The DIVA Cousins. While on vacation to Utah I did a little photo shoot of the these two beauties. Such cute girls. I love visiting my sister and her family. Its so relaxing and ALL of the kids get along. The boys head down to the "Man Cave" (the basement) as soon as we get there and only emerge for food and the occasional outing. And the girls do not leave each others side the whole time. Always begging to go shopping or to get a treat. And giggling. Always giggling. I wish we lived closer. I miss you guys so much!!! More on the vacation another day. Ive got some fun pics of Jen running through the school sprinklers with all the kids. Shes such a fun aunt!

Love Birds

So Im trying my hand at baby shoots. Its much harder. Theres just no control over anything. I really do admire and appreciate all you baby photographers out there. Dont get me wrong, Im loving it. Babies are hard not to love, its just a different kind of shoot. I think after a couple more I will have a few more tricks up my sleeve to really make them great!



I also got to photograph this cute girl. Shes getting baptised soon and her mom wanted to get some pretty picture for the invitations. I have known this little girl her whole life. her mom is one of my best friends and she is one of Jennas Best friends. Congrats saige!

Oh how they grow

Im feeling a bit emotional lately. The ups and downs of life are taking their tole. But I LOVE these 3 amazing kids. They keep me grounded and give me perspective. I am super proud of the people they are growing to be. 

Fun photos!

I have been keeping myself very busy lately but took time out to take some fun photos! Heres a peak at one adorable baby named Ellery. What a doll. Check out more here on my photo blog.

Also check out this future Rock Star! We did his senior pictures the other day and he had his guitar for the shoot. Awesome! I LOVE this. I would do this everyday!

Again the colors are not as bright. Hmmm. But they look better on my other blog. Go check it out!  michelledevine.com/blog

Taking a Break

I have decided to take a break from blogging and teaching for a while. Life is just too crazy right now and I have alot of other priorities to concentrate on. There may be one here and there but for now I will be MIA. Thanks for visiting me and my world. 

Peace Out

Michelle

VOTE FOR JENNA!

Click here to vote for Jenna to be on the cover of Scrapbooks Etc. magazine! I think you vote by rating the picture. 

Join me Friday at the store to make this fun plaque for your home. Its only $12. Includes everything. You pick your paint color and the color of vinyl.  Vinyl choices are black, white, brown, and beige (shown below). There are 4 different times to choose from. Plaque measures 7 1/2 by 16 1/4. I hope to see you there!

Funky Flowers

I had a class scheduled tonight "Funky Flowers" but had to reschedule it due to kids activities. I rescheduled to next week Wednesday the 22nd at 6:30pm at the store.

There were some open spots left so call and reserve your space today! Its only $14. We will be making 2 flowers using all kinds of mediums. Fabric, toole, paper, and more. 480-813-2093. Heres a preview.

ELP Trip

This last weekend I got to go on Jadens ELP trip with him over to San Diego. It was a whirlwind of a good time.  We went out on a boat at 0 dark thirty and even saw dolphins, played at Sea World, and explored Scripts aquarium. Now this was just the first day! The next day we headed off to another aquirium, had pizza on the beach, built sand sculptures  and headed home. NEVER a dull moment. It was way fun! 

This was the closest I got to having my feet in the sand. The kids couldnt take off their shoes so I was good and didnt. But it was oh so tempting. 

This is jaden sea star! He did a great job! His prize was most realistic.

YES! He is that much taller than me. Ughh Im short!

We sat up close to Shamu in the show. In the soak zone. But luckily we were too far to the side to get soaked. We didnt have as much luck in the dolphin show however. SOAKED in that one. No pictures however because the camera was wrapped up tightly for that one.

This is our veiw from boat. We actually saw tons of dolphins. It was very cool.

That is a manta shrimp our guide is holding. She had about a dozen critters she showed the kids. Crabs, lobsters, shrimp, sting ray, several fish. She was a great guide for these guys.

Jaden absolutly loved the boat. He didnt want to get off. Me on the other hand was ready. I dont do well with the motion of the ocean. I cant wait to go next year now. Well worth the travel and sleeplessness!

Just a note. Blogger does something to photos when uploaded because alot of color and sharpness is gone. I know Ive asked before but does anyone know how to avoid that?

Happenings

on the road from Utah! We headed out this morning to head home to Mesa and from the get go the winds were insane! It made it hard to drive. The about page it started snowing. This is what it looked like through the window. Yikes.

So being from Mesa, we had to pull over and see the snow and catch one or two flakes on our tongues. Heres Jaden. His mouth is full of beef jerky. A traveling staple in our family.

