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!

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.

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

While we were in Maui, Ian had a few classic moments. I already wrote about the pajama incident, but there were so many more that I don’t want to forget. One particularly memorable one involved Ian at the pool with a few of his friends.

There was one family staying at our complex that Ian and Emma spent quite a bit of time with. They had two kids–a boy about 12 and a girl about 10. They were both really nice to our kids. Ian had a great time with Robert and Emma had lots of fun with Amanda. Robert was great with all the kids. He was like the entertainment director of the group and all the kids loved him. Some days I felt like I should be paying him because he spent so much time playing with the kids.

They were a really nice family and they happened to be a little bit overweight.

Ian once referred to Robert as “puffy”. But the grand daddy of them all was another day when Ian saw Robert’s mother.

All the kids were in the pool together. Robert’s mom came up from the beach and walked up to the fence around the pool. As she walked up Ian looked over at her and said “Oh great, a whole family of chubby people, just keeps on getting chubbier”. I almost died! Luckily the mom took it in stride and started laughing. I was mortified, but what could I say? I got Ian out of the pool and talked to him about it. Hopefully it sunk in a little bit.

It isn’t the first time he has embarrassed us, and I am sure it won’t be the last!

I had such a great vacation in Maui. It was extremely relaxing. I enjoyed being away from the computer and all the new responsibilities that I have lately with my new photography business. I enjoyed just taking a few photos for fun. I really enjoyed playing with my new Canon G11 camera, too. Here are a few snapshots from our trip to the Maui Ocean Center.

And here is my last sunset of the year:

Please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom to view all the Weekly Winners participants.

Emma and Ian have been really into snorkeling on this years trip to Maui. They have had snorkel and mask sets for a few years. Last year Emma started playing around with them in the pool, but breathing through the snorkel was still really a challenge for her.

This year, though, she really started to get it. She practiced a whole day in the pool and then we decided to let her try out her new skills in the ocean.

My mom and I took her to Napili beach to do a little snorkeling for real. I went in with her and was surprised at how well she did. We swam out to a shallow reef and she really enjoyed seeing all the fish. She got a little nervous when the water got deeper, but she still really enjoyed it.

A few days later Bryan and Mary planned a snorkeling trip on a boat to Molokini. I didn’t think it would be a good trip for Ian and Nora, but I thought that Emma would really like it. Scott decided to take her and have a special daddy and daughter date.

I wish I could have been there, but I was happy to hear they had a great time. They rented an underwater camera and they took a bunch of fun photos.

Here is Emma going down the slide on the boat to start snorkeling.

They had quite and eventful day. They saw all kinds of fish, a sea turtle and lots of whales!

I am so glad that they had a fun time and so thankful that I have a wonderful husband who is so involved in our kids lives!

We spent most of Thanksgiving day with Scott’s family. His brother Mike was visiting from Arizona with his wife Maren and their cute baby Lucy. It is always fun to spend time with them. I really love Maren. She is such a nice person and so much fun to be around. And I love her sweet little Lucy.

We thought about getting up early and going shopping for Black Friday, but we decided not to. We really didn’t need anything this year so we decided that we needed the sleep more

We ended up going to Salt Lake City and having lunch with 3 of Scott’s siblings and his dad. It has been almost a year since we have seen Reva, and it was nice to see him again. We went to Siegfried’s, one of my favorite lunch places. It was the third time in a week I was there! I did a photo shoot in the alley behind there, so I needed to check it out first, and then we had to get hot chocolate to warm up after the shoot.

It was a nice Thanksgiving and we are all really enjoying having a few days to just hang out and spend time together!