sneak peak....

danielle,

how fun was today! so glad that the lighting was awesome, the tulips were beautiful and so was your little lady! pretty sure you look gorgeous too! i'll have the rest on thursday! see you then!

brandy

p.s. click photo to enlarge!

easter & baby animal days...

can i just say that charly is at such a fun age! she's a handful, don't get me wrong! but 95% of the time she's making us laugh at all she does! does your baby have quirky behavior? we think charly does! things she's doing right now...
...dances to anything with a beat, i mean anything, she just starts wiggling. it's like she can't help it!
...her favorite place to hang out is on the first step of any stair, it's the perfect height for her to sit on!
...is loving her stuffed animals right now...i'll have to take a picture of her with all of them!
...always wants to look out the window or be outside, even when it's snowy and windy!
...loves building towers and knocking them down!
...plays with shoes, so don't leave them around!
...trying to talk more, but still struggling! working on animal sounds, but so far a cow says boo and a duck and pig make the same loud squeak! too funny! she knows the sound a truck, car and tractor make though!

okay that's enough, onto the real post!


Easter.

What a fun time of year! The weather was great, until it snowed, but we still had a fun day! We spent conference weekend up at the lake house relaxing. Easter morning Charly discovered the Easter Bunny had paid her a visit. Isn't it awesome that they always find you, even if you're not at your house! Surprisingly, Charly was pretty excited about hunting for eggs and really good at it. Saying, "ooohh", in a deep whispering voice each time she spotted an egg. She didn't like it when I had her put the eggs in her basket, she wanted to just open it over and over again! But eventually with our help she found all the eggs and goodies left for her! After morning session of conference we went home to Corey's dads birthday party. Dinner was good and then we colored eggs, for the second time (my fav part)! I hate the PAAS brand of egg dye, it sucks, so next year we won't be buying that kind! It wasn't overly exciting and I was bummed we didn't get to all dress up in our Easter attire for church, but we'll do that this Sunday instead! A few pics of course...checkin' out her Easter basket

summer sandals, romper, animal crackers & candyOn her hunt

Baby Animal Days.

So much FUN! And so much CUTENESS! I have never been, but since Charly loves every kind of animal she's ever seen I wanted to take her!Albino Peacock

with the baby billy goats
(dad looks so cute, why did you close your eyes charly?)

petting the baby calf

oink, oink, standing with the pigs!

first pony ride....sorta scary

she didn't love it, but seriously was laughing pretty hard at one point!

on the choo choo train!
(pardon the fattest face in the world, bad angle!)

Who knew that our own Jensen's Historical Farm could be so cool! We're definitely going back next year!

dresses...

we couldn't wait completely for the beautiful spring weather to emerge...so we took pictures with charly's new dresses anyway! i'm especially glad i didn't wait until this week....yuck...that's all i have to say!

trying to win this....

and if i put a link to her blog on my blog, i get a double entry! Thanks Alexis Miller for this giveaway!

http://phototips.alexismiller.com/

exciting things happening at our house...

first off, no more of these!we've been bottle free for a week now! yay!

charly's not a little girl anymore

she's facing forward now in her big girl seat and loving it!

we're experimenting with some cool photography!

more to come with this technique!

the snow has melted at our house!
p.s. this is our house!

my bulbs are coming up!
which means i planted them right! whoo hoo!

and we've got these in charly's closet























(only the pink one's navy blue)













go Easter!


so i'm pretty sure those last three photos can only mean one thing....
spring is almost here!
hallelujah!
i'm not sure i could have made it much longer!

winners...

thank you to all who entered, unfortunately, there could only be two winners and here they are...

LISA

&

SHANNON

CONGRATULATIONS! sorry everyone else (charly picked the winners out of her hat)...i really wanted to take your pictures. and i still will, same conditions for $50 dollars, about 30 edited photos on cd. let me know if your interested and winners, i'll contact you to set up a session!

extending my contest....

i've decided to extend it. whether more people comment or not. i'm keeping the contest open until monday. no time limit! to find out more scroll to the next post.

quiet book, cutting teeth, curls, check-ups & a contest...

i know i promised to show off the ADORABLE quiet book i made for Charly's 1st birthday. i have to give credit to the incredibly talented SHELLEY WALLACE who has a store on etsy, where i bought the template to make this quiet book. unfortunately, Charly still doesn't know how to do most of things that this book teaches, she will learn, and eventually enjoy completing each task instead of eating all the pieces!

The COVER

Unbutton the SNOWFLAKE & Put your hand in the MITTEN

Tie a bow on the SKATE & Count the MARSHMALLOWS in the HOT COCOA

Build a SNOWMAN & Find all his PARTS

BACK COVER

even though this book was a slight pain, i enjoyed the project. now i'm wanting to make her alphabet book. 26 pages, maybe i'm crazy, but it would give me something to do!

