Marlee - 7 days fresh

Oh my oh my....so sweet.  7 days old.  Little Ashlee (my cousin) has a beautiful new sweet one in her home - with tons of dark hair - she reminded me of my teeny-tiney girls with perhaps a little less cheeks.  
I will post more (as well as all the other shoots I have lagged behind in posting :)

15 years.

Matt and I ticked off 15 years this week.  
A milestone - one of many so far...and many more to come.

We kept it real simple...signs of the times...and the times ahead :)

We spent the evening re-hashing business (and then re-hashing again and again - it's been a lovely roller-coaster for the last few weeks and we'll be relieved to see the ride come to an end) over some sushi.  Our buddies have convinced us finally of the sheer awesomeness of the crunchy roll (or shrimp and avocado roll).  We then found us some hot chocolate and thought and dreamt about the future.  I made us write it down somewhere safe to open at a later date...    

I think it's safe to say our plans to live it up for the 20th anniversary and just keep this year (and the next few simple) can be attributed to the wonderful escalated tax season that has descended.

The End.

*We received some awesome news from Court & Rachel - and want the family to get ready for the biggest party Cinco de Mayo has ever seen (at least in the Noble family).*

New Year 2013

We saw a double rainbow on our drive home the other day and made up a spur of the moment rhyme:
"Double rainbow - what does it mean?  Good times ahead in 2013!"
(we are really very easy to entertain...very easy).
I know some don't get into the New Years Resolutions, but I can't help myself.  After mucking out closets and cleaning cupboards - you know that post-holiday "ughh" you have to banish by mucking mucking mucking? - I feel the need to commemorate the occasion with some sort of positive outlook for at least the next few weeks.  

This year's resolutions came quite easy:
*Read 2 classic novels
(I've started Great Expectations because 1) it was free and 2) I heard a reporter interviewing an author who just finished a biography on Dickens and I found the interview fascinating.  Dickens had 10 kids and then kicked his wife out of the house...hmmm I may have to pick up the biography next.)

As a family I gave us 3 resolutions (yes - you can do that when you're the mother...you simply say 'this is our resolution' and then everyone nods their heads.)

1.  Memorize 2 poems (so we started one last year...we're going to pick up where we left off and count that as one.)
2.  Memorize 2 scriptures
3.  Pick a random service project from the newspaper.  (This one came to me on Sunday while thumbing through the paper - there is a whole section dedicated to "service" projects.  The kids voted on "Operation Gratitude" that sends care packages to US Service members deployed in combat.  I wanted us to pick the knitting/crocheting blankets for the shelters but nobody - especially the boys - seemed too keen on that one.  I could just picture my boys crocheting away...

And with that we set off with high hopes for 2013.

Pheasant Hunter

On with the New Year!  Someday I may go back and highlight the photo shoots I managed to eek out for the Holiday Season...someday (this IS after all a photography blog...or at least it used to be??)
But for now...we will highlight Indy.  He was drawn, as 1 of 80 out of 500 kids who finished the Hunters Education course, to go on a pheasant hunt.  (If I ever decide to buy a lottery ticket - I'm taking this kid with me.)  
To say this was the highlight of his year would be silly...since we're only 5 days into the year...however - this was the highlight of his year.  I'm not sure if watching the dogs go "on point, or chasing the birds (until they were so exhausted that they wouldn't fly anymore and became sitting targets) was the best part --or the fact that his mom was eager to help him learn how to make pheasant nuggets --but this boy is a hunter.  

He thinks he really really needs a hunting dog - and I made a promise to meet him at the airport when he returns from his mission, with a brand new dog ready to be trained (by him when he lives in his own apartment).

Puerto Penasco a.k.a. Rocky Point a.k.a. Arizona's Beach

a.k.a my new favorite place

Our buddies have been begging us to come for the past few years.  Matt said "No - no -no".  Too dangerous. (Even though he grew up going every year in jr. high and high school - Even though his in-laws live on the border).  However this summer in Cali when we stayed on the beach to watch the sun set - and froze our rear ends off - he finally lifted his moratorium on Mexico travel - and we bolted down there to catch some peaceful, happy moments and be totally "off the grid" (except for a few business calls).

