A long time coming...

Where does the time go?

-photo-editing
-cleaning up food because my kids eat ALL DAY LONG.

I guess if I were actually answering that question, those might be my top two right now. Sad I know. My life sounds pretty boring. I just haven't been able to catch up on photos since Gina's wedding. There were a ton from that of course. Then I came back and shot a family reunion the next day here in the desert. 35 people total (yikes-- I know)... so that was a ton of photos, and then of course I took probably like.... a ton at the beach house with Brooke and Tyson that I haven't had a chance to blog yet. SO, since my afternoon was kept free for me to write a talk for church tomorrow, and Ross took Sophia to a movie for a little daddy/daughter date during Mila's nap, and then on his way got the most fabulous text from the bishop of our ward (from church) saying that we don't need to speak anymore.... turns out, I'm FREE! So here goes.

Day One at the beach--- arrived late afternoon- soaked up the sun while the kids dug in the sand right outside the house. Ate too much Stuft Pizza for dinner, then topped it off with the best s'mores of my life (I think it was the first time I used a fancy marshmallow roaster-skewer-thing instead of a wire hanger... and Brooke introduced me to the the double-marshmallow s'more. Oh where have I been?) ...and wallowed in my miserably-bloated happiness. Day 2- ummm.... a lot more beach. More relaxing. More yummy food. Definitely more s'mores. I think we were running low on s'more supplies that night, so Brooke rationed the goods, which made me eat more since I knew I had "3 more" with my name on them... yikes. And yum.

See the shot of the house, it's the cutest little thing, right on the sand. TONS of parking. Sigh... some day.... our own... in my dreams...

She thought it was fun to lay face down in the dirt and rub her head in it. hmm.To the Irvine Spectrum for shopping, Wahoos, and a little train-ride for the kids. Have I told you lately, that I love a fish taco? Day Three- decided to take a break from the rocks on our beach and packed up and went to a new beach, Three Arch, in Laguna? Newport? Not sure... but wow--- it was beautiful, and so worth the pack-up and the butt-kicking workout to hike the stairs out of there upon departure.

I know, that's only two of the arches. I didn't have my wide angle.... or maybe I just forgot...

Ross and Tyson played super-dads and took the kids in the water, exploring around the rocks and arches, and built a sand-mountain (sorry Ross, I just don't think we can call it a castle)... while Brooke and I lounged and took pictures. Thanks Ross.

Yeah- she got pooped and melted down like a Popsicle in Indio. Luckily all it took was a walk to the arches on Ross' shoulder and she crashed for a little sun-bathing nap. (Don't worry, she was lathered in sunscreen. I'm married to the sun-screen patrol. He remembers for the both of us.)

Brooke's friend, Katie, met us there for a little while with her two kids. Her little girl, Reese is a darling little HAM, so I couldn't keep my camera off of her.After food, rest, and clean up.... we took the kids to the park to avoid the sand before bed-time.
This was like the prettiest park I've ever been to. It was up on a cliff overlooking the ocean, but totally fenced in and bowl-like so it felt super safe. Tons of trees for shade... sigh....

again... some day. Some day I'll live in a neighborhood with trees that give shade. Even if it just means I'm in this house for 40 years (which is how long it'll take for these desert trees in my neighborhood to actually give shade.)

I love my house. I love the desert (sort of). But it's summer. And miserable. And I love the beach. So let me complain without thinking me a complainer please.

hhhhhaaaaaa (that's my written sigh.. the word just isn't doing it for me), I think that about covers it. Though I can't promise more photos won't trickle in. We did sort of squeeze in a fifteen minute family-shoot between our two families... I wasn't planning on having Brooke turn the camera on us so my hair was in a pony, but oh well. I'll save that for another day... or... maybe just a couple more...

drum roll....

SIGH (like the biggest deepest sigh you've ever heard.) I finished the wedding photos. Go check some out on my photo blog. Ummm.... there might be like 30 more than SHOULD be on a photo blog... but once I started I couldn't restrain and once I went through the work of posting, I couldn't delete. Even though the bright sunshine of the ceremony and the dim-lit indoor reception were clearly both SOOO challenging for me. So there you have it. You won't miss a beat of the whole night. (Except maybe the part where I was like 10 minutes late to the ceremony after getting lost between her house and the park I've been to like 3 times and missed Gina walking down the walkway. Uh huh.) Did I mention yet that this was one of the most stressful days of my life. I can't decide how much is appropriate to write over here. I don't want her to lose faith in me! But I can never help but spill all my beans. Maybe you don't check this blog Gina?? Let's hope. Because I'm pretty sure at some point I'll have time for a full recap... oh me oh my. I'm not sure weddings are for me.

