all of gods creatures...

smiled for me today......

except my own.

Yes, she is still protesting. Before you start feeling too sorry for me though, I remind you that I have another little wee one in tow that I think may be a willing participant..too early to tell, but I am hopefull.



We went to the Hogle Zoo today. Fun! Our favorite part was seeing Christie, the 22 year old *pregnant* African elephant. Will someone please give this girl some food! She was pretty impressive. I cant wait to meet her baby! (cant tell if I like color or black and white better, so you get both :)

And here are a few of my little "animals". They were really sweet and loving with each other today, man I love that.


From the Alligators perspective, wouldnt you think these were just the yummiest, cutest little kids you have ever seen! I know you cant see it, but in this next picture they are gawking at the white alligator. I love that I could get on the other side of the glass and see their reaction to it. The only other way to do that normally would to be the animal itself, so I thought that was pretty cool. I think I may have to go back and try some more of these shots.

I dont know why anyone would care to see this, but I'm adding it because I like the picture. Maybe its because its one of the only times she listened to me today when I asked her to zip up her little jacket because it was getting nippy.

just another funny day

In case you havnt noticed, I finally updated the Bella-neese section on my sidebar. This is mainly due to such a funny day today with the kids. First off, Bella has taken the opinion that I take too many pictures of her. Sadly, I need to agree (Im up to about 12,000 since her birth...geesh!) , but up until this point, she has been such a willling participant. I should have known the day would come. I am hopefull however that this is just a phase and she will be hamming it up again for me in the near future ( I hope I hope ).



So I am left to take pictures of her "protest" and her Bum as she delighted in riding her bike in the sun today! yes I said it..the sun, we did a sun happy dance this morning.



As for my little Moses, he just is a busy bee and is really into climbing. Latley its been Bella's bed where a whole new world of interesting things are within his grasp. As well as the piano where its just fun to pound on the keys.....joy.







P.S. I decided I would stick with white boobs as the hot pink and stripey were just a little too 1994-ish. (if you dont get this, read my sidebar before you think I've totally lost it :)

emulation

Isnt there a saying about emulation is the greatest form of a compliment? If its true, then Jenifer Demaris, you should consider yourself complimented :) I loved her umbrella pictures so much that I took Bella out this afternoon, in a snow flurry no doubt, to try to get something creative. I dont know that I nailed it completly due to the adverse weather condtions, but it sure was fun trying and I do love the few that I got before it got too cold and we had to come back inside! Most importantly though, Bella and I had some fun together..How I love our time together.

I was talking to a friend a while ago about creativity. I was struggling with the fact that I wish I could come up with something truly unique that I could call all my own. But what I have learned is that every photo I take, or that you take is unique and beautiful in its own way. Even if the original idea was borrowed, you still put your stamp on it simply by pressing that button.

its a girl thing

"Let me grab my purse.." According to Bella, she cant leave home without it. I suppose its a good habit to get into...but at 4..really? I took a minute to ask her today when we got home from church what she puts in her "tinker bella" purse with her one- of- a -kind art work on the back..she dumped it out and showed me what being a 4 yr old girl was all about. Everyday is so fun with her..I just love being her mom and watching her grow and change into a little lady.....its simply the best. (just as long as it doesnt happen to fast)

By the way, this one of a kind art work Im talking about is her signature bubble flower design. She doodles it everywhere, including her new canvas I just painted for her. Nice.

we have a winner

I randomly picked names this afternoon and the winner of the suggestion list is.........Lyric! Which is funny because I also chose the saying that she suggested...with a little twang to it :)

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, I love all of them! Lyric, I think I still have your address, but will you shoot me an email with it anyway and Ill get your nifty little treat in the mail this week :)

Thanks again everyone, I have some fantastic fresh ideas now thanks to you!

C is for....Contest

There are some of you who may disagree, but I really dont consider myself a creative person. So I am enlisting all of you sweet life blog readers for your input! I just happen to currently be in love with my pouty face little guy and this photo is one of my favorites...so far :) I am attempting at being creative with a new blog banner using this photo but am lacking just the right caption for it. (hence the old caption on the new banner...how boring huh!) It matters not to me if you have just looked and never commented on our blog but I would love your input..and just as an added bonus, I will randomly pick from all your comments and send you a nice little surprise through the trusty postal service! (thanks Mandy for the idea!) And I'll use the one I like best as our new blog title! If you dont feel creative, you are in good company with me, so feel free to say whatever!

