if you hadn’t noticed…

in case you hadn’t noticed, this blog has been sitting stagnant for quite sometime now…there’s a good reason for that,

i promise!

and the reason is : WE’VE MOVED!

so hop on over to the new blog, save it in your favorites, and check it out!

live as you blog it : www.lifeasyouliveit.com/blog

thanks for popping by!

eyes wide open

i went to bed on thursday night happy, inspired, content, and i woke up friday morning wedged between two sleeping babies. ownee rolled over and whispered, ‘i love you’ and i thought…this is going to be a great day.

and for a brief moment, it was…until my phone rang.

my sister’s voice was laced with fear when she told me she was worried about our parents. they had flown to japan the day before and had i seen the news? earthquake. tsunami. devastation. she’d tried to call delta. lines = busy. we called cell phones regardless of expensive charges in the hopes of hearing their voices = only beeping. we had all of technology at the tips of our fingers, and we were helpless. we scoured the internet looking for info, hoping for something, anything that would let us know where they were. were they safe? had their plane landed? we were stuck in a mire of unknowing, and it is an awful, fearful place. a place i wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

that was the worst 3 hours of my entire life. the inability to find an answer to the simple question, were they safe? is an indescribable feeling. i’m beyond happy to tell you that we did in fact get word that they were tucked safely away at the yokota air force base outside of tokyo. they had food, water, a place to sleep, limited internet. praise God. my heart breaks for the thousands of people who are still suspended in that state of unknowing, wondering if their loved ones are ok, safe, alive.

*photo courtesy of yokota air base website* this is where they stayed the night…

with any tragedy comes the realization that perhaps our priorities have misaligned, and this whole thing has thrown me into that state. has shot my eyes wide open and has made me re-realize the importance of family, of relationships, of the power of prayer, of the intense power of God (on many levels), of the need for all of us to take a hard look at our lives, zoom-out, and re-focus our priorities on the things that are truly important. that truly matter. so hug the ones you love a little tighter tonight, read that one extra bedtime story they are begging for, find time, because we never, ever know when time will run out. thankfully, our lesson came with a 2nd chance, and a harsh reminder of the realities of life. a happy outcome for us…not so for others.

during that morning of not-knowing, all i could think was that i had, unknowingly taken the last image of my parents together, and it was a horrible feeling…

*taken while skype-ing them before they took off from the seattle airport on thursday*

by the grace of God, it won’t be the last image i have of them together. and at the risk of sounding redundant and/or cliché, i’m going to say it all again because i want you all to cherish your time together…

: love the ones you hold. hold them tightly. make them feel special. remind them of your love for them. take time. it’s important. they’re important. look at your life and re-prioritize. please. do it. today.

i am BEYOND grateful that i can tell these two little boys they will see their grama sue and papa again soon…that they will be able to hug them and love them and play with them and just be…

my heart, like the rest of the world, continues to ache for the people truly affected by this tragedy. if you’d like to help the people of japan, please visit this link at the red cross to send funds over to help.

WPPI * vegas baby

today, thoughts of packing are rolling around in my head. and the adrenaline that comes along with the preparation for any good road trip pumps through my veins with things to check off my quickly expanding to-do list…and all before we hit the road on friday. how many loads of laundry need to hit the wash? do i have snacks for the boys or do i need to make a run to the store? what to pack? what to wear? all that matters is that i have my camera, my notebooks, and my smile because come friday *vegas baby* for the biggest photographer’s conference in the U. S. of A….can i get a monster WOOT-WOOT!!

i am BEYOND excited/nervous/thrilled/scared to head off to this conference. it’s an entire weeks worth of photographic educational goodness. two of my favorite words mashed into one sentence : photography + education (yes, i’m one of those self-admitted persons who LOVES TO LEARN. dork? yes, also self-admitted) so for one week, i get to soak up the knowledge of some of the top photographers in the world; i get to meet photographer peers & mentors; and to check out all the hot new photography products & gear. SO. FLIPPIN’. EXCITED.

i can’t WAIT to share everything i’ve learned with you…i’ve been working on my spongey-ness in order to maximize the soaking-upage of all the new awesome information i’m going to get tossed my way (more hard evidence of my dorkiness, as if you needed it! just. really. excited. REALLY.)

and thanks to the fact that auntie jill also lives in vegas, my boys get to come with me…yay! no bouts of missing my babies…just lover :( my schedule is PACKED, so i won’t be around much during the week so i think it would be wise if we all said a little prayer that jill (though i know how much she loves them!) survives the rambunctious-ness that encompasses my boys! :)

and because it feels wrong to blog without any images, i was just curious if anyone else’s backyard looks this bomb-went-off-ish?

or if anyone else’s 4-year-old is this camera resistant?

or loves cars so flippin’ much that he BEGS to give them a ‘carwash?’ (daddy’s influence…)

or if you have ever, EVER in your life seen anything this stinkin’ cute?

