It has been A WHILE! I am so super swamped all the time, I never even think to take my free time to play catch up here on the old bloggie.
Where to begin?!
Collin started preschool at the beginning of September. He goes 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. It has been fantastic for both of us! His teacher is a dear friend of mine so we were both A-Okay when I dropped him for his first day. No tears for this mama! lol (Okay, so my eyes weren't THAT dry as I drove away...I'm not heartless, people!).
He is super smart and on his best behavior at all times I am told. (Who is this Collin she is talking about!?) haha! It is also nice to have some time with Evyn. She naps 30 minutes after we drop Collin off and wakes up right when it's time to pick him up. That 30 minutes is precious to us! We play, read, cuddle....all the things Colly and I did when he was her age. I sometimes feel like she gets neglected when it comes to those things. Having two kids is DEFINITELY double the work!
Evy is running, jumping, climbing... You name it! She has the best personality and is always wanting to love and talk. She isn't "talking" a ton yet, but she thinks she is! She will carry on a conversation with you without saying more than 2 real words. I love it!
Her newest fave word is "Peeeeez!" ("Please" for those of you not fluent in baby talk). The only thing is, if she says please and you say no...... You better run for cover! She thinks "please" is a magical word that will get her anything and everything she wants. I have to laugh though. She is one smart cookie! And who can resist her asking "peeeez?!" with those big brown cow eyes staring up at you?? Try it! I dare you!
My business is really booming this year and I couldn't be happier (or busier!). I love photographing people and I feel so lucky to love my job. It is hard work, believe me, but I can't imagine doing anything else.
I have been lucky enough to photograph some amazing people and places, weddings and other events. In a couple weeks, I am being flown to Las Vegas for a huge convention for a new company. 3 days of shooting, all expenses paid.... I need this! Should be fun! :)
Next week I am doing Collin's preschool's school photos. There are two classes: 3 year olds and the 4 & 5 year olds. I did them last year too and it was so fun! Kids are too funny. I feel so honored, really, that I was asked again to photograph her classes. :) 
We are thinking about moving, so that is always in the back of our heads. I have always wanted to leave Utah (for good!) but there always seems to be something holding us back from leaving, whether it be family, jobs, etc. I have lived here all but 5 years of my life and I am ready for a change. I have so many hopes and dreams not only for my kids but for myself. I feel like a lot of those cannot be met by staying here.
Anyway, more to come on that subject soon. Plans are still in the making and I don't want to jump the gun and ruin the big surprise! ; )
Anyway, that's about all that is going on in our neck of the woods. Work. Family. Clean. Family. Work. Work. Clean. You know the drill. Where's the fun??!!! lol

Wowza!

Well it's been long enough! Sheesh! I am WAY too busy to keep up with this blogging thing like I should. If there is any time spent on blogging, it's for my growing business! (Which is fantastic, by the way!)
Anyways, Evy is 8 months now and crawling all over the place, getting into all sorts of things. She eats EVERYTHING she can get her fat little hands on. She is so different than Collin was when he was a babe. She is mischevious and naughty and loves to throw a good tantrum. But lucky for her she is the cutest damn thing on the planet.
She still has no sign of teeth which is so super awesome since she is my last baby and she seems to be staying a baby forever. She barely more hair than she did the day she was born, too. She is so fun! We love to cuddle and play together. She adores the bath and splashing around. It is so cute that I just realized last night she has only ever taken two baths in her own tub. I always get in to play too. :)
Collin loves her so much but is a little rough sometimes. He always is saying, "I can't wait until the days when Evy grows up." He wants to rough house and play and run around with her so badly! They play all the time now, but I think he is excited to do all the 3 year old things HE loves to do.
Collin's birthday is next week. I can't believe he will be 4! What happened?? Where did the time go? I dug up an old video of him the other day and played it on TV for us to watch. He was about to turn 3 and he looked so little! In comparison, he looks so old right now. :(
Three days after his birthday is Christmas so we have a busy week coming up. Man oh man. I hate that his birthday is so close to Christmas. I would have hated it as a kid, so I am doing all I can to make each day as special as the other. He decided he wants a Super Hero party, so we went and got all the randon super hero stuff we could find. His party will consist of Wolverine, Batman, Spiderman, Green Lantern, Thor... you name it, it's there!
Halloween was super cool too. Collin was a Ghost Pirate from Pirate of the Carribean. We used his cute pirate costume from last year and destroyed it to make it look really cool. Evy was a fat little ladybug. Trick-or-treating was great but we only had 2 sets of kids come to our house! WTF? Weird! ???
I will post pics soon of all the fun things going on in our lives. I am surprised I was able to type all this without someone needing something or having a meltdown. :/ Oh the life of being a mommy of TWO. Speaking of which, I better change my blog address.....Evy is left out!

