My New Hobby/Passion

okay so i had a hard time posting "passion" on the heading of this because to me i have always felt my true passion is my husband and kids. But this is becoming more and more important to me(still not sure if i should go so far as to say passion though) and i really want to explore all the possibilities. Some of you may know that last year for my birthday and mothers day plus with some money i had saved i finally bought my new camera-- it is a nikon D80.... I love it and have had a lot of fun with it my family have been really good sports about posing and getting use to me with my camera at the ready :). I have thought for a while i really could capture some good pictures if i had a camera and a little know how. So i am going to post some of the pics i have taken with my camera. Some of my family and some of people who have asked me to take their family pics. Just so you know, when i am taking pictures of other families i really try to make it about them and fun, because everyone knows pictures usually arent the best of times. I remember when my older kids were little, we would schedule a photo shoot and Penneys or Kiddie Kandids, well by the time we got there i was so mad because someone had fallen asleep or messed up there hair that i ended up yelling at them and then as soon as we were suppose to take our pictures i expected everyone to smile big and say Cheese!!! I wonder why they never turned out that great....HHHMMMMM. So i try to make it fun for the kids and easier on the adults. Heres how some of them turned out. Hope you like them..

LIFE

ok so i know it's late and when it gets past a certain time i have a serious tendency to reflect way too heavily and i will try to keep this light!! lol we started our saturday at 7am due to the fact that paige plays on a comp basketball team and had to play in logan this morning-- she is such a great and aggressive ball player and the game ended with their team behind by one point- she got fouled just as the buzzer rang and shot two, (just so you know she is so aggressive and good at rebounding but her shooting average is not so great) so she is at the foul line by herself, the rest of her team and the opposing team are standing off to the side. She misses both shots, she can usually make at least one but the pressure was ON!! She came off the court so sad and dissapointed but let me tell you that was the best game she had played all season!!! so the question is... how do you make sure your kids know they have done the very best they can do??? And i guess i think you just have to make sure they know you can see they did awesome, and then let them figure the rest out for themselves/ Wow as a parent that is so hard to let them try to figure some of life out by themselves!!! Am i right or what???
So after the game paige had to get a ride home with one of her friends because I also had a baby shower to go to today....My niece..... Now she was about 2 when Kody and I got married, but the fact is that i was having my babies about the same time my sister-in-law was having hers and now she is going to be a GRANDMA!!!! Life------sometimes it comes at you so fast and hard you need to take a big BIG deep breath!!!! I remember all of us having babies together, grumpling about being up all night and diapers etc... now the babies are having babies!!!! The fact is i still feel like i am in my early twenties and just starting out, but im not and im trying to figure it all out and be a mom to people who have graduated and are trying to start their own lives... I have never felt more out of my element, but i want my kids to know i am always there whether i am telling them the right or wrong thing that they can always come to me for anything.... i now understand when people say that they were smarter when they were 18 than they are now trying to raise teenagers!!! I just hope that my kids and myself can look back on this time and recognize i was just doing the best i could or knew how to do and that my love for them came through with it all!!!! so my thought for tonight is LIFE---- wow what a big amazing scary awesome crazy humbling blessed adventure it is!!!!!!

Snowmobiling Funnnnn

Wyatt and cousin posing for a pic kody on one of his machines He is loving life right now Paige and Wyatt after sledding down a hill
another machine and kody and mike in the background

New Year 2009

WOW 2009!!
We started out the new year a bit differently than we have since we started having our kids. Chels and Wyatt went to an Aggie's game then to dinner and he ended up staying at her apartment. Paige went to a friend's party then spent the night, so it was just Kody and I :) I'm not saying it was a bad thing because believe me it ABSOLUTELY was NOT!!! But we usually spend ringing in the new year with our family so we ended up doing the texting thing to each other at around midnight!! They all had a great time doing what they love and so did we :). But it made me stop and think...... sometime soon that is how it will be, there comes a time in our kids lives when there are better things to do than spend time with mom and dad, and we will be spending a lot more time with just each other... I am so thankful that Kody and I can spend time alone with each other and be really GREAT with that again!!! we are so use to having the kids always around, but I am so happy to realize its gonna be okay to just be with each other. 2008 was a Year for our family. We went through some things that i never thought we would have to and realize it has made us a stronger and happier family. I am so thankful for all the times of our lives. It makes us the kind of people we end up being in life and helps us to be stronger and hopefully healthier, happier people. Bryce is on his mission, Chelsea graduated and moved out, Paige is playing on a comp basketball team for the second season and has played comp soccer since she was old enough with Me being her coach for the last two seasons!! And is now a Young Woman who is in the 8th grade, Wyatt turned 7(oh my how the time flies :(. He played soccer and basketball and on a comp baseball team which was so fun for us as parent to watch!!
The kids just keep growing which means we keep growing older.....
So we spent new years day headed to purchase two new snowmobiles and a trailer. Kody and I finally decided we really needed to enjoy doing the kinds of things we loved doing now while our kids can enjoy it and we are still young enough to enjoy it too!!! (not like it was a light bulb moment ... we have thought that many times in the past but just taking the giant leap to put words into action for us is a bit BIG and SCARY haha)
Kody is totally stoked and i am hoping we get to spend enough time snowmobiling to make it worth the money!!!! I have never been one to enjoy being very cold and i am known to be cold while the rest of the family is complaining of heatstroke I have always loved sun sand and water more than winter so this is a whole new way of looking at life for me!!! But now we have three snowmobiles and I realize this is a passion for Kody that i didn't know before now that it was!!! We always go to the cabins in Idaho and now will have enough of our own sleds that we can just go and have a great time!!! I'm hoping tomorrow i can get some pics posted of our great time this weekend with the new sleds!! Chels actually came with us and stayed over which was really fun, Wyatt is always so happy when chels can still come and do things with the family and she is usually a pretty good sport about it and seems to like hanging out with us more since she has moved out(we think she has decided we arent' as odd as she thought we were haha). We went on a long midnight run, the snow was so beautiful on the trees and the weather was amazing!!!! I just realize more and more how important these times together as a family will be to keep the kids wanting to be together as they continue to get older. I just have to say right now that life is good, my family is so amazing I love my husband more now than ever and all of our times together. We are so blessed to have families we enjoy spending time with and creating memories together. 2009 is going to be even better because I am going to try harder to be happier and kinder and more giving, i love my life and know i have my Heavenly Father to thank for all of my amazing oppurtunties and blessings.
HAPPY 2009 TO ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!