christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Man.. it sure did come by fast though. It seems like Thanksgiving was literally yesterday. I was not as prepared as I would have liked and never got around to doing a bunch of things... but oh well. My sister Kate and her family are in town for the holidays as well as my Grandpa Loran. We have never had him around for the holidays, so it has been quite the treat. On Christmas Eve, Adam woke up early with Ruby and made pancakes. He really is the best daddy. When he is home... he is basically 100% on "Ruby Duty." He is very involved and it is so nice. I got to sleep in a little. Then, we bundled up and hit the sledding hills. After a quick shower... we were off to the crazy mall for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory with the Joneses. Can I just say that... The Cheesescake Factory NEVER disappoints. Really. It is so good. Then we went over to my parents and visited some friends. My mom made the best bean soup for dinner... a family tradition. Later, we went home a little early to do some family things of our own. We watched a great film about Christ and his birth and put Ruby to bed. Adam and I watched "Elf" as he tinkered around, putting her new trike together. I was so tired... I fell asleep during the movie. Adam stayed up until around two though! It was so cute... he takes this "Santa" thing very seriously. I felt like kind of a dud because I had only gotten Ruby a little music box. Well... Adam had gone shopping and taken care of things. I woke up around four in the morning and went in the front room to see his work. In the light of the Christmas tree was her shiny new trike, and on the sofa were 5 or six wrapped presents from Santa... one of which was a set of little golf clubs! Typical:) I had nothing to do with it whatsoever.... I thought it was so cute. I love how magical a room on Christmas Eve is.... lit only by twinkling lights...

We take this family photo on this same sofa every year. This isn't the best of the self timers that we got... but I just love Salta's (dog) position and my mom's & dad's expressions.

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Christmas Day was so busy... we had three "Christmas mornings!" It was busy... but fun. We love our families.
Here are a few snapshots of Christmas night. Ruby's cousin Hazel had this "Pretty Pretty Princess" game and Ruby was ALL over it. Who knew? What am I going to do with a princess??? AND... look how chubby little Wells is... he is 6 months old and almost as big as Ruby in this picture! He is THE cutest and sweetest little boy. I just love him.

Check out cute Baby Steve's Santa outfit. Love it!

a little trip down memory lane...

I was sifting through some old files tonight and came across some adorable photos of our first Christmas with Ruby. It was so much fun. Look how tiny she is... maybe 9 or 10 lbs! I am so grateful for my little family, especially our little Ruby. She brings SO much joy into our life. It has been amazing watching her grow and teaching her new things. She is a little person now with an awesome personality. She is pretty excited about this whole Santa thing. Her favorite thing this month has been eating her chocolates out of her advent calendar every day when her daddy get's home from work.

this and that

This post is extremely random but I didn't want to leave these details of our month out. This first photo is from one of my best friends Erika Rock Reber's surprise birthday party. Her birthday is actually on Christmas Day and we have never done anything for her really... until now. We surprised her with a big ol' birthday bash... and it did not disappoint.

{some of my best friends L to R: Megan Rampton, Erika Reber, Kate Whitchurch, Me, and Lynsie Mortensen.}

He are just a few snapshots from the past few weeks. This holiday season has been especially fun with Ruby a little older and starting to understand the excitement of the season.

giveaway {on my photo blog...}

I am offering another photo session giveaway!! One lucky person who comments on this post or my facebook page will receive a free photo session AND the digital images, after I edit them a bit. Whether it is for your little one, your family, or whatever. Just leave a comment by Sunday, December 27th, midnight. I will randomly select the winner and announce it on Monday the 28th. If you become a fan of my Facebook page and leave a comment there... your name will be entered in the drawing twice! Please only comment if you live in or near Salt Lake City... or if you will be visiting anytime soon. Good Luck!

"shredding the nar"

So you know how I mentioned that I LOVE UTAH in my last post... well... I meant it. Thanks to my wonderful sister Laura, who watched Ruby so I could have a much needed "day off." I went snowboarding with these awesome ladies. It was sooo fun to get up on the mountain again. It has been far and between since my pre-ruby days. It was a gorgeous day, and we had too much fun boarding, taking pictures, and speaking in "snowboarder lingo ;) ."

{Me, Kasi Lemons, Ali Lemons}

my little skier

Ok... I know I am biased, but this kid might be the coolest kid ever. Really. I think it is safe to say that today was one of the happiest days/most fun moments of my life. I took Ruby skiing again... but this time, I actually strapped on the ski's and skied with her. She was such a champ. Let me tell you though, it was exhausting. Picture me... in ski boots holding her in all of her ski gear with her ski's and boots on AND holding my ski's in the other hand, hiking up 100 yards(ish) just to ski down and do it again!! SO tiring. Then, I got smart and went over to the FIRST TIME lift at Park City and asked them if I needed a lift ticket to ride up... and they said... "well, normally you do, but since that ticket office is closed, you can ride up to ski down to the other ticket office." Saweet! So, I managed to get us up the lift which was fun for Ruby in itself, then as we got off the lift, Ruby yelled "we did it mama!" She was in pure glee as we skied down the hill. We cruised too, and she loved it. I don't know what it is about teaching your children how to do something that you love so much... it honestly made me so happy. She did so great and never even complained once. Success. I stopped by my parents on the way home and told my dad all about it and he started crying:) I guess there is something about watching your grandkids do things that you love too!! I love Utah.

a little angel

I had the opportunity to photograph this cute family last month. We had to reschedule from a few weeks earlier because little 4-month old Makenzie had to have some kind of surgery due to some health problems she had been having. Even though she was a little underweight, they thought that she was doing ok. The day after our session, little Makenzie had to go back into the hospital. And now... a month later... on Sunday night, she passed away. She had a rare neuromuscular disease. I just met this family, but have been so affected by this little baby. It makes me SO grateful for what I have. AND, I am so grateful that I was able to photograph her/them before things took a turn for the worst and before Makenzie was hooked up to all of those tubes. THIS is why I take pictures.

hittin' the slopes

Ruby can now officially call herself a Utah'n. We hit the slopes today in Park City and she was a ROCKSTAR. Her little ski's were so tiny and so cute. My good friend Ali Lemons is a ski instructor and since I am a snowboarder... she helped us out. We learned all about "pizza" and "french fries"... if you listen closely, you can hear Ruby yell "french fries" in the little video. Thanks again Ali, we LOVE you!!

{I love these two little ladies}

i ♥ the holidays.

She is pretty psyched about her first Santa sighting of the season!
Checking out the lights at Temple Square. We had quite the experience taking this crew on TRAX!

Thanksgiving

We had a very busy Thanksgiving this year. It started at 10:00 am with some serious Turkey Day bowling with the Jones family. I love this little bowling tradition we have. It was Ruby's first time bowling and I am tellin' ya, she is a natural! Then we headed over the the Jones casa for a noon Thanksgiving dinner which was divine. Here is the Jones clan.

{Ruby, Sydney, Georgia, & Olivia bowling}

Later, we headed over to the Claflin home for our second dinner of the day. This year was extra special because we had almost my whole family there, plus my Aunt Amy and her little family. I didn't take very many pictures of my family unfortunately. But here is what I do have...

{my sibs sans Brian in Berlin: Sarah, Laura, Daniel, Molly, Kate}

{Ruby & Papa Todd}

{The twins Carlene and Darlene... it is kind of like I have two moms!}