WOHOO!

Okay so one of my MOST favorite ladies in the whole world told me she is preggers!!! And she's here in Utah!! I'm beyond happiness. Almost all my girlfriends are with child or just had one - and they are all out of state! And I've been so sad that Isabelle will not grow up near them. BUT NOW SHE WILL!!

See I can make it all about me - lol. Totally excited for you Brooke!! Now you must create a blog too (when you aren't sleeping or puking!)

And we went to the dentist today. Isabelle is not cool with dentist. Laying on my back in a dentist chair for 2 hours made us sick and very unhappy. I have a couple more appointments before she is due (getting some crowns) and I just don't know if I can muster it. We'll see.. For now we're just excited that feeling has be returned to our face and lips..

AND I'm off to my WA shower :O) A spa weekend with the famous Budwit ladies. We will be ringing in another one in true love & laughter. Can't wait to see ya'll!!

Much love - the derliously happy Jenn & Isabelle

5 Books

During the trip from Tucson to Phoenix, my dad and I got into a discussion about the 5 most influential books we've read. How we got to that conversation is a long path, but it is an interesting question - and far more difficult to answer that it would first appear. To find ONLY 5 books that changed your life - not simply 5 books that you liked..

Here is a my list...
1. Wide Sargasso Sea - for its deconstruction of a novel and analysis of a woman. And yes I did one of my thesis' on it so I do have quite alot love for it.

2. Ulysess - for its amazing first take on internal dialogue.

3. The Photoshop CS2 book for photographers - it has become my bible (thanks Annalee!)

4. Great Expectations - the book I hold dear. It's a toss up on whether I choose it for love or the effect. To me it is what literature aspires to be.

5. Orientalism - the "other".. such a profound subject. It helped me to understand my fascination with the Wicked Witch... really it did!

Of course I love a gizzlion books.. but that was not the question :-)

And Miss Isabelle has moved into a full active stage. She reacts to Thomas' voice and *loves* when I have time to lay on my side - that's soccer time!! Izzy has kicked for her Daddy, her Grandma Bell, her aunty Reggie, and her cousin Chloe. Grandpa Bell is quite anxious for his turn!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note - super full & super tired.

Isabelle kicked so hard tonight she moved my belly! Thomas was able to feel a few swift kicks - a first for him! I'm so excited!!! He has been dying to feel her move and what a Thanksgiving treat :-)

Hope ya'll had a wonderful Turkey day..

Off to bed.. there are Black Friday sales to be had tomorrow!

First Toddler Photo Shoot

So I did my first toddler photo shoot today.

I can truly say the more I learn,

the more I need to learn!

Nici has a beautiful family!!

Those children would be cherubs if you could attach wings!

As usual, you can see the pics on Flickr -

I liked 50 of 250.. but from my photog buddies experience this is normal..

Isabelle had her 24 week apt. this week and is perfect!

The Doc could not be happier with all the

tests results and apparently my blood pressure is "gorgeous".

Even though I'm a tense gal, I've always had super low blood pressure.

And I've started working on my first project

for my sweet baby girl's nursery.

I saw this red cotton rag rug in my favorite

baby boutique for over 100.00!

So I'm making it for about 20.00 though it will take some hours :-)

And I bought a Moses basket used for 20.00!!

I will probably only use it for pics,

but it is a steal (another item that easily goes over 100.00)

The bedding it came with pastel yuck yuck,

so I will be sewing some new ones

with Moda's Mother Goose & Friends fabric.

And one last crafty bit..

I'm going to try to make another velvet maternity dress

for Turkey day.. We'll see if time allows tomorrow!

One Day at a Time

Man it's hard to come back from a vacation! It was such a great break from the stress of the every day. My nesting is acting up and I'm SO eager to work on the nursery.

I have been asked to do another photo shoot! A Christmas shoot with some of the most adorable cherubs I have ever seen. I'm hoping that their mom will be up for some non traditional pics. I was thinking pics of them "making cookies".. flour and chocolate stained cheeks :-) We'll see..

And my amazing hubby received a raise! He is such a great engineer!!

I've posted alot of the pics from Disney & the CA shower on Flickr.

The Baby Queen

What a wonderful weekend!

From Disneyland to the most fabulous shower :-)

It was so nice to be able to spend some time with Nicole

and trade our pregnancy experiences.

How cute is she! I love this pic!!

Too much reality to do today,

from laundry to work.. so sad.

I will post more pics of our vacation and my thoughtful gifts soon!

Just Another Day at Disney

This is my pic of the day (It was taken by my mum)

This has been too much fun.

There has been zero crowd and awesome (overcast) weather.

I am super tired, but this is exactly

the trip I needed to reboost my morale :-)

And my darling Isabelle loves to dance in my belly

when music is playing or when I'm dancing!

And yes since I'm in the last month of my

second trimester, I had my roots dyed!

Thank God! So tired of the sad grey..
And I have my bangs back..

can't stand that 5 finger forehead of mine..

Hopes Izzy doesn't inherit it! :-)

Happy Birthday Day to Me!

Just a quick note.. I am super tired!

Had an awesome day - one of the best birthdays!!

Above is my favorite snap of the day..

don't know how I managed it, that ride was FAST!

Thanks to all that remembered my birthday.

It has been a difficult month,

and that extra consideration is hugely appreciated!!

Off to bed.. there is more Disney fun to be had!!

P.S. Isabelle LOVED the haunted mansion

Let's get this party started!

Woohoo! We're off to Disneyland to celebrate my

big 29th & for my first baby shower.

I will load pics of course when I return.

And special shout out to Brooke. Thanks for being such an awesome friend!!

My 2nd Shoot

So this was my 2nd real photo shoot (the first was self-portraits of Thomas & I). I am pretty happy with alot of the photos. My friends are super photogenic so that helps :-)
Still need to learn how to deal with shadows.. grr

You can see most of the shoot on my Flickr account.

In Need of Recharge

Arr! I was all set to take pics of us last night before we left for the gala. After dealing with some flash fill issues, my camera battery died. I knew it was low, but it seriously went from 1 bar to squat in a matter of minutes. My car has a nasty habit of that as well.. So no pics from last night... but we did have a great time!

I am doing my first photo shoot for someone other than family today! I will be taking our friend's (Brooke & Tom) Christmas pictures. And of course we'll be including their wild dog Bubba! Batteries are recharged and rearing to go :-)

If they are okay with it, I will make their pics viewable on Flickr.

Gala

Thomas & I are off tomorrow to Junior League's Black & White Night Gala. I am now an official SLC Junior League member and will soon be working on the Special Events committee.

We've been looking forward to this event all week! It's been awhile since we had a reason to dress up. And since I hate most of the maternity dresses for sale, I decided to sew my own. I did the pattern on the far right in a dark green stretch velvet. It is so comfy!!

And yesterday officially started my "birthday week"! I can't wait to get to Disneyland and enjoy my first baby shower :-)

Of course I'll post pics of the dress and trip later this week.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Hope ya'll had a fun night!

We had nonstop trick-or-treaters for about 2 hours,

I thought for sure Thomas was going to have to run to Walgreen's for more candy!

Here is a slightly Photoshoped pic of our pumpkins.

Can I tell you, it is SO hard to get a good image of lit pumpkins :-)

Now that the after Halloween sales are on,

I've bought Isabelle the following outfits for next year and photo shoots:

fairy, chick, Snow White, skunk, and lamb!

I'm thinking I will be Bo-Peep (G-rated of course) and Isabelle will be a lamb.

Maybe we'll make Thomas a non scary wolf... we'll see