What do you do if...

You are doing a family photo session and you and the family are attacked by a swarm of angry wasps? Because that is exactly what happened to me and the Williams family last night. There we were, at the base of Little Cottonwood canyon (.."oh yes, Erica, we should do your pictures there for sure. What? Yes, of course it will be a safe place for your kids..") minding our own business, when Chad (the dad) gets stung by a wasp, twice. "Great," I think as he runs off, presumably so his kids don't hear him swearing from the pain, "I wonder if he is coming back? I don't think I can photoshop him in.." when all of a sudden we are all being swarmed by these bees. And we take off, running back up to the parking lot, screaming like the scene from Tommy Boy. (your firearms are useless against them!) The poor brave five year old, Jack, was covered with them, and was stung several times. I got stung once, and am ashamed to say that I swore. A lot. So there we are, running and screaming (and in my case swearing) up this trail when Chad starts flipping out because one has gotten in his pant leg. And here is what I yell. (hysterically, might I add) "Just take your pants off, take them off!!!" Because I can't help but think that this is a better solution then getting stung in the pant area. It drew some stares from the people standing around us, who oddly enough continued to stand there as if we were insane rather then come to our rescue, but they probably thought we were. We hopped in the car and sure enough, just as we are all getting settled and counting up our wounds, one of the kids starts screaming "WASP!!" and four doors fly open and the five of us come pouring out of the vehicle waving our hands and screaming.

Eventually we were able to get in the car, but not without everyone going in the same door, and sitting on the same side of the car until we were sure that the little creep was gone before buckling in and getting the hell outta dodge. We saw another photog there about to head down the same trail so we warned them through a crack in the window, and they looked like they didn't care that there was a swarm of killer blood thirsty monsters on the loose. Evidentally they did not see the scream fest earlier.

Anyway, two slurpees, four bags of ice and some benadryl later, we decided we would redo the pictures in a more urban environment after we have all recovered from the shock of it. A big thank you to Chad for the benadryl and topical ointment, and a big hug to Jack and Nixin for being so brave! (And I forgot to ask, but Erica, if you are reading this, were you running up the hill in your picture shoes? Because if you were, that was some fancy footwork, my friend, great job!!! )

Playdate at the Castle

Wow, today was one of those days that makes you happy to be alive, the fall colors are coming, the sun is shining and the sky is blue, blue! I did some pictures of the most beautiful little kids ever today and wanted to post a few of my favorites for preview! I was so happy to meet these two families, I had a great time with the kids and I loved meeting the moms, I was so impressed by how fluidly they handled chasing two walking children while still taking care of the babies! Thanks you all for letting me spend some time with you!
Incidentally, did anyone else know that there was a beautiful pond on top of the castle place in provo? I had no idea.

Martinez Family

I got to hang out with Kendrick and Desiree Martinez, a very cute couple with a four year old girl and two year old twin boys. We had quite a time running around Wheeler Farm and got some pretty cute pictures, although it is kind of hard not to, these guys are gorgeous!

Sidewalk Chalk

The girls got themselves so messy today playing with sidewalk chalk. Mia mostly ate it, but she also got it all over herself, I just had to get out the camera.

PS.. I also learned how to add a watermark to my images, yahoo! Now the next step will be how to get them off, any suggestions photoshop enthusiasts?

Paige is playing soccer...

and I use the word "playing" ever so loosely. Mostly she is meandering on and off the field asking things like "can I go play on the playground" "why are my legs so itchy" "what do we get for snacks" and my personal favorite, "when do I get my trophy?" Mike ended up coaching her team because there weren't any other volunteers and he seems to be having a blast with that. Paige is getting better, she drew me a little chart with squares on it so I could put a check in each time she kicks the ball. So far she has one check. Maybe she will be a really great swimmer... For now, I thought you may get a kick out of this one picture I shot after all of ten minutes at the first soccer game.

Jason at Franklin Covey

For the last month or so I have been trying to arrange a time with Jason to shoot some of his senior pictures down at our triple a ball field, Franklin Covey. He is really into baseball so I thought it would be a great spot to start out with. Unfortunately, everything from illness to rain has kept us from making it over there. Finally a couple days ago, we managed to get it together only to be disappointed again by the discovery that the person who holds the keys had gone home an hour early that day and was unavailable. Not to be deterred, we decided to just shoot a few in front of the stadium. We had a great time, and are rescheduling one more time to see if we can get in there. I really want a shot of him down a base line, I thought that would be really cool. For now, here are a few of what we did get.

Wallowing in Misery

Well, we went to the state fair tonight. Ordinarily I love going to the fair, all that fried food on sticks really sends a smile to my face. Tonight however, I did not leave the fair as content as I have in years past, as a matter of fact I left practically crying. The reason? I lost my camera. My dear sweet little Canon point and shoot. I don't know what happened, one minute it was in my pocket and the next it wasn't. I don't know if I was pick pocketed or it just fell out or what. And I hadn't uploaded the pictures from it for a while so now I don't have those either and there were some really cute ones of Paige and Mia when we were harvesting our garden. I just wish I knew what happened to it. Seriously, I love that camera and I would be so happy if I could have it back, but I would settle for just the memory card. Know what I mean? So sad...

A Tooth!!!!

Mia Claire has gotten a tooth! It is her bottom left one and it has been a long time in coming. We would just like to thank those of you who have put up with comments from me such as "she sure is cranky, I bet she is getting a tooth" and "she has such a runny nose, I bet she is getting a tooth" and my personal favorite, "she is ten months old, when is she going to get a tooth??". Angie, if you are reading this, feel free to continue telling me when Ethels gets her teeth at a normal rate, I will no longer seeth with concern for my own childs ability to chew steak. And as a tribute to the tooth, I would like to write a blurb about my youngest little princess, since my friend Jamie pointed out it is hard to tell I even have two children since I hardly post about them. Mia is the prettiest little girl on the earth, her smile lights up a room. She is speedy, she is sweet, she loves her big sister, she loves to grab noses. She loves daddy, which is a big deal for us, since Paige would have nothing to do with him. She gives head bonks, she smiles big for pictures, she likes to empty drawers, she is incredibly determined, she sucks her thumb and for the record I think it is adorable, even if she will have crooked teeth in the future. She loves to read, and as Paige said, she loves to snatch things that other people are holding. She loves dogs, she loves water, she loves green beans and she loves her mommy. What more can I say? She grows on me more and more everyday, and I love her so much! Its great having two little girls.

First Day of Preschool

Well, she did it, she went to school. She didn't cry, she didn't cling to my leg, she didn't even look back, to be completely honest. She chose to wear her San Diego shirt with the monkey on it with her hair in little buns. We walked in, ran into her friend Mason and next thing I know she was standing chatting with some girls and Mason in line waiting to go inside. It felt so strange not knowing what she was doing every minute of those three hours, but I tried not to worry too much. I went to the gym and dropped poor Mia off in the gym daycare and ran for forty minutes. Actually, I walked/ran for forty minutes, this is my first time back in the saddle in four or five months after all, don't want to be too hasty you know. Mia and I missed Paige so much while she was at school. I sped the whole way to go pick her up. I asked her teacher how she did, her teacher said she did great except she was running a lot, but it wasn't a big deal. I wonder if they have a rule about running? Anyway, it wasn't too surprising to me. Here are some pictures in case you want to see her in her monkey shirt. Please note that she is also wearing a brown sweater that she did not come home with. I really like that sweater so if anyone sees it, let me know!