The Rust Family

Updates on OUR temple!

2011-05-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

One of the blessings of having Thomas in the High Council is that we hear some of the updates of the temple early. Thomas came home the other day and said that they had been told that the stone work for the temple would be coming in within the next two days. He said that they had been shown pictures of semi-trucks loaded down with the pre-cast stone for the temple.

We hurried down and took some pics of the temple before the next phase of construction started.

He also said that he had an idea of where they were storing the stone until it was ready to be put up . . . about a half mile from our house. Of course I had to go for a little drive and see if I could get close enough to get some good pics.

Sure enough, two days later the walls started going up. Almost daily you hear stories of more semi-trucks on Brigham City streets carrying more pieces of the walls. Each peice is only half as tall as the temple and about an 1/8th of one side of the temple. Obviously, it's going to take alot of truck loads to get it all in!

Here's what it looks like as of Thursday evening:

Can I just say how this building has changed a community! There is a buzz around town . . . everyone is talking about how beautiful it is beginning to look, speculating about dates of completion, and debating about weather or not the trees in front are going to remain! We have been told by the Stake President, that Angel Moroni will be arriving around June 27th! Our family is so excited to have such a special building in our little town!

A relaxing Sunday!

2011-04-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

I love General Conference Weekend. There were so many fabulous talks that really want you to work harder at being a better mom, wife, friend and church member. Our favorite quote this weekend was:

"Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words" -Deiter F. Uchtdorf

Loved, loved, loved Bishop Burton's talk about his sweet wife. What an honor it would be if my husband could say the same things about me. I want to be like Bishop Burton's wife Jeanine.

We also like the talk about tithing and the first two talks Sunday morning about serving those in need. President Monsen's talk about temples was also a favorite! His talk inspired us to take a drive/walk to our own temple currently under construction. It is going to be so beautiful!

This is the Brigham City Tabernacle, directly
across the street from the Temple.

Max hangin' out with dad after conference! We are so blessed to have such an amazing opportunity to hear from our living prophets. Their testimonies are such a strength to me. What an incredible weekend!

Doing what we do best!

2011-03-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

A little taste of us . . . doing what we do best!

Max . . . being absolutely adorable!

This was taken at Stephanie's bbq birthday party Saturday. What a day for a barbecue! We FROZE!

Marshall doing some gymnastics! He started gymnastics class a couple of weeks. This prompted mom to put a new family rule into effect . . . NO GYMNASTICS in the house! I'll let you use your imagination on why such a rule was needed!

Abby being a princess.
She took a Princess Practice class at the Peak. She went once a week for 5 weeks. Each week she got to dress up in her tutus and wings and crown and learn about princesses. Here she is at Princess Practice graduation:

Princesses can balance a cup on their heads (as long as they stick their tongue out a little)

Princesses drink with their pinky finger in the air!

Princess Practice teacher Jen

Ben, Stephanie, and Dad all got bikes for their birthdays! So we spent some time remembering how to ride our bikes! Only one minor crash incident from . . . you guessed it, Marshall! He'll be fine as soon as he forgets where all the scabs are!

And here's the whole family (minus Benjamin . . . he had some other obligations) at Kite Day put on by Brigham City's Sights and Sounds of Brigham!

The first 900 kids got to make their own kites (are there even 900 kids in Brigham?????)

Again, here is poor Max in the stinkin' cold spring weather!
Why do we do things in the cold???

Did I mention it was cold?????

Time to test out the kites!

There was a guy flying a string of kites . . . hey look, there is my house behind those kites!

You should NEVER fly kites when there is snow on the mountains!

There is always one kite in a tree! This one was Stephanie's!

And all of us Parachute racing! This was a BLAST, and harder than you would think. You start running, the parachute fills with air and whoosh! SOOOO much fun!

Never, I repeat, Never give Thomas the camera to "hold"!!!!

The happenings of the week!

2011-03-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well, just as Thomas predicted, Maxwell turned 8 months old. I just love each stage he goes through almost as much as I miss the stages that he has grown out of! I miss him as a newborn, but I love him as a giggling, toe curling little 8 month old!

Here's some of the shots we took from his 8 month birthday!

Notice the cute little scabs on his nose and upper lip? I set him on the brick walkway while I picked some weeds. I guess I sometimes forget how tipsy an 8 month old can be. He nose/face dived right into the brick! He now refuses to be sat down outside . . . unless he's got something to sit on besides grass, bricks, or wood chips! Hence the beautiful blanket my mom made for him!!!!

Max LOVES to help with the dishes!

Hmmmm, I wonder who has been in my cupboards. I have no CLUE!

And loves to make his siblings pull faces in an attempt to get him to smile for pictures! I should have turned the camera around and snapped pictures of them being silly!

His little legs go CRAZY when he is excited!!!! Look at those little fat rolls! Love!

Oh, and lastly on the official first day of spring in 2011, look what I saw today!!

Welcome Spring!

Another Mile in our Journey!

2011-03-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

I think our lives are a journey! Some parts of the journey are "uphill both ways", and some parts are nice and level and smooth. Well, these last two weeks for us have been a bumpy dirt road with stickers and thorns and . . . "uphill both ways". The only thing that makes these parts of the journey bearable are that we walk them all together. We have had such a strong support system from family and friends. We will never be able to voice how much we appreciate each of you.

On Saturday the 19th of March, Max woke up coughing and wheezing. He was struggling to breathe, and just very uncomfortable. Thomas and I ran him down to the instacare clinic where the doctor determined he had RSV. He sent us home with a nebulizer and instructions for how to make him more comfortable. We were also told to bring him in for a follow up on Monday.

Soo, sooo, miserable :-(

On Monday we took him in for his follow up. He was still SO sad and sick. The doctor was worried, because he could now hear some issues in his lungs. We were told to take a jot down to the ER for some lung X-Rays. Sure enough, he also now had viral pneumonia. We were subscribed some antibiotics just as a precaution. We were told to continue the nebulizer and the ibuprofen and the tylenol and the antibiotics. I had a little list by the refrigerator listing all the times I was supposed to give him his different treatments/medicines. We were told to bring him in the next day for another follow up.

This is how he slept all night. Thomas and I would trade off so we could each get rest.

He really does not like this darn nebulizer
although he usually falls asleep instantly after the treatment.
It just helps him breathe so much better.

So the next day at our follow up visit, Max's happy personality was slowly starting to return. I was optimistic that we had caught this early enough and the doctor had been proactive enough that maybe, just maybe we were over the worst of this! Sure enough, he was breathing better, but now had a pretty icky ear infection. We joked that this is the best time for an ear infection, he was already on the antibiotics, and tylenol and ibuprofen, he probably didn't even feel any discomfort.

We kept the nebulizer for 3 more days, but were instructed to call in each day rather than bring him in. The next day, we got a small glimpse of our happy little boy!

He continued to improve and we got to return that darn nebulizer! Unfortuneatly, we returned it while Thomas and Abby were at the instacare getting checked for strep. aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Neither of them had strep, but were pretty miserable for a couple of days. Then Steph also had a few days where she was suffering from some pretty sever headaches and high fever.

Well, you would think our journey would level out a little after this, but leave it to Marshall to give us another run to the instacare!! He had a small open cut underneath his thumb from pulling off his thumbnail instead of using clippers -genius child ;-) It got infected, and blistered up quite nicely. Look away if you have a queasy stomache.

So the doctor poked a hole in it and drained out the infection, cut off the dead skin . . . turn your head again

And wrapped it up to prevent it from getting dirty. He said it may be overkill on the wrap, but it would make the girls think he's pretty cool - smiles from marshall!!!

He now refers to this day as "The best day ever!" I ask why, and he says because of all the stuff I got! He got a corn dog and a slurpee from 7-11 and a sucker from the nurse and a sucker from the pharmacist where we filled yet another prescription for antibiotics!

Well, we are happy to announce that our journey has leveled out. We are all currently happy and healthy and enjoying the prospect of spring!!

And our sweet Max is now healthy as can be!!! We sure love our little monkey!

I knew this would happen!

2011-02-27T09:57:00.000-08:00

Max is my fifth child, and it's happened with EVERY single one of them. I remember going to sleep one night, waking up in the morning and my newborn has grown up. I had hoped that with Max, we could avoid that, or at least slow it to a minimum.

Here's a little photographic time line of how this happened!

4 Days Old
July 19, 2010

1 Month Old
August 15, 2010

2 Months Old
September 15, 2010

3 Months Old
October 15, 2010

4 Months Old
November 15, 2010

5 Months Old
December 15, 2010

6 Months Old
January 15, 2011

And finally, this is what I woke up to the other day. He is 7 Months Old. WHAT . . . I gave no permission to let my last little baby grow up this fast. Whatever will I do????

7 Months Old
February 15, 2011

Thomas said to be prepared . . . he thinks that next month he might turn 8 months old. I'm just not ready for this! Can't we just keep them little forever?

I love this little skunk . . . even if I did get thrown up on this morning ;-)

Max's 1 Month Pics!

2010-08-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing the quest of having THE most photographed children EVER! At least that's what they would tell you if you asked them! Yesterday "Baby Max", as Abby calls him, turned 1 month old! Thomas and I took him down to the studio for some pictures and I was so frustrated when my lights weren't working the way they're supposed to. I thought my idea of photographing Max every month, on the 15th of each month, until he turns one was going to be ruined. Thomas, the brilliant one in this marriage, suggested we take his pics outside!

This was a great reminder that my brain cells are still post-partum!

So outside pictures we did, and I must say that I think I like them better than what I had planned for studio pictures!

And because anytime Abby sees me get out my camera to photograph someone else, she asks if it's her turn for pictures! So here's Abby's 3 year, 7 month, 8 day pictures! She's sporting her new "school" outfit! Can't go school shopping for all the big kids without getting an outfit for the little kids too!

Wehadababyitsaboy!!!

2010-08-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

I'm about as good of a blogger as I am a journal writer! Good thing I love to scrapbook, or my kids wouldn't know what their lives were like as children!!

So, for those that didn't know, we WERE pregnant! After a LONG and uneventful pregnancy, little Maxwell David Rust entered our home and our hearts. He was 2 1/2 weeks early, and true to alot of pregnant ladies, came after a long day of "nesting". I had done EVERY stitch of laundry in the ENTIRE house. I had cleaned and organized my bedroom where the baby would be staying for his first few months of life. I went through all of Abby's clothes and made piles of what goes to DI, what goes downstairs (not that we'll be needing any little girl hand-me-downs . . . I'm not quite ready to get rid of all or it yet), and what just goes in the garbage. All of Abby's clothes are in a dresser in my closet, because there's more room in there than in the girls' room! So I made room to add yet another child's clothes to my closet! I even went through all of my maternity clothes and made pile of who they need to be returned to . . . lots of great people loaned me lots of great maternity clothes. I organized my own maternity clothes into DI pile, loan to someone else pile and garbage pile!

Needless to say, by 5:00 in the evening, I was having a few mild braxton hicks style contractions, but they were like 20 minutes apart and not a big deal. I also just wasn't feeling good at all. Thomas came home for about 30 minutes before he had to rush off to do the nursery for the ward's enrichment activity. I told him I didn't want him to stay for the whole thing, because I just didn't feel good, and I wanted him home.

By the time he was home at about 7:30, my contractions were pretty consistent, but still about 10 minutes apart, and just not hurting much at all. I tried laying down for a nap, and I tried taking a nice warm bath, but the contractions wouldn't go away, and they kept getting closer together. By about 10:00 at night, they were pretty consistently 5 minutes apart, and they were hurting pretty good. We decided it was time to head to the hospital!

After 4 hours at the hospital trying to decide if I was going to be admitted, my contractions were 3 minutes apart, but I just wasn't dilating past a 3.

My excellent doctor decided to come in and break my water, I was going to be admitted, we were going to meet our little boy! Sure enough 4 hours later Max made is debut!

He weighed 6lb 1oz and was 18" long. He had a full head of dark hair. He was perfect, tiny and perfect!

We brought him home to the loving arms of his brothers and sisters (big brother Ben was away at scout camp and didn't get to meet his little brother until the next day)! We had been given instructions to have his jaundice levels checked, but other than that, things were great!

We took him into the hospital the next day to have his heel poked to test his jaundice levels, they were at 12.25. The doctor said it was a little high, but we were still good to go. We had an appointment with our doctor the next day and we'd take another heel poke then. Max was the most mild mannered little baby, he let all of his brothers and sisters hold him, even little Abby who just beamed from head to toe! I pretty much just held him and loved on him as much as I could!

At his doctor's appointment, Max's weight had gone down to 5lb 12 oz which isn't abnormal at all, most babies lose some weight for a few days after coming home from the hospital. The hope is that they gain it back by their 2 week check up. His jaundice levels however had gone up to 16.75. That's when we got word that the dreaded glowing bed was going to arrive at our house that evening and that Max was going to have to spend the night and the next day "glowing". We were instructed not to take him off of the bili bed except for feedings and diaper changes. That was pretty tough for me, and tough most of all for big brother Ben. If you know my Ben, he has the most tender, caring heart. He sat and watched little Max crying in the Bili Bed and his emotional post partum mother crying as well, and he was pretty shook up over the whole incident! Eventually mom got control of herself, and we learned some tricks to make Max more comfortable during his stay on his "glowing bed" and Ben felt a little better as well!

The next day we took Max into the hospital again for another heel poke, his jaundice levels had gone down to 11.9, that meant no more bili bed for the day. Instructions were given to have his heel poked again the next day! If his levels were still good, we could give the nice home health people back their dang bed! Sure enough, his levels were at 11.9 again the next day and the bed went back to where it belongs!

From then on, Max has gained back his birth weight and some, his last appointment had him at 6lb 7oz, and had gained an inch as well! He's absolutely beautiful, and still a very mild tempered baby. Don't get me wrong, he does know how to use his lungs, especially when it comes to bath time and when he's ready for dinner!

We love our new little Max, and are so grateful for the little miracles that bring each of our children to us! We love being a family of 7!

He LOVES his mommy!!

My New Wall Pics of the Kids!

