Don't ask me how I am feeling!!!

I walked into the doctor's office, supplied my monthly pee offering and stepped on the great and grand scale. The following thoughts rang through my mind:

Wow, have I really gained that much weight?
Can you really gain nearly 10 pounds in a month?
(Panic setting in) Wait a minute...that means I have gained 25 pounds so far!
OH MY WORD! I am only 25 1/2 weeks, how can I have gained 25 pounds?
Crap! The imposing Devil number bearing down on me out of the scale is the same number that appeared the day I walked into the hospital and had my last baby!
WHAT IN THE FREAKING PREGNANCY WORLD...I still have 3 months.....

AGHHHHHHHH! I feel like one Fat Cat....

so if any one asks me how I am feeling, this is the answer that they will get!

Robyn's Family

I have been friends with Robyn since we were Cheerleaders in our Glory Days...hahahaha...just kidding...ok, well not really. Anyway, I shot some informal candid shots of her family and I love them, so I thought I would share.

Sara and Weston

I just finished this shoot, and I am so in love with these shots. This couple was so great to work with and we took a random alley way in town and turned it into something SPECTACULAR! Let me know what you think...and what you would have done different?

A boy and his kitty

I picked up this half Siamese kitty at the pound over a week ago to help satisfy our home's other inhabitant problem...MICE! When you spend a great deal of time re-constructing an old house and you leave the doors open, you are bound to get a few mice; which unfortunately turn into a great deal of mice. Since we already feed, bathe and endlessly clean up after a great English lab, I thought it best to choose a younger cat to insure no animal cruelty (towards each other). As soon as I brought home Millie (our kitty), Teddy, my youngest and most exuberant, felt it was his new calling in life to 'cater' to the kitty. I found Teddy in my room snuggling, canoodling, malling, and drooling over our new housemate.

The following were exerpts I took from Teddy's mumblings and all-telling facial expressions:

oh, here you are kitty... I will pick you up and give you all my love and make you my best friend...
and now I will pet you, and lock hold you in place to keep you...safe...Shh Kitty, go to sleep...finally I can rest too...

HOW TO MAKE: Scrupmtious Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Chocolate covered strawberries have been a long time love of mine. Earlier this year I felt a true loss in my life when our dear friends, the Atterburrys, moved from Utah to Mississippi. You see, she was my Christmas supplier of a lovely gift of Scrumptious Chocolate Covered Strawberries and other such sweet desserts. Thus, when the opportunity arose late last night for me to own my piece of sweet temptation, I jumped at it. To make the strawberries below, I simply followed these directions.

1. First acquire a good friend whose husband is a head chef and owns a DELUXE chocolate fountain. Over the years of your friendship, express your unwaning desire to help 'clean up' the excess after a chocolate fountain event. Then when that great day arrives, graciously accept, "oh, what, you would like me to come and gather the excess chocolate...hmmm...I am sure I can help you out with that." Jump in your mini-van, with kids in tow, and bust a move over to their place no matter what time of night it is.

2. Late in the evening, make a mad run to the local grocery store and purchase the most delectable, plump and blushingly red strawberries that you can find.
3. Clean and dry each strawberry and then dip, all the way down to the stems, each juicy piece...making sure to coat your fingers in the rich, gourmet gift from heaven. Then from elbow to finger tip, LICK clean!
4. If need be, double dip or triple dip each strawberry to ensure a ratio of 4 parts chocolate to 1 part strawberry.5. Arrange each strawberry, so as not to crowd one another's glory, on a piece of parchment paper. Parchment paper is the utmost necessity because it will facilitate the chocolate strawberry eater in gleaning all the chocolate off it's resting place. Simply using a plate will cause excess chocolate to stick to the plate; thus, leaving the eater to scrape the plate with one's teeth.
6. In the end, when you have successfully gorged yourself with your 2 pounds of strawberries shamelessly loaded in 2 more pounds of chocolate, place the extra on a platter and present them at your neighborhood pot luck as your complete and delicate works of edible art! (Try hard to be gracious and mention the lovely, now newest best friend, as the supplier of the melted gourmet chocolate)

