Just say yes...

I just discovered a show tonight on TLC called "Say Yes to the Dress." And I was completely hooked. I think I watched about four episodes. It's about brides going to a dress fitting at this super fabulous bridal gown shop in New York in hopes of finding the perfect dress and it made me want to redo my own wedding dress all over again. I mean let's face it... styles have changed and it seems that today girls have so many more options for temple-ready dresses. So immediately after it was over I jumped on the internet to see if I could find anything that I would potentially like if I was currently a bride searching for that perfect dress... yeah, I know, I'm a dork but it was fun to daydream and, really, it made me so tempted to want to go try some on. I about died when I saw this dress and I feel an urge to purchase it just so I can take pictures in it or find a bride to take pictures in it. It is ridiculous!! See for yourself...

So they show the before and then the temple-ready and how cool is the temple-ready version?! Can you believe that material and all of the detail of the layers? My favorite part is that big roushing that looks like a flower on the shoulder. I want, I need! OK, I don't really need it but it would be sorta fun to try on, don't you think? {Sigh}

A finished basement for Christmas??

I HOPE SO!!!

Sorry to all of you that visit this blog frequently... I was getting tired of looking at myself too.

We are finishing our basement!!... the goal is Christmas so we can actually have Christmas down there but I'm thinking why not Thanksgiving?? (that might be pushing it a bit)

As of right now I have no wide angle lenses... I sold my 50mm which is wider than the one I'm using in these pics so therefore this is all I could come up with. The drywall is going up today and we are really truly so excited! Once it's done I'll have my very own office which is much needed when you work from home. I need space and organization ASAP!! As of right now I've been working in our bedroom and it is crammed!

This fireplace makes me happy. Every night while Jeremy is downstairs working on things I sit on that little white stool and turn on the fire and dream! It's so comfy, cozy and how fun to have it in your basement? You can't see it but there's a huge niche above it (you can see the little radio sitting on it) with an arch and it's beautiful. The great thing about doing it yourself is that you can really make it your own. Jeremy has done a lot of the work himself with the help of my brother-in-law, Bret. Yay for handy men!!

What can I say...

sometimes a girl just likes to get her picture taken...

I wanted to play with off camera flash and get some new pictures for my blog. So Will took these for me and I'm pretty excited with the results. I used to be a hater of flash but it actually can set a pretty cool mood. It really is a completely new world to discover and I'm pretty excited to experiment some more! Thanks, Will, for helping me! Oh, and I also have to thank Jen for holding the light for me... she did awesome! ;)

Happy Halloween!!

Did I ever mention that my daughter likes to dress up? Here she is in all her glory with THREE, that's right, THREE different Halloween getups. The first is a costume from Fairy Wonderful which I used Samara as a model for. She was in HEAVEN! This was actually one that we got to keep and so she got to wear this for trick-or-treating!

THE BUTTERFLY

This next one is actually Liam's costume. I was trying to get some pictures of Liam in it but he wouldn't cooperate. These days Samara is getting a little easier with the camera and so I let her try it on and she looked too cute to pass up.

THE LION

And last is a costume I bought for her probably three years ago when she was a baby. It was so hard to pass up because it was only $10 from Old Navy but 3T was the only size left. Pretty silly, I know!

This is her right before her pre-school Halloween party.

THE INDIAN

And here's my little Liam the Lion. Can I just tell you that he is one charismatic and beautiful little boy. I honestly can't get enough of him. I could just watch him for hours and I'm constantly entertained!! I don't want him to grow up! Just stay little... please!!

Just look at this little face!

Btw, both him and Samara were so cute trick-or-treating... and we actually decided to trick-or-treat in Grandma Eva's neighborhood this year and it was really fun! No pictures, though... sad!

My kids also came and visited me at work in their costumes... yes, I had to work... kind of a bummer! :( But it was fun to have them come in and show off their costumes!