2010-02-27T20:37:00.001-08:00

Here's the pics of the kids!!! Marshall with his new haircut (slight sarcasm - friend haircut, see post below!!) We'll take a new pic when his hair grows in!!

Ben, almost 13!!!

Steph, almost 10!!

Abby, now 3!

Salon Days!!!!

2010-02-27T20:15:00.000-08:00

Meet Shaelee!
She is Marshall's personal beautician!
Marshall and Shaelee have been friends/boyfriend/girlfriend since they knew each other existed! (I've known shae's mom for 6+ years). We fondly refer to Shaelee as "Our Shae"! Well, Shae and Marshall got together yesterday for a playdate while I went to a funeral. After the funeral, I grab my cell phone to turn it back on and I notice there is a missed call from Shae's mom. I listen to my messages and sure enough there's a message from Tammy warning me to not freak out when Marshall gets home from school! It seems that during play date, they decided to play salon!

So, Marshall comes home from school, and I instantly ask him how his time with Shae was. Hoping he would fess up! He didn't.

So I asked "What happened to your hair?" to which he replies:

"It wasn't me mom". Can you say guilty conscience? He's done this to himself quite a few times! The first time he did, he claimed he did it so Shae would think he was cute!

So upon closer inspection, here's how his salon trip went!!! I was laughing the ENTIRE time I was taking these! I had just put new pics of the girls on the wall, and today was going to be boy photo shoot day. Well, he still got his photo shoot - for the blog of course - and when we fix his hair, he'll get a new photo shoot!!

Valentine's Date Nights

2010-02-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

Thomas and I started a new tradition last year for Valentines Day. We went on a date together without the children on Valentines Day, and then the next night Thomas took the girls on a Valentines Date and I took the boys! It was a huge hit.

This year since Valentines was Sunday, Thomas and went and saw Blindside and ate at Red Robin (one of my favorite places in the WHOLE entire world) on Friday night, and then Saturday I took the boys on a date and dad took the girls on a date. The kids got to choose where we went, no questions asked.

The boys chose The Beehive. It's a fun little pizza place here in Brigham with an arcade inside. I gave them some money to spend where ever they wanted while they waited for their dinner to be ready! Then after dinner they had some money left and wanted to go and play air hockey. It was hillarious. Marshall can just barely see above the table, but with all his enthusiasm, he kept the second game tied up until the very end! I wonder if Benjamin was letting him get in a few shots. He's cute that way!!

My boys!!! If Marshall were 7 years older, I'd wonder if they were twins!!!

(ignore the quality of the cell phone pics, believe it or not, I don't take my camera with me everywhere I go!)

The girls chose to go to a Chinese buffet place that's new in town. Stephanie LOVES egg drop soup, and at Beijing Buffet you can have all the egg drop soup you want, and your kid sister can eat jello till her eyes pop out! (is jello a chinese food . . .) I'm sure dad found somthing worth eating as well. I don't have any pics of the girls with dad. Dad's don't usually take a camera with them wherever they go either!!!!!

We had a blast! It's kinda fun to celebrate Valentine's day with you kids. A little less pressure, and it's okay to talk about Dodge Ram trucks the whole time! (see previous post) At least Benjamin said it was a suitable date topic!!

"Why don't more people drive a Dodge Ram?"

2010-02-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

I had to blog this for my Dad! Last summer my dad drove up to buy himself a new motorbike from a guy in Idaho. Since Brigham City was exactly halfway, dad stopped by to spend the night. He also invited Benjamin to take the rest of the trip with him. Benjamin was THRILLED!!!! 3 things he loves most in this whole world are #1 grandpa, #2 granpa's truck, and #3 motorcycles/snowmobiles/4 wheelers. I think mom and dad MIGHT fall in the top 10 somewhere!

So I can just imagine what the 4 hour drive was like for my poor dad!! Ben can sure ask alot of questions, and his conversations are usually stuck on one topic.

They got home later that night, dad has a new bullet bike in the back of his truck, Ben has a new hat from the motorcycle dealer and a sparkle in his eyes.

Well, ever since then, Ben has unloaded on us all the important information he has learned on his trip with grandpa! Don't worry grandma, it's all clean!

He informs us that grandpa's truck is a Dodge Ram. It's not a V8, becuase it's cylinder is straight. SO, they call it a Straight 8. yada, yada, yada, yada.

This morning as I drive him to school (picture Benjamin watching EVERY truck on the road intently) he says to me: "I wonder why more people don't drive Dodge Ram trucks". I tell him that if everyone drove Dodge Ram, then the world would be awfully dull. Of course he looks at me like "are you insane!"

We pull into the school parking lot and there's a Dodge Ram parked in the parking lot. Ben is studying it INTENLY. He says: "Mom that Dodge Ram says V8, and a real, true Dodge Ram isn't a V8, it's a straight 8. That truck isn't a TRUE Dodge Ram."

A couple of days ago he said to me "Mom, has grandpa always had a Dodge Ram?" I had to burst his bubble and tell him that in the days of going up to the mountain to chop firewood, my dad drove a FORD truck!

Poor boy. I drive a Chevy and Thomas drives a Chrysler. Neither of them are trucks (mine is close, SUV. He informed me that the Trailblazer is built on a truck frame so it's almost like owning a truck). Last summer we sold the only truck we've ever owned, and it was a 1989 FORD. I'm not sure if he'll grow up normal or not!!!!

Abby's Nose!

2010-02-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

A little less than a year ago, we had the joy of posting this on our blog!

http://thomasandamber.blogspot.com/2009/03/abbyism.html

Well, Abby seems to have a thing with shoving things up her nose! Last Sunday as we were about to load up the car to head off to church, Benjamin informed us that Abby had told him she shoved a bead up her nose. Using all of our highly trained medical skills and pulling out all of our medical tools (nose sucker, tweezers, flashlight, and tissues), we came to the conclusion that not only were we NOT going to get the dumb bead out, but that we had probably made matters worse by fiddling around with it.

So, we climb in the car, drop Thomas and kids off at church and take Abby to the ER at the suggestion of the nurse at the after hours clinic. Boy, we must have been the best dressed patients in the ER that day! Sunday dresses and hair all done up! So after about an hour and a half of using REAL tools - not to mention a real doctor - there was another conclusion drawn. This bead was NOT coming out of her nose! He could see it up there, it was a lovely purple one, it matched her little outfit that day - at least she has some fashion sense - he just couldn't get it out.

The ER doctor called an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat specialist) and discussed the options and came back and informed us that we were to go to Farr West Monday afternoon and meet with him. If the ENT couldn't get it out with all his specialized tools, than on Tuesday morning we would go back to the hospital and take her to the operating room to take care of it.

Monday dawns bright and early. Abby slept in till 9:00am. I went in and checked on her at least 3 times. Making sure that darn bead hadn't clogged her breathing passages! 4:30 we head down to the ENT office and wait in the waiting room for about an hour. Finally get taken into the doctor's office and within about 10 minutes, he had dislodged the bead!!

So, the Rust family once again avoids major catastrophe and ends up with one snotty purple bead!!!!

Why must our kids be so infatuated with their noses?!

Look Melanie, I updated the family blog!!!

My Half Marathon!

2009-08-29T17:33:00.001-07:00

Lovely cell phone pic while waiting for race time to start!

Let me start off by saying that 10 years ago if you would have told me that in 10 years I would pay someone to let me run 13 miles, I would have totally laughed in your face. So, 10 years ago I was 220 pounds watching a 15k race coming down Blacksmith Fork Canyon in Hyrum, Utah. As we watched these amazing runners in their 9 mile race, I noticed that runners weren't fat. Right then and there I determined that I would start running. Well, before that happened, we were lucky to get pregnant and welcome little Stephanie to our family. We bought a treadmill from shopko, and I started walking. One day I bumped it up a notch and ran 1 minute. NOT 1 mile, but 1 minute. I was huffing, puffing, and wheezing, but I ran a minute. Little by little I added more time to my running, and I started losing weight.

About 2 years after my little Stephanie was born, I had lost about 50 pounds, and was at the starting line of that same 15k race down Blacksmith Fork Canyon. Profoundly it was named "The Freedom Run". It symbolized to me the journey I had taken - the freedom from my weight, the freedom from doubting myself.

Well, it's now been 8 years after that. I have ran 2 more 15k races, and still run 6 days a week. I have lost a total of 90 pounds. My neighbor took up the running habit after having her little baby as well. She has lost 50 pounds too. As we sat talking about our running addiction, we talked about when the next half marathon was. Then, the next thing I knew we were in training! After working up from 7 miles,

here's one of our training runs!

we found ourselves at the starting line of the Top of Utah Half Marathon this morning!

I am 33 years old, I weigh 35 pounds less than I did when I graduated from high school. I have maintained a healthy weight for over 9 years. I feel awesome!!! I hope to continue this quest of daily running until the day my joints give out! Here's to a future marathon!!!!

The Rusts are still alive!

2009-08-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yes everyone, the Rust family is still alive and kicking!

Here's a slight attempt at catching up on our lives!

Our ward had their turn to do tours for the Brigham City Tabernacle. We chose a Sunday evening, and decided to make a fun night for the whole family. We packed a Dutch Oven dinner and headed down to the tabernacle. We had a 2 hour shift, and were a little worried that the kids would get bored. But, with water in sight, and dinner in their tummies, all had a great time!

Ohhh, sisters are so much fun!

Here's the Brigham City Tabernacle. Bringing the camera helped time fly quickly for me too :-)

Haven't we done this before!

2009-06-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, here goes another one of our kids taking the plunge from the bike with training wheels to the "big boy bike". Each of our children have handled this a little differently. Benjamin, kicking and screaming when we made him get on this same bike WITH training wheels! Less kicking some screaming when it was time to remove them. The training wheels on Stephanie's bike gradually broke and we just never told her! She thought she was riding a bike with training wheels, but NOPE!!!

Here's Marshalls attempt. No kicking, some whimpering/crying! Lots of aprehension!

Where do you go to practice riding your bike? We go to the local cemetary! Plenty of flat space, not alot of traffic! Lots of grass (granted it's mixed in with lots of large cement stones as well!)

Here's a little bit of that whimpering and apprehension I mentioned. I think if I were close enough to hear this conversation, I might hear something along the lines of "I think we should be done practicing for today dad." or "I'm just plum beat, let's head on home and try this again when I'm 12!"

Oh, what's this . . . oh, yes more apprehension/whimpering.

Here we go, we're going to do it this time!

Hmmmmm. Could this be aprehension and whimpering?

THIS time we're going to do it!

The final decision for the night was that . . . .

Mom was easier to practice riding bikes with! SHE NEVER EVER LET GO OF THE BIKE!

the other decision made tonight, was that mom and dad are getting too old for this! Either the bikes are getting closer to the ground, mom and dad are getting taller, or our backs are just getting weaker. I don't remember it hurting like this with the other two kids!

Is it bragging . . . maybe!

2009-05-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE flower gardens. When we bought our house 6 years ago, this is what it looked like. Sorry for the yucky picture, it was my pre digital days, it's actually a scan from a picture on a scrapbook page! It was a foreclosure that had been vacant for almost 5 years. We had it inspected inside and out, and besides obvious repairable stuff, it was in good shape.

We hired a landscape designer to come in and draw us up a landscape blue print. I requested the plan to have LOTS and LOTS of flower beds. He said "I draw up the plans, I don't do the work!"

Well, 6 years later, LOTS of manual labor and THOUSANDS of dollars later, it now looks like this! We refinanced the house for a GREAT interest rate, and in the process had to have the home appraised. We have more than doubled the value of the home in 6 years. I had someone ask me for some before and after pictures, so here they are.

We brought in tractors to haul out old sidewalks and rented a skidloader to haul away loads of dirt. We brought in and DID by ourselves all the brick work for the new sidewalks and courtyard. Hired out the decorative curbing.

I didin't post pics of the backyard, it's not done yet a few more years of work back there still to go, but we brought in an excavator to haul away 50 dumptruck loads of dirt, brought in 3 dumptruck loads of landscape rock, planted 25 trees and hired out curbing there as well. In the process we tipped a skid loader on it's side. Used an old pickup to tie boulders to and drag around the yard. Still have yet to do more brick for another patio and plant about 20 flower beds. Our current project back there is to finish the 200 square foot play area with bark, and play house/playground set.

I've never worked so hard in my life, but I've never felt so rewarded when I smell my Iris' that smell like grape juice and my roses that smell like honey. I love to just sit on the deck and look at my grass grow!

Marshall's Preschool Graduation!

2009-05-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Wasn't it just yesterday that I blogged the first day of school? Well, last week we went to Marshall's last day of school. Man, he is getting so big and grown up {tears}. So these pics are from the long awaited graduation program! No boring speeches here, just cute little songs and plays put on by the adorable little 5 year olds.

Here is Marshall, he got the lead part in the play done by the "Rainbow Group" (I bet a girl named that group!) His line . . . BARK!
Isn't he soooo proud of his costume!

The play is about a mom dog and her son George. Mom dog says "Bark, George, Bark" and another little preschooler standing in a line behind George pops to the side and says "meow" or "quack" or "oink" or whatever their animal is. Mom is worried and calls the doctor. Doctors says "Bark George, Bark" and again, instead of barking you hear a "meow" "quack", "oink" . . . doctor reaches deep down inside of george and pulls out the other animals one at a time. At the end of the play, mom dog says "Bark George, Bark" and instead of barking you hear the doctor say "Hello". George had swallowed the doctor!

Did I mention how stinkin' cute he it!!! This is "George" with his Dog Mom and if you look closely, you can see the doctor behind Marshall. The kids thought it was HILLARIOUS that the George had eaten the doctor!

Getting his diploma! {tears}

His most awesome teachers! Mrs. Pernoud and Mrs. Heister. These two ladies are amazing. Stephanie had them as preschool teachers 4 years ago, and Marshall was lucky enough to get into the same preschool this year. I just have loved them as teachers for both of my kids. Thanks teachers!!

Did I mention how cute Marshall is . . . getting so big {tears}.

And, of course a lovely posed pic of Marshall with his hat and diploma!

