It's VACATION PICTURE TIME!

So we just got back from spending 9 days on vacation. We drove to San Diego, stopping in Las Vegas on the way. We stayed in the Excalibur - which Brynn LOVED since it was a castle - and saw some of the sights of the strip, went to the Las Vegas and San Diego Temples, went to the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, the Wild Animal Park, went to the beach at Mission Beach, visited the Point Loma Lighthouse and tide pools, walked the shorelike trail in La Jolla and spent time at the Seaport Village shopping center and Embarcadero Park.
My scenic pictures - the ones with no kids - can be found HERE. For family pictures, look out below!














A good time was had by all - in fact, probably too much of a good time as we are all worn out!

Walter Wick exhibit

My girls ALL love the "I Spy" and "Can You See What I See?" books. They are all photographed by Walter Wick, and when I heard that the BYU Art Museum was having an exhibit - had to take the kids!
They had many of the pictures from the various books in HUGE prints on the walls, and they had sets and things from a few of the books. Also short videos to watch about the making of the photos. It wasn't a huge exhibit, but it was very interesting.
The first picture shows Seymour, a character in the "Can You See What I See?" books who appears on every page and Brynn LOVES to find Seymour. When she saw the REAL Seymour at the museum, she talked to him, danced for him, and tried to kiss him through the glass.

Our week!

Realized I forgot one thing from last weekend! Brynn & I went to the grocery store to get some stuff for our picnic lunch up American Fork Canyon and when we got to the store, they were having a big fair of some some. Lots of booth, inflatable fun houses, and a FIRE TRUCK and AMBULANCE to look at!
Brynn had a great time exploring both and talking to the firefighters that were there.




OK on to this week! I'm still working on my photography and have posted some of my new pictures on my photo blog. Feel free to check it out.
I put out a call for practice models for more maternity and newborn pictures - and got 6 responses! YAY! So I'll be busy practicing and learning with those.
Most of the week was boring with school, work, etc. Yesterday was pretty good though! We worked in the yard, and Callie got her own garden spot planted. She's wanted her own patch of ground for flowers for a long time, and spent hours poring over gardening books picking out what she wanted! She planted some marigolds, zinnias, nicotinas, alyssum, and snapdragons from the garden store and she also planted some poppies and black-eyed susans from seeds.

Then we went hiking to the Rocky Mouth waterfall:




After our hike, we cleaned up and met Darrin's family at the cemetary to see Darrin's grandparent's graves and do some annual cleanup:



And then had a fast food dinner and went home for baths and bed.

Catching up!

Oh my it has been a crazy month! I've posted a bunch of stuff, you may want to go back to the post about Brynn's birthday and read them in chronological order. I think this is my 8th post for today.
Some hodgepodge catching up that isn't really worthy of its own post:
1. Kyra attended the drama club banquet and won an award for best stage makeup. She's been learning it in her theater class and is pretty good. Some examples:



2. Kyra's been very busy with rehearsals. First for the one act plays, then for the one act plays AND the Draper Temple Celebration simultaneously, and now just for the temple thing. Plus end of the year stuff, like the AP test and other big projects and tests for school. Plus she's learning to drive and will be taking driver's ed this summer.
3. We found termites in our house. Sigh. Dealing with it.
4. Mother's Day was fun, and I didn't even have to do a birth! (Mother's Day is the only holiday I've ever missed for a birth before. And when I had a client a week over due, well, it could have easily happened!) We just stayed home all day (except for church) and relaxed.
5. Kyra's getting a real interest in photography, and she's pretty good! I'm going to start teaching her some things. Here's an example - she had this picture framed in a rich wood frame and gave it to me for mother's day:

It's nice to share that interest!
6. I have had my first practice sessions with pretend-clients-who-are-really-friends. I did maternity shots of my friend Angie and newborn shots of her baby Piper afterwards. The maternity ones are on my photography blog, the newborn ones are not ready yet. I've been immersed in learning to edit photos as part of this. I'm also doing quite a bit of practice and trying to learn how to better use my camera. It's almost an obsession.... Here are some pictures I took of the girls with my new black background:



(yes, I did buy this the day Kyra learned to do wound makeup in her theater class...)
7. End of semester and beginning a new semester at the Midwives' College is always time consuming. We're implementing the 6 new courses I wrote earlier this year.
8. I've done 2 births since I last blogged.
9. Got our garden cleared, tilled and planted!
So you see how crazy (in a fun and adventurous way) the last month has been? No wonder I haven't blogged!
You may all now stop bugging me about blogging...