CUTTING TEETH
i didn't know that getting teeth would be one of the most awful parts of my babies first life. she now has TEN, yes i said 10 teeth! and she's working on cutting two more. teeth make charly not want to eat or sleep. medicine acts as a slight band aid, but doesn't completely take away the pain! her top molars came in two weeks ago, and now her bottom molars are so close. her poor gums are way swollen! sorry baby!

CURLS
recently after doing Charly's hair, or after getting her out of the tub. i find a perfect curly-q at her neck. some might say it looks like the infamous rat tails boys used to sport way back when. i think it looks adorable! is the rest of her hair curly you ask, no. but i hope this curl stays!
CHECK-UPS

Charly's one year check-up was last Thursday and she's very heathly and doing well! She had 5 shots and a toe prick! talk about a rough day! she wouldn't let me bend her legs if i carried her, she would lay flat like i was carrying a board! poor girl! here are her stats...(6 shiney band aids in all)
Height: 29 1/2 in. - 70%
Weight: 20 lbs. 5.5 oz. - 50%
Head: don't know - 60%

CONTEST
now if you've made it this far down the post you must be a devoted reader of my blog, or i suppose you could just be bored out of your mind! doesn't matter, you made it! as many of you know i've picked up photography as my hobby. i've been practicing quite a bit on family. i would not say i'm perfect, i've got a lot to learn. so i'm opening up the opportunity to have your child's photos taken for free so i can practice more. i'll be giving away two free photo sessions, preferably outdoors, unless it's a little one. in the next few months we'll schedule the sessions. so you must have kids now or about to pop one out soon! i'll take the photos, edit about 30 photos and give you a copy of the cd for prints. the more kids you have, the less photos of each kid there will be. and we could squeeze in some family portraits as well. excited? here's what you've got to do...
*leave a comment on this post saying you'd like in on my drawing.
*you can only comment once, unless you'd like to comment for someone else who you think needs this.
*i'll pick two winners, (unless there's like a buttload of people who enter, i may pick more) fairly by drawing from a hat!
*the contest ends on Sunday at 6:00pm.
*you have to live in Utah or be here sometime to have them taken.

*good luck and thanks for letting me practice on you!

cuties...

nat,
you're kids were great to work with! even though it was FREEZING and there were a few TEARS...we ended up with some great shots! hope you enjoy your sneak peak!

bran

p.s.
click to enlarge

ONE...

yesterday my baby turned ONE! it's weird, she still seems the same to me, not one, but just Charly. but now because of yesterday I have to say she's one. what a drag...but she had a very fun day! Here's a recap....
Monday (one day prior)
How fun to wake up barfing all morning the day before your birthday! how convenient for your mom who instead of getting everything ready, was cleaning up throw up all over the house! good thing it stopped after taking some serious long naps!
Tuesday (the big day)
You woke up at 8:30, i brought the video camera in to show you on your birthday morning, oh wait the battery was dead! glad i checked before your party!
You had pancakes, some plain and some with blueberries, your favorite!
After not taking a morning nap you grew grumpy! Dad came home, grandma came over to help with the frosting for your cake. you ate lunch, had a bottle and went night night! for only one hour! why is it that on the days when you need a nap, you won't take one!
Five thirty rolls around and your party guests show up. you have presents galore! is it Christmas all over again? looks like it! we open (we meaning everyone else, you helped a little) your presents, you care more about the ribbons and your shoes.
Time for cake. we sang, mom blew out your candle. stripped you of your clothes and let you dig in. you were very cautious, the frosting was sticky. eventually you started tearing in, but didn't take a bite. the frosting tasted good, but then you wouldn't eat the cake. after a few bites, you'd had enough and threw the cake on the floor.
Clean up time! grandma monson cleaned you up and you ran around in circles for a good twenty minutes. what a show off you were! you got worn out, and of course the no nap came into play. everyone said their goodbye's and left.
TUB TIME! you had a good tub, got ready for bed. bottle. night night. you were so sleepy.
Twenty minutes later. SCREAMS from upstairs. you threw up again!
What a way to end your first birthday!













you sure are a special girl! you're always making us laugh! i wish i knew what you were thinking all the time! you never stop moving unless you're sleepy, and even then you don't want to stop!
you're still afraid of the vacuum, love climbing and playing on the stairs, love bananas, blueberries, pancakes, peas, milk, ice cream, and bread. you're sweet, give loves and kisses. are quite well behaved, except for the occasional tantrum. sleep awesome at night and take way better naps than ever before! love books! p.s. i made her cute quiet book and will have to post pics on it....you're going to be jealous! that's all i can think of now! but you'll always be our baby girl!