With Love...

365 days a year!

Happy Valentines day!

Im good enough..Im smart enough

and dog-gone it people like me!

I did our taxes tonight.

I was about to throw myself a big fat pity party when I decided to de-tour and take the Stuart Smally Way:

now thats just stinkin' thinkin'

...and that's... okay

denial ain't just a river in Egypt

You're should-ing all over yourself

Now Im off to watch a child-less uninteruped 90 minutes of deal or no deal. Someone better win that million dollars tonight.

If you dont know who Stuart Smalley is, look him up my friend, it will be worth your while.

Good! Now dont we all fee better? I do.

the sweetest things

A Sister is the best thing that could happen to anyone.

I am lucky to have two of the best sisters ever. Unfortunatly I didnt appreciate the one that was so close in proximity, and now that we have moved, I wish I was closer. My sister Andrea is going through some pretty rough times, and I just want you to know Andrea, that I love you and you have more strength inside than you may realize. Things wont always be this hard, I promise. Perspective is everything. When I look at these pictures, it was just such a simple happy time,,why oh why did we have to grow up and be responsible :) And Kim, no matter what you say, I have always looked up to you. And no, I dont remember the babysitting torture sessions you claim we had together, I just remember loving when mom and dad were gone so we could turn the couches over and have singing contests ..just kidding...sort of.

I love you both and just want you to know I was thinking about you..and yes, I WILL call you sometime!

Introspective ramblings..

I've never felt I could translate the feelings of my heart and mind through writing in private, much less so publicly on the world wide web... But tonight, Im going to give it a shot.

I never used to watch the news. Although I understand the importance of being informed, I dont mind being in the dark over all the bad things going on.
I dont know if its just me, but lately I have felt so much gloom over the state of our world. Everytime I turn on the TV or listen to the radio I am hearing about another natural disaster or tradgedy involving the death of innocent people. Tornado's shootings, floodings, fires, war, etc, etc...and to add to all this, the new changes to our leadership in this country, which will be a good thing I think, but its still unsettling to me, as any change is in my case. All my life I have been reading about or taught about the "Latter Days". It hasnt been until the last few days however that I've felt like I am actually living in them. I just feel a strange something inside me that makes me pause and temporarily *panic* over the safety of my small children as the years progress and the state of the world gets crazier...I dont like this negative feeling and I want to focus on the positive.



For this reason I am re-shifting my focus to not be in the fears of the future, for which I have no control, but the postive, lovely and delightful parts of this world and my life inparticular. My blessings if you will. What gives me the greatest joy is my family, my children. The simple day to day goings on of my growing beautiful kids who are filled with light and beauty and crazy funny quirky little ways. They are my future and my happiness. They turn it all around for me. For them ,I want to be the most positive uplifting mother I can be so when the hard times hit, as we know they will, I, with Buddy can be their best resource and our home their safe place.



On this note, I am posting pictures of the simple pleasures of today. We played all day starting with the best picnic ever by miss B! Just look at the spread! Then to a lovely walk with her baby "Island" . And Moses was just the best little boy in the world! He has 4 honkin teeth comming in at once so he has been a little cranky lately. Today we saw a reprise, my son is back! They even had to be in the car for 2 hours this evening right at dinner time because we had a car crisis in provo, and they played the entire time. God bless them.



p.s. I cant help but think of Olivia when I look at this picture. One day she called and left the funniest msg on our machine that we just loved! It went something like " Hello Bella, what are you doing...I know Moses has buck teeth...call me back" And heh, the girls right, that Mr. Binks does reak havic on little teath, but who cares, he loves it and I love my little buck tooth boy and the no binkie smile is the best!!!

My kids are getting tattoo's!

In a world that is just too scary at times, I think THIS is too genious not to share. I'll post how CUTE they are when I get them. Here's to all our tattooed kids!

The Love month

Although every month should be the month of love, Valentines day has become a favorite of mine once I had kids. Its so fun to spoil kids isnt it? Any chance I get to put together a little goodie bag for them, I tackle it...not to mention that loves that they get from me all the time.

I love these heart candies, Bella and I made a fun game of it today. Who knew they would be so instrumental in learning to read and deliver such laughs! Also, I am learning to do selective color, which version do you like the best?