So, the older I get, the faster time flies. I watch my little babies grow up and become independent and I actually kinda mourn them growing up! Dang motherhood! Marshall has been my little Angel Baby since he was born, and I watch him grow up and turn into a little boy who still just melts my heart!

I love you Marshall!

Fishing Field Trip!

2009-05-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Marshall's preschool does this huge field trip at the end of the year. We first discovered the trout farm when we went with this same preschool 4 years ago when Stephanie was in preschool. The preschool invites the whole family, everyone brings a picnic lunch, and the preschool kids get to go fishing. We paid $2.50 and by the end of the trip, we were given back the fish the kids caught, all gutted and ready to eat! (EWWWW)

First we get instruction:
DONT TOUCH THE HOOK. IT CAN HURT!!!

Don't Fall In - It can cause mom to leap in after you. Plus it makes the fish sick.

Then we got to go to work! Thankfully, I was able to hand my camera over to a friend whose son goes to the same preschool so that I could help Marshall fish. Look, I'm in a picture!

Oh, another rule . . . pull the hook out of the fish . . . EWWWW! That's when you're glad that there are some fathers around to help, cause Marshall and I were doing good to touch and hold the fish. Yanking out a sharp hook . . . um, NO!

Then we got to touch our fish . . . EWWWW!

Marshall and I kinda got slimed by his fish!

Then drop your fish in this big bucket so they can go to the people that fillet the fish!

Then enjoy the scenery and the pretty ponds!

Peek a boo Marshall!

Then we sanitized our hands 5 bajillion times and ate our lunch! Marshall's friend Hunter "donated" his fish to us. Now we have two fish in our freezer! {place sarcasm here} YEAH! I LOVE FISH!

It was SOOOOO much fun watching all the little kids' response to the fish. The girls were usually more willing to touch the fish, the boys were screaming like little girls! It was awesome!

It's hard to be a mom!

2009-05-11T09:34:00.001-07:00

When I was little, all I ever wanted to be is a mom! I wanted lots of kids, maybe a few sets of multiples! I loved babysitting, loved taking care of kids altogether. Well, than I grew up and had 4 kids, and mostly it's everything I imagined it could be. I love my children more than anything in the world. I would do ANYTHING for them.

Well, this month it has come to a point where I've had to prove this to myself. We've had concerns about Benjamin since the day he was born. The doctor told us to watch for water on the brain because he had such a huge head! He had aspirated liquid into his lungs during birth, and was in the hospital for a week. We were only able to bring him home then because my mom (an awesome Registered Nurse, grandma AND mom) could give him his antibiotics in a shot about 4 times a day (and night). As we watched him grow, we noticed little things about him that we began to label as Benjamin's Quirks. He was an awesome baby, soooo happy, so beautiful. He was an awesome toddler. Well behaved, sooo happy, and the apple of our eyes! But, he seemed to have coordination issues. Walking down stairs was a left foot down, right foot together, left foot down a step, right foot together. Rather than the right foot down, left foot down, right foot down . . . He still does this as a 12 year old. But, as parents, he was our little perfect baby with a few funny little quirks.

In first grade he was diagnosed with ADD, but NOT ADHD. The doctors thought that very strange. USUALLY boys have the hyperactivity issues associated with attention deficit disorder. But not Ben.

Well, grade school was tricky, but we found ways to help him through his learning issues at school and he pulled fairly good grades. He still had a few more "quirks" that we just thought were Benjamin's quirks. He HAS to have his right foot moving ALL THE TIME. Sitting, standing, lying on the bed. He says if he doesn't move it, he feels like he is going to burst. He loved four wheelers and motorcycles, tractors and lawn mowers, street sweepers and garbage trucks. He could tell you exactly how each one works, and what each of their specific names and uses were. But if mr. street sweeper showed up offering Ben a ride in one, he would be soooo scared to get on it.

Now were in 6th grade at the Middle School (or here in Brigham it's known as the Intermediate School) He has 7 classes, and he is getting B- as his top grade, and Fs in 3 of his classes. He has this fascination with writing utensils, and it is almost like an addiction to him. If he sees one on the ground, counter, desk, car . . . he HAS to have it. His 6th grade teachers have called and talked to us about what they are seeing, and we tell them what we have experienced over the years. We are beginning to think that this is more than just ADD.

We research and research and come up with some symptoms in the Autism family that match his to a T. So we call doctors, psychotherapists and get him in. Our thoughts were that he had Aspergers, which is most commonly misdiagnosed as ADD. Now that he's hitting puberty, his hormones are sending him overboard (this is what doctor tells us) and causing his symptoms to be more severe.

Well, we got a diagnosis Thursday from his Psychotherapist, and we were right about it being in the autism family, but not quite the Aspergers. He has what is called PDD NOS. Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified. This means that he has pieces of lots of different aspects of the autism spectrum, just not enough of one or the other to label him in one.

What does this mean? More trips to the psychotherapist, more intervention with the schools, possible home schooling if it comes to that . . . and mostly, I dont know yet!

So now I look at everything my other kids do that is quirky, and I worry myself to pieces. I actually firmly feel that my other babies are fine and dandy! We don't notice any quirks that affect their daily living. Just quirks that mean they're kids.

Anyway, breather, unloading all done. That's our newest little family challenge. One day at a time right!

Last night I told my husband "It's hard to be a mom" he laughed and asked me if I thought it was supposed to be easy.

I think it should be!

Easter!!

2009-05-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

Look at me getting all caught up at once! I'm feeling a little under the weather, so I'm taking a sick hour from working, and playing catchup with blogging!
So here are our fun Easter activities!

Dyeing the eggs

A few years ago, Stephanie stuck her hands in a cup of green dye. She pulled her hands out and just started bawling! She was sure she would NEVER get her beautiful hands back to normal. This year, Marshall did the same thing. Tried to hold his egg in the dye only halfway - you know, so that only half of the egg is green. He missed the point of those little doohickeys they put in the egg dye packets and used his hands. However, he thought this was TOTALLY AWESOME! Now her really is a super hero!!! Like HULK!

I don't think Abby has the idea of these little doohickeys down either!!

Then we had a picnic at the park! This is the only swing set in a public park within Box Elder County. Of course we had to go there!

Thomas was trying to pump hard enough that I couldn't snap a pic of him. Dad doesn't know me very well does he!!

And when I hand the camera to Thomas for safe keeping, it seems I end up in a photo as well. I guess I don't know HIM very well either!

Then the Easter Egg hunt on Sunday. This is the big kids waiting ever so patiently {said with dripping sarcasm} to give little Abby a head start on the hunt!

Maybe the Easter Bunny should have hidden more eggs in the FRONT yard! Much prettier for pics, and less dangerous for poker weeds! Still working on that dang back yard!!

Ward Air Concert

2009-05-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

Our ward does this every year. Each group (primary, young mens, young womens, relief society, nursery . . .) picks a song, choreographs it, picks out costumes and practices for weeks. On the final night they perform their song in front of the whole ward and some well picked judges! Bribes are accepted and highly suggested! See if you can figure out what songs my kids were doing by their pics!

Benjamin's song . . .

Notice the corn dogs . . . yup, you guessed it "The Corn Dog Song!"

Marshall's song . . . . (also please notice where he took the scissors to his hair the morning of the air concert!)

something pirate perhaps . . . "Spongebob Square Pants"

Stephanie's song . . .

hint . . . they are all wearing yellow . . . yellow like a bee . . . "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee!"

by the way, no more tiny pictures. That was gross! I thought it would be the faster way to catch up on everything. It was, but you couldn't tell if those pics were stephanie at her party, or The Queen of England at the grocery store!

SORRY!

2009-05-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Turns 9!

Here are the photos in miniature of Stephanie's ninth bday. Since its been a way long time, I'm going to try and catch up a little bit!

We took Stephanie and 10 friends to a place called "The Peak" I had done some graphic design work for them, and this was what we decided together would make an AWESOME trade for both sides of the team!

Stephanie had a total blast, mom and dad had a total blast (of course we did, there was also a party planner-no work for us!), siblings had a great time being included as well!

Thanks to "The Peak" If you live in Brigham, go check them out it was SOOOOO awesome!

Edit:

Well, it appears that miniature means crappy photo quality. Will remember that next time! Sorry swee stephanie!

Edit again!

My sister-in-law pointed out that if you click on the pic, they look much better. Give it a try. Click on the Pic! Thanks Michele

Abbyism

2009-03-29T19:06:00.001-07:00

Doing Sunday dishes this is what we hear from little Abby who is still at the dinner table eating. "Dad, (words we don't understand) in my nose!"

Dad says,
"what's in your nose?"

Abby says
"iner in my nose"

Dad says,
"Your finger's in your nose?"

Abby,
"NO, my dinner's in my nose!"

Mom and Dad immediately stop doing dishes and carefully inspect Abby's nose. Upon not finding any "dinner" we assume she's just playing with us.

Five minutes later mom and Abby playing popcorn popping when she sneezes and nearly dislodges a lovely green pea!

Mom rolls over laughing. Dad looks around for some toothpicks or tweezers or something to pull the pea the rest of the way out. Mom looks frantically around for the camera!! Abby screams no when mom asks for camera. Mom forgoes camera and pulls the pea out! FOREVER THE HERO!!

Should have at least taken a picture of the pea after I pulled it out, but that's just gross!

A week peak!

2009-03-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here's our week in review!!! Marshall - Class field trip to the firestation! He even got an official Fire Marshal Kit! (thought all the kids got their name on their kit i.e. Fire Ashlynn Kit . . .) of course Abby tags along!

Stephanie - Class field trip to Smith's Grocery Store to learn about fruits and vegetables and what they do for our bodies! Look at the faces of the kids while the lady was talking about what lots of fiber helps you do!!! WOW! Abby tagged along!

Everybody - Working in the yard! We found lots of fun little things that have been hiding all winter! Ladybugs, green little sprouts, and yellow bikes with pink training wheels!

Thomas and I celebrated our 13th anniversary a few days early and bought our first bedroom set! It was finally delivered Saturday!!! There are a few more pieces we'll add later, but I just love it! Of course I had to go buy a comforter set to go with it!!

Yes, I own a cabbage patch kid! My awesome husband bought it for me this Christmas. I've been wanting one since they came out again!

Benjamin turns 12, gets ordained a deacon and has his first court of honor as a Young Man!

Abby, gets caught playing in the flour bin while mom is making cookies! SO, SO, SO sad!

At least until . . .

mom lets her eat one!

So there we go, a quick peak into a week in our lives!

Benjamin's Big #12!!!

2009-03-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my oldest son turned 12. He tells me he's almost a teenager, "does that make you feel old mom?"

This was the first time that I had a schedule conflict with one of my own child's birthday. I had a wedding of a friend that I was asked to be the photographer for. I told him that we would celebrate his birthday on Thursday, the day AFTER his birthday. Well, I might as well had just told him I'd shot the dog I wont ever get for him!!! I almost sat him down and explained to him the small fact that he was born 2 weeks PAST his due date, and I was in labor with him for 21 1/2 hours, and that he most certainly could wait one more day for his birthday . . . .

. . . but I didn't. I apologized for having a conflict on his special day, and PROMISED that we would make it up to him the next day. So the morning of his actual birthday, as I was getting dressed after my workout, I got a call from the school informing me that I was 10 minutes late for a community council meeting at 7:00 (AM - whatever %$#@) so, my plans to make him a special breakfast of toaster waffles (I love to cook, so usually I make a fairly large, healthy breakfast, so toaster waffles was WAY cool to him!!) got delegated to my great husband who is fortuneate enough to have a very lenient time to have to be to work in the morning. So as I'm sitting in the meeting thinking about what a terrible mother I am, my husband is home trying to explain to Benjamin why mom was gone the morning of his birthday.

Well, today was the day to make up for it . . . While he was at school, I srubbed the house from top to bottom (not that kids notice, but it makes it easier to enjoy a bday if your not tripping over things and sticking to the floor) cooked up his favorite dinner of sloppy joes, pork and beans, deviled eggs, sweet pickles, and potatoe chips, baked a beautiful, elaborate, rectangle shape birthday cake (9x13 to be exact - shout out to my wonderful cake decorating sister!!) and wrapped his presents!

We eat his great birthday dinner together as a family - with Marshall declaring "Mom, there's nothing in this dinner that I hate!" As I wipe my tears of great joy for making my children so happy we head to the family room to open presents.

He got a Wii charging station,

A AWESOME new set of sheets . . . I know, I know . . . "who invited that kid"

A new hiking back pack for scouts

A new pair of shoes, and the game POP STAR for the Wii.

Blowing out the candles - don't you just DIG the cake?!

oooh, yeah, I put on yellow sprinkles, ben's favorite color

I was going to take pictures of Ben's new sheets on his bed, but they're pretty boring looking when you get them on his bed - just navy blue.

So, PHOTOSHOOT!!! Here's my favorite one of him from tonight. Hanging in his jammies on his bed. My 12 year old son!

He asked to take a few pics of his room since I did the same thing for stephanie's room the other day. It's not quite done, we've got some rub on words to put on the wall, and I bought a pattern for curtains that someday I'll get to!

His room is the "Invention Room" So we went for a lot of metal and blueprints and cool boy stuff! This blue print is of the Baltimore Rail Road station in Maryland. He LOVES it! Someday he's going to own a train station!

In honor of my Benjamin,

12 things I love about Benjamin!

1. He doesn't let what other's think of him get him down.

2. He is THE most friendly kid in the world. He'll talk to anyone. Especially if they drive a tractor, or a big truck, or a motorcycle, snowmobille, 4 wheeler, UPS truck, mail truck . . . .

3. His Cowlicks (all three of them!)

4. He is always smiling.

5. He wants to own a 4 wheeler store, every kind of tractor, and a train station . . . so he'll need 2 part time jobs when he grows up huh mom?

6. I love that he believes entirely and completely that HE WILL MAKE THE WORLD WORK BETTER when he gets older. He is always explaining how when he gets older he'll do this and this to make it so that planes never have to crash land in the Hudson River!

