pettingill

Tuesday

2012-01-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

I love photographing our ordinary day to day life. It's so much more fun/easier that trying to photograph my kids at the beach or at zoo, etc. I realized today that it had been awhile since I photographed the simple everyday stuff. So here are a few pictures from our Tuesday.

Owen came home from joy school and crashed in between our couches within 5 minutes of walking in the door.

Evee's helped me make oatmeal for her to eat for lunch.

I bought a real live plant a couple of weeks ago and one of my new years resolutions is to not kill it.

tide pools

2012-01-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

Monday we went to Malibu and hiked down to some tide pools with our friends. The sun was shining, the scenery was amazing, the kids were happy, and the tide was low, making it easy to see lots of sea creatures. It was a good day. I wish every Monday was a holiday!

This starfish kind of looked like it had a face!

In the parking lot where we parked they were shooting Modern Family. I haven't watched Modern Family enough to recognize any of the actors. Our friends pointed out Claire to us, I guess she is one one of the moms.

NYC part 2

2012-01-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

continued from the post below.....

I really love FAO Schwarz and I was so excited to take Evee and Owen there, but we realized really fast that it is not as fun when there are a billion other people in the store. You had to wait in a line to get into the store it was that bad!

We were in the store for probably a total of 5 minutes, cause it was too crowded for us, but it was long enough to find the barbie fuzz ball table!

Next stop was Dylan's Candy Bar, which was also crazy crowded but we discovered the cafe on the top floor that wasn't quite as busy so we went straight there and ordered hot chocolate. I tried their white hot chocolate, it was so so good. I want to go back to New York just for that.

One day we walked across the Brooklyn bridge, which was fun and freezing cold.

Owen was once again asleep in the stroller when we took this picture.

later that day we rode the Staten Island fairy, which was a fun/free way to see really great views of the city and also the statue of liberty.

We took the subway to get around the city, Which is by far the cheapest and quickest way to get around, but by the end of our trip I had come to really hate the subway. Mainly, cause it is really hard with kids. There are no elevators and so we were always having to drag the kids and all our stuff up and down 2 or 3 flights of stairs, which isn't my idea of fun.

Our last day there we went ice skating, This is the only picture I took because all my attention was focused on trying to keep myself from not falling while also trying to help Evee and Owen from not falling which was a losing battle. I think Evee and Owen were a little young for ice skating, but they did look really cute in their tiny ice skates!

After ice skating we walked through the New York public library. It was surprisingly really cool. They have a museum in it that has the original soft toys that winnie the pooh is bases off of.

The Christmas tree in the New York public library was on of my favorites that we saw while we were there.

Then we got back on an airplane and flew home.

The end.

New York, New York

2012-01-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

The week before Christmas Todd had some school stuff that he needed to go to New York for, so the kids and I decided to tag along. We had only decided a couple weeks before that we were going to go, so I hit the clearance racks in a hurry looking for warm clothes(love it when I actually have a real reason to go shopping), Evee and Owen didn't even own coats! The first couple of days we spent in Connecticut hanging out with Todd sister Anne and her family, then from there we took the train into New York and we spent 5 nights in New York. We packed as much into our days that we possibly could and we had so so much fun, but I am not going to lie, going to New York with kids is exhausting.

waiting for the train in Connecticut

The first few nights we stayed with my cousin, who was nice enough to show me around the city while Todd was doing school stuff. One of the days we treated ourselves at Max Brenner it was REALLY good, but tiny portions

probably the highlight of the trip was going to see the Rockettes Christmas show. It was really amazing! it surpassed my expectations times a hundred and Evee and Owen loved it also. It was really funny, while we were watching it, every once and awhile I would look over and see Evee trying to copy their moves!

We also went to the 911 memorial

My cousin and her lovely family

We had to make a stop by Macy's to see Santa and partake in the stores festiveness. This picture was of part of their Christmas window display, it was quite the work of art.

Notice Owen snoozing in the stroller, I swear he slept through half of our trip

The line to see Santa was crazy long, but the people at Macy's are geniuses and made it so the line was just as fun as sitting on Santa's lap. The line weaved through a train and then through the north pole and Santa's workshop.

When Owen sat on Santa's lap he asked Santa for a Christmas tree! We had a Christmas tree at home! we had no idea where that came from. Santa gave Todd and I a funny look, I think he thought we were bad parent for not getting our kid a Christmas tree.

Time Square was fun to walk through a night, it so bright!

The Natural History museum was really cool, Although Evee is now a little confused about whether she is a monkey or a human.

The dinosaur skeletons were definitely the best part

Although the dinosaurs skeletons were really cool I still couldn't bring myself to wake up Owen to see them. Hopefully one day he won't hate me for it.

We walked through central park on our way back from the Natural History museum and there was a guy blowing giant bubbles. Evee and Owen thought it was pretty awesome. okay, I thought it was pretty awesome too.

don't worry that was only the first 3 days. I still have much more pictures to blog.

year in review

2012-01-02T23:49:00.000-08:00

Here you go folks, the 2011 Pettingill family year in review! This is to make up for the lack of blogging I haved done the last 12 months. I also threw in some random photos from the year that never got blogged. Happy New Year!

photo blog update

2011-12-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

It has been a crazy busy month and I finally had a spare second to update my photo blog, maybe next I will update this blog:)

giveaway

2011-11-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

One of my friends, who has amazing style may I add, recently started a fashion blog and she is giving away one of these cute anthro mugs(with inital of choice) away over on her blog, so go check out her blog and win yourself a cute mug!

cutest kids EVER!

2011-10-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

I feel so selfish that I haven't shared these insanely cute pics on my blog yet. They are from a couple of months ago. Todd had to go to a meeting at UCLA so we tagged along and wandered around the campus taking pics and of course we had to treat ourselves at the vending machines also.

