Benjamin's new toy

Benjamin's new favorite toy. Benjamin discovered my mirror. He carried it around saying "Hi, Hi" to it. He thought it was so fun to see himself in the reflection!

Kate looses her first tooth!

Well we have many firsts coming for Kate. She will be going off to her first day of school in one week, and today she announced that her tooth was loose. I figured it would come out in a few days, but it was more like a few minutes. It popped right out, she pulled it out herself! She was so excited. She just kept telling everyone how excited she was to loose her first tooth. I was pretty excited too, and I wanted to make this moment special so I made her a little tooth box with a pillow so her tooth wouldn't get lost. Of course the tooth fairy came tonight, I'll be excited to see her reaction in the morning. I was asking Dan what I should do with the tooth, he suggested that we throw it away so she wouldn't see it and suspect that we were the tooth fairy. I sat and stared at this tooth for a minute, and realized that I couldn't just throw it away. I actually started crying. This was her baby tooth. It might have been the very first one. I still remember the night I discovered that she had broke her first tooth. We were sitting in her rocking chair, and she was fussing. I rubbed her bottom gums, and there it was, her darling little baby tooth. She wasw such a darling baby. I can't dispose of something that was part of her. So I've tucked the tooth away in a safe place, but I really don't know what to do with it. I can't hold onto it forever, but I won't throw it away either. If anyone has an idea of what to do with tiny little baby teeth please let me know. Having a box full of old teeth sounds kinda yucky to me. I was trying to think of some cute way of storing it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I'm entering a new phase of life. Now that Kate's about to start school, and she's growing into such a beautiful little girl. It's strange how they go from being a little baby bouncing on your knee, to a school grade child loosing their teeth! I swear she's not old enough to be loosing her teeth yet. If I'm crying over her loosing a tooth, I don't even want to see me taking her to her first day of Kindergarten. It's like taking this big step into a whole new chapter of her life. She's no longer going to be here at home with me being my little helper. She's so much help with Benjamin, and she's incredibly patient with Kirk. I love her so much. She truly is such a special little girl.

Okay just a few more shots I did in front of our waterfall. I'm loving the RAW images. It almost makes picture taking fool proof. I can alter the exposure, saturation, lighting, and even make the photo apear cooler, or warmer. It's awsome. I think I enjoy editing the photos more than taking them! I loved this one of Benjamin.

First time editing photos in RAW format

So I finally decided to try doing a serious photo shoot and attempt to develop my images from RAW format. I decided that getting a perfectly crisp black and white photo is a lot harder than it looks, especially when your subject is a rambunctious toddler. I am quiet pleased with the two that turned out to be in focus. Please let me know what you think!

This is my Baby boy! Benjamin's looking more boy and less baby everyday! He's actually thinned out a lot since he started walking. No wonder, he's everywhere! I wish I had his energy!

In this picture he seems to be a good mix between Kate and Kirk. All of our kids look alike, but none of them have their parents coloring. Kate and Benjamin get their blue eye's from their Grandpa Mower.

I like this shot because of he light reflecting in his eyes. His skin looks a bit pale, I hate the pale vampire look. I'll have to play around on photo shop to see if I can fix it. His hair almost looks red in this photo. Maybe there's some hope that he'll turn into a strawberry blond!

This photo isn't very crisp, but you can't beat the smile! This is one I snapped of Kate. Still not as focused as I'd like, I can't believe how hard it is to keep a steady hand, I think in low light with a higher ISO setting you almost need a tripod or something. Anyways if anyone has some tips to get a more crisp focused portrait let me know. It looks fine when it's mini like this, but It's really out of focus when it's full sized on my computer monitor. I love the expression in this one, She was not very happy about me doing a photo shoot on her. My kids are getting pretty fed up with getting their pictures taken. I think the wedding a couple of weeks ago ruined them. They never want to pose for another picture again.

Lucky Seventh Anniversary

My favorite wedding picture of Dan and I. I love this one because of the Temple shot in the background. I Always call it my Ensign picture, because the temple looks so stunning that could could have been a temple picture,( if we weren't in the middle of the photo of course).
I was just looking through our old wedding pictures, and we looked so young. It's amazing how you can get older together, but not feel any older at all.

