Taking pictures of these kids reminded me again of how much I love taking pictures. I feel that taking pictures of kids is my comfort field of photography. I love taking pictures of kiddos. These kids were so much fun. They were so involved in the pictures and were so full of energy and life.

Franky is such a darling girl. She looks just like her mom. Beautiful. She can strike a pose ,that's for sure. America's next top model. She was full of tricks and Photogenic too. So many pictures to choose from. It was so hard to narrow it down. Franky and Dallin were so cute together. They are super close in age. They reminded me of my brother and I. We were super close at that age too. I was really entertained with them. haha Dallin was really into the pictures too. He picked out the places for most of his pictures. Every time I turned around he was posing somewhere new. haha. love it. There are so many pictures. It was really hard to decide which ones to show. Dallin was doing hand stands and rolling in the grass. He got a good grass stain on his pants (sorry Amelia) because I was encouraging his acrobatic stunts. Little guy(I don't know how to spell his name. sorry) was super happy for the first 20 minutes then he was completely done. He wasn't having it. Every time Amelia sat him down he would throw himself back. He sure is a cute little guy. I can not believe how long his eye lashes are. Why is it that boys are so lucky and get the best eye lashes?
Beautiful kids... Thank you Amelia!! It was so good to see you!!!
Amelia was one of the first people that I met when I moved to St. George. She was and still is one of my very best friends. We had a lot of fun chasing boys, country line dancing, and dressing up crazy just for fun. She was always such a good example to me and influenced me in so many ways. I converted back to the church when I was 21 years old and she is one of the great influences in my life that helped me in many ways. I couldn't thank her and my old roommates enough for their friendship. Its crazy how we both have families now and we don't see much of each other because we are so busy....but just knowing that she is near is great. I should post some of the pictures of the two of us when we were crazy. lol Thanks again Amelia!!

Moore Family

Thank you Ticee and Scott for asking me to take your family pictures. I really enjoyed seeing you and your hansome boys!! I hope you like the pictures.

cluck, cluck

Facts about chickens:

A chicken is a bird. haha
There are more chickens than people in the world
A hen can live up to 20 years
They have no teeth and swallow their food whole
Chickens are very social
Chickens lay different colored eggs. white brown, green, pink and blue
A chicken's heart beats 280-315 beats a minute
You don't have to have a rooster for a hen to lay eggs
It takes 24-26 hours to lay an eggA chicken takes 21 days to hatch
You don't have to have a big yard to have a couple chickens
You can live in the city and have hens (certain cities don't have ordinances to have them but ours does)
Chickens have got to be the easiest, most forgiving, creature to manage
A hen is called a pullet until it is a year old
Hens start to lay eggs at about six months
A chicken can lay more than 600 eggs in her first two years
Eggshells have a natural outer coating that keeps bacteria out.
Chicken droppings supply many of the nutrition needed for gardens.
Chickens will eat all the bugs in your yard and even trim your grass


After talking to a co-worker about raising chickens he had me convinced that it was a great idea to have chickens even in a small yard. I have always enjoyed fresh eggs from my uncle and from the farmers markets so why not give it a try. It is getting more and more common for people in the city to have chickens. I never thought it was even an option in the city. I went to IFA just to look at information and thinking we could plan for chickens maybe in the spring sometime, (not knowing if I really wanted to or not). I looked on the board at IFA and saw my uncle Kimball advertising chickens for sale. I called him and he told us to come get four. Zac put together a nice pen in the back corner of our yard. The kids love them and have wanted to hold them every minute. It will be a good learning experience and I think it will be fun for the kids to learn and take care of them. I don't really know about cleaning up after them but it will be great to have fertilizer for the garden and for them to eat the bugs because we have plenty. Most of all I can't wait for the eggs. If it doesn't work out I know I can drop them off at Kimballs anytime. Do I have anyone convinced to get chickens?
Oh and did I mention.. Easton named his Ironman and Jaxon named his spiderman. Nice names for hens huh lol

Ive been watching you!

Conversation with my son today.....

Me "I really want you to slow down and not go fast on the bumps."

Son "I want to, its fun to go fast and jump in the air"

Me "I don't want you to get hurt. Please don't go fast over the bumps anymore. "

Son "Dad goes fast and jumps in the air, so I want to go fast and jump in the air too"

Me "Please don't go fast"

Son getting frustrated and rolling his eyes "Mom, I will be okay. I learned my lesson last time I crashed and I won't do it again. I will go fast but I won't crash"

The things our kids learn from watching us. These two boys want to be just like thier dad in everyway.