I think I am going to have to put this picture of Evee up somewhere in our apt because it's impossible to look at it and not smile back at that cute face.

and one of the hubs

If you want to see more cuteness check out my photography blog

up and running

2011-10-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

My life is now complete:) I offically have an etsy shop. please check it out. I will continually be adding new christmas photo cards within the next few weeks.

Paper Kite Designs

christmas card preview

2011-10-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

So I started thinking about how I wanted to design my christmas card this year and I got a little carried away and designed a bunch, so I decided I would stick them on etsy and sell them as DIY christmas cards that you print yourself. I haven't had a chance to open my shop yet but hopefully within the next couple of days! here is a preview.

salt water, sand and family

2011-10-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had family in town, which always calls for a day at the beach, and a lovely beach day it was.

the only pic I got of leif was of him crying cause Owen took his trucks, we keep telling ourselves that one day they will be friends...hopefully.

more pics from old town

2011-09-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

I am still in the process of sorting and editing all of my summer pictures and I had to share a few more from our trip to Old Town while we were in San Diego. I really love that place. There are all sorts of fun little shops to wander through and lots of delish Mexican food.

Summer 2011

2011-09-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

Our summer has been a whirlwind of busy fun. We spent most of July is Southern Utah hanging out with family( when I say "we" I really mean Evee and Owen and I. Todd did an internship with a investment bank this summer and spent all of his waking hours at work.)

lots of swimming

amazing sunset over pine valley

Zion with Emily(we have been friends since kindergarten)

We got to go visit Todd's family in Spokane and go camping with his whole family. I was really nervous about traveling and camping without a husband, but it went really smooth and we had a ton of fun.(snagged this pic from my SIL's blog)

All Evee wanted for her birthday was an Ariel wig and dress up.

Disneyland trip with family

We got season passes to the LA zoo this summer

We spent 2 days in San Diego at old town and Sea World. Unfortunately I realized my camera battery was dead when we got to Sea World.

Evee got to hug her favorite princess

We spent a day at UCLA with Todd

We also spent a few days at Big Bear after Todd was done with his intership. We didn't see him much this summer so it was fun hanging out as a family doing nothing.

Hands down my favorite part of the summer was being able to hang out with a lot of my friends while I was in Hurricane that I don't get to see very often and Also being able to see all of my family and Todd's family. Evee and Owen had so much fun hanging out with cousins. It's so sad that we don't have any family near us, but it makes us really appreciate it when we do get to see them!

first day of preschool

2011-09-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Summer is offically over for us today. Evee started pre-k

p.s. I have a long summer post coming to making up for my lack of blogging the last couple of months!

San Jose photo session dates

2011-08-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

mermaid party

2011-08-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months Evee has been reminding me on a daily basis that she is going to have a mermaid party(she is obsessed with little mermaid at the moment) Her birthday is next week but we haven't spent much time in Los Angeles this summer to plan a party, so I decided to throw her a little party while we were at my parent's house, it was so much fun to be able to have her cousins there.

It was kind of thrown together last minute, but since we were on vacation I had a little extra time to spare, so I spent some time in illustrator. I created the invites, fish party hats, cupcake toppers, and favor tags. I even created the mermaid on the invites. I really don't know illustrator that well, so I surprised myself that I was able to create something that resembled a fish let alone a mermaid.

party nails

2011-07-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

All you need is clear nail polish, craft glitter and patience and then you can have nails as cool as mine:)

cow pajama pants

2011-07-06T22:49:00.000-07:00

There aren't very many animal prints that boys can pull off wearing, so when I came across this cow print fabric I knew that I needed to sew Owen something awesome out of it.

everything's amazing and nobody's happy

2011-06-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

I saw this clip from Conan a couple of months ago and I randomly find myself thinking about it, usually before I am getting ready to complain about something. If you haven't seen it already, watch it. It's great.

P.S. I updated my photo blog recently. cutest twin girls EVER!

cooking for kids

2011-06-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

I have two picky eaters, which is fine I can understand it, there are a lot of things I don't like to eat, but I just wish they would be picky about the same things. I only have a few recipes that Evee and Owen will both eat and with everything else I usually just end up making one of them a peanut butter and jelly. It's SO frustrating. I had been wanting to try some of the recipes from the spring kids edition of Sweet Paul online magazine and since Todd hasn't been around for dinner since he started his internship I took it as my perfect opportunity to find some kid friendly recipes, so this summer I am planning on cooking my way through the entire magazine. So far I have made the pasta carbonara, the ricotta and parmesan frittatas, and the carrot meatballs(forgot to take a picture of them) and so far Evee and Owen have eaten everything! I feel so victorious! I love Sweet Paul not only are the recipes great but all the beautiful pictures make me want to learn how to style and photograph food.

We have also been making lots of "groovy smoothies" lately(my kids really like Fresh Beat Band, it's annoying) I have been juicing all the veggies in my fridge and experimenting with what I can get my kids to drink. Our favorite is carrot and spinach juice with orange juice and frozen strawberries, oh and a little bit of strawberry yogurt.

there's a new photographer in town

2011-06-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago Evee realized that her hands were finally big enough to hold my camera and push the shutter button at the same time and since then, she has refused to smile in pictures unless I let her take a few pictures also. For awhile she mainly photographed white walls and then she moved on to the top of Owen's or my head, then every once and awhile she would get an eye in the picture and then the last time I handed her my camera she produced these images!( the first 4) They are all straight from my camera, no editing. I was really impressed. She even posed Owen and I! Now I just need to get her her own camera because it gives me a minor heart attack watching her with mine.

Now here are the pictures that I got to take of her in return

Evee does this funny thing sometimes when she is talking were she talks out the side of her mouth, I love that I was able to capture it in this picture

stuff I have sewn lately

2011-06-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

My sis in law recently had a new baby boy, so I kept to my tradition of giving handmade baby gifts and I sewed this little outfit. The pants pattern is from the Amy Butler sewing for baby book.

since I was in the sewing mode I sewed this little dress for my niece who just turned one. It was super easy. I used this tutorial

p.s. I just updated my photography blog

today...