4 Months!!!???

I can't believe I am writing your 4 month entry, Evy! WOW!

Well, we will make this short and sweet, just like you. :)

You rolled over from tummy to back for the first time just 2 days ago! It took you a while because you're chubby, but you got it! Not to mention I caught it on camera! (All but the final roll to the back because I was so excited and screaming!) lol

You giggle and smile all the time, but you laughed your first real belly laugh last night. And OF COURSE it was at 'your bears'. (The mobile on your changing station that you have loved since you were born.)

You laughed so hard, I swear you might cry! And you really didn't know what to do. It was like you would start laughing and then make a crying sound...you were so confused about this new feeling of laughter! It was America's Funniest Home Videos worthy, but I couldn't leave to get the camera. You were so dang cute!

When someone else is holding you, you don't take your eyes off me and have the biggest smile the whole time. You love watching me and giggle at me all the time. Glad someone thinks I am funny! :)

You're the best little thing and I am so glad you are here. I love you and miss you when I am gone. I can't wait to take you on our first road trip to Oregon next week! WAHOOO! 

Love you, Scrump!

Summer Fun!

Collin and Aspen! They had so much fun at the water park today! It was a GREAT day to play in the water! These two cuties are awesome. They are totally posing for this pic. My Collin is such a lady's man. He loves the blondes, too. (I didn't teach him that! I am all about the brunettes. LOL) 

I was trying to bribe him with a dollar to kiss Aspen's cheek, but he was way too shy. lol Cracks me up!

I want to dress them up and do a photo shoot. It would be totally adorable!

They are only a few months apart, so they had a blast together. So cute running around and playing in the pool. Aspen went down the slides, but Collin is a little bit of a chicken, so he didn't. I am glad he is like that kind of...makes it so I don't have to worry about him doing crazy stuff....yet! He just liked to 'swim' and run around.

Evyn loved the sound of the water and slept most of the time in the make-shift canopy I built. There was NO shade!! The only part of the day I was a little bummed about, but we made it work and I got some MUCH NEEDED sun on my body!

Collin was SCARED TO DEATH of this big bucket of water that would fill up and then dump all over whoever was standing under it. It was powerful! Tons of water dumping down, washing kids away. Shiz....I was even scared! He would run over screaming whenever the little bell would ding indicating it was about to dump. Silly kid. He kills me. 

We will definitely be spending more time at this park! We had great company, too. Thanks Summer and Aspen! You guys rock! 

Evy is THREE Months!

