{unwrapped}

{thanksgiving}

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had this year. Every year, we alternate between my family and Chas’ family and this year it was our year to be with the Whites. However, they decided to go to Idaho for the holiday, so we decided to stay here and spend Thanksgiving with my family.

Since it was the “off” year with my family, we just had a small group of our family members. It was so great to be with my family and although we LOVE having a huge group of people (it’s DEFINITELY more fun with ALL of the fam!!), it was kind of nice to have a small intimate group this year. My Grandma Dahlquist was down from Idaho and my kiddies were SO THRILLED to have their Aunt Kimbo there as well.

 

 

Every year, the first thing we do as soon as we arrive, is to get my little fam together for pictures. That way, they are out of the way and the kids can have fun, get dirty, etc. LOL! And if I take all of the pics at the beginning of the day, then I am also able to sit back and relax, which is nice. Happy day! We ended up getting a few cute pics of the fam, even though either Seneca or Kaden is always smiling kinda funny. LOL! But they are still cute.  And as for Seneca’s hair…stay tuned for THAT fun story. Ha ha!

 

    

Chas and Kaden have always looked SO MUCH alike, but even MORE so in their matchy shirts. I couldn’t resist taking a few shots just of my boys. I know I am partial, but are these not two of the cutest boys you have ever seen? LOVE these pics and love my boys even MORE!!!

 

As always, we had an incredible Thanksgiving dinner. I was in charge of bringing a salad, my Aunt Jan’s FABULOUS sweet potatoes, and Chas’ Grandma Parker’s Raspberry Jell-O Salad. In addition to what I brought, we had mashed potatoes, stuffing, veggies, rolls, etc. etc. etc. And for dessert, we had pies and SEES CHOCOLATES!

Sees Chocolates are a Dahlquist family tradition for EVERY holiday. And in every box, there are 4 each of my very very favorite chocolate ever. The problem is, it’s also my mom’s favorite. So before the box passes around, my mom and I make SURE to get to the box first to get our favorite chocolate. The funny thing is, the outside of our favorite chocolate is DARK chocolate – and both my mom and I don’t care for dark chocolate. But there is just something about the combination of that dark chocolate with marshmallow and caramel center that is so completely DELICIOUS! LOVE IT! Every now and again, Chasy will surprise me with a complete box JUST of this particular chocolate. YUMMM! (And thanks to one of my cute blog readers, Libby, I now know they are officially called "Scotchmallows!" YAY!)

At dinner, mom asked to go around the table and have each of us say one thing that we were grateful for this year. Chas said that he was grateful that Dad’s cabin is almost done (HURRAY!!!!), Kaden said he was grateful for his family and friends (ME TOO!) and I said that this year, I am thankful for moments and feelings of peace…peace with myself and who I am, peace with where I am in my life, with my standing with the Lord, in my relationships, etc.

   

 

After dinner, we just sat around for hours and visited. Chas and my Dad escaped downstairs to watch the Cowboys. The Cowboys are very likely more part of Thanksgiving for Chasy than the turkey is. LOL!  And fortunately, they had a great game for him that day. YAY Cowboys. I also noticed as I was taking pics, that they were flipping back and forth between that game and a BYU Classics game…the BYU vs. University of Utah game from 2 years ago….that we won. LOL! Go COUGS…2 years ago! Good times. LOVE this pic of Chasy watching the game!!!

I sat upstairs in Mom & Dad’s incredible massage chair and visited with Kim and my mom while the kiddies played with a bunch of fun new toys that mom broke out for them that day. Later in the evening, my little sister Kristin and her cute family stopped by to visit, so it was nice to see them as well! Overall, it was such a wonderful and relaxing day.

We have so much to be grateful for…so much. This year has not passed by without trials, but the great blessings we have had this year FAR outweigh the difficult times..and many OF our blessings have come as a result of those difficult times. So in a way, our trials have also been a blessing this year. We have strong testimonies of the Gospel and of our Savior Jesus Christ, such wonderful, loving and supportive family, so many great friends & neighbors, a strong and loving marriage relationship, great jobs and opportunities to serve, strong and healthy children, a beautiful home and transportation, food on our table and so much more to be grateful for.

At this time, I also want to let all of YOU know how grateful I am for you.  I have met so many wonderful and uplifting people through my blog. I am forever grateful for your constant love, support and encouraging e-mails and comments. Lately, it seems that everywhere I go, I run into one of my sweet blog readers and recently met a cute gal at the Christmas Gift Show in Sandy who, after introducing herself, said, "Please don't ever go private! Please don't ever go private!" :-) I am probably more open about my life, my beliefs and my feelings than most bloggers are. By being so open and honest, I realize that I make myself a little vulnerable and open myself up to anonymous criticism from some of my readers. But those are so few and far between and are completely lost in the midst of the overwhelming number of uplifting and positive e-mails that I receive from you on a daily basis. I have learned that the pros of sharing my beliefs and being so open and honest about my life far outweigh the cons.  And so, for now, I have zero plans of "going private." :-) I am so grateful to you and for how you have all touched my life this year. I love you all so much and want to wish you all a wonderful holiday season.