American Fork Canyon

So yesterday we took the whole family for a picnic up American Fork Canyon. It was a much WARMER experience than our last trip! We ate, walked around a bit, and drove up to Tibble Fork Reservoir. It was nice to get outside and not spend all Saturday on chores!

Timpanogos Cave

Last week, Darrin and I set out to do what Darrin REALLY wanted to do for his birthday: Timpanogos Cave! It didn't open until the 9th, so we had to wait. Darrin took Monday off work so that we could go. But then my client called at 5 am Monday morning when her water broke, so we had to reschedule for Thursday. (It was a good birth, though LONG since she didn't deliver until around 6 am Tuesday!)
So Thursday as soon as we were done with the states program we set off to hike to Timp Cave and do the tour.





Spring afternoons are a GREAT time to visit the cave! There were only 6 people total on our tour and the rangers were all bored, so we got to take a much longer tour and take as much time as we wanted. We asked lots of questions, took lots of pictures, and had a great time. Our tour was at 3pm. Earlier they'd been flooded by school field trips, later the after school hikers come. 3pm turned out to be perfect! I brought my big flash, and used it wirelessly to take pictures of cave formations. You can see them on my photography blog.

States Parade

With the end of the year comes a boatload of projects, big tests, and performances for parents. Kyra took her first AP test on the 14, and on that same day Callie had her big State Report project, 3D model, poster and float for the parade. (WHY do they have to do SO MUCH?!?!?) Callie was "lucky" enough to draw Iowa!
Callie's 3D model was a ferris wheel from the Iowa State Fair. We used
it on her float as well, along with a barn, some livestock, some corn, and a cardboard version of the Iowa State Quarter.


Since we don't own a wagon, we had to scramble to borrow one (Thanks, Dave & Jenny!) I really felt sorry for the parents of the triplets that are Callie's age, putting together THREE sets of state reports. And finding three wagons!
For the performance, the kids sang lots of patriotic songs and did some square dancing. (Don't ask me why square dancing. It makes no sense to me, either!) Then the kids all pulled their state floats all around the gym showing off their work. Then we got to go back to the classroom and see the written report, poster, travel brochure, etc. Darrin has all the pictures from that on his computer, I'll try to remember to get them and update this post when he gets home.

Good intentions, bad idea

Fresh off our fun hike up Battle Creek Canyon, Darrin & I decided to do a family hike. We chose Donut Falls, having heard it was a good hike for kids. Apparently, not until July! We were not prepared for the snow at all.
We didn't make it to the falls, but had fun anyway.








We'll probably try Donut Falls again in August.

One Act Plays

Kyra performed in a student-directed one act play at her school. She played Eve in "The Diaries of Adam and Eve" by Mark Twain. She did a great job!






Michael, who played Adam, is the same guy who played the crazy Christopher Wren in the Mousetrap.

Darrin's birthday!

So Darrin had a birthday and to celebrate, he wanted to go hiking. We went up Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove. A long hike, but beautiful and it felt great to be getting up in the mountains again!





You can see more of the scenic pictures I took on my photography blog.

Brynn's Birthday!

So Brynn turned 7 and had a pink princess party. NOT Disney! Just regular REAL princesses! (as she kept telling people.)
Yes, she invited a boy to her pink princess party. He's a good friend of hers and was a very good sport about being the only prince at a princess party! (Darrin even dressed up like a prince to try and help him feel better, but I don't think it was necessary.)
We made wands and played games. Made picture frames and everyone got their picture taken with the Brynncess as well. Cake and ice cream were a royal tea party.

Easter Morning

Callie & Darrin have a wierd "war" going on right now. Callie cut out this picture of "The Money You Could Save by Using Geico" and keeps hiding it in odd places for Darrin to find. He returns the favor every time. Last night, just before bed, Callie hid it in Darrin's church shoes. He found it before she woke up and put it in her Easter basket - the fastest turnaround yet!

Easter Dresses!

Had a fun photo session with the girls this morning. I'm including some of my favorite outtakes, too:

Three for Three!

I've been meaning to post this for about a week, but I kept forgetting to take pictures. Today I took some quickies just as the kids were heading off to school. The lighting stinks, but hey, at least you can see what they look like.

