It feels like Summer

The past 3 days the weather has been INCREDIBLE!
80 degrees during the day.
Last night at 8 pm it was still 70 degrees out.
After the 2 weeks of rain & cold temperatures, this weather feels glorious!
The girls think it is summertime.
They were upstairs playing while I was making their dinner last night & they came downstairs with their bathing suits on & said they wanted to go swimming.
It was 5:30 and 82 degrees out, so I thought, why not!?!

I told them they could go in the (freezing cold) pool, but I wasn't going to swim with them!

They had some mac & cheese poolside & then it was time to test out the water.

The water was SO cold. Really, really cold.

They realized I was right...it was cold!
And, they jumped out pretty quickly!
But, like all kids...they couldn't resist the water & went back in.

They only played in the pool for about 10 minutes & mostly just waded around our Acapulco step
It is crazy to think that just last week it was dumping buckets & 50 degrees!

Kevin and I realized last night that our girls are SO much happier (and so are we!) when the weather is warmer.

They need the sun, nice weather, the ability to run around & play to burn off all that energy!

Spring is finally here in California, and to make it even better, baseball season officially started today!
Let's go Giants!

This gorgeous weather makes me want to skip Spring & go straight to summer.
The bad news?
Summer is over 2 months away....
The good news?
Spring Break is only 2 days away!
Can't wait for a week off school next week!

Vintage Inspired Engagement Shoot

One of the reasons I am thankful for the blog world is because you meet new people that you wouldn't have met unless it was for your blogs.
Tegan & I have been reading each other's blogs for almost 2 years now.
{We met via our mutal friend Heather and over the past 2 years, we have gotten to hang out on several occasions & become friends beyond just blogs!}

Tegan & Matt got engaged over Christmas and I was thrilled when she asked me to do their engagement shoot. Heather had a craft night a few weeks ago and we all had fun brainstorming outfits, props & a location for the engagement shoot.

Before we started the engagement shoot, I snapped a some pictures of Tegan's son Mason (he turned 2 at the end of January, so this was his 2 year photo shoot)
Isn't he adorable? I took his 1 year pictures last year, I can't believe how much older he looks now!
Now, onto the engagement shoot...here is a sneak peek!
It was such a fun session & I think the pictures are really fun!
And, it was fun to go "outside the box" and edit them with a vintage feel.

They are getting married on 09.10.11...be still my number loving heart!
Congrats, Matt & Tegan!

It's Wedding Week!

My sister's wedding is in 5 days, so it's officially Wedding Week!

Because Rebecca is so organized, this week shouldn't be too crazy.
Yesterday, Kevin and I helped them finish up all the programs & tie ribbons on them.
I helped Rebecca format the menus that will be on each person's plate.
Tonight, everyone is coming over here to tie ribbons on all the menu's.
We did a sample one last night to figure out what kind of ribbon/bow to use.
Her wedding color is Tiffany Blue, but she is having splashes of tangerine, so that is the color she is doing for the menu's.

Here is a sneak peak of the girls flower girl dresses.
Originally, my mother in law was going to make them dresses.
I found a really cute pattern at Joann's.
But last month when I was at Target, I noticed this dress & it was only $20.
You can't even buy fabric for that cheap!
We are going to tweak a few things with the dress, like take off the bow in the back.
And, with this ribbon we are going to add a sash/bow.
My mother in law & I are going to work on that tomorrow!

So, the only things left on my wedding to-do list are:
1. Finish up menus (tonight)
2. Make sashes for the girls dresses (tomorrow)
3. Go to Mac & get make-up for wedding day
4. Mani/Pedi (Friday)
5. Write my Matron of Honor Speech
6. Do a practice run on the girls hair (hoping they let me curl it)
7. Pray that it doesn't rain.
Here is the projected forecast:
Beautiful all week & then rain on Saturday?!?! No!!!!
I keep telling Rebecca it is good luck if it rains on your wedding day.
As a precaution, she ordered these (with expedited delivery) last night just in case!
Praying the weatherman is wrong...rain, rain, stay away!

Rainy Day Randomness

How about some randomness on this rainy day?

It has rained for 14 days straight (with a few breaks in the storm)
Twice this week our pool has almost overflowed.

