Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

I am loving this snow! It just seems to make everything so much prettier! The roads are not much fun to be on, but everything else is just better this time of year with piles of snow on it!! We have been crazy busy , naturally, considering the time of year, but I guess my reasoning for referencing the season is that it is my excuse as to why my posting has been so scarce. So, just to catch up a little, everything is pretty much same old, same old; just add some additional chaos and excitement to the mix and we are there!

Our home is just bursting with anticipation for Christmas and all of the fun activities and traditions that come along with it! It seems like even when I think I am so ready something comes up putting me behind again!! It wouldn't be December if that weren't the case though, so I guess I should take the bad with the good, right?

Calyn is getting ready for a piano recital this Thursday at our house. She is playing a Jingle Bells duet with her Daddy and has been practicing her little heart out for it!

Christmas with the Wood's this year, though since we are in town and both families are here we always make sure to hit both houses on Christmas, seems silly not to, right? So we will wake up at home, open Santa gifts, head to Gma and Gpa Wood's house for cousin gifts, then over to Nana & Papa Lawrence's for Nana's famous cinnamon rolls and more family time and gifts!!

We are looking forward to our 5th annual game night with the Thiros family on the 26th after Devin's alumni basketball tournament and our Prime Rib day with my family all in one day!!! It probably ranks in my top 5 favorite days of the year!! I mean, basketball all day, Prime Rib and potatos for dinner and game night all night. . . the only thing that could beat that would be if I could play either softball or volleyball between Devin's games!!

Then on the road to visit with Dad Jose and family the 27th - 28th in the beautiful Tetonia.

Devin's sister, Saundra, is getting married Dec. 30th so we will have tons of family in town just to add to the craziness of Christmas time!

And THAT is our Christmas schedule!!! Anyway, with all the craziness I am not sure how good I will be about posting so I figured this way you will all know what we will be doing during the lack of posts, right?

Oh, and one more thing, I just finished editing my last photoshoot, an adorable little baby girl. She is our friends Corey and Saige Dixon's little girl Isley. She was so fun to shoot, such a doll! You should go to my photography site to see the rest of the pics!!

The Christmas card we sent out. . .

A sisters pic project I just did. . .

Hopefully I will be able to get more pics up before Christmas, but if not,
MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!!!!!!

Holiday Cards...

I decided to design some Christmas cards for my family and figured I would be selfish if I didn't share them all around!! Go to my photography blog to see my designs and pricing. Here is a sneak peek:

Can't let go

I have been really hoping and praying that this warm weather lasts just as long as possible. Everytime I wake up and see sunshine coming into my window I breath another sigh of relief. I am not saying I absolutely hate cold and the snow, I mean who could hate something that allows snowmobiling and snowboarding! However, since we got totally jipped out of our summer this year I am going to revel in the warmth and sun as long as I can so today we decided to eat lunch outside; have a little picnic to celebrate the weather.

I also thought I would share some of the fun quotes from Calyn:

1. The other day Calyn and Rylan were playing and Rylan must've done something that hurt her because she kept saying "Rylan don't, Rylan don't!" then after saying it about 5 or 6 times she got really stern and told him that he had to stop or he would give her a birthmark.

2. Demi called me a couple weeks ago and while we were talking Calyn decided she wanted to talk to her too. They had the typical conversation, talked about the normal stuff and at the end after Calyn was finished she told Demi: "Bye Demi, see you next Spring". Demi was laughing pretty hard when I got back on the phone with her. She was planning on coming home like 2 weeks later, I have no idea where she heard it from but I thought it was adorable.

3. I told Calyn she needed to hurry and finish something before I got done sweeping the floor. We were getting ready to go somewhere so she needed to be ready and her response was: "How long will you be?" I told her I just needed to sweep the crumbs into the dustpan and throw it in the garbage and she said: "Oh, i can handle that!!"

4. Calyn went with her daddy to get some dinner and when they got back she showed me the surprise he let her get, a pop. The kids don't get to drink pop much so she was excited about it. She told me to taste it so I did and she said: "It's freakin' good isn't it?" I'm not sure who she heard it from but I'm guessing it was probably me even though I don't really say it much but it had us all laughing anyway.

Another Halloween down...

After Calyn's Preschool Halloween party we decided to have some of her school friends over to play. I saw a recipe for some yummy pumpkin pie play dough on a friend's blog and thought I would give it a try and it was a hit!! I smells sooo good, I found myself craving pumpkin pie after making it.









