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Hello. I’m Here. Barely. August 23, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Family, My Handsome Husband, Parenthood, Thoughts , 9comments

Hello internet.

Hello Pam.  Thanks for noticing my absence. :)

Honestly, I’ve got nothin’.

I’ve just come away from a  very, very bad week.  The kind that changes your life FOREVER.  (So you know, heavy stuff.)

To top it off, I was extremely busy with photo shoots last week (check my photo blog cause I’ve been posting there) which was great, but a bit stressful given our lovely week.

Sometimes life SUCKS.  BAD.

A few days ago, I photographed the kids of the dentist who fixed Hannah’s teeth.  During casual conversation with him and his wife, I started crying.

HELLO.  PEOPLE.  CRYING ON THE JOB.

Totally not cool.  Did I mention I don’t know these people?  Yep.  Just met the wife 30 seconds before the shoot and I’ve only seen the dentist while he was working on Hannah’s mouth.

What can I say, I’ve been out of sorts.

I have no juice.  I have nothing to write.

I have audibly reminded myself like a trillion times, “It’s not the challenges you receive in life, it’s how you handle them.”  David asked me why I kept saying that (out loud, to myself mind you) and I told him, “BECAUSE I NEED TO HEAR IT.”

In an effort to help, many people try to think of someone else they know who’s situation was worse than yours, and how things turned around and there was this beautiful ending . . .

Well, let me tell you folks . . .  IT DOESN’T HELP.

I’m not interested in comparing crappy situations.  Those heart warming stories (while nice and all) do not make me feel better one iota.  I know people are just trying to help, but seriously . . . JUST.  STOP.  IT.

I just want to be heard by people I know and trust, and then in some weird twisted way, I feel SO MUCH BETTER when people say. “Seriously, that DOES suck.”  What can I say?  I’m a woman who wants to be heard; the “problem solving” conversations are not helping.

Interestingly enough, earlier in the week I came across this video which I bawled throughout:

And you know what?  I have the most important things in place in my life.  I have a wonderful husband, two darling, healthy kidlets, a  supportive family, and I know God has not forgotten about us.

I have no idea what his plans are though.

Probably Should Start Paying Her to Babysit August 11, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Little Man Dallin, Parenthood, Princess Hannah, Thoughts , 2comments

When I check on Hannah right before I get into bed, I love it when I find her like this:

She is in pure sleeping bliss.

I also love it when she entertains Dallin in the morning while I try to pull myself out of my deep-sleep-coma.

This kid should be earning an allowance!

She brought in a little step so she could dump toys into Dallin’s crib so he would be happy.  Then, she pulled up a chair, and proceeded to “read” a made up princess story while holding her travel size Book of Mormon.  I love how they are feet to feet.  Hannah is one good little mother-hen around here!

Video of the Shortest Commercial Runway in the World! (It’s on Saba of Course!) August 10, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Saba, Thoughts , 3comments

My friend, Rebecca, posted this video on facebook and it made me so homesick for Saba!  Gosh, I really miss it there, and I’m not looking back with rose-colored glasses either.  I really loved living there while I lived there.

When you watch this video, please note the crazy landing and imagine me 10 hours into labor with Hannah, chartering a private plane to get me off the island so I could deliver her on St. Maarten.  Then, try to imagine me flying back to this island with a three day old baby, (held in David’s arms) post c-section.

All I can say about the landing is OUCH.

Enjoy!

A Little Announcement . . . August 9, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Daily Life, Family, Parenthood, Photography, Pregnancy, Thoughts, Utah , 3comments

So, I must announce . . .

THERE IS NO NEWS IN THE LESHER HOUSEHOLD.

It was clear to me after I wrote about feeling legitimately sick (the contagious kind that started with Hannah, then went to Dallin, then David, then to me, then to my mother-in-law) that some of you thought I might be dealing with a stint of morning sickness.

Well, let me tell you, if there is anything that reminded me of how much I hate having the non-contagious flu (morning sickness) it was that sick day.

UGH.  I am so not ready for baby #3.  And honestly, who says there will be a baby #3?  Two is good, right?  We’re a family of four, plus a dog (with plans of getting another Whippet within the year) so we are good.  For now anyway, and maybe forever.  Who knows.  All I know is pregnancy is a killer, and there is NO WAY, I repeat, NO WAY, I can care for two little needy people when I can’t even take care of myself.  Pregnancy equals: trying not to die of massive migraines that last for weeks on end (I literally had a migraine when I was pregnant with Hannah for FOUR WEEKS, and if that doesn’t make you suicidal, then I’m not sure what will!) and trying not to loose more weight in the first four months (by vomiting up everything I put in my mouth) than I will gain the last five months.  Somehow, parenting two little people while I am a beached whale, slowing dying on the floor, doesn’t sound like a plan for success.