We are now officially three for three on producing children with bad eyesight! Kyra was in first grade when she got her glasses. Callie started asking for glasses in 1st grade, but bad mommy that I am, I thought she was just wanting to be like me & Kyra and I didn't take her in until the start of 3rd grade! Well, Kyra & Callie were due for their annual eye exams last month, so I thought I'd get Brynn's eyes checked, too. Good thing I did!

Doesn't she look CUTE!
Callie also got new glasses. Since we don't have vision insurance any more, I was thrilled she picked frames from the clearance rack that cost only $50. Even MORE thrilled when the rang up at $32! And Target was having a sale on kids lenses for only $25 with the purchase of frames, so I could have kissed the sales clerk since we had to buy THREE sets of lenses!
Anyway, here are Callie's new glasses:

Yes, pretty much identical to the old ones. She's happy, I'm happy, who cares if they don't look any different?
Kyra, on the other hand, did something I am not even brave enough to do. She got contacts! I think she finally decided that she wanted them when she had to do the whole Mousetrap play without her glasses on.

Because her prescription changed so much, she did need to get backup glasses, too. (Did I mention I am thankful for the sale? Because I AM!) She chose a new semi rimless style. I'm still totally not used to it, probably because she wears the contacts most of the time.

If she looks funny in that picture, it is because I made her put the glasses on when she had the contacts in, and it made her feel a little woozy. Plus the "Just take the picture, mom, so I can get on with my very important teenage life" attitude.
Not much else going on here, except for the massive amounts of highly unfair snow that we've been having. I'm going up to a conference at the homestead resort Thursday & Friday. It will be a nice break.
Oh and last weekend we got a new birdfeeder and I have been having fun taking pictures:




And yes, I had a birthday. My family was nice enough to get me lots of new stuff (some photography gear I will have fun playing with!) and Darrin & I went out for dinner and a movie.
Well, I hope you all have a happy April Fool's Day and aren't too mad that Brynn doesn't really wear glasses (the picture is her in an old pair of Kyra's) and Kyra didn't really get contacts. Credit for the idea for this post goes to Callie and Kyra, who hatched the idea when we picked up their new glasses yesterday. GOTCHA!

Bragging Rights!

So I'm the mom, I gave birth to them, so I get to blog about their accomplishments, right?
That's what I thought you'd say, so here I go:
First, Kyra!
She'd been chosen to represent her school at the regional drama competition in the pantomime category. She and her partner had done quite a bit of practice and prep, and the competition was Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, it isn't something parents get to go to - they are just performing in a small room before a panel of judges.
But she got an overall superior rating and will advance to the state competition! YAY KYRA!
Here is the medal she won:

Being a typical teenager, she wouldn't even reenact the pantomime for me to take blog pictures, sorry!
And now, CALLIE!
She had the Central Utah Science and Engineering Fair today. And THIS I got to go to! And you know what that means, right? PICTURES!

She had worked very hard to improve her project, conducting 2 follow-up experiments, revising the display, practicing for the interview, etc.
The judging was in the morning. She was interviewed 3 times by 3 different judges, including one who was a physics professor at BYU, which really WOWed Callie. When I arrived, she was just finishing the last interview, so I snuck a picture:

Then Callie got some lunch and we wandered around looking at other projects. They had some people standing in the hallway with a contraption that made bubbles filled with the fog from dry ice. The kids were all crowded around getting the bubbles dropped on their hands or head. When the bubbles popped, the fog went everywhere!



Then we watched a "mad scientist" show. They made lots of bubbly foam, played around with ph and air pressure, blew smoke rings, etc. I got a few pictures, but the lighting was really bad!


And then she asked for a volunteer and picked Callie:

She had Callie sit on a flat wooden board with handles. It had a hole where she attached a leaf blower and it forced air under the board and made Callie hover over the floor. The first pictures I took were really blurry. For some reason I like this one anyway:

But then I turned on the flash and got one where you don't feel dizzy looking at it:

After that show, we hiked clear across campus (from the Harman Building to the JSB) for the awards ceremony. Callie had been considered for a special award for "Best Use of the Metric System" but did not win that one. She did get a 4th place award for the Physics category! She got a certificate, a trophy, and a check for $15! She was happy. I was happy. It was a great day.

And Brynn? Her greatest accomplishment this week was talking me into a pair of cute pink church shoes she didn't really need. But they match her Easter dress, so I caved. You'll have to wait until Easter for pictures of that!