{unwrapped}

{wheatley fam}

Thanks to the many of you who have sent e-mails checking on me and making sure that I am still alive and kicking. It feels so nice to be missed and I love all of my blog readers and friends so much. I AM here and doing well...just crazy busy trying to get photo shoots edited for everyone in time to get Christmas cards printed, etc. etc. Never fear though...I shall be back soon with a blog entry or two later on this week. For now,a little sneak peek of a cute fam I was able to shoot last week. To see all of the photos from this shoot or to schedule a sitting for your family, feel free to visit my WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG.
 
 


 
Many thanks to the Wheatley family for giving me the opportunity to be your photographer this year!! Hope you are as happy with these shots as I am! 

{baby's birthday - party #2}

  
Have your little ones ever just had a rough minute and have a complete meltdown, not even knowing WHY they are crying so hard? That's how the evening of Seneca's 2nd birthday party with my family was, a few weeks after Seneca's birthday. She was completely out of sorts. I held her and rocked her for a good hour before she stopped screaming and just collapsed against me and fell asleep. I snuggled her for a good long time before we had to go. But when she woke up, she was still struggling. Little did I know, that while I was comforting my little baby girl, my angel son was over at the kitchen table drawing pictures for his little sister to make her happy. Kaden is unreal. I have yet to meet a kid completely like him. He is definitely a treasure.
   
The first picture he drew, was one of him playing volleyball with Seneca. The second, is of them in a rollercoaster together. The third, is of Kaden giving his heart to Seneca because he loves her. Love that he even wrote "Baby" above her. That has kinda been our nickname for her since before she was born. Love that. And you'll notice a heart on every picture. So sweet. When Seneca woke up and stopped crying for a brief moment, I took her over to the table and Kaden showed her all of the pictures. It was the most tender, beautiful and "proud Mama" moment ever. So sweet to watch them talk, hear Seneca say, "You're such a good bwuddah" :-) and then see them hug. And then, Seneca was good to go for a fun party night. What a blessing to have little ones that take care of each other. LOVE THAT!
  
So then, off we went to Oma & Opa's to celebrate Seneca's and my little sister Kristin's birthdays! YAY!
 
And true to Dahlquist tradition, it was a big and fun night. Mom had made Kristin's favorite dinner...pork chops...and Seneca's favorite....mini pizzas. And for dessert (both made by me..yay!), chocolate cake for Aunt Kristin and Seneca's fave Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. And a Dahlquist family birthday party would not be complete without FLOWERS FROM DAD for the birthday girls....a rose for every 10 years and a daisy (used to be a carnation) for every single year....so 4 daisies for little Seneca. SO LOVE this tradition!!!
  
What a fun night with the Dahlquist fam, celebrating the birthdays of two beautiful birthday girls!! Thanks to all of our family for the many fun gifts Seneca received. She was in heaven. Happy Day! MAKE A WISH Birthday Girls!!!

{baby's birthday - party #1}

  
If you are new to my blog, you will soon find out that birthdays are HUGE in my family. If you're a long-time reader, you already know this. And I believe that's as it should be. Seriously...you are celebrating someone's LIFE!! And that, is serious cause for celebration. Little Seneca's 4th birthday was no exception. Total, Seneca ended up having 4 birthday parties..and I will be covering three of those. First of all, the pictures above, were taken ON Seneca's actual 4th birthday on November 1st and the 1st of the 3 parties I will be blogging about is a quaint little birthday party we had for Family Home Evening, the day after Seneca's birthday.
 
We decided that we were going to have a little low key celebration with just our little family...and then at the last minute, decided that it would be awesome to invite my soul sister friend Christy and her little Jax to our party. And as you can see, we decided that it was a casual no-make-up night. Au natural was the theme and we had a blast!! Christy and Jax came over at dinner time and we enjoyed Little Caesars Pizza.
  
 
Seneca received so many fun gifts...a Hello Kitty dollhouse, a new bathtime baby doll, clothes, a new hat/scarf/gloves set and a brand new Hello Kitty coat. However, Mama was most excited to give her a very big surprise that absolutely BLEW HER AWAY......
 
