I hope that everyone had a wonderful Memorial Weekend.  We headed off to my parents house for the weekend, I had to help Annette with a session on Friday afternoon so we headed out of town early.  

Here is an image from our session. 

Here is the bouquet from our session.  After I was done working we had some time to relax kick back and spend time with the family.

Chris and my Dad went on a little day trip and made a stop at Palouse Falls.

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We went to the park and fed the ducks…

..and rode the tram (train according to B).

Chris and I went on a mini date to get farm fresh frozen yogurt.

By Monday afternoon our little girl was just plain worn out!!!

Yesterday my husband turned 40.  I can’t believe that when I met him he was 30, almost 10 years ago.  I asked him about a month or so ago what he wanted to do for his 40th Birthday and he said he wanted a weekend away just the two of us.  ”I said that is something that we can do, where do you want to go?”  He ended up deciding on the Olympic Peninsula and the Olympic National Park.  I ended up planning the trip because Chris had been so busy with work and other things that he had no idea what any of what are plans were until we were already on the road.  Let’s just say the Olympic Peninsula is HUGE and way too much area to cover in a 3 day weekend but we did our best to cover the  main things that I had chosen for us to do.  I feel like we were able to get a good overview of what the Peninsula offers.  

We had asked my parents of they would mind watching B for us and they jumped at the chance to take her for a few days.  So on Thursday after dropping B off I got back in time for us to go see the Avengers.  We have been dying to see it and just haven’t had a chance.

We got up early on Friday and hit the road.  We knew that we had a lot of ground to cover.  

Here we made a coffee/gas stop in one of our favorite spots, North Bend, WA.  (This is  the town where Twin Peaks was based off of and where parts of the film the Vanishing were filmed) Just a tidbit for you.

Here is where we spent Friday night at the Lake Quinault Lodge.  It sits in the Quinault Rainforest and there is nothing else around.  Talk about being in the sticks, literally. We loved it and had a great time.

We did some hiking and we saw LOTS of big trees, including this huge cedar tree. 

We held hands and walked on the beach.  I told Chris stories that I had never told him before from my childhood.  Hilarious stories!!!  

We hit up Rialto Beach which is just a little bit further west than Forks, (if you are a Twilight fan you have heard of Forks, us not so much),  we saw some hilarious signage about Vampire Danger and Werewolf and Vampire Treaty lines.  This beach was lined with huge pieces of driftwood that have been brought in from the Tsunamis.

Then we headed to Ruby Beach…and it was stunning!!!! 

We ordered Pizza when we went through Forks and drove as fast as we could to Ruby Beach to make it for the “Sweet Light” (just before sunset) time!!!  When we got back to the car we sat and ate our awesome tomato, basil, artichoke and pesto pizza it was to die for!! Probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip!!

 I put on a dress and we went to a nice dinner a rarity for us.  This is on the roof of our hotel.  (I love how my husband amputated my hand (cut it out of the picture) he knows better he had been with me to too many photography events to know better!!!)

We ate crab…

…and looked out the window at this, Mt. Baker!!

and this, the Olympics.  So Pretty.

We ended the trip with a nice rainy ferry ride home.  

Stayed up late to see Mommy when she came home from the studio.

Leaving Grandma’s House.  B looks like she is headed off to school. :-(

Swinging with Daddy at the Whitmire’s House.

Playing with some friends in B’s car.

Twisty Swinging on the swing.  B’s new favorite thing Thank You Ivy for teaching her that, and taking this image.

Yellow is my color of choice these days and this gorgeous tree is what I get to look at every day.

With the amazing weather we have been having on Sunday morning we decided to walk to Church.

Curls under our little girl’s hat.

Watertabling it on a hot day!

Part of b’s Sunglass stash.  Nope this isn’t all of them!!! There are more!!

No posts for more than 10 days, where have I been.  Well I feel that I have a little explaining to do.  I have been very busy the last two weeks with getting ready for and helping with the Wall Portrait Conference.  This year was my 7th WPC, I couldn’t believe that I have been to that many already.  

  WPC in a nutshell,  I know some of you may know from my post last year, but Ken Whitmire who is a photographer here in Yakima, WA, decided in the late 1960’s that he was going to start putting large portraits on his walls in his studio.  Just like they had back in the Rembrant era.  Long story short in 1983 he started a school called the International Wall Portrait Conference here in Yakima for photographers to teach them how to produce and sell large Wall Portraiture. He has held a school every year since, sometimes two a year in the 80’s and 90’s.  Photographers come from all over the U.S. and World to attend this school.  It is pretty amazing thing to be part of.  

These are from my very first WPC from 2006.  I think that these images are so hilarious.  Ken is a stiff as a board.

You can see an amazing image of Ken here by Gavin Seim.

It doesn’t seem possible that this could be my third Mother’s Day as a Mother, but it is.  Time really flies.  I can’t believe what a polite and kind little lady B is turning into.  She is growing up so fast.  Here is my first Mother’s Day two years ago.

Mother’s Day 2010.  Below some of my favorites of B and I over the past two years.

Mother’s Day 2012.  

I hope that you have a Blessed Mother’s Day!!

I am a little behind on my Instagram weekly review.  So Sorry, it seems that something always comes up and I just give you excuse after excuse.  I haven’t felt very well the past few days.  I am trying my hardest to get caught up on some posts.  I feel so bad for not blogging as much lately.  I look at it this way the weather is finally getting nice out and I have a 2 year old that wants my undivided attention every waking moment of her day.  Which she totally deserves, but I am finding it harder to fit my blogging into my old routine.  I need to find a new time of day to blog.  We were blessed with a little girl that would be outside all day everyday from dawn till dusk if she could and I want to give her that as much as possible.  So we have worked really hard to have our nice little fenced in yard be as kid friendly as possible.  

My parents had given B a water table for her Birthday.  It was finally warm enough to pull it out and set it up.  So we did one day while she was napping.  It was a HUGE hit when she woke up.

We made chocolate chip cookies.

Read a new Olivia bedtime story.

Played with puzzles.

Chewed on a rubber Octopus tenticle while swinging.

Planted succulents in my rusty old pot holder. (Found it at an Antique Store for Cheap!!)

Finally put plants in these pots.  Looks a ton better.

Made a trip to Lowe’s to get some things for our yard.