I am taking an online photography course right now and we are working on shooting in different lighting conditions. This assignment was supposed to be shot in full sun (gasp!) using backlighting. This is usually a situation that I avoid like the plague, however, this technique worked great. I had fun with her and I think these turned out great!

I have been a Brownie leader for the past year and a half. Emma started in a Brownie troop at the beginning of last year. It wasn’t going the way I was hoping and so a bunch of us decided to leave the troop and start our own. I decided to become the leader. It has been fun and I think all the girls enjoy being in my troop.

This last month at our service unit meeting, the head of our service unit asked if any of us had been Brownies. Quite a few had, but none in the room could top me. I was a Brownie here in Park City, and my leader is still a leader and was at our meeting! She still has a scrapbook filled with photos from my troop. They also asked for photos of us as Brownies. As soon as she asked, I knew that I had a great photo of myself at my flying up ceremony. I just had to figure out where it was. I dug out my baby book and I found it!

I think this was at the end of third grade. I was probably about 9, so I am guessing this was about 1981. I can still remember so much about this day. I know that it was at Parley’s Park Elementary School. I remember that they had a little bridge that we walked across. I was excited to be “flying up” but disappointed that there wouldn’t be a Girl Scout troop for me to join. I REALLY wanted to sell cookies. In those days Brownies were not allowed to sell cookies, so I never got to do that.

Anyway, I have always loved this photo and thought I would share it with all of you.

Wow, sorry for the long delay in posting! We have been busy around here Actually busy, but not so much around here.

The weekend after Emma’s birthday Scott and I headed to California for one of his childhood friend’s birthday parties. It was a so much fun to see a bunch of our old friends. The kids stayed home at my parent’s house. We just spent the whole weekend relaxing and spending time with friends.

Then last weekend we headed back to California–without kids again! This time they stayed with Scott’s mom. One of our dear friends turned 70, so we went out for the party. I got to do a little photo shoot for some of our friends, as well. I got some really cute photos! I can’t wait to get them all edited so I can share them. It was also Scott’s birthday, so we had a little surprise party for him. It was awesome to see old friends. People came to Scott’s party that we hadn’t seen in years!!! The only unfortunate part of the weekend was that we both came down with strep throat.

Besides traveling, we have just been busy with our usual family things. Ian has been playing hockey. He has had a few little scrimmages in the past few weeks. They are so cute! It is so fun so see them out skating around. They all look so tiny. Often there are more of them laying on the ice than there are playing the game. He also started a skating class last week. Emma is still taking ballet, and she loves it. She is also taking an after school art class. She can never get enough art! All three kids have been busy with ski lessons. I, however, am happy to see the ski season winding down. I love that the kids are learning to ski, and loving it, but it makes for a lot of running around for me.

This time of year everyone starts looking forward to spring, and I am no exception. I have been enjoying skate skiing, but I am ready to start biking. Scott and I signed up to do the Cycle Salt Lake Century in May. So now I have extra motivation to start getting back in shape. Last year I wasn’t quite ready and it was a tough ride. I don’t want to repeat that again!

That is about it for now! I’ll try not to wait so long before I blog again. I have been better about keeping up my photography blog. If you haven’t checked it out you might want to pay me a visit over there: http://kerrysundahlphotography.com/blog/

Emma turned 8 this week! Where did those 8 years go? I can remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. That moment I first laid eyes on her is etched in my mind like a snapshot. I can still picture that little scrunched up face and swollen eyes.

Emma had a week long birthday celebration. First she had her birthday celebration at school. The we had a family party at the bowling alley. Our “little” party turned into about 20 people. We had a fun time bowling, eating pizza, and just hanging out. The party that Emma couldn’t wait for was her Build-a-Bear party with her school friends. She invited a few of her closest friends and they all went and picked our a bear and had a little celebration. It really turned out to be fun! Then she got to go out with Grandma Dava and Grandpa Russ for her special “grandparents birthday dinner”. She was thrilled to be the center of attention all week long.

This last year Emma has really started to look so much more grown up. She has gotten so much taller. She has lost all of her baby teeth in the front and her 2 front teeth are almost all grown in. It has changed her little face and made her look so much older. I really need to do a photo shoot with her soon to capture her cute little smile right now!

Emma’s interests have stayed pretty consistent over the past year. She still loves art–I think she always will. Most mornings she still gets up and heads straight to her art table to work on a new project. She is in second grade this year and she loves her teacher, Ms. Hendrickson. She is a fantastic reader. I am always amazed when I hear her read out loud. She truly reads better than most adults. She reads with such emotion. The best part is that she really enjoys it. She has turned into a really good skier this year, too. She is in the Learn to Race program at Park City Mountain Resort. I have been amazed at how good of a racer she is. She isn’t afraid to go fast. She says she wants to win a platinum medal by the end of the year! She still loves to dance. She danced in her dance school’s production of the Nutcracker this year. She is hoping to do it again next year.

