Baby Callum Flockhart

The Flockharts welcomed baby Callum to the family last Sunday.  I was so glad that I got to document some of their first moments for them.  When Avery first met her new baby brother she sniffed him and said, "Eeeew, caca".  Sounds like the brother-sister relationship is off to a good start!  Love this family!

Central Point

 While enjoying our time here in Oregon, we were able to make the looooong trek down to Central Point to visit Ben's parents.  Okay...maybe it's not THAT long...maybe it's only three hours.  Call me a lightweight if you must, but three hours in the car with an eight month old is not for the faint of heart.  If I had the choice, I choose flying from destination to destination as much as possible.  Yes, I'll take one personal jet, please!  Cecily was fine for awhile, but about half way through the trip it was like she randomly remembered she was strapped in a carseat and acted as betrayed as if we had put her in a straight jacket and were taking her to the looney bin.  Ben had to slide into the backseat and do the ol' song and dance and ration the limited number of toys and snacks as long as possible.  It doesn't matter how many toys you bring.  It's never enough!...*sigh* good times...

We somehow managed to make it to our destination with some of our sanity still in tact.  And once we got there, we had a great weekend!  I was fortunate enough to experience the rare sighting that weekend of all three Park siblings in the same place at the same time!  It's like seeing a rare, majestic unicorn in the wild, folks....very entertaining!  There's nothing better than viewing siblings in their natural habitats with love dished out left and right in the form of sarcasm and snide remarks.  It doesn't really seem to matter how old you are...when siblings are present, your maturity level automatically defaults to 10 years old.  Come on, you know it's true!  

I've told you a bit about the people, so let me tell you about this place!  I'm in love with it!  Ben's parents live on 30 acres of land complete with a cute lighthouse-esque (that's a word, right?) house, a huge pond, and an emu named Gwendolyn.  Throw in a couple of horses and a wooden canoe and I'd be in heaven!  I think I'd pass on the emus, though.  They're pretty stalkerish, and frankly, it creeps me out.  Sorry, Gwendolyn.  You know that feeling you get sometimes that you're being watched and you turn around to find nothing?  Well imagine that same scenario, but instead, when you turn around, Big Bird is standing there ready to peck your eyes out!  I know, it's a terrifying thought, right?  Okay, enough with the emu tangent.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable weekend complete with plenty of fishing in the pond, family, delicious Kaleidoscope pizza, and tons of sunshine.  What more could anyone ask for?

I heart Oregon

We've finally made it back to Oregon and we get to spend four glorious weeks here!  I'm definitely excited to visit with friends and family, but honestly, this time I was most excited to soak up the perfect weather, eat all of my meals outdoors, and feel the soft green grass on my bare feet.  Oh, how I miss Oregon sometimes!  Utah and I have not been on the best of terms lately.  The unstable weather conditions and green shrubs that come off more grey than any other color were just not cutting it for me lately.  You can call me a tree-hugging hippie if you'd like, but you just can't find grass like this in Utah!  So, we kicked the trip off by going to buy plants and vegetables for my mom's garden and have been spending a little quality time with the great outdoors.

Another thing we're excited for this trip is to welcome the new Flockhart baby!  We're patiently waiting...but if McKenzie could hurry that process along, we wouldn't be sad about that!  ...I'm sure she wouldn't be either...  So glad that we get to be in town for it.  McKenzie and I have been best friends for more years than not and when we were little we always daydreamed about being neighbors once we were grown up and married so that our kids could then be best friends like we were.  That hasn't quite been the way it has turned out.  But, hey, we can still dream!  Either way, I'm glad that we've been able to stay close all through college and now it has been so fun to have my best friend around to brave the fun adventures of momhood with!

Last but not least, I'm just looking forward to getting to relax and take pictures.  Trips to Oregon mean I get my hands free more with all the eager grandparents walking around.  Not to mention that Oregon makes for great, green outdoor pictures.  I'm lovin' it!  I'm sure that there will be plenty more pictures in the near future...so there are bound to be some more great posts coming your way!  Thanks for reading!  I'm flattered by the feedback I've already received about the blog.  I'll do my best to keep my posts consistent!

Happy Mother's Day!

I wish I was in Oregon celebrating this mother's day with these lovely ladies above.  This photo was taken by Aly Mac Photography when Cecily was 6 weeks old.  Look how tiny she is!

