Chicago Style

I am so glad that we made a small detour today on the way home from the Chicago Temple... I am also glad that I decided to bring my camera and that I made Dallas run out to the car to get it when we got to the restaurant. I may have been annoying... (who takes pictures during lunch?)... but I got some fun pictures out of it.

 

I am also glad that these two came along for the ride... 

  

Awww... aren't we a cute couple? ( By the way... see the hair? The blah, blah, ponytail hair? I'm chopping it this week :) Can't wait.)

  

He was just a little excited to try some of this stuffed pizza goodness...

  

This pizza was good! Definitely something all cheese lovers have got to try. 

 

8 things

1. Valentines day was lot's of fun this year. Dallas and I got to go out Friday night to dinner, (I am going to miss Hawaiian Hut if we move) it was tasty! The next night we babysat for our friends and the kids loved playing with each other the second night in a row. Dallas pampered me all weekend by doing laundry and cleaning the house :) He tried to surprise me with flowers, a gift, and dinner but Evan is not good at keeping secrets! We got the kids a small gift and balloons and they had a great day. (They loved their cards that they got in the mail from their grandma's :))

2. I decided that I need too get glasses. This is a must with all the contact troubles I've been having. My eyes get so irritated, so if you ever see me and my eyes are bright red you will know why. Last night I forgot to take out my contacts before bed and so when I woke up my eyes were so itchy and red. I went the whole day without them and it felt so nice (except I couldn't see a thing). Dallas was wondering why I kept asking him what page # the hymns were on at church. Later he figured it out. Now he knows how blind I am :) It would've been nice today if I had glasses that I could've worn to church.

3. Evan is silly. Some days he insists that he is a girl. Except he says "Glo." I have to explain that Kiah and I are girls and Evan and Daddy are boys. He doesn't like that. One night at the dinner table he pointed to each of us in turn explaining that we were all girls. This morning as I was dressing Kiah and Evan was upset that he didn't have a skirt. He told me that I needed to buy him one at the store. Today he was talking to Dallas and he said... "Mommy's a glo, Kiah's a glo... Evan and Daddy are just boys."  Maybe he is warming up to the idea.

4. This week I read Princess Acadamy by Shannon Hale. It was a cute and fun easy read - my kind of book. I also love her book Goose Girl and I have the next book in the series on hold at the library. It has been so long since I have taken the time to read. It has been so nice to relax and read a good book.

5. Rain is definitely better then snow. I am so ready for spring :)

6. Three weeks till my little sis is coming to see me :) Yeay for spring break!!  I told Evan that we could go to Monkey Joe's again when Bethany is here and he said that he wanted Cami to come too (my older sister).  I am glad he remembers his aunts and uncles even though we live so far away.

7. Kiah is emotional. She not only cries over everything but screams and screams when she doesn't get her way. I think that last tooth coming in is causing her some drama. That and I think she is going stir crazy in this house.  Evan is always wanting to help her out and he is so sweet to her. He recently discovered that he can carry Kiah and this does not help with the screaming and crying- but it is cute. He also likes to hold her hand, he is a good big brother.

8. Dallas has another phone interview in a week from Tuesday :) It is for a position with Travelers Insurance in Hartford, Conneticut. Farther east, but wouldn't that be fun? I keep telling myself not to get my hopes up. But it would be nice to at least have a second interview with this one- for the experience. Job hunting is exhausting... and I'm not even the one doing all the looking :)

Monkey Joe's

Last Saturday Evan was invited to a birthday party at Monkey Joe's and we had tons of fun. It's the best place to take kids in the winter :) It was crazy busy, but the kids didn't care and they loved every minute.

 

I was there too :) One of the few pictures of myself....

 

  

Kiah looks so funny in this one! Haha!

  

Party room...

  

Monkey Joe! The kids were scared of him, but now they love to see his picture.

No high fives for Monkey Joe...

  

I want....

Well, there are a lot of things I want.... I am human. Right now all I want (not counting all the things I need (want) for my photography obsession) is this printed...

and this printed...

and this printed on a canvas... (16x20 would look great!!)