2011-06-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

we went fishing

peanut butter and jelly

2011-06-03T22:46:00.000-07:00

The kid likes his peanut butter and jelly and here are some pictures to prove it.

facelift

2011-05-29T23:51:00.000-07:00

I just updated my blog header! yeah, i know it's a little silly that I am actually blogging about it, but it's a rare occasion and I just spent the last 2 hours fiddling in photoshop making it, so to all you google readers I am demanding you to click over and check out my spiffy new header!

p.s. My latest favorite blog is pugley pixel. It's chalked full of great blog design tutorials.

princess day

2011-05-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

I had been feeling really guilty lately that we have had our Disneyland passes for 8 months and I have never taken Evee to see the princesses. It really hasn't been until the last couple of months that Evee has gotten into the whole Disney princess craze, but she has fallen hard! I remember my sister once saying that the Disney princesses are like crack for little girls and I am now fully understanding what she meant. Evee's world revolves around princess everything( movies, dress ups, toys, etc)...and yes, I have become one of those mom's that lets their daughter go grocery shopping in a princess dress because I just don't want to deal with the battle. So our last trip to Disneyland we waited out the princess line(1 hour and 45 minutes!) and Evee got to enter princess heaven. It was a big day for the little girl. I would like to not have to go back there for a long time. It was all a little too much for me to handle, so now I am not sure how I am going to convince Evee it's not worth going back, maybe tell her the princesses all turned evil?.. just an idea :)

waiting in the excruciating line

Evee was a little shy

This picture has nothing to do with princesses, just a family pic outside of the tiki room. It's Evee and Owen's second Disneyland favorite after It's a small world. Third favorite is Jungle cruise just in case you were wondering.

home

2011-05-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a quick trip to Hurricane. One of the evenings we were there my sister and I took the kids out for a walk through the brush next to my parent's house. They thought it was really great and as soon as they found a clearing they plopped down and started playing in the sand. I realized on that walk, that no matter where I live the desert will always feel like home to me.

Mickey Mouse birthday party

2011-05-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Owen's party was a lot of fun. We had it in our little apartment, which was a bit chaotic but Owen loved his party and that's all that matters

My sister made Owen his cute Mickey Mouse bib. She is selling the same one in her etsy shop

I covered the water bottles with sayings from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse they said "meeska mooska mickey mouse", "we've got ears say cheers", and "hot diggity dog"

Some of the party guests

I was so tempted to just go out and buy party decoration since Mickey Mouse is such a popular party theme and there are tons of stuff, but I decided to be thrifty and make everything, which I didn't mind, but I really sick of Mickey Mouse now!

We served some of Owen's favorite snacks (goldfish, veggie chips, snap pea crisps), chocolate covered pretzels, fruit kabobs, and cupcakes of course.

The birthday boy

i'm retarded

2011-05-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

Owen's birthday party was on Saturday and so Friday night I started making the party favors, which was chocolate dipped oreo mickey ears, seems pretty easy, right? It took me 2 hours to make five and I ruined about half the package of oreos in the process. The next morning I assigned Todd to finish making them and they turned out perfect. He just whipped them out like it was no big deal... I think I should have paid more attention in my home ec. classes in middle school.

p.s. more birthday pictures coming soon.

birthday boy

2011-05-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

I don't really understand how Owen turned 2 today, because I am pretty sure it was just a few months ago that he was a tiny newborn. Where has the last 2 years gone? I am scared to have a 2 year old boy, Owen is going through this really destructive phase and I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of it. He keeps me on my toes...actually more more on my hands and knees scrubbing some sort of mess off the carpet or walls. But there is something about him that melts me. He's so snuggly and sweet and his chubby little cheeks are impossible not to kiss every time I pick him up. Happy Birthday Owen! I love you more than you love Disneyland(and that is a lot)!

p.s. thank you to all of you who called or left me a birthday message yesterday. I felt so loved. Birthdays are the best!

fascinating

2011-04-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

We tivoed the wedding and watched it this morning. Royal weddings are so fascinating! I couldn't help but post a picture, It was all so magical. It set the mood for our weekend. Tomorrow is our 6 year anniversary.

party invitation

2011-04-26T23:13:00.000-07:00

Can you guess the theme of Owen's upcoming birthday party?

When we were trying to decide on a party theme it really wasn't even a discussion, both Evee and Owen are completely obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at the moment and it doesn't help that they are spoiled rotten and get to go to Disneyland every few weeks.

Easter weekend

2011-04-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Our Easter Weekend:

I dropped my camera in the middle of a photo session and broke my lens(I still haven't forgiven myself)

Owen decided it would be cool to fill the toilet up with clothes and flush it a bunch of times, flooding the bathroom and leaving us with some major plumbing issues.

Our dish disposal broke causing a water leak under our kitchen sink and of course causing a giant mess!

It wasn't all disasterous though, we got to go to a couple of easter egg hunts last week and the Easter bunny stopped by and brought Evee and Owen a basket full of goodies, and we had some friends come visit us from out of town.

I wish I had some cute Easter pictures to post but I was so worn out I barely picked up my camera. This one if from one of the easter egg hunts.

busy

2011-04-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't been on the computer much these days, which explains my lack of blogging. It seems like since the weather warmed up we have been up to something just about every weekend. We have been really busy but in the best way possible....beach days, few trips to Disneyland, visit from grandparents, mini vacations, etc. life is pretty good.

Here are a few pictures from the last month.

Owen loves books

hanging out in Carlsbad

Birch aquarium in San Diego

Every once and awhile I let Evee dress herself. She only picks out clothes that are pink, purple, or red because those are "girl color"

This place is like 10 miles away from where we live. We are starting to realize there is more to Los Angeles than the beach and giant movie billboards.

Mark Twain boat at Disneyland

We went to the mall to get ice cream and got distracted by the photo booth

another Disneyland photo. You can see the reflection of "It's a small world " ride in my glasses.