But really, what an honor (ok and pressure-filled nightmare ;)) to be the one capturing such PRECIOUS memories for these two families. Luckily, they could not have been more patient and easy-going. Thanks Gina!

Oh and I'm adding this on late... here's my flickr link for more.

At the beach--

I know I've already said it, but I've got so much to blog and just can't find the time right now for catch up. So here's just one where we got the camera turned around on us at the beach with the Homecs. Don't we look happy? Waking up at the beach, eating s'mores by the fire, away from the 118 degree desert days... we were.

Ok and maybe just a couple from the wedding

I have five minutes

So I'll start with my haircut-- Ross already made fun of me for my crazy eyes, so don't bother. But it's the only one I took straight on and it's pretty much been in a pony ever since, so I'm posting it anyway. And I obviously took them of myself which is so embarrassing, but again, had to document the hair. So whatever. Crazy eyes, self-absorbed, weird scary neck-lines. Give it to me.

Oh and the bangs I've decided aren't really bangs. Too easy, I can still tuck them behind my ear, so of course that's what I end up doing. So maybe I'll cut more next time, we'll see.

To much to blog about but this will be all for now. I'm at my friend Brooke's "home" in Orange County. We did her family beach house through yesterday, (I know I know, we're SO lucky to have friends with beach-houses to share.... ) Ross left last night, before that was a big 35-person family shoot on Saturday. And before that of course was Gina's wedding. I feel like I'll never ever be able to catch up on editing photos. And the wedding... WOOOH... that was hard. That is certainly a post of it's own.

One that will have to wait. Goodnight!

My First Real Wedding!

So I got to do a little shoot of this courthouse wedding a couple of months ago (hence the photo above), and that was fun. But today I head to San Diego all by myself to do my first REAL wedding.... like with a cake, and a ceremony, and dancing, and flowers, and a reception, and a harpist...the whole bit!

I'm scared out of my mind. But very excited. It's an old friend from highschool I haven't seen in ten years who found me through facebook (with a little help from my brother- thanks Ian!)... She's beautiful and I'm sure the whole day will be as such, so I just HOPE HOPE HOPE I can do it justice!

Wish me luck.

A Friend in Need

My friend Lizzie has four beautiful sisters she's super close with. Amy is 24 and the one we probably think is the most like Lizzie. She's beautiful, and creative, and confident and silly and really fun to read. She's just been diagnosed with stage 3 lymphoma Hodgkins Disease... which is cancer, of the blood I think? I'm not sure I put any of those words together right but her story so far is HERE. I can't get her out of my head right now. I guess I figure any extra prayers could help.

I thought I was growing it back out.

Until I couldn't stand it for one more second of one more day. It's just reached this awful grow-out length that isn't short enough to bounce, but isn't long enough to really HANG so it just sort of poofs.

And the pony isn't short enough to do that cute little spout, but it's not long enough to venture toward an s-curve, it just kind of... poofs. It's the worst pony ever. I need my pony. So these are my finalists for photos I'm taking to my girl tomorrow.
Oh yeah, I'm thinking maybe bangs? I've done them twice and hated them twice (ok more if you count the split-and-spray bangs I had in the fifth grade... I got too lazy to curl the bottom half, so I'd just spray the top half in a wave to the side and let the bottom half hang straight down... I was a trend-setter I tell you.) But regardless..... it seems I want to do them again. I really like the bangs on my hair girl, so I'm hoping that means she could make me look good in bangs too. ?? We'll see. Obviously Gwenyth looks amazing without the bang, but she can do that killer middle part. I used to think I was a middle-parter, but somewhere between age 24 and now it lost it's hip and went total hippie on me. So I'm thinking maybe the bang will give me something fun to work with when my hair is just in a little pony etc....

what say you?

I think these ones are my favorite of the collage above.

Can you tell I like wavy? Another thing that's happened between about 24 and now is my afro. Once upon a time I had silky smooth hair. Well that is no longer. So I've discovered a tousled wave is easier than a full flat-ironed look. So I'm just going to pretend that my um.... very TRUE tousled hair (like the kind Sophia has after she's rubbed it all over her car-seat) can look like these girls with their perfectly styled-to be-tousled hair. Wish me luck.

Beyond the Ribs...

Swimming, boccie ball, bean bag toss (an actual backyard game I TOTALLY want to buy now)

Nana barbecuing and being nana....

