Me, Betsey and Mt. St. Helens...

Since I was three years old, I've shared my birthday (May 18th) with the anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. In Washington, that is pretty big news and it was really big news this year as it was the 30th anniversary of it's eruption. Bigger news in our family is that I turned 33 and Betsey turned 2 months!

As usual, there are so many nice people who want to make me feel special for my birthday. Chris jokingly kicked off the "birthday week" by making me Taco Salad (fave) on Sunday. On my actual birthday, Ruby woke me up with an offering of presents including an empty Thomas Kemper glass bottle she had tied a pink ribbon around for a new water bottle. The label was mostly peeled off. She also gave me some pennies and a shell. The girls and I had a quiet day at home and then Mimi and I went for pedicures and Thai food and then we watched Glee together (in Chris' defense, there is only one night a week that Mimi can leave her house, and it is Tuesday...so she got my actual day). It was a good, laid back birthday!

My mom was down on Wednesday and we went to the cute shops on Main in Sumner and then to lunch. The girls were good sports, Betsey slept most of her time in the Ergo that I finally got around to using (and loving). It was really fun, thanks mom!

On Wednesday, Chris and I went to the temple together. He wasn't hungry, but I had a chicken pot pie in the temple cafeteria and on our way home, we literally tried chasing down a theater that had Iron Man II starting late enough for us to catch it. After trying like five theaters, we gave up and came home. Thanks to my mom for making it possible to leave all three kids so I could get out with Chris for a few hours.

Oh, for my birthday (and because I had made almost enough to buy it with my work earnings) my awesome family pitched in money to get me the lens I've really been needing for my business (and pleasure) for at least a year. It's so wonderful!!!!! I don't know if I'll ever shoot with any other lens as long as I live. Thanks so much to Jordan, Pam and Matt, Sam and Perry, Mike and Sage, mom and dad and Chris for pitching in to get me what I really, really wanted!

On Thursday it was my friend Leah's birthday. We have a common group of friends who all planned to meet up for appetizers and dessert at Applebee's that evening. It was fun to chat and so nice of everyone to come! I wish I had a picture!

Friday was anticipated for months. My lifelong friends got me and Jenn tickets to the Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum concert!! We were supposed to meet up early enough to have Thai food first at Jenn's, but it was hard enough for me to get out of the door early enough to get parking for the concert, so I missed out on dinner (though I begged them to bring it to me as I didn't eat other dinner and snarfed it down in the car real fast before we went to the show). They also got the fanciest and tastiest cupcakes for us and brought those along in the car. I loved the show, our seats were in the back, but really central and I was so starstruck by Tim!!! I love him! We had plenty of PDA to entertain us in the row in front of us, and though I'm sure we could have enjoyed the show without that, I was a little envious...I mean, it is rare to be 20 years old and in love to the point of not containing it. Lol. I've been that person...though not at that age. We walked to the infamous Dicks after the show and then parted ways for home. THANKS ladies, it was a great time, the baby totally didn't notice I was gone and it was so fun to belt out some good tunes with my old friends!
Baby Bee will probably never celebrate her May 18th birthday again, but two months is a milestone that first year! She is sweet, sweet, sweet! I can't really describe how unaffected and unaltered my life has been since she joined our family. She's here, she eats and she smiles, and she sleeps at all the right times and makes all of our lives infinitely better...with really no negative side effects that usually accompany newbornhood. She is a dream and I just can't get enough of her smiles (which she NEVER gives up for the camera).

Here she is on her two month birthday. All ready for bed in my favorite sleep sack that Kate gave me from her amazing organic clothing, see here.

Random fun...

These pictures remind me that we actually did have some nice weather for a bit this month. Hard to remember when it has been 40 degrees, dark and rainy for about three weeks. Anyway, here's what we were up to in the nice weather!