So yesterday we had a wonderful day all to ourselves. My awesome sister in law AnnieLaurie watched our kids for us. We started the day off by going shopping for Dan's scouting overnighter (that's where he is right now). Then we went to get some breakfast ( I guess it was more like brunch since it was close to 11:00 before we got to sill's cafe). After we ate we hiked up Adams canyon ( I really needed to burn off my scone and honey butter). I haven't done that hike since I was in seventh grade. Then we came back and watched clash of the titans (great movie). The house was so quite, and it was so nice to just relax, and take a much needed nap. Then we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden. After dinner we picked up the kids, and Dan packed for the scout trip he was leaving for the next day. I was just reminiscing on our early married life, and realized how much time has really past. Seven years is starting to sound like a really long time. It's crazy because it seems like we've always been together, but at the same time our married life has really flown by very quickly. Sometimes I think being a stay at home mom is really similar to how Dan describes his mission. He always said that the "days felt like weeks and the weeks felt like days". I think that is so true to my life right now. Some days feel so long, that I don't think they'll ever end, but the weeks just fly by. We had a wonderful day yesterday. The last seven years have been full of their ups and downs, but I wouldn't change a single thing. I'm so much of a better person for being married to Dan. He is so dedicated to our family. He works so hard to provide for us, and is always striving to be a good father and husband. Thank you sweetie for a wonderful seven years.

Wonderful Wedding

Yesterday was my brother-in law's wedding. It was such a wonderful day. I always cry at weddings. There's something so special about two people devoting to spend the rest of their lives together. I always think about the road that lies ahead of them. What bumps will they run into, what hills will they climb together. What will they be able to accomplish with each other. Dan and I were talking last night and we can't believe where the time has gone. We feel like we were just married, but now we have three kids. It's amazing changes time brings to ones life. It rolls on weather your ready for it to or not. I think that this thought hit me hard as I watched Michael dance with his mother last night. It made me reflect on the fact that someday that will be me with my sons. I'll be getting the last dance. Right now I'm the center of my children's world, but eventually I'll be sending them off to start their own families. I apologize for sounding dreary.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful. They were married in the Logan Temple. The sealer did a wonderful job, and the spirit was so strong. I think Micheal and Haley are a very special couple. We then had pictures taken. Each family wore matching ties, and dresses. The pictures turned out so cute. Here are few of our family.

The Mower family's good friend Greg Daich took this picture for us. I think he did a great job! I wonder if Benjamin's tie tasted good? If the Kate's dress looks familiar it's because be coincidence my little brother's colors were the same ones that Haley chose. The colors turned out beautiful. I love that orange!

I had to post this photo. The captures Benjamin's personality to a tee. He is so happy (most of the time).

Then we headed home to drop off the kids before going to the wedding luncheon. Big thanks to my Mom and Dad for tending the kids for us so we could just enjoy the dinner.

Then we hurried home to get ready for the reception. They had set up the yard and it looked beautiful. The weather started to go bad. We all hoped it would blow over, and the weather man predicted that it should. Just before the reception was about to start it started to pour. Everyone who was helping in the ward was so amazing and scrambled to get everything inside. They brought in the buffet table, and served the food downstairs in Micheal's parents gym (thank goodness they have the gym). Micheal and Haley greeted the guests inside. It all worked out. I felt bad that all preparations to have the wedding outside came to not, but it does go to show that weddings aren't about the flowers, or the table decorations. They are about two people sharing their day with their friends and family. Everyone still had a wonderful time, and the rain cleared up near the end of the night. Micheal and Haley were able to cut their cake outside underneath the beautifully lit trees. They also were able to dance and have a good time before they took off for their honeymoon. Here are some more pictures. I took tons, but these are the favorites.

Robbie is Benjamin's buddy. He helped us keep an eye on him during the reception. He loved walking around and exploring. I have to keep my eye on him, because he takes off and doesn't look back to make sure I'm following him.

Kate looked beautiful in her new dress. She was so excited to finally wear it!

I like this picture of Dan and I. I told him he looks like a Ken doll with his pink tux on! I've never seen him in that color before, and he looked really great.

Haley getting ready to throw her bouquet.

I really like this picture because it shows Micheal and Haley dancing with their Mom/Dad. I liked how it captured both of them in the same shot.