{lip gloss microphone}

You've heard me talk about how much music plays a part in my life. To simply say that I love music, just doesn't cut it. Music is PART of me. I have a constant drum beat in my heart and rhythm in my veins. I can't help but sing ALL the time. Dancing and singing in the kitchen with the kiddies is pretty much a daily thing. We have so much fun. When it's just me alone, I jam to a million different tunes from a million different genres and am not afraid to get jiggy all by my lonesome while I'm cleaning or throwing dinner in. When it's with the kiddies, they usually have a current favorite that they make me play over and over and over and over again. The current fave is "My Favorite Snack" by The Imagination Movers. (P.S. I LOVE all of their songs!!! So so fun!!!) If you haven't heard that song, you need to listen to it. It is seriously jammin! LOVE IT! And all of us know ALL the words....it's a kick. Our very very very favorite part is "My favorite snack is peanut butter crackahs (crackers). Put some jelly on top. I said they're really lipsmackers!" LOL! LOVE IT!

Part of my love for singing and dancing and entertaining the masses of imaginary screaming fans (LOL!) is the necessity of a microphone. And I very rarely sing without one. Not a real one mind you. How fun would THAT be, right? It's usually the first thing I can grab at depending on where I am..a spatula, the PAM cooking spray, a bottled water or a spoon if I'm in the kitchen; a bottle of hairspray, the curling iron, my blow dryer or a brush if I'm in my bathroom; a wrench, the drill, a paintbrush or a hammer if I'm kickin' it in the garage; or my cell phone or lip gloss if I'm in the car. And it's an automatic thing for me. "Ope..the music's on, gotta grab a "microphone" or I can't sing!" LOL!

Funny story. Was driving on the highway a few months ago listening to "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. And of course, I was jammin' and singing into my lip gloss. And I was INTO it. It was my best performance yet! :-) I LOVE that song! So, in the middle of the chorus, I look over and there's a young teenage kid looking at me and totally laughing. Ha ha! Hilarious. Had I been the type of person that gets embarassed, that would have been a prime "I'm totally embarassed" moment. But since I don't get embarassed, it was hilarious. I just smiled at him, kinda giggled and finished out the song...into my lip gloss. LOL! So funny.

So as a professional "singer into household objects," you can imagine the pure joy I felt a few weeks ago, when I kicked up the tunes and Seneca immediately ran and grabbed my lip gloss and sang into that thing like her little life depended on it. Oh my heart...SUCH a proud Mama moment! LOL! That's my girl....my little prodege! Sing your heart out, girlfriend!!!!

{twilight}

I'm not sure how it is everywhere else in the U.S. and Canada or other countries, but here in Utah, women of ALL ages...and some men even...have caught the "Twilight" fever. It's literally NUTS how crazy the response has been to Stephenie Meyer's books and the new movie that came out this weekend. Long before the majority of the population had even HEARD of Stephenie Meyer and "Twilight," my friend Marie raved about the book and said that it was a MUST-READ! And she was right. I devoured "Twilight" long before the general public had even caught on. However, as much as I loved the book, I am not quite like some of the crazed fans that wait OVERNIGHT to get her new books. I don't think I'd wait overnight for anything. Even her last book, I just ran to Walmart later the day it came out and walkd right in, picked up my book for $14.88 and didn't even wait in line at the checkout. And the funny thing is, that 4th book is still on my shelf gathering dust. Someday, I will read it. The first book was a PAGE TURNER and kept me on edge the whole time. LOVED IT! The second book, in my opinion, was a "necessary evil to get to book 3." And book 3 was great. However, none really matched the first book.

 

 

When I heard there was going to be a movie, I was SO excited...until they did the casting. I think the actress for "Bella" was the only was remotely close to how I had pictured them in my head. So needless to say, that ended my excitement. However, as premier night neared, a group of my girlfriends and I decided it would be fun to go and see it. So although I was skeptical, I thought it would be a blast to go with a bunch of friends...which is WAS!