So, there you have it.  I’m not pregnant.  Not now, not tomorrow.

Glad we cleared that up.  :)

Gosh, so much has been happening lately.  I’ve been busy shooting, which has been great, but has left me little to no personal time.  I love it, and I’m working on balancing my life as a wife, mother, student, and working mom.  It’s been a transition to balance my family and my professional life, especially since I’ve been out of the working world for five years.  Luckily for me, I love what I do, and 90% of my work happens after my kids are asleep.

In other news, my niece, Jess, got married a couple weeks ago.  I photographed her wedding, and enlisted the help of my good friend, Luone, to help me since I actually had to be in some of the shots.  See the wedding pics here.  I had a slammed packed couple of weeks with family fun, (lots of family in from out of town) but now things have calmed down a bit and I should be back to regular posting.

Don’t hold me to it though, the pressure might make me pop, and I don’t think I could handle that right now!  :)

No Fear of the Dentist Here July 19, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Daily Life, Parenthood, Photography, Princess Hannah, Thoughts, Utah , 2comments

Going to the dentist is usually the most traumatizing experience of our young lives.  Most of us have a physical reaction to the sound and smell of THE DRILL.

Oh.  My.  I think I’m going to barf right now.

Last week, I took Hannah to the dentist to get a cavity filled.  You know what I was thinking, “LUCKY ME!”

She had to get ONE cavity filled. One cavity mind you.

When we walked into the office, Hannah was elated to find toys, and people to talk to.  When they called our name, Hannah skipped over to the dental assistant and promptly said, “My name is Hannah!”

She then hopped right into the chair and crossed her legs, settling back into a comfortable position.  I kept thinking, “Oh my, she has NO IDEA what’s in store!”  And then I started to panic, thinking that I WOULD be the parent she looked at as the one who deceived her!  The one who took her to her doom!   The one who ruined her sweet innocent life!  Oh my heck!  Why was I on dentist duty?  There are two of us!  Hello?  Where is David when dental duty calls?

The dental assistant told Hannah she needed to take a picture of her teeth, and Hannah smiled and said, “My mommy is a photo-grapher!  She takes TOO MANY pictures!”  She then held up all ten fingers and blinked them several times to convey her message.

Looking at her x-rays, Hannah needed FOUR cavities filled.

Seriously, I was all, could you just hand me the gas and put me out for this session?  Heaven help this dentist.

The dentist walked in, chatted with Hannah, put the gas on her, and went to town.  She watched Cars (the movie) on the flat screen panel on the ceiling . . .  relaxed as a cool cat.

Quiet as can be, and giggling at the movie.  Not once did she un-cross her legs from her comfy position.  After the dentist gave her a couple of shots, the dentist asked her a question and she said, “No thank you.”

WHAT?  Where is the trauma?  Where is the fear?  Is she not going to grow up hating and fearing dentists like the rest of the world?

40 minutes later, her mouth was as good as new.

As I walked out to settle my $995 bill, the girl behind the desk told me I was not going to be charged, and that the services were complimentary.

Oh.  My.

I don’t fear or hate the dentist anymore.  In fact, I quite like him!  Thank you Mr. Dentist for taking pity on my life as the wife of a recently graduated medical student, and thank you Hannah for making his job so easy and tipping the scale in our favor.

Gosh, and I was just starting to think that life basically sucked and that most people were selfish jerks.

Well, shut my mouth.

Speaking of mouths . . . here are some notable comments from Hannah in the last few weeks:

“Why Did the Easter Rabbit bring me a broken movie?”  (The DVD she got for Easter is scratched.) He SHOULDN’T DO THAT!

“Mom!  You can just drop me off!  You don’t have to stay!” (I took her to visit the kindergarten class my sister teaches and Hannah was mortified that I was hanging around.  She totally thinks she’s as big as all the other kids, and who taught her it’s not cool to have your mom go to school with you?!)

“Mom, if you told me a lie, we would have to talk about it.”

“My tears are too wet!  I can’t even talk!”

“Mommy, if you die, then daddy will marry a really nice step-mother.”  (WHAT THE HECK?!?!  David and I have NO idea where she came up with this.)

