Taven's First Sleepover

Taven had his first sleepover at our house last week. He was so happy in the morning that I couldn't resist taking some pictures! He was sitting next to cousin Mariah who just adores him, as we all do. It's pretty fun being an aunt! You get to do all the fun stuff and then give them back when you get tired! Taven is such a sweet little kid, I've enjoyed seeing his little personality develop and can't wait to watch it continue to do so.

First 'Real' Photoshop Project

I'm taking a photoshop class once a week at the local Junior college, which is so exciting for me! I've been wanting to learn photoshop for years now and finally decided to just do it! It's only been two weeks, but we were given our first 'real' assignment to play around with some photos. This is what I came up with - it's definitely NOT by any means perfect, but I was just excited that I was able to remember all the steps. As you can see, you can really have some fun working with images. Hopefully I'll get a good grade!We had to have a theme and text.

Las Vegas

We were only in Vegas for a matter of hours (we stayed overnight) but we had a great time visiting with my Aunt Therese and cousin Elle and Sienna. The kids had a blast playing together. Mariah and Elle are only a few months apart. Mariah's been talking about her since we left. I think we're going to try and go back soon. I hadn't seen little Sienna in person yet and she was even more adorable than the pictures! Thanks again for having us Therese! Elle
Sienna

Cousin Love

Mariah & Elle

Brandilyn & Sienna

Crazy Kids

After we played for a few hours, we went over to my Uncle Rod & Aunt Chantre's house. The kids loved it there, they had a dog, stairs and lots of rooms to explore - and all the beautiful Christmas stuff to look at! I had so much fun staying up late and looking at pictures of Rod when he was younger. Apparently, he pretty much lived with us every summer until I was about 10 or so. Once again, the only bad thing about going to Las Vegas was that we weren't able to stay very long. Thanks again Rod & Chantre - you guys are awesome!

Road Trip

Follow the Leader Free from the Carseat at Last!

Where the heck are we?


Best Buds

Brandilyn & Robbie

After Yuma we headed up to Las Vegas to stay the night on our way to Salt Lake. The drive wasn't too eventful, but we did stop somewhere near some river to let the kids run around. They both love being outside, in fact we all do. Who doesn't love the sun shining down on them right?

Robbie just ran around picking up rocks and throwing them at stuff and Mariah ran around looking for "gems" and "magic rocks" to add to her growing collection. She has a cupholder on her booster seat that's completely full of seashells and rocks and who knows what else and we're all banned from moving them. She's quite the collector. Imagine what her closet looks like.

Yuma, AZ

Our visit to Yuma, AZ

We had a great time in Yuma, except for the fact that we wish we could have been there longer! I only got to see my cousin Bryce once! Thanks again to Robert & Christina and Gpa & Gma for everything - we miss you guys! My Aunt and Uncle have two adorable dogs at their house, so Mariah was in heaven. Robbie on the other hand wasn't too sure about them, especially when they were barking.

I love Gpa and Gma!

Mariah's new best friend... the leapord.

Mariah & Robbie putting on the performance of a lifetime.
Us.

Robbie and Uncle Robert

Mariah and her buddy, Uncle Robert

We got there on the evening of the 6th (my birthday!) and Gpa and Gma took us out to dinner to Olive Garden (yummmm!). It was really fun and really good, it had been too long since we've seen them (and too long since I've had Olive Garden)! Josh surprised me by having a cake brought to our table and everyone sang to me - the kids thought it was the coolest. The only bad thing about the evening was that Robbie was extremely tired and just wanted to run around, hence the pictures of the kids laying on the floor. Yes, they're in a (relatively) nice restaurant and no, I didn't even attempt to stop them. Hey, it was my birthday.

The next day we went shopping with Gma and she got tons of fun clothes for the kids. Mariah got to pick out her own outfit, so of course she chose a dress and sparkly shoes. She wanted to change into them immediately so we changed her in the car on the way to lunch. We went out to lunch at this super yummy place called Kneaders (like you knead bread - it kinda reminded me of Panera Bread, but way better). We were waiting in line, and I guess Robbie was hungry because I look over at him and he's chewing on a huge chunk of chocolate bread! He had ripped open the plastic wrap and grabbed a peice! The rest of the day we shopped and hung out with Gramps and Grams... the kids had so much fun at their house, which is decorated in a safari/african theme. Gpa let them play with his harmonic and recorder, so they sang, played and danced the night away!

Lunch w/ Grams and Mariah's new outfit!

GGpa and GGma with Robbie and Riah

San Diego

I still can't believe how much my kids love the beach. Each time we go it convinces me more and more that we need to live close to one. We went to San Diego for four days after our family reunion in Yucca Valley. It was only about a 2 hour drive, so it wasn't bad at all.

We went to the beach a couples times, took the kids to Balboa park, Seaport Village, and downtown. It had been a while since I had been there... man I'm getting old.

Our hotel was nice, a little too nice because they make you pay for EVERYTHING. Parking was almost $15 a day and if you wanted a mini fridge you had to pay extra. Other than that, everything was really nice. The weather was pretty good and it felt good to be near the ocean.

First Wedding

I had the opportunity to photograph my first wedding! Josh's sister Mariah (sound familiar?) and her husband Joseph were married in Salt Lake this past weekend. I had such a great time taking their pictures; they were so happy, beautiful and so in love... it was a blast!

I'm in the process of building up my portfolio, so if you or anyone you know is in need of a photographer for weddings, family portraits, children & babies, senior portraits, sports events and more, please contact me. I'd love to give you a great deal!

To see some examples of my work and more importantly, my gorgeous sister-in-law, visit my Photography Blog at http://brandilyndavidsonphotography.blogspot.com/. All of my contact information is there.

Thanks!

Air Museum

Checking out the planes... Sgt. Seth
Painting on a huge airplane project

"I can fly too!"

The Duffey family in the cockpit.

Dancing?

Robbie thought he was in heaven. Cars+Airplanes=Heaven.

We had a great time at the air museum in Palm Springs. I think the funnest part was watching the kids reactions to everything, especially Robbie and Seth. Go figure, the boys... They did a great job of catering to the little ones with a huge paper mache airplane to paint, a real airplane to climb into with outfits and all and lots of other things to climb on and mess with.

This sweet old lady that worked there came over and gave Robbie a paper airplane kit because he was crying. Josh put it together for him and then after about .3 seconds of play time he ripped it in half and started crying even louder than before. So this sweet lady gave him another airplane kit to replace the broken one. Josh put the other one together and well, I'm sure you can guess what happened. We did this about four times until I finally told the lady we better go... (it was nap time). She gave us a handful more for the road and we went on our way. Robbie fell asleep the second he hit the carseat.

Mariah loved all the airplanes and cars too, and loved pretending that she was flying a real plane! Her favorite part was painting the airplane all by herself and cutting out the pictures she colored for Robbie.

New Year's Eve!

Party like it's 2009!
The Davidson Family

Sistas

Twins

And the official DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) Dance-off winner is...

Brandilyn!

The Ladies.

Happy New Year!

Everyone

So much to look forward to in this new year. Hope you all had a fun, safe time and are looking forward to the future. Happy New Year!