I hope you all are having a happy Spring!

silly faces

2011-04-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

cowboy quilt

2011-03-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

I have checked off one of my new years resolutions! I finally finished the quilt I started for Owen before he was born. It all started when I can across this vintage cowboy fabric and I thought it would make such a cute rag quilt. One of my awesome friends made Evee a rag quilt when she was born and it gets dragged around everywhere, so I thought it would be fun for Owen to have one too. From all the tutorials that I read, I thought I was going to be able to whip out this quilt in a few hours. It took me more like 20 hours! I have accepted that I am not a quilter and I am okay with that.

While I was trying to take pictures of the quilt my little tag alongs decided that they wanted to be part of what I was doing so I ended up with a bunch of cute pictures of them and not one decent picture of the quilt... oh well

artwork

2011-03-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about the newest up and coming abstract artist? She's a pretty big deal. She held her first sold out art show at her preschool talent show last week. I feel pretty lucky to have one of her paintings hanging on our wall.

our new pet

2011-03-05T23:01:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights ago I was cutting up some cilantro and green onions for dinner and I looked down at my cutting board and there was a lady bug. Evee was so excited and immediately decided that it's name was little lady and it needed shelter and some food to eat, so we put it in a cup with some cilantro. It was still there the next day and the lady bug entertained Evee for the whole morning. She talked to it and offered it different toys to climb on, and tried feeding it cheerios. She loved that little lady bug so much that she decided that she was going to set it free in her bedroom. Maybe some day we will find our lady bug friend again or maybe not, either way it was fun having a pet for a day.

a happy saturday

2011-03-04T00:13:00.000-08:00

These are old pictures. They are from a Saturday in November. Looking back at them made me want to relive that day. It was one of those days were we wanted to get out of the apt. but we didn't know what to do, so we got in the car with no plans and we ended up at a beach in Malibu with a bucket of KFC and we played at the beach till the sunset. I am happy I had my camera with me because I want to remember that day forever.

Evee kept trying to take off he clothes because she wanted to get in the ocean

craft corner

2011-02-26T21:55:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite parts about our apt. is that we have a craft/office/guest room. Since we moved in, the room has been a little bit of a disaster, so last weekend I did a little reorganizing. It's a pretty simple little corner, nothing fancy, but I love it. There is something very gratifying about having a space that is all mine and no one elses.

My first project in my newly reorganized craft corner is curtains for our family room, I ordered some green chervon stripe fabric online that I am planning on using. I am a little nervous, it's really bold!

spider girls

2011-02-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

My favorite picture of the moment

Evee and her cousin Finley in the $1 section at Target. Love that place. Love having family in town.

the kiddies

2011-02-16T13:26:00.000-08:00

You can see more of my blue eyed babies over here

happy heart day

2011-02-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

I did a little photo session with Evee and Owen a couple of days ago, it's a little different that what I usually do. I will post more pics on the photoblog with in the next couple of days.

thrift store find

2011-02-11T23:08:00.000-08:00

I have been loving the thrift stores in Los Angeles. A couple of weeks ago I found these Pottery Barn Kids storage cabinets for $70 in almost perfect condition! My favorite part about them is that the front of the doors are a chalk boards

wallpaper love

2011-02-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

We have been in our apt. for about 5 months and I am starting to get really bored with it. I am just bored with apartment living in general. I am sick of white walls, vertical vinyl blinds, and formica, blah! Evee and Owen's room has these awful sliding white closet doors and I have decided that I am going to wallpaper them. Wallpaper can be really busy for a whole room but I think just doing the closet doors will be perfect. I know it is stupid, since we are only going to be here a little over a year but I can't help myself.

Here are some of the cute wallpaper I have come across while looking

highlights

2011-01-30T23:16:00.000-08:00

I just uploaded all of the pictures off my camera from the last 2 weeks. Here are the highlights:

train museum

Evee started a dance class last week. She LOVES it.

These next few pics are from Disneyland

This face has become Owen signature look.

Evee's not scared of the characters at Disneyland any more!

Watching a parade

Evee had one of her friends from preschool come over and they decorated cupcakes. They both had such a good time

and of course Evee and Owen have been sick and feeling crumby, some sort of stomach flu. Does anyone know how to get vomit smell out of leather?

p.s. Todd found out last week that he landed an internship in Los Angeles. I am SO happy we don't have to move for the summer!

photo blog update

2011-01-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

I posted a new photo session on my photo blog a couple of days ago that I absolutely loved. You can hop on over there to see more.

Owen and I

2011-01-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

Twice a week Evee goes to preschool for 2 hours and during those 2 hours I usually rush around trying to get as much stuff done as possible. Owen spends most of the time in his carseat or the shopping cart or waiting in some sort of line with me. Today I decide to just spend those 2 hours with him and nothing else.

We snuggled while he sucked his thumb

played tickle monster

Owen read me some books

and we had a snack

it was perfect.

goals

2011-01-16T23:39:00.000-08:00

Now that January is half way over I am finally coming to terms with the fact that it's a new year. Last year I posted my new years resolutions on my blog so I feel some sort of obligation to report on how I did and I am a total failure. Even the really simple resolutions like read a fiction book, I didn't even complete!... sad, I know. Although, I did read some Dr. Sears book about vaccinations, so I am not completely illiterate. I was really discouraged at first but then I started thinking about all of the things that I did do last year.

I started recycling all of our paper and plastic.

I handmade every single baby gift that I gave, which was a lot, since I swear everyone I know had a baby last year.

I have managed to feed another mouth without having to increase our food budget, by increasing my coupon usage.

Also, one of my resolution was to get my wisdom teeth removed which I did complete, but I wished I hadn't because it was HORRIBLE!

So, I guess I am only a partial failure, but I don't believe in giving up so I am ready to commit myself to a New Year and a new list of goals on top of all the ones I didn't finish last year, so here it goes

Finish the quilt I started making for Owen before he was born. I have all the fabric cut out sitting on my sewing table and I feel guilty every time I look at it.