7. I love how much he loves us! EVERY day when I drop him off at school he tells me "I Love You", gets out of the car, and waves at me until I'm around the corner!

8. I love that he has overcome SO many challenges and he still smiles and thinks the best of everyone and everything.

9. I love that he is every bit like his dad! Future engineer!

10. I love that he asks SO MANY questions! When he was younger Thomas and I traveled together to Pennsylvania on a business trip and left him and Stephanie with 3 different neighbors over the time frame. When we got home and talked to each neighbor about how the kids handled us being away, they each and everyone said WOW, Benjamin asks alot of questions !! He just wants to know absolutely everything!

11. I love that he is SOOOOOOO patient with me. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding why he loves tractors so much, or how wind turbines work, and I tend to let it go in one ear and out the other. But he still gives me the chance to listen and be a better mom.

12. I love that every once in a while he'll say "Hey mom?" and I'll say "What?" and he'll say "I love you". I love that Heavenly Father saw my faults, and sent me a son who would love me despite them. He is such a special kid, and he means the world to me. I love you Benjamin!

Happy 12th birthday!!!

Are we tired of it yet?

2009-03-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well, are we sick of this yet? I was uploading these photos onto my computer, and I had so many labeled kids in snow, or snow day, or christmas snow this one is labeled ANOTHER snow storm! I'm going to have to go buy a TON of snow scrapbook paper because of this year!

This is what we woke up to this morning. It was so windy and blustery, the snow was coming down almost sideways. (don't tell my neighbor her house is on my blog!). I warmed up the car to take Ben to school, and had to put it in 4 wheel drive to go through the almost 2 feet of snow that had been blown up against the garage door. (I probably didn't "need" to put it in 4 wheel drive, but it makes me feel all cool and stuff!) Then the garage door wouldn't shut because the wind kept blowing the snow into the sensors that stop the door from closing on a child!

Took Ben to school, went and told steph to get in the car and I would drive her the literally 1 block to the school. On the way, we stopped and picked up as many neighbor kids as we could find at home still! Good times!

Of course the kids got right into the snow as soon as school was over!

Here's some shots of how tall the snow was. We took a yardstick out and measured it at 15 inches deep.

AND, because last time it snowed like this ( about a month ago) the snow sat and melted from the balcony, into my bedroom and then down through the ceiling and onto the carpet of my family room on the main floor - causing the ceiling to bow and my husband to take a knife and poke quarter size holes in my ceiling, we also had to shovel the balcony off as well. For any of you who know the lack of stability on that railing Thomas is leaning on, you know what a dreaded feat this was!

Then when we all came inside from coldness, we got a little glimpse of the storm ending!

Happy almost spring everyone!!!!

If you're squemish . . .

2009-03-04T11:29:00.001-08:00

Make sure you lean in really close here, this is what I found on my doorway yesterday. Yeah, totally called the exterminator.

I guess that's why it's called Box Elder County!

The finished princess room!

2009-02-22T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well, we decided that Abby is old enough to graduate from her crib. We probably could have done it earlier, but there is just something about putting her down for a nap and knowing that she can't get out on her own!

As we were putting up the big girl bed, we decided to finish up all the little detail things that we never finished in the girls' room.

So after all that work, here is the final finished product (minus one pic that we ran out of nails to hang).

Big Girl Bed!
My friend made me this beautiful blanket with this super soft "cowlick" material on the back and this beautiful silk on the other side. Go check out her web site, she's awesome! http://www.eightydaisies.com/store/Default.asp

Princess Chandalier - Every princess needs a big chandalier!

Dresser with princess knobs!

Purple curtains with a tie back for their closet. Ripped out the closet doors, too cumbersome. Stephanie couldn't even open them!

Purple accent wall - so that it's not too pink!

Stephanie's bed. Complete with barbie sized doll house foot board.

The full view!

Princess clock and magnet board!

My favorite wall! Huge 20x20 pics of them!

More of the doll house view! Surprisingly, there are no naked barbies in the house today!

The full shot!

Patriotic Program

2009-02-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

Thursday, Thomas took the kids to Stephanie's patriotic program. He snapped this photo. I want to hear what you think is going through the minds of these two children!!! Oh, and yes, that's my daughter!Thursday, Thomas took the kids to Stephanie's patriotic program. He snapped this photo. I want to hear what you think is going through the minds of these two children!!! Oh, and yes, that's my daughter!

Thomas gets older too!

2009-02-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

January is our killer month for Birthdays! First little Marshall, then baby Abby, and last but not least our awesome husband and dad!

Well, for Thomas' birthday we went into Logan and took dad to one of our family's favorite chinese restaurants. Wok on Wheels. Dad's favorite part of the evening was when we went to Best Buy to pick out a new T.V. for our master bedroom. We've been using this old t.v. we got from the D.I. It's one of those old dial t.v.s no remote. The last one to fall asleep is the one who has to get out of bed and turn off the t.v. Kinda like a race!!!

Anyway, before we left to dinner, I told Thomas we were going to go do a little photo shoot for his birthday gift. We haven't had our pictures taken since our engagement photos! That, was close to the dumbest idea I've ever had!! Have you ever done a self portrait? How about a self portrait that involves more than one person? It was really hard, and we felt a little silly trying to look all young and cute!!!! Then we felt even sillier when we put the pics on the computer! That's okay, it gave us a little humor in our day. The family that laughs together . . .

We decided that we're not that hot, sexy, young couple we used to be (hahahahahahaha) or that we imagine ourselves to be!!

So, here's our stats (found this on Michele's blog!)
Years Married: almost 13
Apts/homes lived in: 3
States lived in: 1 (We've lived in 3 cities Logan, Hyrum, Brigham City)
Wards attended: 5
Cars owned: 5 plus 1 truck (old rusty)
Traffic tickets: only 2 I can remember (1 for each of us!)
Colleges attended: 1
Degrees earned: 1
Callings held--Thomas: 6, Amber: 6
Paid jobs--Thomas:5, Amber: 3
Hospital stays: 6
ER visits: 6 (Amber 2, Stephanie 2, Abigayle 2 - hmmmm, must be a girl thing!)
Years pregnant: 3 years and 9 months
Kids: 4
Nieces and nephews born: 11 on Amber's side 27 on Thomas' side
Trips out of the USA: 1 for Amber at least 30 for Thomas

I want to thank my awesome hubby. He puts up with alot. My mom tells me that I'm no shrinking violet whatever that means :-) , but he still loves me. He is one of the most patient, selfless, hard working, kind, honest, caring, hot, sexy hubby I could ever ask for.

I Love You Thomas!

P.S. please don't laugh to hard at our attempts to look young and cool. We're a little self-concious about how these turned out!

Slumber Party!

2009-01-24T15:08:00.000-08:00

Can you say WOW!

Stephanie has this friend who is 2 weeks older than she is. They have been friends since birth (or at least their moms have been friends since their birth!). So, after we moved to Brigham City, we don't get to see them very often. Stephanie the other day says "Can I call Megan?" Next thing I know we are having a slumber party.

Well, I think "I bet the girls would just love it if I took them to the store to get some groceries" I was right, but I forgot about weather or not I would like it, or weather or not Walmart would like it, or weather or not Walmart's customers would like it! I basically unleased two 8 year old giggling little girls on the aisles of Walmart. After the first 5 minutes, I decided to save face I would try to stay about an half an aisle away from them. You know, I gave other customers the look like "where are those girls' parents!" or "who on earth would bring two 8 year old girls to the store and leave them alone"

So we survived the store, and I think I'm doing pretty good with only 4 hours of sleep under my belt.

And of course, there is a photo shoot to be had in everything, so here are Megan and Stephanie!!

Marshalism #2

2009-01-16T09:22:00.000-08:00

"Mom, is it true that a person's a person no matter how small?"

"Then, that would be a nice thing to say to people right?"

Name the movie he was watching a few days before saying this to me . . .

Marshalism #1

2009-01-15T15:49:00.000-08:00

We were at the boys' well child visit. The plan was to get them the immunizations needed for kindergarten and for 7th grade.

So, Marshall was sitting on my lap while the lady was giving him his shots. He had FOUR shots to get. This is exactly what he said as the nurse was giving him his shots. Each quote equals one shot. You have to say these in your head all at once, cause the lady had all the needles in her hand so she could get it over with really quick.

"That didn't hurt"
"That didn't hurt"
"That kinda hurt"
"ouch"

that poor nurse was laughing so hard she had to sit down! I love my little Marshall!

What? Now it's Abby!

2009-01-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, so first Marshall has a birthday, I handled it pretty well. Didn't even cry. My little 5 year old was so excited to be 5 that it made it hard for me to be sad he was growing up!

But, then my little Abigayle Ella turned 2 on January 7th. NO ONE warned me that I would have a hard time with her being a two year old! I've had two year olds before, it's not like it's new to me. I think the older I get, the longer I want my kids to stay in the stage they're in. Even though I know each new stage has it's own exciting things to enjoy.

So, since I couldn't quiz Abby like I did Marshall, I thought I'd list a few things about her that just melt my heart!

1. I love when I say "I love you Abby" she almost always responds with: "You love me?" like she's so surprised!

2. I love it when I come home from somewhere, or even when I just enter the room she'll give me a hug and say "My mommy"!

3. I love those big blue eyes of hers!

4. I love that she'll come grab my hand and say "you pay wif me!" not so much as a demand, just a heartfelt request!

5. I love that even though we may all be home AND sitting in the same room, she'll go through the family one at a time and say "where's dad?", "where's mom?", "where's Ben?" etc . . .

6. I love that she looks so much like me! My other children don't really look like either Thomas or I, but Abby is ME!!! She looks so much like me!

7. I love that her hair is ramrod straight in the front, and curly Q curly in the back (I'm sure she'll hate it though!)

8. I love that she'll sing on demand her favorite song:
"I love you
you love me
were a happy family
with a great big hug (and we can't continue singing until she hugs someone)
and a kiss from me to you (yup, gotta have a kiss too!)
won't you say you love me too! "

I love that the last word of this song is ALWAYS sang about 10 notes higher than the rest of the song, and she holds it out for more than twice as long! (tooooooooooooooooooooo!)

9. I love that she has a bookie! She'll bring me a book and say "My bookie!" "You wead by bookie" EVERY two year old should have a bookie!

10. I love that I've been able to enjoy such a beautiful little girl in our home for the past 2 years!

Happy birthday my Abby!

Here's abby's photo shoot (same time and place as Marshall's. There were these huge ducks and geese, and Abby was a little nervous about them!) I had a hard time getting her to look at the camera!

Abby was helping me set up for a school photo shoot the other day, she was my lighting model! It appears that she is better at smiling for the camera when I didn't intend on using the photo at all!

The New Year Begins!

2009-01-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

2009 began with everyone in the whole world waiting up for Marshall's birthday! We've been telling him this for 4 years now! Sadly, this year he was asleep at 12:01 when we all screamed "Happy Birthday!" instead of "Happy New Year!"

So, 5 years ago I had a beautiful little "Angel Baby" placed into my arms. We named him Marshall Mansfield Rust. I got pregnant with him after a painful miscarriage at 18 weeks along. The doctor said to wait before getting pregnant again. Somehow I just new that all the pain would go away as soon as I could hold a new baby in my arms. Sure enough, the moment he was placed into my arms all the previous pain was turned into great happiness. It was from that time on that I referred to him as my "Angel Baby". He just everything all right again.

Well, my little Angel baby still has a smile that makes all the pain go away!

Here are some cute questions I asked him. I found these on my friends blog:

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"When I ask her to play with me with something, she says 'just a minute'
2. What makes mom happy
"Giving her something like letters"
3. What makes mom sad
"not giving her letters"
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"by sharing funny jokes like 'how does a tree move? with a trunk'
5. What was your mom like as a child?
"being good"
6. How tall is your mom?
"I don't know, how tall are you?"
7. How old is your mom?
"22" (bless the boy, he really is my Angel Baby)
8. What is mom's favorite thing to do?
"clean up" (after seeing my look he adds "nooooo" and adds "Making your son laugh")
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"looks for me"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"I don't know" laughing.
11. What is your mom really good at?
"cleaning"
12. What is your mom not really good at?
"I don't know" shrug of shoulders
13. What is your mom's favorite food
"sandwiches with lettuce"
14. What makes you proud of your mom?
"with playing with my toys with me"
15. What is your mom's job?
"I don't know"
16. What do you and your mom do together?
"play"
17. How are you and your mom the same?
"were not the same"
18. How are you and your mom different?
"since we have different hair"
19. How do you know your mom loves you?
"helps me put up my toys"

Here's some pics of marshall's bday party. Here he is with his friends sliding down another of our meek little hills in the back yard. l-r marshall, kayla lentini, shaelee taylor, tanner bell, hunter everton, ben johnson. Then there's the cake! He wanted a snow party.

Here's the cake mom made at grandmas house. We were in Vernal celebrating New Years Day/Marshall's B-day. We took him to a all you can eat restaurant with a buffet so he could eat WHATEVER he wanted!

Marshall got some "Planet Heroes" for both Christmas and his birthday. Putting them together with the "Rescue Heroes" that were handed down from Benjamin, he now has quite the collection of toys. We pushed the dinning room table out of the way today, and brought them all down and played together!

This one cracks me up. After killing the bad guys, everyone goes to get smoothies! That's what the little pink house up on top was! The smoothie store! I HAD to add it in when I took this picture!

Here's Marshall's 5 year old pics. Sadly anything there is too celebrate also warrants a photo shoot! I think this is his 3rd "official" photo shoot this year! These were taken at First Dam in Logan. (I know that everyone in my family is laughing because I took some dam pictures - special shout out to Megan!!!!) We got this one pose because we had about 10 minutes to do him and Abby before I had to leave Logan to get him to preschool all the way back in Brigham!

I Love you Marshall! Thanks for always and forever being my Angel Baby!