Chris altered the swings in the garage for additional swinging fun. He then decided to swing himself, and he's lucky he didn't break his tailbone when it met with the concrete from the pipe swing seat breaking. Twice. Ha, ha.Alice's good friend, Ellie (Mimi's daughter), got her haircut. As much as I don't like encouraging my children to be just like their peers, the potential chance that Ellie's cut might make Alice want her hair cut was too overwhelming to ignore. So being the good mom that I am, I said, "Alice, do you want to cut your hair like Ellie did?" The answer both surprised and thrilled me, "YES!" My girls are not blessed with good toddler hair. Ruby's is now thicker and can be worn long, but Alice's is still really sparse and thin. Anyway, so the short bob below basically solves all my hair problems! Isn't she darling with it?
My sister-in-law Pam told me that she occasionally takes her 3 year old Zoe on photo shoots. I have been paying an assistant and this was a shoot where I was cutting a friend a deal, and so I decided at the last minute to take Ruby (I didn't bail on my assistant, I didn't schedule her) to help me. She was thrilled and took her job so seriously. It was a family of 5 with three kids under 5, and one that never smiles for the camera. Ruby used my small reflector as a beaver tail and pretended she was a beaver and didn't want anyone to see her tail. This had these kids literally in stitches, and made my job much easier. While the client was snacking at one point, Ruby wanted me to take some pics of her. So here's my favorite assistant...

Ruby loves the family dog. And he, Stone, loves her in return.

Piano recitals...

We just had our end of the year piano recitals! They girls have the same amazing teacher, but Alice is in the preschool/group class and Ruby is in the private lessons stage, so their recitals were very different.

Ruby's was fancy, with maybe 35 other students. She was confident as usual and played, "Little Playmates". Mrs. Steck called her up for a special award, the "Terrific Trier" for continuing to prepare for Junior Festival and participating in the festival with her broken arm in a cast. She was thrilled to get that special recognition.
Alice's was at Joanie's home, and was really fun with just the kids from her class. They sang some songs, each one sang a solo and played 2-3 songs on the piano. It was really cute. Alice sang, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," her favorite, favorite song. She did a great, shy job. One little boy sang "Mary Had a Little Lamb," but he can't say his "r's" or "l's" so it was adorable, "Mawy had a wittow wamb, wittow, wamb, wittow wamb..." doesn't get cuter than that!



So another year of piano over. They'll just have to keep on practicing all summer!

Grandma and Grandpa come for a visit...

Sam and Perry came to meet Betsey the first weekend in May. It was hard for them to wait so long, but they wanted to be here for her baby blessing (previous post) and it took place on May 2nd. We had a great time with them on Saturday at the beach. In all the years I've lived in the NW and visited the beaches, I've never seen a Starfish! We saw a dozen starfish in all different shapes and sizes, it was so much fun! We also saw a dozen or so eels, of course countless little crabs and hermit crabs and even the long arm of an octopus (under a huge rock that we couldn't move). It was a nice day, we really enjoyed ourselves. Sunday was another nice day, busier with lots of other people at the house to see Betsey's blessing, and Monday was a nice morning before they flew out that afternoon. The girls cried for a long time after the sad goodbye, and we miss them and look forward to seeing them again in August!

(P.S. This post is a good example of my commitment to not fussing over the material appearance (wardrobe choices) of my kids. Ruby got dressed all on her own...cable knit leggings, HSM gym shorts and a shirt that is rivaling on too small. While I am capable of going out in public with them looking like that, I'm not strong enough not to post a disclaimer here. So far, both kids feels like a million bucks in any old thing they wear, but they still have their favorites and their excitement about certain trends, it's a good balance. So far. Mission accomplishing.)

Betsey's Blessing and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa...

Betsey was "blessed" at church on May 2nd. This is a simple priesthood blessing given by Chris in this case that declares her name and after the blessing, her name is added to church records. Because we don't believe that children are born with sin, they aren't baptized until the age of accountability which is 8, according to our beliefs. So they are added to church records as a result of this blessing. Her sweet dress originally belonged to Betsey's great-grandmother, Betsey Colwell Pierce. We don't know the history of it exactly, but we like to think that maybe her mother made it for her and she wore it as a baby too. I didn't get any pics of her in the dress on the actual day of her blessing, but here is one I took when she was about two weeks old. My mom made a slip for her to wear underneath the dress because the original fabric is really sheer. She also made and embroidered the diaper cover below. My mom got that beautiful blanket in Spain a long time ago and my me and my siblings were all blessed with that around us. I think all the grandkids have also had it when they were blessed.
Here she is on the blessing day...asleep like an angel the whole time we visited with all our loved ones.

