Portrait 30.52

This week's picture from Claire's very first sleep over at her Nana's house!

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

New Bookshelves

I've been wanting to put up some picture ledge bookshelves in Claire's room for a long time but hadn't been able to find time to take a trip down to Ikea.  One day I was scrolling through pinterest and saw a tutorial on how to make them yourself, so being the dutiful wife that I am....I commissioned Bryce to make them for me :).  They actually were really easy and he made them in about an hour one afternoon.  I did the painting and then we hung them up in Claire's room.  I LOVE how they turned out!  I am also glad for the extra storage so I don't have to worry about running out of room on Claire's other bookshelf anytime soon.  I love that my husband is so handy.  He helps me with every project I come up with and without any complaints.  Claire and I are both pretty lucky to have him! 

Wishing for Fall

We got a break from the heat and had cooler weather for a few days last week.  I was in heaven and I'm sure Rory appreciated it as much as I did.  It was even cold enough for a sweatshirt on our walk one of the mornings!  I was so happy about it I convinced my two babies to take a few pictures with me when we got home.  Now I just can't stop wishing it was October already.  Everyone who knows me knows that Fall is my favorite season with Winter coming in as a close second.  I would be happy if we just skipped the month of August altogether and went straight to September!  Since that's not likely to happen I'll just be spending my days wishing for fall until it finally gets here. 

Pioneer Day 2015

Our Pioneer day celebrating was pretty uneventful this year.  Bryce started a new job that week (at Biolife Plasma Center) and had to work most of the day.  Claire and I spent the day hanging out at home.  We swam in her kiddie pool, took Rory on a walk, and played with toys all day until Bryce got home.  After Bryce got home we ate a quick dinner and headed up to Snowbasin to go hiking and scout out some spots for a few photoshoots I had coming up.  
We found some gorgeous spots that I ended up using to take my brother and his finance's wedding formals.  I can't wait to post some of then after they get married on the 15th!
We had a fun little evening hiking and exploring together.  It was nice to spend some time as just our little family without the crowds at all the celebrations.  Although it did give me the itch to go on another camping trip.  We haven't been able to squeeze one in yet with Bryce's new job and new schedule but hopefully we can plan one more before he starts up school again at the end of this month! 

Portrait 29.52

My little darling.

 "A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

Claire at 18 Months

Claire turned 18 months old this past Sunday, as you may already know if you saw the last post with the pictures from her 18 month photoshoot.  I wanted to write a little post to remember a few things about this age.

Her favorite toys are her doll pram, legos, her stuffed bunny, her princess castle, and her wooden stacking ring toy.

Her favorite foods are strawberries, turkey sausage, peanut butter & honey sandwiches, and of course cookies.

Her favorite activities are reading books, playing chase with Rory, any thing that involves water (swimming, splash pad, sprinklers), and playing in the sandbox.

Words Claire knows: Dada, Mommy, Rory, dog, 'wassat', no-no, uh-oh, thank you, bye bye, sit & good girl (when she's talking to Rory), please, hi, cookie, cracker, all done, outside, blankie, and book.  She tries to mimic lots of other words if you ask her to say something but these are all of the words she'll say on her own without being asked. 

Claire's favorite books are The Red Sled, If I Could Keep you Little, and Ten Little Kisses. Her favorite shows are Sofia the first and all the Tinkerbell movies.  She is an awesome sleeper.  She goes to bed around 8 pm and sleeps until about 8 am & takes one 2-3 hour nap a day.  She is still very attached to her baby quilt and does not go to sleep very well if she doesn't have it.  She loves music and always dances & sings when she hears any.  She is very friendly and not shy at all.  She loves playing with kids her age and always tries to talk to them in her gibberish language.
I know my eyes are closed in this picture, but she was so cute and happy when we picked her up from nursery I had to post it anyway!
Sunday was Claire's first time going to nursery so we snapped a few pictures after church to document the occasion.  She doesn't look very happy in the bottom picture because I tried putting her down to get a picture of just her but she was grumpy, ready for a nap, and just wanted me to hold her.  When I first took Claire to nursery I went in with her thinking I would stay for the first half to help her get used to it and make sure she did okay.  Once I took her in there she didn't even pay any attention to me.  She was so excited to be with all the little kids she just went right to playing.  She obviously didn't need me there so I decided to go to Sunday School and then come back and check on her in between classes.  When I checked on her she was still doing great and happily playing with all the toys and other little kids!  I was so glad she liked nursery so well, but if I'm being completely honest I was a tiny bit sad she didn't miss me haha!  It was really nice being able to actually listen and participate in the lessons without trying to occupy a wiggly toddler though!  I still can't believe my tiny baby is an 18 month old (and really isn't a tiny baby anymore but a full blown toddler).  She is the best little sidekick.  I love being her mom!

Claire Olivia 18 Month Pictures

I took Claire's 18 month pictures yesterday, over the span of two photoshoots.  The first photoshoot we did yesterday morning and to put it plainly it went horribly.  It was supposed to possibly rain so I wanted to get them done first thing just in case it ended up being bad weather the rest of the weekend.  Claire woke up around 7:30 and I fed her breakfast and got her all ready so we could go.  Bryce came with me to try and help me get some smiles out of her.  We got to Beus Pond around 8 and I thought the photoshoot would be a piece of cake.  I was soooo wrong.  She usually loves going to Beus Pond but I guess she was just super tired still.  She just wanted to be held the entire time and did not want to be set down.  The only pictures that turned out cute were the ones where she was turned away from the camera.  Everytime we tried setting her down she just started crying.  I was getting so frustrated that my own child was being the worst one I had ever tried to photograph haha!  She's usually so easy to get pictures of because she's so used to it, but she was NOT feeling it yesterday.

This is basically how all of the pictures yesterday morning turned out.

This one was the only semi-decent one of her looking at the camera but she still doesn't look very happy!

I took a few close up detail shots and we ended the photoshoot, took Claire home, and put her down for a nap.  I was pretty bummed that I didn't get any cute pictures but we had to go to my parent's that evening so I decided I would just try again in the evening when she was happier. I got to my parent's and asked my mom if she'd come out and see if she could help me get some cute shots of Claire.  Nana saved the day!  The rest of the pictures below I got with the help of my mom, and they all turned out so cute! 

I narrowed this post down to my favorites but you can see a few more I didn't include on my photography blog here.  I am so glad I ended up getting some darling shots of Claire.  

Lesson learned: 

1.  I am not a morning person (I was already fully aware of this) & Claire, like me, is definitely not a morning person either; never do photoshoots of Claire in the morning.  

2.  ALWAYS bring my mom to Claire's photoshoots to get the best smiles.