Christmas Snow Storm

2009-01-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

I love a good snow storm. A heavy snow when you have no where to go, and nothing to do, is the prettiest thing to watch! But, for the kids, right after the storm is when the fun begins! So, Christmas morning-day-evening as it snowed and snowed and snowed and no plows came through, it felt so Christmasy. Everything was gorgeous! The next day, the plows come through bright and early, and my husband grabs a snow shovel and heads out to dig us out! Soon the kids get all bundled up to enjoy the snow. Even little Abby dons her new Christmas coat, puts on her hand-me-down boots and gloves and heads out to be part of the best storm of the year!

Soon even mom decides she's missing out on the fun, and bundles up (camera in hand!!!!!) so as not to be left out of the giggles!

This is our itty bitty little evergreen tree! Last year I read in Martha Stewart how fun it would be to decorate an outdoor christmas tree - so I did! Lights, bulbs, squiggly little glass things . . . so pretty! This year I never got around to it.

Abby just kinda toddled around behind dad. As his shovel cleared a space, she'd step into it and wait for the next space to clear!

Then it was time for the sleds. This shows our adventuresome nature, we went sledding in our driveway!

yes, sometimes I hand over the camera and end up in a pic or two!

This was their little sledding hill made on the front lawn!

here's a better view of the little sledding hill! Did I emphasize little??? Or how non adventuresome we are!!

Christmas Eve!

2008-12-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

I wont do much of the entire description of our night, it was pretty standard! Deliver goodies, nice dinner, open p.j.s do a nativity, and read the "Night before Christmas" But I do have to say during our little nativity, Abby WOULD NOT leave baby Jesus alone! She was supposed to be the inn keeper and the angel. Well, the innkeeper stayed by Mary THE WHOLE TIME! It was so cute!
I'll let the pics tell a thousand words!

My little artist!

2008-12-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

Stephanie LOVES art! She has since she was old enough to write on the walls!!!! I used to think it was a phase and she wouldn't stick with it. Heaven only knows that I can't create my own art like that! (at least without a camera!)

I signed her up for art lessons, and she is having so much fun with it! She comes home every week with a new creation! Everything she looks at she tries to draw. I love the classes, because the teacher is helping her look at reality and make things like dimension and sizing work on paper!

Well, today at church she started drawing a manger scene. When she finished she asked if we could hang it somewhere in the house! I told her when we got home she should color it or paint it so that it could be seen better on the wall! When we get home, she gets out her water color paper and starts to draw in her scene. After a while she says "you know what I should ask for on my birthday since it's too close to ask for it for christmas? I should ask for one of those things that holds your paper while you paint." (already on that one for christmas!!!!!!)

Then she decides that she can make one! She had seen Thomas make me a HUGE easel out of cardboard that we covered in fabric and used as a traveling photo exhibit for my students photos. So, she grabs a large piece of cardboard and continues to "engineer" (this is the word Thomas used - I used the word "craft" ) herself an easel! As soon as she was done, she says "I wish grandma could see this" DUH!! I grab the camera snap some pictures of her in action, and here we are! Grandma can see her easel!

Benjamin got a little caught up in the action too! Stephanie convinced him to get out his art stuff! Now, remember, ben is a more like his dad than his sister! I want you to compare the complexity of their art work. He was bored and done in 5 minutes! Not quite seeing the point to all of this!

Thomas gets home from Home Teaching, and just beams at his daughter the engineer. WHAT!?! No daughter of mine . . . . j/k!

Here's the "engineering" project!

Here's the artwork in progess!

Here's ben's artwork!

Steph's final artwork!

Family Christmas Fun Night - Finally!

2008-12-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

Well, things have finally slowed some for my business. I shot around 25 jobs in November, 30 in December. I finished my 3 last major shoots before Christmas yesterday, with only one small one left to go on Tuesday. I got a pretty rough case of laryngitis. I could hardly talk at all! They say the only cure is to rest your vocal cords and run a humidifier. Well, as a mom of 4 kids, PTA president and photographer the resting my vocal cords was not an option! Whenever I was home, I had 2 big ole pots of water a boiling on the stove! The neighbor called one night, concerned that my house was on fire! She said "all we can see through your windows is fog!!"

Today, I wanted my kids to feel Christmasy! I felt like I was jipping them the experience of enjoying the small joys of Christmas. We hadn't done any of our little traditions. Hadn't done any baking. Only decorated the house on a very minimal basis. Hadn't even wrapped many presents for the tree.

So, this morning I felt the best I had in weeks! I woke up at 9:00am (thank goodness for 1:00 church) wrapped about a dozen presents. Then I called in the kids one at a time and had them wrap their presents for each other! They giggled and laughed as they put things under the tree and tried to guess what they were! Then we got all dolled up for Christmas Sunday. We all looked so spiffy!

After dinner, we decided it was time to make and decorate cookies!

3 sad things about this . . .

1) the frosting was leftover from when we decorated gingerbread houses at the school. Didn't even make my own frosting! My red and green food coloring was gone, so we used purple and lime green!

2) the only candy I had in the house was a bag of M&Ms leftover from . . . yeah, the gingerbread houses at the school! At least these were red and green!

3) the cookies - NOT HOMEMADE!!!! gasp!! We had some cookie dough we had bought as a fundraiser from a girl in our ward, one was macadamia nut, and one was white chocolate key lime! They were about 6 months old! Well, we rolled them out as much as the chunks would allow us, and let the kids use cookie cutters to cut out their chunky cookies!

The kids however didn't notice the 3 bad things, they had a blast! I hope they were thinking, hey, mom is fun again!!

After the cookies, I decided to start a double batch of my mom's traditional poppy seed bread! YUMMY!! One of the things growing up that ALWAYS meant Christmas to me was when mom made about 40 loaves of poppy seed bread and we delivered it to the neighbors! One year, Megan got chased by a pig at one of the houses we delivered to . . . (wipe tears of laughter from my eyes).

Needless to say, today I feel SO much better. I feel better physically, I feel better spiritually, and I feel better on a stress level too! Bring on Christmas!

here's our chunky cookie dough, purple and lime green frosting!! Nothing else says Christmas better!

Did I mention we had pastel colored, flower shaped sprinkles too! HoHoHo!!

Hey look, green sprinkles!!

hey, where did that come from?!

POPPY SEED BREAD!

Hey, there might be a little mouse in the house!!! I should do a finger measureing test!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!! WE LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOO MUCH!

Yes, Benjamin, There is a Santa Claus

2008-12-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

So, Thomas and I decided that at almost 12 years old, it was time for Benjamin to understand the whole "Santa Secret". It's not that we've with held it from him all these years, but for anyone who knows my trusting, ever believing, ever the optimist child, you understand that if he wants to believe that he can design the solar panels we need to power the city for as long as the world is around, then there is NOTHING that can deter him from his belief! Someday, I promise you, my Benjamin will be the one to design those solar panels - watch for his name!!!!

Anyway, thomas found that article titled "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause". He took Benjamin quietly into the office and had a little "heart-to-heart". He talked to him about what his friends at school say about Santa Clause, and read him that article. He talked to him about why we do kind things for others. yada, yada, yada . . .

After about 5 or so minutes, Thomas comes out of the office just a grinning and shaking his head! For our family that knows these to boys, I am sure you're on the floor laughing right now. I'm sure you can picture exactly what was going on behind the office door! For those of you who don't know my boys as well, I'll tell you what Thomas said to me!

"I asked him what he thought about that article I read him. I asked him what he thought it meant . . . he said 'it means there really is a Santa Clause!'" Can you just picture my husband hitting his head against a brick wall going "Doh!" He asked Benjamin why he thought Santa was real - planning on continuing this conversation. Ben said "because there's no way you guys could afford that Hummer Santa brought me last year!" So, my lessons in "we can't afford that" came back and kicked me in the butt!

So, any suggestions on how to tell a 12 year old boy that there isn't a Santa Clause?

p.s. Marshall wrote a letter to santa, he asked for a T.V. he said "since you and dad can't afford it, Santa can just bring it!"

by the way, the rust family is in no need for donations, angel tree, food pantry . . . we're doing fine! :-)

Abby Ella!!

2008-11-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

Just working on the kids' pictures for the annual christmas cards! Abby was the first one ready for church today, so she got to be first in the torture chamber i.e. studio!!

She is growing up so fast! Sometimes time will freeze for a moment, and I will look at her and just go WOW! She is so beautiful, and she has such a sweet little personality! She LOVES to sing songs. Her personal favorite is "I love Abby, she loves me . . . we love daddy, yes siree . . ." She can already count to 12 and sing her ABC's! It makes me a little sad to see my little baby girl start to grow up. Then I realize how great she is, and I feel like I get a glimpse of how great she is going to be, and I'm excited to watch her grow!

She is always "my abby wuv"!

Halloween at the Rusts!

2008-11-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm finally getting down to updating our blog! Yes, we did Halloween this year!! Marshall got to go with his preschool group to a fun little pumpkin patch in Corinne. They put all the kids and moms on a truck drawn hay wagon and took us deep into some fields. When we got to the pumpkin patch with the BIGGEST pumpkins ever, they let all the people off and the 25 preschool kids got to pick ANY pumpkin they wanted! I drove the "Trail"blazer (I put that in there for you Mike :-) with two other moms and their boys plus Marshall and one other boy whose mom couldn't come. So I had every seat full, and 4 boys picking GINORMOUS pumpkins, and we had to haul them from the wagon to the "TRAIL"blazer (wouldn't have fit in a plain BLAZER, mike!) and then had to balance them precariously on top of each other to make sure they would all fit!

Thought I was going to have to leave the boys at the pumpkin patch!! Here's Marshall's pumpkin - gee, they seemed alot bigger in real life!

Then, we couldn't leave the other kids out, everyone needs a pumpkin on Halloween! Brigham City has a plethora of fruit stand that sell pumpkins in the fall. It's so much better than buying them from the grocery store! See the price there, EACH AND EVERY PUMPKIN was 2/1.00! They weren't as big as the one's in the farmers field, but they had a mini hay maze for kids to play around in, and everyone found a pumpkin suited for them!

Notice how NONE of my kids look at the camera when I take their picture . . .

Then it was time for the carving of the pumpkins. Check out Marshall's pumpkin! I debated about putting him in it, he probably would have fit!! Can you imagine putting 4 pumpkins that size plus 4 kids and 3 adults in a vehicle!

I didn't get a ton of pics of the carving, that was the same night that I did my Halloween Photo Party. So in between running to the studio for appointments, I'd run upstairs and join in the festivities!

We love halloween at our house! Here's the link to the kids in their halloween costumes. To clear it all up, Benjamin is a Ninja, Stephanie is a witch, Marshal is a . . . Motorcycle and rider, and little Abby is Piglet!

http://twocolorphotography.blogspot.com/2008/11/halloween-portrait-party-group-rusts.html

We didn't have a lot of trick-or-treaters this year, we had a ton of candy left over - DANG IT! We'll have to make sure it gets taken care of somehow!

The dentist is offering to buy it back from his patients . . . hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

Abelskiever Sunday!

2008-11-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember, every general conference Sunday, my mom would make Abelskievers (spelling????). They are made from a pancake type dough, then cooked in a pan with round circles cut out in it - see below! We usually cover them in syrup, peanut butter, jam, powdered sugar and/or honey! We always had a contest to see who could eat the most. It was usually Wyatt and Dad, that is until we started getting brother-in-laws in the family! Now, it's usually up in the air who is going to win the contest.

Mom bought each of us a pan one year so we could carry on the traditions with our own families. I was excited, because as our family got larger, it got harder to travel all the way to Vernal for something as comparitively small as general conference. Now, my own little family - every General Conference Sunday enjoys these little pancakes!

Here we are this past conference - I think Thomas won the contest this year, although I hear from the Vernal group, that he got no where near the bro-in-laws!! Well, there's always next time!

New Blog Site!

2008-10-25T15:40:00.001-07:00

I finally created a blog site just for my business. Now, those that want to can come see my work, and those that are sick and tired of it, don't have to!

BUT, I will be posting some special deals on my photography blog, so don't stay away too long! As a matter of fact, the first person to read this and go over to my new site and leave a comment stating that you read this post, will get a free 8x10 print with their next booking! Let the games begin!!!

Sorry Everyone, here's more!

2008-10-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of getting a new blog just for my business photography, but until then, you'll have to bear with me!
Some cute teen pics!

More Baby Shots!

2008-10-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

This was such a cute little family! The little boy was adopted from Russia when he was a baby, then they couple had 4 biological children. Each of the other 4 (all girls) have Russian names sortof to honor the boy. Tatiana, Katia, Talia, don't remember the 4th one . . . anyway, kinda cute!

Tag Time!

2008-10-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1- CSI - Any of them!
2- Without a Trace
3- Biggest Loser
4- King of Queens
5- Everybody Loves Raymond
6- Bringing Home Baby
7- Extreme Home Makeover
8- Wonder Pets!, Dora, Diego, Super Why! (did you mean the ones I watch, or the ones I like)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1- Went to Salt Lake to meet a photographer and his wife from Michigan
2- Took that photog to Salt Lake Temple Grounds
3- Took said photog to State Capitol Building
4- Took same photog to Village Inn for lunch - had them try fry sauce for first time!
5- Took fry sauce loving photog to Brigham City Bird Refuge
6- Shot one family (little photo humor - actually did one family portrait session)
7- Went to dinner with my family (tried to go to McD's, but they closed it yesterday?????)
8- Practiced the piano for our choir number in sacrament tomorow.

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1- Holidays
2- Going on a date with Thomas
3- Scrapbooking
4- Bedtime
5- Weekends
6- Camping with my family
7- Traveling
8- Taking "the" picture!

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1- Hunan (chinese)
2- Wok on Wheels (chinese)
3- Olive Garden
4- Arbys - Chichen Cordon Bleu Sandwich
5- Applebees
6- Anywhere that serves breakfast all day
7- Maddox
8- 7-11 (can you say all you can drink diet coke!)

8 Things On My Wish List:
1- To be completely debt free
2- To run a half marathon
3- Own a studio/office not attached to my home
4- Travel to cool places
5- To hire a maid, and a gardener (they say thats why you have kids . . . . hmmm)
6- To be able to sleep in until 9:00am
7- Money to update my wardrobe
8- Healthy, happy family!!!

