TIME

"Our priorities are most visible in how we use our time. Someone has said, “Three things never come back—the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity.” We cannot recycle or save the time allotted to us each day. With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever."

Elder Dallin H. Oaks

This was taken directly from his talk here

I couldn't believe how happy it made one of my kids that I went and jumped on the trampoline with them yesterday.

I need to remember that for kids, it's all about TIME.

Facebook Page

So I guess I'm going to get with the times and start doing something with my photography facebook page :). You can find it here. I will still be posting mostly on my blog, but I will post when I have new journal/blog entries there too. If you want to follow me there you can head on over and "like" the page:). You'll see of few pictures of my Camryn and her sock monkey.

I also added some buttons at the bottom of each blog post so that you can "like" posts or share them if you think someone else might enjoy the post. Let me know if they work or not :).

BTW- This little missy is rolling both ways and starting to grab her feet. Love it.

A conversation.

Back in August of 2010 I had my 20 week ultrasound scheduled. I was pregnant with my 5th baby. Something had been a little different with this pregnancy. I had a feeling something might be wrong. I didn't seem as big as I had been with my other babies. I had this feeling, but hoped that I was just carrying the baby differently and that everything would be ok. I made sure that my husband was able to go with me to this appointment because of the feelings I was having.

I'll never forget that day. That room. I remember some of what I was wearing.

Before the lady doing the ultrasound got started, I remember her telling me that she would believe it when she saw it because I was tiny.

When she started the ultrasound, she moved it around for a little bit and then said something like, "If you'll excuse me", and walked out the door. I, of course, began to cry. I wondered what was wrong, what was wrong with the baby.

Pretty soon my doctor came in and gave me the news that there was no heartbeat.

I had been into the doctor at 14 weeks and just decided to wait until my ultrasound to come in again. Her heart must have stopped beating at about 15 weeks.

I won't go into much of the rest of that day. It's one that's hard to think about. I felt some of the most intense sadness I've ever felt. Intense. Sadness.

A little while back I wondered if one of my kids was still having a hard time with the miscarriage. I decided to talk to this child. After speaking to this child for a little bit, my child said something like this. "If that baby wouldn't have died, would we still have Cali?"

"Probably not", was my reply.

I don't think that thought had ever even crossed my mind.

What I do know, is that I can't even BREATHE thinking about not having my Cali.

Maybe that conversation was not as much for my child, as it was for me.

Photobucket">

The Lorax

I went to see "The Lorax" with Camryn and her preschool class. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I think it would be hard to watch that movie on the surface. There was so much meaning underneath the surface that I am still trying to figure it out. I left the movie feeling a little depressed about what the world has become, but motivated to change and make a difference at the same time. The Lorax speaks for the trees. It made me think:

What/Who do I speak for?

One of the moms made these pencils to look like trees and handed them out at the end. What a sweet mom.

Nerd is "in"

Dear Courtney,

I think it's so fun that you earned money to go and buy suspenders and "nerd" glasses. You were pretty excited about them. I wanted to remember this little phase in your life. Keep being you.

Love, Mom

A few more words on our family photo shoot below...

So, I just wanted to write a few more things about our Oct. family photo shoot. From the looks of it, some of you might think that my family likes to have their photos taken. Let me just clarify that they don't. I approached this photo shoot a little differently. In other words, I wasn't so bossy and mean :). It's so hard not to want to control our kids at photo shoots because we want the photo shoot to be "perfect", especially after all of the time and money we have put into this one day. The fact of the matter is, kids don't want to be bossed around and told what to do, just like we don't want to be bossed around and told what to do as adults. For some reason, I am just recently learning this. So here is a little bit of advice. (By the way, any advice I give on here is advice I'm reminding myself of and giving to myself. I'm not perfect at any of it.)

Make the photo shoot FUN. Let the kids do what THEY want to do some of the time. Obviously, I don't want my kids sticking their tongues out in every picture. BUT, if they want to stick their tongue out, let them. Take a few shots of them with their tongue out and show it to them afterwards. They'll get a kick out of it. If they keep wanting to do it, tell them we will do more funny ones after you get 5 more good pictures or however many you want.

Let the kids be themselves, after all, that is what you will want to remember.

Play with them. Tickle them. That's when their real smile comes out.

Whatever you do, don't tell them to say "CHEESE". We have all done it. It makes them look very unnatural. You try it. Go ahead, try it "CHEESE." :) Doesn't work does it:).

Tell them a joke, pick your nose, dance. Do whatever makes them smile that REAL smile that you love.

Let expectations go. Let them go I say. You may get something that you LOVE that is different from what you thought you wanted. (Did you get that:))

Patience is key. Oh, that patience thing is HARD.

I was still bossy at this shoot, but I think I was a lot better. That's why I got so many natural photos of my kids that I love! This family photo shoot is my favorite by FAR.

And by the way, I full on bribe my kids too. Family photo shoots are all about bribery. Go to ice cream afterwards, give them a dollar to spend at the dollar store, have a candy bar in the car. Be careful with this one though. With little kids, it may back fire if you show the treat to them during the shoot. It could be disastrous, because they will cry for it the whole time. We all know our kids and how they work.

So there you go, some advice from someone who is working on the PATIENCE/NON-BOSSY thing. I hope it helps:).

I want to end by reposting one of my favorite images from this shoot. A little background. My baby was 6 weeks old in this shoot. I know, I'm crazy, but I wanted it. She was not the happiest, so that is why you don't see her in a lot of the pictures. However, I documented the shoot. I documented Adam holding her, because that's what he did most of the time. He took care of her so I could do my thing. (Thank you honey.)

The shot below has so much emotion in it. This shot just totally captures how Caleb feels about his baby sister. I love looking at shots that I can FEEL. I love taking shots that I can FEEL. Now go take some shots of your kids that you can FEEL. Step away from trying to get that "perfect" smiling shot that you think you want. Maybe it isn't what you want :).

Family History/Blogging/Storytelling

You can now go to this conference for FREE! They got an unexpected donation of free passes. Check out the link below. Click on the registration tab and it should deduct the charge at the end when you put in the free pass code. I think it must tell you what the code is at the end. Take advantage of learning more about family history, blogging, and storytelling! It is done on a first come-first-serve basis. I'm so excited about it. http://www.cherishbound.com/blog/storyathome/

LOVE

This was our family shoot we did back in October. I am in love with it. I love the realness of it. A big thank you to my friend Michelle who took the ones of our whole family! My son took the ones of my husband and I, and my husband took the one of my baby and I and the ones with the kids and I. I was able to capture the rest. I'm so glad I have these images.:)