the family photographer

Over the past few weeks I had the opportunity to take some pictures for family.  The baby is Myles, my cousin Elizabeth's boy.  He is her third boy!  Bless her.  Very cute.

These four are my cousins.  I love their matching outfits.  These guys are so photogenic.

I've been having fun taking more pictures this year with my photo challenge.  I already see improvement and it's only been a few weeks.  Progress is so motivational!

a talent do be developed

The other day I made a new discovery.  I can paint.  I can paint watercolor.  On a whim I asked Andrew if I could try out his new water color paints (not without guilt because it was a Christmas gift and I'm notorious for gifting Andrew things I will also use, but he asked for them).  It was just for fun, but it really was fun.  I've never considered myself an artist so this was a happy surprise.  I look forward to painting more, although I should consider purchasing my own supplies.  It goes to show that you never know how good you might be at something until you try.  This painting is a result of trying to keep things interesting and fresh with my "picture at home each day" goal.  I am officially a convert to goal keeping, if I wasn't already.  Who knew?

2013 goals

It's taken me a while to settle on some goals and I still don't quite feel settled but I better write them down now before time runs away.  I'm hoping that my some of my goals will be habit much sooner than a year.  I also want to add a few goals here and there throughout the year to keep things fresh.

1. Take a picture everyday at home.  This is to motivate me to work on my home, improve my photography skills, and capture fun moments with the kids.
2. Stick to a budget and pay off the car.  I mean it!  I know I'm only a week in, but so far so good!
3. Pray every night with Andrew.
4. Go on two dates each month.  Why is it so hard to do this?!
5. Make a vimeo account and blog a few videos.  I have been wanting to do this for a long time.
6. Give blog design a face lift.  I want this blog to reflect me.
7.  Spend one-on-one time with kids each day.
8.  Obtain Avery and Zara's dual citizenship.  Yea!

I tried to keep it real this time.  My over all focuses this year will be to strengthen my relationship with my family and improve our home so it can be a place where we are happy and comfortable.  Andrew's family is visiting in a couple months so that gives a real deadline to many of the house projects we have already started.  Seriously, my house is a mess right now!  Please share a link of your goals this year.  I would love to read!

two thousand twelve

2012 was a great year for us!  Here is a summary of the year.  We started the year in England where it was cold while Louise and Stanley moved into our house here in Arizona.  It was great spending the holidays with our England family and we miss them extra this year.  I was also 7 months along.  Pregnancy seems so long ago now.

In February I was still pregnant and had a maternity shoot .  On the 24th we welcomed Zara into our family. She was a gender surprise and now it's hard to believe we ever thought she might be a boy!

This year the Easter Pageant was extra special because my Dad had a special part in it.  It was also the month of Louise's baby shower and maternity shoot.  At the end of the month was the siblings rendezvous.

Avery turned 3 in April on our 6th year anniversary and shared a birthday party with Josie.  Hazel was born in their car (crazy!) on Easter morning and Zara was blessed in a dress I made.

In May Andrew completed his MBA (whew!!) and we were able to go to his graduation in Colorado (temple, zoo, capitol) sans Elliot and Avery.  I also obsessed over the gorgeous houses there.

For Father's Day I gifted Andrew with a pink kayak we named Sir Freedom Fred and enjoyed a few trips to the lake with him and squeezed in a camping trip at the end of the month with some family.

July was hot hot hot, as usual, so we had a water balloon fight with squirt guns at Elliot's birthday party.  I also did a photo shoot of Peter and Emily's family that turned out fabulous!  What a cute family.

August was a blur.  We sold our mitsubishi and bought a van, Elliot started school at Franklin East, Avery stared pre-school, I did a photo shoot of the Johnson family, and by the end of the month they moved out.

It felt good to get the office painted, carpeted, and redecorated this month.

It was Steven's room most of the year so that room is completely transformed.

My mom planned a family reunion and we carved some pumpkins in preparation for Halloween!

I beat my personal record on a sprint triathlon and did it with Andrew for the first time and we had a lovely Thanksgiving in November.

December was busy busy busy but a blast!  We went sledding for the first time, made a snowman named Kooky and spent Christmas morning at home.

We have a lot to look forward in 2013!

Happy New Year!!!

2012 book roundup

I realized yesterday that I could only remember what 5 of my 13 2012 goals were.  Ha!  Not bad for a year later.  I still haven't decided how I'm going to do my goals this year but it will definitely be different.

I'm still a newbie at making goals but there was one goal I knocked the socks off!

#12 Find 5 new good reads.

Mission Accomplished!

Reading is something I have always enjoyed but is something of a challenge with small children.  Just for fun, here are the books I read (and completed!) in 2012, in the order I read them.
*Links available for books I wrote reviews for.

