A Castle and a Horse-Drawn Carriage

You read that right......I shot a wedding yesterday that took place at a castle.  With a carriage.  And horses.  And a draw-bridge.  Straight out of a fairy tale, honest!!!  Stay tuned for more to come!

Jed & Samantha {Wedding}

I shot Jed and Sam's engagement pictures quite a while ago, and last weekend was their big day!  We had such a great time. Here are some samples from their wedding.

Full Time

I work full time.

I'm a full time wife.

I'm a full time mother to an almost 3-year old little boy.

I also have a very busy photography business

Oh, and I'm a full-time mommy-to-be.  Let's not forget that little detail.

What do those things mean?  I'm busy.  BUSY.

So a decision has been made.  To those who need nothing but drama in their lives, you're now on your own.  I'm not interested in playing. Or trading insults. Or anything else that goes with the territory.  I have more important things to do in my life, and, at this point, I need to be as stress-free as possible to ensure that my body can grow a healthy little baby.  So to those, and they're fully aware of who they are, a gentle reminder:  you graduated high school a long damn time ago.  If there's nothing else in your life that inspires you to ACT like an adult, I feel sorry for you.  My time is needed elsewhere, for things FAR more important.  Grow up.

Pregnancy Tracker - 5 weeks

So I'm going to do a weekly pregnancy tracker, where I can track what's going on with the baby and myself.  I did this with Carter and I LOVED it.  It really kept me in-tune with my body, the baby, and what to expect.  Speaking of what to expect, I have been informed that I need to go pick up a copy of "What to Expect When Mommy is Expecting."  It's on my list of items to take to Tahoe.

On to the Tracker:

Deep in the, uterus the embryo is growing at a furious pace. At this point, he's about the size of a sesame seed, and he looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. He's now made up of three layers — the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm — which will later form all of his organs and tissues.

The neural tube — from which your baby's brain, spinal cord, nerves, and backbone will sprout — is starting to develop in the top layer, called the ectoderm. This layer will also give rise to his skin, hair, nails, mammary and sweat glands, and tooth enamel.

His heart and circulatory system begin to form in the middle layer, or mesoderm. (This week, in fact, his tiny heart begins to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood.) The mesoderm will also form your baby's muscles, cartilage, bone, and subcutaneous (under skin) tissue.

The third layer, or endoderm, will house his lungs, intestines, and rudimentary urinary system, as well as his thyroid, liver, and pancreas. In the meantime, the primitive placenta and umbilical cord, which deliver nourishment and oxygen to your baby, are already on the job.

(courtesy of http://www.babycenter.com/)

The Fair - Day Two

We ventured out to the fair again last night - I picked last night because a ton of the Boise schools started yesterday, and I was hoping that most of the parents wouldn't be taking their families to the fair.  My gamble paid off.  There really weren't that many people there at all.  It was easy to maneuver around the entire fair, though we basically stayed by the rides. 

So the only animals we encountered were the ponies, which Carter wanted to ride.  He really liked them last year, and this year was no different.

The rest of the evening was devoted to rides for Carter. 

First, he went on a caterpillar roller coaster.  And he was a pro right off the bat - look at those arms up in the air!!

Next we hit up the smaller version of the BIG swings.  This was by far his favorite ride.

Next, I decided to try a ride with him.  Usually I just sit these out because the spinning and going in circles, or the ones that spin WHILE going in circles just doesn't bode well with my stomach.  Especially now that I'm pregnant - I don't want to push my luck!  But I did go on the "flying elephants" (wouldn't that be something?!) with him and we had a great time!  Eric had a really hard time snapping a decent picture while the ride was in motion (amateur, sheesh!), so he got one of us right when we got off the ride.

Next up was some jeep action.  This one was a little basic for him, but he had an older girl with him, and he had to show of his jeep-drivin' skills.  ;-)

We let him pick out the next ride, and he chose the dragon roller coaster.  This one didn't allow parents, so we loaded him up on his own.  He did NOT like this ride.  I think without someone else in the car with him, he got thrown around a little bit, and he was actually crying to get out by the end.  :(

So we totally redeemed the dragon love by letting him ride the carousel.

Our last stop on the way out was at a place where I created a "masterpiece" every year at the fair as a child.  The splatter barrels!!  We let Carter create his own, which will go somewhere in his bedroom.

