backseat driver

We are driving home from preschool and after much discussion on what to name his ice/snow breathing lego dragon "Icicle?" (which he will be bringing for show and tell tomorrow), Bentley started to give me a little advice on my driving. The kind of advice that if followed would result in serious injury or a lot of honking.

me: Are you excited to drive when you turn 16?

B: Excited??? boring.

me: Yeah, you're kinda right about that.

me: So...you'd be fine with me driving you around?

B: Yeah

Hey. I'll take what I can get. Because right now I'm only allowed one kiss per day at bedtime. And this is on condition that I won't bombard him with kisses all day. Those cheeks though. I just have a hard time resisting them.

Pretending to sleep in an attempt to get me to carry him inside. It's not going to work though. The kid is a tank!

Right now I'm sitting in the bathroom while he takes a bath. He pulled a toy cup out of the tub and said, "Who wants a drink of water? Raise your hand!" Ummm. no thanks. I think he just wants me in here to watch his feats of strength. The kid can pump out a lot of push ups in the tub.

fort awesom

I got a new job taking pictures of newborns at the hospital! Super cute job! The moms say, "I bet you have so many pictures of your kids!" Which of course is true...but I feel a little guilty about winter. I have like 2 pictures from all winter. I take tons of pictures outside in the pretty weather. Seeing as how outdoor photography is kind of my usual MO. I'm not usually very inspired indoors. But, I have learned some new tricks with my flash lately and high ISO don't seem like the devil anymore. So in honor of new moms making me feel a little guilty....I captured 'fort awesom' today! Chickie is sleeping in there tonight. Oddly enough she is afraid of ceiling fans and art hanging above her bed but is excited about sleeping between the doors of her armoire with a giant couch cushion over head. Interesting. I did not point out the paradox.

She's something else!

i'm so lucky!

I'm feeling so overwhelmed today! I'm so lucky. I have these two gorgeous children that I adore. And such a wonderful husband who gave me such a great day. My own mom amazes me. I'm convinced she is the cutest grown-up on the planet. Missed talking to my Grammy today. So many wonderful women in my life! Happy Mother's day! Chickie took this great picture of Bentley and I. She said she wants her own camera and she wants to learn how to edit pictures on the computer.

my sweet Grammy

My Grammy with her older sister my Great Aunt Jean

My Grammy died on September 10th. We went to Moab, UT to be with family and to help with and attend her funeral services. I felt really proud of my family. The services were perfect. We had a viewing, a traditional funeral at the graveside, and a family memorial service up at Warner Lake. Warner was the place she loved. She said being there filled her soul. We told stories about her. More that made us laugh than made us cry. It seems she made everyone feel like family, and accepted us all in spite of our differences. I loved her very much. She was a huge influencing factor in my life. I feel different now. I have to be more of a grown up now. I am going to take some time and try to make my home look slightly more grown up. That sounds so funny, but I'm serious. Hopefully I'm capable of having a grown up house. I think some of the old college paintings might have to come down. Grammy was always one to get things done. I think I definitely inherited that. But I'm going to take some time to make sure I'm moving forward and getting the best things done. Move forward with a specific purpose. So I may be a little quiet here on my blog for a bit longer.

I'm thankful for many, many good memories. I'm especially thankful that I chose to live with her the summer after my freshman year in college. We had a lovely time together and she taught me to quilt, one of her greatest passions in life.

this weekend

We hunted for treasure, and found it.

We got to be a part of something wonderful! We went back to Knoxville for Addison's baptism.

I had to laugh when I was taking these pictures I told Ryan and Add to just talk to each other and interact. Ryan then gave Addison a hug and then he said in the sweetest, most natural way, "Now hug me on the other side." Now you can tell his wife (my dear friend Heather) is awesome about taking great pictures of her family.

I miss these guys! But I'm glad we live within driving distance.

And I sewed! Finally got a little done on Chickie girl's quilt.

What did you do?

making lemonade

Figuratively speaking that is....

Sometimes life hands you big fat lemons. I feel like I've been getting too many of them lately. Don't you hate it when life feels like LIFE? Do you know what I mean? Sometimes life is just day to day enjoyable everyday silly problems. And sometimes you have to deal with the big things that aren't any fun at all. Like my Dad's mom (mamaw) dying. And my Dad's mom (Grammy) has what looks like a very aggressive cancer on top of failing kidneys. (I have two great dad's and I call them both Dad. It gets confusing.) I've been baking a lot this week. It's how I deal with things like that. Not good. We ran out of flour and had to go to Gigi's today. Had to. I don't want to do any more dishes.