I look in the mirror and wonder why my hair is turning gray. I am a worry wart!

Two cute kids!

I had a blast taking pictures of these two darling kids! These are the first two pictures that I have edited or I should say "brightened". I didn't do much to the pictures. These kids are so pure and perfect and I am loving how these pictures have turned out so far. I want to post all of them. Thank you Stephanie! I had a blast!!

Quiet challenge

Quiet... Peaceful... very little noise (until the gun is fired). A time to relax. A time to hear your own thoughts and feelings and a chance to glance out at what a beautiful world we live in. I love being out in the outdoors with my husband. I love hiking in quietness and hearing the branches and leaves crunch under my feet. I love to look out and see the wildlife.. I love the quiet nights and seeing the many constellations in the sky like a blanket. What a beautiful place.

Sweetness

I smile when I see this picture! I smile inside and outside! I get all warm and fuzzy inside. You wonder what they are thinking. Our dog (Shirley) is loving the attention. She lets kids climb all over her. We have the best dog in the world and this little girl is so adorable. We have some great friends that went camping with us on the deer hunt. I just adore this little girl. She is the same age as my little Jax. She is so smart and full of life. Thanks to the Davis's for joining us on the hunt. It wouldn't have been the same without them.

Baby Jack

This little boy was the sweetest most beautiful baby. I am so happy for this family. I can't get away from my computer tonight because every picture draws me in because he is so perfect in every way. He was such a good baby. He probably would have let me take pictures all day. He was so content and perfect! Thanks again Laysha and Josh!! I still need to edit your maternity pictures too. Oh how I love photography! I love that I can freeze a momment so loved ones can look back and cherish the memory. I can't wait for the next session. Who's next?

So beatuiful!!

I love babies! I am getting baby hungry! This little boy is so beautiful. I will be posting more soon. I had so much fun today taking Jack's new born pictures!! Thank you Laysha!

Jumping for Joy!!!

This cute family is jumping for joy because they are going to be welcoming little Jack into thier family tomorrow!!! I am so happy for them! They are so excited to meet Jack. I am so happy for them. I am so happy that they asked me to take pictures for them. I will be posting more later:) Laysha is so beautiful! I love her cute belly.... She is an adorable pregnant mamma. I am also so very excited to take new born pictures of baby Jack! Thank you so much Laysha and good luck to you! I hope your delivery goes well!! I will be thinking of you all day tomorrow!

Life is beautiful

This week was a challenge for me because so many things in my life are beautiful and I couldn't figure out how to express them in photography. Thanks to {Life through the lens} .

More of Summer!!

Isn't She just the most adorable little girl EVER!!

Thank you so much Blair for letting me take her six month

pictures!! I wish I could post them all because she is perfect in all of them:) so precious!

Its... SUMMER Time

Summer was the happiest baby I have ever seen. Her parents are in trouble. She is going to have boys chasing her like crazy. I had so much fun taking pictures of her. There are so many adorable pics of this photogenic little one.

Round diptych

This challenge was easy and fun!! I really like how these two pictures commpliment each other. This little girl Rylee is a doll and I love how her mouth is in the shape of round as well as the dots on her dress. I love it. Very SWEET!

318 photography is on the left and mine is the one on the right:)

Next weeks challenge is "Friday Night" This will be a blast!

Journey...... Life

This weeks challenge for {life through a lens} is Journey! I really enjoyed this... I can't wait for the next challenge!

When I think of Journey I think of every day life.... We are all living are own individual journey. We live our journey with the ones that we love. We help people with their journey. People reach out and help us in our own journeys. A journey is not always easy but its what we make out of it. Life is a Journey. I thought of many things when I thought of Journey but, the first thing that I thought of with the word Journey is my sister.... She is the most amazing person. She just recently started her Journey by going back to school. Some days are hard, real hard. Some days are extremely rewarding... Like getting 100% on a math final!! I am so proud of her and her ambition to get an education. What a wonderful rewarding journey it will be for her. Go Sister go.... I am so excited and proud of you.. Don't ever give up!

diptych Fresh

The picture on the left is kphotog.blogspot.com and the picture on the right is mine:)

This weeks diptych was fresh! With the season of fresh produce and all the farmers markets, I could only think of produce. We picked up a local watermellon from stirling farms for my little boys birthday party. After cutting it I took the momment to capture the yummy, FRESH, juicy, and colorful picture. I am still so excited for this weekly challenge because it really gets me practicing my picture taking skills. I am so proud of myself... The camera functions "clicked" with me... literally. I have figured out how to take pictures in manual. Its not as hard and as intimidating as I thought. I hope to continue getting better everyday!!! I love photography

