la vita e bella

halloween 09

ok, so it took forever but I just uploaded a TON of pictures in the photo album to the direct right...

We had the BEST day and I even though there may be like 140 photos in the that album I took about 490 so really I did a good job of narrowing them down. I swear. : )

We got up this morning and hit the pumpkin patch (which ironically had no pumpkins, they lost all of theirs due to the freeze earlier this month like we did) but they still had a ton of other great stuff. The pictures all have captions with the details...

Then we carved the only pumpkins I could find in town which are ghetto. It made me feel good to buy them though, for if someone like me wasn't going to take pity on them they never would have gotten to fulfill their halloween destiny. : )

Then we did costumes and trick or treating (well if you count that one house we visited).

That's a really quick nut shell, there are more details with the pictures. All in all it was a GREAT day, one I will never forget. So many times today I closed my eyes and said to myself "I am so lucky..."

Happy Halloween everyone!

: ) j

you shouda' seen the other guy

I meant to post this ages ago but ya know...life. : )

At the beginning of october miss raigan bran managed to take two huge tumbles in a short three day span. And with the grace and accuracy of a gymnast she landed her face on something sharp both times. The looks I got from people at target were not good...

 

I would click on the photo and blow it up so you get the full effect. The second one (her left eye) was the worst and I was home alone when it happened. I cried real tears right along with her more out of guilt than anything else (She was running in the hall, tripped and fell face first onto the molding of one of the doors). She was not nearly as upset as I was. She was screaming yes but I quickly turned on Elmo as a distraction and as she sat there in my lap with her three best friends, blanket, binkie and elmo my tough little girl began to sign and dance along about two minutes later...that's out tough cookie. : )

I apologize for the quiet 'round this here blog

My goal is to post every other day, not just for you but mainly for me...I love the way this blog has documented our little life (good and bad) over the past three years and I really want to keep up. So that being said...

I had a rough night...well I've had a rough few days actually. Struggling with balance and insecurity and an overwhelming feeling of "man I f'in suck."  I hit rock bottom last night when I melted into a complete mental break down so extreme it brought back memories of that last month of my pregnancy where I would simply cry about everything all day long.

I'm not sure what sparked it really, it was just a mess of a whole lot of things. When I finally calmed down and crawled into bed I told myself that a good night's sleep is what I needed and I would feel better in the morning. Well raigan had a rough night and I was up with her about every two hours. When the alarm went off this morning it took all I had to peel myself out of bed. I fear for what dereck's lunch looks like, I was by no means "with it" while I was making sandwiches and packing snacks. The good news is I'm sure he'll forgive me if I forgot something, and I'm sure I did.

Raigan woke up in a good mood that quickly spiraled into one of the worse mornings we've had. Major meltdowns, fights to get dressed and do her hair and a rush to find her boots at the last minute sent me plummeting back to the dark side.

She feel asleep in the car on the way to Shannon's. That should give you an idea of all the crying she did in the 45 minutes she was awake before she hit the car. The good news was that there is no school today so we made it to Shannon's in plenty of time since there were no buses to beat.

I got to work and well, my inbox and voicemail were ugly and even the fact that it was friday didn't seem to help. I decided I needed a mental break (granted it was only 8:17) and stumbled across two of my favorite blogs - one which detailed the amazing and heroic life of a mom of two autistic boys and another one of a mom who was talking about the power of "saying no" but also the power of "saying yes." I already felt better. Reading just these two accounts from these two amazing women reminded me just how easy my life is. I need to pull my head out of my butt and find something to smile about. Then my phone rings, it's Mer. It's followed by a text that says "come downstairs." There is my Mer, sitting her her car with Elliott outside the bank with coffee and the scholastic book order in hand, just for me. I almost cried with appreciation. I'm embarrassed to say that I really needed that. I really needed someone to let me know that even though I can be such a wreck that I'm still worthy of a surprise coffee and a scholastic book order for my  little monster.

Thanks Mer for reminding just how incredible and amazing my life really is...