Grandma Sandy and Jenna. It was so cold.

Jenna caught a few on her tongue.

Me smiling for Jenna.

Once we got to Flagstaff we decided to stop at Village Inn for dinner. Jaden was in heaven. He loves pie. He lets us know everyday just how much he loves pie. But unfortunately he ate too much dinner and had no room for that piece of pumpkin pie.

Wheres Tanner in all of this you ask? Hes being a grumpy teenager. He wouldnt get out for the snow and he pouted all through dinner. Oh well. We still had fun.

Once we got done eating we stopped for gas. It was snowing and hailing with fast winds that we decided to stay the night here in Flagstaff. So glad we did. Who knows what tomorrow will hold? Something exciting Im sure.

So on a different note Tina tagged me the other day to post a here and now picture. I just couldnt do it. Im sorry Tina. The snow picture above is going to have to count. No makeup and traveling all day. Its bad enough. So I think I will tag Kim D, Sherry, Lara, and Jen. Ill do the friendly blog reward tomorrow also given to me from Tina! Thanks lady. That was sweet. Thats the kind of tag I like!

Goodnight all!

Moments

Today has been a hard day for me. I have some internal struggles going on right now and my mind and heart are being challenged. I have a problem with trying hard to please those close to me, and one day I need to realize that its just not possible ALL the time. What am I talking about you ask? Well I am not going to give any juicy details but I do need to clear my mind a bit. I tend to go a thousand miles an hour all the time. Im not sure why that is but Im sure there is an underlying reason for that. Maybe to avoid reality? Every time I tend to slow down the reality of my world hits me like a ton of bricks. Why do I do this? Am I the only one? Ok so I have issues, I hope Im not alone. I know this post is a bit confusing, but its more for my benefit than anything else. I long for true happiness in my life yet I tend to be the one blocking it. WHATS WRONG WITH ME!!!! Ughhh. This world is so full of things that can make you crazy, sad, mad, and hurt. Why do we add so much extra pressure into our lives?
I have decided to try to get back to my priorities and downsize my extra responsibilites. I want to be happy just sitting in my silence, without fears and judgements lurking in my mind, taking over my brain. You can tell me Im crazy and need help. I wont disagree, but if you know what Im feeling please tell me Im not alone. Ok, crazy talk over.

Im here in Utah visiting my sisters family. The weather is beautiful. Cold for us Arizonans but nice. I got to take a few minutes and play basketball with Jenna in the backyard. It was really fun. I cant remember the last time I did that. Or even just played outside. Look at my superstar and her jumpshot. With as tall as she is, she will definitely be great at basketball in a few years.

Dont you just love my sisters garage doors. So cool. I hope to take some time the next few days and really hang with my kids. I have no place to be, no obligations. I just need to be.

A Preview for you Debbie

Here are some shots from yesterdays shoot. It was fun. That puppy Tucker is just so adorale. He would follow us around, never straying too far. If only they would stay that small. Thanks guys. You were wonderful!

girls in tutus....

Are just so stinkin cute! I am doing dance photos all week at Beverly's dance loft. LOVE her. She is the sweetest most patient person ever. And a wonderful teacher and dancer. I wanted to try and do some different dance photos so we have the traditional class photos, the dancer doing a fun pose and then we threw in a cool damask background to get a cute headshot like photo. Heres 2 of my favorites so far....

Im not sure what blogger does when it resizes my photos but my colors dont seem as vibrant  hmmmmmm. Her pink is way pink on my original. If anyone knows why it would do this, please share. I know I must be doing something wrong. But the girls are still too cute. Not your traditional dance photo but I like them. More today and Friday. What fun!

Another fun shoot

I know. I have been posting alot of pictures.  But Ive been taking alot of photos lately. I LOVE the practice. Yesterday I got to take photos for an old friend. Her kids are getting baptised this Friday.  My part is to help with the program. I dont get to hang out with her as much anymore so it was fun seeing her and her TALL kids and her hubby. I can still remember when the kids were babies. Time sure does fly. Can u tell I love that blue wall?

Tomorrow I start a fun filled week of dance pictures. I'm super excited. Little girls in tutus! So much fun. I hope to create soon! I have all kinds of ideas running through my brain.

Until later...

To be in high school again.....

Tonight is Sadie Hawkins for this group of seniors. How fun are they. I went to take pre dance photos, and they were shy at first, but then the shells broke! But my flash wasnt working. UGH! Of course. It was malfunctioning! I had to turn it to auto. I dont like auto. They just are not as sharp as I wanted. But we got some fun shots anyway.