...HER VERY FIRST NEW BIKE!!!!! And this is a bike to beat all bikes....by far, the CUTEST little bike I have ever seen...found at Bountiful Bicycle. Seriously....LOOK  HOW CUTE...I LOVE IT!!!!! It is so stinkin' cute and trendy. I TOTALLY WANT ONE like it! LOL!
 
 
Seneca was in absolute HEAVEN and couldn't wait until the next day...so she road her new bike around our front room. LOL! The look on her face was SO worth it....HAPPY DAY!
 
After dinner and presents, we enjoyed ice cream while Seneca took a tubby with her new bathtime baby doll and Kaden and Jax sat and watched a show. Such a fun night and so great that we were able to have Christy and Jax over to share it with us. HAPPY DAY....definitely a fabulous start to the birthday festivities for our little Seneca!!!

{tenderheart}

Oh my sweet Kaden. He is my little tenderheart. Even when he was a little toddler and just learning to talk, he was so polite and sweet. He used to thank me for changing his bum and would tell me 20 times a day how much he loved me and that I was "the best Mama in the whole universe." That hasn't changed....well, the changing his bum part has, but nothing else. LOL! Kaden has a mammoth-sized heart and has been such a great blessing in my life. I have yet to meet a more thoughtful and sensitive, loving little dude. When he was in preschool, every other month, he would want me to stop and get flowers for his teacher. After the first two times, I said no....but then realized what a mistake that would be. I didn't want to be the one to put out that thoughtful fire. And so, we continued to take his teacher flowers on a regular basis...usually the itty bitty cheap bouquets, but still beautiful.
 
Being sensitive and thoughtful towards others is something that I have tried to really instill in my little ones, because it is very important to me. However, though I do recognize little "ME-isms" coming out in both Kaden and Seneca in the way they interact with each other, with me & their daddy and with friends, their little spirits are simply loving and sensitive BY NATURE. Kaden has always been a tenderheart. He is rough and tumble, but he loves his Mama. Though we taught him early the importance of being a gentleman (and he still ALWAYS opens my door..and often Seneca's door as well), he has continued to act as such and will say things like "Mama, I'm being a gentleman. I'm always a gentleman and I will always take care of you," on a regular basis. It makes my heart melt. Where Seneca is constantly making us laugh to tears, Kaden makes my heart feel good. He is so affectionate, sincere and thoughtful and every time he says anything to me, it's like he is giving my heart a tight squeeze. Oooh....I love him so much!!!
 
A few weeks ago, Kaden really wanted a set of Bakugans that have recently become the CRAZE for little boys. Boys (and girls alike) are collecting them and trade them on the playground at recess. I remember the excitement about things like that, so I understood HIS excitement. Still, I didn't want to just give them to him. So, we opened up his piggy bank and discovered that he had just enough to buy a set of 6 new Bakugans. So, Kaden and I went on a little trip to Target to buy his new Bakugans. On the way to the register, he looked up at me and said, "Do you know why this is the BEST DAY EVER?" I fully expected him to say that it was because he got his new Bakugans, when I said, "Why?" He looked up at me and said, "Because you're here with me!!" *sigh* But that's not all. When we got home, I sat at the kitchen table with him and he showed me every single one and how they transform and how strong each one is, etc. While we were sitting together he said, "Mama. You are so fun to be with. I love you so much." Is he for real? I so love him....he is my little angel man.
 
Kaden is even (with very little coaching from Mama) so thoughtful to his little sister. Whenever he is with me to pick her up from preschool, he always asks how her day was and what she made. He always shares with her and tells her how much he loves her. Ooooh..it just makes my heart want to explode. It seems like there are far fewer true gentlemen in our generation that there were in our parents' and grandparents' generation. I am so proud to have my little guy already on the road to being one of "those guys" who treats women...and all people....with love and respect. Most of which, comes absolutely naturally to him. Love that. There is a serious sense of healthy "Mama Pride" being the Mama of a little gentleman.

