makeover

Something about losing a bunch of weight triggered this desire in me to start doing my makeup a bit more.  Ha ha.  I remembered that my sister in law Heidi was really good at makeup and even does the contouring stuff I keep hearing about and seeing online. I asked her if she could show me while I was in Utah. She brought her stuff out and spent a long time telling me about the makeup and applying it.  I think it turned our really great!

Brent thought so too and he got out the camera and took some pictures of me.  Heidi got stuck with holding the backdrop (aka blanket) for these pictures.  Brent's so talented with lighting.

After he finished taking pictures I asked him to shoot another one to show my weight loss.  I've lost about 25-30 pounds (it's hard to tell exactly because I've gained muscle for sure)

This is what I wrote about it on Instagram:

A little over 4 months ago I changed my eating habits and started exercising regularly. I have lost nearly 30 pounds in that time and am now addicted to exercise and clean eating. It feels so good to be back to the weight I was before I had kids. It also feels good to be stronger physically than I have ever been before. There were a lot of reasons I wanted to make this change but one major reason was because I hope we will be able to get pregnant again. As time goes on, I don't know if the Lord has that in mind for us or not but if he does my body is ready to carry one of his children again and I would be honored with that privilege. In the meantime as we wait to see if it's in the Lord's plans or not, I'm excited to train for an Olympic length triathlon and some backpacking trips this summer!

 And Heidi took a few on her phone that I liked...

Family Pictures

We tried to find time all autumn long for our own family pictures. We kept putting it off because Brent was so busy. Finally right after RTC on the Friday before we moved we brought our tripod along with us to one of our favorite places in Paris... the Eiffel Tower Park. We would go on walks and bike rides at this park a lot. It was such a beautiful place to take the kids or go work out. I really wanted a nice picture to remember the beauty of this place. If we had taken the pictures a couple weeks earlier it would have been even better but luckily there were a couple trees that hung on to their leafs a little longer for the procrastinating Hatch family.

This first one was the winner shot... okay actually it's 3 pictures merged into one but we all look good and that's what matters.  I mean we were using a tripod and a 10 second timer, what do you expect!?

This next one kills me, Sanna is the queen of silly faces.

The rest of us trying our hands at silly faces.  Griz nailed it in this one.  Lol.

Kinda weird taking a "candid" shot with a timer on a tripod but we gave it a go, these next two are the ones that turned out....

The kids were awesome and really well behaved during our family pictures (which shocked me). Then we tried to take pictures of them alone and lost them.  They were running all over the park.  Somehow we coaxed them all into this next shot though and it turned out so adorably adorable:

Excited Brothers

These two boys are so very excited to meet their baby sister.  I never would have dreamed boys would care about babies as much as ours do.  Wherever they go, when they see a baby they are SO excited to see it.  And don't they look so handsome in their suits?

They both love talking to our little lady, saying hello and that they love her.

And they'll even run up during the day and give my tummy random kisses and hugs. Little Lady is going to be one doted on loved baby!

Hope these next few weeks fly by!

Our 4 year old

So I posted pictures of Griz a week or two ago and I am now finally getting to Chico's. I don't know what took me so long, I think I was disapointed in myself for not getting his "true" smile in the pictures. But as Brent and I were talking last night I realized or was reminded that there are a lot of different ways Chico smiles and I love every single one of them.  We love this boy so much, his constant desire for learning about dinosaurs, animals and the world is so much fun to watch.  I want to be like Chico when I grow up. :)

Best Friends

 I took my boys out to take some pictures of them back in September. Woulda been nice to have another adult along but it it went well enough I guess.  

These boys are best buds.  These next three pictures are a fun sequence that I think really captures what they are like together.

And I took some portraits too...

Love these boys.

My Hubby and Me

Forgot to post this picture from when we did family pictures. My handsome hubby...I am so grateful for him. He serves our family so much, whether it's by doing the dishes, taking out the trash, scrubbing the bathroom, playing with the kids, or studying hard at school, he continually amazes me with his energy and stamina.  I hope I can keep up with him someday. :)  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful man as my husband, and I get the added bonus that he is so good looking! Grateful every day that the Lord brought us together. It truly is a miracle.

my 2 year old looking all grown up

I was taking some "school pics" of my nieces and nephews back in September and I had Griz jump onto the stool for a few pictures.  I hate the shirt he is wearing, shoulda combed his hair better  but oh well. These pictures are so him! Everyone talks about how much he looks like Brent but there is a two year old picture of me where if you cover up the long hair and switch the eyes from blue to brown you'd have Grizzly Bear. Though I agree, he does look like Brent too. :)

Am I sure he's only 2???

Such a sweetheart.

This one kills me...

Watch out ladies, with these big brown eyes you don't stand a chance.

Family Pictures 2012

Last week we drove up the mountain  above the "B" and with the help of my mom got some pictures of our family.  The scene was picture perfect but I really was surprised when we got home that Griz was smiling in any of them. He was kicking and screaming and wanting to do his own thing (jumping off of the fence). Thankfully there were a couple of him smiling!

This one I made a canvas for either our room or the boy's room. Can't decide.

And this one will go in our front room in our big 16x20 frame. I'm so excited. I think they will be arriving later this week!

Chico's impromptu photo shoot

The other day I was setting up for a photo shoot and needed to get my lighting set up before they got there. I had my little Chico model for me while Grizwald snoozed in his crib.

We were getting some good shots so I decided we should go comb his hair in case we got some more good ones...

 I LOVE this one:

It was hard work but I was able to catch him off guard on most of the previous pictures. If not most of the pictures would have looked this this one:

(nothing wrong with his cheesy grin, it's adorable. But it's fun to see his eyes open and all his funny expressions. They show the true Chico more)

Portraits

My grandparents are good sports with our photography, letting us take over their upstairs while we have indoor photo shoots. Brent has been working on portraits recently and Grandma and Grandpa were such kind sports. These pictures could end up being treasures for my family. I'm so glad he took them. I love the way Brent edited this first one.

I couldn't decide which one I liked better of Grandpa so you get to see them both:

Then Grandpa had to leave for a bit and Grandma was willing and happy to have her picture taken. This was surprising (for anyone who knows my grandma you'll know why) and surprising even more was her big smiles for the pictures. This one was, by far, my favorite. It really captures who she is.

Then Chico asked Brent to take his picture. He is such a cutie.

Gone are the days of a normal smile. This is what he does whenever we ask him to smile for the camera. It's so funny.