I know so much more about mothers today than I did last mother's day...and that, my friends, is the understatement of the year!  To sum it up, I'm going to leave you my top 5 gems of new found knowledge:

1. The job really IS hard!  It doesn't matter what people tell you to warn you, prepare you, or whatever you'd like to call it.  It will knock you down straight on your exhausted, baby food splattered face!
2. They aren't lying when they say it's totally worth it.  I could name a million things I've already given up and I only have one baby.  The thing is, moms trade in an insanely huge portion of their lives and bodies to be a mom....and many will do it again, and again.  Why? Because it really is worth it.
3. I never really understood just how much I was loved until I became a mother.  You will never know exactly how much your mom loves you until you experience that same kind of love yourself.  Sorry boys, you're just not in the club when it comes to this one :)
4. Your emotional capacity is already stretched so thin that fluids just literally start streaming out of your face for no good reason.  You're freaking U-571 just patching up leaks, people.  You cry when you're sad, you cry when you're happy, you cry when you're stressed.  You cry at 4am when you have to get up again and you're running on less sleep than an Army Ranger.  You tear up when you watch the news and wonder how you're going to raise and protect a little girl in the type of world we live in today....and you cry when you don't have time to blow dry your hair for the 8 millionth day in a row....oh wait, that's just me?
5. We appreciate the flowers and breakfast in bed, but what most moms want more than anything in the world, is ONE solid day of rest.  An honorary Saturday, if you will.  Shut away in a hotel room where nobody else is invited, except room service, and you don't have to get out of bed for anything!  Who's with me, moms?  (A day spa would work too....in case a special someone is reading!)

So top off your mom's OJ in bed and go do another round of dishes...because your mom deserves it!

We're Alive!

Okay, okay, I admit it....these pictures are not from today.  They're not even from last week.  They're from last month.  Trust me, I'm actually doing you a favor because if you saw pictures of us today, you would turn and run in horror.

The truth is, that for the last few days, Ben and I have shut ourselves away in our cave so that we could both devote our time bowing to the porcelain god.  Let me tell you folks....it. was. brutal.  Cecily seemed to escape mostly unscathed, so that's good.  Although, she did probably watch more TV in two days than she has in her entire life.  Strawberry Shortcake is over? Let's start another episode.  Oh, you're bored? How about a different show?  We did send her away promptly at 5 p.m. every day after our friends got home from work so that she could receive the human interaction that she had been deprived of.  But let's be honest...it was mostly so that Ben and I could lie on the bathroom floor in peace, like a pathetic pile of dirty laundry.  I'm sure everyone has experienced it...that glorious feeling of the bathroom floor.  How can something so disgusting feel so great?

I think it's safe to say that we're finally on the mend.  This morning I cracked the blinds, opened the windows, bathed my filthy child and will now attempt to disinfect this place.  I knew it was time to get better when we ran out of baby food.  Someone needs to put on pants and go to the store!

...and maybe when all of that is done, we'll get some fresh air and feed the ducks again.  I think it's obvious that the little one loves ducks.

The Merry Month of May

 It's here! May is finally here!  That means that the snow is gone, the sun is out, and there will be more frequent visits to the park.  I've been feeling gypped all winter because last summer I was pregnant with this little lady.  A giant, full-time employee, who couldn't bear the idea of the heat.  Not to mention I spent a lot of that time on bed rest and couldn't even participate in all of the fun outdoor activities that I laid on the couch obsessing over.  Then it seemed like, not a second after Cecily was born, summer. was. over.  That's why I'm determined to make this summer different!  We are going to make the most of it!  We are going to lay in the grass and dip our toes in a kiddie pool, go on hikes, and pick wishies (those lovely little puffy weeds).  Although if Cecily had it her way, we'd be eating them.  We won't talk about what happened to that poor little wishy pictured above.  May it rest in peace.  Or pieces.  Or both.

Jon and Katie

I know my last post was about graduation, but I wanted to give a shout-out to Jon and Katie Grether for letting me use them as guinea pigs to practice my camera skills!  They graduated together last week, as well.  Take a gander, ladies and gents! Aren't they just cute!?

Our Handsome College Graduate

Last week was full of lots of fun and celebration!  The main man in mine and Cecily's life graduated from college!  Wahooooo!  This last school year felt especially loooong!  Long days, senioritis, eating PB&Js just so we can hand the school ANOTHER bag of money....it's been tough.  I'm sure it was hard on Ben, too ;)

Anyways, back to last week...I think it's safe to say that the highlight of Ben's week wasn't actually receiving his diploma, or the family time spent, but rather the time spent with his brand spanking new, *ahem* sexy motorcycle.  Or as he likes to call it, "the new member of the family".  He basically does all but rub diapers on it and tuck it in every night....but I'm sure that thought crossed his mind, too!

He was quite surprised when he pulled up and saw it parked there in front of the house.  It was incredibly hard to keep a poker face this last month as he drooled over bike ads online and begged that I agree to let him have one, at least by the end of the year.  HA! I'm so sneaky :)

My Very First Blog Post

Welcome to my first blog post, ever!  I figured it was time for me to join the world and finally start a blog.  I thought it would be good to start off with a family blog....a day to day family album/journal, if you will.  Something to hold me to journaling about our family adventures and also something to keep my photography skills fine tuned.  Well....here it goes!  Wish me luck!