   

And if it wasn't enough to just go and see the movie together, my friend Amy gave us all personalized (with our nicknames on the back) "Team Cullen" t-shirts (FYI, for those who may not be familiar with Twilight, "Cullen" is the last name of the family of vampires) that she had our friend Malinda (who also came with us) made! (BTW..Malinda is SO INCREDIBLY talented. In addition to some of the cutest T-shirts I have ever seen, she is an outrageously talented scrapbooker and papercrafter! Love her stuff. You can check out her creations at MALINDA'S DESIGNS.) The shirts turned out SO DANG CUTE!!!!! I am not really fond of any numbers other than when I was in high schol sports (#15!!!). So when I had to pick a number, I just Googled "Chinese Numerology" and chose numbe 9, since it is the greatest of the single digit "lucky numbers" and is usually associated with the Emperor. And since my nickname is "Queen of America," that kinda relates to the Emperor right? LOL! No idea....just had to pick a number, so that's how I settled on 9. LOL! Good times. Before the show, we met up at my friend Marie's boutique, Tom & Lucy's Art Shoppe (which, bt, was AWWWWWWESOME! Make sure you get on their mailing list for the next boutique!), since Malinda had a booth there. There we found our coordinating 'Twilight' dogtag necklaces for only $4 each! BONUS! LOL! So fun!!!

 

Our friends Midge and Madge (Mindy & Mandee) were able to get us free tickets to the show through their financial advisor. He rented an entire theater and gave clients tickets to invite friends and family! So fun. We still had to wait in line for seats in the theater, but Midge and Madge left the boutique early to stand in line and arrived early enough to be the SECOND in line. NICE!! Needless to say, we had FABULOUS seats!!!

 

Right when we got to the theater, we saw a group of models dressed up as vampires that you could have your picture taken with. SO FUN! So obviously, that was something that we HAD to do. BTW...you know how you can always usually see "that group of crazy girls" with all of their matching shirts and fun stuff at movies, etc.? I have to tell you...it is seriously crazy FUN to be "that group of girls!" LOL! We had people asking about our shirts right and left and saying how much fun they were. It was a blast. So anyway..here are all of the vampire models....

 

And 4 of us WITH all of the beautiful vampires (didn't notice until after the picture how funny it turned out. My three cute girlfriends are all snuggled up in front and where is Heather? Um...somehow I ended up back in the back with the two guy vampires! LOL!There actually WAS a girl vampire on my left, but then she suddenly swapped places so the guy was next to me. Not that I'm complaining of course. LOL! It just kinda looks funny. Good times!).....

  

And another one with just the two guy vampires...

 

And then, it was time to head into the show!!! I don't want to say too much, because I know there are still so many who haven't seen it. So I won't say much as far as what it's about. All in all, I was entertained. If you like shows on the WB, you will love this. That's probably the best thing I can compare it to. I was not happy with who played "Edward" when I first heard about the casting and still wasn't happy at the beginning of the movie. However, he DID grow on me about halfway through. Some of the "supernatural" qualities of the vampires that seem so awesome and almost "natural" in the book are a little "hokey" when you actually see them on the screen. But other than that, I think the movie was very well done. There are actually quite a few familiar faces and they all did a great job. But more so than anything, it was just a blast to be there with such a fun group....in our matchies! LOL!

 

  

After the show, we headed back to take a few more pics with the vampires. I absolutely love these two of my friends Tara and Amy. Tara is hilarious...she looks like she thought they were actually going to bite her. LOL! So funny.

     

As we were leaving, a company that airs movie reviews online stopped us and asked if they could film and interview us. In the end, we all agreed that it would be fun. And besides, they gave each of us a gift card for a free movie. BONUS! YAY! That poor interviewer guy though..trying to get 6 crazy gals to simmer long enough to actually be interviewed. LOL! So funny.

   

  

At the conclusion of the "review segment," and after he did his little summary thingey to the camera, he turned around and we all came together in a huddle and said, "Gooooooo TWILIGHT!" LOL! It was completely cheesy and so much fun!!

 

What a seriously FUN FUN day with these gals!!!! Thanks to Midge and Madge for offering us the free tickets from their financial advisor. Thanks to their financial advisor for GIVING them to us. Thanks to AMY for giving us all such seriously AWESOME AWESOME personalized shirts and thanks to Malinda for making them. And finally, thanks to ALL OF YOU GALS for such a CRAZY awesome Twilight Girls' Night!

{secondhand stress}

It isn't a great mystery to those of you who have followed my blog for a long time, that things just haven't been quite right lately. I know this, because I have received so many e-mails from concerned readers, friends and family wanting to make sure that things are okay, since my entries have been so few and far between lately...when they were so regular for so long. I thought that before I continued to try and get caught up here on my blog, I should give a brief explanation, not only for my wonderful readers, but also simply to record this for myself. And in the process, perhaps this may be helpful to others who have been in the same situation.

We all have limits - physical limits, emotional limits, etc. All of our limits are different, which is why it is never a good idea for us to compare what we are capable of doing with what OTHERS are capable of doing. What may be a light load for one person, may be a very heavy load for someone else...and vice versa. We are all unique and none less valuable, no matter what the limits are. But those limits ARE there for everyone. I have realized in my life that my limits tend to be a little larger than probably the average. I can handle quite a heavy load of responsibilities with ease and still manage to stay organized and on time and even have time to pick up more projects here and there. And in the midst of it all, I still am able to find time to do other fun things I love. My mom gave me a notebook once that said, “If you want something to get done, ask a busy woman to do it.” And there is some truth in that. No matter how busy I was, I was always able to do more. I truly hope that this doesn’t come across as bragging….but simply stating how things have been for me.

