These cute feet...

I'd know these little feet anywhere...



Cute girl was so proud of her toes when we found her. And cute daddy took it off and painted them right for her. Best daddy.

Last road trip we took, I had to jump to the back seat to make the kiddos happy. Both put their cute little feet on my lap. I was studying their toes, and realized I'd know those 4 feet anywhere. They were the same little toes I first saw in the hospital; just a little bigger.

When I saw this picture on my phone, it reminded me of that, and got me REALLY excited for baby #3. We are thrilled to add to the family. People know I have my hands full with the 2 I have, and some have bluntly said, "How are you going to do a third?!" I can't help but laugh. I DO have my hands full, but it's all I've ever known. It's life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Pregnancy is going great! Still teaching Zumba, "Just Weights", and Spin. Baby bump is definitely present (which makes pumping, body rolls, and those sexy hip moves in Zumba entertaining to watch, I'm sure), and Stone and Emerson kiss my tummy at least once an hour and say, "Hiiiiii baby!! LOVE YOU!" We have several trips to El Paso planned this summer (I'm shooting 5 weddings in the next two months--4 in El Paso!). So life is busy, great, and entertaining with these two!

Who buys the first home they look at?!

...apparently we do!

{I spy my little eye something (or someone) about 2 and 4}

Now, in our defense, we did our due diligence and looked at the comps in the area. We quickly learned nothing was actually comparable, and if we wanted this little gem, we had to act on it.

It's been A YEAR since we moved in (TIME FLIES!), and I realized we have yet to do any sort of reveal on the blog. I had every intention of showing off projects we undertook, but as other new home owners can understand, there's always more you want to do, so I guess I never felt ready to do a post. When we first moved in, Cliff put down wood floors by himself, we painted the entire downstairs, and we scraped the popcorn ceilings and painted them (which is MUCH more intense than you'd imagine!). A list of projects still exists, which is funny, because we didn't even buy a fixer-upper! I guess you just want to make it your own, right?

We recently did a few "curb appeal" projects. Our home was in some desperate need of contrast. We painted our down stairs shutters black, added shutters up on the balcony, painted our front door red (I've ALWAYS wanted a red door...and that's a funny story, because it actually started out PINK), got some urns, and did my favorite part--a garage door makeover!

I know this might seem weird to some people, but I have a strange infatuation with garage doors. I always have! When I saw our home, I wasn't thrilled with the garage door, but to buy a new one is straight up insane if it works properly. I wasn't sure of the remedy until I came across a blog post by my friend, Melissa, at 320 Sycamore. I knew immediately, a makeover was in our future. Rather than take you through the step by step, you can check out her blog for the details. (...and by the way, add this lady to your google reader if you have not! She rocks. We lived in Lubbock at the same time.)

So here it is before:

And here it is after:

And well....let's see it side by side:

Next up for the outside: Landscaping in front of the windows. We pulled the palm trees out, and then the lonely shrub. Now it's time to fill that area back up with some shrubs, plants, and flowers. This will be a long project, as I need a little more of a vision for it. I feel like I've wasted money with 2 different rounds of plants and flowers (did I mention I do not have a green thumb?!).

More on our home later. Next time--the interior!

IT'S A.....

More Easter

You got to see their Easter portraits last week, so now it's time for a few candids. As I mentioned, the weekend was so enjoyable.

When I'm surrounded by these three, how can it not be?!

What do I looooove about the picture below? Cliff is strategizing, just like he did with Stone here (click here to see!).

Pure joy for this kid. This kid is competitive. He loves racing, and he loves egg hunting.

As far as Easter morning, let's just say the Easter bunny went a little overboard. He was out of control. Like the Easter bunny (ahem), Cliff LOVES gift giving. He's not one to stick to planned budgets for holidays and birthdays. I tell him he can only spend xx.xx amount of money on me, and it goes in one ear and out the other. He spoils those around him. Strange how he and the Easter bunny are so alike. Let's just say when I caught the Easter bunny coming in late the night before, I was a little shocked.

Stone loooooves receiving and (and giving) gifts. He gets SO excited for even the small things. ....like Koolaid bottles.

Once Cliff saw that it was the the Koolaid and other little stuffers that had them giggling with excitement, he realized the bunny may have gone a little overboard.

