Friday, December 24, 2010

Food + Friends + Family = Holidays...

The month of December brought a lot these three things for us, and we had a great month! Nothing better to get us in the Holiday mood! My good friend Katrina and I got together to make holiday goodie plates for our friends. We had an entire day dedicated to cooking. We each brought about 5 or 6 things to make and had a great day just cooking away!
We had a TON of ingredients!
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Katrina and I with our finished plates...
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While we slaved away, Tucker and the girls spent the afternoon sledding and having a great time...
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One of the most exciting things for me in the month of December was this little baby:
I had been wanting one of these for a while and was so so so happy to finally get one. With my cute little cousin's wedding coming up, I HAD to have one! I had a great time practicing with my new flash! I love it! I am sure my kids were sick of me having my huge camera in their faces for like three weeks straight!
But just look at how much better these pictures are! The only light on in our room this night was that little bed side lamp when Tucker fell asleep in our bed. It looks like the whole room is lit up! :)
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Us enjoying some Mint Chocolate chip Milkshakes...
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Taters wanted one too, but all she got was flashes head...
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This is a pretty typical face for Taylor. She loves to grunt and yell!
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Oh, and Aunt Kayla came into town for Christmas and the wedding with that cute little (big?) belly of hers, and we got some good ones of her. This is with the flash pointed directly at them, it's a little too harsh I think!
Tucker gave Aunt Kayla his special candy necklace that he got for Christmas from preschool. Lucky!
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Here's a better shot of Aunt Kayla up at my dads house after she got her cute hair cut!
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And us with my daddy at his house. My dads house is like the darkest house ever. It was built at that time when they didn't put like main lights in rooms, so we have to turn on like 500 lamps to make it light up enough, especially at night. So, this is a huge improvement for a picture taken at his house! :)
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My cute little grandma came up for my cousins wedding and since her birthday was like the next day we had a little surprise party for her! She is so cute! :) I believe it was her 86th!
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Cute Ruby trying to sneak a taste of Great Grandma's cake...
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It was so much fun having so many of my cousins and family in town for the wedding! It makes me sad that we don't get to see each other that often any more. Me, Alicia & Lori all had baby girls this past year and a half. We tried to get a good shot of the 6 of us, but didn't work out so well! :)
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Here's a better shot of the babies; Macy Jane, Janell Marie & Taylor Rae. Funny thing is, Taylor is the youngest of the three, and yet the biggest!! :) I love my big chubby girl!
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I think I was 13 when Josett was born; I can't believe she is already getting married! I just love my Josetty! When I heard she was getting married, I knew he must be a great guy! I was so happy when they asked me to take their pictures. Here are just a few from their special day! I usually don't put the pictures from my photo shoots on this blog, but since this one is special and she's family, I will include a few. Josett really wanted it to snow on her wedding day. When we got to the temple that morning at 9, it was FREEZING, but no snow. By the time we had gotten out of the sealing at around 10:15ish, it was like a winter wonderland. There wasn't much snow on the ground yet, but it was coming down HARD! This was my first time experiencing taking pictures in these conditions and I was SO nervous! Taking family pictures in the snow is one thing; if they don't turn out great you can always do it another day. Wedding day photography gives me anxiety as it is, but add this blizzard to the mix and I was so nervous! :) Luckily Josett is beautiful (and Scott very handsome!) :) and their pictures turned out great!:)
I just love these two...
(And I love their photos in black & white)
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Such a beautiful bride!
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My cute cousins, crazy girls!
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And the groomsmen, of course, trying to catch snow in their mouths. :) These sweet jackets are total Vintage! My aunt is the best Value Village shopper around! She got these jackets for a dollar each, years ago! She just had them in their basement waiting for the perfect opportunity. Scott & Josett's wedding was the perfect event! :)
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The Spokane Temple has these awesome capes you can borrow for pictures around the temple. Unfortunately for us there were about 13 other weddings that day and we only had a limited time with the cape, we had to share! :)
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{Poor Josett's hair was SOAKED by the time we finished up with the pictures!}
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One last shot with my beautiful cousins before the night ended. Too bad I look like death because I had been running around all night as the photographer- I was so exhausted at this point! :)
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Tucker and Jackson break dancing on the dance floor! I love that my kids are friends with my cousins kids. Tucker loves that he has more and more cousins that he gets to meet all the time!
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One thing I love about living in Spokane is being able to be close for family functions like this! There is nothing better than being with family during the holiday's!
Now...Bring on Christmas! :)

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