Goals

My personal goal for the month of November is to compliment my kids more. It is so easy to get stuck in the rut of telling them all the things they are doing wrong but so much harder to take time out to tell them when they do it right! It seems simple but it isn't. I did OK for most of the first week and then failed miserably for three or four days and am doing better again now. I think with Thanksgiving comming I should step it up again though. Atleast ten strong compliments a day for each of the kids. It should be easy to be grateful when I have to say nice things all day!

While I'm feeling grateful, our friend Mark Halladay "woke up" three days ago and started speaking again after a severe stroke. His four little kids got to go in and see him for the first time in six weeks. Miracles do happen.

Thanks!

This afternoon my son sweetly  unloaded my dirty dishes out of the dishwasher and put them all away. We will just have to be on our guard since I don't know exactly which ones were still dirty. He totally gets credit for trying though!

Bryce explains the anatomical journey of a flatulent

And I thought it was just the refried beans.......

Red-Neck

Growing up in Egypt and Washington DC you would think I have grown up with a respect for firearms, I have never had one in my home until I moved to the rough and tough town of Kuna, Idaho. Go figure. I don't love guns but my policy is that if there are going to be guns in my house, I would be stupid not to know how to use them. So, a few times a year I go shooting with Paxton. He welded up these targets himself and is very proud of them. I don't understand the desire to shoot up something you have worked so hard on but whatever makes my guy happy works for me! We took the kids, who have been taught basic gun safety, but they are confined to the back of the truck. I have found I am pretty good with a 22 and respectable with a shot gun but I am pretty much useless with a hand gun. Paxton however is a wicked shot. That's my Idaho boy! Looks the kids are going to take after their daddy!

perspective

I'm having one of those reality check weeks. I'm in an airport in Denver on my way back home to Boise after being in Connecticut for four days. I had a really good time but I'm so ready to come home. 

Two days ago a good family friend suddenly became very ill and then had a stroke. He and his family live a few doors down from us and our kids play together weekly. He and his wife are in scouts with me. Our kids are in the same classes at school. They live a healthy, active life style and in a week their whole world changed. My heart is breaking because I have small idea of the rollercoaster of grief that that they are feeling.

I have often wondered how people managed back in the day with out anti-biotics or cat scans or medical sedation. I have wonderered how mothers could survive when it was almost expected that they would loose a child or a husband or both. That time seems distant sometimes and then I have a reality check and realize that sometimes things aren't so different now.

In the last few months we have had friends who had a young husband pass away, a four yr old daughter go into liver failure, a premature baby, my sister finishing her last surgery to be put back together after brain surgery, not to mention our friends and family struggling to make ends meet financially, passed the three year mark of the loss of our son, and now our friends who's husband in on a ventilator while they try to find out how much damage was done by the stroke. This is reality of life, I just forget that sometimes in the course of an average day. It is these kind of weeks that makes me pray harder, kiss my kids more, appriciate my husband and take a little extra time to sit in the sunshine and appricate the quiet moments because who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Sick Days

I've had my second talk with the school nurse in two days. Yesterday Shaylee called saying she had a headache and since she had a cold I thought she could have some bad sinus pressure so I went to pick her up. When I got there I found out she had been hit in the head with a basketball but it hadn't even left a red mark so I sent her back to class and told the nurse that she tended to overeact.

Just now Bryce called from the nurses office saying he threw up in the lunch room because someone had cottage cheese and he looked at it and smelled it an it made him throw up. The kid has such a touchy gag reflex I totally believe it. He had already come up with his own plan for the rest of the day. He said he now needed hot lunch because his sandwich would make him sick and that whenever he walked past the lunch room he would hold his breath and plug his nose so he wouldn't get sick again. I could hear the nurse laughing in the back ground.

When the nurse got back on she asked if I thought she would be seeing any more of my kids this week and if we got Jake and Avery in we would set a school record. I said if that happened I would by her hot lunch.

Quote of the day

Avery told her Kindergarten teacher that it isn't OK to tounge kiss your cousins because that is the worst way to get germs. It is ok to share straws with people in your family though. I have no idea where she heard that. Luckily her teacher thought it was flat out hilarious. Between her and Bryce I am going to be notorious at their school. 

The other day Bryce was asking how many jobs he would have to do to save up for this big lego thing that he wanted and I told him it was seventy dollars. He smaked his head and said,"Mom, I don't know how I'm going to get that much money by doing job cause I would have to work all day and all night. And I don't have any wiggly teeth right now so I would have to get someone to punch me in the face so then the tooth fairy can come and I just don't thing that would feel very nice."

