3 1/2x12

his baby finally made it into a blog picture. and i'm not talking about beth, but that beauty she's sitting on. may i introduce you all to big bertha. hank's pride and joy. we've had some good times in that thing. not what this post is about, but worth mentioning for hank's sake. :)

i'm laughing hysterically in this photo because beth kept sitting on the edge of the truck bed and falling off in to hanks arms and was totally loving it. so we pulled out the camera and hit the timer button, hoping to catch it just as she was falling off. and of course she just sat there, and sat there, and sat there just like that and hank kept calling to her, trying to get her to come, and she just wouldn't take the leap. i had to laugh... she finally did it after the shutter closed. figures...

well my friends, we are off tomorrow to jackson hole. words cannot describe the excitement i feel right now. let's just say, this has not been the summer of george (seinfeld, anyone?). hank and i both are just ready to get away from work for a while and be disconnected from the world and just take a break from the chaos our summer has been. both of our hotels have been so busy - he's worked every weekend - and it's been hard for us to get out and do the things we normally do during these fantastic summer months. we have been so. lame. this year. so it's going to be so nice to get away for a while and hang with the banner fam. i have some pretty high expectations for this trip. i'm just saying, it better be filled with solid views of the tetons, sore cheeks and sides from outrageous laughter, the freshest air on the planet, some good cowboy sightings, and a phone/technology-free 5 days. i'm sure i won't be disappointed.

here's to 8 hours on the road to jackson - what i like to call, my own little graceland. see you next week...



ps: that's right, i said 3 1/2. due to come mid-january. i'll let you know on august 25 if it's pink or blue.

little purple chair

funny story about that little chair:

while vacationing in utah at my brother's house over memorial weekend, i had to make a quick trip to the grocery store for a few things we were going to take on our picnic lunch that day. right there by the cash registers were stacks and stacks of these little chairs, just the perfect size for beth. they had probably 10 or 12 colors to choose from, and the best part? only $3.50. HAD to have one. even if we did have to lug it all the way back to colorado. so extremely satisfied with my purchase, and knowing that hank would totally love it as much as i did, i proudly carried the chair out to the car.

i opened up the door to my trunk to find THE EXACT SAME CHAIR already back there. for a second there i was totally confused. only to realize that hank had made his own trip to the store earlier in the day. i laughed out loud right there in the parking lot.

what are the chances? exact same chair! exact same color! there were lots of other girlie colors to choose from. and we chose the exact same one, on the same day, without even knowing it. well, i threw the chair i had bought in the car and smiled all the way back to the house, thoroughly amused.

"hank, will you go look in the back of the car please?"

"oh no... what?"

"just go look"

a few minutes later he comes back in the house....

"did you buy her that chair?"

"yep. i just barely bought it at kohlers. did you???"

"yeah, but i got mine when i went to smiths. well..... i guess beth gets two little chairs then."


and she did. we brought both of the them home. i mean, clearly it wasn't worth our time to take back a little plastic chair that cost $3.50. so she got two. because you never know when one of those will break- no, disapp-, get los-..... okay, so she has two just because. we both got a kick out of it.



some other fun pictures of her going down the twisty slide at the park. love the smile on her face and the tongue sticking out at the end. love it.

blue eyes

last saturday bentley and i had a little play date in the park. she let me shoot away at her amazing blue eyes and smiled at all the right times. this girl was amazing to photograph. it went so smooth and she was just perfect. literally. also literally? her eyes are seriously that blue. i didn't do a thing to enhance. they are the real deal. aren't they stunning? she turned 6 months just a week before these were shot. and i can't wait to do more of her in the future. i told her mom and i could have photographed her all day. and i really could have. yep, it was that easy.












you are just a doll bentley - your parents better watch out for you... you're going to be a knock out! can't wait to meet in the park again someday :)

this little guy

this is wyatt. who came into our world just one short month ago to a good friend of mine and her husband. she asked me to come and take a few shots and i was thrilled. so as promised my dear marci, here is your sneak peek!

thanks again for asking me to be there marc, you're little guy is soooo cute! i can't wait to show you the rest...!!! :)

stellar afternoon

i went with my good friend sarah to the beach yesterday - it was fantastic. the water was warm enough for the kids (and for me), but it was hot enough outside that it was still refreshing, it wasn't over-crowded with a million people, and the girls had a blast playing together. a stellar way to spend the afternoon. some favorites from the day...

