I have a strange obsession with paper. I LOVE paper. I have no idea why, but I love it. I've been scrapbooking since I was around 10? I was always very disappointed in the selection of paper and embellishments though, there just wasn't a great selection. Well, recently when trying to figure out my hobby, or mental release, I decided to check back in to scrapbooking. Holy cow have you ever been to a scrapbook store? Paper galore! There is amazing colors, designs, two sided paper, cut out paper, clear paper, flowers, buttons, cardstock, stamps... and all in amazing designs and patterns. I am in heaven! Scrapbooking doesn't have to be plain, boring, or look like something you whipped up in the third grade.

Every so often (ok, like twice a week) I get a huge creative urge that needs to be released. Unfortunately it is so hot here in the summer so a photo trip doesn't sound as tempting as sitting inside drinking a glass of ice coldNaked Juice. So, I decided to try my hand at scrapbooking again. I made a couple cards and this adorable page.

What do you think?

I hope you all had an amazing day yesterday celebrating our freedom.

Even though photographing my own children is so very frustrating. We had a GREAT day today. Rode the light rail to the Science center, got to meet Michaelangelo (the ninja turtle of course) and then went to the movies. I squeezed in a VERY mini shoot trying to get C's 5 year picture. They might not be the "perfect" portraits, but they are perfect to me and I am so glad I finally took the camera even though taking pictures of my own children never happens the same in real life as they do in my head.

with my Mom's cool mirror. Since there aren't many pictures of me...

and the most neglected. Poor baby. We got home at 8pm the night before we had to leave for Kauai and our ac was out! We had planned on a friend coming over and feeding her/playing with her while we were gone but we couldn't leave her home without ac. So we were frantically calling everyone late Sunday night. Luckily my In Laws amazing neighbors very graciously agreed to go to my In Laws house 2x per day every day of our vacation. We can't thank them enough! We had some help from some very generous families from church as well.

Really though, who could say no to this?

These little stinkers had so much fun in Hawaii. We played in the water A LOT, went snorkeling and saw tons of different creatures, hiking, some of us (mostly little blonde ones) did backflips down a mountain and cut their head open, dinners hearing the ocean, mornings hearing the roosters (okay they actually crow all night!) playing the ukulele in the grass, learning a little Hawaiian (C's favorite word is Mahalo) and most of all RELAXING!

We had an amazing vacation in Kauai and my baby boy turned 4! So much going on in the Waken household. I hope you all are enjoying the summer. We are back and answering emails/voicemails as usual and are still taking only a limited number of sessions so please start thinking about Holiday pictures (I know that it's really hard right now) ahead of time.

We will be leaving tomorrow to say goodbye for now to Great Grandma Waken. She was my boys' Great Great Grandma and we are so incredibly blessed to have had so much time with the first of 5 generations of Wakens. She was 98 years old and had such an amazing life. Just think for a moment about what life was like in 1909.

I remember the very first day I met Great Grandma. We were going to brunch and Jared was walking with her and I was a little in front. Great Grandma whispered (not very quietly at all) "Jared, that girlfriend of yours has some great legs!" LOL!

My boys were just smitten with her. As her health started failing they just loved to read to her and help her eat. She would just sit and watch them and I could see her just drinking them up with her eyes. How incredible it must be to know that this little child came from you 5 generations later.

If you ask Colton, he will tell you that Great Grandma is in heaven riding horses with God.

I hope you all had a wonderful, safe, relaxing holiday and are gearing up for some fun in the new year! I'll have some shots of a recent wedding up in a bit, but wanted to share our tree this year, even with it's crooked star LOL!

I hope you all are arriving to your destinations quickly and safely. We are having a quiet family Thanksgiving in our new home. We will be working on unpacking and putting away things all weekend though!

I hope everyone gets a moment this weekend during all the shopping and family feuds to think about what they are thankful for.

I also like to think about the men and women in our armed forces who can't be with their families. I don't think I can begin to imagine what it is like to be over seas without your family. I'll be thinking of you this weekend.

we are right in all the hustle and bustle of moving and moving fast. We sold our house with a short close so we had to be quick to pack and get out. So if I'm a little slower getting back to you than normal hang in there! I'm still getting back within 24 hours, but not as quick as I'd like to.

What a perfect time to move for a photographer, right in the middle of holiday portrait time. All sessions for holiday cards are booked. If you'd like to have holiday cards in time to mail out for Christmas you still have time to book a session and purchase the all inclusive session which will get you a c.d. of all your images. You can then use an image for your cards!

Here is a few rare shots of the boys looking at the camera.

We have Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter)


Dash (from the Incredibles)


And we took along a friend and her dog "Peanut" who was dressed up as a hot dog or bratwurst whichever you prefer ;)

On Saturday we took the boys to a reptile show to look at possible new pets for Parker for his upcoming birthday. He loves the Ball Pythons the best so of course him and Daddy found one that was het for albino (carrying the gene for albino) They plan on buying a female het and possibly getting albino babies.

I feel like we're starting all over again. When Jared and I were married (almost 7 years ago) we had literally a hundred snakes. He used to breed them. He loved it. Needless to say they all left when we found out we were pregnant. Now that the boys are older, Parker has developed his Dad's interest in animals especially reptiles.

I have the sample brag books and CDs from the limited edition all inclusive session. I'll share pictures of those later in the week. For now, here's a few pictures from this past weekend.