Tag your it to . . . .

Shara
Tara
Heather
Heather
Shawn
Michele
Amy
Holly

Our Annual Trip to Lagoon!

2008-10-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

This year we went to Lagoon (again)! This is by far the best year for us! The crowds were really small so we were able to get on every ride as many times as we wanted to. The kids are getting older, so we were able to venture out of kiddie land a little bit. Plus, Benjamin (who is timid with the fast scary rides) is old enough to watch abby at the end of the line while Thomas, Stephanie and I went on some of the faster rides. Then, Stephanie is old enough to be CRAZY!! She dragged Thomas and I on every ride she could get too! Steph and I did Wicked together this year, and I was more nervous than she was!

Abby on the other hand HATED all the rides that moved! (That's a lie, she liked the train and . . . . . and . . . . oh yeah, the benches - she loved climbing on the benches)!

We got there as the gates were opening, and didn't leave until it was closing! We had an awesome time!

Family Portrait Session

2008-10-11T07:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys, photography is such a big part of what I am, that you have to put up with me when I post these pics of people you don't even know!!

I thought these ones turned out beautiful!

My First Maternity Session!

2008-10-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

I finally found a pregnant woman willing to let me put her in lights! Utah moms are a lot less willing to let you photograph them with a bare belly! She is a close friend of mine, so I gave her this as a gift for her birthday, which happened to be a few days after she delivered her little girl!

It's kinda funny, because Thomas came into my studio when I was doing these, and he was sooooo embarassed that he had seen a bare belly - for anyone who knows my hubby, I'm sure you can totally picture him backing slowly out without making eye contact with the couple! Poor guy - he puts up with so much from me!!!

Some Wedding/Engagements

2008-10-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a wedding I just finished, and their engagements from a couple of months ago!
btw, it is the transfer over to the blogger thing that makes these look bitmapped, the original files are fine :-)

Good Morning Lovely!

2008-09-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

This morning we had a little miracle. Abby woke up before any of her brothers and sister. I brought her down stairs and made her a gourmet breakfast. As I was watching my beautiful little girl, I realized how big she was getting, so I ran to get my camera and document another seemingly normal day at the Rusts' house! (please don't look at how badly I need to wash my windows!)

" Are you taking another picture of me, mom?"

Doing a little stretch!!

and another little stretch!

Aren't kids so awesome (especially when you get to enjoy them one at a time!)

She got bit by a mosquito last night, and it made her whole eye swell up and turn red! Doesn't seem to bug her though - And she's still beautiful!

Here's Marshall

2008-09-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

Goofin off with some new equipment, and as always, my kids are my guinea pigs! Look at that boys eyes!!!! If I zoom in close enough, I can see my reflection in his eyes!! So cool!

Funny story, I take him outside, put him to work modeling and he says:

"Mom can we make just two pictures work today?"

My poor, poor children!

Another Tag!

2008-09-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

Tag!
I have been tagged by my friend Cassie.

10 years ago I...
1- and my husband had just bought our first home.
2- bought my first piano!
3- started teaching piano lessons to pay for my first piano!!!!!
4- celebrated my husbands college graduation! We had finally done it! (I say "we", although I didn't have much to do with the whole schooling thing!)
5- had a one year old little boy to spend ALL my time and money on! (granted, that was before we had money!)

5 things on today's "to do" list...
1- Get together with friends for our weekly scrapbooking.
2- Teach my photography class.
3- Order a frame and print for a client.
4- Crossing Guard for Stephanie's school.
5- Pick up Marshall from preschool.

5 snacks I enjoy...
1- cookie dough
2- cinnamon bears
3- DIET COKE!
4- Candy Corns (have you tasted the new flavors??)
5- My friend's home made chocolate chip cookies!!

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...
1- pay my tithing
2- pay off my house and all my bills
3- TRAVEL, TRAVEL, TRAVEL
4- buy a new photography studio, and equip it will all the gadgets and gizmos!
5- Finish decorating my home and yard (I would finally get the kids that amazingly awesome playground set!)

5 places I have lived...
1-Vernal, Utah
2-Logan, Utah
3-Hyrum, Utah
4-Brigham City, Utah
5-?????
Does that mean my life is boring if I've only lived in four places??? And, they are ALL in Utah!

5 jobs that I have had...
1-Floor sweeper, garbage dumper, filing specialist, book colater, front office person, copy machine queen, and accounts person, Mansfield Printing Inc. (thanks Dad!!!)
2-Graphic designer at The Printing Place in Logan
3-Ad designer at The Cache Citizen in Logan
4-Graphic designer at Utah State University's Conference Center in Logan
5-Graphic designer and Page Layout person for Top of Utah Families Magazine in Logan
After all of these, self employment is by far my favorite! Believe it or not, all that graphic design experience goes hand in hand with my photography business, I do a lot of baby announcements, wedding announcements, senior announcements, and I run a pretty steady commercial photography department where I design all of the clients print materials. I guess I owe it all to the first job I ever had for my dad!!

Rules:
Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

So I tag:
1. Nikki, Heather, Megan, Shara, Mom

As You Are!

2008-09-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

I saw this cute little tag game on Tara's blog. I thought it sounded like fun, so I thought I'd give it a try! It makes you wonder just how clean your house really is! The rule is though, to take the photo AS IS RIGHT NOW. No changing things, no wiping off counters, no buying a new house just to claim it as yours, your rooms as they are right now!

1. My closet - Not necessarilly messy, but it is a little cluttered! We're sharing our closet with Abigayle still. So there's lots of baby/toddler clothes hanging in here too!

2. The kitchen sink - My kitchen is visible from my front door. I usually have at least one client a day - if not more - come to my home office. This means that the rooms visible from the front door HAVE to be clean. If a client just drops by, or calls last minute, I can't be apologizing for a mess. So, my kitchen is usually pretty clean.

3. The Toilet in the main bathroom - I hate cleaning the bathroom. This is the one that my family uses the very most because the other bathrooms are all upstairs. So, it's usually picked up - to a degree, but not very often is it spit shine clean :-(
4. The laundry room - My laundry room is either spotless or disaster. Not usually in the middle! On laundry day the clothes are seperated in piles all over the floor, sometimes you can't even open the door to the garage. You just have to go around! Last night we had a laundry folding/movie watching party, so today, the room is actually clean!

5. Kids in their best form.... I tiptoed into try and sneak a picture, but I think they are used to that tactic, I'm using it all the time!!!!! I did manage a pretty cute one of the two kids that were home!

6. A place you want to visit - That's odd, if I had a picture of the place I wanted to visit, doesn't that mean I would have been there to take it???? j/k!! I just thought that was funny. Thomas and I are hitting one of the places on my "list" next June, we are taking a trip to Madrid, Spain where his parents are serving a mission. Here's a pic I downloaded from the internet!

7. My fridge and freezer - We collect magnets from all the places we've traveled. Some of them Thomas has gone by himself for business, but alot of them the whole family has gone too! The inside, WOWOWOWOW time to clean out the fridge! (for those who know I'm always on a diet, those Kit Kats in the back are my hubby's!!) Sorry about the "censored" thing, I realized I had some clients info on the calendar, and didn't think they'd appreciate that!

8. My favorite room - I guess my favorite place in my house is standing in the entry way. We've finished decorating all the rooms that are attached to the entry way, and I love to stand there and look at each room and just have that little moment of "wow I like my house!" I also love to cook, so my kitchen is another of my favorite rooms! I also LOVE my yard, but I've posted that already!

9. Self portrait - Thats funny too, I always say the reason I chose photography, is to be behind the camera, not in front of it! So, maybe someday I'll get all dolled up and do a photo!

Here's the one Thomas helped me do for my web site. It's only about a 6month old photo. I hope that'll work!

10. My favorite shoes - I bought these to go with a new dress I bought for Stephanie's baptism day. I think they're kinda cute! You'll notice from my "self portrait", that I don't particularly love wearing shoes!!

That was a total workout!! So, anyone else up for the challenge??? Show me what you've got Mel, Meg, Mom, Michele and anyone else interested! It was actually kinda fun!

Scarriest Story!

2008-09-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was doing some photo editing on a job, and Marshall came in and handed me something and said "Abby had this . . ." I look down at his hand, and it was a little red pill. I ask him where he got it and he said it was in his bag. I assumed it was from his bag of treats at the parade, because that's the only bag I can think of. I kinda figured it was just a fluke that he had picked it up on accident at the Peach Days Parade two days ago. So I go back to the computer. 20 minutes later Abby comes in and she needs a diaper change. I go in to the living room to change her, and notice two EMPTY 6 packs of decongestant pills - you know, the kind that you push the pill through the back to get them out. There were also 3 pills missing from a 12 pack.

I recognised them, because we bought them BRAND NEW for our trip to Flaming Gorge in July. You only need to take one every 12 hours, and I only remember taking 1 or 2, I remember Thomas taking 2 and I remember giving 2 to Benjamin. I don't remember ever having used any others. So, all in all that accounted for 6 of the open pill things, plus the one Marshall brought to me makes 7. That means there are 8 pills unaccounted for! My obvious thoughts were "My baby just ate 8 adult doseage decongestants (Claritin). The time span had been about 25 minutes by now, and I'm watching her really closely trying really hard to remember if we'd given any pills to anyone else while we were camping. I couldn't think of any.

So, I call the Doctor. Of course, I can only get a nurse on the phone. I relay my story to her and all she says is "well, the doctor is in with a patient. He's going to have to call you back" So, I hang up and keep watching my daughter (who is only 20 months old). About 10 minutes later (it's now been about 40 minutes) the nurse calls back and says "Take her to the ER right now".

By now, a little sense of calm is starting to settle in for me, because by 40 minutes, those pills should have already kicked in. So I start to quiz Marshall. Did Abby open these packets? (maybe I should have quized him before I called the Dr. :-) ) "No" he says. "There were two packages already empty when I got them out of the bag" "What bag was it?" I asked him. "My backpack for preschool" I now remember going on a hike down to Jones Hole (also in Vernal) and taking that bag with supplies- including allergy meds- we obviously hadn't cleaned it out all the way. So then, I give Abby the package with 9 pills still in them, and tell her to show mommy how to open it. She goofs around with it for about 2 minutes, obviously has no clue how to get the pills out. Then I give it to Marshall, and he poked his fingernail into the back, and slipped a pill out in less then 10 seconds. Now, I realize that Marshall was the one to take the pill out of the packaging, and I ask him how many he had popped out. He says "just one mom" I ask again, explaining how important it was that I know the truth so that Abby would be safe. He says "I only opened one, and when Abby got it, I took it away and gave it to you."

So now it's time to take Marshall to preschool. It's also about Abby's nap time. There is no way I'm going to let her lay down until I am positive that she hasn't downed any pills. So we drive Marshall to preschool, then I get Abby out and let her run around on the grass, then I put her back in the car and drive home. It's now been about an hour, I do everything in my power to keep my baby awake for another half and hour, and then I'm sure that if she isn't showing any signs of overdosing after an hour and a half, then we were probably safe.

I have never been so scared in my life. The doctor said the side effects of taking one or two pills could be heart arythmia, taking up to eight could have easily been fatal.

I think that the Lord was helping me to think through the logics of the situation before rushing her to the emergency room and getting her little stomach pumped for nothing. It was right before I was going to rush her down, that my mind was able to relax and work through the scenarios and the logic. I'm so grateful that she's okay! Quite the day for us!

Don't Cry Over Spilled Buttons!

2008-09-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Mom always says "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk" what about crying over a spilled box of neatly organized buttons??? Me and Mel and Meg and Mom and all the kids were having a srapbooking weekend at my house back in June, and while the moms weren't looking, Abby was trying to find a little something to do to get some attention! Well, it worked!

I'm sitting here getting ready for another scrapbooking weekend in a week, and came across these photos on my computer! The thing that makes me laugh the most, is that I never reorganized the buttons. They are just all shoved wherever they'll fit back into the container! Believe it or not, I am still able to scrapbook without my buttons in their correct spots!

EDIT ON FIRE POST!

2008-09-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

My dear sister melanie informed me that in my post about the fire in Brigham city, that instead of the word "it" I put the word "I" making it say "I burned an historic building . . ." Well, after picking myself up off the ground and wiping my tears of laughter, I called Thomas and he laughed so hard at work that his coworkers came looking in.

I guess it wouldn't have been so funny except once, when I was littler (I guess like maybe 12 or 13?) a bunch of us went to Remember the Maine Park up in Dry Fork (me, Lori Mansfield, Kristi Wilcken and others that I don't remember - if you're reading this and you were there, let me know, I'd love to reminisce) we were trying to light one of the little barbecues to roast some hot dogs. It was too windy, so we decided to put out what pitiful little fire we did get started and went back to Kristi's house. Soon after, we heard and saw a few fire engines - lights blaring heading past Kristi's house. Hmmm we think "that's weird"

My mom comes to pick us up and tells us that there are fire engines at Remember the Maine Park trying to put out a fire that was supposedly started in one of the barbecuers. She rushed down to see if we were all right because she knew that's where we were planning on being. Sobbing we tell her that we had been there 20 minutes ago, and that we thought we put out our fire good enough.

Obviously we hadn't! My mom drives us the 1/4 mile back to Remember the Maine park from Kristi's house and we confess our arson issues to the firemen. Oh, boy, did we get a stern lecture! The fireman asks "What were you trying to do?" Kristi says "We were trying to cook a hot dog" all of us start laughing, more from nerves I think than anything else.

They didn't make us pay for anything, but we did get a good talking to.

So, as you see, I already have an arson on my record. So to read about my typo, it brought back a fun little memory! (well, it wasn't fun then!!!!!!!!)

Baby Abby

2008-08-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

Brigham City is famous for Peach Days, an almost county fair type city celebration. And, every year they have a cover contest for the cutest baby! So, I grab my beautiful Abby Ella, and we head to the local park for a photo shoot! I got home and got ready to submit them, and found out that it's not a contest at all, it's a drawing. You submit a photo and $5 and they put your name in a hat and pull it out. Grrr! Well, we didn't win, but I got some pretty pictures of my beautiful blue eyed baby!

