This one was thrilled to be starting another year of preschool today:

This one…was a little more apprehensive:

But they both did great and had lots to tell me about their day when they got home. I know that Kyler wishes Ryan was in his preschool with him, but it worked out best for us to have Ryan in a different preschool this year. He’s actually old enough to go to Kindergarten, but just barely, so we decided to hold him back another year. Both boys LOVE their teachers, and I LOVE that I have two hours two days a week with just my little Myles.

I realized after my last post that it’s been FOREVER since I’ve posted client pictures. And I’ve got a ton. So I’ll start with Wendy’s family photos that I took like 2 months ago. I can’t believe I’m just now getting around to posting these. Since this photo shoot her son Taylor has left on an LDS mission to Canada. I had lunch with Wendy a couple of days ago and she said he’s doing just fine! (His mom, on the other hand, is a bit of a wreck without him.)

So here they are!

And one of cute Wendy. Seriously, she’s one of those people that just standing next to her makes you feel happier. Love you Wendy!

You have to check out the latest book from my sweet friend Wendy!

START SCRAPBOOKING

This girl is seriously so amazing at everything she does and this book is no exception. If you like to scrapbook even a tiny bit, you have to check it out! And you might just find a little contribution from me in there as well!

Five years ago today I received this:

And suddenly my life was changed forever. Before having a baby I thought, “seriously, how hard can having kids be?” Oh wow. Wake up call Elisha. Everything changed. Everything was different, but all for the good. It’s like before you have kids there’s this whole other set of emotions locked away somewhere, and the second that baby is placed in your arms, those emotions are unlocked and you experience the world in a whole new way. It honestly was like a total real, physical transformation for me, and something I could never adequately put into words.

Today my baby turned five. Wow.

We started the day with hot scones and juice for breakfast. My friend Stephanie brought us over some fresh scone dough yesterday. Isn’t that a cool thing to give a friend? Scone dough? It was awesome.

Later we went with friends to Kangaroo Zoo (an indoor bounce house warehouse). The boys had a blast of course, and I loved being able to sit and chat with my good friends (thanks Chaney and Susie!).

After that we came home and I worked for a loooong time on Ryan’s requested Mario cake. Cake making/decorating is definitely not one of my fortes, so thanks to my mom we were able to come up with this:

I showed it to Ryan and he said, “what is it?” Oh well. I tried. Face it Ryan: you’ll have thousands and thousands of pictures of you throughout your life, but you’ll never have an awesome birthday cake. Sorry buddy.

Later, Daddy brought home pizza for dinner (which we later found out is no longer Ryan’s favorite food), and then opened a few presents.

He scored with a new bike, a Batman Lego game for the Wii, some Mario figurines, Mario pajamas, a new book for his Leapster Tag, and some Trio building blocks.

We then headed out to his first soccer game of the year. My little athlete scored two goals and their team won 8-ish to 0.

Finally we came home, had cupcakes and ice cream, opened a few more presents from grandparents, took a bath and went to bed. Phew.

Happy birthday my sweet boy.

I thought I’d share the rest of the photos from my photo shoot with my boys. You seriously wouldn’t believe the huge grin I get on my face when I look at these. I almost hate having so many that I like because it’s so hard to choose what to do with all of them. I already jumped on a canvas deal over at Groupon from a few days ago, so a couple of these will definitely be made into canvases! Now maybe you can help me decide which ones…

When I read the theme for this week’s challenge over at I Heart Faces, I knew immediately which picture I would use! I love this one of Kyler. He was just playing with my sunglasses one day (gotta love all those smudges!) and I happened to get this shot of him right when he looked up at me. Bonus: I can see myself taking the picture in the reflection! I rarely get to see pictures of myself in action!

I was finally able to get my boys out to get their 3 and 5 year photos taken a couple of nights ago. They ROCKED it. Everything went great and they were so dang cute. I’ve got lots to share, but for now here are just two. You know those photos of your kids where you think to yourself, “Oh my gosh, when did they start looking so old???” Yeah…these are mine:

Oh okay…here’s just one more (this picture is SO them!):

We’re back from a wonderful one-night camping trip–the only vacation that we’ll see this year with a new baby, but it was so fun and the kids had a blast. I just had to share this one photo of Kyler. He is my least photogenic kid, so it’s rare that I get a picture of him that I could stare at all day. Could those brown eyes get any cuter??

I really did have good intentions of keeping my blog updated with sessions from forever ago! I still have several more to post, but for now here is one of two adorable kiddos that I shot in the studio a few months ago. We had a rough time then, so we decided to give it another try outdoors where they could run and be free. It went SO much better this time as you can see! And I’m so excited that they’re going to be having a new sister in December!

I’m gearing up now to get some photos taken of my boys. You would think that as a photographer I’d LOVE doing their photos every year, but it is such a stress! My kids do NOT do well with me being the photographer and I forget what a pain it is trying to find the perfect outfit for them. Although I did by them some new shoes today that I’m SO excited about!

The challenge this week is anything purple! Here’s my entry!