Feelings captured...

I have been working on restoring some pictures for my mom and grandmother.   It is very painstaking work and has taken me much longer than I ever anticipated.   

I am really enjoying it though.  I am seeing pictures of my mom and uncles that I have never seen before.  I love seeing them young and silly.  I love seeing my grandma young and radiant.  I don't remember much about my grandfather.  He passed when I was two or three and I have enjoyed getting to know him a bit through pictures.  

In my work I came across this picture. 

I didn't change much about it except the crop.  It's funny how as a photographer I should be seeing how the colors are too washed out, or that there is some burn out happening on my grandma and grandpa.  

But all I can see is what my grandma is feeling right at that moment.  A little bit of peace in the sun with the man she chose to spend her life with.  

Beautiful. 

Precious Moments

Sometimes as a photographer you catch very special moments.  Honestly they are always things that happen all the time, but we forget to stop and really appreciate them and how truly special they are. 

While taking pictures of my amazingly beautiful sister-in-law (not brown-nosing, honest!) her youngest son made his way over to his favorite person in the universe and planted a sweet, and very wet, kiss on her lips.  

He just loves her.

I love moments like this.  I love it even more when I catch them on camera because all to soon he will be grown up. 

Teaser...

I have been working on pictures from our visit home a little at a time and thought I should post some for all of you so see. We had such a good time visiting and hope to do it again soon! Brady and I feel that we have the most awesome families on the planet and our friends just plain ROCK! We miss you all so much, and while we are glad for the new life and friendships we have here in Nebraska, we will always be missing the wonderful people at "home."

So a teaser...I have the cutest nieces and nephews...

My weight week...

I apologize for this being all I have posted of late, but things have been really crazy lately. I weighed in at 153lbs this morning and I am happy to still be losing!

Had a great couple of girls nights this past week! Watched Twilight and then saw New Moon. LOVED New Moon (yes I am a Twilight Saga Fan...yes there is part of me that is annoyed by my love for it...but for the most part I just enjoy it). Ashleigh and Wendhy we are totally doing that again next summer, I don't care WHERE I have to fly in from. And I officially found my "Team" Shirt...it says "Team Switzerland...enough said." :o) I really can't decide...and since I have the most fabulous guy in the world "imprinted" on me I figure I can get a way with being ambivalent.

We are getting closer to the day Brady leaves and it is going by way to fast for me. I am really starting to get nervous about it and I am wondering how I will cope. I am really really really glad for all of you family and friends out there whom I know I can lean on a bit once he goes. Thanks so much in advance for that!

Coming soon: Family pictures from both sides! :o) They won't be anything fantastic since I am taking them with self timer and hoping the kids all look where they should!

My weight week and other news...

I weighed in today at 154 pounds! I am surprised since this week was loaded with parties and all kinds of other problem situations (food situations). My niece turned five on the 4th and her party was the 10th, at Chuck E. Cheese, followed by the Thunderbird Air Show on Saturday (all day out of the house) and then my brother-in-law, Colin's, surprise going away party combined with my other brother-in-law, Casey's birthday! Crazy amount of food and goodies going on there. I still managed to keep things under control! I am so proud of myself! One more complication added to the pile is I threw out my back Saturday morning (this is the fourth time in the last 18 months). This started when I was pregnant with Rory and has been a problem ever since. I hate it because, even though it goes back in by itself with in a day or two, it stays bruised for four or five days and so I can't work out at all and it makes it hard to do some of the house work that needs doing!! Annoying and just not fun. So with any luck I should be back to working out in a few days.

In other family news, I want to wish Brady's brother, Colin, luck as he leaves for basic training today! He joined the Army around the same time we were doing the Air Force thing. Colin's wife, Heather, and I will both be moving sometime around May. Any extra prayers would be much appreciated!

Christmas shopping has officially started over here as well. I plan to take advantage of Black Friday sales as much as I can so we can get the stuff the girls want and need at better prices. Cadence has a list a mile long, and I have no clue what to get Rory seeing as she gets all Cadence's hand-me-downs and we already have more than enough toys. :o) I am totally looking forward to Thanksgiving and seeing my siblings all together and trying to get a family picture before Brady and I are gone for who knows how long. That and spending time with my sisters and teaching everyone how to make beanie hats on our knitting looms, and trying to make some mozzarella cheese with mom. Should be a fun Thanksgiving!

Rory is 11 months old!

Again with the crying for pictures. She loves my camera! No really she loves it when she gets to look at the screen in the back! But the second I try and get her in FRONT of the lens she HATES it. Crazy baby.