Marshall's First Day of School

2008-08-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here's Marshall's first day of school! He was so excited to go! I walked in with him and introduced him to his teachers - Stephanie went to this same preschool when she was little. Then I walked him around to show him all the fun things he could do. As I was getting ready to leave, he started to get a little nervous about me leaving! He kept saying "I don't want you to go home" then he would say "why don't you just stay here with me today"! Ah, bitter sweet! Maybe he'll miss me after all!

By the time I picked him up he was all smiles. I dropped him off the next day, and there was NO PROBLEM at all. He kept saying bye at the house - like he was going to take himself to pre school!

My babies are getting so big! What do we do to keep them little?

Fire in Brigham City

2008-08-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

We had a sad arson fire in Brigham City on Tuesday at midnight. I burned an historic building beyond saving. It also forced the evacuation of a mother and her 6 year old son who lived in the apartment above the building. The building owner had no insurance because the stucture was too old - no one would insure it. The fire has been deemed an arson, but they haven't caught the people who set it

The fire was so hot, it melted the new siding off the house across the street!

A little note

2008-08-26T15:49:00.001-07:00

This is a little note for Megan Hawkes. I would love to see your blog, but I need an invite. I didn't know how else to let you know, so you get your own post here on my blog!!! I'm inviting you to send me an invite to my email at terust@gmail.com! Hope to hear from you soon!

First Day of School part 2

2008-08-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

Yeah, that was weird that I hadn't put any pictures with that last post! OF COURSE I TOOK PICS! Last year, I have to admit that the first day of school pics were taken on the . . . . second day of shool - GASP! Yeah, last year I forgot to bring my camera with me to the school!
This year we do have photos though! Here they are!

We dropped Ben off first, and I hadn't set my camera settings correctly, so the colors are a little weird, but I made sure I didn't make him pose for pics anywhere there were kids to see his crazy photoholic mom! Doesn't he look tiny and big at the same time?!

Then we dropped off Stephanie. She was far less nervous! Her 3rd grade teacher was actually moved from the first grade where she was Steph's teacher. So, she knew her teacher, knew the school, knew the kids . . . She was probably far more worried about what to wear! (I'm so proud!) I noticed when I was doing her hair, that she had these little welts all over her face and they were itchy. I got a little nervous but brought her down for breakfast anyway. When I dropped her off at school, they were still on her face. When she got home the were gone, but she was still itchy. Well, she had been on antibiotics for strep throat, and we figure that just maybe we have another child with allergies to pennicilin. So, on her pic, you'll notice her poor face is a little red and blotchy! You'll also notice just how beautiful she is! It amazes me that my kids are growing up so fast. We are so proud of them and their courage to be who they are!

We drop Marshall off at preschool today for his first day of school! Me and Abby home alone together for 2 and a half hours! Can you say NAP! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Not likely! Now that the school year has begun, so have my duties as PTA president for Stephanie's school. I find myself at the school as often as the kids! When I drop off Marshall, I'll probably head to the school and do . . . . stuff, I hear there's always "stuff" to do!

First Day of School

2008-08-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one that has mixed emotions about the first day of school? I just sent Benjamin to the Intermediate School (in Vernal we would have called it Middle School). For those that know my children, Benjamin is very small for his age. He is actually closer to his little sister's size (and she's not big either!) and they are 3 years apart! So, I give him the option to have his mom walk him to class, or to just drop him off at the front of the school. He chose to have me walk him to class.

We get to the school, and Benjamin with his new school clothes, backpack, and trumpet gets out of the car, and he is SILENT! He is sooooo nervous. The school is huge, and there are tons of kids coming into the building. We had taken him there once before to walk around and find his classrooms and get comfortable, but it was almost empty when we did that! Today it was obviously a mad house! All of a sudden, I wanted to take him home with me and tell him it was okay to wait a while before going back to school! But we headed towards his class and joined about 15 other kids waiting for the teacher to let them into the classroom. He did find one of his friends had the same class as him and I instantly saw him relax a little. Then it hit me that this would be the year that he would growing up more than any other year and I felt happy for him and sad for him all in the same moment!

Wow, being a mom is weird!

Tag - part XXIV :-)

2008-08-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by my friend Shawn. So, here are the rules!

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know that they have been tagged.

1. I like to work! I love to go on a photo shoot, then sit down and work on them at the computer! I guess it makes me feel like I'm doing something to improve myself!

2. I LOVE to eat home made Macaroni & Cheese with fish sticks and pork and beans! It's a meal we've had since we were little. Dad hates it! My brothers hate it! My husband hates it! Me and my sisters LoVE it! When ever Thomas goes out of town, we make Macaroni & Cheese, pork and beans and fish sticks!

3. I love me some diet coke, or even diet pepsi!

4. I would rather shop for my kids than for myself! Kids clothes are soooo cute!

5. I run 4 miles a day. Not 3.97, or 4.23 - Four miles!

6. I enjoy yardwork - when it's not too hot outside! I love to have flowers and garden and grass. I love to mow, weed, and pick! Love it!

Now, I tag Keri, Heather, Tammy, Amy, Megan, and Melanie!

Marshall Makes Me Laugh - Part II

2008-08-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Marshall asked me yesterday:

"Mom, why do you have cracks in your eyes"

ooooohhh, how do you answer that? I told him "because I have children!"

I don't think he understood my answer!

Marhall Makes Me Laugh - Part 1

2008-08-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

I just came upstairs and could hear Benjamin, Marshall and Abby all playing in the back room. I did a little "oh, I have such great kids" thought thing, and then I heard Marshall say:

"10 . . 9 . . 8 . . 7 . .6 . . other numbers . . . BLAST OFF!!!"

The first thing I thought was "oh, my heck that is hillarious! I have to write this down somewhere so I don't forget it! Well, I have a journal but I haven't written in it since Abby was born. I could scrapbook it, but by the time I got around to doing it I would forget what he said. And when I write things down on random bits of paper, they get lost.

Solution:

BLOG IT!!! I'm now going to put all the funny things the kids say and do in my blog so that I never forget how awesome they are!

Marhall's Best Friends

2008-08-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

We had a neighborhood Fourth of July party this year at our neighbors home, and Thomas caught a few pics of Marshall and his two best friends in the whole world!

Here's Marshall!

Shaelee Taylor - Marshall's future wife!

Tanner Bell!!

Dinner at the Park

2008-08-03T08:03:00.001-07:00

We love to walk to the park! A couple of Saturdays ago, we decided to make a picnic dinner and walk to the park once is started to get a little cooler outside! So we went to John Adams Park where they have these cute little metal frame trains that depict the trains at the Golden Spike Museum. But these ones are funner because you can climb all over them without getting yelled at by the museum people!

Ben would actually argue with me on that one, because we all know how much he likes big things on wheels!

So here's our day!
Look, there's Marshall Monkey swinging in the background!

Look at those big blue eyes, they spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E if you aske me!! Why are his shoes and socks NEVER on his feet?????

Here's Stephanie!!

WOW, that's fantastic hair!! I pay top dollar so Abby can look the way she does everyday!
We told Benjamin we would pay him $5 dollars if he could make it all the way across the monkey bars! We'd better keep practicing, because we didn't have to fork out any money that day! I'm afraid he takes after his mother in his upper body strength and ability to do anything slightly athletic!
Here's train #119! (I don't know what that really means, but it's a pretty cool pic!)

Camping

2008-07-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

I came across these photos the other day. These were taken when we drove up to Flaming Gorge a day earlier than the rest of the fam.

We spent part of the day renting canoes and paddle boats at Red Canyon Lodge

Met some friendly ducks while we waited at the dock - Abby didn't like the boats very much. I think mostly it was the life jacket that bugged her!

We tried our hands at a little fishing - nothing was biting that day though :-(

We did find this cute little deer! I felt pretty touristy as I chased the darn thing with a camera - as though I'd never ever seen a deer, or even hit one or two of them in a car before!Then we went to the trails around the Red Canyon overlook
Then we stopped for a nice serious pose amongst the scenery!!
Then we went back to the campground and crashed!!!!!

2008-07-29T20:33:00.001-07:00

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Another Award!!!!

2008-07-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

Dreams really do come true!! I first off really need to thank Nikki for presenting me with this award! I'd like to thank the nominating committee, all my family for their support, and all of my blogging friends and family I couldn't do it without your love and encouragement!!!!!

So, in good humor, I will follow the rules accompanying this award.

1. Post the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who nominated you.

3. Nominate 7 other people for this award and add links to their blog.

4. Leave a message for the people that you nominated!

so, I nominate . . .

Megan, for having the cutest pictures of a bunch of red heads!!

Marla, for having one of the most heartfelt and thoughtful blogs I've ever read!

Mom, because she hates being tagged!!!

Michele, because she keeps her blog up to date more than anyone else I know!

Amy, for having the best music on a blog!

Heather, for actually posting a photo of herself - You go girl!!!!

Shara, because we saw her this week and Benjamin is really wanting to see more photos of Jackson. So, I showed him Shara's blog and it made him feel better!

Here's The Rest of The Series

2008-07-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here's some of my favorites from the same session as the one I posted earlier

all photos copyright Two Color Photography

Gold Star Award

2008-07-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Just had this photo win a "Gold Star Award" through flickr!! Not sure exactly what that means, but hey, who doesn't like a gold star every once in a while!

photo copyright Two Color Photography

They're Out!!! The 2008 Rust Family Photos!

2008-07-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Who says the photographers kids never have their pictures taken! hahahahaha . . .

Here's Ben!
11 years old!
Wants to be a tractor guy, inventor, four wheeler store owner . . . Starts the 6th grade this coming school year! He's informed me that it wont be long before he's married!!

Stephanie!
8 Years Old
Wants to be (drum roll please) a photographer!!!! yeah! And a mom and a nurse and a . . . photographer!

My Marshall
4 years old
wants to be a superhero when he grows up! Asks every night if he can go out and wish on a wishing star! Wants a sleep over party when he's 15! (I have no idea where he came up with that one!)

Abby Ella!
1 1/2 years old
Loves nursery, mommy, daddy, and binky! Talks more at her age than any of our other kids did! Look at that smile!

I think the saying is "The photographer's kids never smile right in a group photo"! Honestly this was the best one of all their group shots! Oh well! Ben's got it down though!!

all photos copyright Two Color Photography

the more my company name, Two Color Photography, shows up in my blog, the more likely it will show up in search engines like google. That's why I keep putting "all photos copyright Two Color Photography". So, one more time for the heck of it . . . . Two Color Photography!

Little Boy in the Poppies!

2008-07-16T13:57:00.001-07:00

Another fun shoot in the poppies. This was a cute little boy! (not as cute as my own kids though!)

all photos copyright Two Color Photography

Motherhood!

2008-07-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

So, no pictures to go with this post -- GaSp!!-- I know, I know!
Anywho, I told the kids that I would turn the sprinklers on as soon as I got Abby down for a nap. So we got the three older ones all sun screened and ready to go out and play, I layed Abby down for her nap, I kicked all the kids out into the backyard with all their water toys and I looked around and realized that I was all alone!!!!!!!!!

So, I grabbed the broom and decided that I was going to sweep and mop the floor while all the kids were currently being occupied. I knew that I had at least 45 minutes, because that is how long I set the timer, and Abby always sleeps for at least and hour and a half! Halfway through my sweeping, a thought occured to me that when I got all this work done, that I would snap a picture and email it to Thomas at work, something like "Hey, look the floor really is clean sometimes" . Then I was going to keep the camera out so that I'd have it ready for the first spill. We ALL know that a freshly swept and mopped floor can only stay that way for 20 minutes. Anyway, then I would send the new pic to Thomas and say something like "And this is why it's never clean when you get home hahaha"

Well, I get maybe 10 more seconds of sweeping done, and in walks Marshall dripping from head to toe. Has it really taken me 45 minutes to sweep the floor?? No, it had been all of 10 minutes. And sure enough, he waltzes across the part of the floor that had already been swept . . .drip . . .drip . . .drip. I shoo him outside and get ready to finish sweeping and 2 seconds later in comes Stephanie . . .drip . . .drip . . .drip. Some drama about slipping and stubbing her toe. I tell her to wrap up and go sit on a patio chair until she feels better. drip . . . drip . . . drip . . . out the back door. Then I glance out side to see my eleven year old about to use the water my trees in a manly fashion. I open the door and holler at him to come in and get in his bed . . .drip . . . drip . . . drip. Then I sat down in my chair . . . drip . . . drip - that was just my tears :-) j/k I don't cry over unmopped floors! I didn't even get to take a picture of it being clean!

Shoot in the Poppies

2008-07-10T09:23:00.001-07:00

Here's a fam shoot I did the other day in the poppies. I do about 1 shoot a day for the week these poppies are in bloom. I start getting calls about January for pics in June! Sorry if everyone gets bored of these, I just enjoy showin' off!

All photos copyright Two Color Photography

Time for a Game!

2008-07-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :) If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

The Annual Mansfield Family Campout!

2008-07-09T06:50:00.001-07:00

Well, we had our annual Mansfield Family Campout, and we were all there! 12 adults, and 11 kids! We're almost at that point where the kids are going to out number the "grown-ups"! We had a ton of fun, as always! Here are some of the highlights.

Marshall built himself a little hole to sit in and play at the beach!

Here's Marshall and Allison (Melanie & Kevin's little girl).

We found this Antelope at Lucerne Marina, he was just wandering around on the lawn, Megan jumped out of her car to see if it would let her get close to it! This is her being sad when it ran away! SoRrY Megan :-(

Here's Michael, his new wife Megan and little Chloe walking around in the water. This beach was so great, the water stayed shallow for a really long time! The kids loved being able to go play farther out in the water than you usually would get to.

Here's da' boys! Like father, like son! This was taken during a rain storm. Most of us ran for cover, but Dad, Wyatt, and Kamryn went and found a rock to climb, or lean on!

Here's Chloe (Megan's little girl) - We found it was just easier to give the kids their food straight from the ground, because that's where it ALWAYS ended up anyway! Actually, Chloe just dropped her bag of fruit snacks, we didn't put them there for her!