Luckily, Kevin rigged up a hose to siphon the water out of our pool to prevent it from overflowing.
This morning both girls slept in until 9:00!!!!!!
This lazy & rainy Saturday morning calls for hot coffee & cinnamon rolls. And cartoons.
We have NO plans this weekend.
I love weekends like this, especially after a busy week.
And, I have fresh daffodils in my kitchen...got them on sale for a $1.50. Boo-yah!
Look what I got at my happy place (Target) earlier this week:
A coffee table/storage ottoman. We didn't have anything there before, and this is perfect.
Look, it even opens up to store our blankets:
I also got a new vacuum cleaner. My old vacuum cleaner was working great, except the cord was really tangled. You see, I have a bad habit of NOT wrapping the cord back up. Well, the cord was so twisted that it started SPARKING & SMOKING when I was vacuuming the other day....needless to say, it was time for a new vacuum. And, I got this ONE because you push a button & the cord retracts back for you. Genius. It was made for losers like me!
Yesterday, there was a break in the storm & it stopped raining for a few hours so the girls and I played outside to take advantage of the sun. Kate wanted to water all the plants since we haven't watered them in a while (yeah, because it has been raining for 2 weeks straight!)
Check out Claire's crib. She is a hoarder & pack rat. She insists on sleeping with ALL of these blankets, dolls & books in her crib. She freaks if we try and take some out. I don't know how she is comfortable sleeping with all this stuff in her crib.
Speaking of Claire, this girl is giving us a run for our money. We are in the terrible 2's big time.
We have seen A LOT of this on a daily basis. Lord, give me strength & wisdom to parent this child!

Guess what is one week from today?!?! My sister's wedding! I am stalking weather.com & making sure there will be no rain on her wedding day. Kevin tells me I am banned from checking it because I check it every few hours!

Here is the 7 day forecast:

I will be hitting up the tanning booth today...my pasty white legs need a little color before the wedding.

Yes, I know tanning beds are bad, but you would be scared if you saw my white legs!

All of this is clean laundry, but not folded.
Guess what I will be doing today?
Folding it & putting it away. It has been sitting there for a week!
Happy Saturday to you!

Faith Blogs

Have you heard of Faith Blogs?
It is an awesome new website that has listings of Christian blogs.
I love their tag line....

A few weeks ago Katie (the founder of Faith Blogs, along with her husband) emailed me asking if they could list my blog on their website. Ummm....of course! And, they put me in the photography category (I am so not worthy of that, but Thank you!)

Today, my blog was their featured blog of the day:

{click picture & it will take you to Faith Blogs}

They have blogs listed under a bunch of different categories...adoption, faith & family, food & recipes, healthy living, homeschooling, pregnancy, photography and loving life.

Go check out Faith Blogs & have fun blog surfing all the super fun blogs they have listed!

Field of Gold

Behind my parents house is a beautiful open field.

During the Spring months this field is covered in mustard plants. Isn't it beautiful?
There are no fences, so this is what they see everyday from their house. I call it the field of gold.
As a little girl, I would tromp across this field to one of my friends houses.
In the summer, this field turns brown & we would spend summer evenings "cardboarding" down these hills.
(Please tell me you know what cardboarding is...or is that just a California thing?)

I have been wanting to do a photo shoot of the girls in the field and I finally had a chance in between rain storms a few days ago.

This week has been CRAZY busy. It has been one of those weeks, when I look at all the things on the calendar, I think..."How am I going to get through this week?"
It is also a week where I say, "My house is not going to get cleaned & laundry is going to pile up, there is no time for it this week!"
I have had school & work commitments, friend commitments, photography stuff, etsy shop orders and random scheduling conflicts. We have evening activities every night (but tonight). It's all good, but it has just been a busy, busy week. The good news? It's Wednesday night which means we are halfway to the weekend!
I am tired....and the rainy, overcast weather doesn't help that. I needed a little sunshine, and these pictures make me smile. My girls were in such good moods when I took these pictures a few days ago. And, the mustard...the beautiful field of gold flowers, I just love it. My parents have the best view!

But Today? Not very many smiles from them or from me. Two little girls who didn't want to listen or share their toys with one another. It was a cranky afternoon in the Larson home.
(Having PMS & craving chocolate doesn't help the situation...especially since I gave up dessert for Lent & can't have it!)

This may be my new favorite picture of Claire! Need to frame & print it ASAP.
She has the best smile EVER!

Even though today was rough, I am thankful that tonight both girls were in bed asleep by 7:15.
As for me, I have my jammies & fuzzy slippers on, I am armed with a cup of hot tea, American Idol on TV & I am going to get busy editing pictures as the rain beats down outside.
I am thankful His mercies are new each morning & that I get a second chance to have a better day tomorrow!

P.S. I am loving doing vintage edits lately...stay tuned for a sneak peek of a vintage-y inspired engagement photo shoot that I did a couple weeks ago!