The fair this year was totally fun (mostly because I wasn't 9 months pregnant, or dealing with a baby).  Carter really held his own (no strollers this year!) and we all had a great time!

Book Review: Ice Cold

For those who know me, Tess Gerritsen is one of my favorite authors.  She writes medical crime thrillers.  The main characters are Rizzoli (homicide detective) and Isles (medical examiner).  You may have heard of the TV show on TNT, which is based on this book series.  This series is just phenomenal. Every single book is a mega page turner, and this one was no different.  In fact, I knocked it out in just over a day and a half.  This book is based on a trip in the dead of winter, to Wyoming of all places, that has gone incredibly wrong.  It's also loosely based on some of the FLDS sects in this region of the country.  It's a fantastic read, and if you haven't read any of the books in this series, I highly recommend them (in order, of course).

And Baby Makes.....FOUR

That's right.  We're pregnant!!!!

I'm sure I'll do an update or two on here as the months progress.  ;-)

The Fair - Day One

Well, day one for us anyway.  We will be going again later in the week to do lots more rides.  Today's focus was on a few of the interactive exhibits and the animals.

The first stop we made was the big dinosaur exhibit - Carter was begging to see the dinosaurs, and since they are his favorite, we happily obliged.

The dinosaurs were moving around courtesy of animatronics (or however that's spelled - I'm too tired to look it up).  We figured Carter would go nuts and tell us all about the dinosaurs - but once we got inside, it was a complete change of attitude for him.  He was actually scared of the big ones.

Like this fella - my personal favorite. ;-)

As you can see from Carter's face (though it's a horribly blurry picture), he's speechless.  And I don't think he looks too thrilled to see the t-rex either.

So we moved onto the next part of the exhibit, which was digging for "fossils".  He had a fun time with this and we were quickly done with that exhibit.

Next up was one of the animal houses.

Carter absolutely loved the bunnies - and there were so many!  He stuck his fingers into every cage, and fortunately came out with all ten intact.  There were also chickens and other birds in the houses - one chicken actually got loose and was running around.......like a chicken WITH its head.  Hardy har har.  But really, it was running around like crazy and I don't think it got caught while we were there.

Next up was another animal houses - with pigs, goats, sheep, cows, etc.

Some of the pigs were super friendly - until I started talkin' bacon and honey baked ham.  Then they realized we weren't meant to be friends.  ;-)

Carter really liked the goats too (honestly, he loves every animal).

After the animal houses, we decided to hit up a couple rides.  I didn't bring a ton of cash with me because I knew we were going later int he week to focus on just the rides.  So we stuck to the smaller rides.  He got to ride the spinning dragons (with Eric of course, I can't handle spinning rides, that spin while the entire ride spins.  Barf).

And we happened upon a ride that had all of the character from Finding Nemo.......the shark was full, so he decided to ride in Nemo instead.  This was definitely one of his favorites.

After a few more rides, we decided to hit up the petting tent.  At this point, all of the hay was driving my allergies into OVERdrive.  My eyes were itchy and swelling up, snot was running all over the place. I was a true thing of beauty, let me tell ya.  So I figured we would just hurry through this section and go home. 

I was wrong.

Why?  Because Eric found a hidden pile of "feed" for the animals (I'm not paying to feed them), so we walked around and let Carter feed several of the animals - "their tongues tickle my hand!!"  So cute!

I was finally able to talk the boys into leaving the hay-infested areas, and we headed to one last exhibit before calling it a night.  The Australian animals!  The kangaroos were awesome - hopping all over the place!!

By the end of this exhibit, Carter was cranky, I could hardly see through the slits that were my eyes.  I got home and ran straight for the prescription allergy meds in my bathroom.  I managed to peel my contacts out of my eyes and blindly type through this blog post.  And now I'm off to bed.  We'll visit the fair again this week, after work sometime, so we'll have more pictures to come!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Coming Soon

I shot a wedding Friday evening at the CW Moore Building in downtown Boise - I will be editing the pictures this week, so look for more pictures to arrive soon!

But it won't be today.....we are off to the fair!

Coming to Your Mailbox Soon

.....well, for our close friends and family, anyway.