I waited too long to get some pictures of the kids in their costumes so they are really dark but you still get the idea, right? Even though Calyn changed her mind daily, she finally decided on Hermione Granger (from Harry Potter), with a little influence from Auntie Demi which made my decision for Rylan's costume very easy!! Aren't they the cutest Gryffendor house wizards you've ever seen?

I had a photoshoot right before trick or treating so when I got home Devin had the kids almost all ready. I just put the finishing touches on and off we went. We trick or treated around our neighborhood for awhile. Calyn got to see her primary teacher, Brother McAllister who's favorite book is Harry Potter so she was pretty excited about that. They found their jackpot at Aunt Jenny's house (Nana's friend who lives around the corner from us). While we were chatting Rylan was one after another transferring candy after candy from the bowl to his bucket. He meant business! We couldn't stop laughing at how meticulously he did it. After filling the candy buckets we went to Nana & Papa's house and visited them for awhile.

It was a fun night but I am very glad it is over!! Now we can start looking forward to the holidays!! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!!

My Mountain Man

Well, it has finally happened, Devin finally found and killed a bull that met his expectations for the year. No more coming home empty handed with stories of bears either stealing his sleeping bag, chasing away the animals he was hunting or charging with in 30 yards of Corey; OR the excuse that they were all just too small. "I passed on a lot of little ones." he would say. Well a little one this is not! He found a 6 point bull, hunted it, shot it, and boned it all himself, then packed it all back to camp. What a brute eeh? He still has his buck tag so we are not "out of the woods" yet, no pun intended hehe. However, this will take a ton of anxiety off his chest so I am happy. The only downside is that we take care of our own meat which means I have a ton of cutting, cleaning, wrapping, labeling, and SANITIZING in my near future. :( Anyway, despite how much I miss him when he is gone, I am still very proud of him! Way to go cutie! ;)

I have also included pictures from previous hunts this season that Devin took because I think they are beautiful! He definitely sees land many will never see. The die hards are literally are on top of the world.

The white you are seeing everywhere is clouds! A little disorienting but they are above the clouds!!! This is Corey, Devin's highschool buddy/hunting brother walking on a peak of a very high mountain.

Sr. Night & more

Last week my sister McKenna and cousin, Paige had thier Sr. night in volleyball at Hillcrest against Rigby. It was a good game but we barely lost it in the 4th game. It is crazy to think that she is already a senior, I seriously try to make her younger every year but she won't believe me when I tell her she should only be a 5th grader so I guess I should give up trying.

Also I was reading a friend's blog and she was listing funny things that her children said or did that she wanted to always remember and it inspired me to do the same so here goes:

*Calyn was watching me edit some pictures from a session I did recently and she was asking me question after question. Well as mothers know after about the 5th or 6th one it is easy to tune them out. Well after she finally got my attention I said "Sorry, Sissy, it is hard to answer all your questions when I am working." and she asked, "Mommy why do you call me Sissy?" to which I answered: " I guess because my Mom called me Sissy so I started calling you Sissy when you were born so now it is a habit; do you like it when I call you Sissy?" and she answered: "Ya, I just wish you would call me honey sometimes." After this she went on to tell me the places where I can call her Sissy, like the living room, the dining room, etc. It was adorable.

*While Rylan is sitting on his little potty sometimes he likes to point at random things in the bathroom and make me tell him what they are so he can repeat it. Each time, of course he has to say Mommy!! and point. The other day he said "Mommy!" and pointed at the shower, when I told him what it was he said: "Showe, Daddy's showe." I am guessing it is because I usually take baths so he sees Daddy in there more than Mommy. :)

Today while Calyn was watching a Halloween movie she said she was hungry so I got her a bagel and brought it to her, and she thanked me. A little while later Rylan decided he wanted one too, of course, so I again went to the cupboard and got him one. After I sat down Rylan accidentally pushed a button on the remote and made Cal's movie stop so naturally she freaked out until I came and fixed it for her. As soon as I sat back down Rylan told me he had to go potty, of which I complied even though he didn't go (a regular occurence in our house), and when I was putting his diaper and pants back on him Calyn said: "Mommy I wanted a drink too!!" so, frustrated I said, "Maybe you should get off your little bum and get your own drink." I am not sure why I didn't expect her next comment but nevertheless she repeated right back to me: "Why don't you get off your little bum?" Now, of course this is not acceptable behavior in our house but she said it sooo sweet and innocent that I couldn't help but laugh.

As there are more I will try to post them because there is always new material with my two gremlins, but for now I will say bubye.

