Marisa's Mini Makeover...Belated Edition

Haha, so I realized while posting the Soto Family session on my photography blog that I never finished this post about the makeover we did in Marisa's family room. I posted a sneak peek here...in January...(oops) but I never posted the full reveal. In an effort to save time because I'm just too lazy busy right now, I'll post the before and after pictures here and share with you the full story she shared on her blog HERE.

 BEFORE:

AFTER:

Seriously go check it out. It's quite a before and after and we she did a TON of work and I must say I'm so proud to be a part of that awesome project!! Now if only I could find the energy and creativity to start working on the new nursery! Haha.

Friday Favorite

I know the Friday Favorite is usually very short and includes just one (maybe two) pictures but I HAD to share these with you because they honestly crack me up every time I look at them! So I had an indoor shoot scheduled last week and I ended up borrowing a bunch of gear from a friend since I don't normally shoot indoors or in a studio. Anyway, I was setting it all up and practicing with it and of course A wanted to "help" so I made her model for me. I laugh because some of them remind me of cheesy kindergarten pictures that we used to take in school. Totally fake and generic looking. Of course my child found a way to make it entertaining though! Enjoy :)

 Haha, total school picture pose! Even baby got involved

 Quick background change...This one is my absolute favorite one!!

 This was right before she decided to lunge at me to see her pictures.

Good times! This kid honestly makes me laugh several times daily. Hope these pictures brought a smile to your face.
Happy Friday!!

Halloween 2012 :: Illumination

So this is A's third Halloween. I'm sure you remember her previous costumes

2010

 2011

Hehe, wasn't she just the cutest?! Anyway, in previous years we've spent Halloween with her buddy Jack, trick-or-treating with his family in their neighborhood. Well this year we decided to switch things up a bit. Miss A is at that age where things are starting to scare her and I really didn't feel like taking her out at night to possibly be exposed to scary costumes/decorations/people and have her freak out. Ummm, nightmares? No thank you. So we decided to attend our church's Halloween alternative called "Illumination." Costumes were allowed as long as they weren't scary. Of course I waited until the last minute to figure out what she was going to be and in the end decided I really didn't want to buy something she would wear once. Sooo what to do, what to do? Raid her closet of course! She must have something in there we can use. This is what we came up with:

2012

having fun at the carnival...the games were too big for her, but she kept herself entertained

after the party, she and Dopey calling her friends to tell them all about it...too bad Dopey is bigger than her!

Aww, she's so cute!! And growing up too fast!! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Our Recent "Avenchur"

Last week we made our annual trip to AZ for B's World Series Tournament. You can read more about last year's trip here. Well this was our first trip with me being preggo and an active toddler who doesn't like being in her carseat for longer than 30 min. Let's just say I really wasn't looking forward to the drive!! We didn't have to be there until Wednesday afternoon and I didn't really feel like leaving super late Tuesday night after B got home from work so we decided we'd leave early Wednesday morning and hope that A didn't get too antsy. In hopes of keeping her excited, I told her we were going on an adventure. "Avenchur?" was her reply. Yes, honey, an adventure. We talked about the hotel (and the pool) and daddy's baseball games, we talked about being in the car for a long time and all the fun things she could do when we get there. It seemed to go over well and we headed out early for our 5+ hour drive.

 Having fun at our second stop...going to catch the penguin.

I think we ended up making 3 or 4 stops along the way, not necessarily all for her, but stops nonetheless, which wasn't too bad. She had a meltdown toward the end of the trip but that's because it was past lunch time and close to nap time. I wanted her to nap at the hotel rather than in the car. Yeah, right mommy. There's too much too explore in a new hotel room!! Some highlights from the trip:

baseball of course

playing in the dirt/grass at daddy's games

chillin' in the hotel

coloring with daddy between games

more baseball

ummm, napping?! or eating twizzlers I suppose


Overall, the trip was a success. Even though B's team didn't make playoffs this year (hey they can't win EVERY year!) we had a good time. We headed home late Saturday night so A could sleep during the drive and we could have a day at home to recover. When we got home I asked A if she had fun on her adventure. She replied with "yes mommy, time for 'nother avenchur?" Sure thing, kiddo. You've got a really big adventure heading your way soon! :)

Iiiiiittttt'ssss Aaaaaaa......

I finally had my ultrasound today but Brian couldn't make it so I asked the tech to write down what we were having and seal it in an envelope so I could open it with B when he got home. I enlisted the help of my neighbors with the reveal and they were more than happy to help. Here's what happened:

So exciting!! Now we can start planning the nursery and getting stuff ready :)

More Fall Fun

On Saturday my mom and I took miss A to Julian to go apple picking. I've always wanted to go but seem to miss it every year. Granted the window of time to actually pick your own apples is like 2 weekends so I guess you just have to be in the know when it comes to apples. A lot of the orchards weren't even open for the 2012 season due to weather last year so when I found one that was still open I was super excited! We ended up going to Calico Ranch which is off the 78 a few miles before the actual town of Julian. We went early because I wanted to be able to get back on the road home in time for a decent nap for A. It ended up being a good call though because as we were leaving there were tons of people pouring into the orchard and the little town. Apparently everyone else wanted their fix of apples...oh and there was an Oktoberfest event as well!

 Learning how to twist the apples rather than pluck them...
 
 Giving it a try

 Looking for some good ones

 It started to get hot so she ditched the jacket...apple picking is serious business!

 Helping grandma fill her bag

 There weren't very many apples remaining on the trees and the ones that were there were all so tiny but A still had a blast twisting her little apples off! They were perfect for her little hands!

 Sampling the goods...

 I love this picture of her for some reason...

 Mouthful of apple is the only way to smile!

She and grandma had fun searching for apples in the middle of the trees or up so high that my mom had to lift A up as high as she could and tell her which apples to pick. It was really quite funny.


 After an hour or so our bag was full and it started getting hot so we packed it up and headed to the town of Julian to walk around and have some pie of course! Before we left she stopped for a quick picture with the scarecrows but refused to look at the camera! Silly girl.


For our first trip to Julian, I'd say it was a success! Can't wait to go again next year. Now I'm off to make a pie with all those apples we brought home!! Yum!

Friday Favorite

Happy Friday!
♥