The Maternity Sesh

I am so grateful for my awesome friends who have let me practice on them.  I am so happy for this amazing couple to become parents.  They are going to be the best parents.  I have never met more kind hearted people.  She is gorgeous and is ALL belly.  Florida is lucky to have these two, well, soon three!

 

 

My first family sesh

I am so in love with this family!  Sweet little Mary is so amazing in so many ways.  She can climb a tree faster than a monkey, bake bread and take care of it at church, make the best apple cinnamon muffins, and is THE most organized girl I know.  She was my secretary for a bit in Relief Society and my life was so much more calm with her!  :)  She is so nice to let me practice on her little family, in the 150 degree weather and humidity that would make a gator sweat.  AND isn't her family the cutest?

 

 

Cowboy C

Little Cowboy is turning 3 so his mom asked if I could get a few pictures.  This little boy is ALWAYS in his wranglers and cowboy boots, bringing along his hat and rope.  He is such a sweet little boy and we have had so much fun being friends with his family!  They sure have taken care of us in Florida!  Happy Birthday little guy! 

 

Playing out back

Isn't it wonderful that I live in a perfect place to take pictures.....Let alone how perfect my kids are!?  With being biased beside, they are pretty cute!  Here is a quick little night with Bug and E!  I didn't edit E's pictures....but Im ok with that.  And don't mind food on his face in one picture.  We didn't anticipate him being so happy during the shoot!

 

*not edited

*not edited

Wild little D

I love that I have friends that let me steal their kiddos for a shoot!  I love this little boy, and his wonderful family.  He is the busiest little guy I know.  I am so excited for him to get a little brother in a few months too!

 

Every once in a while....

I get the over whelming feeling of how blessed I am to have two great kids.   I sometimes get a great feeling of the luckiest mom that Kendyl was my little girl who made me a mom.  I must have done something right to get such a sweet, tender hearted, hilarious little girl.  She genuinely cares about anybody and everybody.  She is quick to find me a blanket if she thinks I may be cold.  She insists that I eat with her in our living room picnics.  She is always giving hugs and kisses.  She makes sure to tell Cinderellas mice not to eat me at night. 

The morning after the race, she had woke up pretty early.  She came in to snuggle, she watched the school kids get on the bus yelling for them to have fun at school. She was dancing, singing "let it go" from the top of her lungs and being a great little girl to let me rest a bit longer.  When I woke up from my in and out of consiousness there was something next to my face.  She had drawn the best picture of Olaf, with arms 3 x his size.  Next to Olaf she had set a nice pointy carrot. 

The imagination of this little girl is incredible.  She can transform from little mermaid, to cinderella, to Elsa in a matter of minutes and NAIL their characters. 

The other night she was eating grapes and making us eat ours as well.  Jase was on his third or fourth grape when Kendyl said, "Dad, dont eat too many, these will make you poop."

She tucks her baby doll into Eastons cradle.  She feeds her baby a bottle, changes her bum, swaddles her, puts her to bed with a little toy then literally tiptoes out of the room and whispers the rest of the night. 

I think the thing I love to watch most is how she loves her brother.  In the car she holds his hand.  She is first to want to feed him a bottle.  She checks on him while he is napping. She reads him books.  She is careful of who is "allowed" to hold him, or even comment about him.  I know she cannot wait for him to grow up and play.   

 

So sweet Kendyl, never forget how much We love you. Stay a little girl forever! 
ps, arent these pictures amazing by Renee Jacobsen Photography?  We love her and she did such an amazing job!

Disney Princess Half Marathon 2014

While I was pregnant with Easton I made the decision to run a half marathon.  I have always wanted to do one.  Plus I gained more then enough weight with him, I thought it would be great motivation to lose some LBS! I knew I ALWAYS wanted to run a Disney race. All the stars lined up because the race sold out rather quickly.  I found a way to buy into the race through a travel agency  ( runwiththemouse.com ) (thanks Jim).  I rounded up my friend Cassie to do it with me and we did it. 