However, this has not been the case lately. I have cut my physical work load to over HALF of what I was doing last year and still can’t seem to get caught up and stay on top of things. Where I was so reliable and on top of things, I am now late on getting orders out, forgetting things, getting overwhelmed with things that normally have always just run like clockwork for me. My physical load is considerably less…and yet it’s so frustrating for me to see that I am struggling to keep up with everything for the first time in my life. And I can very plainly see that my physical limits have not been met or surpassed.

It is my emotional limits that have been exceeded for the first time in longer than I can even remember. It’s so hard for me to admit that, when up until now I was able to carry so much and still function at 100%. I am almost always able to keep on truckin’ and hang on tight to the positive in every difficult situation.....which actually has really helped me get through some of the more difficult times in my life. But lately, things have been so difficult emotionally, that I have actually  openly admitted that “I am not really okay. But I will be. I always am. And I will be stronger when I get through this.” There have been a few things in my own life that have been causing some stress. However, the bulk of the stress has NOT been my own. For those of you know me personally, you probably already know that I have pretty severe “sympathy pain.” When those around me are hurting, I very literally feel their pain as if it were my own. I become extremely emotional and also lose countless nights of sleep worrying about them. Since Middle School, I have always been someone that people are drawn to for some reason, when they needed someone to talk to.  I’m not sure what it is…perhaps that they simply feel comfortable with me, know that they can trust me and perhaps that, for some reason, I will understand and listen without passing judgment. And they are right….and I will never turn away anyone who needs me. And my natural reaction, after they have confided in me, is to want to help them, to heal their pain, to make it all better. And more often than not, there is NOTHING I can do, other than just be there for them. And that wall, not being able to help take away some of their hurt, is debilitating for me. In doses here and there, it’s manageable. However, this past few months, there has been such a flood of difficult trials among those that I love so much, that the great magnitude of these emotions and sympathy pains for so many of my friends has very literally weakened me emotionally for a little while, which has affected my ability to handle a very small physical workload (by my standards). I could go on and on about this for hours, but want to actually share a video clip that explains this perhaps better than I could anyway.

On November 16th, a very good friend of mine who has been such a great support to me the past few months and has been one of the few that I was able to “unload” so many of these stresses onto, was watching The Today Show when they did a segment called “Vanquish the Anguish of Secondhand Stress.” This friend couldn’t believe how much this segment sounded like me and that it happened to be aired right when I had been struggling with this exact issue and immediately e-mailed me the link to this video clip. I had never heard the term “Secondhand Stress,” but as Chas and I watched it together, other than a few things we didn’t quite agree with, it seemed to describe me exactly. Chas said it seemed like the segment WAS about me.  I highly recommend watching this very brief, but wonderful clip from The Today Show:

As mentioned in this clip, I definitely tend to take on the role of “Caretaker” and “Rescuer” almost immediately when someone is in trouble and immediately want to find ANY way that I can to help them.  If I wasn’t like this, I wouldn’t be who I am. And BEING there for people brings me such great happiness as well. But I do realize, especially after watching this video that I need to learn that I can still be there for people without TAKING ON their stress as my own. It won’t be something that I am able to do overnight, but something I will have to consciously work on. But as they mentioned,  if I don’t control this Secondhand Stress, I can’t help myself enough first to even be affective in helping others (loved the oxygen mask analogy). The five  steps mentioned for dealing with Secondhand Stress are:

Develop your own coping strategies for your own stress.
Recognize the origin of the stress. (Is it external or internal?) 
Determine what is beyond your control.
Set healthy boundaries.
Be patient with the process of change.

I do not believe that I am a “People Pleaser” which was one of the “types” of people that tend to struggle with Secondhand Stress and didn’t agree (at least in my personal situation) that we take on other peoples’ stress to AVOID our own. If I were to word it differently, I would say that by taking on the stresses of others, we are unable to DEAL with or FOCUS on our own stress. Make sense?  Anyway…I am so grateful for this good friend who I am sure had to have been inspired to be watching this particular day just to catch this brief segment that I SO needed to see and hear. And though it was hard for me to hear, also told me, without any reservation, “HEATHER!!!…STOP IT!! YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE STRONG FOR EVERYONE ALL THE TIME! YOU ARE NOT SUPERWOMAN!! AND WOULD YOU PLEASE GET SOME SLEEP? NO WONDER YOU ARE SO EMOTIONALLY FRAGILE!!” LOL! I love friends who aren’t afraid to tell you the truth and to SHAPE UP! LOL! Thank you so much for your support the past few months and for being such an incredible friend to me. You know who you are.