Lately, our breakfast conversations have always somehow been directed to the topic of Satan. No matter what we are talking about, Seneca or Kaden will bring it up. And speaking of, Kaden (on his own) started asking Heavenly Father to "please not let us have the spirit of Satan in our hearts" in his prayers. So love that. Anyway....our morning conversations have been something like this (an example from last week):

KADEN: Satan doesn't want us to learn or play or be happy. He doesn't want us to have any toys either.
SENECA: Not even my TEDDY BEAR??????
KADEN: Nope. And he doesn't want us to go to McDonalds either.

KADEN: (eating breakfast) Mama..Satan doesn't want us to try new things. He just wants us to try the same things. I even tried cheese on my English Muffin and it is Yuuuu--mmy. Satan is mad right now, because I tried new things.

KADEN: I love you Seneca.
SENECA: I love you Kaden.
KADEN: Mama, Satan doesn't want us to love each other. But I will always love my family. Mama, I love you so much. Satan is mad right now because I said that.

KADEN: Mama, there was a boy in my class and Satan was happy because he was disrupting the class.
SENECA: But you wasn't, wight (right) Kaden? Him's (Satan) mad because we didn't follow Him's plan. We followed Jesus' plan.

Not a day goes by that I don't hear Kaden tell me that I am the "best Mama ever" or "the best Chef ever" (for making grilled cheese, corn dogs or pizza pockets..LOL!) and that he loves  me "to the moon and around and around and around and around and around and infinity and a thousand and a million and a billion infinity much." Every day, when we are in the car, it is a love fest...."I love you Mama." "I love you Seneca." "I love you Kaden." etc. etc. etc. I LOVE IT!! Kaden is always concerned about others' feelings...including mine, his Daddy's and Seneca's. I love that he never wastes an opportunity to tell us he loves us. Some, he has probably picked up through example, but I truly believe that Kaden is just generally a loving, thoughtful and sensitive soul. He is so wise beyond his years and some of the comments he makes to me and in his prayers are so deep and thoughtful...he never seizes to amaze me. He provides so much love and comfort for my heart...and I can't even adequately express how much I love him. But perhaps "to the moon and around and around and around and around and around and infinity and a thousand and a million and a billion infinity much....plus one" at least comes close! ;-)

And a special thank you to my sweet and spunky little Seneca, who took every one of these pictures of me and my little bud yesterday before church (it was a little bright..thus, the closed eye. Ha ha!). Love that my kids are showing interested in a hobby that I love so much. This next one is my personal fave of the ones she took....
 
LOL..kidding. My actual fave is the first pic in this entry. I absolutely love how randomly she cropped the shot...and captured a totally perfect and charming "Kaden smile!" Love that! What a handsome little guy he is! Thanks so much Seneca! Mama loves both of her babies to much she could just SCREAM! Oooh...LOVE YOU!

{too much tv}

Something that most people don't know about me, is that I grew up without a TV. When I was really little (so young, that I don't even remember this), the TV we did have, broke. And after it broke, Mom & Dad just decided not to replace it. Instead, we replaced TV with time together as a family, starting with a Family Home Evening (that I DO remember) where Mom shared this Berenstein Bears book with us. Inside of the book is a poem that we all memorized together...

When the TV is on
All day without rest,
Mama knows it's too much
And Mama knows best!

We spent quality time together, did our homework, played games, read books, made crafts, wrote in our journals, went on outings, sang together, played musical instruments, etc. The only time we would watch TV is when Dad would rent one for General Conference and during the month of December for the Christmas specials. After years of no TV, our parents started giving us choices like, "Would you like a new sound system (since all 5 of us girls sang together) or a TV?" or "Do you want a new computer or a TV?"....and every time, we would choose the OTHER thing and NOT the TV. So after a time, even as little kids and teens, we started to see the value in things OTHER than TV. Funny thing is, we found out years later that Dad HAD bought a TV and would keep it at the Stake Center in his office and just bring it HOME for Conference and Christmas. He realized after a few years of renting a TV, that it would be cheaper to buy one and just store it, than to keep renting it. LOL! I have always been one that enjoys interacting with people, being social, being active, reading, making crafts and being a very avid journal writer. I am sure a lot of that is just my personality. But I wonder if it wasn't also partially due to the fact that I was raised in a home without T.V.....and where we DID THINGS TOGETHER and did things FOR each other...and stretched our minds with meaningful activities and interacted with each other and with other families OFTEN. All good things.