I am so proud of the sweet person that Emma is growing up to be. She constantly amazes me and I am so lucky to have her in my life.

Happy 8th birthday, Emma!

When Nora was about a year old she used to pull out her own hair. She would pull it out and then roll it around in her fingers and suck her thumb. She did it so much that she had bald spots on her head. I kept trying to find dolls with hair to encourage her to pull out the dolls hair, instead of her own. She never really pulled the dolls hair, but she eventually stopped pulling out her own. Soon after that she started getting really attached to stuffed animals, and she started pulling the fur out of them, instead. I was going through my old emails today and I found this video that Scott’s mom sent me. I just had to share it!

A new bowling alley just opened up in Park City. We decided it would be a fun place to have Ian’s birthday party. We had a small party, and he just invited some of his best friends. It was the first time any of my kids had been bowling and they really had a great time. It was a perfect place for a party!

Check out Ian’s bowling style. I love how he is totally off the ground in the last photo!

The kids had lots of fun bowling, eating chips and candy, and then we finished off with pizza and cake.

I can’t believe that Ian turned 6 this week!

His birthday was on a Friday this year, and he doesn’t have school on Friday’s. I decided to make him a nice breakfast for his birthday. A few months ago I painted a birthday plate at Color Me Mine. I wanted to start a new tradition of having a special plate for the birthday child to use. Ian was the first one to get to use it, and he was really excited about it.

One of our favorite things to do in Maui, is to go to the Gazebo for breakfast. They have the most amazing pancakes. This year we asked about their recipe and they actually told us. They said the delicious topping was Dream Whip, butterscotch, and maple syrup. We decided to try to make them to celebrate Ian’s birthday. I think we did a pretty good job. They turned out delicious.

I really don’t know where the time has gone, and I can’t believe that Ian is 6. As we put him to bed Scott and I told him the story of his birth, and how we almost didn’t make it to the birth center on time. He was really interested and he asked a lot of questions. He was pretty amazed!

Here are a few things about Ian as he turns six:
-He is in Kindergarten at Soaring Wings Montessori School. He has a wonderful teacher named Kim who we all adore.
-He is still a ball of energy.
-He is an orange belt in karate at Bobby Lawrence Karate.
-He loves to practice his karate moves…..all the time, even ones he makes up
-He started playing hockey this year and he loves it.
-He likes ski racing and he won a bronze medal in Nastar this week.
-He learned to really swim this year and he was totally self sufficient in the pool in Maui
-He is still a little sweetheart. He looks at me all the time and says “I love you, Mom” and gives me the best hugs! I hope that never changes.
-He loves to play Wii.
-He loves Legos and anything Star Wars.

We are so lucky to have such a smart, charming, sweet little boy. I am savoring these moments while he is still a little boy. He is turning into a big boy before my eyes. Happy birthday, big guy!

I love this song. I can’t get it out of my head lately. Even my kids have been singing it Today in the car Nora asked me to turn on the “Oh, Oh, Oh song.” How cute is that?

Thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. Scott and I were able to get married. At least, according to Emma.

She has been learning about Martin Luther King, Jr in honor of his recent birthday. Everyday she comes home from school with more stories about him. Earlier in the week she named all the kids in her class that wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for Martin Luther King, Jr.

Then, this weekend we were having lunch at my parents house. She started talking about him again. She talked about how people of different races were not allowed to be married before. She looked at Scott and I and said “It is a good thing for you that Martin Luther King, Jr. did what he did. Because if he didn’t you wouldn’t be able to be married.” We both looked at her confused and asked “Why?” She looked at Scott and whispered “Because you are black.”

We tried not to laugh, because she is really sensitive about that lately, but I have no idea where she got the idea that Scott is African American! Maybe because he is tan???

So, in honor of Emma, I want to say Thank you to Dr. King for allowing Scott and I to get married

Last winter I got a flyer about a free skate ski clinic in January. I really wanted to try it. But January came and went, and I never did it. Then the same happened with February, March, and April and I never did make it out there.

This year I made it a goal to take a lesson and try it. Today I accomplished that goal and I took a group lesson with White Pine Touring. I knew it was going to be hard, so at least I went into it expecting that.

We started out just working on the skating part without poles. We skated back and forth practicing the push and glide. Once we got that down (Ha!) then we added the poles. I actually picked up the technique fairly quickly, but the balance and timing took more practice. We just kept going back and forth. Thankfully, we got to take a few breaks. I was exhausted about half way through the lesson. I could feel the sweat just dripping off me! But I was really enjoying it.

Once the lesson was over I thought I would try out the 3K track to practice what I had learned. I knew that I would be tired, but I wanted to try it anyway. It went even better than I expected. But I couldn’t believe how sore my arms were. They felt like wet noodles by the time I was done.

I am happy that I got out there and tried it. It is definitely something that I want to keep doing. There is a women’s group lesson starting on Tuesday for the next few weeks. I just might sign up for it.