Great Reads: PICKS OF THE WEEK

1. The Thief: I recently fell in deep reading infatuation with Megan Turner's The Thief and the subsequent series. If you happen to be on a reading kick lately, pick up this novel. It is full of twists, turns and intrigue. I was amazed down to the very last page. A Moderate paced adventure, this story will grip you before you even know what has happened. In addition to being a great read, the series ROCKS! Make sure to read The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Atttolia. I give this series a 4 out of 4 stars!
2. The Host: Alright Ladies, this one has been out for a couple months, and if you weren't reeling and lusting after her Twilight series, then this book steps up the love/betrayal/passion saga by two notches! I loved this novel as much as I loved the first in the Twilight series.

Have you read anything interesting lately? I am always looking for something good to read, so drop me a tip or two...and if you get a chance, check out mine!

Monday's Fit Tip MANIA!!!

Holy Hotness Batman! I have been dying from the heat. I feel like a bulbous sweltering piggy lately...especially when people comment on how big I am getting. When considering all the 'joys' of pregnancy, being reminded of your increasing size is definitely not one of them. So, fit tip of the week:

What to Wear when you feel Big, Bloated, Fat, Uncomfortable in your skin, Frumpy, or just not what you want to be:

1. SOLID COLOR: I don't care what hyped up, latest trend watching, magazine tells you, the best thing you can do for your figure is wear a solid color. This can be Top to bottom (although not my favorite thing to do), or it can be a solid top and a pair of nicely fitting jeans. The point is, a solid color shirt that fits well (not too tight, exposing muffin tops or back bulges, or too large, looking like a sack) will not draw extra attention to any protrusions that you don't want to be noticed. Hurray for GAP's favorite fitting T, this line of shirts almost always fits great and looks good on mostly everyone. Other awesome brands that work for the same purpose are: Shade, Modbe, and Target's solid stretch shirts. I have a slew of solid color shirts from all of the companies and they are perfect to pair up with black solid or jean capris...of course with a lovely flower clip or head band that matches in my hair!

So, what works for you? Have any brands that you love, that love your form? Leave suggestions in the comment section, because I am always on the lookout for great clothing tips!

Leah, so lovely...

I love shooting brides, and Leah was no exception. This sweet cowgirl from small town Utah was so adorable. This is one of my favorite bridal shoots yet!

MONDAY'S FIT TIP MANIA!!!

Oh sweet fit tips where have you been? ...sorry the fit tip in me took too long of a siesta, so here they are in full force! Try them all or just one, either way you will be living a fitter, leaner, healthier week. Here are some helpful tips this week that have helped me kick my prego bootie in gear, and can help you too!


THIS WEEK'S TIPS:

1. STEER CLEAR OF COSTCO - Yes, this tip may sound random, but here is the reason why. When you are perusing the isles at Costco, do you simply buy the necessities on your grocery list? And in addition to that, do you steer clear of those sweet old ladies tempting your taste buds with over processed samplings? HECK NO! When I take my weekly (or twice a weekly) trip to Costco, I end up buying 4-5 more items than I had planned on, mostly from the junk food isle or the frozen section of treats, and I can't seem to hold myself back from trying every sample in the warehouse...and let's be honest, sometimes I try them twice! Just a word to the wise, most of the time, you don't need those extra items tempted to you by the sampling ladies, and you definitely don't need the extra calories of each sample. I once totaled up the amount of calories based on each sample I tried, and even though each sample was bite size, by the time I left the Costco I had consumed an extra 400 calories for the day! So, if you don't absolutely have to go, try to put off going to Costco till every other week.

2. Mow Your Lawn - Simple tip, but great rewards. Not only will your husband love you for shaping up that mop of a lawn, you will burn extra calories and get that endorphin kick for exercising and doing something good. Get out there and push that lawn mower around for an hour and you will feel great!

3. Share with a Friend - Have you been tempted to make a delicious summer treat? Or perhaps simply a baked, loaded with yummy butter treat? If you are like me, plagued with craving everything I hear about or see, you need assistance. Yesterday I made my second batch of Butter Rolled Rolls (I will post this recipe in the next week...they are scrumptious) after realizing that within 24 hours, I had made over 100 rolls, I decided the best thing to do would be to drop a hot dozen off at a friend's home. My two birds with one stone were sharing, and me not consuming all those extra calories!