She is 11 months old! One more month and she will be 1 year old. I honestly don't know how I feel about that. She is so little still that it feels impossible for her to be 1 in September. She is almost walking. I think once she walks the baby illusion will be shattered for good. She will officially be a toddler, bringing an end to baby days for the Rorapotamus. I look forward to her walking, though. She wants to be on the floor all the time now and if she was walking it would be so much easier. I would happy to let her wander at Wal-Mart if she was walking (well within reason!). Soon though! Soon she will be doing her best imitation of a drunken sailor and a whole new world of trouble will follow. :o)

Megan and I are planning a double first birthday for Rory and Aidric. Since Rory is on September 2nd and Aidric will be 1 on September 30th we thought it would be fun for them to celebrate together! Megan has taken over much of the planning for now (only fair I think since this is her first time planning a first birthday party and she has excellent taste) and I am finishing up on the invites. I will post them on here after they get mailed. I am hoping to get one more picture session in with both kids before I print them so that the pictures are as recent as can possibly be. I am so excited for them to have a party together! It may be the last party they attend together for a while seeing as we probably won't be living here next year and Ryan and Meg will probably end up in Cedar for School.

The only really good 11 month pictures of Rory were the ones with Cady in them. They are very close now and I love it!

Cadence had her hair cut again a couple of nights ago. Her Aunt Heather is a wonder with scissors and hair. I love Cady's hair short! I think it is the perfect frame for her expressive face. It is also A TON easier to keep tidy. Cadence doesn't like a fuss about her hair, so it is nice to just wet it down and comb it every morning and poof! Pretty hair! Thanks Heather! You totally rock!

Today also marks the end of a goal for me! Two weeks ago I started reading the Harry Potter books and I finished the last one today! I LOVE them. I started reading them once a long time ago (back when there were only three out) and got bored waiting for the fourth one to come out. I started another book series and never got back into the Harry Potter books. When the most recent movie came out I rented all the previous movies from the library and Brady and I watched them all. After seeing the "Half-blood Prince" in the theater I decided that I was going to read all the books, cause the books are ALWAYS better. I wasn't disappointed. They were totally better than the movies (which is saying a lot since the movies are really good too). Now that I am done I have no idea what to do with myself! :o) I'm sure that I will find something soon! Any book recommendations?

Also, I am totally coping my sis-in-law, Megan. I started a 365 Project blog! You can visit it at http://explodingpony.blogspot.com or by clicking the link in my list of favorite sites on the sidebar. :o) Hope you don't mind Meegs! I think it is a great idea and I really want to challenge myself to take more pictures of things around me. Plus it will make me pick up my camera everyday. :o)

Fun at Grandma Viv's

Last night we went to Grandma Viv and Grandpa Randy's house and swam for a while. Then we made home-made pizza! Cadence LOVES to help cook. In fact, she loves to HELP with anything. Monday's chore at our house is clean the bathrooms and Cadence almost always offers to help clean the toilet. Yep. She is the only person I have ever met who WILLINGLY offers to clean the toilet.

Anyway, Cadence helped put together ALL the pizzas. She did the sauce, cheese and all the toppings. It was great fun!

I also got to take some pictures of my sweet nephew, Tyson. He is growing up so fast and is a little grandma's boy. No joke this boy loves his grandmas! It is driving my sister nutty, but I totally remember Cadence being the same way! Isn't he the cutest little guy?

And of course there are my darling girls! I love them so! Cadence has a new phrase she uses all the time with mom and dad too. She is always telling us, "Mom (or Dad) you're the BEST!" I LOVE IT. There is nothing like your children thinking you are the best. I know I should soak up as much as I can now, before they get to old and start thinking that I am the farthest from the best you can get! :o)

Rory gives hugs now. It is so sweet! She will crawl over, climb up on to my lap and then throw her arms around me and lay her head on your shoulder. Then she lets out this big sigh of contentment. I love my Rory-bean.

Christmas Pictures

Christmas pictures! Most of you have seen them already since they were with our Christmas newsletter. We took them at home, on our bed, twenty minutes before leaving for church. Yes it was quite a production, but it was super fun and the self timer and my cable release came in really handy! I think they turned out pretty nice. What do you think?

Too much going on!!

So much has been going on! First of all here is my 28 weeks picture!  I realize that it is 5 weeks late, but I have it so I should put it up!  

Pregnancy is going good.  We still don't have name for this little girl.  It is really very frustrating, but I am sure that we will find something by the time she makes her grand arrival.  

