Some of my best memories of being in South Dakota visiting as a kid was going to the public pool.  Something about it reminds me of the movie The Sandlot ~ I couldn’t wait to take my kids there and I think they are going to remember this too!

This is my cousin’s boy, he is quite the diving extraordinaire.  A dang good cannon-baller too!

Halle hesitated going down a huge water slide for  - oh, about… a half a second, then

After swimming, we went to the Kree Mee to get an ice cream cone.  Contrary to this face, he was REALLY excited!

Cole had never really seen kitties and he was VERY interested…

not for long though:)

The view from my Auntie’s porch at about 9:45pm ~  I feel like I’m in Alaska for cripes sakes!!!  The sunsets are BEAUTIFUL here!

South Dakota has got to be one of the most beautiful landscapes in North America.  I cannot wait to share some of the scenery here.  Makes me wanna pack up and leave the triple digit heat of AZ.  My kiddos are having a great time meeting their cousins.  Just some of our fun.

Just arriving at the Fargo airport

How beautiful is this?  it was a few hour drive from Fargo to a small town in South Dakota that my folks grew up in.  This is a gas station along the way – yes, I said gas station.  They don’t look like this in AZ!

Meet my newest cousin “L”  She is 10 weeks old and this is me holding her – I couldn’t wait to take a pic, so this is a self picture.  Not too bad, in focus anyway:)

Exploring the farm

Uncle was showing us how the cottonwood trees make “snow”

More cousins

Uncle Randy also made the kids a rope swing – they LOVED it!!!

Bruce swatting the mosquitos – they LOVE him, surprised?

So of course it’s been ages since my last post and I keep telling myself, “self, this will be the week I start posting every week”.  I literally have DOZENS of sessions to post and sadly I was looking through my BIG file of photos I’d like to post, but haven’t quite gotten to yet, and just realized it’s been OVER ONE YEAR for a couple of them!!!!  WHAT?!?!?  That is unacceptable!  I’m fired!  And the really sad part is that I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it, but this past weekend I just took one of my newborn baby clients ONE YEAR photos.  Akkkkk!

Having said that, I have given myself 20 lashings and a few hail Mary’s for my sins and I am ready to get going on 1 of what will probably end up as a 3-4 part MONSTER blog post.  Now I would love to write about each of these sessions because they are all so different and fun and ALL of my clients have truly been DA BEST, but really you just want to see the pics right?  Well here goes…

Oh, and sorry about all the watermarking at the bottom.

And last but not least, a post would not be complete without one of my little sweethearts would it?  Here is my most recent FAVE of BIG Bruce – who just turned ONE by the way!  But that’s a whole other post… maybe part 5 to this posting saga.

I can not get enough of this boy!

So… I’ve decided there are certain battles I choose not to engage in anymore, one being ~ the wardrobe!

I have resorted to lovingly referring to my girl as  Little Miss Frankenstien. So anyway I bought her some super cute one piece romper-like outfits that I would wear everyday given it would be cutting edge fashion for a slightly “fluffy” adult to be wearing a romper /unitard /whatever:)  Well, I thought “there’s no way she could make this ONE PIECE  outfit look akward”…   wait, scratch that, sure she can!

Enter into evidence exhibit A:

Oh, and notice her full cooperation with the photographer, yeah, that’s me!

Well it is hard to believe that this beauty was just 3 years old when I first met her ~ and now 15!!!! Meet my niece/babysitter/athlete extraordinaire brand spanking new FIFTEEN year old Samantha.  Happy Birthday and for goodness sake, put your phone down for two seconds today and enjoy it

How could I not post this ASAP?!  I took this today and fell in love!  Have a great night and wonderful holiday week:)  Gobble Gobble!

My little guy is 5 monthes!  I have been slammed over here but had to take a few pics of my sweet baby boy today, and I am so glad I did!  Check out my angel.

Nighty nite all, back to my dungeon:)  Happy 5 months stinker pants!!!

These were taken about a month ago and I am just now getting to posting a few, but look how cute my little man is…  his chin just makes my heart melt into a little puddle!

Time is just flying by at lightning speed these days!  I am in awe everyday that I look at my gang, especially to see my youngest hitting milestones that I thought I had ages until we were hitting… like sitting up.  Granted, he falls over within a few seconds, but at our last Dr visit she casually asked if he was sitting up yet ~  I kind of chuckled and when I realized she was serious, I was a bit embarrassed that I had no idea!    He has spent the last 4+ months laying on his back, belly and sitting in a swing.  Needless to say, I felt like lazy Mom McGee!!!  So, when we got home I promptly sat him on his tushie and low and behold, he sat there unassisted for about 10 seconds.  So I started to think… when were Halle & Cole sitting?  Halle sat super early at about 4 months, but that was only because she was so chunky, she couldn’t fall over!  Cole was about 6 months.  Bruce is officially out of the newbie stage {Whaaaaaa!}  Here he is from yesterday.

I didn’t realize that he looked like casper until I saw him next to my Hallebear.  Poor fella is practically see through for crying out loud:)

Have I mentioned lately that I {heart} chunky babies?

Have a great weekend, and give your babies big hugs & kisses!