And b/c a post is boring without a picture. I found this on my work computer the other day. Taken over a year ago by katie's cell phone...she's the good aunt and lets bella ride in the front seat - tell me that dog is not smiling?

Alrighty. On with life. Tomorrow is halloween and I CAN NOT WAIT to see raigan in her costume. : )

all tuckered out

love this picture...it's just so my life right now... : )

 

and a special thank you to grandma squared - the car seat is top of the line and mini blanket is a life saver for naps in the car... : )

sometimes...

she is just too cute for words... : )

 

happy sunday everyone

just in case you're planning a trip to montana

I couldn't help it...I had to blog this...

Along with the flat screen TV and the big empty bed and the bath tub with my name all over it my hotel room also came with this...

Now I can only assume that the "outdoor adventure" part has something to do with the fact that we're in Montana. I guess the creators of this package assume everyone visiting montana is here for an outdoor adventure of some sort. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony that I was staying at the hotel just a mere 15 minutes from my home in order to participate in an adventure that involves sitting on my ass for about 14 hours and eating carb after carb after carb. Anyway, I was of course very curious so I opened my "outdoor adventure" present from Nature Valley and I don't think I have laughed this hard by myself, well, ever...

Inside I found:

 

and...

 

and...wait for it...

 

yes, you're seeing right. Apparently what you need for an outdoor adventure in Montana includes two granola bars, one piece of trident (yes one), two advil and some tampons. I laughed so hard I couldn't even call anyone to try and explain..it would have just sounded like gibberish.

I went downstairs to camp to share my find with the other girls who also got a huge kick out if it. One of the girls asked "do the boys get different packs than the girls and if so what is in theirs?" My answer was bullets (this is montana after all, people here buy bullets like most people buy gum), someone else said condoms...either way it was seriously funny. So if you're planning a trip to Montana no need to pack granola bars, that one piece of trident, two advil and your sport tampons... : )

week in review : )

not much going on around here but wanted to post a few little things from daily life...

the book worminess continues :  )

 

she's in good company though...

 

just what I needed...another remote hog...

my view of miss raigan - which happens to be my favorite, I realize that she won't always take a death grip on my pants and look up at me and say "mama" with a great big grin..trying to soak it up while it's still happening...

happy fall...I mean winter...wait...I mean fall...sigh...can you say over booked photographers nightmare? Darn early snow storm...

 

we made the best of it though realizing that this would be raigan's first experience with snow where she actually had a slight idea of what was going on so we bundled her up and took her out. We were all excited. She LOVES to be outside - loves it. The minute we put her feet down this was the look we got...she was less than impressed...

daddy tried to show her all the fun you could have...she wasn't having it

she sure did look cute though

raigan usually runs around like a crazy person. Seriously, she's quick and full of energy and turns in circles she gets so wound up sometimes. Who knew all we had to do to get her to slow down was put her in some snow. She wouldn't make a move without daddy's hand...

  
then she gave daddy "the look" so we packed it in and went inside...we'll try again, I'm sure she'll love it eventually 

 

and my favorite shot of the week...raigan telling those kids "how it is" at ethan's hockey practice (she was yelling and banging on the glass, it was hilarious)

hope everyone is having a good weekend!

workin' da dogs

two weekends ago raigan and I joined daddy in taking the dogs to a little mini lake for some water retrieving...well we went to train Red, Bella simply humored us by coming along... : )

We woke up to snow this morning so it's hard to believe that just over a week ago we were all out at the water wearing nothing more than sweatshirts...sigh...where did fall go?

and he's off - I wish you could really see the force that he enters the water with it's amazing...

and he's back...

this was my view for most of it - 50% the back of raigan's head

hey! look at that bella actually fetched something! never mind that she didn't bring it all the way to dereck and she only did it about three times...

no matter though...she still gets all the love from daddy

ok, this is a bad picture but it speaks to me for some reason...I think it's because she looks so much like my mom in this picture? Jury?

i love this picture, I can't wait to recreate it in better light and maybe in a more "duck blind" like area...

 

and this one...well it speaks for itself... : )

happy camper : )

Scrap camp was awesome. Frickin' awesome.

