An Arizona Christmas

It's February and I'm just now blogging Christmas. Shame on me, but better late than never right?

Having fun with Grandma, Grandpa and Rowan at the Christmas Eve Party

Starting to get very sleepy ... but still adorable

Then Buddy the Elf showed up!

And Norah LOVED Buddy.

But apparently Santa is a little less exciting :)

Opening her stocking Christmas morning

PEZ, A Christmas tradition I couldn't pass up

December 26, opening the rest of her Christmas gifts. And, naturally, you have to hold the new clothes up to see how they'll look, right?

Admiring her tea set, one of her favorite toys ever.

Opening Rapunzel, the doll that now sits in her closet until she's old enough to appreciate how awesome she is.

This is life

I have a pile of laundry known as Mount Everest taking up my closet

I have a laundry basket almost empty that was once filled with clean clothes that never got folded.

There is a suitcase, still half-full, waiting to be emptied from our trip to Arizona this Christmas.

The list of thank-you cards I need to write and send is 2.7 miles long.

I am teaching a primary lesson tomorrow that I haven't even had a chance to read.

Life is good.

Today was the Thanksgiving Point Wedding Expo, an event that takes up every spare second to plan and ends up being totally worth it every time. On top of that, I shot a wedding today. I can safely say I wasn't thinking when I let that happen, but it worked out so well because I have the best family in the world.

My dad and Geoff lent their vehicles, time and strength into hauling props back and forth
My mom took me shopping yesterday and helped me find something cute to wear
Carlie babysat Norah yesterday so Jason and I could set up our booth
Rylie babysat a sick Norah (she threw up twice) all day today
And grand prize goes to Jason who not only kept me company in my booth today, but flew solo while I photographed a wedding AND was in charge of taking down my entire booth. That folks, is love. My business may be registered as a "sole proprietorship" but if it weren't for my amazing family, Jessie Alexis Photography could not exist.

Thank you everyone who helped make today possible!!

Now let's just hope I can get that suitcase emptied so I can pack it up again next week ...

Cousins

We just returned from a wonderful 8 day trip to Arizona to spend time with our family down there. I took 437 pictures ... so it might take me a while to sort through and post some of those, but I just had to post this one from the zoo. Norah had a total blast with her cousins and we hope it won't be too long before we see them again!

O Christmas Tree

We've had the Christmas tree up since before Thanksgiving (I'm a rebel, I know) and it has brought us so much fun! Norah loves to re-arrange the ornaments and tell me "uh oh!" when she pulls them off, while Sonny acts as the watch guard. Perhaps one of these days I'll get one of Norah actually looking at the camera but let's be honest ... a glowing tree v. mom with a camera in your face? We know who will win that battle 10 times out of 10.

Epic Fail

For Thanksgiving we kept with tradition and headed up to the cabin. Because of weather conditions and the fact that Carlie had to work until 9 the night before, we didn't head up to the cabin until Thursday morning. Because we were planning on leaving so early, Jason and I decided we would spend the night at my parents house. Which meant I needed to be packed for the cabin Wednesday morning. In my hustle to get the three of us packed, I totally messed up. I grabbed my camera and two of the lenses I would need to take pictures as well as a third lens that I had sold and needed to deliver that afternoon. I made the mistake of putting my brand spanking new $500 lens in the box to be sold, while putting my old cheap lens (that I sold for $120) in my bag. On top of that, I didn't bring a battery for my camera. So the lack of battery explains why I have zero pictures of our Thanksgiving festivities. The lens blunder explains why I'm stressed out and my currently broken-down jeep explains why I haven't made the lens switch yet. Blerg. But, here's a cute picture of Norah at the cabin I swiped of my mom's blog :)

Little Reader

The other day I walked into Norah's room and found her like this:

I think she needs a bookshelf.

Autumn Fun

Last week my Uncle David and Aunt Diana came out to visit and while we snapped a few photos of them, Norah enjoyed the best thing about fall - playing in the leaves.