Really the only hook needed to convince me was that the water temperature gets to be close to 80 - I'm sold.  Oh and beachfront rental with 4 pools and hot tub for $125/night sold again.  Oh and we had the entire beach to ourselves - sold.  Oh and nachos for every meal with the "fresh caught fish" tacos thrown in to mix it up - sold...sold...sold.

#1.  Safety - we were totally safe.  No issues.  Security walks up and down the resort every 10 minutes.

#2.  Drive - 5hrs from Prescott.  First you hit Phoenix, then Gila Bend, then the border, then an hour to the beach.  Easy peasy - no traffic, no millions of people.

We have friends that go down and are involved in wonderful service projects - I hope to be able to be involved the next time we return - there is a great need.

Now trying to find this place for the first time is very tricky.  You would THINK they would put up signs to the beach directing incoming traffic....but NO they don't care if you find it or not.  Little did we know there was a wonderful hand painted sign that we completely missed the night before driving slowly through streets trying to point the car in the general direction of the big lights.

The view of the lovely little place we stayed - Bella Sirena.  It has grass...pools...hot tub and beach.

The kids hit the ground running.

5 minutes after running on the beach we had visitors.

Instead of realizing her dream of becoming a dolphin trainer...Laina just jumped for joy (Mac chucked sand clods)

Matt conducted business

Our morning and evenings consisted of long long walks up and down the beach...the very empty beach. 

The boys went fishing and brought home yummy yummy fish for yummy yummy tacos.

We loved it when our buddies showed up and we could tell them that YES they were right all along...and we had been missing out. 

Dead jellyfish

Matt had serious time to do some serious life contemplation. 

 

Laina agreed to have her hair braided (thankfully she forgot about the time when she was 3 years old and her mother forced her to get her hair braided and she hid under a blanket for 3hrs solid).

We ran into town and pulled our baskets around the store...filling them up with homemade tortillas and guacamole and chips and salsa.

Speaking of dolphins...we had our own dolphin trainer on hand :) and a couple of dolphins to work with :)

Good thing we had Bart to jump in and throw boys around 

Adios Mexico!! Good thing Indy is obsessed with speaking espanol - now we have an excuse to make more trips south of the border!

on another note...I worked so hard on our mega family movie that I started to doubt the need for photos...but then a photo like this shows up and I realize there will always be a need for moments frozen in time. 

Oh Christmas Tree OHHHH Christmas Tree

I scored BIG this year.

I managed to sweet talk my friend into crafting the QUEEN MOTHER of all Christmas trees.

Is it wrong to adore something so much?? I think not.  Matt tried to tease me about "outsourcing" our Christmas decoration - but after one evil eye and quick comparison to how he hires people in his business all the time to take care of the things he lacks "talent" in accomplishing - we put the matter to rest...and I went back to admiring our QUEEN MOTHER tree.

Nicole (the decorator) swears its impossible to take a good picture of a tree...I aimed to prove her wrong.

I loved my basket addition this year....I couldn't decide on a tree skirt and after searching shoving my tree stand down every basket in Prescott I finally found one that fit.

I couldn't decide which light I liked better...morning or night...so we get a photo of both - in all its glory.
I wish I could tell you what the Christmas Tree represents...but I can't and I'm too lazy to research it...so if anyone has that on the top of their head I'm all ears.  I should probably know that so I'm not some graven image worshiper....

And of course our elf Willy Billy made a good showing this year...and managed to get Mac to write a mea culpa Christmas Eve explaining to Santa that he'd "bin good for havf the year".  I have no photo but I interviewed him with his letter and it went in to our 2012 movie year in review.
The first time I have accomplished that goal...it was awesome watching our entire year of family home videos smashed into 49 minutes on New Year's Day.