And so, I have started to prioritize and de-stress the past few weeks…which is where I have been. And I am doing great!! I have been making a list of my physical commitments so that I can get them knocked out in the next few weeks so that I can take a brief break to just sit back and reassess. So for those of you who are waiting for orders, I am so grateful for your patience with me. Your orders will be out in the mail by the end of next week unless we have already made earlier arrangements for delivery. 

Because I carry all of my emotional stress in my upper back and other upper body muscles, my back has been in pretty bad shape the past few months as well. I can very literally feel my back throb the moment I hear bad news from someone close to me. It’s amazing to me that the pain can hit that fast, simply from emotional stress. I have been going in for massages twice a month, which have been, very literally, a great blessing. Every therapist I have had, has asked if I have recently suffered physical trauma because of the state my body is in. I am always a little embarrassed to admit that there has only been emotional stress…which has been the cause of the crazy state of my muscles. But it has been doing great things for me. I went in and met with my doctor last week and explained a little bit about what had been going on and that it seemed like my emotions were so very close to the surface all of the time and that my heart was racing a little more lately. She recommended a very mild anxiety med to help me relax and get my bearings and breathe a little easier. I hesitantly accepted the prescription, but have yet to take a single dose. In addition to my daily workouts (which I believe, have been a lifesaver through all of this…I get SUCH a great natural high from exercising), I have started doing something else, a wonderful, natural and healthy something that has done the same thing that my doctor told me the meds would do. This wonderful thing deserves its own blog post, so you will have to wait just a few more days for that. But without a single dose of those meds, I have been breathing, relaxing, smiling, laughing and my heart isn’t racing like it was. I have been more patient, have been slowly but surely knocking things off my rather large “to do” list without getting overwhelmed, sleeping better, etc. etc. etc. I am finally starting to feel like myself again. Happy happy HAPPY day!!!! Oh, I can’t WAIT to share this with you……very very soon!

I want to thank all of you so much for the very sincere e-mails, phone calls, text messages, comments here on my blog, prayers, thoughtful acts of kindness from so many, etc. from all of my blog readers, friends and family.  I can’t tell you just how much your words of comfort, kindness and encouragement have meant to me. I have not been as good at answering e-mails, due to all of this, but I do want you to know how much I love every one of you. I am overwhelmed when I think of how blessed I am to have so much love and support from so many. And all of this being said, I am doing great. I am happy, energetic, positive and on the uphill climb now!! And I am so happy to have ME back! LOL! Again, if you are waiting for me, please be patient….I am diligently working on my list and will get everything out soon.

I also want to just publicly thank Chas. I don't know what I would do without him. He has been such a great strength and support to me - a wonderful husband, a sounding board, a "cool head" in the midst of so much craziness and truly my best friend. Though the past few months I have felt a bit like I personally was completely falling apart, Chas was a rock and I feel we have grown closer together....I love that. I love you so much Chas. You are, without a doubt, one of my greatest blessings!!!!

And to end on another happy happy note, I was able to take my good friend Saunie to Olive Garden for dinner early this evening for her birthday and we had a blast. So great to sit and visit with a good friend. LOVE YOU SAUNIE! Hope you had a great day today!!! Love this fun pic that Chasy took of us on our way out tonight!

I love you all so much!!!! Until next time, make today a GREAT day!

{a brand new smile}

WOW….so my personal blog has started seriously started to look EXACTLY like my photography blog lately with all of the photo shoot entries. :-) Thought I would pop in tonight and blog just to let you know that I am alive and well and to help remind myself...that this blog is meant to be a personal record of my life...and not much has been written lately. Eeeek! LOL! I will be honest…I have had a rather rough and crazy few months. I just simply haven’t been myself and have been very overwhelmed. More about that later, but the fun happy news in the middle of this stuff is that Mama got a new smile! I have never been big on cosmetic dentistry or cosmetic anything really. But here’s the deal. Throughout my life, I have always had to deal with the dumb weight fluctuation stuff that many of us deal with. But there were always TWO constants that never changed and that I always seemed to get compliments on…no matter how old I was, what I was wearing, how much make up I had on or how much I weighed at the time…..my eyes and my smile. I don’t have perfect teeth, but considering I have never had braces, they aren’t too shabby and they have stayed pretty dang white without ever getting them whitened.

