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.

Just about two weeks ago my best friend from Michigan Allison, asked me to make her little guys some pendant banners for his 1st Birthday Party.  Being two thousand miles away (thank heavens for pinterest) I was able to have Al somewhat describe to me what she wanted them to look like.  It was a lot of work to get these done and mailed in less than a week, especially considering that we had the nicest weather of the year so far the weekend that I need to bust them out.  I got them done and promised that I would share them with you.  I am sorry that I didn’t take better images of them.  I was super tired when I finished and just wanted to go to bed.  

Allison’s Mother has a room in her house that we call the Americana room it is all done in red, white, and blue American flags and vintage looking things, she is a Social Studies teacher so she is totally allowed to have a room like that.  Al asked that the banners be baseball themed and red, white, and blue, but not look like her Mother’s Americana room.  I tried to keep the banners looking as masculine as possible.  

I know that this image is super dark.  I am so sorry one request that Al had was that I alternate baseball, pendant, and so on..  I sat one night while we were watching J. Edgar and did all of the stitching on the baseballs with a fine point red sharpie.  There were only 20 of them to do!!!  I also was going to tie the banners together with red and white polka dot grosgrain ribbon, instead I found this super cute baseball fabric that matched the banners perfectly.  I am pretty pleased with the way that they turned out.  I can’t wait to see images from Matthew’s 1st Birthday Party.

The other night Chris and I were sitting up talking after we had put B to bed, this is my favorite part of the day to spend with Chris.  We have the best conversations about B of course our life, and our future.  We were talking about something, I honestly don’t remember what it was exactly but it sparked me to run and grab his baby book.   Which I am extremely thankful to have,  I have no idea where mine even is, and I haven’t seen it since I probably was still in high school.

We were sitting reading and laughing about how Chris was as a two year old.  What his mother had written about him and comparing it to how B is.  It was very entertaining for us!!!  While reading about my husband in his terrible two’s I came across this image of him on his second birthday.

I look at this image of Chris on his 2nd Birthday and I immediately see the same characteristics in B.  The cheeks and the eyelashes.  

(I have wanted to do this post much sooner but I have been fighting with my scanner for a few days and it has been winning until now.  I finally took control and pulled out the owners manual and showed it who was boss.)

Back to my story, I had gone through some of my parents old photo albums a few months ago before B’s 2nd Birthday trying to find some images of myself when I was 2. I found a ton and picked out of my favorites and asked my Dad to scan them for me when he had time.  He promptly did cause he is the best in general but especially when I ask him for something like this.

Someone should have told me that having your mouth wide open while you are chewing at age 2 would haunt me later in life.  SO un-lady like.  I hope that B takes this as lesson of what not to do.   I know you immediately look at this and say your two where is all of your hair.  Yep that’s it.  I had as much hair as B does now when I was in 1st grade and I think that was maybe with one little hair trim ever.  

Here is B at age 2, at her 2nd Birthday party.  I see so much of both of us in her.  I love having images to compare us with her, at the same ages.  I think that it is so fun and something that everyone does.  I just thought that I would share all of this with you.