Where On Earth Have I Been????

On November 10th Liza got Braces! I can't believe that I have a child old enough for braces! Crazy. She had to have 4 adult teeth extracted (we'll spare her and you the photo of that). The didn't do all 4 on one day, but she was such a trouper about it that they very well could have done it all in one day. We all know Liza tho, and nothing slows this girl down. In fact, I can't think of the last time that she was sick enough to lay still before 10:30 at night!! What a nut! She is SOO proud of her shiny teeth. This is a picture that the Orthodontist took for their clever little wall labeled, "new faces in braces" And she got a T-Shirt that says "wired by GO" (GO is Green Orthodontics) She was pretty excited. They only put wires on the bottom so far, so she hasn't started to feel the REALLY sucky part of braces, however, she did endure that getting used to the brackets part really well. Hardly any complains. I suppose her go get 'em attitude really comes in handy sometimes. :-)

On Nov 11th, my mom and her new husband Karl came for a visit. We had such fun! This is us on the River boat ride INSIDE the Opry Land Hotel. We got a really sweet deal on the tickets and it was still stupidly expensive, but I suppose it costs a lot to maintain an indoor garden/ river, so we coughed it up. We had a wonderful time at the "Rainforest Cafe" and lucked out to go on a night where the kids meals were discounted! :-) It was one of the most fun meals we've had. It ranked up there w/ some of our trips to medieval times. ( I don't know why it was so fun, but it was!) We had some good times shopping and Alex even took Karl out fishing one night.. brrr.
On November 12th Tori got her cast off. She was told not to participate in PE or jump on the trampoline until after Christmas tho. She was a good girl and took good care of her arm. It took a few days to get movement back in that elbow, but she seems to be as good as new now.
She was brave as could be.

I had my first "paying client" this month too! She is such a beautiful baby, so it was a really good session. She was all about sticking out her tongue and blowing bubbles. Made for some really cute shots. I take A LOT of time processing photos, I really don't like to show a picture 1/2 done, so I try to have it "perfect" before I show anyone. That is some serious processing time.
Right after photographing this beauty I flew to Maryland to photograph this little beauty. UH! I love babies!! :-) they are SO fun to play with. My dear friend Christina had this beautiful baby girl just a week before I arrived, so she was fresh and ready to be photographed. :-) I had such fun that day! I am STILL trying to finish processing this session (sorry Chris). But there were some really fun ones in there.
Okay okay, I didn't go to Maryland JUST to take pictures of the baby! Conveniently the NEW MOON Movie release was that weekend too. :-) How I LOVE these ladies! (sniff) We had SUCH a fun night, there was a HUGE group of us, and we were all sitting relatively together. I had to swipe pictures from Tracy's site, cuz i didn't take my camera and Jeri is slower at blogging then I am. (if that is possible) and she took pictures for us. I will have to post those later.
Here we are in our catchy shirts. This isn't even the whole group.. would you believe we are missing some crazy girls! The movie was good, the company was better! I miss my Maryland Sisters.
My shirt says "If you do that again, I will so give you a paper cut in front of Jasper."

*If you haven't read new moon... that is supposed to be really funny*

I also got to spend some serious time shopping and eating out with Jeri and Christina. And holding that new baby. I had a perfect brow job done at Miss Scarletts!! I had a couple wonderful quiet sleep in's, and some late night photography talk w/ Jeri. What fun!

While I was gone to Maryland, Brent's Dad and his wife Arbra came to visit. This is the first time that my older two have met Arbra. Apparently a good time was had by all. I was sad to have missed out. I have no pictures, but they also did the Opry Land hotel. Alex also made Grandpa Wall endure the cold to go fishing. He LOVES having that pond so close. Liza took the both of them over to the horses and showed off her riding skills. They seem to have really enjoyed their time here, and the kids spoke fondly of it as well. Liza was particularly proud of the fact that she weaseled Grandma Arbra into and extra ornament of a fancy cowboy boot. She loves it, AND the fact that she received a little bonus.

After I returned home, I had the privilege of doing another paying photo shoot. This time it is for a man in my ward who has written a book. I believe it is called "Porch Thinkin' " and he (Jimmy Blackmon) needed an author photo for his book cover. The book is supposed to be "at the printers" and this is the picture that he chose.

Very Fun, but again, time consuming with the whole editing obsession that I have. Soon we will get together again to do a photo shoot (much more casual) for his website. It's been fun working w/ an adult who sits still and does what you tell them to. :-)

I didn't even have to wait for him to go to sleep so that I could pose him, like I do w/ the babies.

And apparently, I've taken a few naps w/ my puppy and my Katie. I LOVE naps in my chair, but now, when I ask Katie if she wants to rock, she whines.."Nooo, I don't want to go to sleep." BOO for kids getting old enough to know that if you sit still for a min, you'll fall asleep.
More to come.... I've got a lot of catching up to do.