dog. Well we didn't find him last night and then today we went driving around in the afternoon calling and calling. I kept looking at the fences between the houses wondering if someone was trying to keep him. We did finally get him back from someone calling us....she acted upset on the phone. Her first words were, "do you want to come get your dog?" Of course you crazy lady, I had no idea where he was. I dont know why she waited so long to call us but she kept telling me about how he made a hole in her door from scratching on it all night. I thought well serves you right, you should have called us last night, no matter now late, so my kids wouldn't have been so sad about thier doggy being gone. First thing Brock did this morning when he came in was say, "Go go gone?, bye-bye? c'mon mama bye-bye, get Gogo!" Now don't tell me that wasn't absolutely cute! He loves dogs and especially his own. He saw a demonstration of a cop dog doing his druggy doggy thing and he was still saying, (with arms wide open!) "hug, hug?" What a cute baby...

Two wheelin'

2008-06-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Last year we tried and tried with AJ to get him off of training wheels but he would just get frustrated and fed up and then give up. Eventually so did we. Then this year we thought we should get a start on it at the beginning of Summer instead of at the end. Anthony went out and practiced with him the first time and he couldn't get up. Then one day I was outside so I decided to work with him on it. I think he was more excited this year because Uncle Brandon gave him a bike, it's still child size but a little bigger than the really small ones and it has shocks on it. He thinks it's so cool! So I went out and he ended up getting up a couple of times and doing okay. He got a little frustrated but I just felt we were so close I didn't want to give up just yet so I made him do it a couple more times as long as he was getting up.

Yesterday we were outside again and he wanted to practice, AND HE GOT UP!! Not only did he get up but he was doing really well right off the bat so we practiced with him starting by himself.

After a lot of hard work and falling a couple of times he was doing that pretty good too. I got some great shots of the boys at work and poor little Brock just wanted to ride too.

After being forgotten so much during brothers success he decided to go in the garage and play "tennis" with the ball hanging up so we know how far foward we can pull the Expedition.