HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

No more tears!

You'd think that on the third child I would've figured it out that, I CAN'T TAKE MY OWN KIDS PICTURES, ALONE! The other day I thought, "Beau is such an easy baby, he's happy all the time, I say HI to him and he smiles, his pictures will be easy." I got everything ready, clothes, hats, his letters from his room, camera, put Bailey down for a nap, just about anything and everything I would or should need for pictures. After about 10 minutes of placing him and scooting back to grab my camera, over and over, he was half way off the rug, after something he spotted across the room. So after the umpteenth try, I QUIT! I can't get mad at my own child for crawling, being curious, and just being a nine month old, so I will have to do it when Jeremy's home or I have help. So here's a few, I'll post more when and if I find the time to do it with help.


Now, don't get me wrong I love all of these, I love when kids put things in there mouth, when they're not looking at the camera, and just being themselves, I guess I just wanted the "B" to be facing the right direction, somewhat and a few of his cute smile. I didn't even get to putting his cute clothes on.

This is one that I love his look, I love blank stares.
This is when I finally had to quit, I couldn't take it anymore after seeing those tears. It broke my heart to see that pout!

A smile and voice I'll never forget.

As I heard the news about President Hinckley's passing, (the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), I had mixed emotions. At first I was almost brought to tears because he is an amazing man that has accomplished so much in his life and done so much for our church during his ministry, that the thought of him being gone made me sad. My thoughts soon turned to happiness as I pictured his reunion with his sweetheart and loved ones. How thankful I am for eternal families, knowing that when our time on this earth is through and we have fulfilled our purpose here, we will be together again with our family and loved ones that have passed on before us.

A few quotes from our Prophet...

"Do the best you can. And remember that the greatest asset you have in this world is those children who you've brought into the world, and for whose nurture and care you're responsible."

"People wonder what we do for our women. I'll tell you what we do. We get out of their way and look with wonder at what they're accomplishing."

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.”

President Hinckley will sure be missed and I hope that I will always remember his wise teachings as he was an incredible man full of life, charm, humor, honesty, charity, respect, faith, and he was the cutest old man with the best smile and a voice that I'll never forget!

My PHOTO BLOG & STUDIO have arrived!

For those of you who have been patiently waiting, I finally started a photo blog you can find it at http://amandasimages.blogspot.com
Also, the studio that I've been dreaming about is finally done. It's small, convenient, and perfect for now. I know I'll get greedy again and be ready for my real dream studio one day but it'll be a while and another house before I get that one. So for now I'm super happy and excited about this one and am having to budget myself so I don't spend our life's savings on props and cute accessories for the shoots. So check it out, I've only posted one shoot so far and will add more when time allows, (which those of you that know me know that time doesn't allow as often as I'd like).

a day in the life of a... two year old!

This is another assignment from my photo class. Holy cow it was a huge project in itself to follow a two year old around and try to catch her doing her thing. It was actually a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it because it's totally Bailey, the toys, the blanket, the food, the temper tantrum, time out, etc. I took so many pictures and there were still some I missed that I wish I would've caught. Oh, well! Now I need to do on of Beau. (click to enlarge)

Lunch with friends & crazy kids!

So, my good friend, Marianne, and a friend of hers all went to lunch because she was in town. It's hard to find a place that you can go with 6 kids and eat lunch without distracting too many people. We went to Pizza Factory and they gave us the entire back room to ourselves. It was great the kids ran around and had a blast. It's always nice to get together with friends and catch up.

I keep telling Marianne that she just needs to move back to Utah, hopefully one day!


This is Marianne and I, and Beau of course!


This is her cute 18 mth. old, Nicholas!
This is her 4 year old , Andrew, he's really adorable too even though you can't see him, he was loving playing with the booster seats!
Here's my cutie, Bailey, she always smiles so much better for other people when they have cameras, I pull mine out and she just says, "NO CAMERA!"

Beau was ready to go home and take a nap, but he still is dang cute, I must say! Look at those eyes.
How often do I get a picture taken of me with my kids, not too often, I love this one, I love kissing baby cheeks they're so soft.

All the kiddos lined up the booster seats and were having a blast with them. Bailey insisted to hold Beau, she did alright this time, she didn't drop him on his head! And... he's even smiling with her holding him, which is a first.

the shoe project!

Since there's so much to learn in the world of photography I decided to take a class with nicole hill.
She is so good with lighting and angles and all the technical stuff. Taking the class I'm finding out I know more than I thought but I am still learning some. Also it's fun to get out and meet new people and get critiqued on my work so I can learn what I need to work on. THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT!
This is one of our assignments from last week and it was tons of fun. I wish it wasn't so dang cold outside, I would've shot more people and more locations. Just thought I'd share.

TERRIFIC TWO'S!!

I can't believe that Bailey turned two over a week ago and I haven't said anything. I guess better late than never, right.
They always say "terrible two's" and I will say I've seen quite a bit of that out of my little firecracker, but I don't want to jinx myself so I'm gonna call it in my house "terrific two's" and maybe it'll turn Bailey in that direction. My mom always told me that they live up to what they think they are, so Bailey is my little terrific two year old.
Really she is, she's so much fun to be around and has the most expressive, and dramatic faces and reactions to things, it's just hilarious. We really do just sit and watch her, she's great entertainment.
Here's a few pics of her birthday! We just had a small party with both sets of grandparents and a few cousins dropped by.



This cute little crown her cousins Paige, Katie, and Lily made her for her to wear, good job girls!


Bailey was just pouring a cup "o" tea for her and Paige on her new table and chairs set!

HOW CUTE IS HE??

So I was in my BRAND NEW studio that we FINALLY got finished in our basement and I was testing the lights since I have my first shoot in it tomorrow. Beau was kneeling up on one of the kids chairs I have, and he turned and looked at me and this is what I got...
Makes you just wanna eat him he's so cute!

Sorry but you'll have to wait to see the finished product of the studio after my shoot tomorrow. The shots that actually show the studio didn't do it justice because I was testing tons of different settings on my camera so the colors were kinda funky!

Blizzard, broken foot, Wedding shoot?!?!?!

I know I haven't posted for a while but I had to share these shots my dad got of me at work. I had a couple weddings in December. What do you do when you break your foot and you've already booked a few weddings, you can't just cancel on them. So we did it! I wrapped my foot in a plastic bag, (it was a great fashion statement), my dad came and helped me shoot, thank goodness for DADDY'S (especially one's in the same industry) and Jer came and carried my camera bag and held my crutches when I was shooting.

This couple stuck it out forever in the snow, they were such troopers and we got some fun shots!