McKenna blocking


McKenna's kill (1 of like 20 ;) )


Paige passing


Paige with family


Kenna with fam



Kenna in red and Paige in black

New Photography Blog!!!

I finally got my photography blog started! It has a few of the most recent sessions I have had and they are pretty cute, it helps, however, having cute subjects to shoot! Please, go check them out.

You can get to it by going to www.brittneywoodphotography.blogspot.com
or by just clicking on the link to the right (under my photography blog, where it says Brittney Wood Photography).

Internet/Uploading problems...

Ok, so I have been having major difficulty uploading pictures and programs on my computer lately so I have not been able to finish my next post. I have actually been working on it for about a week and a half and only getting about 1 picture loaded (after 20 minutes of waiting) every 3 times I try so... to my dismay I had to call my providers and they are coming to check things out tomorrow. They better get it all figured out soon because I am so sad at how far behind I am getting in my blogging, but I will get caught up soon, keep checking in.

Some news... Calyn has her 1st piano recital tonight at her Grandma Wood's house (who is also her teacher). It is a pizza party recital and she is very excited about it. She is playing Twinkle A and has been practicing her little heart out. She has been growing a lot lateley and it seems like everytime I put jeans on her they are too short!! She's tall and skinny and the only reason the size 4 pants (that fit her length) stay on her is the adjustable bands they put in them now that allow you to sinch them tighter!!

Rylan is LOVING his new 4wheeler he got for his birthday. He rides it every chance he gets. He is talking more and more and has such a tender heart. I love this age and have enjoyed seeing his cute little personality develope. He reminds me a lot of his daddy.

Devin is playing in a basketball league on Monday nights at the Apple and has been hunting a ton lately! He has a few big hunts coming up and is determined to come home with the monster buck and bull this year. I am just hoping he comes home. :)

I have been playing in a softball league that plays on Tues & Thurs nights and also play in a volleyball league on Monday nights with my brother Skylar. I really love playing with Sky, when we were younger I used to make him let me teach him how to play and wouldn't let him go inside until he got it right, now it is paying off!! I also am still teaching Calyn's preschool class at the apple every Tues and Thurs mornings and am getting really busy in my Photography! I have a session in Utah this weekend and have another one next week here. I have a couple families interested and a wedding coming up in January that I need to get announcement pics, prebridals, and the actual announcments ready for! I love it!

Anyway, I will do my best to get some pictures up soon! Wish me luck.

catching up...

I will do my best to quickly get all caught up, it has been crazy with preschool starting and hunting season consuming Devin's every second but I will do my best to slowly add more until I am finally caught up.

A few notes...

1. Rylan had his 2nd birthday on the 7th! What a big boy he is becoming! For his birthday he got a 4wheeler and we love to watch him on it and tho it was way worth it, we are still regretting that purchase everytime we have to take him off to go to bed!

2. And despite all warnings about boys being harder to potty train than girls, Rylan has started going "poopies" in the toilet. We are not 100% yet, but when he has to go he runs to the bathroom saying "poopies, poopies, poopies" Sometime he does and sometimes he doesn't, and sometimes he forgets and goes in his diaper, but I am not gonna push, just encourage. If he is showing interest why not, right?

3. We went and watched Sky sing again at the fair and he was amazing as always! I swear everytime I hear him he gets better! Record labels would be lucky to sign him!

4. Calyn started her second year of preschool last Thurs. She is one of the tallest kids in class!! Who would've thought that Devin and I could produce the tall kid? I measured her on her growth board and she has grown 1 1/2 inches since June!!! Wow! She also started piano lessons with her Grandma Wood (Devin's mom).

Lastly, Here are the pictures of the Mesa Falls Marathon I promised.

Photoshoot...

I have been wanting to do it forever so I decided to finally have an "official" shoot with Calyn and Rylan yesterday. I have, of course taken hundreds of pictures of them both but they were not actual pre planned shoots like this one with props and all.

Anyway, I was really happy with how they turned out and am more and more excited to push forward with my photography business!! I have a few shoots either in the sheduling process or already planned and will keep sharing with you all, but just like anything else, the only way to get better is with practice and constructive criticism, so... please tell me your thoughts on any picture I post. I love to hear feedback!!

On a family happenings note, we just got home from Island Park where we stayed at my Aunt Cindy's families cabin and supported our family who ran in the Mesa Falls 1/2 marathon and 5k. I will post details and pictures of the trip and race soon!! They all did really well.