As I mentioned in the previous post, it was wonderful to see that Stone understood the reason for celebrating this day. He told us of Jesus' resurrection, and it just made me so happy that the important things are sticking in his head.

I love my family! And of course, I love the opportunity we had to celebrate all that Jesus did for us, and that because of him, we will live again.

Easter 2012

Today was a fabulous Easter Sunday. We had amazing speakers at church, and Stone told us the whole Easter story of Jesus' death and resurrection at dinner tonight. I love when important concepts and stories stick with him. He may keep my hands full, but moments like these make me think we're doing okay as parents.

I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that Jesus Christ died for my sins. ...for everyone's sins, and because of him, we will also live again after our time here on Earth.

I've been waiting to share these Easter pictures since I had this little shoot with my kiddos earlier in March. They make us so happy. I feel so very blessed!

I heart Spring.

March is probably my favorite month of the year. Winter is wrapped up, everything comes back to life, we have enjoyable weather before the miserable summer digits approach, and the sun begins to stay up later. It's a good month.

This past week was BUSY. I think Emerson's face describes perfectly how I felt this week:

I'll go backwards starting with yesterday.

Yesterday, I held Easter MINI-MINI sessions with a real, live bunny. It was SO much fun. My friend Julie let us borrow Sugar, and Sugar was a rock star. She was held and cuddled all day long by strangers. Emerson smothered her with affection all day, and well, it was fabulous.

I decided on making a little garden studio at our home for these mini sessions. Cliff helped prepare the area Friday evening:

I rarely complain. I just don't have much to complain about in my life. However, you may hear me crying and moaning in the approaching months as our summer season arrives. I can handle heat. I am a desert rat, born and raised in the desert sun. But I can take the dry desert heat ANY DAY over our humid, muggy inferno.

But with the dreadful weather, we are blessed with BEAUTIFUL trees, wild flowers, and greenery everywhere we go. Our backyard is lovely (with MUCH potential that calls for A LOT of hard work and time--something that was neglected by previous owners, which still leaves A LOT for us to do), and made the perfect place for my MINI-MINI sessions yesterday. Tulips happen to be my favorite, and thanks to Cliff, we planted a little bunch:

Before Cliff came home from work, I messed with a few different areas I wanted to plant the flowers. Emerson graciously acted as my model so that I could see what looked best through my lens. I knew immediately I wanted a different location, but my little model kept asking for more pictures.

She's so funny. When she saw my camera out, she begged me to take pictures of her (and you don't have to beg me, so it was adorable..."take my picture!").

In between my photo shoots, Stone and Emerson were all over Sugar (the bunny). Stone was a little unsure of the furry creature, but Emerson didn't hesitate. They both asked for their pictures to be taken (and I JUMP all over that, because more often I have to beg THEM).

(outfit change caused by water fight)

She kept asking me to take picture after picture of her. Stone had enough and was up and running laps around the house while Emerson kept posing for me.

Thank you, Julie, for letting us borrow the bunny!

Earlier in the week, we had an Easter egg hunt with our play group. We have a fun group of friends, and my kids had a blast:

Look at that little cheeto dirty face. My kids LOVE cheetos, and my friend Jana made adorable cheeto carrots (down several pictures).

This week also marked our first time (of many, many, many to come this summer) at the splash pad, as well as sprinkler fun at home:

AND, my birthday passed (well, actually it was the previous week). I was spoiled all day, and my kids insisted on a LONNNNG walk. The weather was cool and drizzly that morning, and what can I say. They love their rain boots (I know, I know. The poor kids need a REAL dog to take on a walk. I'm slowly getting convinced):

I sure hope they FOREVER will be this close:

In addition to my mini sessions yesterday, I had 2 more full sessions in the last couple of days, and now have a bunch of editing ahead of me (which I love).

To wrap up this fabulous weekend, we have been blessed to listen to the prophet of our church, as well as other leaders of our church. I have been spiritually uplifted and motivated. There is no doubt in my mind that our prophet is a man of God. We are so blessed to be guided by a modern day prophet, and to be able to feast upon their words this weekend has been incredible.

You can check out the General Conference sessions HERE.