Scrap camp is to me what Dineyland's Cinderella Castle is to a six year girl I swear. It's so fun and so magical it just doesn't seem real at times. : )

It's no secret that I've been working my tail off lately. Dereck and raigan, the bank, photography, the house, life, photography (it really need to be in there twice), I have a blessed life no doubt but it's an insane one at the very least. 

I was so looking forward to this break - I NEEDED this break and apparently dereck could see that as well.

For those you who read the photo blog you already know what he did. For those of you who don't here is a recap from that post on friday morning:

"I'm gone for the next three days...off to spend some time with "my people." I'm off to the amazing and incredible Sisters Scrap Camp and thanks to my husband and his generous gift of a hotel room for two nights I won't be back at all until Sunday. Three days and two nights people! Woo hoo!!

In the five years dereck and I have been together this is probably by far the most meaningful gift he has ever given me. While it may just be the cost of two nights at a hotel to some people, to me it is a big sign from him that says "Go. Have fun, have some quality time with yourself. Laugh, eat, relax, take a bath, do something just for you, rejuvenate. We will miss you but I am more than capable of taking care of everything on my own so please go forth and have a frickin' good time!" (That would be a very big sign of course but you get what I'm trying to say I'm sure).  

Like most moms I suffer from total "mom guilt" whenever I am away from them doing something just for me. The guilt was so overwhelming this morning in fact I almost hyperventilated in the car on the way to work. But I gave myself a big slap across the face, squealed "Snap out of it!" and promised myself that I would enjoy every minute of this weekend and not waste this incredible gift from my amazing husband."

I did my best. I did my very best to really enjoy myself. I soaked up every minute of laughter and free time and creative thought and really tried to just take a deep breath and realize what a gift this weekend was. The level of exhaustion I have right now seems a tad odd considering I was supposed to "recharge" but it was so worth it. I laughed my ass off for two and half days, made some xmas presents, got some pages done, made an awesome new friend (hi felicia! - I know she's reading this - she promised to blog stalk me) - took a bath at 1am and ate amazing incredible food that literally put me into a euphoric coma at times.

I did have a photo shoot on sat night but I took all the "camp energy" with me and had a blast with that family despite the cold. Plus it was a great excuse to get some fresh air. Camp is a bit like a casino, no clocks, no windows, the door was at my back, etc - hours go by like seconds.

I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here is what I do have:

here are a few pictures of my desk just a few hours in...

 

 

i'm famous for my "bag 'o' ribbons" (I LOVE ribbon)

 

and for my "jar 'o' buttons"

the amazing girls at sisters (words cannot describe my love for those girls) sewed us these incredible aprons out of paper - we had an awesome time holding them up and taking goofy pictures, I'll have to get my picture from lovely so you all can see it - we get a tad loony at camp - it's all the glue I bet... : )

just like every camp we take a group photo and lovely is in charge of setting the timer and running her little 4' ll" butt off to beat it...she also has to do silly things to the camera, otherwise camp would seem incomplete...such as...

 

and the silliness just continues while she's running...

the girl is HILARIOUS

 

and here's the kicker...as if dereck hadn't already done enough...the man sent me flowers at camp! It was a plant actually, a beautiful pot of Mums...

I melted, I melted to the core that he even thought of this...but wait - there's more...check out the card...I love the way it says "scrapbooking event" lol

 

and then I read this and started to cry...

The man is a amazing...simply amazing...I have no idea what I did in life to deserve him but I'm ever so glad he here's and that he's mine.

I missed him and I missed raigan so terribly it hurt but I had the best time and I would be a liar with pants fully on fire if I told you I wasn't already counting the days until the next one... : )

ok, shower and bed and back to real life tomorrow...sigh...

in case you were wondering...

the book thing...yeah...hasn't changed a bit. : )

this scene no matter how familiar makes me melt every time...

Oh! If anyone out there ever needs to know all the words to Clifford "Barks" or the bath book version of Rainbow Fish at the drop of a hat well, feel free to give me a call. : )