Well, a few months ago, I was brushing my teeth and suddenly GASPED when I looked in the mirror. There was a small hairline space in the middle of my two front teeth where there NEVER had been a space. I think I literally screamed “OH NO!!!” out loud! The cause of the space is pretty much the same cause for all of the other health problems I have. Stress. “How?" you may ask. I was told ages and ages ago by the fabulous massage therapist that I went to regularly for almost 8 years that my jaws were always extremely tight, and that I must clench my jaw in my sleep. You are probably asking why I don't just chill out when I am stressed. Well to be honest, my limits tend to be more than the average person, so even though I am doing a million things, I don't really FEEL stressed 99% of the time (until recently...but more about that later.) But apparently, even though I don't FEEL the stress, my body does and reacts accordingly. So, apparently jaw-clenching is one way my body deals with stress. Fab. So after time, and after lots of jaw-clenching (which my dentist agreed), my teeth ever-so-slightly were pushed apart to make the tiny space in between them. By my reaction, you would have though I had found an INCH gap in between my teeth, but Chas had to literally get RIGHT UP TO MY TEETH to even see it. LOL! So funny. But it was my teeth…my smile…one of the two things that had NEVER changed or let me down!! So as dumb as it sounds, I HAD to do something about it. When I talked to my dentist about it, he said that it would be seriously simple to fix. He simply took white composite to match my teeth and reformed my tooth to fill the space. While he was fixing the space, he noticed that I had a little chipping, also a result of clenching. So after the space was filled, he filed off the bottoms of my front two teeth. LOVE THAT! He also took out all of the fillings on one side of my mouth and replaced them with white fillings. And I was thrilled to hear them say that they had to use the very lightest composites because my teeth are so white. Niiiiice! We will be doing the other side of my mouth soon. (I never had a cavity until I got engaged. Then, I got 11 cavities and had 2 emergency root canals. LOL! Lovely!) So anyway....SO happy to be getting rid of all of my silvers. Wooohoo! The pictures below are a BEFORE and AFTER. A little disclaimer. I had to darken the first BEFORE picture so that you could even SEE the space. LOL! It is so tiny that unless I darkened it, you couldn’t even see it…which is why my teeth look dark. Eeuw.

 

SO NICE to have that all fixed up. I felt like a new woman and smiled at myself in the rearview mirror all the way home from the dentist's office . LOL! That sounds so vain..but I was just so happy to have my smile back. HAPPY DAY!

So in short, the past few months, while things have been a little more rough than usual, true to character, I have tried to keep on keepin’ on and am happy that I had a brand new SMILE to help me smile through it all! YAY!

Seriously sooooo much more to blog about - and I will very soon. However, I need to get quite a few things done tonight before I can head to bed..and my alarm goes off at 4:40 AM to work out, so I’d better get going. Just wanted to blog quickly tonight to let you know I am still here and doing okay. I will write more about what has been going on…but for now, I’m just leaving you with a SMILE! Make today a GREAT one!

{baby kamryn photo shoot}

 

A few weeks ago, I had the fun opportunity to do a photo shoot of seriously one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen. My good friend Brittany's beautiful little Kamryn was just a few weeks old for this mini photo shoot and for the first little while, she wasn't too thrilled about it. LOL!

 

However, her Mama calmed her down a bit and soon she was fast asleep for the majority of the shoot. After her little cat nap, we were able to get a few cute shots of her with her older brother and sister before she decided she had had enough. Fortunately, we were able to sneak in quite a few fun shots of this sweet little angel in that short amount of time.

 

I will be honest, I was a little nervous for this shoot. I have not had a lot of experience with newborn shoots and was also a little nervous about having the shoot indoors without a fantastic fill flash or adequate lighting. I still have quite a bit to learn as far as newborn photo shoots go and really could just use more lighting equipment for the indoor shoots, but all in all, I am really happy with how these turned out.  It's pretty much impossible to go wrong when you are able to shoot such a beautiful little thing.

   

    

If you would like to see all of the proofs from this shoot, please feel free to visit the BABY KAMRYN PHOTO ALBUM here on my WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG. This album will remain on my photo site until a week from today, Monday, November 24th, 2008, at which time, these photos will be sorted into their appropriate categories on my photo blog. 

 

Many thanks to my friend Brittany for giving me the opportunity to take pics of her little angel. I hope that she is as pleased as I am with the results.

{thomas family photo shoot}

As you can tell by the photo shoots I have been posting, I've been pretty swamped with holiday family portraits lately.....along with a gazillion other "projects." I apologize for not being a very dedicated blogger lately. I am currently just trying to unbury myself and get caught up with everything (more about that later). Part of getting unburied is GETTING caught up on my  blog so I stop giving myself stress about NOT being caught up. When I am caught up and STAY caught up, it's so much nicer and MORE FUN for me to blog. When I have a million entries to blog about (which is where I'm at right now), it kinda makes me anxious..and I don't like that feeling. So anyway..planning on working on that this week. So stay tuned...SO MUCH to share and I will be doing so very soon. But for today, another fun photo shoot that I just finished editing late last night.

Another photo shoot with such a fun family with very likely one of the most beautiful little boys I have ever seen. I could not get enough of this little guy with those gorgeous big blue eyes.

   

As we walked around Gardner Village taking pics, this cute little guy also took pics with his Fisher Price Digital Camera. After I had taken a picture of his mom and dad, I told him that he could snap a few with his camera as well. On a whim, I decided to take a picture OF him taking a picture of his mom and dad...and I am so glad that I did. Probably one of my favorites from this shoot. LOVE IT!!!

