Prunty Family- Lillie Biesinger, Coachella Valley Photographer

 Some more of this family and their PERFECT LITTLE TWINS over on the other blog.

Halloween 2012!

 Halloween 2012.  Dorothy and the Wicked Witch.  Waldo, Wenda, and obviously.... the biggest, scariest, meanest Hulk you've ever seen.  It was a fun one.  Finn is at such a fun and ADORABLE age and LOVED every bit of the celebrations.  He walked the whole neighborhood last night, never complained, and never wanted to get in the stroller.  His little buns have got to be burning today.  

He insisted on carrying his bucket (by it's side almost) the whole time and left a trail of candy every time we weren't looking.  He's full of moments I wish I could freeze right now.  I'm always just so grateful I have Ross so that one other person can be as obsessed with him as me so I can talk about all of the cute things he does all day long if I want. 

I'm having a moment with my family.  I just feel so blessed.  These kids are rock stars.  And even though we still have a few 90 degree days ahead of us, the holidays are here and it feels oh so gooooooood.

2 0 1 2 H o l i d a y C a r d s !

  A  M o d e r n  a n d  S i m p l e  H o l i d a y  C a r d  C o l l e c t i o n

A little more info over here.

It's that time of year.

 Here are a few from a recent shoot.  More over here.

If you know any High School Seniors in need... let them know!

A regular session with me is $300 without any prints included...  So if you know anyone in search of a photographer for their High School Senior photos, let them know I'm offering a special right now!  

I've got a few spots open for seniors in the Fall, but am also booking for the beginning of 2013.    

A Weekend in SF with the toughest mudder I know

Thanks to my sister in law, Tere, my parents, and Ross's parents... our kids had a fabulous weekend while weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..... wandered San Francisco with nothing more than my purse in tow.

- Ross did the Tough Mudder with a bunch of guy friends... He swam in mud and bashed up his shins and grunted and yelled a lot (I have video to prove it) .... while I shopped.  Next time I'm in Ross. For real this time.
- We got to stay with GREAT old friends Tyler and Ambyr for a night and enjoy their most darling home/neighborhood/family.
- We visited the beautiful Palace of Fine Arts where Ross took me back when we were dating and I waited for him to drop the LOVE bomb.  He didn't that night... so he told me lots this time.
- We ate and ate and ate.  But I wish we could have fit many more a meal in.
- And slept in 'till a ridiculous hour each morning thanks to hotel black out shades (or I did while Ross read or ran in crazy mad-man races.)
- We walked and talked and dreamt of what it would have been like to live the city life before we started our family.  But then that got us thinking of our family and all we wanted to do was look at pictures of our kids and kiss the screen and forget about the city and get home.

The perfect ending.

Life

Just a few from the phone.  Finn turned a corner a month or two ago and is such a happier, sillier kid.  In hindsight... it feels like his first 18 months were ruled by sleep and food.  Now he's funny and goofy and so boy-y.... talking and growling and giggling the day away.  Tonight he was awful.  So there are exceptions.  But this boy is fun.

Soccer started last week and while it's still MISERABLY hot and hanging at the field for TWO games is ... twice as long and miserable as one... it's pretty awesome.  Watching Mila wear her uniform with such pride now that she's finally old enough to play, even if she does mostly just look at her feet and then over at us while the ball rolls by--- is amazing. And so entertaining.  And watching Sophia go full-on athlete on the field-- flying past the other team and getting herself in the mix at every moment makes me so excited for the future (when she can also control the ball enough to have a say in where it ends up), especially because of how it started a few years ago.  Oh my gosh that was fun.

Date nights are my favorite part of the week.  I look forward to those few hours with Ross (and none of our darling, wonderful, captivating kids) like nothing else. Those hours with Ross-- and food I don't have to eat in between cleaning smoothie off the floor and replenishing waters.

Is October really right around the bend?  Praying for double digit temps....

