1 on Tuesday because I'm to tired for 10

1. It's 10:43 on Tuesday night. I just hit a wall but I feel like I have had a really productive day, I don't feel like I've had one of those in a while. I made bread, headbands for an upcoming newborn session, reupholstered my barstools, all 3 kids practiced their instruments, and got homework completed, I cooked dinner, finished a baby present, started a new crocheted baby dress, burned disks with wedding images, and got them ready to mail, and updated my project365 on flickr. Run on sentence MUCH??? So as I feel accomplished (though when I read over my list, it's not all that impressive!!) I can lay my head down now and rest easy knowing I had a good day!

My Newly Reupholstered Bar Stools

(until tomorrow and I have to start all over again!)

Thankful Thursday (On Monday)

Totally forgot about my Thankful Thursday post las week. Somedays I think how can I remember the color of my 8th grade science binder (forrest green btw) but I can't remember the important things. When I was having lunch with a friend the other day she mentioned how I "remember everything" which is really retarded because I do remember the totally non important things in life, but can't seem to recall the time of violin lessons which I take my daughter to EVERY TUESDAY!! You would think that the repetition of the act would engrain the appointed time in my mind but no, that seems to make things worse!!

ANYWAY...back to Thankful Thursday (on Monday).

Today I am thankful for Fast Sunday. For those of you who have no Idea what I am talking about In the LDS Church one Sunday a month we Fast for 2 meals (or 24 hours) as a sacrifice for those in need. A wise woman once told me that if you don't fast with a purpose you're just goin hungry. I had until that point never thought of it like that, while I always fasted out of obedience I had never thought to fast for something unless there was a very evident need like a sick family member or family need. Well I have made it a very important part of my fasting to fast with purpose. I always see blessings personally and generally when I do. I have tried to teach this principle to my children and when we fast for something as a family the kids are much more likely to do it with out complaint. Yesterday one of my children, who shall remain nameless woke up ornery and decided right away the she was not going to fast, we encouraged her to do so but nope, she said "I'm too hungry" and then proceeded to eat everything in the pantry with fervor! It wasn't until I closed my own fast in contemplation of the things I was fasting for that I realized that she needed my help to fast by helping her decided what to fast for. Next month I hope to have very different experience in fasting as we do it as a family. Though I fasted and so did the other 2 that are old enough to fast in the house did, we didn't have the spirit in our home as much as we could have had we set out fasting each with a purpose. I believe that through my fasting I have been blessed with the sight to see what was needed to help my children gain a testimony of fasting.

(wow how many times can I say fasting in one post!!)

And because a post without a picture is boring here is 2 of the 5 TOTAL decent shots I got of Miss Jessa when we tried to take pictures the other day! To say uncooperative would be an understatement!

Halloween Mini Session Trial Run!!

So in an effort to show those of you who have asked what to expect when you bring you child for their Halloween Mini Sessions I did a quick run with the Bonnie this morning. She was somewhat cooperative only because she got to wear her precious tutu!

When you bring in your little one you will have a 10 minute shoot where we will capture the personality of your child as well as the details of their costumes. We will choose the best image to print in your choice of an 8x10 or 2 5x7's. All of the images will be edited and put on a disk. Call now to reserve your spot!

Kristin-353-0526

or email halloweenminisessions@gmail.com

10 on Tuesday (posted on Wednesday because I forgot to hit "publish")

1. For all ya'll who have been bugging me about mini sessions they are here! I am collaborating with a super fab photographer friend Heather to do them this year, should be super fun! I also had the super fun idea to do Halloween sessions this year, inspired by not one picture of Bonnie in her garden gnome costume last year. I can't wait for these because there is nothing better than kids in costumes!

2. Speaking of costumes this year Bonnie will be a ballerina. When Sam was 3 my Mom made her a pink tutu that is cuter than any tutu I have ever seen that you can buy. I have passed it around to friends and family each Halloween but this year we got it back and Bonnie is in love. I had to hide it because she won't leave it alone. She is awfully cute in it too, if I do say so myself. Samantha has decided to wear my 80's chick costume from last year, she's not so sure about the big hair thing but she'll come around once I show her the beauty of AquaNet!