FOOD.
Sparklers, a craft I snuck in there that I did with my Activity Day Girls from church before we left for San Diego... but they're festive right?, one very pregnant Terasita (we thought she'd have this baby days ago... but we were just happy she was still plugging along, walking the miles at the zoo with us and spending a day in the sun and pool and even trekking from our far away parking spot to fireworks later that night. That woman makes me look SO bad in pregnancy. It's like being pregnant for essentially 3 years straight has made her kind of good at it. :) She doesn't opt out of anything.
And of course, the fireworks. A bit of an effort for like 10 minutes of a show... but still fun. Check out Sophia's sun burnt little face. I felt awful. Her eyes were so red and puffy. She must have been in that pool for like 5 hours. She ate four hot dogs (without buns) in one sitting in the middle of it all. So I guess she was working pretty hard. Oh especially because she suddenly TOTALLY knows how to swim! I wish I'd gotten her in lessons last summer so she'd have been taught the proper way to swim, because she mostly doggy paddles (like me) but she is officially without floaties and cannon balling with the rest of us trying to knock Nana off the boat. She doesn't even hustle to the side... just hangs and treads and swims the long way back. It's made swimming this summer SO fun.

Fourth of July '09. Ross used the word "perfect" on several occasions. The only thing missing was more family, since it was just the folks, Ian's fam, and mine... but I think an entire day spent outside with water and toys and ribs will always make my husband a happy, happy man.

Hope your food was as good as mine.

Oh and one more thing... my most recent shoot.

Check out more of this darling girl over on my photo blog. If anyone peeks at my website, then you know that I change my logo like every other day. It's a problem, really. I know that the point of a logo is to create a little brand identity... an identity that probably can't be formed if it's ever-changing. But I've realized that I have serious problems with commitment (not like, of the marital sort, more of the accent-color-in-my-living-room sort, and as it turns out, photography-logo-sort). I keep telling myself, "the simpler the better". But then I find a new font. Uh huh. And I love polka dots, so I can't seem to get away from sneaking one in. Is it possible that my identity can be Lillie-who's-always-changing-her-logo. I'll be like "the artist formerly known as prince". No real logo, but that in itself IS the logo. Are you following?

Check back in a week. I promise not to disappoint.

Sincerely,

Lillie. the-ever-changing-logo photographer

(It has a nice ring I think...??)

A few updates... and guess what arrived last week..... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm a little bit excited.
I got the pillow in the middle on my doorstep today... so my bed was all dressed and ready for it's photo-shoot. Uhhh... I know we have an abnormally barren, large room, so pay no attention to the corners that show what it looks like beside that ONE piece of magic.

Better yet, pay close attention... just so you'll believe me...

I know. The rest of the room needs a little catching up. That tv's on the fritz... so I'm thinking we'll need a little upgrade soon (and by little I mean little... that beast makes me so nervous. What if it fell over???) We got a cheap but simple/modern ikea dresser a while back that we need to set up that will match the dark wood of the bed better... so that will be our first step. hhhhhhhhh (sometimes I just really want to spell out a sigh.. )... oh I can't tell you how much I love walking into my room right now... The closest thing we've had to a real bed was this twin head/foot board that I bought for $10 at a garage sale when we first got married and I'd hang from the wall with nails side by side to form ONE king headboard. It started brown, and got painted white AND black over it's lifetime with us. I'm happy to retire it.

Moving on: Here's a few from yesterday when my dad and Marybeth came over for dinner for a little late Father's Day celebration. Have I mentioned how much I love that they live RIGHT here in my town??? (pretty much.) There's really something to living near family. Like you've almost got a little root right where you live. It just feels good, you know?

ooh and one more thing. My friend, Shalaine's baby shower. Had it on Saturday morning at my house-- brunch... with quiche (Costco), homemade rolls, salad and yogurt parfaits. My friend Brooke, who bakes for a restaurant, baked me her DELICIOUS coconut cake for the occasion. Yum.

I know... and she's like 8 months pregnant. Darling right? You should see her little boy. I can't WAIT to see her little girl.

and WHAT would I do without little friends right now? Without preschool and with temps so hot, we can't play outside... having friends over to play is CRUCIAL. And there's something especially cute about darling little girls in a bunch. Oh and did I mention... Mia and Kail aren't moving after all? Hooray!

That's all for now. Oh and saw Sister's Keeper tonight... I liked it. Almost an entirely different story than the book, but still a great movie.

My Sister's Keeper

We just read this one for book-club. Squeezed it in the year's calendar before the movie comes out this weekend. It tells the story of a family who genetically conceive a baby to be a perfect donor for their daughter with cancer. What a sad and compelling story. I know, it sounds like I just took that off the back of the book.... I don't think I often use the word "compelling". But I can't think of how else to describe it. I didn't know if the sadness would overwhelm the story too much for me to enjoy it, like too much jalapeno in my guacamole. But it didn't. Told from so many different perspectives, the reader doesn't suffer through the pain of say, the mother, the whole time, but instead is let into the affects the illness has on an entire family.

Ooohhh. I just reread that paragraph and it sounds totally depressing. But it was a good, good book.

Just in case you're lookin'.