And then there's these two...
Always such posers!
In case you don't recognize them... it's Jen and Will, my brother and sister in law. Their costumes were phenomenal! I really had such a hard time looking at Will because he'd be talking and laughing and carrying on like normal but his face was just so ANGRY!! And needless to say the kids were mortified when they saw them.

The classic prom pose.

Bringing his love back from the dead.

And then there's me and Jeremy right before we headed out to our Halloween parties. I was an Eskimo in case you're wondering. Jer's costume was pretty scary too. My sister watched our kids that night and first thing when we went to pick them up in the morning Samara says to Jeremy, "let me see your eyes." She had to check and make sure he wasn't scary anymore. I don't remember the last time we went out for Halloween as a couple... in fact, I don't know that we ever have. It was pretty fun... we first stopped at Jeremy's work party and then made a stop at Jen and Will's party. Their friends are super crazy and made me laugh my guts out the whole night! Wahoo for Halloween! It's starting to become one of my favorite holidays!

She's got bangs!!

Samara's hair has been in desperate need of attention for a while now and today I decided I was just going to bite the bullet and get it cut. I've been debating on what to do with her hair because it automatically always goes directly into her face so to fix that problem we cut bangs. And I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. She is even more a mini-me than ever before. I actually sent Jeremy a picture message on my phone of her new do and he said he was wondering why I was sending him a picture of me when I was little... until he realized it was Samara. It really is crazy how much she is so me when I was a little girl... I just can't over it!

She was so excited to show her friends her new haircut. It was so funny!

Just Posted...

this girl's bridals over here.

Jen & Will's Wedding

This day was absolutely crazy and wonderful!! Jen looked amazing... (I have yet to post her bridals... they are beyond gorgeous!! Coming this week on my photography blog!) This is really the only pics I got of the couple that night... sad! But there was no way I was going to play the photographer role and bridesmaid role... talk about stressful!! The wedding was at Rose Sach's Gardens up Parley's Canyon and it was to die for... really so gorgeous! And the weather couldn't have turned out any more perfect. It was actually quite amazing because it was super cloudy all day long and looking like it was going to rain... then as soon as Jen rounds the corner to walk down the aisle, the sun comes out completely! I don't think we could have timed it any better. And it stayed that way throughout the entire ceremony. Talk about lucky!

Jen pretty much danced the night away... it was hilarious! I love these two! They looked stunning!

I'm soooo happy to finally have some nice pics of me and Jeremy. It's actually been since our own wedding day that we've had great pictures of just him and I so it's quite miraculous that these were even taken and turned out well.

Love the light post in this one.

And I don't know if these two could have been any cuter. I seriously love them more and more every day.

They both danced all night long... they had so much fun!

Feeding her brother candy... the only way I could get them to sit and take pictures for me. Sad, but true!

Samara and her cousin, Addy, were the flower girls and I don't think Samara threw one flower. I think she was really confused as to why she was walking down this aisle with all these people staring at her. It was cute nonetheless.

All the Sayes grandkids. I absolutely love this picture!!

Jeremy's parents...

I loved Eva's dress. Her sister made it for her and it was really beautiful!

Jeremy's brother and his wife, Amber.

Some of the bridesmaids. My goal was to get a close-up of each bridesmaid, but two of them were MIA.

Jeremy's cousin and his cute little family.

My twirling princess... I cannot tell you how excited Samara was to finally get to wear this dress. We've been talking about it for months now and she could barely stand it!! She truly is as girly as they come! She honestly walks around the house all day in some kind of princess attire and floats her hands around so gracefully doing twirls here and there. It is hilarious to watch. Her favorite movie right now is the Barbie Dancing Princesses... go figure!

And this little guy was the life of the party... he seriously had so much energy and never quit dancing. He was literally standing by the DJ all night and dancing his guts out! It was awesome! I loved his little newsies get-up... what a ham!

Another fav... these are my boys!

And ME! It was a beautiful, beautiful wedding and so much fun! Congratulations, Jen and Will! Love you both so much!