September

I've got to catch up a bit. September was a pretty emotional month. On the 6th I have offically survived three years since we lost our little Colin. It was a pretty crappy weekend I won't lie but at least I was only in a funk for a good week instead of month, or year. Every year it gets a little easier. We usually do something fun as a family that we wouldn't usually pay for but we had had an awesome weekend in Utah the week before so instead we bought a present for each of the kids. We told them that it was for Colin's birthday and that he would want us to be happy on his birthday. It worked for them but not so much for me. It think I'm excused though.

As soon as I pulled out of my little pitty party I realized my sister Lindsay was having her hopefully "last" surgery to put her all back together after being cancer free from a bran tumor for a year. I say "last" because we thought the "last" one before this would do it but obviously not. The poor girl has been through so much. This surgery wasn't ideal but they were ready with a contigency plan that worked. Now she is home and somewhat on her feet. It was so good to talk with her a bit. I make it a goal to make her laugh hard atleast once durring a phone call. That may not seem so kind to someone with a major head injury but I firmly believe that laughing will heal you in a way that medicine will always fail at. It heals your soul as I well know.

We started this month in an awesome way. We go to drive down to Utah and see my family. That might not be huge from most people but for our family we are lucky if we are all on the same continent. I mean that literally. We are sometimes spread out in three out of four hemispheres. For now it is just two though. I LOVE to see my family. And I got to do my little sister Jenny's senior pics. She was five when I left for college. Mom calls us bookends because out of the whole family we look the most alike (and if you have ever seen all seven of us kids together you would know that is something!) She looked so pretty and grown up. We also go to meet my beautful little niece of ten days old Ashlynne. I'm pretending she is partly named after me because she has my middle name Lynn as part of hers.  She is a pretty little thing. I did newborn pics for them and she kept smiling in her sleep. We topped it all of with a trip to Cascade Springs which is kind of a heaven on Earth to me if you don't puke on the way up from car sickness. Then we hit the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point and the kids had a blast. There are so many fun things we can do with them now that our littlest is five. And I acutally get to have fun with them!!

Finally, all four of my kids are in school now. It is really, really weird to have such a quiet house. The first day I was all pumped to come home and get a ton of things done. I waved to little Avery as she walked in her classroom with her backpack that is so big it comes down to her knees, and it hit me. I seriously thought I would be doing a little jig back to my car and instead I was wishing my hair was down so it would hide my tears. I kept it in mostly until I got home and it was so quiet that it really weirded me out. Then I lost it and bawled and laughed alternately for half an hour. I called my mom and asurred me that I'm perfectly normal to be hysterical, if that makes any sense.

Now I'm getting in a routine of working while the kids are in school and working in a different way when they come home. I think this is going to be a really awesome year for all of us!

PS I've decide that I'm going to think of one unique thing to be thankful for each day. Yesterday I was grateful for jam that sets. Today I'm grateful for my beautiful motorcylce Jazzy that kicked the bucket today. RIP sassy girl.

Weenie Roast

Jacob told Bryce that there was a wennie roast for new Cub Scouts. Bryce (holding himself protectively) looked horrified and said if that is what it took to be a scout he never wanted to be one : ) Totally had me busting up in the school parking lot.

Finally home

I got back from my weekend with two weddings in two different states. Thursday I had a temple/Air Force wedding in Utah and Friday I did a beach wedding in Florida. I think I over did it a bit during the trip though getting five or less hours of less each night and eating mostly traveling food. After leaving Florida at 3 am and getting home almost 20 hours later (flying to Salt Lake and then driving six hours back to Boise) I felt so car sick and tired I could hardly get out of the car. BUT I came home to a spotlessly clean house. Paxton had vacuumed, cleaned the showers and did all the laundry. Can I brag that I have pretty much the most amazing husband ever? There was only one casualty over the weekend. We lost our dear little hermit crab Dry Bones. We had a ceremony for him and burried him by our slide in the back yard. It is our first pet to pass on to pet heaven and Bryce was pretty teary all day but is doing OK since I told him we could get another one today. Despite all the work I have to do, I'm taking the day off to play with my sweet babies. I think it is quite theraputic for a mom to miss her kids for a little while.

Awesome!

I just bought plane tickets to shoot in Connecticut in October. I have weddings in Utah and Florida in August and another wedding in Boise in October. My kids are healthy. My husband is hot. My flowers are beautiful. I get to wear sun dresses all summer. Life is good.

Heart Ache

For some reason I have been thinking of my little Colin a lot lately. Maybe it is because he would be three soon. Maybe it is because my heart aches for others that I know that are truely suffering but that I am powerless to help. Sometimes I get a cold dose of reality, that life, in general, is a difficult and sometimes cruel thing. But, as painful as those moments are, they make my words softer and my kisses sweeter and my actions kinder. For any one who has happened on this that has felt grief they way I have at losing my tiny son, somehow there is hope and healing. I can't say how, or how long. Those were my first questions to anyone who could relate. How do you stop hurting? How long will I feel like my chest hurts so badly that I can't breath? Even now I don't have answers but I know that somehow I have walked away from this stronger than before. Here is something I wrote and posted a long time ago. I wrote it after looking at my C-section scar that is daily reminder of my little boy I didn't get to bring home.  This is for my amazing younger sister who has been battleing a cancerous brain tumor for pretty much her whole life.