I can justify these wants though... The most recent photo prints that I got of my kids were from 18 months ago (they've had their photos taken PLENTY of times in between- just not printed. Well I guess I've gotten some small prints...). And I have never printed a wedding photo- never. Sad, sad story.

Now I just need the money... and some frames... black ones...

Just posted...

Wendy's family photo's are posted! Check them out here.

Up next on my photo blog :)

Be watching my photo blog for Wendy and her family! I took their family photos today and we had a blast! I can't pull myself away from the computer.... I love this edit and I wanted to share. Doesn't it look like it's an old time coca-cola poster? Love it :) Thanks Wendy, today was great!

For those of you who live around here, I am more than willing to take pictures for you. Let me know if you'd like a photo shoot :)

Remember this photo?

It's on the I heart faces blog today :) Head on over and check out the fun edits of sweet Makiah's photo :)

If this isn't love...

Love. That's what Valentines is all about right? Well if this isn't love then I don't know what is...

 

  

  

These kids were in love with the goodies at our V-day party today!

  

Nothing else mattered! 

  

Yum!

  

We had a Joy School party this morning and it was tons of fun! Kim went all out with the goodies and we all had a blast :) Even the siblings of the Joy School kids got to join in. Here's Kiah with her new mom...

  

Ehre will do anything to get this girl to play with her :) And Kiah loves it! Oh, a funny story: At the party Kiah wanted some goodies... but it wasn't time for that yet. So I said no (I know, I am so mean). She ran off crying and who does she go too? Melissa. Of course. Her other mom. She sat on Melissa's lap for a good 10 minutes. She didn't want anything to do with me. I swear this girl has a ton of girls and women wrapped around her finger. And she loves it.

Okay... here is the moment you have all been waiting for. Or maybe not. A least I am excited about it. I fell in love with this photo as soon as it loaded onto my computer. I love everything about it....

Speaking of love... poor little guy just wanted a chance. To bad, Kiah seemed a little too preoccupied.

I submitted this photo to the Pioneer Woman Photography Assignment this week. The assignment is Shallow Depth of Field. I was so happy that I had something to enter. (Not that I have a chance at winning... the photos are amazing!!) Check out some of the photos here, here, and here.

Oh, and a side note for Kim... I definitely have to come back to your house on a sunny morning! The lighting this morning was perfect!! I owe you for all the fun pictures I took today :)

On the phone

I wish these photos turned out better.... but they are cute :) Makiah was talking to her Grandma Johnson and she wouldn't put the phone down. Poor Grandma was running out of things to say to her. Makiah isn't much of a conversationalist... especially with that binky in her mouth! We've been doing a lot of talking to Grandma lately, on the phone and web-cam. We get pretty bored being stuck in the house. It is just too cold out! The kids like to see their Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jillian and of course the dog and bird :) Evan is always saying that he wants to see the Carly dog on the computer. Thanks for all the web-cam visits Mom! You are a lifesaver :)

 

 

Slumber party

Right now Makiah is napping in Evan's bed :) I don't think she will last much longer in the crib. At night she likes to snuggle up in Evan's bed, but then we put her in her crib when it is time for bed. Last night she insisted on sleeping in the bed. I didn't mind much but I planned on putting her in her crib as soon as I could hear them upstairs playing around. They both fell asleep really fast! Today at nap time she climbed up on his bed and fell right to sleep. It's funny to see the difference in my kids. We wanted to put Evan in a toddler bed when he was about 20 months old and boy was that a joke! We couldn't get him to stay in bed for anything. We put him back in his crib for awhile longer. It doesn't look like it will be that difficult for Kiah :) Now I just hope that she takes to potty training just as quick (unlike Evan!).

My kids were so sound asleep so I took the chance to set up my tripod :) They never hold this still!!

Just so you know

For those of you who are curious Dallas had his phone interview last Thursday and it went very well. I am sad to say that nothing came out of it :( Last night Dallas found out that they have filled the position. I guess we can't expect much out of a first interview. Hopefully we'll have lot's more to come and now Dallas is prepared :)