Get myself ready more often. I have gotten into the habit of leaving our house way more that I should with out putting on a drop of makeup and my hair is pretty much always in a pony, But I have realized that I like myself a lot more when I do get ready, which sadly means waking up a little earlier each morning.

Go on a vacation with just Todd even if it's only a night or two. I have really been feeling the need for a vacation lately.

Keep our house more clean. Does anyone have any suggestion on teaching kids how to clean up their own messes? I really feel like it's all I do all day and our apt is still always a mess!

I couldn't post without a picture and since I was feeling reminiscent, this one was taken about a year ago. It so crazy to me to think that just a year ago we were till packing Owen around in the bjorn. He has turned into quite the chunk.

Miles

2011-01-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

You can see more of this cute face and his family over here

Owen has ears

2011-01-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

Owen decided that for the new year he was going to try a new hair do, a more shorter sophisticated look :)

I miss his California boy shag, but with that face he could pull off any look.

post Christmas post

2011-01-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went really fast. We went to Southern Utah and spent it with my entire family and we really did nothing else except hang out and eat a lot of food. It's always pure chaos when my family is altogether, but we are home now and I miss it. Our apt seems so quiet and I have 2 kids who are REALLY loud!

Evee's Christmas morning favorites were a magnifying glass and a rolling puppy(remote control dog) and a box of dress ups.

Owen's Christmas morning favorites were a scooter, a car garage, and a guitar

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2010-12-13T22:10:00.000-08:00

This is what Christmas looks like at our place

Our sad Christmas tree gets rearranged about 10 times a day. The bottom half of our tree is all cheap plastic bulbs and currently half of the bulbs are hanging on one branch and the rest have been pulled off and the top piece is the only thing left hanging

last December on Martha Stewart they showed how to make magazines into Christmas trees, I thought it was so awesome that I save the episode on tivo and I finally got around to making them this year. I loved the way that they turned out. the picture doesn't do them justice at all, and they cost me a total of $7 to make. The only problem is that I originally made them as a gift but then I realized that they are pretty much impossible to ship, since they are made out of magazines they aren't very sturdy and the pages wrinkle easy. I am not sure how I am even going to store them.

Todd made a gingerbread house from scratch this year. We all helped decorate it but Todd definitely did most the work. He never ceases to amaze me. My favorite part was that it made our house smell like gingerbread, The real thing is so much better than any candle or air freshener could ever do.

Since Trader Joe's only sells Candy Cane Joe Joe's around Christmas I eat about a year's worth of them in one month. That's what Christmas is all about... right?

I hope you all are enjoying the season!

love this

2010-12-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

If I didn't have a mile long "to do" list right now I would make one of these ornaments for my Christmas tree. I am so in love with it. You can find the tutorial and pattern here..... Maybe next year

Disneyland

2010-12-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

Since we bought Disneyland passes we have been 3 times. The first time was really fun, I hadn't been in about 12 years and Todd hadn't been since he was a little boy. So we spent alot of time just walking around soaking in the magicalness. One of the first rides that we went on was Alice and Wonderland, and it scared the crap out of Evee, so she was a little timid to go on the rides after that. The next time we went to Disneyland it was a disaster, from the moment we got there Evee started crying and saying she wanted to go home. We couldn't talk her into getting on any of the rides, so after an hour we went home. Todd and I were really discouraged, What kid doesn't like Disneyland? So after talking to a few Disneyland pros we decided the next time we went, we would go to California Adventure since it's not so overwhelming and the rides aren't dark and there are no witches, fake fire, dinosaurs, pirates etc. It went much better, Evee and Owen both loved California Adventure we watched a lot of the shows and Evee and Owen loved the bugslife section. We went over to Disneyland to watch the Christmas parade and we went on it's a small word ride, and watched the Christmas lights come on. I love how festive Disneyland is. Every season it's like a whole new park. Here are a few pictures from our last trip.

Evee picking her nose at Disneyland

family pics

2010-11-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

I have a friend/neighbor who is a photographer, so I talked her into trading family photo sessions, here are a few of my favorites. Thanks Emily!

I just post a few pictures from their photo session on my photo blog

November beach days

2010-11-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't quite figured out the weather in LA yet. Somedays are really cold and the next day it's in the 90's. We have spent a lot of time at the beach this month and I am loving every minute of it. Here are a few pictures I took from a couple of weeks ago. We stayed there till the sun had set.

Dino-Owen and Sheriff Evee

2010-10-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

I will be honest, I am breathing a sigh of relief right now that Halloween is over with. My kids have been on a sugar high for the last 3 days, so I have hid their candy bags up high and I am hoping that magically tomorrow morning they will have forgot about them.

Here are a few pictures I took before our Church trunk or treat

Evee really wanted to be Jessie for Halloween. I really didn't want to buy a Jessie costume, so we settled on her being just a good old fashioned cowgirl instead.

Isn't Owen the cutest pregnant Dinosaur you have ever seen! His costume had a really big belly and he had a hard time reaching over it to put his candy in his bucket, it was cute and a little funny.

pumpkin patch

2010-10-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

last week we went with Evee's preschool group to this cute little family farm that is about an hour away. It was really fun. We went on a ride around the farm and Evee and Owen got to pick out a pumpkin, It would have been a perfect autumn day if it wasn't 90 degrees outside.

love hate

2010-10-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

My love hate relationship with LA continues:

love

We bought annual passes to Disneyland last week and we took the kids for the first time. It was SO MUCH FUN! I think we might go again this week too.

