Cupid

Cupid and her arrow...

A Swingin' Good Time

We went to our good friend Luke's 5th birthday party on Saturday. The party was held at a gymnastics gym and was pretty cool.  There was nothing off limits - the kids could do whatever they wanted. Zane's favorites were the swing, rope swing and foam pit (not pictured).  We actually had two birthday parties on Saturday at the same time, so Josh took Landon to one and I took Zane to this one - that is why you don't see any pictures of Landon!

The Birthday Boy!

He looks like he's crying, but he is laughing really hard.  He had a blast!

Rockstar

Looked over at Josh the other night and this is what I found - what a nerd!  Love this guy, always keeps me laughing!

And, I have no idea how he got it to stick to his head - weirdo!

Lake Alice

Josh and Zane went for a bike ride this past weekend and road from our house to Fall City on a trail called the "Powerline Trail" and ended up at Lake Alice!  They sent me thes pictures!  I had no idea where they were going until I got the pictures.  Zane was pretty excited when he got home to tell me all about it.  I hope to do this ride one day this summer - looks like fun!

Basketball Pictures

I just received an email with Zane's basketball photo and team photo - thought I'd share.  And oh, before you say anything or ask - I have no idea what the heck the kid to Zane's right is doing; your guess is as good as mine!

Kabota Gardens {Photoshoot}

One of my good friends asked me if I'd take family photos for her and I never pass up the chance to do a "Wannabe Photographer Photoshoot" - so we set a date and crossed our fingers for good weather! Apparently we crossed them just enough, because the weather was gorgeous this past weekend!  I picked Kabota Gardens for the location.  Zane's 18 mos pictures were done there and I remembered it being gorgeous.  It was very nice this past weekend, but I know in a month or two it will even be more beautiful once everything is in bloom.  This place is huge...we walked around for a long time and didn't even see half of it.  I highly suggest checking it out!

I purposely got there a little early so I could scope out some good spots to take photos...thankfully I had my own personal models there with me to practice on before the real photoshoot.  I'm so thankful that my boys are such good sports about my endless picture taking.  It takes some bribing at times and more often than not it takes me allowing them to say gross bodily function type words to get them to smile/laugh - but it is usually worth it in the end!

I couldn't chose a favorite of them, so you get to see a few - you're welcome!

After the family had all of their shots taken - I took a couple of Zane & Brooklyn together...

Good-bye Basketball

The boys had their last basketball practices this past Saturday!  They both did really well and both came a long way over the last 2 months; especially Landon!  He went from absolutely hating that hour of his life every week to being somewhat content with it!

Both were pretty excited about their medals!

Video Debut

You may remember a recent post when I told you about Zane and I being asked to take part in a Type 1 Diabetes awareness video - well, it finally went live today!  Again, very out of my comfort zone, but so glad we did it.  We are getting so much positive feedback from people - I love it.  If you'd like to view it, here you go:

He Loves Me

These "notes" from Zane never get old. I know someday they will stop and that day will be a very sad day in my life...but for now I will cherish every single one of them. Kid really knows how to melt my heart into a sap pile. 

Practice and a Mentor {Make Perfect}

I am a classified wannabe photographer.  I love it.  I love everything about photography.  Problem is...I don't know everything about it and probably never will...but I can surely learn a lot more!  I have a serious passion for photography; I want to just get better and better at it.  Slowly, but surely I will.  I know the best way to learn how to take good pictures is to practice, practice, practice and trust me, I do. Ask my husband and children...they will tell you - I'm in their faces with a camera every.single.day (no joke).  But along with practice you need knowledge and that is where Amy comes in.

I had never actually met Amy before Sunday, but through the good ol' 6-degrees of separation I came to know her! Amy is a wonderful photographer; I love her work - I seriously stalk her (which I fully admitted once I met her and thankfully, she is fine with it).  Amy does mentoring sessions and mentoring is exactly what I need.  Thankfully, my friend Lori is also a lover of photography and wants the same kind of help I do - so we tag teamed a mentoring session with Amy in Olympia on Sunday and it couldn't have gone any better!  I learned so much and cannot wait to put it all into practice!  I really hope that I can soon take an editing workshop with her, so I can turn my 'ok' pictures into awesome pictures!  Ultimately the goal is to not have to edit much, but reality is a bugger and lighting isn't always good, your subject(s) aren't always cooperating (see 6 and 3 year old boys) and sometimes, you just need to make things better than they actually are - that's why they invented editing software people!

Our new best friend Amy.

My big girl mocha - so pretty!

After some mentoring and coffee it was time to head out to practice, practice, practice!

Rain was a bummer - but we made the best of it.

Lori in action!

Thanks Lori for capturing me in action!

Best cupcake I think I've ever had came from here!  A must-do when in Olympia.

Next two photos were taken by Amy - thank you!

Love this!

{My birthday and Christmas are pretty far away, but if you need any ideas for what to buy me - I have a whole list of photography must-haves that I'm happy to pass on to you!}

After our trek to Olympia, Lori was nice enough to bring me back to my car...my car was not nice enough to start!  Dead battery...as in D.E.A.D - not "I left the lights on dead"...we're talking "must replace now dead", ugh.  Thank God for AAA, Olive Garden and great friends.  Lori was so sweet to stay with me while I waited for AAA - I was told 1-2 hours.  I pulled the "I'm a single female in a dark parking lot" bit with the dispatcher who said she was sure to note that for me - yeah right.  Lori and I went over to Olive Garden for a nice dessert (so yummy) and sure enough AAA shows up about 30 mins later.  I guess my single female bit worked :)  One new battery, a $125 later and I was on my way home!

Lori and Amy, thank you both so much - you will never know how much that one day means to me!

St. Patty's 1K

Very last minute I signed both boys up to run the St. Patty's 1K Kids Run up here on the Ridge this past Saturday.  Zane was so excited!  Landon, had no idea what he was doing, but too was very excited!  Due to it being a very last minute idea, they were out of kid size t-shirts, but Zane didn't care - he was fine wearing an adult large, even came up with the idea of how to make it fit (tie the back and stuff it in his pants)!  Landon would've been swimming in an adult large, so he just sported some green and seemed to be fine with that as well!

We got up Saturday morning and headed down the street to the start of the run.  Zane ran into a school friend right away, so was even more excited.  The two of them + Landon got right in front, they wanted to be the first off the starting line.  That plan was great until the kid behind Zane wanted to be first more than anyone else and plummeted Zane once the bull horn went off.  Zane fell to the ground and at least 4 other kids tripped and dog piled on top of him.  They were all crying.  Any adults around were pealing kids off of Zane one by one.  In the meantime, Landon was gone...kid took off when the horn blew and he was running withe crowd, I caught glimpse of him as he was turning the corner at the end of the road oy vey.  I got Zane up, dusted him off, checked for any blood or bumps on his poor little head that smacked the concrete and once we determined he was ok - he took off running to catch up to his friend and I ran to find Landon!  To say it was chaotic is a mass understatement, but in the end, we all had fun and the boys had a blast!  Zane can't wait to run the Cinco de Mayo run in a couple months - I think we'll stand more towards the back for that one!

Run Landon Run

Run Zane Run!

Landon finishing the race strong!

Zane and his buds from school (JD & Drew)!

Proof we all survived the chaos!

Shootin' Hoops

Why can't this beautiful spring weather stay around for more than 2 days?  It is such a tease...beautiful the last two days and tomorrow the rain is supposed to be back for the foreseeable future - boo hiss!

We are soaking up whatever Vitamin D we can get - and tonight we did that by heading to Zane's school to shoot hoops and play!