Next weeks challenge is "something Round"
Feel free to join us and post your website in my comments

The Praying Mantis

We are not the only ones praying and helping our garden grow. I have a big family of praying mantis's living and watching over our garden. My little boy has prayed for our garden every night at bedtime and this has been the best year for us so far. We don't have a lot of space but all of our plants have done very well, except the strawberries. There are not a lot of bugs that I

admire but I have to say I have found one.... The praying mantis. I see one every time I water the garden. I found one eating a tomato bug and one eating a fly. They love ants too. I sat and watched one for about 30 minutes as it was sneaking on a bug and it caught it so fast. I felt like a little kids just amazed as I admired it. I have to give these little creatures a gold star. They make me so excited and happy. Our tomato plants love them too. I have only sprayed for bugs once but then decided to let these wonderful insects do their job and keep my garden safe. A big thanks to the Praying Mantis!

Diptych #1 "soft"

My sister- in- law Kourtney with 318photography http://kphotog.blogspot.com/ ,(She is an amazing photographer that inspires me and keeps me super motivated), invited me to join her in a Diptych every week.

Now your thinking... What is a diptych? Well, I just learned myself. Its a painting or drawing in two parts, but it may also be composed of separate, closely related images. Doesn't that sound so fun! We will choose a word, phrase, quote, a setting or something unique and take a photograph of our individual idea. We will then post our pictures side by side on our blogs. I am super excited. It will get me outside of the box and get the creativity flowing. We started out with the word "SOFT" There are so many different soft things and I really like how our pics collaborated so very nicely. They fit perfectly. It will be fun to see what we come up with every week. Its a fun game in a way that will keep us thinking and practicing our abilities to perfect our art in photography. I can't wait for next week. Thank you Kourtney for inviting me to join you!

Little Lilly

Lilly's scheduled day of arrival is in approx 6 weeks. This cute mother to be is so small and such a beautiful person inside and out. She also has 3 other adorable little kiddos that are so excited about lilly coming. Meghan was so easy to take pictures of. Thank you Meghan for letting me take your picture! It was the first maternity pics for me and it was a blast! I will be posting more!

>a

Zinnias

This is the 3rd year that I have planted Zinnias from seed. I just love them. They grow so tall and are so colorful. Every flower is unique in style and color. They grow so fast and stay looking great even threw these hot summer months. When a flower fades and dies you clip it off and another one grows right back. Easy gardening. I plan on planting them every year. A package of seeds is only like a dollar and worth every penny. Plant these and everyone compliments them too:D

one of my handsome kiddos!

I couldn't get the other picture of my other little boy to upload for some reason. Later... I was going threw my pics and came across some pics I took of my kids in December. They sure are a lot of fun. This picture is my oldest and he sure has grown up and is so smart. I will be posting a pic of my youngest soon. I have had a busy day and now its time to go to bed:)

Isn't she just adorable

playing with textures and creating a water mark

So I found a website with free textures:)and I have been practicing adding them to my pics. Although I really like the sharpness of pics, I don't want the texture to be too much so I only added it to make a small different. I really like the way these textures make the pics so fun and different. Its amazing what you can do to a picture. Fill free to leave a comment and let me know what you think. thanks

I am so Proud to Be an AMERICAN!!

I am so excited for the 4th of July this year!!

I am also so proud to be apart of this world where have the freedom to choose our religion.

While taking pictures of the temple I was so happy to see this flag on the temple grounds. It made me so proud.

My favorite place in the world

Troy Boy! I absolutely love this little guy!

Love you Troy!

Little swimmers

I am so proud of these kids!!! They are doing so good at swimming lessons!!! Good job Ashton, Rylee, Boston, Easton and Jaxon!!!

Can I say....Dazzling Adorable!!!

Today I took some pictures of the most adorable, perfect kiddos. Can I say their eyes are outstanding! I can't even believe how perfect their skin is too. I didn't change anything with these pictures except darkening the edges somewhat. Yes their eyes are really that bright!! Today was the first time that I actually took pictures in RAW format and I was really pleased. I know the pictures take up a lot of hard drive and are extremely large but I think I can really tell a difference. I think I may be purchasing a few more memory cards because I really could have take more pictures than what I did. These kids were so fun. I love taking pictures of kids. They are so full of energy and every picture turns out fantastic even if they are look at the ground or away from you or even if they are not smiling. Kids have a way about them to always shine no matter what. I just adore these two little ones. They were so fun and I had an absolute blast!!! I have many more pics to show of these two! Thanks Shauna!!