and one final last random thought (because that’s what i’m best at…) going to start documenting the cravings of ‘thing 3.’ not that anyone should be or will be exceedingly interested, but i thought it would be fun to be able to look back on once he/she arrives…

today…i would KILL for in-and-out burger and have already bribed lover into a 20 minute escapade across town to indulge the little bundle and it’s mama :0)

little thoughts of LOVE

i’m struggling to find words tonight. there’s a lot of type-type-type-type-baaaaaaaaaackspace going on. not that i have any super deep thoughts to share or that our valentine’s day was earth shattering-ly romantic, i think my brain might be giving up for the night. that said, i’m jumping right in…

valentine’s day. a happy one to you! this year i thought i would just embrace the fact that this is a sugar-based holiday. let’s face it, valentine’s day could easily be called sugar day and everyone would be just as happy. so in order to correctly embrace this day long sugar high, the boys woke up to a table cloaked in red, handmade valentines, chocolate and a bowl of candy hearts…they. were. thrilled. my heart melted when owen said a simple, ‘thank you for the valentine mommy!’ don’t you love kids? a simple handmade card and some chocolate and he was on cloud 9!

oh, don’t think we stopped there! we had hot chocolate and heart-shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream (oh, yes we did and all this before 7am!) i think i am their hero. and i’m cool with that.

(*apologies for the quality of these next few images. we were up early, the light sucked (to be frank) and i didn’t have time to whip out the speedlight…that said, they’re still pretty darn cute in my opinion.)

love you too.

my valentine’s gift? the boys and lover brought me some flowers to plant outside…just wanted to share because they are so nice and spring-y (in a seasonal kind of way, not a jumping on the bed kind-of-a way…)

owen had gotten some caterpillars for his birthday that we watched transform into butterflies (AWESOME gift idea if you’re looking for something outside the box to give a little one!) we figured it was the perfect time to set them free to enjoy the new flowers.

a quick share on the valentine’s owen took to give his friends at his school valentine’s day party. we skewed away from candy (gasp! don’t tell my alter ego who was celebrating the day of sugar earlier!) but this idea was too fun to pass up and he LOVED it.

there is nothing quite like walking into the grocery store with 20 odd quarters, a 2 and a 4-year-old, and a bouncy ball dispenser…want a good time? you should try it… :)

our most favorite valentine’s day tradition is definitely dinner. it started WAY back when lover and i were in college (too poor to go out to eat? not sure…) but now every single valentine’s day, without fail, we eat mac n’ cheese and hotdogs for dinner. oh yes, we do. we splurge and really go all out and get the ‘good’ mac n’ cheese and the ‘good’ hotdogs. it’s fun to make something so ordinary become special by doing it year after year isn’t it? wish i had a picture to share, but we were to excited and scarfed it all down before my sugar numbed brain remembered to pick up a camera!

so that’s that, valentine’s day. i hope yours was just as awesome, and the boys hope it was cool dude. really, cool.

an announcement & happy thoughts *wheeeeee!*

the blog has been sitting vacant again, have you noticed? somehow it keeps getting neglected, and i know loyal few of you who check each and everyday to see if there’s a new post…and for that, i thank you!

i’m going to start this post off with an announcement that i’ve been holding onto (though i’m sure many of you out there who stalk the blog have already heard the word…) there is a new *thing* coming to our residence this summer…

you got that right! *thing 3* will grace us with his/her presence august 10-ish (SO excited!) and for the time being (and for hopefully not much longer), *thing 3* has graced me with things like : feeling tired, slightly (*a lot*) unmotivated and slightly (*more than i’d like to admit*) moody…thus the lack of blogging and the increased movie watching and napping going on at my house. but fear not! i’m dragging my unmotivated booty out of my sweatpants and back into ‘real’ life!

in order to do so, i went on a clicking spree and snapped some shots of a few tiny and random things that make me happy. it never fails to give me a boost when i focus on the little positive things in my life and life in general. so herrrrrre we go!

happy thought 1 : the moment when you realize your little baby is not so little anymore. and you are both happy and a little sad because of it. i had one of those moments with little emmi the other day. with him rockin’ his baseball hat, you can no longer think baby. just cute, happy little boy.

happy thought 2 : watching your little one focus, learn, absorb, make friends, try new things, expand, grow, live.

happy thought 3 : getting to wear a ‘winter’ hat in the southwest because the weather was finally cool enough (momentarily). yeah baby.

happy thought 4 : enjoying the out-of-doors in my quote-un-quote winter hat with these two rascals :) (*some good old-fashioned sun flare in my images always adds a bonus happy thought*)

*another bonus happy thought : emmitt peeking out from behind his big brother…could they be cuter? bias, of course.*

happy thought 5 : watching emmitt drink his ketchup. result? this cute face paired with a fancy-super-polite pinky finger french fry raise…

happy thought 6 : life details that scream little boy-hood.

happy thought 7-ish : here’s the random one (you were waiting, admit it.) i was really, REALLY trying to focus on the teeny tiny details that made me happy. things like…shadow pictures that leave your imagination a little wiggle room, carmax the lipbalm of choice that lives nestled inside my makeup bag (what’s your fav?), this banner i made for owen’s party (everything about it makes me smile : the colors, the shape, the fact that i hot glued it together and i just don’t care and that it dangles haphazardly in our living room in no particular thought-out arrangement…), and shoe-shots with slightly protruding baby bellies…

happy thought 8 : when well-meaning art projects turn into…feather fights?

happy thought 9 : who else? what can i say? i love my boys. can’t. get. enough.

thanks for joining me on my happy trails. more blogging on a new day. *promise*…make that *thing 3* promises :o) happy, happy night all!