The lemonade...a surprisingly fun post-funeral photoshoot with my cousin Jordy. He's one good lookin dude. When we were kids he was always making movies with my little sisters. Now he's in LA doing the actor thing.

As for the lemonade in the situation with my beloved Grammy...I'm going to see her Monday. So that's good. We were made from the same cloth. Two peas in a pod. I get her, she gets me. I only wish I were by her side already. Chris is going to brave it alone with the kids. He'll probably have everything in tip top shape. Can't say the same for what they may eat....now that's a scary thought. If you see my kids please sneak them a fruit or vegetable.

More lemons...my job with Lindsay Jane Photography. A super hard situation, because I love Todd and Lindsay so much and all their family. Lindsay taught me a lot and I will always be thankful for her in my life. Hopefully I'll be able to reciprocate in some way. But the job wasn't what we needed it to be. So I quit. Big fat depressing bummer. I was trying to wallow in my own pathetic situation, but no one would let me. And when my lawyer told me I needed to "move on with my life" well that was the last straw. I guess sometimes the people pleasing can be a hindrance. Who knew?

The lemonade... andrea larsen photo. Never in a million years did I see this one in my future. But people started calling me. And I have to have somewhere to put the pictures, right? So it's fun. Actually I've been having a blast. It's not quite done yet (the website, or anything else for that matter). It's pretty ghetto at this point, but it's a start. And the good news is that I've been busy. I had a newborn shoot this week, and a small family, and tomorrow I have a family of 33! Yikes. How I got this busy already??? A blessing.

Yes. Life is weird. Why can't things just work out like you planned them? Maybe this was too melancholy of an announcement? But I guess there is no helping that at this point. Too sum up: new job stuff, good. family stuff, bad. Must make lemonade tomorrow...and possibly lemon bars.

Pioneers!

Incase you didn't know, Friday July 24th is Pioneer Day!  And since I am a faithful Mormon girl I took my kids to our local Pioneer day celebration!  It was by far the best pioneer day I have ever been to.  I'm sure in Utah they go all out, but everywhere I've lived here in the south it has always been a little more low key.  Until now...

There were sack races.

And my kids are so cute hopping around in sacks!

Who knew?

There was a handcart for kids to either ride in or pull.

We dug for potatoes, picked apples, and hunted eggs!

I want to make one  of these chickens, they are darling.  But what would I do with it?

And a petting zoo.  And that's not even the half of it!  We made our own butter, hammered nails, made necklaces, shopped at the general store. It was all very exciting.  And I got to spend some time in the temple today which is what it's all about.
Some of my ancestors left England and came to America to join the trek west.  Actually, that's not exactly true.  I think the story goes that my ancestor (Richard Bentley?- I could be remembering that name wrong and my family history book is in storage.) ANYway.  He left with his sister and her husband who were with the Mormons in order to look for work.  And then there was a girl...isn't that how the story always goes. 

 I'm so proud to have such a rich history.  My great-grandpa LeRoi Bentley put a lot of work into our family history book.  I'm so grateful to have that.  And to top the night off I watched a John Adams movie and worked on a quilt.  I was just feeling overall so grateful for all the great men and women who have gone before us and given us so many freedoms.  

I was listening to Jennifer Paganelli on craft sanity a while ago.  She was saying that she was thankful for Amy Butler who has been such a pioneer in the fabric design industry.  So true, Jennifer, so true.  Speaking of which I will have to update you all on my fabric designing journey.  It has not been smooth.  Wouldn't ya know it.

proof that we actually did have fun!

While we were in Utah we went to This is the Place Heritage Park.  I don't remember ever having gone there before.  We had a great day there!  I am such a sucker for historical stuff and there were so many fun crafts for the kids to do.  We went with my Aunt Darcy and her girls Maddie and Sophie.  I love them!  

Bentley ended up getting this hat and he wears it around everywhere.  Even sleeping with it sometimes.

What a stud!

The drug store was so pretty! 
Chris and his mini-me.
Of course Bentley was all about the train.

Sophie girl!
I love how happy Chickie looks here.
Sweet kid!  Maddie is an amazing artist!  She even has her own blog.





This cracks me up!  Look at Bentley's expression!  Summer school, ugh!