My Sis.

A few weeks ago, my sister Cindee brought her darling little Corey out for a photo shoot.  I can't tell you how much these 2 people mean to me!  I honestly can't imagine life without them.  She is always up for an adventure with me!

She has always supported me 100% in everything I do, and in fact, she was one of many who encouraged me to become a professional photographer... AND, true story, she and her husband designed my first website and surprised me with it one day when business cards showed up in my mailbox, with my name and info, and a website address - ( jennifer lynne photography, at the time) - and you can imagine how surprised I was when I clicked on there and found a website devoted to my photography.  "Jenny, you are so talented with that camera, you should be doing this professionally!" she said.  Well, that was about 4 or 5 years ago now, and the rest is history. 

We have a lot of laughs together and I love her to death.  Her little mister is a mini version of my Dad, and he is just about the cutest baby boy you'll ever meet with a personality to match. 

I hope everyone is lucky enough to have a sister or friend like Cindee in their lives!  You can see more of her and Corey's shoot over on The Shoot Shoppe Blog!

Homecoming 2010.

I'm back from my little get-away to the Gulf Coast (pictures coming soon) and I am trying to get back to work!  I am so behind on editing and blogging my recent sessions!  (What's new, right?)  Here are some photographs of my cool cat Jordan, and his date Minden from the night they went to the Homecoming Dance a few weeks back.  They are both darling, amazing, talented, smart and so totally awesome in every way.  I was so glad when they asked if I would do their pictures.  I know I am a little biased, but how dang cute is my boy??  He is such an amazing teenager.  How on earth did I get so lucky??  He stands at 6'1" now.  So stinkin' cute!  OK - enough of the mommy bragging.  Here are a few of my favorite shots from our session.  We took these downtown and they brought their guitars for some of the shots.  SO FUN!  I am TOTALLY IN LOVE with the 4th picture down - (Minden with her guitar and Jordan in the background.)  Definitely one of my most favorite shots I have ever taken.  Man, I love this kid!

You can see a few more over on The Shoot Shoppe Blog!

A Mummy with Integrity.

 (Some of my Young Women at the Temple)

This past summer, I was called to be the Young Women President in my ward.  I have loved it so much!  I can't believe how busy it is...  and how much fun we have had...  and how much I have learned...  and how much I have grown... already in these short 3 months!  I feel so lucky to be around such amazing teenage girls, who are facing so much temptation and adversity in their lives.  They are such strong, beautiful girls!

Recently we had a "VALUE" Trick-or-treat activity.  We went around to all the leaders homes and had short lessons on all the different Young Women values.  At my house, I taught about Integrity.  Every value has a color associated with it, as well.  Integrity's color is purple.  So, for my treat, I wanted to include something HALLOWEEN and something PURPLE.  Here is what I did:  Purple Mummy's!

 

(I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs!)

I know you don't usually see mummy's that are purple...  And they kind of turned out looking like Arabian bandits instead of mummy's...  Ha Ha!  But, I thought they turned out kinda freaky, and kinda cute!  The girls LOVED them and so did my own kids.  My daughters were thrilled to have a scary drink in their lunch boxes the next day!  (There is a purple Gatorade under the mummy wrappings).  And thank goodness for my superman Chad who helped me wrap all of these! 

I also gave the girls a little scroll, tied up with a purple spider.  It went along with my message about integrity.  Having integrity - (being honest and having strong moral principles) is probably the greatest character trait we can have, don't you think?

Inside my scroll:

TELL THE TRUTH!  

And avoid getting caught in a web of lies.

I am striving to be a mummy with integrity!  And I am striving to raise children who have integrity and honor, who are honest, trustworthy, fair, and who have strong moral values.  Hope you are having a Happy Halloween week! 

Feeling Creative.

I have been in such a creative mood lately!  My mind and body just want to create, create, create.  I have channeled some of that energy into redesigning and refreshing my blog!  I am loving my new look!  What do you think?  I am hoping to change up my flash header with new pics of my kids at every season.  Wouldn't that be lovely?

I also spent some of my weekend planting 300 spring bulbs into my front gardens.  Oh boy, I can't wait for spring!  My yard will be blooming with crocuses, tulips, daffodils and irises.

I am in such a nesting mood as well.  It must have something to do with the temperature dropping and the looming winter ahead.  The yard is almost winterized.  We have pulled out all the garden plants and put down our winter fertilizer.  The last few days, it has rained and rained.  This new cold weather has led me to:  turn on my heater, curl up in a blanket and watch some epic movies, make fall treats (so far we have devoured: chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, caramel apples and caramel popcorn - yum.), pull out my favorite sweaters and boots, and decorate my house for the holidays.

Yesterday was Sunday and it was FULL of inspiration.  I just love Sundays, don't you?

And here is a good example of why you should (or shouldn't) leave your camera out for your 13 year old son to find.  You never know what you will see when you download your pics...

 

Happy Monday!

Are you ready for some football?

Don't you LOVE fall?

Caden does!