(Evee holding her pass)

hate

My first time driving on the freeway here and I got rear ended, so annoying!

photo session dates

2010-10-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

This is perfect timing for anyone wanting family pictures for their Christmas cards

cute bib giveaway

2010-10-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

My sister is giving away a free bib on this blog from her etsy shop. Go check it out, there are tons of ways to enter. She has some really cute bibs in her shop right now, who wouldn't want to win one?

photo blog makeover

2010-10-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

I have been in the process of giving my photo blog a makeover the last couple of days and I am finally finished. I am also running a special, so stop what you are doing and go check it out right now!

p.s. I also have some Southern Utah photo session dates in the works, so stay tuned

paper dolls

2010-09-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

My niece Finley made these paper dolls of all my nieces and nephews, aren't they fantastic! Evee has been talking a lot lately about what her and Owen are going to be for Halloween. I think Owen would make a pretty cute pirate and Evee does have great mermaid hair!

photoblog update

2010-09-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

My summer was so busy that I never got a chance to post pictures from any of the summer photo sessions that I did. I just posted a few on my photography blog and I will be posting a new session each day this week. So check back!

Evee's b-day

2010-09-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

I completely failed at taking pictures of Evee's birthday party. It was so crazy trying to entertain the kids that I only picked my camera up a couple of times and when I did, I just snapped really quick, and I didn't get very great pictures. I don't know how you mom's do it. Other then that her party was a hit, I decided to do a balloon party since every kid loves balloons. We filled our family room with balloons and the kids went crazy. They had so much fun jumping around in them. We also had a treasure hunt in the balloons and we decorated balloons with stickers.

Evee got a fancy Nancy dress for her birthday and she insisted that she wore it to her party...just in case you are wondering what the heck she is wearing.

Evee's day

2010-09-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day for Evee. It was her first day of preschool and she also went on a date with Todd to a Luau put on by his MBA program, and she came home looking like a cat. Owen thought it was the coolest thing ever, he followed her around the rest of the night meowing.

Evee's preschool class

and here's one of Owen, I took today, I don't want him to feel left out.

sweet as can be

2010-09-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

You can see more of this cute little face over here

new hat

2010-09-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Since we are students now we are on a pretty tight budget, so I am trying to repurpose our stuff as much as possible like making lampshades into hats:)

we made it

2010-09-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

We have been in LA for a week now and so far so good. I think we are all adjusting quite well. I am already involved in a co-op preschool for Evee, we have found a beach that we like, and a yummy taco place that I am sure we will become regulars at. What else do we need? We had so many wonderful people who watched Evee and Owen so I could pack and who helped us move.

thank you! thank you! thank you!

July and August

2010-09-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a good summer for us. I really can't complain. Here a few random pictures from the last couple of months

Evee and Owen got to meet their Great G&G Pettingill.

playing at the Palo Alto Junior kids museum

We got to spend the 4th with Todd sis Mindy and her little fam

car ride at Happy Hollow( Owen loved the cars so much)

camping in the redwoods

camping in Oregon

we have gone through countless boxes of popsicle this summer

signing off

2010-08-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

We are moving this weekend and I just took care of the last few things I needed to on the computer and I am turning it off. The next time I turn it on I will be in a new unfamiliar place were I don't know anyone or where I am going. I keep trying to reassure myself that change is good, right?

This picture was taken last weekend. We went to Paso Robles for a wedding and we stayed at my uncle's winery, it was magical.

birthday projects

2010-08-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

For Evee's birthday party I made this pretty felt garland. It's so cute that I can't bring myself to take it down. I think I am going to just leave it till we move. I would post my own picture but my pictures are a big mess right now I have completely filled my hard drive with pics and I am in the process of backing them up and transferring them.

picture from purl bee blog

I also used this party hat tutorial to make Evee's party hat.

Someday I will post pictures

sew simply baby

2010-08-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

My sister just opened up an etsy shop and she is selling lots of really cute baby stuff. You should check it out

I love the double rainbow onsie, and yes it was inspired by the double rainbow video on youtube(it's funny but mostly wierd)

summer recap

2010-08-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

It was been such a busy summer for us, so busy I have had absolutely no time to blog. Here is a recap of the last month and a half

-road trip through Utah, Idaho, and Oregon. We visited Todd's grandparent's, cousins and went camping with Todd's family on the Oregon coast(drove a zillion miles)

-discovered that I am REALLY good at bocce ball

-took Evee and Owen to lots of kids museum/amusement parks in our area

-went swimming a bunch of times

-went camping in the redwoods with friends

-celebrated Evee's birthday at Chucky Cheese

-Threw a balloon birthday party for Evee, SO much fun

-went to a Giants game

My life isn't slowing down anytime soon either. Next week I am having my wisdom teeth removed and then the next week we are moving! but I promise and soon as we are all settled in, I will share pictures of all our summer fun.

besties

2010-08-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

last week I took some family pictures for my friend Mary. Her little boy Joel and Evee have been best friends since Evee was about a year old. I had to bring Evee along so I took a few pictures of them together. I think one of the hardest parts about moving will be separating these two, it kills me..... more pics to come

E&O bedroom tour

2010-07-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post pictures of Evee and Owen's bedroom since we moved in and I am starting to pack things up and there is a lot of stuff that we are selling or giving away before we move, so I thought I better hurry and take a few pictures. We gave Evee and Owen the biggest bedroom in our apartment since we didn't have a backyard we wanted them to have a bigger place to play. When I was decorating it I wanted to make it more of a playroom so I used lots of bright colors and tried to make it as playful as possible.

Owen has slept in his crib at told of zero times. He is a co sleeper and Todd and I both secretly love it.

I used to have a chair in the corner where the tent is. It was our reading corner, but Evee decided she needed a tent more.

There room doesn't have any ceiling lighting, so the Chinese lanterns are their bedroom lighting

Evee, Owen, and I usually spend at least 50% of each day in their bedroom. It's by far our most favorite room in our apartment.

shopping finds

2010-07-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Todd went off with some of his friends to go do guy things, so I decided to take the kids shopping with me( the mall and a few other stores) It's not something I really do anymore, because it's hard, but it was a pretty successful shopping trip so I decided it was blog worthy.

Evee has been obsessed with Maisy since she was about a year old, but it's a cartoon that is from the UK and they don't sell alot of Maisy stuff in the US except for the books and dvds, so I haven't been able to buy her any Maisy toys, so I was so excited when I foud this like Maisy playset at Kid to Kid with the tags on it for $5! I was even able to buy it without her seeing it, so I can give it to her as a suprise for her birthday in a couple of weeks.