a new place for us, and i will definitely be back.



in other news, beth continues to get bigger and with that come new phases and stages. pros and cons of our current phase:

pro: she is much better at giving kisses than she ever has been
pro: she loves the water - especially natural water and will swim and play in it all day long
con: she is becoming a very picky eater
con: she still screams whenever you tell her no
pro:her vocabulary has expanded. i'm proud to announce that "no" is no longer the only word she knows. we now recognize thank you, milk, puppy, uh-oh (of course), yucky, and most recently, daddy. that one is the best one. she yells it when he gets home and smiles really big and it is so heart-warming
pro: she is very independent
con: she is very independent
pro: she loves slides and playing on the big kid playgrounds, especially now that she can climb just about anything
pro: she has become a really good cuddler
con: she has major separation anxiety - from whoever she's been with for the last hour. she cries and clings to me when i drop her off at daycare, and then kicks and screams when i pick her up. not sure how i feel about it... neither one is easy.

but i love the girl. she becomes a bigger handful everyday, but as a wise woman once said "well, that's growth. they're learning independence."

i guess we are all learning as we go...

a little bit of a lot

if you want great pictures of a messy toddler, give them nutella.






classic. i love it.

my posts seem to be few and far between these days. the last few weeks have been long days at work, and long nights of work at home intermingled with a few fun things here and there. like the 4th of july. we had a really good 4th of july. we had some friends from hanks hotel over for a barbeque - complete with store bought potato salad, a flag-cake, and semi-cool/semi-lame fireworks that we set off our basketball court in the backyard. i even bought red, white and blue (deep purple) flowers for the flower bed in my front yard. it was very festive. then we all packed ourselves in and drove down to the lake for a really good fireworks show of which beth could've cared less after about 5 minutes. she liked all the glow necklaces and bracelets better.

we've also been eating large lately. explanation: at the beginning of the year hank and a buddy started this bet - whoever lost the most weight by july 1st, had to buy the other (and significant other) dinner, up to $200. they started out at very similar weights, and are very similar builds, so it works. well, hank was killin it at first and the other guy got scared. real scared. so he paid a nutritionist to help him out and went on this crazy diet. meanwhile, hank was doing it all by himself, and with the support of his self-proclaimed nutritionist wife. still doing well, but now the other guy pulls ahead. 2 weeks to go. hank is welcomed to the under-200 club. 1 week to go and down the wire. the other guy is ahead by 3 pounds (they would weigh and share everyday). hank gets extreme with diet. last day: hank eats nothing and sits in a sauna for 3 hours to sweat it out. weigh in day: hank wins by 1.5 pounds!!!!! and other guy is shocked. hank and i are stoked. and have since been eating not-so-great. the other night we went to old chicago where hank got nachos and i had a calzone and afterwards on the way home we got dairy queen. terrible, but DELICIOUS! hank is still under 200, has lost over 40 pounds and looks AMAZING. i am really proud of him. and he feels good. and it's awesome. i will post a picture soon. but he got really tired of eating so well for so long that he is splurging a little bit now. and i admit that i'm right there with him. but just for a little bit...

the sunsets have been so amazing lately. the clouds have been just right to make for a myriad of gorgeous colors across the sky that seem to last longer than usual. i am particularly appreciative of tonights - i've been watching it out the back window as i write... it was a long, long day.

it was nice to come home to beth who smiled and laughed with me in the evening, and the man who patiently listened and then said all the right things. including "what do you need right now?" (and.... melt.) best possible question ever. best husband ever. things with work should slow down a bit tomorrow. i am looking forward to the break for a while...

3x12

i'm a couple days late getting to this one...




a typical evening for us. hanging out on the deck in our backyard, just finished dinner, and now just enjoying the warmth and playing with beth until it's time to go to bed. we have absolutely loved our deck since hank built it last year. we literally spend nearly every night out there. we often start our day out there, we eat every meal out there (that we're home for, anyway) play out there, talk and laugh out there, watch the people walk by, take naps... it's fantastic. i'm so glad we have a comfortable place to retreat to during these warm summer days. it makes for some good times... some very good times.