This generation of kids is HOOKED to television. And it's not just kids. At one point, I had probably about 10 shows I "couldn't miss." Literally. I will be the first to admit that I was ADDICTED to TV. I even remember myself saying, "I LOVE TIVO! Now I can watch even MORE TV in less time!" LOL! Crazy...so much TV...and so much less interaction within families and with friends and loved ones. There is also so much that needs to be done and so many other worthwhile things that we could be doing to bring us closer together and stretch our minds. But somehow, even I couldn't make that step to just get rid of it. "But they're my shows!! How can I live without my shows????" LOL! I just couldn't imagine living without them.

But then, something wonderful happened...I got outrageously busy. This year has been crazy busy...and there just hasn't been TIME for TV for me. Chas even stopped saving my shows on DVR because there were HUNDREDS of them..and I just wasn't getting caught up. I had planned to just watch them on the internet. Shows that I had followed for 5 years or more, I am now SEASONS behind. And you know what? I don't even care. It's weird....and wonderful. I might, every now and again, catch an episode of something online, but even those instances are few and far between. It just is not a priority anymore.

The biggest dilemma was how we could possibly live without Nick Jr. or Disney Channel. And I mean that seriously. The only way I got over that, was by pure accident (yet possibly providence). A week ago, one of my awesome brother-in-laws helped to fix a few of our Christmas lights (yes..they are still up from last year...might as well just keep em up now! YAY..didn't even have to put em up! Good times!). Whether we accidentally nudged the satellite, or if it was pure "coincidence," our satellite suddenly went down right then. The ironic thing is, the TV had a prompt that gave instructions of how to fix it with your remote....and we have no idea where the remote is. LOL! I totally could have looked for the remote..and fixed it somehow...but I didn't. And you know what? We have PLAYED!!!! My kids have played together, we have read books, we've built with legos...and we have had FUN..WITHOUT THE T.V.!!! So what I realized during the course of this week, is that WE CAN ABSOLUTELY LIVE WITHOUT T.V.! And not only that, but LIFE IS BETTER and more RICH without T.V.! I know..possibly a "No Duh!" statement, but it was a fabulous realization for us!

Kaden was a little disappointed about the prospect of not having T.V., but when I explained that we could still get some videos from the library to watch every now and again, he came around. And so today, I did something that I never thought I would ever do as a Mama...even WITH the awesome experience that I had growing up without a T.V......I called Direct TV this morning and CANCELLED OUR SERVICE!!! And I tell ya, it was the happiest feeling EVER! When they asked if I wasn't happy with the service or if they could do anything to entice me to reconsider, I was so happy to say, "Your service has been wonderful and if we ever decide to activate our service again, we will definitely go with Direct TV...but for now, I want to spend time with my kids!! In all due respect, my family is more important than our TV." The best part is, the great gal at Direct TV said, "I probably shouldn't be saying this since I work for Direct TV, but I really admire you for that. Please let me know if there's ever anything we can do for you in the future." Well happy day! So as of today, we are a TV-less fam. SO looking forward to filling all of that time with fun activities that will enrich our lives, expand the imaginations of my little ones...and bring us closer together!

Our TV was on
All day without rest.
Mama knew it was TOO much...
And this Mama knows best!! ;-)

