Isaiah's Medieval Play

So as you may or may not recall, my family went to Florida last month. Believe it or not I took pictures while we were there. I'm finally getting around to posting them! Yay me.


Isaiah spent the whole month of June visiting his grandparents in Gainesville, Florida. This has been an annual tradition for the past 3 years and we all love it! It gives Isaiah a chance to bond with his gramps and gg, to catch lizards and frogs for a whole month straight, to play with his cousins, and much much more. This summer Isaiah attended a medieval summer day camp. For two weeks the kids learned songs, recited and memorized lines, and basically created there very own play to perform. They made up their own story and plot. In the end they created a show that has never been performed before and will never be performed again. It was truly unique. All of this with the help of one very talented director named Miss Sarah. She was amazing!

Isaiah played the role of the court jester who at one point was turned into a cat. (???) I dont think I could recount the story line of the play because like I said before, it was truly unique but I do remember the part where Isaiah, as the court jester, told a joke to the king and queen. In preparation of this joke her referred to his gramps for help. This is Haddock humor through and through. It went a little something like this...

There were two cannibals eating a clown. One says to the other, "Does this taste funny to you?"

Hardy har har! I don't think any of the kids got it and thats probably a good thing. The performance was a hit and I was so glad that I flew into town just in time to see it!

Ash and Esme

About 2 months ago or maybe more, my sister Ashley came down to visit with her puppy Esme. She wanted some pictures of Esme because she is growing so quickly.

I finally got around to editing them.

Its ridiculous how long it has taken me to dig myself out of the hole I've been in as far as pictures go. I have been so far behind and too busy to get caught up. I finally found to time to go through a bunch of images so don't be surprised if I bombard you with posts.

The Lift Ride

To celebrate Isaiah's birthday we were going to have a western theme bbq complete with a ring toss, watermelon eating contest, smores, and bbq chicken. Because of the lack of proper planning (on my part) and the number of family members who were working or otherwise unable to attend, it fell through. Instead, we came up with a plan B that ended up being the PERFECT way to spend a Sunday evening. We went up to Sundance, took a ride on the scenic lift, then had dinner and dessert at the deli. Tavia came with us (which Isaiah was thrilled about) and we had an absolutely fantastic time!

I think we'll save the western bbq for Stevens birthday because I was looking forward to that watermelon eating contest! :)

Isaiah is very difficult to get pictures of. This was one of the very few I snagged of him cheesing it up with his Auntie Tay before we left for the mountains.

Isaiah and Tavia sat in the chair in front of us.







When the sun went behind the clouds, Sophia cuddled up with her daddy to keep warm. He's great for that!

My kids LOVE to make faces for the camera.

Steven took these last two pictures and I think he did such a great job! It's important for me to have pictures of me with my kids.

From Holly

Remember how I told you that Holly took pictures of me? Well, she posted them HERE and I am in awe. She is so dang talented and I am thrilled to have some pictures of myself in action. Thank you so much Holly. They are beautiful!

July 12

My boy is 8 today!

Isaiah,

I love you so much and appreciate your personality, your character, your brains and your talent. You are kind and thoughtful and very good at playing The Legend of Zelda. You are an integral part of our family and I am overwhelmed with love for you. ( I'm also overwhelmed that I have an 8 year old but I'll deal with that on another day.) As for today, I'm just so thankful to be your mother.
Happiest Birthday to you Isaiah!!! I love you!!

Mom

Bon Iver

Last night I went to see Bon Iver and Jenny Lewis play at the Gallivan Center in downtown SLC. I went with my girls, Kristin and Leah and left my kiddies at home with Steven for the evening. We brought an upscale picnic lunch of baguettes with soft cheeses, fresh veggies with homemade hummus, fresh mango slices, and a chocolate zucchini cake that some people thought were pot brownies. :) There were many familiar faces in the crowd including most of my siblings. I even heard a rumor that my mom was there although I didnt meet up with her because the crowd was huge and once the music started I was pretty much stuck in my place. Now, I'll admit, I was one of those people that my sister Ashley looks down upon. That being one who just came up for the free concert and had never heard any of Bon Iver's music before the show. Even though that put me a lowly group of people, with maybe only the toothless drunk guy and his drunk girlfriend grinding in front of us all night, in a lower bracket than me, I came away delighted that I went. I was blown away, just completely astonished. The music was so beautiful and compelling. I was entranced. Here are some pictures from the evening.

Our fancy feast, and I'm not talking cat food.



This was taken during Jenny Lewis. After the ho hum feeling we were left with after the first shot we decided that we needed to jazz it up a bit.

Ashley and Erin, a small miracle that we actually ran into each other in the vast sea of people.

The funniest thing about this picture is that this is how we really look. We weren't trying to look ridiculous. The camera caught our true natures. Notice how I discretely cut myself out of the picture. :)

The Saenz Four



Happy Winter

Holly

One of my favorite things to do is to network with other photographers. Especially good photographers who can help me learn and grow as an artist. Holly is one of those people. She started following my blog a few months ago and when I did some research to find out who this new person was, I was impressed by the group of photographers that she followed. They are all the top photographers that I follow, and more. The fact that she even considered my lowly blog good enough to follow completely intrigued me. We started emailing each other and started a friendship that way. We would email each other new photographers links that we had recently discovered to help inspire one another. My bloglines list has grown so much just by knowing Holly.

Well, she came into town (from Colorado) to visit her family over the fourth and we arranged to get together. We decided to do a double photo shoot. I took pics of her and she took pics of me. We practiced our sun flare techniques, discussed life, motherhood, kids, family, photography, All the really important things, the things that matter. We topped the night off with a much needed Jamba Juice and I went home feeling truly fulfilled. I had made a great new friend and found joy in photography again. Not to mention, I was totally excited to edit her pictures. Its been a while since I've been excited to edit pictures so that says a lot. Here is a sampling of some of my favorites. Thanks Holly for the fabulous evening. I cant wait to do it again!

4th of July Celebrations

I love the 4th of July. Its one of my favorite holidays. I love all the festivites. The bbq's and the hanging out all day with family and friends. The love the warm, I mean hot summer weather and the firehazards, I mean fireworks to finish off the day. It's a fun filled holiday that I enjoy every year. This year was especially fun. Steven and I started off the day with a run which felt so good. I need to run more often. Then we took the kids to the parade where they got bored, and the arts festival where I watched a man put a scorpion the size of the palm of my hand in his mouth and close his lips around it! I have the pictures to prove it. It freaked me out. Later in the evening we had a bbq with our friends and lit what seemed like an endless supply of fireworks. It was a great day!!

Face Painting

This is face painting.







This is face painting on drugs.
After waiting in line for 45 minutes and spending 5 bucks on the fairy wings and a spider at the Arts Festival downtown, I thought I was done with the face painting for the year. As it turned out, I was not even close! A big thanks to Jenny Adair for her fabulous artistry.

Fireworks

Once it started getting dark we lit up the night with a firework extravaganza. Isaiah really got into the sparklers where as Sophia did not. Matias enjoyed the fire but not the noise. This year will mark one of our best July 4th celebrations to date.