I found these little doggies snack containers at Borders and Evee, Owen and I all agreed that we couldn't live without them.

I bought this little shirt and cardigan for Owen to wear to church in the fall, It was too cute to pass up and I got the shirt and cardigan for a total of $10! I love H&M

made of cute

2010-07-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

In the last 2 months Owen has gone from my sweet little baby boy to a wild toddler. Each day his personality shows through a little more. He is a little mischievous, very smart, a cuddler, independent, playful and there's not much he is afraid of. Everyday he is saying new words. My favorite right now is when he says "popsicle" which really sounds nothing like it but I know what he is saying. He loves to give kisses but we are trying to teach him that frenchers are not okay. He also is obsessed with peekaboo. Sometime he will come and cover up my face with whatever he can find and pull it off and say "boo" and then start laughing. It's really cute. I really wish I could bottle him up at this age before he learns to be really naughty because I am sure it's coming.

there are more pictures from our mini photo shoot here

moving south

2010-07-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting that I haven't shared our big news on my blog yet. In six weeks we are packing our bags and moving to So Cal(LA to be exact). Todd will be starting the MBA program at UCLA in the fall. I have mixed feelings about Los Angeles. The smog is suffocating and the traffic is bad...really bad, BUT we will be living about 5 minutes from the beach and that makes all the bad things about the city not seem as bad. I am sad to be leaving the bay area. This place has grown on me and I think I will be leaving a piece of my heart here. My fingers are crossed that after we get schooling out of the way that we find our way back up here.

p.s. we are demanding visitors!

baby girls

2010-07-13T00:23:00.000-07:00

I am finally home after being gone for 3 weeks! and I have some serious blogging to catch up on including my photog blog. I have been really busy lately and I have lots of photo sessions to post, Including a mini session with Owen! check back because I should have them all up by the end of the week.

much needed

2010-06-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I woke up and I was feeling a little antsy to escape. June has been an exhausting month for us and we all needed a break, so 2 days later Owen, Evee and I flew to Southern Utah. The flight was a little bit of a nightmare, but this last week has made up for it. Evee and Owen have spent most of their time running around my parents backyard naked in pure heaven and I have spent most of the time in my pajamas. It has been just what we all needed. Poor Todd had to stay and work but he went to Chicago for business a couple of days ago and got to go to a Cubs games, so I don't feel quit as bad for leaving him. (the view from my parent's backyard)

tale of a tonsillectomy

2010-06-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

When Evee was about a year old, she got sick for the first time(a standard cold) and all the sudden she started snoring, well snoring is kind of an understatement, she sent vibrations through our whole apartment. It was amazing that such a loud sound could come out of some one so little. Then as she got older she started having sleep apnea, where she would stop breathing in her sleep(scary).. but she would only do that if she was a little congested, and for some reason, she seemed to always get sleep apnea when we traveled. Last winter was a rough one on us and Evee seemed to have a little cold that lingered for awhile, which meant a lot of sleepless night for her and us, so I talked to our pediatrician who referred us to an ENT specialist. We brought her into an ENT who took one look in her mouth and said that she had extremely large tonsils and most likely large adenoids, because she talked like she didn't breath out her nose, so yesterday we spent another long day at the hospital but Evee is now tonsilless and adenoidless.

Evee was very brave. We started telling her a couple of days before that we were going to go to the hospital and she was going to get to take a special medicine and that a doctor was going to remove her tonsils and she would get to eat popsicles and ice cream afterward. She was really excited, mainly about the popsicles and ice cream, cause she didn't really understand the rest. We were really worried about her not drinking, but that was our exact opposite problem. She drank really well and ate 5 popsicle while we were there. She was on a strict clear liquid diet, but she kept asking for quesdillas, rice, cheerios and anything else she could think of. It was SO sad, she was hungry and all we could give her were popsicles and nasty chicken broth she wouldn't eat. Today she could eat soft foods, so she is a lot happier, when she talks, she just whispers, but other than that she back to her regular happy self. It's so amazing how resilient kids are!

She has been eating so many popsicles, I think her lips might be permanently stained.

breathing easier

2010-06-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few things that I hope and pray that I never in my life will have to go through and unfortunately I got to go through one of them. Last Wednesday Owen woke up in the night with a barking coughing. Owen has had croup before and Todd and I immediately recognized the cough so we took turns holding him in the steamed bathroom through the night. That morning Todd took Owen into the doctor, since I was sick and had gotten no sleep the night before. They gave him some medication and said to bring him back in later that afternoon to see if the medication was working. Todd when to work, so later that day I brought him back. He was still breathing heavy so I figured they would do a breathing treatment on him and send us on our way, so I was a little shocked when the doctor sent us to the hospital. Todd was still at work and I had Evee with me too. I was such a disaster, trying to fill out a bunch of paper work, keep Owen happy while they where hooking him up to all sorts of machines, and trying to comfort Evee, who was a little freaked out about what was going on. So to make a long story not as long. Owen ended up in the hospital for 4 nights. Everyday we could see that Owen was getting better, but the doctor and nurses insisted that he get regular breathing treatments so that he didn't get worse, but to be able to send Owen home he had to show that he would be okay without the treatments. After a few days Todd and I started getting super frustrated because Owen was obviously getting better and they were still insisting on giving him regular treatments. It got to the point that we ended up fighting with the nurses, the breathing therapists, and the doctors until they finally agreed to only give Owen the treatments as needed, and even then they were still trying give him regular treatment, so we just started refusing to let them. Finally on Monday Owen had gone 10 hours with a treatment and was breathing perfectly fine, so the doctor released him. The whole experience was a little bit of a nightmare. It is frustrating to think that if we hadn't fought so hard that they probably would have keep us there a few more nights an would still have been giving Owen very strong medicines that he didn't need. I have lost a little faith in our medical system and for anyone living in the bay area I would avoid Good Samaritan hospital unless you are dying and have absolutely no other options. The kicker is Evee was scheduled to have her tonsils removed at that same hospital 2 days after Owen was released, but we cancelled that in a hurry.

baby toes

2010-06-10T00:13:00.000-07:00

You can see more of the photo session with baby B over at the photog blog.

sick

2010-06-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough couple of days around here. I'm sick, Evee is sick, and Owen was admitted to the hospital yesterday with really bad croup. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they will release him tomorrow, maybe I will blog more about it when I don't feel like I have been hit by a train

Happy Friday

2010-05-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

cute kids

2010-05-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

You can see more of these cute kids over yonder.