Three months, 6 days old

Evy is 3 months old already! I know I say it all the time, but TIME FLIES! She is getting so big (and chubby). She is so wonderful and I am so glad she is here. She is an amazing little person and I just know we will be the best of friends, just like Colly and me. 
She smiles every single time someone talks to her. It is IMPOSSIBLE to have a bad day with Evyn around. Her smile lights up the day and melts my heart. It's the biggest most genuine smile and I just love that she is so happy.
She is super easy going although there are times she doesn't like her car seat. Who can blame her? It would not be fun to not be able to move around at all. :( She has been sleeping through the night for about 5 days now. WOW! I am a lucky mom. Both my kids nap and sleep through the night and they both sleep until 730 or later. WAHOOOOO! (Knock on wood!)
She is just wonderful and SO gorgeous. Her eyes have a ton of brown in them but I can't tell if they will be brown or hazel like Clain's and Collin's. We will see! 
I love you, Evyn Michelle! I am so glad you are part of our family. Happy (late) 3 month birthday! XOXOX

Home Sweet Home, Come Saturday! : )

Kitchen

Backyard and covered patio. Our backyard is freaking amazing. See my garden clear back there? Yep.. I am pumped. : )

Living Room

Upstairs (Our room & Evy's Room)

Up or Down??

M y office/playroom downstairs

Collin's Room (downstairs). I LOVE this gray color!

Evy's Purple Room!! So cute!

Upstairs Bath

Upstairs bath.  I love this tub/shower!

Thought this piece was so cute! The sun and snowflake. lol 

Our Room.

My skylight!! Ahhhh.. this makes me so happy. : )

Kitchen/Dining

Our cute house! It's just perfect. : )

Moving

Man, oh man. I despise moving. We move A LOT, too. The longest we have ever spent at a place is 3 years and we were in a horrible place. When we had Collin we decided to move into a rental house. It was a 2 level house with a renter downstairs. She was SUPER nice and we hardly noticed her, so it was so fun to live there. I was in love with that house, and after being there 2 months the owner put it on the market so I had to show it and keep it immaculately clean and do yard work EVERY day. It was tough business with a toddler! I only like yard work when I am not forced into it.
Anyway... I loved that house so much. It had a fabulous yard and it was right across the street from a park. After being there 6 months (and completely put away everything from unpacking, the house sold and we were forced to leave. I was so sad! And mad! It was hard to move in the first place, let alone 6 months after we move in and get all settled.
So we moved to where we are now which is a condo in an older persons community. Our kids are the only ones. You all know the story of the A$$hole upstairs.... We have been here just about 2 years and we can't take the noise and rudeness anymore! We didn't plan on moving so fast, but the other day we were driving around and I needed to flip around so I went down this street to do so and we saw a for rent sign at this ADORABLE house. We were able to look at it that night and fell in love. (I will post pics tonight)  
It is just perfect for us and we were so worried we weren't going to be able to get it for some reason. I kept a positive outlook about it everyday and imagined our stuff inside of it (Law of Attraction, folks). One day we went to the park on a walk and were SURROUNDED by dragonflies which are my good luck charm (hence the tattoo)...Literally surrounded by them. It was amazing. I was so happy and my spirits were lifted even higher. Then, when we were cleaning at home the next day, I found an old cell phone from forever ago. I went to take the battery out so I could give the phone to Collin and a fortune fell out from under the battery cover that said:
"Good luck bestows upon you. You will get what your heart desires."
I knew then and there that we were in! I had no doubt and couldn't wait to get the phone call. That night, the phone rang and the man was on the phone telling me that he would love to have us as tenants! (Regardless of my husband's background check that contains a FELONY: Cultivation of Marijuana from when he was younger.) Yeah, embarrassing. I don't know who hates hearing about it more, me or him. Grrrr! That is why I was so nervous because while we have never been turned down for rental properties before, it always makes me nervous for it to be brought up. Sad! Anyway, he jokingly said "Now you don't plan on planting any marijuana in that garden, do you?"  LOL 
But we are beginning our move on Friday and I hate the packing. We have so much stuff. We really do. I love stuff. I am not a hoarder, per se,  because I actually use everything I have, but when you have kids you accumulate stuff fast, ya know? Sheesh.... I guess I COULD stand to get rid of a good amount of my shoes...... ; ) Nah
PS- Thank you in advance to my Francks family for coming to help us on Saturday. You will never know how appreciative we are for this. We love you all so much!!!!!