Merry Christmas!

We had a glorious Christmas this past week.  Hope you did too.

The night before, the kids were pretty stoked
 





Then the big day came. Des saw his present from santa



which quickly turned into



You can't win 'em all I suppose. (his day was an emotional roller coaster. When did I get a 12 year old girl for a child??)

Gray loved his gift



so that's good.
Be back in January.

xoxo

Coming up for air

Well, hey there! I can't believe its been a month. But I just finished my last Christmas portrait for My Sweet Rose and it feels great. I've painted 18 house portraits now and I still love it. But I do feel a need to step back and take a break after cranking them out these past few weeks (which more than half of those have been painted.) My eyeballs hurt.

Things at the Davies' have been a little interesting lately. We've been to the dr's way too often and have paid so. many. co-pays. Its a little ridiculous. But I have high hopes! We have a cream for pretty much anything you can think of and we're pro's when it comes to "how close to death can a baby get before you really need medical attention". At least when it comes to dehydration and what-not. I really hope 2013 is a healthier year all around.

On a lighter note, we went on our annual "Davies Tree-Hunt" earlier this month. It was 20 minutes of awesome. Usually we have to trek around in a foot of snow and hike up the mountain and back before finding an acceptable tree. Not this time. It was two minutes of walking in when we found it, then we walked around for another 15 minutes just to make sure it was the best option. Oh and it was generally nice weather and zero snow. yeah!

Des was pretty excited for his own little tree.

Gray was just happy to be there.

some pants-less decorating happened

And just for kicks this was the boys last year:

Because I love ya

and I'd like to fill up my week...

Family and friends: I'm waiting on a lady (who I guess works at Sony Pictureworks) who's really busy and keeps forgetting to send me the photos to finish her house portraits.  Are there people out there who'd like a deal on a house portrait? The catch: you gotta get me pics quick, like today.  I'll do a deal : $50 a house. bam.  lol

Perhaps no one wants one, and that's ok too. but I figured I'd put it out there.

What I need as far as pictures: clear enough photos of the desired domicile. An iPhone takes really good pictures. I need one straight on and then any to show details or whatever i need to see. that's it.
I'll send you an invoice via paypal and bing.bang.done.

So get crackin'. (or clickin') and let me know in the comments. 

post edit: oh and there's probably only 4 or so spots so first come, first served.

Gettin' all gussied up

did some changing around on this blog of mine. First, I'm super excited for Christmas. Des has fully excepted the fact that he can ask for toys and there's a really good chance he'll get one from Santa. Its awesome. Second, all the Christmas songs are all new to him so he loves listening in the car (dad doesn't let us turn them on at home yet. boo.) Third, I'm excited to decorate (minimally but still--decorate!) because Des gets excited about that too. Pretty much: Des has achieved cognitive awareness this year so it makes all the holiday's way more fun.

The biggest change here, besides my wallpaper, is the cute little widget -----> over there. Its a direct link to my shop! awww. Just in case you feel the need to mosey on over there (yes I Googled "mosey" because have you ever tried spelling that word? Its a weird one.)

My house illustrations are coming along nicely, I have a few more spots I can squeeze in some more for Christmas if you're interested. Local-yocals get free shipping because I don't ship, I hand deliver. What service! And I'm still trying to get "likes" on my facebook page. If I get 36 I'll do a give-away! Woo! So tell your friends, you mother, your aunts. My mom finally "liked" me so you don't have to tell her. (hi mom! thanks for being my friend.)

the end.

(now go like my facebook page "my sweet rose")  :D

After the sickness has passed

turns out someone was serving a big 'ol slice of stomach virus at the wedding. So Des caught it. And then Gray caught it. And then Kolt caught it. (and aunti Jessi got a similar version, although a bit more intense!) I felt like I was standing in a room full of sick people and I didn't dare move. I didn't dare breathe. My eyes shifted left, then right...

...I'm still waiting for that shoe to drop.  But so far, so good. *whew!*

But we are all very much happier (and a few pounds lighter--even me. All that...virus-ing...left me without an appetite.) I am, however, playing catch up with all my extra curricular activities. Plus our yard needs some attention...so I  have very little to blog about.

But here, I found these and I'll share them with the class:



And I just realized as I was adding them that they are both a play on perspective. Nice!

