Engagement Photo Shoot

A little over a month ago I was spotlighted as one of the (Get to know our Sisters) sisters in church. One of the things they ask is what a favorite past time is. Well, I told them that photography was one of my all time loves, and that you could usually find me with my camera in my hand or very close by. Well, a week or so after the spotlight, I got a call from a sister in the ward asking if I would be interested in doing her daughters engagement pictures, and if so how much would I charge. I was a bit reluctant, but said I would and free of charge. Well the day finally arrived (Saturday) and I was really nervous (I don't know why I always let my nerves get the best of me). But, thanks to a few phone calls, and some awesome loved ones who gave some great coaching, :) I set out with both of my cameras to Logan Canyon (where we did the pictures). I ended up with 2 rolls of film being used, and 370 pictures on my digital camera. It was so much fun, and I may have even landed a few more clients for this summer. Now Ray and I are seriously thinking about me getting my business licence, and starting a small Photography business. We will call it MickelleRay Photography (the name we chose when we first got married, and I thought about doing a photography business). Below are just a few of my favorite poses.

What kind of a Mother am I?

I have been planning on cutting Jake's hair for some time now, and have never just stopped and taken the time. But, after his bath tonight I combed out his hair only to realize that it was long enough to put the back into a little pony tail. How EMBARRASSING, I feel like such a lazy mother. I usually try and keep his hair in the missionary hair cut. So I quickly took some pics of his hair up in a pony tail, and then chopped it off. Here are some before and after pictures. Notice the crying boy? He is mad because I made him look like a girl, and he isn't a girl he is a big tough boy (his words). I cut a good inch if not more of hair off, and it is still pretty long. I will have to finish the job on Monday when I cut his dad's hair.

Please, leave a COMMENT...

I must confess, I am guilty of blog hopping, and do it quite often. I have found several people I grew up with by doing this, and have secretly enjoyed reading about their lives, and seeing their beautiful children. But, am now a little spooked by the fact that people might be doing the same with my blog. I admit I seldom leave comments behind, and for several reasons. One being that I have not been invited and I fear it will offend, and the other is that I just don't dare. Well now I am asking one and all, if you stop by my blog, please leave a comment. Even if you do not know me, or we once knew each other but it was long ago. Let me know who you are. I would love to see where my blog is traveling to (kind of like the traveling Stanley Ellie did in school this year). Plus it may ignite old friendships for which we could enjoy. And I promise I will try and do the same if I stop by your blog, even if it is just a quick HI!!! Thanks, and have a great day!

Happy Blog Hopping...

Swimmin' at Uncle Mike's

Ray and I spent last weekend in Southern Utah watching Mike's four youngest kids while he and Karen were out of town. It was a busy weekend, but my kids managed to have as much fun as they could by spending most of the free time they had splashin' around in uncle Mike's new pool. I was so glad Ray and I invested in the full body life jackets last summer. It made it so I did not worry as much as I would have otherwise. On Saturday evening, my sister Melanie and her family came up for a B-B-Q and a swim. We were able to have an enjoyable evening visiting while the kids had fun swimming. Here are some pictures of my kids, Mike's kids, and Melanie's kids enjoying themselves in the water.

To tired to eat.

Jake has not been feeling well, and the other night at the dinner table he finally pooped out.
I could not resist the opportunity of taking pictures of something that never happens. We went to the Dr. yesterday only to find that he has strep pretty bad, and will be missing his last week of school. Hopefully he will be feeling good enough to make it to his last day of school.

Finally, Blooms on my Magnolia Tree..

We planted a Magnolia Tree in our front flower garden a year ago, and I it hasn't grown much, and I was beginning to wonder if it would ever grow, or even get blooms on it. For a while in the winter it was completely covered in snow, and I was afraid it froze. But finally this spring it has surprised us with almost 12 buds, and check out these blooms. And, they smell as wonderful as they look. I am so excited and can't get enough of the smell or the beauty. Dang neighbor kids better not pick any for their moms, or grandmas or I may have to hurt them very very bad. :)

First Grade Field Trip

Ellie had her first and only field trip this year today. They went out the the Howell Farms Dairy Days. I volunteered to be one of the moms for her class. There were about 4 different schools there, all first graders, and boy was it crazy. Each adult was assigned 3 kids to watch over, and a group to stay with. Each group would go from booth to booth and learn about farm, and dairy things. The kids learned about and had the opportunity to help sheer a sheep, feed a baby calf, pet a horse and its foal, and then we learned about tractors, and how to be safe while around big equipment. There was also a lady there who showed them how to make yarn out of the wool they had just sheered from the sheep outside. The kids were very impressed by this. We learned what foods different animals ate, we learned the difference between fruits and veggies, and we even got to plant a seed of our choice to bring home to our own gardens. (Ellie chose cucumbers, and Jake chose peas) Some of the things they were given were pencils, with hamburger erasers, pencils that said "Got Milk", Coloring pages with farm animals on them, ice cream sandwiches, cookies, and Gossner dairy milk of their choice ( plain, chocolate, strawberry, and root beer milk. I chose the root beer milk and was surprised to find that it tastes just like a root beer float). Anyway the kids all had a blast, and Jake even seemed like he enjoyed himself and did pretty good with blending in with the big kids. Ellie says it was her best field trip of the year, which is funny cause it was the only one of the year. But I am glad that she had a lot of fun.

