Is one good family photo too much to ask for?

Kensi and Christopher were baptized last weekend. It was a beautiful day out and I was determined to get some good family photos. So silly of me to think that was possible... Kensi is at that really photogenic age where they will sit and smile at anything. Easy enough! Sienna on the other hand won't sit still for a nano second and if she does smile she'll be giving you a side eye. Here's a few of my favorite takes.

This one turned out pretty decent minus the fact that Kensi looks like a ghost baby. It's a bit scary! Maybe one of our past relatives was trying to give us a sign that they were with us.

I was able to edit it up and give her a little color. This was prob the best of the day.

4 adults and 4 kids all smiling and looking at the camera? Pipe dream!! I think we got everyone looking at least.

Sadly this might be the best shot I got of the 2 of them.

This is my favorite of the day and represents my life. Kensi with a big fat pouty lip cause Mom isn't holding her and Sienna giving her class silly face.

Alright a few did turn out. Of course the best one of her my camera had crappy lighting. Looks pretty decent black and white.

One more good one.

I'm still hopeful we might get a good one this weekend with Sienna's birthday. Fingers crossed!

Father's Day

Justin chose to spend Father's Day by taking the kids to Minnehaha Falls and having a picnic. Sienna has been asking for a couple weeks if she can go to a waterfall. In reality, she meant a water park, but we took her literally and went for the water fall. That morning before we headed up, we showed her a picture of a waterfall and explained where we were going. After a thoughtful pause, Sienna asked, "Can we go to the other waterfall? With Mallory and Kayla?" Justin and I had to laugh and we told her we'd do that one another time. 

Top view of the falls.

Kensi's view.

Picnicking.

Daddy and his girls.

Mommy and the girls.

Sienna's classic silly face to make Kensi giggle or stop crying.

Sienna by the falls. Her and I walked down while Justin and Kensi stayed up relaxing on the blanket.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was another great one. We started out the day relaxing by having doughnuts and coffee in bed - not sure who enjoyed it more between Sienna and I. I love lazy mornings with all of my favorite people, especially when I get to not feel guilty about it. The girls (with Daddy's help) made me an awesome gift this year. It's a stepping stone with their hand prints, the year, and glass chips spelling out "Mom" and the shape of a heart. I can't wait to add it to our landscape and hope I continue to get more as they grow. 

For dinner, we had the rest of my family over and tried to get some good family pictures. Why is it so hard to get everyone to look at the camera! And what did we do before digital pictures? Sienna insisted on wearing her sparkly dress and shoes for the party.

My Loves

Family Pictures

I'm still trying to avoid getting professional pictures taken this year, which also means I'm trying to learn Photoshop for picture editing. Still need some work there! This past weekend we had Cran help us take some family photos. I was surprised how many leaves had already turned colors! Here's a couple of my favorites without any editing. Some cropping, color enhancing, and some other fancy tools will help but I'm still pleased with how they turned out.

The rest of the weekend was busy.We tried to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. I figured it was probably one of the last warm ones we'll have this season. We picked the other apple tree at my parents house Friday night before we celebrated Justin's birthday. Justin and Sienna had a father-daughter day packed full of shopping, visiting friends, parks and a trip to the pool. Meanwhile, I got to enjoy a full day of scrapbooking with Cari & Vicki. It was awesome and we got so much done! I got a great start on Baby #2s first year album. Between football games on Sunday we took our pictures and hit up a park. Another fun weekend!

Picking Apples at Nana & Grandpas

Can't beat free apples, so when my mom offered to have us over to pick off their tree, we jumped on it. The tree was packed with bunches of apples. I was surprised by the amount after the wacky weather we've had this season. 

Mom & Ron's backyard - heading to the apple trees.

Sienna helps with the picking.

And filling her own bucket.

After a few minutes of hand picking and contemplating a ladder, Justin got his truck and parked it right underneath the tree. It was much more efficient to stand on it and quickly fill our buckets with apples. We cleaned the tree in no time.

The buckets of apples after picking.

We didn't take home all the apples but filled up a few grocery bags. These apples aren't great for eating, but awesome for baking. So far we've made a big batch of apple sauce that maybe used a quarter of the apples. If you have good apple recipes send them my way!

70th Birthdays

I hosted a birthday party for my Dad and Uncle Jim. They both turned 70 in July, just a week apart. We had a great turnout with a lot of my Dad's family -  many of who he hasn't seen since my wedding! 

The birthday boys - Uncle Jim & Dad

Deb, Dad & my cousin Jimmy

Micky, Jim, & Mike

Rebecca, Jeff, & Margaret

Sienna was a little overwhelmed by the party. She really wanted it to be her birthday party but was happy that there was still cake.

They still got it!

Cousin Birthdays

We were back in WI last weekend to celebrate all of the cousin's birthdays. It's nice that they all fall w/in a couple months of each other. We also got to finally meet Baby Declyn. He looks just like Izzy when she was a baby and is such a good baby. I think he cried once all weekend. 

Sienna didn't have much interest in Declyn. I kept asking her if she wanted to hold him and she said no. The only time she really paid attention to him was when I was feeding him. 

The birthday girls!

Lots of presents for everyone. Sienna was very excited for this party. One of her favorite expression right now is, "Happy Birthday Me!" 

The party ended with a pinata. Took awhile for 3 little ones to break it open. I think Grandma had to help out quite a bit. 

Trip to the farm

In honor of Ruby turning 95, we headed down to Meadow Sweet Farm for the day to join the festivities and help celebrate. The farm is real close to Pipestone, MN which is about 3.5 hours from home. It was a lot of driving in one day, but worth it to see everyone. Sienna got a kick out of seeing the horses, although getting her to actually pet one was another story. She is already a city girl at heart. On the drive down I kept pointing out all the farms as we'd pass them. She'd try and repeat me but instead would say, "faaarrrmmmm....ers markets." She didn't get the difference.  

One of the only times she touched the horse.

Admiring the horse from afar. 

She was almost as excited to see Ariana as she was the horses.

Nana taking the girls down to the horses....again.

After eating lunch Sienna, we told Sienna she could have a cupcake. Right as she finished she took a tumble when her chair fell sideways while she was still in it. Did she cry? No. Did she yell for Mom? No. The only thing that came out of her month was a panicked, "Cupcake!!!" We all had a good laugh.

The birthday girl! Doesn't look a day over 85. ;)

Father's Day Weekend

Belated Father's Day post. We spent the weekend celebrating. Ron & Mom came over for dinner on Saturday evening. Sunday we took Sienna to her first strawberry picking. She had a blast and ate her way through most of the time spent there. The strawberries were perfect - so sweet and juicy. We had high hopes for a fun afternoon enjoying the weather, but the rain came in so we finished our evening with a dinner out. 

One of the fist bites

Still eating

Showing off her hard picked deliciousness.

The day is complete when the shirt is all stained red.