 

And of course I couldn't HELP but take some individual portraits of this little guy who, I believe, is every photographer's dream. GORGEOUS little kid and so much fun to take pics of!!

   

If you would like to see all of the proofs from this shoot, please feel free to visit the THOMAS FAMILY ALBUM on my WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG. This album will remain on my site until a week from today, Monday, November 24th, 2008, at which time, these photos will be sorted into their appropriate categories on my photo blog.  Many thanks to the Thomas family for giving me the opportunity to do their family portraits this year. I hope that they are as pleased as I am with the results.

{nelson family photo shoot}

I was talking to a friend a few months ago about whether we would prefer to live by the ocean or the mountains. My decision was made IMMEDIATELY the minute I drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon for this photo shoot a few weeks ago. The scenery is very literally breathtaking. And although the colors did turn out pretty good in these photos, the actual brightness of those fall leaves simply cannot be adequately illustrated in a photo.

The drive up the canyon was simply heavenly.....overwhelmingly beautiful. I would take these beautiful mountains over the ocean any day. Now perhaps those who actually LIVE by the ocean are partial the other way, but as for me...I am a mountains girl! This cute family wanted to have their pictures taken with the fall colors, and as far as I'm concerned, there is nowhere more beautiful in the fall than Little Cottonwood Canyon. When we got to the first spot I wanted to shoot, there was another photographer using it. So, we sat and waited until they were done. When the photographer turned around, she did a double take and said that she is one of my blog readers and that she recognized me right away. LOL! So fun to run into people and meet new friends everywhere through blogging. ;-)

 

This is my brother-in-law Jordan's (married to my little sister Kristin) brother and his family. I had the opportunity to do their photos last year as well, so it was fun to see them again and see how their little girl has grown. She is very likely one of the most beautiful little girls I have ever seen. She looks like a perfect China doll....gorgeous whether she smiles or not. This absolutely sweet little girl when combined with her beautiful parents, makes this family, without question, a photographer's dream.

 

    

    

After the family shots, we took quite a few individual portraits of this sweet little one in her dress, in her Halloween costume and then in another ADORABLE cowgirl outfit that her mom brought for her to change into. She is the cutest thing EVER...and I am so pleased with how all of these pictures turned out. It's hard to go wrong when you combine such a gorgeous little angel with this beautiful fall backdrop! 

 

   

   

I had the hardest time picking my favorite shots from this shoot to share here in this blog entry. So, if you would like to see all of the proofs from this shoot, please feel free to visit the NELSON FAMILY ALBUM  on my WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE. This album will remain on my site until a week from today, Thursday, November 20th, 2008, at which time, these photos will be sorted into their appropriate categories on my photo blog.

 

Many thanks to the Nelson family for giving me the opportunity to take their family pics again this year. It was my pleasure and I hope that you are as happy with these as I am. Your photo CD will be ready for pick up tomorrow afternoon, Friday, November 14th.

{family party}

 

We had yet another fun family birthday party end of last month. YAY! The holidays seem to get so busy for everyone, so we decided to combine our October and November birthdays this time around. You may recognize my beautiful friend Kate in the picture of the birthday kids. (So funny...kinda looks like they slightly coordinated outfits for this shot. LOL!) I invited Kate to come to our family birthday party this month and I am so glad she agreed to come. Kate is seriously like a sister to me – I love her so much.  I wanted her to come and join us and celebrate her November birthday “Dahlquist Style.”:-) Our birthday kids were Kate, Chas, my little sister Kristin & Seneca.

    

For the birthday dinner, we enjoyed awesome steaks and special potatoes (for Chas), pork chops & yummy jell-o (for Kristin) and the kiddies had microwave pizzas (for Seneca). Mom is so incredible to plan the meals so that EVERY birthday boy and girl has one of their faves on the birthday menu. She checked to see what Kate liked, but I was pretty sure Kate would be good with what was already being made. We definitely had a delicious spread. Mmm…yummy!

   

    

After dinner, all of the birthday kids opened their presents. My little sister Kristin had raved about the OGIO shoulder bag that I took to Europe with me. I tried to order the same one, but they no longer make that bag in the same print. So, I found a nice tote in the same print and bought it clear back in April and have been hanging onto it. Then, I filled the tote with copies of the Family Home Evening Lessons from our last FHE Lesson group swap. She cried when she opened it..so that's always a good thing. LOL!

   

  

    

Chas was thrilled with his traditional Buckets of Balls punch card to Mulligans from Mom & Dad and other fun gifts from the family, including a small Book of Mormon and Journal for our Emergency Kit, a BYU Football Pez and Football Dish and a super soft BYU Football tied flannel blanket, made by my niece Whitney and her friend Lexi. Seneca was over the moon with a blanket just like daddy’s with cute little monkeys all over it, also made my Whitney and Lexi. What cute girls to make those for them. So fun. She also received so many fun books and toys and LOVED the Princess Dress-ups from Oma and Opa. She was definitely a happy little girl.