“I’m not a doctor.  Only daddy is a doctor.  I’m just a super hero.”

“Mommy!  We can’t forget to pray!  Heavenly Father will be so sad if he doesn’t hear my sweet little voice!  Mommy!  YOU.  SHOULD.  NOT.  FORGET!”  (I almost forgot her night time prayer during one bed time routine.  Heaven help me to never forget again!)

“Look!  My tithing built that temple!”  (Hannah, confident the Draper temple was built on the 80 cents she paid in tithing last month.)

“Mommy are you not perfect?  Are you just a parent?”

“The life-jacket-police said I was too little to go down the water slide by myself.  Why did they say that?  I’m big enough, and I have BIG muscles!”

“Daddy . . . is this Colbie Callet singing?”  (Listening to a song on the radio, which indeed was Colbie Callet)

“Waking you guys up is my biggest job.  IT.  IS.  REALLY.  HARD.  It makes me so tired, that I have to go back to sleep!”  (Hannah explaining the disadvantages of being an early riser.)

“I want to get on Barbie.com!  Oh!  Oh!  And Nickjr.com too!”  (WHAT?!  Maybe no more TV ads until you’re 18!)

The 13th Anniversary . . . SERIOUSLY? July 17, 2010

Posted by Emily in : My Handsome Husband, Parenthood, Princess Hannah, Thoughts , 2comments

Today is our 13th anniversary.

I don’t think any other sentence could make me feel older.  (OK, don’t start offering suggestions, I’m just sayin’ . . .)  13 years.  WOW.  Seriously?  Where has time gone?

One of our favorite movies is The Family Man (2001).  When we saw it in the theaters 10 years ago, I vividly remember a line Kate (Tea Leoni) said to Jack (Nicholas Cage): “How can you look at me like that?  Like you haven’t seen me everyday for the last 13 years?”

I remember thinking, “Man, they have been married FOREVER!”

Well.  Here we are friends.

We kicked off our anniversary last night by going to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.  Apparently, 10,000 other people had the same idea.  Still, our seats were good and the entertainment was amazing.  We then enjoyed a walk around downtown barefoot.  OK, now before you gag and throw up a LOT in your mouth, just know that LOTS of other people decided to go barefoot as well . . . I should know better than to hoof it all over town in shoes not conducive to walking long distances.  My feet felt so much better on the warm streets.  David on the other hand, is always barefoot, so this was just a normal night, for him . . . walking around downtown SLC barefoot.

We came home to our sweet sleeping children, and thought about drifting off to sleep ourselves until . . .

BLEH!  BLEH!  BLEH!

What the heck?!

Hannah started vomiting!  David stayed up with her all night while she vomited every 15 to 30 minutes while I got some shut eye.  I knew I made a good choice when I picked my spouse!

Up next?  David’s birthday, Hannah’s birthday, Jess’ wedding, Pioneer Day, and one big family party.  (Not to mention four photo shoots next week!  EEK!)

And that’s just the next seven days.

Oh boy!

I look forward to many more anniversaries with the one that God made for me!

Bear Lake Part One July 9, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Family, Parenthood, Photography, Thoughts, Trips, Utah , 2comments

My extended family had a wonderful vacation together at Bear Lake, which is about four hours away on the border of Utah and Idaho.

We rented an eight bedroom beach house to accommodate seven families which equated to 28 people.  It was a lot like being in a nice hotel with lots of common area to move around in, but at the end of the day, you share a room with your kids which is not my favorite way to sleep.  I seriously don’t know how kids can share a room.  I mean, I shared a room growing up for several years (probably until I was 12, then I got my own room) but I don’t know how anyone gets any sleep when two little people in the same room don’t sleep the exact amount of hours!  I know I have great sleepers, and I’m talking about how one child sleeps 11 hours and one sleeps 13 hours, so some of you are throwing eggs at your monitor reading about my sleeping woes while on vacation, but seriously, Dallin really needs his extra two hours of beauty rest!

Hannah LOVED the beach.  Why wouldn’t she?  She’s from the Caribbean!  The water was a nippy 50 degrees (or less!) and the weather only topped 75 degrees (too cold for my blood!) but she loved every minute of it just like she did two years ago when my family went on this very same vacation.

She was very busy making sand castles and watching her uncle Brent go in and out of the water doing various water sports.

Oh.  My.  Heck.  I could just kiss her face off.

Dallin on the other hand . . . hated the sand and the freezing cold water!

