All done with editing!!!

Little Brigham. He was just so sweet and handsome. Don't you just love all his fluffy hair? He didn't even really cry at all. He didn't want to hold still unless mommy was holding him or he was wrapped up tight. It doesn't matter how many times I see a new baby, I am always amazed at how small they are. It was so neat to hold a little baby again. My baby is a monster!-- a very cute lovable monster that is.

Wow this was a learning experience. It sure is hard to practice on newborns. First, you have to know a pregnant lady. Second, you have to wait around for her to have a baby. Third, they are only newborns for a short time, so you only get one shot! I don't know how anybody knows enough newborns to get their practice in:)

I am posting some of my 5 favorite shots (excluding the pre-posted pics.) I would love to hear what you think. I did my best, but I know I can get better...that is if I can find a bunch of newborns to practice on:)

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

P.S. Brittney you can copy these if you like but I'll get you a CD real soon! Like next time I leave the house:)

Riley + Father Day= Reptile show

Yep we went to a reptile show this weekend! We drove to Birmingham Alabama and had a fun mini vacation. The show was at this Zamora Temple. Here they are ready to go in and see all sorts of amazing things.
Riley and Rhylan especially loved it. Riley "was in heaven" he said. He really had a great time talking to vendors, seeing creatures he has never seen before, and checking everything out. This was a perfect Fathers day gift for him:)
I was a little bit nervous. There were WAY TOO MANY snakes in one room for me. I hate snakes more than anything. I have nightmares at lease once a week about snakes. But I was brave and actually had some fun taking pictures of all the reptiles. So I posted a ton of pictures so you won't need to go to a reptile show yourself you can see all the highlights here on our blog:) However, I am sure this is not the last one we will go to. It was way better than the pet store, and was a great way to spend some time together on a Saturday.
The girl who opened up this container for us, was actually surprised that he climbed out like this and quickly put the lid back on! She was a little scared.

These are baby albino Garter snakes!

Rhylan wasn't scared and got right up to the cages to get a better look.
Riley loved this snake. It is a Kenyan Sand Boa! This was a new snake to him. I guess they are pretty cool?!? With a lot of peer pressure from my husband, daughter, and the nice lady selling these things, I actually touched this one. But Rhylan held it!!! See next picture. She didn't want to let him go.

In this picture you can see the type of people we were hanging out with!! Just kidding, there were many normal people there too:) Not everyone had a weird go-tee and snake tattoos all over their arms.

These turtles were so cute. They were only about 2.5 inches across.

Do you see this face? This is a very very sad little girl. She wanted to take home a lizard for a pet... not just any lizard...

...THIS LIZARD

She cried and cried. We told her that we couldn't take him home he was already someones pet. She said, "Can we just borrow him? I want to borrow him!" We had to go back and look at him several times. He is a Savannah Monitor lizard, and apparently very cuddly.
Yeah I was really freaked out by this one. Most all snakes were in closed cages...

Gracin was a little low in his stroller to see much. He was only happy when we were holding him up to see.

A little teaser

I am working on editing the pictures I took today from my first newborn photo shoot. I had a lot of fun. It was harder than I thought. Poor little guy didn't like being naked:) But I was able to catch some pretty shots..rrr handsome shots of him. I wanted Brittney to see one or two-- (I'll be out of town for the weekend and didn't want to leave you hanging.) Many more to come!!

Rhylan's 3 year pics

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So I took these back at the end of April, while I was visiting my parents. I didn't want to post them until she was three... then I wanted to edit them... then, well I just forgot. So here they are. I feel like I am getting better at photography every week, so don't really critique them because I took them so long ago. But I would like your input... I want one as an 8x10 for Rhylan's frame on my wall. Which one do you like the best? There are a few that are the same pose just cropped closer.

My fear

All my life I have had a little fear of Mayo.

I would always have dry sandwiches, just mustard. But recently I have gotten over my fear. It makes my sandwiches and hamburgers...yummy! Now, I actually have to buy Mayo every once and a while. This is the Mayo that changed my life:

Gracin's walking videos

Well Gracin can walk all the way across the living room pushing Rhylan's stroller. He can even stand still and shake the stroller (as seen in the video.) Sorry these videos are silent. My point and shoot camera is the only one with video, but no mic! If you wait until the end he makes his signature funny face for me:)



This video is taken in Rhylan's room. He loves all her toys. Whenever he gets a hold of these golf clubs, we all get a smack in the head! He does some great walking in this video as well.--That's seven steps people!!

Externship sites--WEST

Well we found out yesterday our big news!! During Riley's fourth year of Optometry School they do three externships. One has to be here at the school and the other two can be almost anywhere across the country (select sites.) There are many sites close to the school, allowing people to stay here the full year also.

It was a stressful process. We cried, prayed, fasted, went to the temple, looked at sites over and over again, weighed out options, and finally decided on our choices (you have to pick a top 8). We felt right about what we picked and trusted the Lord would sent us where he wanted us to go.

So summer 2011 we will spend here in Mississippi (beautiful green Mississippi I can't believe we only have a year left) This was the only picture in this post taken by me, I stole the others off the internet!


Fall 2011 we will spend in Mesa AZ area --(I lived here during my young childhood. And its only 3.5 hours from my family.)
Spring 2012 we will spend here: ST George UT. If we had to live in Utah this would be the only place we would like. And its only 3-4 hrs from my sister.

I copied Christina's idea of using pictures:)

Back to the west,
back to the mountains,
back to the dry,
back to the desert--home sweet home:)

Letter B

Okay we are off to a slow start learning the letters! But I have just been working on other things with her. She just isn't interested in letters yet. So we are on letter B.

It was so hot outside that we started playing in the water table. Then I had a grand idea... use the squirty toys to draw on the side walk. We had our little patio covered in the letter B. No clean up, we didn't waste any paper, or use up stickers, or worry when we messed up. While we drew another one, our old B's were evaporating, creating a never ending drawing table!! I think this was fun for Rhylan, thinking outside of the box (crayon box that is.) We may do this more often as we move through the alphabet:)

--yes she is wearing her helmet, she loves that thing. And she was riding her scooter around before all of this.

Why not squirt our toes while we are at it!

Here are the pics of Gracin during our activity:--Look at those legs! He is a pro at standing and takes several steps. I think the most by himself is 6-7 steps. Walking is coming up real quick. (He is only 10 months old--same as Rhylan when she started this walking stuff)

Gracin learning to poor. He gets attached to toys. This green empty bubble thing is his favorite water table toy! He fills is up and dumps it or shakes it. Getting us all wet in the process!

SO gross!!

This morning I could see that Gracin had put something in his mouth... as usual. I reached in and scooped out a big SPIDER!!! So gross. One of the legs was still on Gracin's cheek:( I do not know if it was dead already, but I bet it was. Our cat is a great bug killer, not a great bug eater.

What is the worst thing your child has ever put in their mouth?

2 new faces

He gets a little into the game! Here he is playing Mario on the Wii:)

Gracin is getting so big!! He has started making these faces because we laugh when he does it! If you aren't laughing/smiling after seeing this pictures I will be surprised. I hope these make your day, they make mine:)