This week's project was to make the invitations for Carter's 3rd birthday.  I started out with the idea of dinosaurs, which did end up working out.  The invitation as a whole didn't turn out exactly like I had hoped, but I finally just threw it all together and got them out in the mail.  It's just an invitation - nothing to get too picky about.  Here are some little previews - I'm not posting a picture of the whole invite because it has contact information and you just never know who looks at this site.

This little cuteasaurous (which you may have seen over at my mother-in-law's blog, http://michellescreativetreasures.blogspot.com/ ) was just too adorable to pass up!  And given Carter's obsession with dinosaurs, it just seemed like the perfect fit.

I added some sparkle to the horn and back using some Stickles - awesome!  Made the cute guy even cuter!

And here's as close as you are going to get to the full invitation.  ;-)  I can't wait for his party - it's going to be so fun!

Definition Please

IRRESPONSIBLE

—adj

1. not showing or done with due care for the consequences of one's actions or attitudes; reckless

i.e., using something for other than its intended purpose - is irresponsible, in my opinion

A Not So Family-Friendly Visit to Toys 'r Us

On Saturday, we took a little trip to Toys r’ Us to get some of Carter’s birthday presents, and to put his bike on hold. While we were standing at the Customer Service desk, a man walked in with one of those massive baby bouncers – the ones that are like 3 feet wide, with every conceivable toy attached to it. He interrupted us and demanded to speak with a manager. First wrong move – wait your turn, jerk. So instead of creating a scene with this guy (he does that on his own a little later, don’t you worry), we move aside and let him begin his story with the Customer Service lady. He attempts to explain, in a remotely polite manner, that he has had this bouncer for quite some time, doesn’t have the receipt, but would like to either return it for something else, or get his money back as he deems it unsafe for his child. The Customer Service gal politely explains to him that the time for him to return the item has now expired, and without a receipt, they cannot issue a refund. The man’s face starts to go red and I can tell this is going to escalate into a real issue. He explains his situation again, insisting that this bouncer is not safe for his child – that pieces continually get pulled off (um, what child doesn’t destroy their toys?), and that he’s not mad at the Customer Service gal, he just wants some “justice”. At this point, the manager has arrived and attempts to calm down the situation. The manager explains, word for word, what the customer service gal had previously explained. Let me tell you, this did NOT go over well with the man. He finally said “you know what, nevermind! Clearly this isn’t going to get me anywhere.” And he storms off. So everyone is basically standing there staring at each other, wondering if this really just happened, when the man turns around and says “you know what, on second thought, YOU keep this piece of shit” and he literally hurls the bouncer back into the store….where it bounces (ha ha) and skids for several feet before slamming into a display rack. I raised an eyebrow and told the guy “well that was totally inappropriate” (Eric quickly hushed me), but the guy was too fired up to even hear anyone as he stormed out.

So I’m wondering, what is it that causes people to act this way, not only in public, but in a kids’ store with numerous families WITH children, standing around watching?! I get that he was mad about the product he had purchased – I’ve been there. But to stand there and literally chuck a bouncer back into the store? Sheesh! Either he needs some serious anger management, or he was just THAT desperate for his refunded money….possibly to go score his drug de jour?

Another Day on the Water

I know we were just playing in the water yesterday.  And I know I just wanted a relaxing weekend to be lazy before Eric takes off to Stanley for a month....but Carter talked me into the water again today. Honestly, he didn't even mention the river.  He just said "swimming" and I figured we could drive a whole five minutes out of our way and enjoy the gorgeous day outside.  So I'm a push-over....and I can't deny my boy's baby-blues.  You try it.  So off to the river we went.

And of course, Carter spent much of the time throwing rocks.  And Eric and I had a friendly competition to see who could throw a rock all the way across the river. (I won, shhhh)

And we actually walked all the way across the river too - it wasn't deep at all where we were.  And there were tons of little baby fish in the water - Carter was beside himself trying to point at every single one!

And I really did try my hardest to get Eric to snap some good pictures of Carter and me because let's face it, I'm always the one BEHIND the camera and it would be nice to have some good ones of just Carter and me.  But teaching a man how to operate this camera just doesn't work - so we got what we got, and I'm good with it.  ;)  The important thing is that we had a great time.

And now we're back home.  The child is in bed.  The windows are open.  And I'm off to read a good book.

Hope you all had a good weekend, too!