a little boy

and his Daddy. How cute!

So, it has been awhile since I have posted. I've been up to something. But i'm not telling. Atleast not yet anyway. I'm really excited about my latest and greatest venture, so expect some more fun info in the next couple of weeks!

But until then, I thought I would share a few of my new picture faves of my little family. I FINALLY ordered the new camera lens I have been wanting. And last saturday was the first day I experimented with it. So fun. I still have a lot to learn, but I notice little improvements everytime I "practice." And that makes me :)

We went to the "mountains" by our house last Saturday. "mountain" here is a relative term. They are more like little hills that have hiking trails and such. So we took advantage of the beautiful, sunny, not hot enough for my shirt to stick to my sweaty back, Phoenix weather, and went hiking. Miles loves hiking. And I was so excited to use my new lens and my camera remote to take some cute pictures. But....alas. I am always reminded of how forgetful I am. Or atleast how many things I have to try and remember when leaving the house with a baby. I remembered sunblock, a hat for Mile, the baby bjorn, water,my camera, a backpack (for all this loot), picnic lunch, my camera remote, diaper bag, and so on. But I forgot my fun new gorillapod. So, you don't get to see any pictures of my bright smiling face. So this will have to do.

In all honesty, I doubt I would have been too excited to be in the pictures anyway. Because you see, I didn't get "ready" for the hike. What do I mean, I wasn't ready? I mean, I wasn't READY...no cute hair, no make-up, no photo-op worthy outdoorsy hiking outfits. Flash back about 20 years. Or 19, Or 10, or 3. My mom would always yell to me, as she was waiting for me to get "ready" before we went out on some big family fun activity, that getting ready wasn't necessary. Afterall...."This isn't a fashion show." Oh yes....and these timeless words of my mother have continued to curse me since the first time I heard them. Whenever I agree to grace my outdoor loving husband with my presence on these fun familiy hikes, I hear these words echoing in my mind. And I think, "that's right. it's NOT a fashion show. No hair or make-up needed." end of discussion with myself. I usually follow it up with a convincing "besides, I'll be wearing sunglasses anyway." Now, flash forward an hour, when we have hiked our way to the top of our little hill-like mountain, and we are looking out over the Valley and its family photo time. At this moment, I am KICKING MYSELF and thinking....I should have gotten READY!!!!! We take the picture, I cringe at the sight, and promptly promise myself that I will a). bury the photo within the depths of my computer hard drive. Never will it see the light of day. and b.) I vow to be more picture presentable the next time we go. Just a little something for you to look forward to for next time.

Did I mention I am in Evanston? I am staying for 3 weeks. yes...nearly a month. I have Miles here with me to visit his grandparents, and poor Mike is home alone with Marlee. So these pictures are for him. Hopefully he won't miss Miles too much. We love you, and we'll see you in a few more weeks!