Little Matthew (Melanie's little boy) and his mom. Melanie was trying to get him to go to sleep. It worked, in about two minutes from this pic, she came back to the beach with a sleeping baby!

Abby and Grandma trying on some goggles! She is so cute! Notice Brynli's hand in the background! That's what most of the kids hands looked like 90 percent of the time!

Here's Thomas' little raft. Unfortuneately for him, the kids got more use out of it than he did! Every year, some "mishap" happens to this poor raft! The first year someone (we wont mention any names - Mike and Kevin) broke an oar. The second year the other oar went caput, and this year it got a little over inflated and the inner lining popped, plus it sprang a leak! I think we'll have to have a burial service for it this year!

You can't ever go to the beach without trying to bury your self in the sand! This is my Marshall and my Stephanie!

Back at the campground playing a little Bocce Ball with Megan (the new one), Michael, and Benjamin!
This is what happens when you get to much sand in your hair. Your mom takes you out to the lake and gives you a good old cleaning up! It was pretty cold water, and Chloe didn't mind being head dunked at all!

Benjamin, Stephanie and Derek found this little fuzzy caterpillar. They decided they were going to build it a little tent/nest and take care of it so it could build a cocoon. Well, morning came and Derek woke before Stephanie and he couldn't find his caterpillar. We went into the tent trailer and started getting the kids up and at 'em when Steph sat up and said "Look Dad!" we looked over and she was holding the caterpillar. She slept with the darn thing! Ewwwww!

Here are our three little trouble makers! Actually, there were soooo good! They entertained themselves just by using their little imaginations all week long! So here's Marshall, Brynli (Wyatt and Michele's) and Allison! Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil! Our little monkeys!
This is our annual ritual of washing our hair in the creek that runs below our campsite. The water is SO cold, but all the girls go down with buckets and shampoo and conditioner and give their hair a good wash! R-L Stephanie, new Megan, Melanie, Mom, and sister Megan!

Well, we all survived and I think we all had a great time. Looking forward to going again next year! Flaming Gorge is a great place to camp, fish, swim, wash hair, eat food off the ground, and play Bocce Ball! If you haven't tried it out, you really should!

Flaming Gorge

2008-07-07T22:04:00.001-07:00

Some shots of Flaming Gorge and Red Canyon Lodge. Just playing around with a new technic I learned.

We'll post some of the fun pics later!!!

all photos copyright Two Color Photography

Tagged Again!!

2008-07-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

I got tagged again - this is kind of what it was like in grade school! I was always "it"! Not a very fast runner!!!!!!!

This time it's about the husbands...

1. What is his name? Thomas Edward
2. Who eats more? HIM!!
3. Who said "I love you" first? Him!!
4. Who is taller? Him, when your 5' 1'', it's hard for anyone to be shorter!
5. Who is smarter? He's smarter than I am. He's a genius!
6. Who is more sensitive? Me, although he doesn't do too bad in that field!
7. Who does the laundry? I am the one who washes and usually I'm the one who folds and puts away. That being said, he's home from work this week, and he's in folding laundry right now!!
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Thomas does.
9. Who pays the bills? I do.
10.Who cooks more? I do the indoor cooking, he does the grilling and dutch oven type cooking!
11. What meals do you cook together? Desert! We love to cook desert together on Sunday afternoon!
12. Who is more stubborn? Me
13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? Him, I'm not very good at that.
14. Who has more siblings? Him (he has 6, I have 4)
15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We both really do. We feel like we both bring alot to the table, and we are very good at communicating what we need and want to see happen.
16. What do you like to do together? Quiet together time! We'll go on a walk, or go to the store. We love to rent a movie, put the kids to bed and sit by each other on the couch without there being any kids in between us!
17. Who eats more sweets? Him
18. His guilty pleasures? EVERY night he gets 2 cookies and a big glass of milk - he waits until everyone is in bed and watches some guy show and eats his cookies!
19. How did you meet? We met at Utah State University at an Institute opening social. We sorta recognised each other being as were from the same town, and just started talking!
20. Who asked who out first? I guess I did! I had called a friend where she worked at the library to try and get a movie night going, and she said she had plans with a couple friends. She told me I should bring a date and come with. Then, she said, "Hey, Thomas Rust just walked in, why don't you ask him." She handed him the phone and I awkwardly asked him out!
21. Who proposed? Him
22. Who kissed who first? Last I remember we were both there!!!!!!
23. His best features? His smile! I love his hands! His laugh! His face!
24. His greatest quality? He is one of the kindest people I know. He always puts others first. He can always make me laugh - even at myself! Wonderful father!!

I tag Shara, Michele, Marla, Mom, Megan

A Day of Pampering for My Girls!

2008-06-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Stephanie decided to take the plunge, and asked me to make an appointment to go and get her hair cut. She was a little nervous, but I knew she would be beautiful no matter what!! Plus, she flattered her mother by saying that she wanted her hair cut to look like mine!! HAPPY DAY FOR ME!!!!!

While we were there, I asked one of the gals to give little Abby a trim!! Fun, Fun, Fun!

Here they are at the salon!

Here's all of Stephs hair!! That's alot of hair!

Abby!!!!!!!

Here are the after shots of the hair cut!

Fishing in the Park

2008-06-29T08:09:00.001-07:00

Thomas promised the kids yesterday morning that if they worked really hard and got their rooms clean and helped out with Saturday chores, that he would take them to the park to go fishing. They did a great job, and so here we are! This is a beautiful little park here in Brigham called Pioneer Park. It is way shady and nice and cool. So, we stopped and grabbed some chicken for dinner, and found spot to eat. When everyone had their fill, out came the fishin' poles and we went down to have our catch!! Actually, nothin' was biting today! Better luck next time!

Another one!!

2008-06-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a few of my faves from another wedding - bountiful temple

all photos copyright Two Color Photography and Design

Brandy and Trent

2008-06-20T18:04:00.001-07:00

Some pics of a wedding I was hired for. The bride was so cute, the ONLY time she cried was when she saw her dad waiting to walk her down the aisle!

This is one of dad telling her how beautiful he thought she looked! aaaahhh!

Her bridesmaids - the gal on the left had a tattoo of a set of wings on her back, covered her whole back. The dresses, were open in the back!
The invitation said in case of inclement weather, go to the church, the bride said NO WAY I am never having my wedding/reception in a church. They actually did get a little wet during the reception, but didn't move it to the church! Never say never!

all photos copyright Two Color Photography

2008-06-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by "Amy"!!! http://thejeppsen5.blogspot.com/
Okay here are the rules:You link back to the person who tagged you
Post these rules on your blog
Share six unimportant things about yourself
Tag six random people at the end of your entryLet the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs
Enjoy the results!

6 UnImPorTaNt tHinGs aBouT mE....
1. I have a crooked, curlyish toe!!
2. My favorite childhood dinner . . . Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, Pork and Beans, and Fish Sticks. In one meal, not seperate.
3. I love to watch people, there are some funny ones out there!!.
4. I just cut my daughter's bangs. Not such a good idea, there are some things better left to the professionals!.
5. I've been doing the same cross stitch piece for 12 years, and it's only half done.
6. I LOVE driving my SUV! Can you say GAS PRICES!

I tag Michele, Marla, Megan, Mom, Tara, and Shara.

Last Day of School Festivities

2008-06-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

Well, the day finally came for the kids (a few weeks ago, just getting around to looking at some of these pics), the last week of school! All week was fun and games. Tuesday is my usual day for helping in Benjamin's class, and the teacher asked if I would still do our regular thing in the morning. That was fine, because at 10:00 Stephanie's class was going to the park to meet their pen pals that they had been writing to all school year - they were from a different school in our district. Then, Benjamin's teacher asked if I would help in the class again that day at 12:00 while the kids made home made rootbeer and ice cream. I said yes, because I didn't need to be back to the park to help load up the gear from Stephanie's party and take it back to the school until 1:45.

So, if you missed it here's how my day went:
8:15-9:00 ben's class
10:00-12:00 steph's class
12:00-1:30 ben's class
1:45-2:30 steph's class
and of course, I took my little tykes with me to all but the first one in Ben's class where I have a friend that watches them twice a week while I'm in his class. I was worried that it would be a little too much for the three of us, but I think Marshall and Abby had more fun than the older kids!

Here's some pics of the big day!

This is Stephanie's pen pal Laura from Discovery Elementary! They hit it off pretty good!
Of course my little stephanie is at the age where you have to be shy for a little while when you're meeting someone new! She was sooooo nervous! You'll have to click on this pic and look at her eyes, sooo nervous!
obviously, everything was just great! Stephanie can usually make friends with just about anyone!
So, then it was ben's turn! The teacher had bought dry ice and all the other fixin's for home made individual servings of root beer. They had instructions to measure out their ingredients, and then the teacher chipped them off a chunk of dry ice to stir into their root beer! As a mom my first thoughts were "Oh, this is going to be trouble!! Fifth graders and dry ice WOW" but, I was proven wrong! No burned tongues or fingers. They were told to wait until their drinks quit smoking and bubbling before they drank them! I try not to drink things if that's the instructions I get!!!!!! Here's Ben's drink just a smokin' and a bubblin' away!

still smokin' and bubblin' it took forever before they could take a drink!!Then they went over to the home made ice cream table, and were given the ingredients in their individual quart size ziploc bag, they then took that bag and placed it inside of a gallon size bag full of ice and salt. All they had to do was shake and shake and shake . . .
fortuneatly, the shaking was finished quicker than the bubblin' and smokin'!

IcE CrEaM!
When asked if they liked it, they said "It's better than the goats milk ice cream we had to try yesterday!" (they had baby animal day on Monday, and they each got to have home made goats milk ice cream - YUCK!)

Beach Side Fun!

2008-06-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

I came home from a baby shower the other night, and the baby sitter said,
"You have got to see these pictures I took of your kids!"

I kept saying "There is no way there is enough sand in the sandbox to bury them & make sand merpeople out of them!" Obviously there was plenty!

The kids had a blast, and I was only cleaning sand out of their hair and clothes for a day or two!! But hey, it's summer!!!

New Toy!

2008-06-10T13:43:00.001-07:00

Here's my new toy, it came about three days after my bus. license came! This week has been like christmas for me!

It's a Pentax K20D it made the top 10 list for mid priced digital slr cameras. I had it for one day before I took it on it's official first professional shoot. It performed remarkably, I was stunned at how much better it did than my other camera - which I thought was performing great too! Tons of fun!

Look what I got!!!

2008-06-10T13:40:00.001-07:00

I got it!!! I am officially a business owner! I passed all the inspections, payed all the money, and dealt with all the red tape, and finally got my business license!!!

Next to my marriage license and my children's birth certificates, this is the most beautiful piece of paper I own!

oh, no you dit'nt . . . (snap, snap, snap)

2008-06-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

I had this dream . . .

I was beating on my daughter . . .

(megan, megan, meeegggannn)

Then I woke up. (sigh)

Dude, I'm telling mom!

2008-06-07T23:03:00.000-07:00

What, where am I??? All I had was a Mountain Dew. It's supposed to make me look like "her".
"megan, megan, meeeggggaaaannnn"

Megan, Megan, Meeeggaaannn!!!!!

2008-06-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

If you drink Mt. Dew, HOT girls will like you!!!!!!!

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system! Playing around with my new camera and my new sister! (this is the new one?????)

What do you think?

2008-05-30T14:40:00.001-07:00

We officially finished the front yard this year! We've only been in the house for 5 years! We are sooooo fast! :-)

I know I have a "before" picture somewhere, but I need to do some digging. If I find it, I'll post them side by side - might get a chuckle, or a sore back! We did!

Last Hurdle Crossed

2008-05-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we fussed and fretted and worried and worked to make sure the house would pass the Home Business Inspection. The inspector came today at 11:25 and was out the door by 11:28. He glanced in the office. Went down stairs into the studio. Looked at the heater and air conditioner vents. Signed the paper and left!

That means, that the only thing left to do is wait for my business license to arrive in the mail. I've officially filed with the state of Utah with the company name of Two Color Photography and Design, we've paid all the licensing fees, bought all the fire extinguishers (one for each floor of the house) and tried to decided the least hideous place to put them. Passed the inspection, and can officially run my business!!!!!

Yeah!!!

Check out my website - 2colorphotography@googlepages.com! I should see if I can find a printer who might design me a logo and a business card . . . . . . hmmmm. If anyone knows a good one, give me the number! Just kiddn' Wyatt! Actually, If you're ever bored and want to play around with a logo. I've tried and tried and hate everyone I've come up with. I didn't want to be one of those photographers who just puts their name in cursive and calls it their logo. I want something different and fun! No big rush, I'm not really into the whole advertising thing too much. I had to go legal because I was getting to much word of mouth business, and making too much money. I'm not sure that I want to get much busier than I already am until the kids are grown up a little!

Little Abby Ella

2008-05-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

Here's my beautiful blue-eyed abigayle! What a little bundle of joy she is! Not a day goes by that I am not laughing at something cute or silly or sweet that she's done! Her loves are her dolly, her daddy and her binky!

This is little abigayle with her little dolly! Poor doll looks a little ragged for being carried around!

Here is abby's official first attempt at walking! This is the first time that I've had a camera around when any of my kids are taking those first steps - gasp!!!

These two pics were taken over easter weekend. I think that this is what her mouth looked like for days and days. Wads of candy hidden in those cheeks like a little chipmunk! I love how beautiful her eyes look in the second shot. This was the first time mom decided to try and get two ponytails in her hair. Wow, I guess I'd better wait till those side pieces grow out a little before I try that one again! Wait, what's that in her mouth!!!!!

Abby is such a joy! I literally almost cry when I sit and watch her sometimes. Why is it the older we get, the quicker our kids get older? My heart just breaks a little as I realize that soon she'll go to nursery, and then she'll be in preschool, then she'll be married! I think this hits harder and harder after each baby is born and starts growing up. So how do we stop the growing too fast?

Let me know if you figure it out! I'd love to have the secret!