The New Family Photographer

Potato Head parts...

...coloring book......fingerprint-covered computer monitor...

I bet you're wondering who took such awesome pictures. There were SEVERAL others, but these were the most recognizable.

Oh, and let's not forget my own personal favorite!

This was taken a millisecond before I jumped up and snatched my camera from Logan's hands. Too late! I guess this is what I get for lingering after lunch to read my scriptures!

Logan looked over my shoulder at the display screen on the camera as I deleted most of his works of art, exclaiming, "Oh, that's a good one!" to every picture. When I was done, he shook his head with a smile and sighed, "I'm really good at taking pichows."

I explained to him for what seemed like the hundredth time this month, "the camera is for Mommy and Daddy ONLY! NOT for Logan!" He calmly folded his arms and looked at me with the most serious expression and said with the deepest yearnings of a three-year-old heart, "Mom, I really need to buy a camera for me, so I can take some pichows." The way he said it was so convincing, that I actually started considering it. Who am I to crush his creative aspirations?!

"...and a phone too," he added. Oh boy. I'm in trouble!

Isn't She Lovely!

My amazingly talented friend, Sarah Palfreyman, came to our house and did some portraits of Hannah in her blessing gown. They turned out amazing! I'm having a really hard time choosing just a few to share on the blog! Maybe I'll have to do a slide show. They are all just GORGEOUS! THANK YOU, Sarah!!!

Sarah also snapped a few shots of Logan, so that he wouldn't feel left out! What a handsome boy!

Kiddie Quotes

So Summer and I were discussing our picks for who would be the front runners on American Idol. Carly put on a really impressive performance last week, while David Archuleta was only mediocre, and that's being generous. Regardless, we both agreed that the top four (based on performance rather than popularity, and in no particular order) would probably end up being David Archuleta, Carly Smithson, Chikezie, and David Cook. During this conversation, I said something to the effect of "my vote is for Carly, but David Archuletta could very well give her a challenge."

Andrew looked shocked and quickly threw his two cents in with "What about Obama!?"

And then there's Logan. On a totally separate occasion, Summer was working on helping him to get excited about potty training, so like a good mom, she made up a potty chart and told him that he could go to Chuck E. Cheese as soon as he filled up the potty chart. Logan never mentioned a word about it during the rest of the week (and showed no interest whatsoever), until one day we caught him staring at the potty chart posted on the fridge. He was quietly counting the spaces and Summer asked him what he was doing. He looked at her, pointed to the potty chart and said "where a kid can be a kid!" We both started laughing because neither of us had said anything about the Chuck E. Cheese motto. He had somehow picked that one up himself.
Lastly, (and on a similar note) we had parent-teacher conference today for Andrew and part of it consisted of reviewing the pictures and accompanying stories that our child had drawn and written about each week during the year. Well, the first drawings showed Andrew playing checkers, going on picnics, playing at friends' houses, going sledding, etc. After about 15 or so of these types of pictures, we came across a clear picture of a television with lines coming off the bottom, and a person holding a black blob. The caption read something to the effect of "me playing PS2 and trying to get 20,000 points on Kim Possible." The next page had another picture of a TV and read "me playing PS2 and trying to beat the high score on Kim Possible and get Club Banana tokens." The next few pictues also showed the TV, but this time had lines going to a flat mat with well-depicted arrows and said "Me playing Dance Dance Revolution on the PS2 and trying to open a new guy." Another two or three of these pictures followed.

Maybe it's time to join Fathers of Video Game Addicts Anonymous....

Me: "Hi, I'm Bryan"
Everyone: "HI BRYAN"
Me: "and um... I'm here because my son is a video game addict."

This somehow happened despite the fact that we rarely let him play more than 30 minutes a day. We're really not bad parents! His teacher even said that he was an exceptionally good student, and his report card shows near-perfect marks in every subject area. What to do, what to do!

Announcing...

My Mom and I did a little photo shoot in the living room with Hannah today for her birth announcements. She was such a good sport and I think the pictures turned out pretty good! Isn't she beautiful?!
I had to add this one too; it's just too cute! This was when she had had enough! It's tough work being a model!

Christmas Cards

Well, I finally got my Christmas cards in the mail to family and friends who live far away! It's always a bigger job than I think it's going to be because I never keep all the mailing addresses in one safe location. SO, every year I end up writing a million emails and making a ton of phone calls begging for addresses that I begged for last year. I guess this is what an address book is for? Back in my Palm Pilot days, I always had every address at my fingertips... but I've never been the same since I dropped it in a sink full of water!

A BIG thanks to my friend, Alison, for the fantastic pictures of the boys! She did a big photo shoot this fall with my boys, Nana, and their little cousin, Blaine. They all turned out so cute! We decided to feature just the kids on the card this year...that's who everyone wants to see anyway, right? --Summer