Trials... why?

I have been following a friends blog.

Daily.

For the past 5 days.

They are going through heartache,

faith,

and riding a huge rollercoaster right now.

It has brought back so many personal feelings.

Feelings that haven't been brought this close to the surface,

for a long time.

It's been hard but good at the same time.

It has reminded me of the hardest things I've ever,

ever,

experienced in my life.

Losing my first born.

My first son.

My pride and joy.

Payton.

How I learned so much through this time in my life.

Why do we have trials I ask?

Why do others have to have similar trials?

Hear are a few words that I liked.

One of the most difficult aspects of mortality is that we experience trials. We know that the purpose of these trials is to help us become more like God. More refined. More pure. If God is patient, then I need to learn patience; and the primary way to learn patience is to not have something that is wanted. If God is forgiving (thank heavens!), then I need to learn how to be forgiving; that usually comes through being wrongfully hurt. And so on and so on. As Elder Orson F. Whitney so beautifully said:

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven” (quoted in Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, 98).

I know that all of us have trials.

Some big.

Some small.

But, a trial is a trial.

They are meant for us to learn from.

To grow from.

And I have grown and still continue to grow from mine.

We have to allow the Lord into our lives to comfort us.

To help us find what we are supposed to learn from these dang things called,

TRIALS.

May we all say a quick prayer for Sara & Matt,

& Bronson

& his 3 older brothers.

Thanks

I had to share a picture of Payton and me.

He is one of the many reasons I am,

who I am,

today.

Love ya P.J.

four. bowling. pink. yellow

I love this girl and can't believe she's 4 years old!

Here's a few of Bailey's favorites:

colors -

pink

yellow

food -

noodles

cheese

chocolate

& the most recent avacado's

oh & water

T.V. shows -

Jonas brothers, (what? she's only 4)

Hannah Montana

Sid the Science kid

any Princess movie

Music -

she loves Christmas music

Princess songs

Hannah Montana

Toys-

Dollhouse

Petshops

I could list so many things that she LOVES! Everything is her favorite right now!

She is such a sweetheart (most of the time) she's a great big sister and so excited to for her baby sister to get here. She has the best laugh, it is so contagious! I love the dimple in her cheek right under her left eye. I love the relationship we have especially as she is growing up.

These are from her birthday party. She wanted to go bowling and she wanted her cake to be pink and yellow.

Well, about the cake...

I had a plan.

A plan to make a cute bowling lane cake with pink and yellow bowling balls (gum balls)

So, I baked a cake.

When it was about 1/2 way done I realized I hadn't sprayed the pan with non-stick spray.

Well, you guessed it. It all fell apart when I took it out.

I still had time to bake another one.

At least I thought I did.

I sprayed the pan, I coated that thing good.

Baked it, took it out, let it cool, but I didn't have much more time.

So I tried to start frosting it and yep.

It too fell apart.

I was getting heated by the minute...

but I took a deep breath counted to ten

and

told Bailey to come to the store with me to pick out a cake.

You know what she said,

"Mom, you're not a very good cake cooker."

I said yep, you're right so lets go pick any cake YOU want.

And she ended up with a pink and yellow, Hello Kitty cake.

She loved it, as you can tell.

Beau getting in on the bowling. He was the only boy there, besides Jeremy. (Beau looks so grown up)

Left to right: Sierra (cousin), Bailey, Callie (from preschool), Brea (good friend), and Brielle (cousin)

These girls had a lot of fun. It was a little chaotic as 4 year olds don't really have the attention span to do 10 frames of bowling. But they did and they all had a blast.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Bayes!

Loved it...

Christmas morning that is!

They played,

and played.

And I won't forget

how much

I

enjoyed

watching them!

Christmas Eve...

once Santa came that is.

Many people have asked how to get that "glow" from the lights on the tree!

#1 Turn off your flash (no flash used on the top picture, flash used on the bottom)

#2 Place your camera on a tripod

#3 Bump up ISO, Use a slow shutter, and open up wide

top picture - ISO 800, 1/3 sec at f/2.8, no flash

bottom picture - ISO 800, 1/60 sec at f/4.0

To You & Yours!

This was our Christmas card this year. I've sent it to a lot and still have more to send it to that I'm trying to round up addresses for. If you didn't get one, well here it is... If I usually send one to you or have asked for your address or you want one, please send me your address to my email at amandapeterson15@yahoo.com

I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season and finding some time to relax now that Christmas is over. Now I just have Bailey's birthday to get through tomorrow and then hopefully I can relax a little.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

My Li'l Superheroes!!!

