long awaited

Wishing. Wanting. Waiting...

after many tears and even more prayers...

the wait is finally over!



Kelly has her long awaited bundle of joy safely in her arms.

... and he is sooooooo sweet ...






























Kelly,

You must have said thank you to me at least 10 times while you were here. You are such a gracious sweet person, I couldn't be happier for you. Thank YOU for giving me the honor of photographing this ever so sweet time in your life. Samuel is cute as can be, as are you.

mucho love... JILL

I have been a VERY busy girl.

and so there is much to tell...

May 15 | sister has baby

May 16| mom turns??? i'll never tell...

May 17| (this is the one I REALLY want to tell you all about) Took off in the volvo California bound...


What...

You're shocked aren't you.

You are.

It's because it's so dang filthy isn't it? Yes well it's probably even dirtier now :) haha.

It rained on us a bit. And oh my gosh it was freezing!!

Chad was a love and drove the whole way! Which is epic because usually he leaps into the passenger seat before I can even get out of the house. And if per-chance I beat him to the car he says (without fail) You have to drive, I gotta put my shoes on... and there he stands sans shoes.

So trust me when I say this was a miracle! Which is how I managed to get this next photo :)


Do you see the man racing across the sky?? Do you ever allow yourself time to look at the sky anymore? Recharge your creativity by letting your imagination wander through the clouds?

A photog friend recently started a site to be enjoyed by all. Cloud dreaming. Check it out. You will find yourself noticing the sky more, and maybe you will even point your camera toward the sky and share your cloud dreams with the rest of us :)

On the { why } page at the very bottom there is an adorable little picture and beneath it reads:

Creative mind comes from the times you thought you wasted…
Now, please relax. Something good will happen to you.
Naoko Stoop

May 17| kickoff dinner for Lyon-shop 5! We ate at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana. I can't even tell you how excited I was to be there. If you must know I ordered a turkey burger. it was giant and delicious :)

May 18| like a dream, I spent all day with the amazing Amelia Lyon! My eyes were opened to so much and i am ever so grateful that i had the opportunity to attend. Truly an experience i will never forget. ( and worth every penny :)

I told Chad to take my camera and go have some fun. He tried...

He spent most of the day at the beach just cruising around. I like this shot he got.

Afterwards we headed over to Grandma's house in Temecula! She is an amazing woman. I think her house is her art masterpiece. I sometime tell people how lovely it is but now you can see for yourself :)


You may think some of these are black and white photos but they are not! She just loves black and white. These are all color photos :) Above you can see my gorgeous Aunt Sue.


Clever and pretty.


I loved this picture on the wall in that same room above the desk pictured below...


and of course beautiful cousin Rachel sits atop the desk.

You know some things are grand when they grace your presence no matter your abode.


This is one of those things that lives where grandma lives ALWAYS. It reminds me of her.



I love this. LOVE IT.

Isn't she adorable?!?!?!!!


She played...

I photo'd...



the bird bowl... yet another little something that follows grandma where ever she goes :)

Grandma and Grandpa, if you're reading this... thank you for being so kind and hospitable! ( did i tell you how they made us waffles with all the fixings for breakfast? oh it was delicious :) Thank you - Thank you - Thank you!!!!


May 19| Visit some family before heading home. This is my super fabulous cousin Lauren. She leaves for her mission in a matter of days! I feel very thankful to have gotten to see her before she goes!


May 21| you guessed it. That baby of Stacey's wasn't getting any younger! Do you just want to smooch those soft little cheeks?! Oh he is a cuddly little thing.


May 21| yes we're still on that day. Lucy got to get all dressed up for her recital photos! She will be preforming in her first recital June 12.

"Oh my beautiful doll" ... yeah you can say that again!!


i accidently bought too many tickets. Anyone want to go see Lu dance? I am sure it will be chuckle :) !! i got one extra seat.


May 22| Got to spend a good chunk of the morning with my Natalie getting her recital photos taken. She is not the lovely in front but rather the pretty little thing admiring herself in the mirror. haha. This is for her ballet performance "Paquita"... but she will be dancing in ALL the shows. We went to lunch between photos. We took extra fortune cookies in hopes of being extra fortunate.

I only liked the first one I got...

your clever mind will lead you to many rewards

sounds good to me!

May 22| (still) partied with Mia for her first birthday! Lori made us dinner (which was super yum btw) That was awesome Lolo!!

oh wait where are we? ah yes

May 23| attended the 3rd dedication of The Gila Valley Temple. It had to be the 3rd. Did you know it was actually dedicated 3 times? On the way i lost my wedding ring down the crack of the car between the seats... I was a little frantic. I couldn't see it from any angle. The kids couldn't see it from behind. It was gone. Fallen into the deep dark hole of nothingness. We had to drop Lu off at my moms house and when we stopped i got out and searched... nothing. i wanted to keep searching because on the way to moms I discovered a hole in the carpeting that lead to parts unknown. I though hmmm.... maybe this leads to the street? My mom suggested we had better go and trust that it was there somewhere. And I knew she was right so we went. It was beautiful! I cried twice, and chuckled atleast 5 times :) I loved what Sis. Holland had to say about temples. It was she that made me cry first.

