Easter Photos 2013

I've decided I really shouldn't torture the family with a photo shoot more than twice a year. 

It's pretty painful for them (and me) to have the required patience with my budding interest in photography. 

I find solace in one thing:

I am being a great example

of diligent pursuit of hobbying.

I hope that all my girls

will have hobbies

that they love and enjoy

and don't give up

for any reason.

(especially when they are moms)

The pictures may look good

but trust me

they took a good hour or two

and there were many many outtakes.

Thank 

goodness 

for

digital.

My favorite moment of the day:

making out with LG

while the kids watched

and/or

hammed it up for camera.

 

My second favorite moment:

watching the girls enjoy the shore.

Note to self:

no guardrails

Crazy Family.

I'm really bummed

we didn't get a good one

of this set-up.

really bummed.

LG + AG 4Ever

Happy Valentine's Day

to the love of my life.

And with a good marriage counselor

I hope it stays that way.

Keeping it real.

I love you LeGrand Gold.

The Monster

Our baby monster is growing up way too fast.
This seems like a lifetime ago.

Almost Monochromatic

It's been snowing for

what seems like months.

Today is the second blue sky in

about four weeks.

True story.

Every other day has just been

white everywhere you look.

How my soul loves

the beauty

of a the blue sky

among the

black and white earth.

Winter white.

Everywhere

the eye can see.

The earth

seems

black
under

blanket

after blanket

of

snow.

Dead.

Yet

piercingly

beautiful.

The white

touches the white

part of my soul.

And the black

touches the black.

The complexity

of my emotions

seems to find

a balance

among the

monochromatic

landscape.

The only

colors

that surround

are

black,white, and brown.

And then the clouds lift

and

blue shines through.

Like a breath

of fresh air.

Or water

to the thirsty

Sahara traveler

who reached

her oasis.

There is blue

in my soul too.

And red,

and yellow.

The colors release

to find the sky

and remind me

of my beauty

amidst

the wintery white.

Mustache you about those beards

While having cream of wheat in the kitchen Thursday morning, 

here was the conversation.

Caroline (in her alarmed voice): "Mom, we have beards again."

Me: (referring to the photos on the wall) "Who did that?"

Caroline: "Abigail."

Me (laughing): "Why would she do that?"

Caroline (in all seriousness): "Because she's a brat!"

I have loved these photos in our dining room.

They have given us a whole lot of entertainment.

One of my favorite times was when I noticed

that the kids had switched the order of the photos

so that they read

Ice-cream is better than your love.

I guess that would be an honest statement

depending on whether or not

you have an available bowl of ice-cream.

Funniest part is that by the time

this busy mom noticed

the kids swear they had been rearranged for

at least a month.

Maybe ice-cream is better than my love.

Sometimes I am too busy serving my family

that I forgot to stop and make sure they know

that I love them dearly.

New Year

In Utah,

we've had some record colds

for the past week.

I've loved all the snow.

I don't think Olive has though.

Check out her water

frozen over.

We've all been enjoying our

Christmas gifts.

Caroline is up to her same antics.

But like her shirt says,

she is the best present ever

so it's o.k. that

she's spoiled rotten.

Right?

Notice that Santa

did bring the girl

all she wanted.

Make-up and nail polish.

Sophia finally got a fijit (she's wanted it for 2 years
and Santa found it on sale at Target for $15.)
Caroline with her make-up case.
 She has carried it around the house with all her treasures.
Bella with her FurReal Pets.
Abigail with her combat boots. Katniss style.

My favorite gift you ask?

It is a 50/50 toss up between

my pizelle maker

that I asked for on pinterest

and

the diamond earrings

that LG

picked out

all by myself.

But my favorite of all was this purse.

I've been looking for the perfect purse for 3 years.

LG and I spotted this at TJMaxx a week after Christmas

but it was $100 so I put it back.

LG went back to the store

on his own accord and

surprised me with it for no reason at all

on New Year's Eve.

He said it is my

"the party is over" purse.

That means I'll have it to enjoy

when I go back to living on a

non-Christmas bonus budget.

It makes me so happy every time I see it.

I love this photo from Christmas.

Abigail thought that Bella's present was awesome.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is

taking the girls to the Dollar Tree and letting them shop.

It always proves to be entertaining.

I justify the expense by only letting them shop

for a select few and by

not doing stockings.

Oh yeah, this post was supposed to be about New Year.

Well, we had a great New Year.

We got to be reunited with our good friends

The Varnon Family

from Knoxville TN.

They were bringing Jordan out

for his first semester of college

and stayed with us a few days.

That's Jordan.

The kid figured out that he can dominate

at Just Dance4 by only moving his arm.

Yeah, our family room is not made for 13 people,

but cozy is how we prefer to do things around here.

I suck at dancing.

But man I'm looking fit,

even with that layered looking

hanging all out.

Isn't Caroline the cutest?

She's a great dancer.

So are all these girls.

Of course we took the obligatory outoftowners

sightseeing trip to

Temple Square.

Here are two of my favorite photos.

I wish I had more time to play with  my camera.

Here are the Varnon's

in front of the historical

Salt Lake Temple.

And here they are

in the Conference Center.

We stopped in at the church's

Historical Museum.

They have a pretty great kids' wing.

LG was pretty sick that day.

What a trooper.

I'm always amazed at how

some of my favorite pictures

are the spontaneous ones.

I sure love these kids.

Oh yeah,

we have rung in the New Year

 with the Varnon's

every year but 2011 for about 10 years.

We missed our other

partners in crime

The Ryan family.

I am pretty certain

this year was the best.

The photo says it all.

We did some other fun stuff

while the Varnon's were here.

We went up to see

Bridal Veil Falls.

We saw a funny movie.

(Highly recommend Here Comes the Boom).

We went to BYU.

We checked out Deseret Industries.

And last but certainly not least,

we went sledding.

If you made it this far in the post,

you are our true friends

and you are invited

to come and crash at our house

past the 3 day

fish and family stink

rule

any time.

Happy New Year y'all.

We love you Varnon family.

Hope you still love us

after spending that much time at our house.