Do you see this chair he’s sitting in?  He did not get off this chair for SIX HOURS.

Yes.  You read that right.  SIX WHOLE HOURS.  This is where he ate, jumped, socialized, and took a two hour nap on my lap.

Making sure my kid was safe at the beach was a no-brainer for me in this great baby-sitting-chair.  :)

This is Katie and Hannah.  Hannah thinks she is 12.

This is one of my nephews, Luke.

Brent and his sailboat.

This is another nephew, Aaron.

This is my niece Becky learning how to windsurf.

Hello Brent.

This is Hannah and Becky on their canoe adventure.

David missed this day at the beach, but Hannah sure had fun with her “too many friends” anyway.

Edible Baby June 29, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Little Man Dallin, Parenthood, Thoughts , 2comments

This kid smells like strawberries and bananas (thanks to the all the yogurt he consumes) and has the softest skin known to man.

YUM.  HE IS EDIBLE.

He is also one very sassy almost-two-year-old.

My favorite phrases:

  • “I’ll hold you mommy? “
  • “Go away!”
  • “I don’t want it!”
  • “Mommy!  I need you!”
  • “I want it!”
  • “Just one more minute?”
  • “Just one second!”
  • “GUMBS?”  (Gum)

He loves his small cars, trains, and trucks more than anything in the world.

He always has a car in his hand, and sometimes he even sleeps with them.

Such a lover.   Such a cutie.

Traveling Studio . . . Coming to a Home Near You . . . June 21, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Photography, Thoughts, Utah , 2comments

Hello.  I’m back.

Again. :)

The light posting is due to the lack of hours in the day.  Remind me why there are only 24 hours in a day? And why do I need sleep?

I photographed this fun family over the weekend.  They live in California, but were in Utah for 24 hours this weekend and wanted me to take some family pics during their short stay.  The location where I photographed them (the house where they were staying) was actually just down the street from my parent’s house.  Odd?  Yes.  I typed in the address into the GPS on the iPhone and as I was basically driving to my parents’ house (following the map) I was like, are these guys my parents’ neighbors?  Turns out, the live close to my parents, but not in the same neighborhood.

I set up this shoot in the front room of their house.  I draped a black sheet over the fireplace mantle, and we moved a few chairs around to make more room so I could set up some lights.  Voila!  I have a traveling studio!

Since this shoot was later in the day, I finished up about an hour before sunset.  There is an empty lot near my parents’ house that overlooks the valley and the Provo temple that I have been meaning to photograph at night.  After this shoot I was in the right place at the right time with the right gear.  Check out what I shot just after sunset later this week . . .  :)

You Are As Old As You Are Flexible (Help Me!) June 16, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Exercise, My Handsome Husband, Thoughts , 6comments

Hello.  I’m back.

I’m not even sure where to begin, (a lot has happened in the last week!) so I’ll just start with today.  Today is Wednesday, AKA “Ballet Day” to my little one.  Hannah would take ballet everyday if she could, but at this point (husband fresh out of medical school) I’m afraid paying for daily classes would break the bank.  This summer, the ballet school advanced Hannah one level, so now she has a new group of girls to dance with who are a year older and little taller than she is.  Soon, she will refer to these new girls as her “friends” because they dance and wear pink, but as of today, she couldn’t even remember her new teacher’s name.

Every time I walk into the dance school,  I am keenly aware that  I am one of the largest people in the building.  Yes, I know, 90% of the people surrounding me are 18 and under and have 0% body fat (part of the ballet territory) but it is still a fact and it does NOT make me feel awesome.

In fact, after both of the kids went down for their naps, David and I pulled out our favorite pilates 20 minute workout and worked out our way under-worked abs.  During the DVD, Mari Windsor (of Windsor Pilates) told us to stretch our legs up in the air (while flat on our backs) straight as an arrow.

Yeah.  Right.  David and I both demonstrated what a “broken arrow” should look like. Then, in this very non-flexible moment for me, a conversation from ballet last week popped into my head.  An older dancer (and I mean post 70 years old) said, “You are only as old as you are flexible.”

Oh my.  I think my flexibility (lack thereof really) is going to kill me.

I’m working on losing the extra baby weight that I never lost with Hannah and my flexibility because it is the right thing to do.  I hate not fitting into my clothes.  I hate feeling self conscious.  I hate feeling frumpy.  And I really hate carrying around this extra weight for no reason.  I always try to remember this statement,  ”Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels” but seriously, these red vines I ate while writing this post tasted SO GOOD.