This is a baby lamb he is attempting to let the kids hold. It was about 3 1/2 weeks old they said.This is our group learning how to make yarn out of wool. Notice how good Jake is being. :)Here the kids are petting the momma and baby horse. The girl on the left in the pink shirt and jeans, with pink streaks in her hair is about 2 months older than Ellie. Her name is Heaven, and she is such a sweet little girl. She makes Ellie look like such a baby when they are next to each other, I am not even sure if Ellie reaches her armpits. Pretty sad how short my girl is...Here are Ellie and Jake checking out the sweet little calf's. They each had their favorites which I have also posted, with reasons why it is their favorite. They are both convinced that if they ask their daddy, he will get them their very own calf. Lets just see how wrapped daddy is. hahaThis little calf is Jake's favorite, because it has a polka dot nose, and came right up to the cage when Jake walked over and said MOO, MOO, come hear little cow.And this little calf is Ellie's favorite, because it was just SO cute, and it had a white face like Brandi, with a few freckles on its nose, and it had red hair like Brandi, and when she gets her own cute cow just like that one, when her dad lets her have one, she will name it Brandi too. :)

And here my kids are filling their pots with soil so that they can plant their seeds.

Saturday Fun

On Saturday, Ray and I decided we wanted to take a trip to Lucin UT, and check out some land that is currently for sale. We left our house just before 9AM, and headed to Lucin. After we got there, we visited the water hole, and walked the old rail line for about and hour,then we decided it would be fun to drive around the entire Great Salt Lake. We decide it might be a fun Saturday Micro trip. Well it ended up being almost 400 miles and took the entire day. We returned home at about 7:30, and had made it into Nevada as well. Anyway, below are some pictures of our trip, and some of the things we saw on the way. Oh and how cool are we? We can now say we have been around the entire Great Salt Lake. :) haha (Pathetic I know)

I decided once we got out to the boonies that I would let the kids take turns sitting on my lap and drive the van. Jake was first, and he thought he was so cool. He spent quite a bit of his driving time giggling and squealing. It was pretty funny to watch. He is a pretty good driver.

Next it was Ellie's turn. She was pretty sure she was going to be a better driver than any of us, and did a pretty good job keeping the van on the road. Now Ray and I get to worry about one of the kids finding the keys and trying to take the car for a spin on their own. ;)

The first animal that we saw was an Antelope, standing on the side of the road. He did not seem like he was to afraid of us and our van, or our picture taking.

Next we came across this Lama. He was all alone, and seemed very interested in what we were doing out in his neck of the woods.

This is a Golden Eagle. I was pretty disappointed about this because he was sitting on a fence post as we passed, and by the time I backed all the way up to snap some shots of him he had decided it was time for him to go find some breakfast. He sure was a pretty boy...

This was a very tall pine tree that tipped over. We stopped to take some pictures, and a girl and her sister pulled up on their bikes and started telling us about what had happened. They said a few days after the Wells Nevada earthquake at about 7pm the people who live in this home heard this loud creaky noise, and then felt the ground shake and next they heard a big thud. When they went outside they found that the old pine had fallen to its death.

Check out the trampoline. How scary is that? I think they are lucky that it didn't lift up the whole front part of their home. It gives me chills to think about what it must have felt like. This is a whole in the rocks on the mountain out by Lucin. The rocks are pretty cool sliver like boulders, and as we were driving I noticed the sun shining through this whole. pretty amazing.This is um, well I am not sure what it is. Some kind of tree thing I assume. It had a bunch of these little pin wheels on it and the wind was blowing and they were spinning quite fast. There were a bunch on the ground, and I assume as they fall new ones get put in their place. The kids thought that it was really cool, and Ellie even thinks it would be cool to make one for our yard. :)This is out on the salt air side of the lake. There were around 11 boats that we could count, and the kids thought it was cool to see all the sail boats out on the windy water. All in all it was a pretty fun day full of no worries, and lots of new adventures.

Again???

Jake was coloring a pretty picture with a bright red marker when he decided that he would look good all colored in red as well. He managed to get his left hand pretty much completely colored before his dad noticed what he was doing and stopped him. Notice the proud look on this stinkers face. I guess it will be a fun picture for him to have when he is older. :) I'm trying to look on the positive side of this coloring all over himself thing, can you tell?

First Grade Music Program

Today Ellie and the First Graders had their end of the year program for the entire school, Parents, Grandparents, and others. Ellie had her own speaking part, which she did very well with (she spoke extremely fast, but did great), and they sang a bunch of songs. The theme was on being a friend to everyone, and showing RESPECT to yourself and to others. I was in the very back of the room, and my camera was having a hard time focusing properly because of the light, but I thought I would be fun to share some of her program with all of you. :)