Wanna know why?  Yep.  Football.

Its his life, his love, his heart and soul.

Something I can't quite understand...

but nevertheless, we support him and his dreams 

to one day play for the University of Florida and then onto the NFL

so here we are again -  

another season of football!

I have to admit, I have a love/hate relationship with it.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how much he LOVES it!

I love that he puts in hours and hours and hours practicing.

I love that he trains his body so hard that every night he comes home sore and bruised.

(He gets ripped too, you should see his six pack!  Me=jealous.)

I love seeing him in his uniform (so dang cute!) and I love watching him play!

I am one proud mama.

The hate part - worrying he might get hurt.

Yes - Me=protective mama! 

Here he is - #2.

And yes ~ he is as tall as his coach!

CRAZY.

He has had some really hard hits and amazing blocks!

He plays wide receiver.  He has had some great catches!

And some great runs!

Wide receiver!

Caden Tanner 

#2

Weber Warriors
Wide Receiver

My (not so) little Man!

Are you ready for some football?

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Hiking Mt. Ogden.

Hiking is one of my most FAVORITE things in the world!

I did not get to do it enough this past summer and fall.

Note to self:  HIKE MORE NEXT YEAR!

Our hike up and over Mt. Ogden was amazing.

Gorgeous!

 

We had a bird's eye view - it reminded me of looking down from an airplane.

Blood sisters?  Or sisters-in-law?

What's your guess?

Sisters-in-law!  She belongs to my brother Matt.

But we look like we could be blood sisters and I love her to death!

Me standing triumphantly at the top! 

That is Ogden Valley and PineView behind me in the background. 

My hiking party!  - 3 sisters, 1 brother, 1 amazing mom and Debbie!

Beautiful Snow Basin Lodge.  One of the most GORGEOUS places in Utah.

It reminds me so much of Switzerland!

I LOVE IT HERE!

And we finished it off with a ride down the other side of the mountain on the gondolas.

It was a beautiful, rewarding, perfect, amazing experience!

Can't wait till next time.

Happy Halloween!!

Hope everyone had as much fun as we did!

 

 

 

We are getting so EXCITED for the Holidays!

This is such a fun time of year!

Spooky.

Me and the girls having a little fun with Photobooth...

I love this time of year!

Happy Halloween!!

Harvest time.

Chad loves to grow things.

He has such a green thumb.

I know what you're thinking...

Is there anything he can't do?

 

I know, I am a lucky girl.

I have a hubby who loves to garden.  

Just look at his carrot and pepper harvest.

Yum.  

I can already taste the delicious soups, 

salsas and stuffed peppers, 

can't you?

(which of course Chad will be making).

(yes, he cooks too).

Wait a minute, what is that?

OK maybe his gardening skills could use some work.

Anyone know how to prevent deformed carrots?

And, uh, we might need some fertilizer.

Although, these little guys are quite cute,

 wouldn't you say?

Maybe there is a market out there for 

miniature veggies.  Think they'd sell?

Why do you laugh?

I know someone who loves miniature things, 

but I won't name names.

(*cough* adelle)

Happy Harvesting.

My Hiking Adventure.

At least once a year, my mom likes to plan, and go on, a big hiking adventure.  This years plan was to hike up and over Mt. Ogden.  Think about that - up and over a mountain!  Well, that's exactly what we did.  And we loved it.  All of it.  Except the scaling up the steepest parts on our hands and feet part.  But other than that, we loved it.  Take a look!

These are my hiking partners.  

Four of my very favorite people in all the world.

My mom, and 3 of my sisters.  

I loved, loved, loved this day. 

We had so much fun.

Do we look ready to conquer this mountain, or what?

Up, Up, Up we went.

It was so beautiful!  

But, this rock-man kept following us...  

It was kinda creepy.

  

This was the scaling up the steep mountainside part.

(Can you tell behind us how steep it is?)  

Don't slip, and don't look down!!

It was someone's brilliant idea to leave the trail 

and blaze our own way - straight up.

We thought it would save us some time, 

and hey, how hard could it be, right?  

HARD!  The mountainside was totally covered in 

small loose rocks, so every step you took, your 

foot slid down about 2 feet.  Have you ever rode falling rocks 

down a mountainside before?  Not too fun.  

Luckily, we had this cute girl to pull us up with her rope!  

  

After quite a few hours of hiking and lots of laughs, 

we reached the top!  

This is looking down into Huntsville.  

The body of water you can see is Pineview.

That is my awesome Mom leading the way.  

The summit was very windy, and we ran into a bit of snow.

It was so amazing and so rewarding!  

In the distance you can see our destination.  

The Snow Basin Lodge.

  

It was absolutely gorgeous.  

I was wishin' that lodge was my home.

  

Out of the wind, and into the gondola, 

for a scenic ride down the other side of the mountain, 

where a nice big juicy hamburger awaited us 

at the bottom, at the Snow Basin restaurant.    

We did it!

What an awesome day, girls!  

I cannot wait for our next hiking adventure.

Get planning Mom!