As of Late

Remember when we blogged almost daily? I miss those days.  I knew it'd get harder as my kids got older, and greater in number :/, and the diminishing interest in blogs hasn't helped.  And like all of us, I certainly know that living my life is more important than blogging it.  But I still catch Ross laughing and tearing up at old blog posts from when our girls were babies, and I know it's all been worth it.  I hope I can keep it going enough to record the good stuff.

The summer was so busy and SO fun.  Full of trips to San Diego and Orange County and a whole lot of fun in the sun here in the desert.  We did the library and the museum and the local hotel pools and McDonalds :/ on almost a weekly basis... We watched Finn grow a curly mullet and turn to one nap and become a wild and happy boy.  We used up every last bit of life in our three-year-old blow-up slide.  We stayed up too late and watched too many movies and ate too many desserts and didn't work on any site words. :/ But we did get a lot of our first long chapter books in... Wizard of Oz when mom did bed-time and Evertaster when it was dad.  We colored and painted and crafted till we dropped and played with friends almost every single day.  Summer was a hit.

And now it's September and we are back to school and carpool and homework and routine... the other kind of routine. Not the one that involved daily popsicles and movie-family-room picnic time.  But so far so good.  We got wonderful teachers and the girls are loving school so far.  Sophia gets nervous about it getting difficult... this girl's hard on herself and so aware if she doesn't get something right away.  Mila's feeling like a big girl since she's only four 'till November and technically in a "transitional kindergarten" program, which is in a normal kinder class.... don't ask... I've got tons of questions myself and no one seems to really know yet.  But she's got Sophia's awesome kinder teacher and two of her best friends and the transition has been seamless...

Above we have the beginnings.... some first day of school shots, Sophia's birthday morning, some our trip to Disneyland to CELEBRATE Sophia's birthday with Tanner and Kate, some happy Finn with food, and happy Finn who climbs into the tub clothed regularly, the girls trying on school clothes, one last hurrah at Tanner and Kate's pool before school started... and a bowl of cookie dough because it never fails to make everything better when life get's stressful.  Never.  The second I stir in the chocolate chips I always feel a wave a happiness wash over me.  Seriously. There's something there.

Ali and Josh

 Been working on this gorgeous pair of love birds lately.  LOTS more on the other blog.

Beach House with Homecs 2012

After San Diego, we headed up to San Juan where we did our annual beach trip with the Homecs.  Gorgeous weather, yummy food, happy kids and great freinds--- it was perfect.

Finn snatched a bag of popcorn from the neighbors and rationed it out to the other kids.  Naturally.

July In San Diego

Lacy and Joe came in town all the way from Florida, which meant

 it was time to party.

We all squeezed into Nana and Papa's house for a little over a week and slept and walked on top of each other, (mostly Nana and Papa with four kids at the foot of their bed climbing in with them at the crack of dawn... that's love)... ate lots of yummy food, watched a lot of olympics, and filled our days with activities that would knock our kids out come bed time. We did...

- The zoo

-Legoland

- Swimming 'till our hair stayed crispy even when clean and matched the grass.  Yikes.

- A girl's only 8 mile walk in the most beautiful San Diego weather where we wandered the most charming farmer's market in Little Italy (hence the overload on pretty-produce photos.)

- Point Loma Seafood where I could eat every day.

- A birthday party for Joseph's 7th complete with a pinata, swimming, and pony rides!

- The tide pools in Point Loma which were really just beautiful but terrifying cliffs overlooking the water since it was high tide.  

- The zip line.  Many a time.

- The trampoline with no enclosure.  We like to live on the edge.

- A girl's night celebrating my step-brother, Kirk and Janice's upcoming baby!

- The beach.  Oh the beach.  You fill up my senses.

- A date night to enjoy delicious food and ghiradelli down town with Lacy and Joe and no kids

- And ANOTHER in Coronado.  We were spoiled.

- And Nana and Papa's younger-kid cousin's camp complete with a beach day, arts and crafts and a Dinosaur Hunt!  Obviously Papa found huge oversized cardboard dinosaurs to scatter in the yard while scary dinosaur growls were pumped out the windows on loud speakers.  Obviously.

It's like 115 today back in the desert.  Seemed like a good day to download my phone pics and dream of 75-degree heaven.  And cry.