Ummmmmm, I made the booties and embroidered them with the WRONG date! I knew it was the 2nd, but I decided to double check. So I went to the calendar and double checked the first Sunday in April instead of the first Sunday in May. SHOOT! So her little blessing booties, lovingly made by moi will forever have the wrong date embroidered on them.

Chris did a wonderful job and as her name is especially special to him, it was a neat opportunity for him to reflect on his grandma and the person she was. He blessed Betsey to flourish in adversity and to rely on the examples of the strong women in her family. It was really touching and we were glad to be supported by many family and friends (some who aren't in the picture).L to R: Ben, Talmage and Sommer Reynolds. Opa. Heather, Robb and Emma Hamm, Oma, Carson, Grandma, me, Grandpa, Chris (holding Betsey), Jordan. Mason, Amanda and Braden Hamm. Mia, John, Sam and Mimi McDonald. Front Row: Eden, Kesley and Wyatt Reynolds. Alice, Hailey and Ruby.

I need to post about our day of fun with grandma and grandpa at the beach soon! It was a really special day for our darling little baby, Betsey.

My three babies...

I have been wanting to get around to this shoot for a long time. I got it set up...but the baby was awake in her happy place the whole time I was setting up, and I missed my opportunity. I only got a few pics of Betsey...I looooooooooove this one (above)!

So the next day, I started the morning already set up (lights, background, props, etc.) and while the baby was still sleeping, I got the older two ready...there are more good ones of Alice for some reason. Ruby used to be my super photogenic girl, and Alice couldn't take a picture to save her life...now they have reversed roles.

I ADORE the above pic of Alice. That face is so her.

Finally, my very favorite pic of all. Too bad the color on blogger is so lame, because it really is a great pic! It just looks a little blah here. Anyway, I love it. It is going on my family room wall in a 20x30 float wrap for my birthday present (which isn't for another week or so). YAY!
For mother's day, I got a beautiful picture of my three girls and for my birthday I'll have it on our wall...forever.

A visit from friends...

Eden, me, Sandy and Addy, Jenn and Kelly with Spiderman.

It was so fun last week when Kelly, Sandy, Eden and Jenn made it down to meet Betsey. Leisha was very sick, so she couldn't make it. They really spoiled us. They brought a nice dinner and two homemade meals for my freezer! The weather was nice, so we got to eat outside and the kids got to play and play outside, which was nice.
Kelly made three capes for the girls. Betsey's was so little and said on the back, "Princess Betsey." Alice's said, "Betsey's Big Sister" and Ruby's said, "Ruby's Biggest Sister." So clever! The girls were really excited about the capes, but there were tiaras and clip on earrings to go with the princess thing and the earrings definitely ranked high with them.

The best part was that they gave me and Betsey matching Juicy Couture track suits. Lol. Apparently, a "designer tracksuit is an essential part of a woman's wardrobe" (to quote Sandy) even to those of us who rarely indulge in designer clothing of any kind. After wearing mine, I have to agree. It is really cozy and fits really well. I wouldn't ever know it was Juicy, but I guess it must look different because I was dropping images off to a client who is a senior in high school and she immediately recognized that I was wearing Juicy. How?!?! I have no idea. I'm not sure I can really pull this off, but you should be very glad to know that I haven't worn my maternity tracksuit since being awarded my hot pink Juicy one. Maybe I don't have to hide from the "What Not to Wear" people if I just wear that out of the house every time I leave. (I really do worry that they are filming me secretly, just in case...I really don't want to be nominated and I would never agree to be on that show.) Betsey won't wear hers for awhile, I like the idea of getting a large enough size that she can be walking when it fits.
Thanks ladies, you really know how to spoil me!How could I ignore the great shots I got of Spiderman!? He game running into the house and I'm sure he must have saved the day with his dramatic floor slides and spins at least a dozen times. I love little boys! If you know Aksel's daddy, you must be thinking to yourself, "he looks like Danny!" I don't always see it, but there is something in this picture that is reminding me of Danny.