{happy 4th birthday seneca!}

 
I have to say, as I sit here realizing that it was 4 years ago today that my precious little baby girl was born, I am terrified thinking how fast that time has gone. 4 years...gone...in the blink of an eye. My heart aches and my tears fall freely as the reality of how quickly time goes by, truly sets in today. I remember this day, the day my dream baby arrived, very literally as if it was yesterday. I remember the conversations in the delivery room, how quickly the contractions started when I was induced and how they had to slow me down because the pain was so overwhelming (even for someone with a very high pain tolerance) and the epidural hadn't had time enough to set in - tears quietly streaming down my cheeks as I tried to bear the immense pain that had come on so suddenly. I remember my sister Julie standing right up into my face trying to help me breathe and I finally had to ask her to just leave because it just wasn't helping..LOL (love you Pulse). I remember my doctor showing up just in the nick of time. I remember being annoyed that it had all happened so fast that they hadn't gotten me a mirror to watch the delivery. I remember them saying that the baby had a lot of hair. I remember  the doctor and nurses saying how beautiful the baby was and me saying, "Is she a girl?" since no one had shown her to me yet and confirmed the gender. LOL! And I remember finally seeing her face.....and recognizing her instantly; knowing she was mine...my dream baby. I remember knowing that her name would be Seneca Zella.
 
I remember the epidural only taking on one side, but taking so strong that I couldn't be moved for 3 hours after the delivery. I remember the cafeteria sandwich the nurse brought me after I delivered and I remember thinking that it was the best sandwich I had ever had. I remember being moved to a new room and instantly blogging about my precious little angel. I remember being so tired and sending my little one to the nursery so I could sleep. I remember sleeping through the whole night and never even remembering the nurses taking my blood and checking on me throughout the night. I remember the next morning, aching to have my little one next to me and calling the nurse and saying, "Can you please bring her to me...I need to hold her." I remember that the pediatrician was with her at the time and I had to wait. I remember my heart aching and aching until that door opened. And I remember seeing her for the first time the day after she was born.....she was literally breathtaking. I remember holding her all day long those few days...not even watching TV...just holding her and looking at her and feeling like my heart would absolutely explode. I wouldn't put her back in her little bed for anything. I remember feeling complete peace. I'll never forget that feeling. I remember taking her home to her big brother. I remember seeing him hold her and love her and thinking, "these two precious ones are my miracles...this is what my life is all about." And I remember all of this so vividly...as if it were yesterday. And just like that....we are 4 years later...and my baby is not a baby anymore.

Dearest Seneca, you are Mama's little angel. You are such a spirited and curious and creative little thing. You try our patience often with your stubbornness and yet, how grateful I am that you ARE so determined and that you never give up. If we take that heavenly quality and focus it on good things, what a strength that will be throughout your life. You will be a young woman who stands for truth and righteousness with a resolve to never give up and never give in when faced with trials and temptations. You are so smart and your sense of humor not only keeps us laughing constantly, but that humor has been a great source of strength to your Mama. Your sense of humor and positive attitude will be a strength to you during difficult times and will always lift those around you...as it does me now. You are rough and tumble, very rarely clean and tidy, because you love to get out there and have fun...make messes, build things, play in the dirt (and eat it sometimes too)...you like to get your hands dirty. Another great quality. I hope that you will always get right in there and "get your hands dirty" and not simply stay on the sidelines and watch others serve and be involved. But then, you are also soft and snuggly and so affectionate. You love your Mama and Daddy and you love to tell us often. You also tell your brother how much you love him and give all of us squeezes all day long. I hope that you will always be so vocal about your feelings towards those you love. Never waste an opportunity to tell those you love that you love them. Never. Stay close to us and stay close to your big brother. And please, always stay close to your Savior. For He loves you just as we do and just as we will always, always be here for you....so will He. Seneca, you and Kaden are my greatest treasures. Your Mama is very creative and many feel that she can make just about anything. But let it not be misunderstood....YOU TWO are the grestest things I have EVER made. EVER. You are my little miracles. My love for you could never adequately be described....and perhaps you may never know of the love I have for you until you have little ones of your own. But until then, (and I believe that this is one of the ways that you and Kaden have become so affectionate...and I love that), Mama will continue to try and show you.....by loving and squeezing and telling you 10 bazillion times a day just how much you mean to me and how wonderful you are. Your Mama and Daddy love you and Kaden above everything. Seneca...please don't ever forget who you are, what you stand for and that we, and your Heavenly Father love you so much. We are so proud of you and look forward to every moment we have with you..you bring pure JOY to our lives. You will always be Daddy's little "Seni" and Mama's "Baby Girl."  Happy Birthday Seneca!!!