Everything that could go wrong while training did.  I already couldn't train until 3 months before the race because I was still recovering from Labor.  I caught cold after cold.  Then I got a stress fracture in my foot. UGH.  Then I have had some major pelvis/uterus pain.  Still need to go to the Dr.  Anyway, training was less than ideal and I was getting really worried.  I had heard about the "Balloon Ladies" and getting swept and not finishing.  To say I was nervous was a serious understatement.

The corral placements went to P and I got amazingly lucky and scored C.  For Real?  I was the 3rd leg to start the race!

We woke up at 1 AM to get going.  I had to pump, makeup, hair, get ready, eat and then it was an hour drive to Disney.  I thought I would be dead tired, but i wasnt.  I didn't even nap when I got home!

 

 Getting to the race wasnt bad at all.  We read everywhere that traffic was going to be awful.  I dont know if we got there early enough or what, but it wasnt even backed up.  There was a big party going on when we got there and it was so fun.  I have never seen so many port a potties in my life.  ha ha.  Of course it is Disney and you have to stand in lines, so we picked one and took this picture.

Everywhere you looked there was a Sea of people.  Over 25,000 runners!  To be honest, they make YOU feel so special, like it is YOUR big day.  Plus Disney is so used to tons of people that it didn't feel like there were that many there.  It sure showed in the energy and excitement though.

 The Fairy Godmother did her bibbidy boppidy boop to send us off...Not to mention the fireworks as well! 

 Here I am before the race!!

 See those spots in my pictures?  It was beyond humid. I almost cried when all my pictures were starting to do this.  My hair did not stay straight at all!

 Running through Magic Kingdom I think was my most favorite part.  I would dare say it was a favorite for most.  I either ran fast through it, or I wish it was longer through the park.  Running up mainstreet I could feel the magic of Disney.  Every emotion was right there.  THIS right here is why I chose to run this race.

 Magic happened more because I have never got a picture with them both at the same time.  More magic happened when the himidity cleared up and I got no spots in my picture.  I think I will frame this picture. It means so much to me.  Am I getting too sappy?  #sorrynotsorry!

 After Magic kingdom you came around to these handsome fellas.  One of them was in the middle of the road singing magical songs to the runners.  Seriously, is this real life?

 I loved the army guy.  He was so in character.  He kept yelling move move move and was very entertaining.

 They had trumpets playing at the castle.  they played the royalty entrance thing.  Seriously, still real life is going on here.

 Sophia was in Epcot.  I knew Kendyl would be so sad if she found out I didn't stop at her.  So here is ms Sophia the first.  (Ironically, were watching this show right now!)

 Running through Epcot was so fun.  I have never been there.  This ball was HUGE!  I never thought it was really this big.  It was also quick in this park too.

 THE FINISH LINE!!!  My time was 3:18  not bad for stopping at characters, and walking a little more then I wanted from the achillies flaring up.  This is not a race to want to PR in anyway.  It is all about the magic and nothing to do with time.  Just cross the finish line and that is ALL that matters.

 They then sprinkled you with magic fairy dust, because we are all PRINCESSES.

 They had row after row of these Medals. 

 I earned my medal through and through. When I crossed the finish line I started crying like a baby.  Never in my life have I done something so hard.  Never in my life have I wanted to accomplish something and I did it.  The Disney magic was amazing.  I hurt like crazy and all my emotions just flowed out. 

Then I finallly found Cinderella!  She was at the after party where everyone was taking pictures.  I wish I would have known that because I kept saying, I wont stop at this character because I want to wait for the princesses. 
There was woody, buzz, the Heroes, Pirates of the Caribbean, Snow White, Mary Poppins, the Genie etc.  I never did see Ariel, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto. 
I would 100% recommend this and any other Disney race to ANYBODY.   They even have Diaper Dashes for the babies.  Disney magic is so real and it is the best.  I cannot wait until I can do another race.