And still is.

It’s hard for me to accept the fact that this girl is graduating from college. College! It seems like just yesterday she was tagging along with Amy (her older sister) and I. I’m so proud of her and excited for her upcoming graduation from BYU Idaho. This just proves the fact that ANYTIME is a good time for some pictures. Especially when you’re this gorgeous.

Hands down, my new favorite shot.

No Photoshop work done here folks. Just some experimenting with my lens.

We laughed pretty much the entire time if you hadn’t already guessed that from the pictures.

On one of those beautifully warm days that seem so long ago, we took the kids and met Amy and her kids at Trafalga for a fun-filled evening.

Amy and I were near peeing our pants watching the kids on this. They were terrified, but loving it at the same time. Please look at Livi’s’ face.

From our little super heros to yours. My grand plans for a full on shoot of these two in costume was reduced to a five minute one before we headed off for trunk-or-treating at our church…in the pouring rain.

After a somewhat unfortunate hair cut for Isaac, I decided to finally take the kids to a pumpkin patch to choose their own pumpkins. I’d been meaning to for some time, but I’m glad I waited because the weather was just perfect, and also maybe because the pumpkins were cheaper…

Lucy and the pumpkin she chose.

Isaac and his pumpkin.

This one cracks me up. I told Isaac to try and lift it for the picture. Clearly it was a little heavy for him.

On the hay maze.

This photo makes me laugh for two reasons. #1, Geoff’s smile. #2, what happened right after. Isaac is fairly sensitive to smells and such so he wanted no part removing the insides of the pumpkin. Geoff started doing it for him and then said “stick out your tongue”, which Isaac did. Geoff barely touched the pumpkin insides to Isaac’s tongue and Isaac started gagging for about 2 minutes. We rolled…and then said sorry.

Lucy however, had no problem getting her hands in there!

We let the kids draw the faces they wanted and then we cut them out.

The finished product.

Isaac asked me why they were having a “Free Drug” day at school. Priceless.

Please let me introduce you to the most laid back family I’ve met thus far. I’ll explain. We had our shoot scheduled for last Saturday. If you live here in Utah, you might remember this is the day when Fall decided to show up in full force. We talked about rescheduling, but after a break in the rain, decided to go through with the shoot. When I arrived at our predetermined location, it started to drizzle, then rain, and then POUR. They weren’t phased and said “Let’s go to an underpass”. I’m all for that, so we headed over while I prayed the whole time that the rain would let up. They hopped out of the car with all four kids in tow, including George who still had orange hair from Crazy Hair day which they couldn’t get out–love it. I was pretty sure we were going to have some extras in their family shoot as we weren’t the only people trying to get out of the rain…Not only was it pouring, but it was really dark. As a photographer, these are less then ideal conditions, actually they are the worst, but we worked it out and even found an empty boxcar to jump in, making for some really cool, and dry pictures. Thank you Grimmers for being up for anything!

I find a trip without kids to be something very necessary for me, not only to remind me why I love being a mom, but why I love my husband. Geoff had a conference in Orlando where he presented four papers, and since I didn’t end up getting to accompany him to the Dominican Republic earlier this summer due to pregnancy, I jumped at the opportunity to make this my consolation vacation. And it was just that, a vacation! Nothing to clean, nothing to cook, no routines. Despite the fact that Geoff was presenting, we were able to spend the majority of our days together which was heavenly. We both finished off two books, spent a lot of time relaxing at the pool, ate delicious food, had a hugely successful trip to H&M, and enjoyed each others company. I am so lucky, nine years later, to still be madly in love with my husband. Geoff told me at some point during our time there how great it is to be married to his best friend. What a huge compliment. Our kids were well taken care of by generous family members which makes any vacation just that much more enjoyable and worry-free. We’re happy to be reunited again and I’m so grateful for the much needed rejuvenation!

On our way to the pool.

Swoon.

We took an Airboat tour through a lake there and it was really fun. It was an absolutely gorgeous day!

We saw two alligators, a couple alligator babies, a water snake (which I could have done without), and a turtle.

At one point we got stuck for about fifteen minutes on some swampy grass. I was a little nervous when the captain had us all get out on the front of the boat to shift the weight after having just told us that a mamma alligator was watching us since we were right by her nest.

Here’s a picture of Geoff while off the side of the boat for all you weird people who think he doesn’t smile.

They guaranteed us a picture with a gator, so at the end of our tour they pulled this little baby out of a garbage bag, in a hot car, with electrical tape around it’s mouth. Um, really?

We spent a day at Hollywood Studios which was really fun. There are some really amazing shows there. We also went to “Arabian Nights” one of the nights which was the worst part of our trip. Really expensive, fairly lame show and gross food. We were totally suckered.

And there’s the six month belly for my sisters who keep asking. I’ll have to take a more belly-focused one in the near future. I’m feeling great, getting bigger (though mostly in my face, what is with that???), and loving feeling this little lady moving around.

This family might look familiar to you if you’ve been following my blog for a while. Meet the Dovers, my very best friend’s family. Amy and I have been “kindred spirits” (as her grandma puts it) for almost 14 years now. I think it’s safe to say that we’ve been through just about everything together, including a long struggle to get our third babies here. Amy and I are due three weeks from each other. We both experienced miscarriages and a year (almost two for Amy) of discouragement month after month. This only brought us closer as you might imagine and I’d like to think our little ones are up in heaven playing together already in preparation for their time together as best buddies on Earth. I love this family like my own.

She may have gotten her big eyes from me, but certainly not her love of bugs.