Utah-->Texas-->Arizona

I recently returned from a last minute trip to Arizona for my Grandpa's funeral. Despite the circumstance, it was a great, quick trip. He will be missed, but at last, he rests in peace. We love Grandpa Brown! I will blog that trip next. I'm OCD about keeping things chronological on this blog.

First up, is my quick trip (that preceded my Arizona trip) to Utah to shoot a wedding at the Sundance resort. Awesome wedding, fun bride, great party. Can't wait to share it on my photo blog.

Other than the wedding, there were three must-dos on my list: see my brother Tanner's family (he is currently stationed in Germany, so I didn't get to see him), play with my sista, Kris-TEN, and stuff my face at El Azteca.

First up was Kristen. I have several best friends. ...best friends at different stages in my life. ...but this girl (as well as her sister), is what I like to call a bosom buddy. We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same church, saw each other through all ups and downs of life, and though we now only see each other every couple of years, we pick up right where we left off. We also always cry together for no apparent reason. As soon as we saw each other our eyes watered up. They always have, and they always do. We talked and talked for hours, and she accompanied me to El Azteca. We also got to talk to her sista, Lauren, via ichat.

And I got to meet my precious "niece" for the first time. Meet Makayla.

This is what we called the "mommies" pose. We totally look like partners to this sweet child. bahahahaha. The daddy is behind the camera. :)

Next up was Charee, Chloe, and Tru. My brother, Tanner, is currently stationed in Germany. He is an officer in the Army, and his sweet family is just about to meet up with him for the adventure. I was lucky enough to see them twice. We had breakfast Friday morning, and then they headed up to Sundance Saturday morning, and I got to play with them for a few minutes.

Can you believe there is snow on the mountains in July???

These two kids melt my heart.

I had a great time catching up with Charee and spending time with these kiddos, whom I adore.

Though it was a quick weekend trip, it was wonderful. I loved every minute of it!

Next up...Arizona.

Stone V. 4.0

Can I call him my baby still? Stone turned 4 today. I remember the day perfectly that this boy made me a mommy, and I am SO glad he did.

This kid is awesome. He's fun. He's entertaining. He's smart. He's witty. He's athletic. He's feisty. He's happy. He's funny. He's sweet. He's loving. He's tough. He's caring. He's well rounded, what can I say. He is my little buddy, and I love him dearly.

We like birthdays in this house. If you recall last birthday, we went all out. Well, after coming across a blog post a while back from this lovely lady (a friend from a previous ward--a blog you must add to your google reader!), we decided to do an every-other-year bash. So this year, instead of the full out party, we celebrated as our family of four, and had an awesome day.

Stone woke up to a brand new bike:

Cliff was REALLY excited about this present. I mean thrilled. He woke Stone up because he was so anxious. And Stone was the happiest boy on the planet. He rode this thing ALL DAY long in the triple digits.

Then we hit Stone's favorite for lunch--Old McDonald's (McDonald's), then Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner (I know, healthy eating day, right?), opened gifts, and had some cake. All day was Stone's day, and he was such a happy boy.

There is about one thing on this planet that I am OCD about (well, maybe 2, maybe 3). And that is taking birthday portraits ON THE BIRTHDAY. Today was not a success. I stuck to my rule, but we will definitely be having another photo shoot very soon.

It started out with a 3-minute FLAT photo shoot in the AM. This is how successful I was:

So THEN, after our fun day, before Chuck E. Cheese's, I tried a 2nd time. This one lasted 4 minutes:

Though he's the cutest boy you have ever seen, another photo shoot is around the corner.

Okay, before you wonder what the heck kind of cake this is, I guess I will explain. A couple weeks ago in church, Stone turned to the family behind us and told them his birthday was coming up, and his mommy was making him a spiderman blankey cake (he has a Spiderman blanket) with a Woody and a Buzz. Say what?! Well, he didn't forget. Yesterday he told me the same thing. So, I made webs on a cake, and got little Toy Story toys to top it off with. Thankfully it was just the 4 of us, so I didn't have to do anything impressive. Because let's face it. What a random cake. But once again, Stone was in heaven and so thankful for it.

It was a wonderful day celebrating my little boy.

Stone-We love you SO much. You are a great big brother, and the best little buddy. We'll keep you! :) Looooove you!

Summertime!

Hi. My name is Kendal and I run this blog. Yeeeesh. I've been MIA. Before I resigned from my job, I was at my computer around the clock. In between tasks, I'd blog. It was so refreshing. It was my quick escape from work. I still totally enjoy blogging, I just have to remind myself to do so now. These days, I'm only at my computer when I edit. And when I edit, that's all I do. Everything else is done from my phone.

We have definitely been enjoying this summer, and we have the tanlines and red faces to prove it. My children are blessed with bronze skin, thanks to their Latin daddy, my hubby. I, on the other hand, have to work much harder for that glow. And let's be honest. It's a very cherry glow.

We started the summer off in El Paso, where I shot such a fun wedding. I traveled with TWO kids SANS Cliff, which included 4 planes roundtrip, the DFW airport, a forgotten stroller, and too many carry-ons to keep the children occupied. Once we landed safely, we had a fabulous time. We spent a lot of time with Deborah and her family. My dad took the kids swimming while I had photo shoots, and we got to spend a lot of time with Cliff's parents, as well.

We really do love El Paso, and will be back there in August for Cliff's high school reunion. I can't believe it's been 10 years. That means we started dating TEN years ago!


If we are outside, water is involved. We are either at the pool, running through the sprinklers, sliding down a slip and slide, etc.








tell me you love the plumber's crack.

And don't you worry. I have plenty of clips and pictures for your Stone and Emerson fixes. I felt like I just needed to say hello first.

I'll be bach. Soon. xoxo