What the future holds?

One thing about living at the Stoker's, Marissa has her own little living doll to dress up however she likes. . .and Jackson LOVES it. He goes into her room and hangs out with her. I'll look around for him and find him chilln' in her pants drawer under her bed or dancing to her IPOD. Then every once in awhile he will come out with some funny outfit on that Missy helped him pick out. This is mainly funny to me because lately I have been helping Brandon's mom go through all her pictures and put them into photo albums. The funny part is there are a ton of pictures where Missy is dressed up in weird outfits that her older sisters put her in. Since Marissa is one of the youngest in their family she never had someone to pass the torch onto. But now she does, Jackson is her new best friend and he really loves her and all her crazy costumes. Who knows if Jack ever becomes a famous reporter or aerobics instructor these photos might come in handy.

Dancing King

Dancing King


This is the first video I have ever uploaded. Marissa took it (that is why half of it is sideways)
but it is still adorable. Enjoy the dancing baby.

New Projects

So I don't know if it is a nesting thing or if I am just really bored because I don't have the usual day-to-day tasks that most moms have (going to the grocery store, the bank, etc) but I have been looking for projects left and right lately. My scrapbooks are all caught up, I bought the fabric for the baby's room and started working on that, and I recently decided to dress up some of my cardigans that I thought needed a little something extra. I went to Micheal's and found these really cute fabric flowers and old fashioned buttons on sale. So a bought them and tried to think about what I could do with them. I ended up with several cute accessories and embellishments that dazzled up my old stuff. Here are some pictures of what I created.

I added small flowers to the neckline A ribbon trim around the neck and down the buttonsThese are headbands with flowers or buttons that I thought were fun accessories. Jackson actually doesn't try to pull these off like he does earrings or a necklace.

Jackson the Giant

Jackson is 15 months old now, I can't believe how fast he is growing up. We went to the doctor yesterday and he is 34 1/4 inches (off the charts for height) and 24lbs (50%). The doctor said most 2 yr olds average 35 inches so for him to already be 34 1/4 he is a GIANT. Bragging time, here are some other things about Jackson at this age:

-he loves swimming, especially going down the slide with dad
-he has 11 teeth (3 molars) and another 4 teeth are about to break through
-he can say: mama, dada, bird, ball, doggie, and moon (actually it is more like boon but I know he is talking about the moon because he points to it when he says it).
-his favorite toy is the dog (Twix)
-he loves reading books especially Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar
-he eats regular food including hole grapes, blueberries, and pizza
-he still sleeps throughout the night (9pm to 10 am)
-he can point to his toes, knees, tummy, and ear
-he can fold his arms for praying or listening
-he follows commands like drying spills, picking up toys with mom, finding his cups, or throwing things in the garbage
-he is still working on using a spoon and fork. . .sometimes he can do it sometimes he doesn't have the patience
-he likes to tackle the stuffed purple octopus

-he loves dancing and listening to the IPOD

He is a great baby and I love him so much, especially when he gives me kisses at night.

Wilson Family Pictures

Yesterday I had the opportunity to shoot a great family with one of the happiest babies I have ever met. Lora is such a beautiful mother and it was inspiring to see the relationship she has with her husband and son. The Wilson's (Lora, Joe, and Tommy) were fantastic! They had so much love for eachother and for their little boy, who is 6 months old. It feels like it has been forever since Jackson was 6 months old. They were such troopers too, continuing to have great smiles, even in 109 degree heat. I am still getting used to this Arizona summer as far as photography goes. In the summer time it is so hot and the sun raises at 5:30 and sets at 7:30. Long hot days really make it difficult to find a good time to take pictures outside. Thankfully, all the families I have shot lately have been wonderful.

It's Independence Day!

As a young child the 4th of July was probably one of my favorite holidays. This is because we always went to my Grandparent's house that lived on the canal in Washington. They always made it a day to remember. The holiday usually included a watermelon seed spitting contest, looking for pennies with drilled holes on the beach (background: my Grandpa would always throw like 100 pennies on the beach and drill a single hole in 4 of them. If we found the penny with a hole it was worth $20. This was a good way to keep kids busy so parents could socialize.) We would also buy tons of fireworks at the local firework stands. Usually my dad would take us and we would buy the basic tube and balls system along with some fun kid fireworks like parachutes, pagodas, sparklers, and popits. He would then say that we were not buying any more fireworks and we would go home. About an hour later, after talking with my uncles, he would decide to go back to the stands to get some more. After around 3 trips to the firework stand we were set for a night of pyrotechnics with my dad as the head pyro. Then we would have a nice crab or some other kind of fresh seafood dinner and begin the set up. This included tents outside on the lawn for the kids to sleep in, a bonfire on the beach (once the tide went down) and lots of hotdogs, marshmallows, and even oysters for the adults. Once the sun went down it was time for the show while we worked on our bonfire snacks. Thankfully in all those years there were no major injuries or fires, although one year my uncle took a row boat out to rescue a parachuter and forgot to put the plug in the boat. Needless to say, he was about ankle deep in water before he made it back to shore with the parachuter. Finally we would end the night playing cards and talking over smore's. It was the best.Unfortunately in Arizona there are no fireworks to be bought, no canal water to smell, no fresh fish to eat, and no dad to risk his life to create a good show. But we made due. We started by watching the hot dog eating contest which we like to watch every year. Not only is it totaly discusting but it is so intriguing and funny that I am addicted. Then we had a few family friends over for food, pool fun, walleyball, and games. We even got to see some fireworks from the local church. It wasn't the same as the celebrations in Washington but it was still a good time. Jackson didn't make it to the fireworks (too much fun that it wore him out) but then again last year he slept through all the firework fun in Washington so I don't think he will be able to enjoy the big booms until next year.

**** I also just wanted to say that I am so grateful for all those people who are currently fighting for our country and other countries to have the same luxuries that we get to enjoy everyday.

Our little chef

Well I love cooking and I think it might be rubbing off on Jackson because yesterday all he wanted to do was play with the cooking play-stuff. He brought me over an apron to put on him and went to work. First he wanted to do the shopping by playing with the cash register.


Then he went straight to work in the kitchen pulling out all his supplies and dumping them on the ground (he is not the cleanest cook).
After he found what he needed he went to make me some eggs. The kitchen is pretty cool because when you put the pots on it makes a sizzle sound like the eggs are really cooking.


The only problem was he doesn't quite get the fact that it is fake food because he was really disappointed when he tried to eat the banana and it didn't taste like a banana.