 

   

Kate has mentioned a few times that they have a nice apartment, but that it’s EMPTY. So, after our wonderful day at Conference that INSPIRED my “President Uchtdorf” projects, I decided to make the whole collection for Kate to use to decorate their apartment. Then, I took my favorite picture of the two of us from a few months ago and framed it for her. It was fun to watch her open everything. Happy happy day!

   

    

My little sister Kristin also had a cute gift for Kate that included her favorites…chocolate and toffee and Mom found her a cute wallet with a “K” on it. She loved everything and it made me so happy to see her having such a great time. Dad even included Kate in the birthday flowers and gave her three roses and one gerber daisy for 31 years old (a rose equals 10 years and the other flowers symbolize individual years….tradition). Our family parties are the highlight of every month and it was SO much fun having her there with us.

   

For dessert, I brought chocolate cake and my chocolate peanut butter trifle and mom had pink cookies for Seneca. I’m not sure what I do different when I make my cake mix chocolate cake, but somehow it just is. The first time I made it, it was so so moist and delish and it has been my “birthday dinner assignment” ever since. LOL!  And it comes out perfect every time. Weird. I make it just like you’re supposed to and somehow it’s just different. Maybe I just sprinkle an extra bit of love in it. LOL! Anyway…and the chocolate peanut butter trifle is ALWAYS a winner. YUM! Here are a few more fun pictures from our family party, including some way cute ones of my nephew Ben and my niece Charly playing the piano together. SO CUTE!!! Dad traveled quite a bit the last month for Church and work and one of his trips was to Tahiti (as you can see by his awesome shirt in some of these pics!!). When I got there to the family party, he gave me the beautiful shell necklace from Tahiti that I'm wearing in the pics below. I am NOT sure what is going on with my hair..goooodness. It's just slightly huge. Oh well. Kate said big hair is good. I'll take her word for it, even though I'm still a little weirded out when I see these pics. LOL! Good times.

   

   

After the party, Kate came up to me and gave me one of the biggest hugs ever. She told me that she was so overwhelmed to have been together with a family like mine…one that loves each other and loves to be with each other. She said that it gave her hope that someday she can have a family just like this, now that she knows that families like this are not just a “fairytale.” Our family has our little things and we definitely are not perfect. But I agree with her completely. We have such a great time together and always look forward to every time we get together. She hugged me again and said that she knew that I loved her, but didn’t realize how much until that night. To be honest, I didn’t even have to think twice when I invited Kate to join us. My family is so important to me and I love them so much…and I love Kate like she’s family. They seemed to go hand in hand and I am so happy that she joined us and felt so at home with all of us.

I have been blessed with 4 of the most amazing women that I am fortunate enough to have as sisters. When I think of that great blessing, I am seriously overwhelmed with emotion. They are incredible and such great examples of love and strength to me and I love them so much!!! And on top of that, I am greatly blessed to have Kate in my life, someone who is literally like a sister to me and someone who has been and will always be such a great source of happiness, love, support and strength to me. I love you Kate and am so happy that you joined our family and had such a great time!! (Other than the HUGE hair, I love this pic of me and Chasy...)

We Dahlquists definitely know how to celebrate. Birthdays have always been a big deal in our family and I am so glad they are. When you celebrate a birthday, you are celebrating someone’s LIFE…that is huge!! And this month, as with every month, we celebrated the birthdays of four people that I love so much. And their lives are SERIOUS cause for celebration. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAS, KRISTIN, SENECA & KATE!! I love you!

{smith family photo shoot}

Last month, I had the opportunity to photograph the cute Hatch family. And soon after their photo shoot, Celest asked if I would come and shoot her extended family. I had so much fun with her little family and was excited to be able to meet the rest of her family a few weeks ago for this photo shoot. In addition to shooting the entire family, I also took a few of each individual family and any other shots they wanted me to do.

    

   

 

Celest's mom requested a shot of them with all of the grandkids. We had one little cutie that was just not happy about family pictures that day. Still, she said that she would rather have her in the picture crying, than to not have her there at all. These are so fun. It's not all posed and not all of the kiddies are looking where they should, but it seems so "REAL" - I love it. Such sweet pics of these cute kids with their Grandma and Grandpa.

Thanks to the entire Smith family for giving me the opportunity to do this shoot of your family. I am waiting for a few hard copy proofs of the entire family group shots just to make sure that they edited okay. As soon as I receive those, I will get you your complete photo CD with all of the edited images. Until then, you can see all of the proofs from this photo shoot in the SMITH FAMILY ALBUM on my WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG.