Thoughts for Thursday

Today...Today has been an interesting day. Most of the day I found myself depressed and so super irritated. I couldn't figure out why and kept going through a mental check list as to what the problem would be. I know that I get REALLY grouchy when I don't eat, so I made sure to eat as much as I could (which just isn't that much these days for some reason). Lincoln took a nap and that gave me some time to think and relax.

As I was getting ready for a baby shoot today, it hit me... Today is my dear friend Shannon's one year mark of her death. It all made sense after I realized what day it was. It's weird how something can affect you with out you even realizing it. Every time I scroll through my phone to find a number and come across her name, I stop and just stare at her name. I can not bring myself to delete her name out of my phone. When I drive past one of her old homes by UVU, I often find my eyes starting to burn from the tears (as they are now). Loosing someone you love so much is HARD. You never EVER get over it, you just learn to cope. I am STILL trying to find the courage to go visit her grave. I have never been, nor do I want to go but know that I NEED to. One day this spring is my goal... We'll see how that goes though.

Lincoln...My boy is WALKING!!! He has been for 2 weeks. He's pretty good and very proud of himself. He just walks around the house like it's no body's business. It's the cutest thing ever. I can't believe in just ONE SHORT WEEK, he will be ONE. That seriously was just a blink of an eye! I am quite depressed about that too. He is growing too fast. I took pics of our new nephew and Lincoln looks like monster baby next to Parker! Crazy... I miss my little newborn Lincoln!

Chef's Table with Tyler and Robynn...Last night, we went with our friends to the Chef's Table. It is a REALLY nice restaurant that has like a 10 course meal. Seriously, by the time your main dish comes, you're so STUFFED! Really, it is the NICEST place I've EVER been too! I have been so excited to go out somewhere NICE. Well... we thought if we went while Lincoln was taking his afternoon nap, we'd be just fine. He has been a lot better at his naps lately but not yesterday. NOPE! He woke up as soon as we got out of the car. We both just looked at each other and shook our heads. We KNEW where this was heading. But it IS our fault-we shouldn't have brought him. Our friends brought their baby and their baby was acting up too, so we didn't feel as stupid.

Lesson learned though. Lincoln wanted to walk around and kept pointing to the other room and whining. We had to eat in shifts. He REALLY wanted that knife next to my plate and wasn't quiet about letting me know. Trying to eat with a baby in your lap is almost impossible. There were crumbs EVERYWHERE! We tried to feed him some of our food too. A few bites here and there is all that happened. I'm sure the waiter was more then annoyed with us. We joked about that and how even more annoyed he was going to be when both couples pulled out their GIFT CARDS!! HA HA HA!!! At one point during the meal, Jory was talking and all of a sudden we hear this splashing noise. Jory had his wine glass of water in his hand while he was talking and Lincoln put his whole hand in the glass and started just splashing a way! Jory just said, "Whatever, he's happy-I don't care!" Two seconds later, he was BAWLING (and quite loudly too) because the water was in fact ICE water. His poor little hand was freezing!! LOL!!!!

By the time we left, the beautiful white table clothe had massive stains everywhere on it and the floor was TRASHED with crumbs and food that had flown everywhere. How white trash! They probably thought we belonged in McDonald's-not this place. I was quite embarrassed, but what can ya do? Oh yeah... GET A BABY SITTER NEXT TIME.

Parker Landon

The minute I found out my sweet nephew was born, I packed up my stink bugs and we headed over to the hospital to see him. Oh is he darling. I took some pics of him while he was in the hospital. Believe me, there will be MANY more photo shoots of this little guy!

Clearly, this isn't Parker, but these two kidlets were pretty excited about their little baby!

Wedding Expo!

What a weekend!!!

I haven't done a bridal fair for a while because the last one I did was awful. I didn't book a thing and it was devastating. Then again, there weren't that many people there and there were  about 12 photographers there as well. NEVER doing the Provo High Bridal Fair again. Thanksgiving Point is SO much better! Anyways, I really felt that I needed to try again. I kept telling myself NO WAY. The thoughts wouldn't leave though. I decided to try one more time. I had forgotten HOW much time was invested in one of these things. To keep up with the cut throat industry here in Utah, you have to be on top of your game ALL THE TIME and always updating your portfolio. LOTS of work. Not to mention expensive. I think it went ok though. We'll see...

Dayle told me I had to take pics so she could see my booth, so here it is! Turned out cute eh?

Anyways, I've been getting ready for that all last week and we also had the birth of my new nephew as well. Can I just tell you how CUTE that little boy is? I can't wait to hold him again. He was born in the same hospital as Lincoln and it was a little hard to go back there. The memories are still fresh and raw. At any rate, I am so glad he is here and doing well. He is the 4th grand baby on the Bennett side and I am thrilled that Lincoln has a boy cousin that is closer to his age.

Speaking of Lincoln, he is yet again sick. Not to mention teething. Poor little boy. He has started walking though and it IS the CUTEST thing I've ever seen. He gets so proud of himself and gets that little Lincoln signature smile on his face.  I also got sick as well. I broke out in Fever/Herpes virus all over my ear yesterday and never to fail, it makes me sick.  Needless to say, Lincoln and I only made it to Young Women's to teach the girls today.

Here's a pic of me and Lincs in our booth. Don't we look so good together??

Special thanks to...

*Ashley for watching Lincoln while we went to load our stuff over! He was such a sad boy and I always feel so bad when I have to have someone watch him for me!

*Jeanie and Dustin for helping load, unload and GENEROUSLY lending us their van as Jory's truck wouldn't work (so depressing!)

*My mom who dolled up, drove down from Ogden after having a ROOT CANAL THAT morning and helping out with the booth and taking over so I could go eat . IN FACT, one girl came and talked to me later that evening and told me how wonderful my mother was and how she had sold her on using my services! GO MOM!!! =D

*Melissa Blanton who always supports me in everything, is sooo loyal and always makes my hair look fantastic (which isn't easy BTW).

*Jory for watching Lincoln all day and being a such good sport about it. Also for helping set up, take down and doing most of the loading home. And for telling me how proud he was of me for doing this. It TRULY was hard for me to put myself back out there!

*And of course let's not forget my cute boy... He just cute-plain and simple! ha ha ha!!!

Baby Bennett

The day has FINALLY arrived that my brother and his sweet wife welcomed their 3rd baby into this world. A beautiful little boy. So sweet... I can't wait to hold him again.  Kinda looks like Bugs to me. Here he is in all his glory

                                                                             Baby Bennett 03/17/2011
                                                                                  9:19am  8lbs 12 oz
                                                                                        20.5 inches

The Perfect Walk

Last week, Lincoln and I were looking out the window. The weather was warm(er) and the lighting was perfect. Hmmmm... Why not, I thought to myself. I packed up my camera equipment and my baby and off we went driving. We found a spot where it was peaceful, desolate and beautiful. I pulled out the stroller and off we went walking. Can I just tell you HOW HAPPY this makes my boy? And of course, when my boy is happy, I am happy.

I can't believe how beautiful the day was. Lincoln was so very intrigued with everything going on around him. I put him on a blanket and he just did NOT move. There was so much to see and hear. He was in Heaven. It was a perfect walk indeed!

It will be so nice when it is warm enough to take him out on long walks. I can't wait. He is an out door boy already. I love it. He gets so sad when we bring him inside. It will be a fun spring and summer for sure.

It was nice to wear him out a little!

Ah ha!! Just kidding, he couldn't be more alive and wide eyed!

So VERY much in love with catch light in eyes and this image nailed it!

Oh how this stick made him so happy and entertained him forever!

How does that cute little smirk not make you smile? =D

 Here are just a few of the gorgeous images I took of my boy boy. I will have tons more on my portrait blog within the week. I LOVE how they turned out. I'm so excited for the weather to warm up and for the earth to become alive again!

This last image just warms me right up inside. That is my sweet little miracle boy! That is HIS little trade mark smile. He smiles like that at me ALL the time. It's a funny smile that lights up my world. Happiness right there friends!

Decorating Ideas...

So I've been looking at a lot of different ideas for our room. I am beyond shocked at some of the things that are so popular right now. I'm being serious here. Ruffles. ???  Ummm, REALLY? What are your thoughts? I found ALL images below on different sites, so it's not even just one person.

A Bed Skirt??

Hideous bedspread

Nursery Curtains

And this delish shower curtain.

If you like any of this and I have offended you some how, I am sorry. However, I do think these are disgusting. I am not a ruffley person in any way, shape or form. Dayle!! Perhaps you likey?? HA HA HA!!!! Yeah right...

Colds

I know the following 3 images look quite similar, but I love them all and didn't want to narrow them down. Lincoln has been battling colds and ear infections for a while now. He just got over his 3rd ear infection since December. I feel like he gets over one cold and then he jumps right into another one. So sad for baby. These pics of him were so beautiful! Even if he is sporting a snotting nose. I thought about retouching the snot out and that just seemed like too much work at the moment. That and this is history and how he really did look at that moment.

Our house has been looking like this a lot. Actually, it has been worse. It seems as though everytime I get it picked up and cleaned, it's right back to this state. I think I'll just give up and enjoy life! Ok, maybe I'll do one last spring cleaning! Maybe...