We're back!

Well, we just got back early this evening from Disneyland! It was so much fun and I was very sad to come home, although it will be nice to be back in my own bed tonight. The kids had no idea that we were going until Friday morning. We told them that we were going to spend the weekend in Seattle. So Thursday we headed down to a hotel near the airport and went out to dinner. We told the kids that we would go visit the Space Needle the next day so they had to head to bed. The next morning, I told them I had some new shirts for them to wear. Each kids shirt had a different Disney character on it. They didn't figure it out so we ended up telling them and the boys didn't believe us until we showed them the tickets. So we hopped on a plane a couple hours later we were in sunny California! Well, it was a little cloudy the first two days, but the last two days were beautiful and sunny! Here are a few pictures from the first day. I will post later days as I get the pictures off my camera.

This is the hotel in Seattle the day before we told them. They were just so excited to be staying in a hotel.

Maia and Grandpa heading into Downtown Disney. I love that music is playing where ever you walk. It always makes me feel like I am in a movie!

Here are the kids in front of California Adventure. Dane just loved those big letters and would have been happy playing on them all day.

Of course there is always one kid that ends up sick when we travel. This time it was Gage. He had a bad cough and bit of a fever for the first couple days. He toughed it out though.

A picture of the whole crew (except me, the official picture taker).

Dane decided he had to have a Storm Trooper Gun complete with annoying shooting sounds.

Maia chose a lovely Minnie Mouse dress hoping that she would be able to get meet up with Minnie the next day.

Gage and Davis decided swords were a must have. Not sure I like that idea, I see a lot of play fights turning into real fights.

A couple more pictures of my little Star Wars fanatic.

We looked around Downtown Disney and took in all the stores and ended the evening at the Rainforest Cafe. Yes, he did put the gun down to eat, but not for long.

And this last picture of our first day is Maia looking off our balcony watching the fireworks. We were lucky enough to get a room that over looked the park and we were able to watch the fireworks every night from our room!

Website and scheduling

Website is coming along and just about finished. Most everything is on there and I am now starting to schedule sessions in April. I have a few on my calendar already so let me know soon if you want to get in. I will only be doing a couple a week so I have time for editing and rescheduling if necessary. Check out Roxsey Photography for details.

I just wanted to be a monster mom...

Honest to God, I watch this kid... I just happened to be taking a shower. Please dont call CPS.

My kids..

Well, it wasn't raining, snowing, blowing, or below 40 degrees, so I made the kiddos go outside for some playtime while I took some pictures.

If you had 30 days..

A few weeks ago, a friend was telling me about a trip she was taking with her husband and she couldn't decide whether to go with the all inclusive or the cheaper hotel. I said, "go with the all inclusive, that is, if you can afford it, it will be WAY cooler!" She thought about it for a minute and said "yeah, I just don't know.." and I said "Hey, you might as well do it if you can, you never know when you might not be able to again, you never know when your going to die."

"Well, that's pretty morbid," she says.

"Well, its true, isn't it?" I said.

"Yeah, I guess your right." she agreed.

So I am happy to report, she booked the all inclusive.

So this got me thinking, if you found out you only had 30 days to live, would you do things differently than you do now? I am not talking spending large amounts of cash and doing things you can not afford, but would your daily routines change? Would you treat people differently? Would you be scared of doing things that you normally have a fear of? There is a movie that I watched a long time ago with Queen Latifa in it (I cant remember the name of the movie) but she was misdiagnosed and told she only had a short amount of time to live. So she changed her life and started doing things for HER and treating people differently and living her dreams. She does come to find out that she was misdiagnosed but the whole situation changed how she did things and of course her life changed for the better. Of course that was only a movie.

But I wonder, if I really think about having 30 days left..would I really be so scared of flying in an airplane? Heck no! Would I want to try to make amends with the people that I hurt, or people that hurt me? Absolutely! Would I treat people better? Smile at strangers and say hello? Heck yeah! Would I make it a point to let the people I know and love, REALLY know that I love them and think they are special? YES!

It sounds easy, but is it? I think we all just get so comfortable in our lives and mostly scared of change and what it might bring. To really put your self out there and have the potential to not get the result you want is scary! What if that stranger doesn't say hi back? What if my plane does crash? What if that person that you try to make amends with slams the door in your face? Scary!

I also think that God would want us to do these things. To really LIVE the life he gave us. To be peacekeepers, to do good, to help others, to let people know how special they are. Even if it means for us to be a bit uncomfortable.

So my little challenge for myself is to do something MORE every day for the next 30 days. To try to live like there were only 30 more days left. (I really hope its not! :)) It scares me a little just to write it, to know that I may get out of my comfort zone. I will write down what I do over the next 30 days and report back. I challenge those who read to change a little something here and there too! Really it doesn't have to be big! Send a friendly note. Say hi to a stranger. Buy someone coffee. Something! I know I have some blogstalkers out there and I love you all so feel free to comment and let me know what you did!

Cool stuff I love....

Thought I would just post some stuff that I LOVE to look at! I know I spend way to much time on the computer sometimes looking at stuff. One link usually leads to another, and another and pretty soon I forget what I originally was looking for but love all the different things I find. Also I feel hard pressed for something to blog about. I am sure you guys don't want to hear me say "I hate snow" one more time...what, I just said it. So anyway, here is some cool shtuff.

SOOOO much information for the photographer on this site, plus has some pretty cool links to other peoples businesses. I have gotten some awesome actions from here. Its called I Love Photography

Another of my favorites that I found through ILP site is Design Revolution . They have all sorts of cool prop outfits for kids, mostly tutu type stuff but so very cute! Here is one of their Christmas outfits..

I am going to jump from photography stuff to desserts for a minute. Anyone who knows me well knows I am a sugar junkie. I LOVE the good stuff. Not only are these cupcakes so appealing to the stomach, but to the eye as well. Check out Trophy Cupcakes . The gal that owns the shop was on Martha Stewart once and they showed her recipe for the Smores Cupcakes. I made them, and while they were not as pretty as hers they sure tasted awesome!

Now back to photography. Here is a new cool site I found just the other day Photojojo . They have some really cool stuff to buy, and I just bought these the other day, thought they were so cute. I haven't gotten them yet but will be sure to post pictures of what mine look like when they come. In the meantime, here is what they look like.

They also have this super cool secret spy lens I want.

Also, if your into photography and are a blog reader, you must check out Mera Koh's blog . She, along with her husband Brian, are amazing wedding photographers. They also have some awesome workshops. I attended one in October and it changed a lot of things for me as far as photography. They are very inspiring teachers! Right now they just took their two kids and are spending a few months in the jungles of Thailand. She has posted some pics up already so check it out! I sooo wish I could get my husband to do something like that!

So that's it for now. I could post more stuff I look at but then you guys might think I do nothing all day but look on the computer. ;)

Uhh....where did this snow come from???

Much to my surprise, it started to snow this afternoon. And you all know just how much I love the snow....not. I miss the sunshine! I miss taking pictures! My favorite lens broke so I sent it back to Canon, hopefully they will fix it and send it back before my trip to Disney. In the meantime I am practicing with my new lens but it is huge, so I cant really just throw it in a bag and walk around Disney with it. Dane allowed a few pictures of him today. I know that last picture is a little frightening.