3. I have a totally clean house right now thanks to my sweet sister who hired my Maggie to come clean for me for my birthday present. I think that is one of the best presents I have ever received! Clean sheets are in my top 10 of favorites! Now to just catch up on my laundry!

4. **Update on the swallowed washer** Bonnie informed me she flushed it. I'm going to have to trust her on this because I got tired of watching for it! It's a dirty job and I was just not up for it anymore!!

5. Just finished "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexander Dumas, again. I think this makes my top 10 books of all times! It's a hefty read but on audio you can get so much done while listening!

6. Speaking of top 10 books, Harry Potter (I'm counting the whole series as 1) makes that list and I am so stinkin excited for the first part of Deathly Hallows. I really want to go to the midnight showing but Terry is not wanting to go with me, who's in?

8. I bought a hat.

9. I currently have 6 loads of laundry to fold. Why does it always seem I have 6 loads of laundry to fold?

10. We watched Avatar for the first time for our "Friday Night Movie Night" with the kids. I bought the thing right when it came out on DVD and the kids have seen it but we never got around to it. The visuals were cool but I don't know that I'm a fan! Hate me if you want!

Holiday Cards

If you schedule a holiday mini session with us this year you have the option for and additional $25 to have a card designed for you that you can take to the lab of your choosing to have printed, or I can do a complete design, front/back, folded, trifold, & accordion printed at my lab, prices on that will vary. You will have 3 design categories to choose from. Check them out, they are so cute!

I am thinking of adding a more "traditional" theme to choose from, if there is enough interest! These would just be the "theme" you would choose from, your card would be designed specifically for your chosen pictures and wording, these would just be the starting point!!

Come and get your mini Session!!

Thankful Thursday

Welcome to my new feature posting. Thursdays have been dubbed "Thankful Thursday's" from now on. In an effort to be more grateful each Thursday I will post about something I am thankful for. Today I am thankful for the fact that Bonnie swallowed a metal washer not a battery. As some of you may know from facebook we spent last night in the ER. Let me back track a bit, Terry and I were at open house for the middle school when we received a text from Samantha that Bonnie had swallowed a battery. Colby had SEEN it in her mouth and she choked and swallowed it a few seconds later. We came home, called the pediatrician's office who paged a nurse and she said we needed to take her to the ER. I was a bit concerned, Terry, not so much! At the hospital they took some x-rays and it showed us that she indeed had something metal inside but it was not a battery. It looks to be a washer of some sort which highly resembles a battery to Colby! They discharged us telling us to watch for her to "pass" it. That oughta be fun! It could have been so much worse, had it been an actual batter they would have had to done an endoscope to get it out! So here I am thanking the fact that I have to watch for a metal washer while pumping my daughter with apple juice and raisin bran!

10 on Tuesday...No Complaining edition

1. I have been spending to much time complaining as of late, on facebook or otherwise so I have a new goal that I will go all day today with not one complaint, if I do I will say 3 things I am thankful for.

2. I am so excited for our new principal at the middle school. She is LDS which is a huge plus but her whole goal is to get our kids a top notch education! I can't wait to see her plans set into action. She is gonna whip that school into shape!!

3. I know I keep hinting to mini sessions coming up but please be patient! I will have the grand announcement in the next day or 2!!

4. Remember "Kards by Kristin" ? I try to block it out! For those of you who don't know I for one short year I had a card/invitation business where I created handmade cards and sold them! ANYWAY...I have totally changed my direction in how I do my holiday cards and other invitations and am tossing around the idea of doing card design for invites, birth announcements and Holiday cards. Would there be interest if I did? Like for Christmas lets say, I would offer things 2 ways. 1. A flat rate for a design fee that you could take to a lab (costco, wallgreens etc.) and print yourself. OR 2. A flat design fee with printing done at my lab and the price would be determined my the size and shape of you cards. You all who are on my Christmas list will know what I am talking about when I say size and shape, for the past 2 years my cards have been 5x5 trifold paper greeting cards. Does that even make sense? I am SOO not explaining this right. I will move on.