When we got home my dad told me how it was odd that they had started that 3rd session 10 minutes early. You see mom was right, mom is ALWAYS right... good thing we left when we did!

Chad is my hero. He had to take the seat out of the car to get under the floor boards where my ring had disappeared to. He got it back for me!

May 24| Don't even get me started! Chad is waiting for me to relax with him. i think I shall go now. it's 11:45 and I am

POOPED!

g'night :)

OodLEs and ooDleS

I'm being really strict with myself these days. No computer after 10. So far... no good.

Well the thing is I went fast walking with a friend till after 10 and well there's just no point in pretending I'm going to bed anytime soon (still need a shower amongst other things)

Oh yeah... it's been one of THOSE days :)

totally didn't even get dressed. Not even to go walking. pretty impressive huh?

So I figured as long as I'm on hiatus, I may as well share these super fun photos of Lulu bell.











So your thinking it looks like we were having a ball?!

We were.

and you wondered where I got that pretty little dress?!

Thought so.


Oh and you think Lucy may just be the cutest little thing you ever laid eyes on?!

She is.

{ Pretty Sure. }


ok ok enough pompous boasting. for now

So...... about the dress. I discovered the delights of a fun new (to me) store... thanks to Katie! A while back we went shopping and she tells me about this store she want to go to called H&M. She says theres one in Scottsdale. I say great, Scottsdale is my favorite mall, let's go...

though i did think it was weird that I'd never heard of this mythical store that exists in my favorite mall. hmm.

Looking at the directory Katie is very confused because it's not listed anywhere...

K: is there another mall in Scottsdale??

J: yes. oops.



haha.

That was a bust! And I then forgot about it completely.


Well until I was headed to the JCrew up there (the only one in AZ with kids clothes)

and just like that I spotted it. Oh yeah, it's all coming back to me (seriously this was like a few months ago... not years like you might be thinking)

They had some really cute stuff. And some cheesy stuff. But good prices! So thank you Katie for cluing me in. i promise we'll take a little trip up there before school starts again!


Does her face just make you want to smile?


Have you ever seen a more perfect face on a jumping picture? It's hard to tell she's even jumping but I swear her feet aren't touching the ground. You can tell by the way her dress is ruffled upward and her hair is springing up to her chin. She makes it look so easy :)

Have I mentioned Lucy loves it when i take her picture? So keep it up moms, if you force it on them enough maybe just maybe they will take a liking to it! How do you think I got her hair curled? Thats right... threatened to not take her pics. haha. I am not joking. Well that and I promised her some pie :)

I don't know whats up with the shotty quality on the video I { tried } to make... oh well, you get the idea.



ahhhh shower here i come!!!

and for tomorrow...

Brunch date followed by a brazilian blowout... yep. I will let you know how that goes! Does that sound bad? it's just a hair thing. I swear I'm not prissy... you didn't see what my hair looked like yesterday morning after going to bed with wet hair. If you did I KNOW you'd understand!

oh wow. TMI. goodnight.

slight intermission.

It was such a lovely day here in Arizona today. I treated myself to some nature therapy.


I met a bird named Rita. Well, if wild birds had names I think thats what she would be called. If she's even a she...

at first she seemed leary of me, but by the end of our 1.5 minute encounter I feel we bonded and well, i think she likes me.

Did you think she was perched on an old vintage camera? No, it's not true. it tricked my eye too there for a minute. Clever that Rita is!


I call this one "Cheers". I had Chad guessing what I named it. He couldn't get past kiss, kissy, kissing flowers...

I still haven't told him. It's driving him crazy and this is why I post the name on my blog.

Do you love the irony here?? If only he read my... oh nevermind. It's silly to care. So close. And yet so not.


I'm not sure but I am pretty sure prickly pears have the most cheerful blooms in the whole desert!! :)

Hope you all had a very fabulous mother's day. I had ribs for dinner. Doesn't get more carnivorous than that!

The clock Struck one...

whirl to me

soft little faces | sweet little lips | rosey posey cheeks

Sometimes I have to sneak time to work on my own stuff.

Stolen time well spent :)

The FARM{ER}

A couple years back my mom and dad bought some land in Coolidge, AZ. I have to say it was a little unexpected.

Coolidge? Why Coolidge? And why at all? What is the meaning of this I ask?

They call it { The Farm }

they would sometimes pick us up and take us to see the farm. And once I even heard him talking with his neighbor about growing things on the farm.

and then he did.

behold...


my dad in his very own field of oats.

could I be any prouder? dare I say no!

for that is one gorgeous field of oats!


and oh how my children LOVE the farm.


There's something nurturing to the soul about standing out it that field of oats. Makes you feel connected to the earth in a personal/spiritual way.


My mom grew up on a farm. Her daddy was a farmer. I imagine it brings her some peace to be there. She speaks fondly of hanging out in the orchards eating green apples all day. As many apples as she could eat and never did they make her sick! (so says she)


and you know what?


I don't wonder anymore.

I understand.

{ I love my life. my family. my world }