Owen

2010-05-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know what my deal is. I have had the hardest time getting anything done lately even the stuff I like to do, like blogging...anyways, here are the rest of Owen's b-day pictures. I really can't believe he is already a year old. I remember when I was pregnant with him, I was so nervous about having 2 kids, I really didn't think I was going to be able to handle it, and I am not going to lie I have had my moments, but I really do love it. Nothing in the world makes me as happy as watching Evee and Owen play together. They are little buddies. Owen is so much fun right now. He is into EVERYTHING, he keeps me on my toes. He loves books, eating, sucking his thumb, and any toys that make a loud noise

birthday boy

2010-05-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

Owen's Birthday is on Tuesday but he got to eat his cake today. I think it might have been one of the happiest moments of his little life. more pics to come

Blythe & Company

2010-05-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

You can see more of Little Blythe and her awesome parents over at the photo blog.

vacation pics -part 3

2010-04-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

Todd and I don't own bikes because we don't have anywhere to put them. So we had fun renting bikes an riding them along the beach, Evee and Owen liked it too but they did fight a little.We spent half a day in Old Town wandering through the shops. Owen got some maracas and Evee got a guitar.

We introduced Evee to her new favorite place. the candy store.

Seaworld was fun. We were trying to decide between going to Disneyland and Seaworld and I am glad we choose Seaworld. There was a lot to see but it wasn't too overwhelming. They have a whole sesame street area for Toddlers that Evee loved to death, and they both really liked the shows and seeing the animals.

vacation pics- part 2

2010-04-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

The beach

another favorite place of ours

vacation pics-part 1

2010-04-24T13:34:00.001-07:00

Big Sur

For the last couple of years we have been doing an annual trip to Big Sur( it's the coastline about 40 miles south of Montery) We love it there. That area reminds me a little of Hawaii.

I am not quite sure why Evee is wearing this hat. It was a little rainy while we were there, but it wasn't cold, maybe because she looks so cute in it.

Owen got to upgrade to his big boy carseat for the trip. He was really excited about it

This is bixby canyon bridge, for all you Death Cab for Cutie fans

vacation

2010-04-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

We just spent the last glorious 6 days, doing nothing else except enjoying the beautiful state that we live in. We first stayed in a little cabin in Big Sur and spent a couple of days hiking, then a day in LA and then a couple of days on the beach in San Diego. We took the kids to Sea World(which they LOVED) rode bikes on the beach, ate at yummy Mexican dives, played in the ocean, and a little bit of shopping of course. It was fun...really fun. Once I unpack I promise I will post more pictures. I have lots and lots of pictures.

14 facts

2010-04-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Todd's birthday so I thought I would share some facts about him

1. he used to play bass in a ska band in high school

2. when he is concentrating on something he sticks out the tip of his tongue, it's funny

3.he once broke a clock on our wall dancing

4. he lives in reef sandals

5. he makes up his own words and Evee uses them on a daily basis

6. he has beaten guitar hero on expert, I don't think I have ever seen him so proud of himself

7. He graduated from BYU in accounting

8.He does all the laundry

9. He passed level one of the CFA last year

10. He makes amazing chocolate chip cookies and the best gingersnaps I have ever tasted

11. I think he has probably seen every episode of arrested development at least 10 times

12. He loves to tell Evee he has eaten her imaginary friend

13.He's couldn't be a better dad

14. I love him

happy birthday Toddy. I promise I will make you a cake sometime before this month is over.

giddy

2010-04-10T23:59:00.001-07:00

I am so giddy right now. It feels like Christmas morning times 100. I am now the proud owner of the canon 50d. I just got it today and I am already so in love. I need to read the manual but so far some of the big differences from my rebel xt that I love, you can change the iso while you are shooting, it focuses faster, and it's way easier to adjust the aperture when shooting in manual.
this image is straight out of camera. I was trying out the 3200 iso. our apartment wasn't very light but I was still able to get a shutterspeed high enough to stop action. I try not to ever raise my iso more than 800 but it's nice to know that if I ever needed to I could.

friday favorite

2010-04-10T00:14:00.000-07:00

Owen is so much fun to take pictures of right now, he thinks the camera is funny. I could just follow him around and take pictures of him all day...really I could.

meet Jojo

2010-04-03T00:28:00.000-07:00

I got the chance to photograph this cute little guy and his family last Saturday. You can see more here

March

2010-03-31T00:16:00.001-07:00

I can't believe today is the last day in March....really it felt like it should have been here at least 3 weeks ago. March has been a long month for us. Todd has been working 70+ hour weeks all month long, so I have been doing the single mom thing. It's sad, Evee will every once and awhile say to me, "I miss dada", but hopeful his schedule will be back to normal soon and then we will be spending a much needed week on the beach in San Diego. I think I have been using my camera to feel the void of not having a husband . I seriously have filled my memory card up 4 or 5 times, like over a 1,000 pics. These ones are some of my favorites.

Oh yeah, and on top of Todd working insane hours Evee and Owen both got sick. Owen had rsv and Evee a bad cold, they are both almost better now. Okay, I feell like I am being really negative. A few good thing about the month, we have been having the most beautiful weather and we also got a visit from Todd's parents, which is always fun. Todd's mom made Evee the cutest little dress, I will be sure to post pictures.