I can't believe that it's been over 6 months since I've done a post on here. Well I can believe it being that my life is crazy busy with my photography business and family life! But what would life be without a little or a lot of chaos.

Anyway, here are a few from Halloween this year. I figured since I found this cute Holiday banner for a new header I should probably do a post. So Happy Halloween a month late and now Happy Holidays!

A few updates...

We are pregnant, again!!! And it's a girl! I'm due March 29th and super excited! I can't complain because I have pretty easy pregnancies but I will say they get harder with each one. But right now I'm feeling good, just fat... no fun!

Beau looks bigger than Bailey here. He is catching up to her, they do have the same size feet but I think here it's because of his big muscles.

They both had to have a chance at flying... or at least attempting to fly! They couldn't get down the 1,2,3, then jump at the same time.

Bailey has alway had so many expressions and especially when I have the camera out she knows how to ham it up! Beau on the other hand was just interested in all of the rocks on the ground.

Take the sheets off...

and this is what you'll get:

Human bridges
Spanking bums (for fun that is...)
Tackle time

This is what these two thought would be fun to occupy there time while I was washing sheets the other morning. It's crazy how long a crib or bed can entertain a child when the sheets are off. They love it whenever sheet washing day comes around.




Beau sat here until I took a picture saying, "Mom, wash! wash! (watch)Here's Bailey's famous head tilt that she does for any picture, anytime, anywhere. I got lucky that her eyes were actually looking at me, usually she's looking down with a huge grin. I love it!

I love these two so much! As hard as two kids 16 months apart are, the fun times that they have together, like this particular morning, definitely outweigh all of the fighting that takes place the other half of the day.

do, re, mi...

I saw this on a friends blog and just had to share it!
It made me smile and to be honest I even got a little bit emotional and I'm not even sure why.
I guess because it's great to see people interacting when they are out in public.
I so wish that more people would say Hi, give you a smile, hold the door for a stranger, you know, really just be friendly to everyone who crosses your path.
Anyway, take a minute and watch this, it's worth it.
It makes me want to go watch the Sound of Music again,
I loved that show!
(located at a train station in Belgium)

Blog,.. What blog?

Oh ya I have a family blog, that I'm supposed to keep my families history, memories, special moments, special occasions, all that stuff that I will want to remember and my kids will want to read. What the heck, I'm horrible...

I've done pretty good keeping my photo blog updated with current sessions but as far as this blog goes, I guess you could say I kinda took a hiatus!

Anyway, I have a lot I want to catch up on. WANT TO, not saying I will but I really, really do want to. Beau was sick for a week (threw up for 6 days straight), then healthy for a week, now he's sick again with a horrible cough/cold. And, Bailey started up yesterday with the cough. Aaaaggghhhh!!!! I hate when my kids are sick, one it's so sad to see them sick, two it messes up your LIFE, and three you get nothing accomplished. The only plus is it makes you sit down and hold them and read a 500 page book in one week instead of being on the computer or cleaning your house.

Well, here is my first post since, WHAT???!!!!, December 27th, 2008... I really do suck! But at least I'm including a picture of my kiddos. This is what I get when they are home during a photo shoot. They have to get in on a few. Bailey's talking on one of her MANY toy phones. She has the funniest conversations. I have to make a comment on Beau's shirt. I was so excited when I found it at TARGET (the store I would pick if I had to pick only one store to shop at for the rest of my life, if I HAD to that is.) I call Beau my little small fry, and when I saw this I had to get it!

Well I hope to see more on here sooner than later. Drop me a line to let me know that I still have friends out there.

Happy Holidays

A few more days of straight family time and I will get caught up on my posts and also my editing, but for now it's all about my husband and kids. In the meantime here is our Christmas card from this year.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and I hope you have a good New Years! Lets start out the New Year a little bit more organized in every aspect of our lives. (Spiritual, Physical, Quality family time, Quality husband time, and Quality Me time, I could go on and on.)

Happy Holidays!!!

visit with santa

So Bailey was super excited to tell Santa everything she wanted for Christmas this year. A kitchen set, a princess (any thing princess of any princess will do), and a dolly.



Beau didn't want anything to do with him. He was holding on to Jeremy for dear life. Bailey's face looking at Beau cracks me up.

Thanks for all of the opinions on my Christmas cards. It will either be the first of the 4 or the last. Or, knowing me I'll come up with something totally different again.