1. Matched / 2. Crossed / 3. Hunger Games / 4. Catching First  / 5. Mocking Jay / 6. Daniel and Nephi / 7. The Witch of Blackbird Pond / 8. HypnoBirthing / 9. Delirium / 10. Divergent /11. Insurgent / 12. Graceling / 13.Fire / 14. Bitterblue / 15. Emily of New Moon / 16. Emily Climbs / 17. Emily's Quest / 18. Anne of Green Gables / 19. Anne of Avonlea / 20. Anne of the Island / 21. Anne of Windy Poplars / 22. Seeking Persephone / 23. Anne's House of Dreams / 24. Anne of Engleside / 25. Rainbow Valley / 26. Rilla of Engleside / 27. Daddy Long-Legs / 28. Kansas Brides / 29. Friday's Child / 30. Wonderland Creek / 31. A Proper Pursuit / 32. Born to Run / 33. The Darcy Connection / 34. While We're Far Apart / 35. Entwined / 36. Reached

If I had to pick which books were my top five here they are:
#1 Born to Run.  Very motivational as a runner.
#2 Entwined.  I still can't believe I was halfway through this book before realizing it was the 12 dancing princesses story!
#3 HypnoBirthing.  This seriously got me through my first natural delivery!!
#4 Emily of New Moon.  L.M. Montgomery has such an extensive vocabulary and beautiful wording.
#5 A Proper Pursuit.  I was 1/2 way through this book before realizing I've read it before.  It's a good one!

Also, noteworthy author would be L.M. Montgomery.  Once again, amazing vocabulary!  I read 11 of her books this year and her style of writing does not get old.

Christmas day

Our Christmas was fabulous!  We woke up way too early, Andrew read the birth of Christ in the scriptures, we opened presents, and then I headed over to my parents' for breakfast while Andrew and the kids stayed home and played with their toys.  Each of us got one Santa gift.  Elliot and Avery's were their razor scooters.  Peter and Emily had us in the family rotation and they spoiled us!  Andrew gave me my first smart phone . . this is big!!, and some great books I look forward to reading.  I gave Andrew some water color materials and sharpie pens he wanted and some other things.  My parents and aunt gave us some family history which is priceless.  Altogether the day was a success, even though everyone was sick.

Yep, there were a lot of naps taken on Christmas and Boxing Day and we are all still sick, except Andrew, but at least we were together and for most part very happy.  Last year I made more handmade gifts and that is something I want to do more of next year.  I guess I better get started now!

There's one more thing I haven't mentioned yet.
It's some very exciting news that pretty much made my week.
Andrew's sister, Claire, got engaged on Christmas Eve!
Ahh!  I'm so happy for her and Rich!
They have been dating since before we moved to Arizona from England, about 5 years?, and getting married is something they had talked about before but nothing final.  When we were in Florida I asked Rich what he was waiting for and he said he really wanted to save up for a ring.  Claire said the ring and proposal was all a surprise for her.  No date set yet, but they'll choose a time when we can come, of course.  Another cool fact: Rich proposed to Claire in a car just like Andrew did to me, although he had more romantic plans that weather didn't allow.  I just find that interesting because incidentally, Andrew proposed to me the same day my dad proposed to my mom, and we got married on his parents anniversary.  Totally unplanned!

Can you tell I'm just a leeetle excited about all this wedding stuff?  Claire and Rich!!!!  Oh, and when we told Elliot and Avery that Rich was going to be their uncle they were like "yea, I know!" as if he was all along.  I guess they never knew a Claire without a Rich.

Christmas Eve Night!

I have to say, the Stapley Christmas Eve family talent show has got to be one of my favorite family traditions.  We all get together the night before Christmas and throw together musical numbers last minute.  My Dad tries to make a program that changes at least thrice.  We laugh and eat lots of goodies.  What is Christmas without a little music?!!  This year we added a British themed dinner to the evening.  We ate bangers- similar to bratwursts, and mash- mashed potatoes, gravy, yorkshire pudding - which is not a dessert!, scones, trifle - pictured below, and lemon tarts.  Andrew's was in heaven!

My yummy contribution, among many.

Nora and Ammon, Ruth's boyfriend, were the children entertainers.

Nora taught them to dance and Ammon read.  They are the best!

As the family gets bigger family activities get more and more relaxed and fun!

I wish I got pictures of everyone but Zara really needed some snuggles.  I did, however, manage to video record Andrew playing his ukulele and singing.  Seriously the highlight of the night!  Elliot sang a snowman song from school, Avery sang a primary Christmas song, which name has escaped me, and I played my viola in a hymn trio with Nora and Chris.  Yes.  A trio for cello/viola/flute.  You see, pretty much everything goes in this family.  Oh, and I can't wrap up without honorable mention of my brothers and dad singing "We three Kings".  It's tradition!!  Classic.