Our house is coming along!  I should really take some pictures of it and post them.  To be honest I don't go out to see it as often as Brady does so I just go off of what he says is happening.  We should be having an inspection sometime soon though and then I will let you all know if we are really on schedule or not.  

This past week or so has been really busy.  Megan went through the temple and Ryan and Megan were sealed on Friday the 11th!  It was an awesome day and I am so proud of them!  Now we are looking forward to the birth of their son in October!  I can't wait to meet him!

I wanted to post some pictures of the last couple of weeks!  There are some of Cadence and some of my nephew Tyson!  Enjoy and I will try to post more of what is going on in our lives in a couple of days!  

Tyson being cute (he is always cute).  This kid is soooooooooo mellow.  It is insane how mellow he is.  Also he apparently is good luck as well.  My brother-in-law, Colin, was holding him while he was bowling on the Wii and managed to pick up an insane hard spare and the bowled something like 5 straight strikes.  Everyone playing wanted to hold him after that!  

Cady has been bugging me to take a picture of her "pretty shoes" for a while.  She likes me to take pictures of things and then show her the picture in the camera.  She loves these shoes and I am totally kicking myself for not buying them in the next three sizes since she is almost grown out of them.  

More of Tyson...he is just so stinking cute!


Can you tell how much she loves him!  All she ever wants to do is hold him!

Anyway, I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July and that your summers have been great!  Till next time!

Christmas with the Lantz's

Well! I hope that everyone has had a very great Holiday Season so far! Ours has had it's ups and downs, but we have had a blast and we are looking forward to a new year filled with wonderful new experiences!

To start things off, thanks for all the birthday wishes! I had a great day topped with Brady's office Christmas Party at Lowery's (where I had to sing the Fa la la la la's with the Carolers...I think that everyone was pleasantly surprised when I could ACTUALLY sing...lol) and then a stay at the Red Rock Hotel that night. I had so much fun and it was nice to take a real bath with bubbles and such without a time limit!

Here is a picture of Cady in Christmas Dress #3:

Yeah she looks good in everything. I really didn't think the Lord was being literal when in my Patriarchal Blessing he said I would have "beautiful children." Apparently He meant just that. Cadence now has two MORE Christmas dresses to wear that she received as Christmas gifts. Don't worry I will post pictures of those as well. :o)

The Sunday before Christmas we had our Family Christmas Party with Brady's side of the family. We were totally SPOILED. Cady got the worst of the spoiling though. Here are a few pictures of the party.

Among all the loot was a kids size rolling luggage with Cadence's name on it (very handy now that her stuff won't fit in with mine anymore when we travel) a Hokey Poky Elmo (really very funny and even funnier is watching Cady try and do what he does) and a new baby doll complete with changes of clothes, diapers and bottles. She LOVED her new baby and when we asked her what her baby's name was she said "Kennedy like mommy." About made me cry it was so sweet.

Christmas came and at our house Cadence got a play dough play table and a baby play set complete with stroller, swing, diaper bag, play mat and a mini pack'and'play. At my aunts she got two more babies (the girl is in baby heaven) and the two new Christmas dresses. She was so excited to go everyone and see all the presents and then open them. She wasn't just excited for her presents either...she wanted to see what everyone got and exclaim "Oh how cute!" over everything. It was wonderful. All my Sib's where in town and it was great to see everyone. Avery was a huge hit with those family members that hadn't seen her yet (which was just about everyone). Here is a picture of Avery and Megan crashing out after all the present opening. Avery has really porked up. She was 6lbs 1oz at birth and now weights a hefty 10lbs.

After Christmas things have settled down a bit. Whitney and Cord headed home and Ryan, Megan and my mom left to go Camping with my uncles (mom has three brothers) and their families in Texas. Those of us left at the house are trying to get things cleaned up and find homes for all the new stuff. This morning we had another surprise...

We weren't exactly trying, but were weren't NOT trying if that makes any sense. We are so excited and figure that my due date is sometime around September 8th or 9th. Yes I took two tests. That is one less than I took when I got a positive with Cadence. The first one is just so unreal to me that I take two just to make sure. I know. I have issues. :o) But we are very excited. According to the Pencil Test we are having another girl (followed by three boys). If you would like more information on the Pencil Test let me know. I would be happy to explain and even conduct it on all you females out there...so far it hasn't been wrong. :o) So any ideas on girls names (heck we will take boys names too) send them my way. We were fresh out after Cady.

Anyway, hope that everyone has a happy new year!