Newport Beach LDS Temple wedding photography (part 2)

I absolutely loved shooting on the grounds of the Newport Beach LDS Temple.  It was a gorgeous warm Fall day and everyone there had smiles spread wide across their face.

We started the morning off with well-wishing (via text) from her soon to be husband.

Then we headed over to the Newport LDS Temple where the sealing would take place.  There is no photography inside the temple and only LDS members with a temple recommend from their Bishop and Stake President can enter in...

The children get to wait outside and then everyone joins them while they wait for the couple to emerge...(and grandpa whips out his iPhone - he was awesome!)

The minute they step out everyone cheers and demands a kiss from the bride & groom - and they are happy to oblige.

A few awesome family shots...mixed in with some killer bridal party...

Man these guys were hilarious...more on them later...

We had the place to ourselves all afternoon and made good use of it.

They had 2 receptions - one in Huntington Beach and the other in Prescott - and this little gem of a sign was at both.

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Without a doubt this had to be THE BEST car decorating I have ever seen...his older brother printed out their "Hollywood crushes" and taped them to their headrests...I can't stop laughing about Julie Andrews.

I think the worn out BYU sticker on the back really added the finishing touch.

The reception in Prescott had a gorgeous cake and the most beautiful flowers (courtesy of Nic).

It was a wonderful way to spend a weekend and I wish  Aubree & Adam the best of luck!

Just one...Amanda K

Just one and then I must dive back down into the depths of my non-posting black hole...
We had a great time (thank you Pinterest for your creativity) creating this shot...Amanda had to lay there for about 20 minutes while I shot down from the balcony...but it was worth it!! (Of course it didn't help that her 6'2" legs kept getting cut out of the shot...)

Chickabiddy - Spelling Bee Regionals

Chickabiddy - a term of endearment, especially for a child


This was not the word that took him down (that was PROSECUTE and I have a feeling it will hang over his head and guide his educational path...talk about a moment :) no, chickabiddy just took everyone in the audience down - including our highly intelligible row  (he..he..) the announcer had to define it AFTER the little girl got up and threw down a correct spelling without even blinking! It was great.
Indy had some great moments too.  But we need to start at the beginning - Taylor Hicks Bee where he and 2 other boys went 8 rounds without missing then he and the final boy went another 6...it was great and Matt and I just sat in the back with our slack jaws scratching our heads.  When they gave him his final word (I can't remember now :( he just said "awesome" and spelled it then jumped up and cheered (he was excited for it to be done.)  We showed up at the Yavapai Regional Bee not knowing exactly what to expect and after waiting for over 2 hours (because they have lunch FIRST then SPELL) the 52 kids took the stage and the spelling began.  Indy's first word was barracks and my little military-buzz-cut-boy threw down.  The word that should have taken him down was "belay" (points to anyone who knows what it means without having to google first) but had asked for an alternate pronunciation and nailed it.  Then came prosecute and a simple error and the day finally came to an end.  He made it to the top 10 which was killer.  The grandson of Indy's kindergarten teacher ended up taking home the winning spot and a $500 savings bond - we are excited for him.  
Indy had both sets of grandparents and friends and cousins there to cheer for him, and everyone in the audience walked away with a better vocabulary.

Valentines 2012

Sheesh...Valentines Day preceded by  two science fair projects and finished off with a regional spelling bee (more on that later) makes for a really really crazy week!  I had the pack of spidey valentines in my hand ready to buy, but knew that my kids would kill me if we didn't do our funky cards.  So I told them all they had 5 minutes to come up with their idea...here's what they did (McLaren's hair and face had to be photoshopped since it was dirty and combed...now I'm kinda wishing I had left it :)

Indy has been taking a parkour class - all he wants to do is back flips off of concrete items...so this was his choice.

I had bought a bunch of balls for a Cub Scout activity (Medic - great game) and ever since McLaren has been bouncing balls all around my house - they are currently stashed at various spots on the top of my cupboard where he can't reach (and then chuck at his siblings head or glass objects).

I had used another picture of Ella for her card, but came upon this (almost done David & Cindy I swear! :) and couldn't resist

Oh my sweet feedle-dee...this is a huge triumph for her...she has been wanting to conquer the wall since August - so when it came time for her idea she knew exactly what she wanted to do!

Now that it's all over I'm glad we raced and did these...they always make me smile.  Of course I didn't buy any candy this year to attach and Laina was deeply stressed.  I took the angle that her card is so awesome we didn't need to bribe kids to like it with candy :)  it's all about the card...she didn't buy it.  A friend suggested taping a piece of broccoli next year...I think that's a great idea...except I'm going to use carrots...less smelly!

On the science fair project note (who knows when I'll get back to this blog...) Indy was going to do the food battery and see how big of a light bulb he could light...but when we went to set it up and I saw that it would take about 30 lemons to flicker a small Christmas bulb, we scrapped the idea and did homemade stain removers.  Laina decided she would be an overachiever and do a project also (not required) so we settled on which hairspray holds curl the longest...quite fitting eh??

Craftsman Carpentry

So after about 8 years we finally tackled our "media center".  Well I shouldn't say WE, I should say we enlisted Matt's brother (Philly Manilly a.k.a. Craftsman Carpentry) to tackle it for us.  He is a master craftsman and he went above and beyond what we asked of him.  This little gem of a center has special drawers that don't slam shut (who would've thunk?) and all sorts of cupboards and shelves (that I have NO IDEA how to fill :( eek) and he even allowed me to customize it with my very first ever - killer hardware.

Here is the before (I swear we do more than video games and P90x - these were my only pictures of the wasted space)

And after...I love my reflection and my rascal who tries to ruin every picture!?

 Thanks Philly!

Christmas 2012

Phew.  I made it.  Posting Christmas pictures on the last day of January.
We had a hum-dinger of a holiday.  We covered the entire bottom half of the state of Arizona.  It was wonderful and crazy and we topped it all off with a brother in each family tying the knot.  There was definitely a lack of photos taken around Christmas time (or rather a lack of good, nice-looking photos...snapshots were about all I had energy for given the upcoming weddings I was facing.)
I took the kids and met my parents in Phoenix for a little musical - something about a tap-dancing alligator.  It was fun and the Tempe Center for the Arts is a beautiful location...and my children love posing for pictures.

How is it that they can behave when they know the picture will be out of focus??

The Christmas Eve festivities are usually centered around a bonfire.  In fact when we pulled in our driveway later that night we passed no less than 7 other bonfires in neighbors driveways (yeah you don't even have to go to a large clearing)...see what all you cold-weather people are missing??

I still can't get over Ashlee having a kid...weird.

Topped the evening off with a little clay-mation Drummer Boy - a family favorite.

And now on to my favorite part of our entire vacation.  Dance Central.  This has to be my favorite photo ever.  Look at the intensity in Court's fingers and Sheri's eyes...killer!

Slightly out-of-focus but you'll notice that Sheri has changed her pants so that she can better perform...This was the final dance off of the evening and she ultimately dethroned me on "The Humpty Dance". 

Totally exhausted.

What would Christmas be without my little green wreaths?

And let's not forget Gma Kathy trying to bring order to chaos in our Nativity.

Indy gave up on playing Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer and busted out Axel F....hilarious.

This is exactly how my mom will forever be captured in my mind.

What? You think she was too chicken to try it??

Seriously...does it get any better than this? Oh wait it does!! I have video...

I'm going to end on this note...good thing we had some light reading for the huge car trips ahead...