Scars
My finger traces across my skin
Pale lines where a wound has been
Each has a story of some sort of length
Marks of my weakness and of my strength

We start as a canvas, perfect and new
And life paints our portraits with lines and with hues
Our stories are etched in a series of marks
Seemingly subtle and jaggedly stark
Each mark was gained with some kind of trial
Tribute to sacrifice and of survival
The angry lines fade from across my skin
A constant reminder of changes within
My body and face, unique in design
Won’t follow the beauty the world defines
The wrinkles and scars that TV abhors
Are proof of my love for those I adore
When my body is old and my portrait is done
My scars tell the tale of fights I have won
Each tells a story of some kind of length
Not marks of my weakness, but proof of my strength


By Jaymie Quigley
Written 10-18-09 For my sister Lindsay

Try, Try, again

I was so good at blogging before I started my buisness and got on Facebook. I hardly have time to check anyone elses blog and any free time I have goes to keeping up my photography blog. But, I want to keep these posts to look back at (and possibly print on some ambitious day) so I really, really want to do better at this. With that said, I have about 3 free minutes to post some pictures from our family reunion over the fourth of July.  LONG LIVE CAMP SMOKEY!!!

Published again!

I have been working hard doing headshots for the upcoming Mrs/Miss/Teen Idaho International pageant and my hard work has paid off!

http://www.mrsidaho.com/mrsinternational2.php

Happy Days

So much has happened in the last few weeks I have decided to summarize with a little slide show. It combines three of my favoirte things, my family, photography and music to express more than my limited words can. These are pictures from the temple, our open house for Jacob, and Shaylee's baptism with a few random pictures from our exraordiary week. Loves to all our family and friends who shared their love and support to us through this amazing month.

Mexico!!

May was one heck of a month for us. I got to shoot my first two weddings, Shaylee got baptised, we got to go through the temple with Jacob, had a TON of family here to celebrate our adoption, had a best friend come visit for a few days and ended with a seven day cruise to Mexico. More pictures to come but here are a few from our cruise.

Published!

My pictures have been published in two places in the last week! First in a new digital magazine
http://www.modestwithstyle.com/   and second for Miss Teen Idaho in her National competition http://www.missteeninternational.us/vcontestants.php.  Too cool!!!!

Happy Days!

Last week: I got to shoot my first wedding and LOVED IT!!! I'm hooked for life. It was so cool to play a part of those amazing first hours of someone's new married life! They are so happy it is contagious.

This week: My family is all coming to meet Jacob and to be with us when we go through the Boise temple for us to be sealed as a FOREVER FAMILY!! Since my family is usually scattered on several continents it is so very cool for us to be able to be together. Also, my little Shaylee gets baptised while all the family is here!

Next week: One of my best friends flys in to come visit me for a few days of girl's time. Then Paxton and I leave for our cruise!

Week after that: We spend a week in MEXICO with sand, sun, water, playtime and no responsibility!

I don't think I could have planned a more perfect month if I could had a lifetime to plan it all out. I am the most spoiled Mom on the face of the planet!

Ballerinas and bumblebees

This week I have had some new adventures in photography. I got to do a girl's soccer team pics AND one of the dad's had a huge lift (he's an electrician) so I got to try my hand at some aerial shots!! The last Saturday I got to do a modeling photo shoot for a new online magazine (Modesty with Style). Besides the models freezing in swimsuits and Idaho wind that was a blast and tested my style posing to the max.

Yesterday I started doing pictures of my girl's little Dance Studio Tip Tap Toes. I had so much fun with these little girls dressed as bumblebees, Peter Pan, and rocking it out in pink and silver glitter and hip hop clothes. I'm so excited to go back for more today. Here are a few pic of my girls. I do have to say that they are becoming scary good at taking pictures.

Introducing...

Jacob Tyler QUIGLEY!!!!

On our way!!

We're on our way to the court house. A few more hours and Jacob is ours!!!!

Court Date!

We have our court date set for Jacob's adoption!! It is this coming Monday and we are all so excited. Jacob is just beside himself. His teacher told me he talked about it all day at school and then when he got home he had a hard time doing his homework because he would get so distracted counting down the days till Monday. There is no doubt about how very right this is.