5. My allergies are SO Bad right now! I have sneezed probably no less that 30 times today.

6. O crap, that was complaining...dang, self improvement goals. Here is 3 things I am grateful for...

• The perfect tissues, not to soft, not to rough, not greasy at all. Kleenex Ultra/Doux (I think the "doux" is another language, but it's how I differentiate when I send the hubbs to buy them for me.)


• A really sweet note on my facebook page from a former young woman of mine! She brightened my whole day!


• The cupcake patentienly waiting for me to enjoy after dinner.

7. Terry is now teaching guitar lessons so if you or anyone you know is interested let us know!! You want your husband to serenade you like mine does me...sign him up for lessons!

8. I read this blog post yesterday and seriously...I want to be this woman when I grow up! If I could have 1/10th of her mothering skills I would be crowned mother of the year by my kids and husband. If you don't read her blog regularly you should. She is such a motivational writer, she makes me want to be better!

9. Sam is going to accompany they primary with her violin at the primary program this year. You are welcome to come watch. She is playing "Beautiful Savior" while the rest of the children sing. It will be very moving, I can tell just by listening to her practice the piece!

10. I made it all the way to 10 with only 1 complaint!! Yeah for improvement! Now if I could get through the whole day, that would be something!!

BFF'S

When my sweet niece called me up to ask if I would take some pictures of her and her best friend on Labor Day during a Bar-B-Que at my parents house, how could I say no. I know you guys don't see much other than my punk kids and family on here but I thought I'd give you a bit of a break form the mundane musings of a crazy half brained mom who pretends to be a Professional Photographer! (speaking of which, stay tuned if you are interested in a fall mini session!!) Without further ramblings here is Savannah (in the yellow, I know they look like they are twins huh!) and Sadie, her bestest friend in the whole world! I stole this little love note from Sadie to Savannah on facebook...

Hey its Sadie, I just wanted to let you know that you are my BFF and I ♥ you soo soo much you are one in a million!!!!! I am so proud of you:) You are so pretty and FUNN to be around with!!!! I can't wait until we grow up so we can be better of friends :P I am soo soo happy that you me and Summer are really great friend ♥ and I'll see you tomorrow at school........ love ya - Sadie

Best friends like this are special and all girls should have this kind of girl in her life!

Barney Family Reunion

The annual Barney reunion was lots of fun this year. We rented out the remodeled old courthouse in Junction Utah. The place is made for people to come have family reunions with a huge kitchen and lots of sleeping space. Many drove several hours to be there and it was good to reconnect with so much family. I fought getting. My camera out the whole trip because its just not working the way it should right now and that was ticking me off, Terry did get some of these great architectural shots though. Afterimage went throughout I realized there were so many that I never got pictures of! Next year I vow to take more pictures at the reunion!

August project:365 Recap

Due to complete lack of inspiration some of the girls in my 365 group decided to do a themed August. We choose a word for each day of the month and tried to capture that word in pictures. I had a really hard month trying to get a shot each day, partly because I was pulling my hair out for the last 3 weeks of summer break.

1. Hope

2. Collection

3. Hat

4. Imagination

5. Tied

6. Warm

7. Chaos

8. Sun

9. Four

10. Thankful

11. Hands

12. Peace

13. Triangle

14. Laughter

15. Loved

16. Stripes

17. Summer

18. Flower

19. Color

20. Birthday

21. Fast

Big Plans

I always have big plans. I almost never get those big plans followed through. I want to blog right now, and every day for that matter but life seems to get in the way. I have a current list of things that need to be blogged.

1. August 365 recap

2. Barney Reunion

3. Bonnie Started Preschool

4. Life as the mother of a MiddleSchooler

5. Mini-Sessions for fall (Still deciding on dates for this one)

So here I sit instead of blogging these things I just give you a sad excuse for a blog post with hopefully something to look forward too. And since it is against the law to post without a picture...

So much for getting those pesky Christmas cards out of the way early this year!