Photography & Design Month-The Cantrell Family

Sorry it's a little late guys, but here are some of the shots from your session yesterday! You guys were great and that Caden is a handsome little man. Check the website for more!

Photography & Design Month-Kelly & Russell's Family

Sorry guys, I didn't know your last name:) Here's a couple of shots from yesterday, more to come on the website. Just so everyone knows, that baby was born last Wednesday. And Kelly looks amazing. Wednesday.

Photography & Design Month-Ashlyn's Graduation Pictures

Hooray for Ashlyn! She is graduating from ASU in December so we went out and did a session on campus and they turned out AMAZING! She is insanely photogenic, so it was a piece of cake on my part. There's more on the website!

Photo Weekend Part 2

Well, photo weekend Part Deux turned out to be a bust. Landen got attacked by ants and now has bites all over his feet. Unfortunately he is allergic to bug bites, so it makes his feet swell up ridiculously. After a bath in baking soda, some rubbing alcohol, some calamine lotion and a 1/4 tsp of childrens Benadryl, he was fine and drowsy. Yesterday, was just a crazy day in general. I had to take Penelope to urgent care at 8:00 in the morning because she fell off our ottoman in our bedroom, and bashed her head on the corner of our dresser. When I picked her up she had an enormous goose egg on her forehead, and I felt like Mother of the Year. Nothing like going to Urgent Care feeling like a child abuser. Anyway, here are more shots from Sunday, and I'll add some of Kathie and Isabel from yesterday that turned out fab.

Photo Weekend Part 1

Last night we all went out to the Farm at South Mountain to do our Fall Family photo shoot. Those of you that have been in my yellow kitchen/living room know that my black & white photo wall is a little sparse. Plus Penelope looks totally different now, so we needed some updates. Eryn took a ton of good ones, and I got a couple good shots of the kids, and even though Braden was totally miserable, I think it was a success. I'll put more up tomorrow, and some from our 2nd shoot tonight with Kathie's family, but I needed to put some of Landen up, since he didn't have any good ones on Wednesday. My favorite is the one where Peepers boots are in the air.

Fall Photo Session

Why is it that when I try to take my own kids out for a shoot, it all goes to hell? I can't get one picture where everyone is looking at the camera and not falling to pieces. We got 2 out of 3 in both shots.

Landen is straight IMPOSSIBLE to photograph. I couldn't get ANY good shots of him. La La is pretty hard too, but Peeps always aims to please.




We got a lot more photos to take this week and all next month, so keep checking the website for some updates.

Handmade Parade: Frou Frou Tutu

Frou Frou Tutu is my sister Eryn's sweet new pettiskirt & tutu shop. She makes the cutest pettiskirts I've ever seen! She just started her blog too, so go check it out! She will be selling her fab frocks at the Handmade Parade Outdoor Boutique in November. Check out the adorable matching accessories, like these flip flops and headbands. Love them.


These candy corn pettiskirts were specially made for Halloween, which unfortunately is before the Outdoor Boutique, so they will not be available.

Lucky for you guys, they will be sold on the Handmade Parade website in the the Frou Frou Tutu shop, along with some other select items before the Outdoor Boutique. These pettiskirts are in limited supply so don't wait if you want some saasy skirts for your own girly girls. The shop will be going live next week, so save your pennies for these treasures.

I Heart the Queen Creek Olive Mill

I have had one hell of a morning, let me tell you. I was looking so forward to breakfast at the Olive Mill, that my kids were all ready to go and waiting in the car at 8:00 am sharp. While we were waiting for Kathie to get to our house, Penelope barfed all over herself. It was pink milk, which if you have never experienced firsthand how truly disgusting curdled thrown up milk is, you have quite a parenting adventure ahead of you. It is the WORST to clean up. It sticks to everything like putty, and the stench permeates the nostrils all day, no matter if you wash your hands in paint thinner. So, before we even left, I had a disaster to recover from. I rushed in, put Peepers in outfit #3 of the day, quickly cleaned up the barf the best I could, laid down a blanket, and buckled her in. Once we got to the field at the Mill, Penelope promptly barfed again. This time was less milk, more apple juice. So, dress #2 came off, and I just let her roam the field in her bloomers, in case she felt like throwing up again. After being there for 10 minutes, Landen had diarrhea that had to be changed. On the way home, Penelope screamed her head off (poor baby) then threw up again twice in her carseat, all over herself. And Landen had a diarrhea blowout that seeped out all over his shorts and into his carseat. I could have lost my head, but I am proud to say I was completely calm through this whole ordeal. Once we got home, I pulled out Peepers and carried her inside (which of course got puke all over me, but not really worried about it). got Landy out, stripped them both down, hosed them off in the shower and let them play in the tub. They got out 100% happier and smelling 200% better.

I know that this is the makings of a horrible day. However, this may be one of my best days ever. Why, you ask? Because at the Olive Mill I had this for breakfast.


It was the chef's special, Green Eggs & Ham Panini. Delicious buttery foccacia bread, eggs, basil pesto, provolone cheese, and the most amazing smoked ham from the Queen Creek Pork Shop. I can't even tell you how ridiculously tasty it was. It was probably the best breakfast I've ever had. Ever. And the kids had a great time running around the field barefoot (and topless in Peepers case) through their misters on the patio eating gelato and climbing the Olive Trees. It was a great morning regardless of all the digestive problems. I left today with a bottle of their truffle oil, which I will use tomorrow for dinner brushed on some homemade french bread and toasted in the oven, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. I will also post a recipe for Truffled Parmesan Popcorn that I'm going to try next week. I HIGHLY recommend the Olive Mill, you simply must go.

Weekend Recap

What a nice break I had. Fathers Day went well, Braden loved the new watch I bought him. Unfortunately I didn't get around to any of the things I had planned, so instead I worked on La La's pettiskirt and had a photo session with the Barba Family. Here's peek at some of the shots, you can see the rest here.