I was reminded of that on Easter Day. We were at Paxton's parents house with all the cousins and having that many little kids around get so me sometimes. Especially on Easter it is hard not to think of our little Colin. That he would be two and a half and could be out looking for Easter eggs with the rest of the kids. I was having a sad moment and Paxton was just holding me, as he got used to doing a lot in the last few years when I have been sad. Just then Jacob walked up with a picture of me and Paxton and in his little Kindergarten hand writing he had written, "I love Mom and Dad." In that moment I felt an overwhelming love for him, this little boy with out a family or parents who so openly loved us all. And I felt an overwhelming feeling of love from my Father in Heaven. That he loved our little family and somehow despite all the tragedy that surrounded us and Jacob, we could find happiness together.

Joleen

My friend Joleen is expecting her FIFTH baby in a few weeks now. Not only does she wear this baby well she assures me this baby's size is nothing compared to her last pregnancy with twins. If only we all could look so good, so very pregnant!

Yay for Me!

After almost 10 yrs of marriage Paxton and I are taking our first vacation together since our honeymoon. We have only had a handful of nights without kids since Shaylee has been born and have decided it's time. We are going on a week long Mexican Riviera cruise in FIVE weeks. Just in time for the big 30 birthday! Even though it snowed over spring break, I am keeping warm imagining myself laying in sunshine on a beach in Cabo. Woo Hoo!

Beautiful

You know those moments when you look at one of you kids and heart swells up and you get tears in your eyes for no apparent reason. Your heart flutters and you think, "I am the luckiest mom in the whole world." Taking pictures of Shaylee in her baptism dress was like that for me. It is hard to believe my baby is so big. I am so very proud of her sweet heart, her natural creativity, and her inherent kindness. I am so very lucky to have such an amazing daughter.

Compliments

Bryce had to write a compliment about himself for school. His was "I'm so glad I can run ten times faster than a slug." Shaylee, keeping her brother humble, said, "No he can't, he can only run five times faster."

Skills

The Easter bunny brought us the new Super Mario Bros. game and I have been surprised at the strong emotions it has brought back to me. I think since we got the wii I have played it all of fifteen minutes until we got this game. In the last few days my kids have seen an entirely new side of me. We played the Wii for an hour and a half yesterday and the kids were amazed at my mad skills. When we got our first Nintendo, my whole family of seven was staying in a one bedroom apparment while my dad was in training and we were waiting to move to Cairo. With so little to do and being the oldest I became the Mario master at age 8. By the time I was nine I could beat the whole game three times over and complete the whole first level while playing only with my toes! It is amazing how quickly it all has come back to me!Bryce went to school today bragging that his mom could beat all the other moms at Super Mario Bros. Shaylee would cheer for me and give me a big hi-five when we beat a new level. It was the most fun I have had in a long time. Twenty years later and I still got game (and a bruised thumb)!

Happy Easter!

Too Much of a Good Thing

So, I'm guilty again. I guess I have a tendancy to over do things a bit. I love photography but I've over worked myself this last week. I don't know why but taking pictures physically wears me out. Maybe it is because I guess so intense about it. I don't know... Anyway, I got to do my first engagement and bridal pictures this last week. It was a blast. Note to self: Bridal pics are hard on a very windy cold day. My poor bride had chattering teeth and her dress was out of control unless she was sitting on it. Then my sweet little 8 yr old helper kept kicking up grass that immdiately flew up and stuck all over the dress. I guess this is the kind of behind-the-scene stuff you never think of when you look at a bridal picture.

I LOVED doing the engagement pictures. I think they are my new favorite. It is so fun to hang out with a couple that are so absolutely in love! Their giddiness is contagious. It makes me think of how happy I was when I was getting married and how much more of I love Paxton now. (We are coming up on ten years at the end of the summer!!! Woo Hoo for us!)

Anyway, after I was all happily burned out from pictures and making an engagement announcement I was going to meet Paxton on Friday night and someone rear-ended me when I stopped at a rail road crossing. I think all the shaking I did in the next two hours finished me off. The kids and I were all OK but it shook me up pretty good. So, instead of a night I the town I came home and slept for ten hours straight.
We'll hope for better luck this week.

Out takes

In my two and a half months as a photographer I have collected a few of my favorite "not-the-pictures-you-hang-on-your-wall" pictures. Not that anyone in these pictures is necessarily funny looking (except my brother Ryan) but it is amazing the priceless images a camera can catch. These are untouched up, unedited and the real deal. (The first three pictures go together.)

Guess Who Won


Thinking Too Hard


Strike a Pose


Where's My Money (I'll Break Your Kneecaps)

Is My Cooking Really That Bad

Demonic

Mom has the Camera Out-Again!

I said I'm DONE!

Who You Lookin' At?

I'm Not Tired

One-Million Dollars...

I AM smiling

Huh?

Raspberry


If looks could kill