4. Watch my You Tube Clip - I love the YOU TUBE clip below this post so much that it gets me moving. So watch that clip, then flip on your favorite stash of bootie movin' music and jig around the house!

SUNDAY's TREAT

I caught this on YouTube last night and I thought I would share this treasure with you. This clip combines my boy's favorite love with mine...starwars + MJ's Thriller!
Check it Out!

Connor...Cute, Cuddly and a CHUNK!

I recently purchased studio lighting and have turned a downstairs room into a children's photo studio. My friend recently had her baby blessed and I was able to shoot some pictures of this adorable chubby baby in his blessing attire and in just his chub! He is just too cute, you want to reach out and pinch him!

Brianna...so beautiful

Brianna, this lovely bride, is marrying such a close friend of mine, that I feel like I am gaining a sister. I loved shooting her bridals. She was so relaxed and her peace radiated through each shot. Congrats Brianna and Michael!!! This next shot is my photographer's pic of the shoot! I kept shooting as she was glancing down to check her dress, and Presto, Photo Magic!

Family Brag Time

Mark's sister, Shari, and her amazing family came by yesterday for a visit...which was such a delight because they live states away! I always feel so happy to be around this inspiring family. Kevan, Shari's husband, is not only an accomplished former gymnast, but he is now a Nuclear Physicist...and Shari, who is an amazing mother of 6 is so petite and radiant that you would never know by looking at her that she has six kids. I see how much she does for her children and at church that I am always find there is much I can learn from her. This family rocks!
Here are some shots I stole while they visited.

4TH of July CAMPING do's and don'ts

Was your 4th of July a Blast? or a Red Hot Burn Out? No matter the turnout, I am sure that you are already making plans of things to do and not to do for next year's Sparkly Celebration. This year, my little family decided to try something different. Instead of wearing ourselves out by waking early to secure our place at the local parade, suffering heat exhaustion and empty pockets from the loads of money we would spend at the local town's celebration of vendors, and then eating ourselves into a BBQ oblivion as we 'ooohhh' and 'ahhhh' at fireworks, we decided to take another route. This year, we went CAMPING! (Note: After having lived in Hawaii for the last few years, the prospects of camping in the mountains lured us in like fish to a worm).

Instead of boring you with a cheesy list of fun family activities that busied our daily schedule, I will simply give you my revised Do's and Dont's list for our camping trip next year....I will let you imagine the fun festivities my little clan engaged in.

Do's:

1. Most important...DO reserve a camping spot in the local canyon at least 3 months BEFORE the 4th of July.
2. Do get teary eyed when you waddle pregnant out of your van and beg the camping attendant for a measly camping spot for your 'wee' family. (this one worked like a charm...ummm, hopefully you wont be pregnant at this time next year)
3. Do pack 'extra' treats and backups for when your dutch oven dinner takes 2 hours longer than the expected 1 hour cooking time.

Don'ts:
1. Don't hit other fisherman in the head when you cast your lure...unless you mean to because he stood in your fishing zone!
2. Don't squat to pee on a trail because it the brush wont poke you in the butt...instead other hikers will be taking a large gander at your butt.
3. Don't expect to get 10 minutes sleep through out an entire night when you have two rambunctious boys, one wild roaming toddler, a snoring bear of a husband, and a pregnant belly with a 'wee' little bladder.

I hope your 4th was full of fun, surprises, and good times as ours...here are a few picture highlights from our trip!

Me, cooking the morning grub! Yum, the sausages and eggs were a delight!
The boys, sitting on by the lake checking out the good fishing.
Henry found a prairie dog and was convinced that if he spoke nicely and cooed down it's hole, it would come out.
I sure do love a dirty toddler! I couldn't help but put in this picture. My kid is stinkin' cute...(literally).

Mark took the picture below...I am striking the pose, near the river in my pregnant attire for swimming...that means full coverage on my legs!