Well we got through it

Today was one of those days: the baby started to puke at 8:00 am...guess what I got to do all day! Actually it was only until 12 when he decided he was going to eat, thankyouverymuch. So I caved. And it went well until about 6 pm when it all backfired. yeah. got the visual yet? Anywhoo, I did what any gal would do in this situation--I called my mom. And she and my dad came and played back-up while I mopped (twice) and did the laundry (two loads) and took a shower (only one of those.) My dad even took the three-year-old to get some dinner and APUMPKINFLASHLIGHT!! He was stoked.

There is a point to my story, and it goes thusly: I had a lot of time to sit and hold a baby and edit photos. Like all day. all day. But now its 9:42 and my computer is saving them as we speak. Soon to be burned onto various DVD's. I feel so accomplished. Why so many photos to edit, you might ask. A wedding, my friends. A wedding where unexpectedly I was the photographer (its a good thing we brought the camera!) A wedding where my husband was in "the line" but not in "the line" because he was taking pictures by that point. A wedding where it rained outside and the lights were low inside... But man, we made it work. Even with a lens that did NOT have a low enough aperture for the lighting. So we fudged it a little. I tell you that because you'll look closely at these pictures and say, "poor girl. poor, poor girl." Yes, my ISO was set higher than I've ever shot. And yes, 75% of the pictures I took were blurry and/or underexposed. Thank heavens for good editing software.

I've really built this up, haven't I?

So here are some of my favorites--



   and I'll leave you with this:
 

Family Pictures, Fall edition

Last year we took four family pictures (like official family pictures) in each season. It was pretty cool. Let me remind you. Actually I cheated for Spring because we never took a picture but I did silhouettes of everyone that I intend to paint. cough. uhhhh...moving on.

I don't know if we'll be able to repeat our Four-Seasons Fotos (get it? eh? alliteration, baby) this year but we went and took some fall ones. It was lovely. and stressful. but then the kids snoozed on the way home and it was lovely once more.

see:

we laughed about gray's dirty paci ring on his chin. and notice the big pile of drool on des' shirt. and mouth.

So without further adieu, I present Davies Family Photos, Fall Edition:

"oh haay. we're just looking over this awesome view."

the family pics were tough to get everyone looking. this was our best. meh.

love this kid. can you see his freckles? love them too. but next year we're going to try and be better about sunscreen

prob my favorite picture of the day.

then things got craaazy...

no tree was actually defaced for this photoshoot. It happened before. so there.

we were determined to get a couple picture. steps away des was crying about not being there with us?? time to wrap it up. Oh and another tree defaced conveniently for us (hard to see with the b/k.) Thanks original L+K. although you shouldn't really scratch trees. its mean.

awww. sweet baby. He was a trouper.

So there you have it.

What I've been doing

Ok so I guess its time to plug my new adventure a little...

I've started a new (I know, I know) etsy shop called "my sweet rose" where I'm selling prints of my artwork as well as painting original custom house portraits for people. Check it out here on etsy. I would love it if you'd find me on facebook as well and "like" me. because right now i feel like the new kid in school. please. i need friends. really.

The real reason why I've started selling again is I finally found a place locally where I can print my artwork for waaaaaaaaaay less than anywhere online. Plus I discovered I really like painting people's houses (always fun to get a new challenge) so I'm hoping that will be a big draw.

And finally, if you feel so inclined as to order a print, I wouldn't mind.

Oh, and one more thing. I've applied to be a vender at this year's Bijou Market in Provo so I'll let you know if I make the cut.

and because you are fantastic for reading this far:

yes this is my three year old son holding a dead rabbit. and an air-soft gun which he "shot it".  I'm still contemplating my position on the matter

here we are trying to convince des to model his new jacket (it was actually kolt's as a boy) but he was having none of it.

and i learned how to add fake sun flare to pretty much anything i want. i'm stoked. no photo is safe.

Early morning rc-ing

Had to squeeze in a quick session for des who's first words to his dad every time he sees him are, "can we drive the cars??!"

*thanks to Colette for gifting the cars!
**and I'm hoping to blog something of substance soon

In which Gray Turns One

The end.

First day of preschool

Soon I will have better photo editing software to re-do this for posterity's sake but it was fun to throw together on flikr. Anyway! Des' best buddy goes to kindergarten and it kills him every time she leaves. So we decided to sign him up (late) for preschool. Today was his first day and he loved it! I showed up at the door to pick him up and the first thing he said was, "mom, I don't WANT to go home."

Success.

and now, twice a week, I'll have the privilege of  having some time to myself since its about Gray's nap time too and a nice car ride usually does him in. Double score! Some alone time is just what this momma needs.

*post edit: oh yeah, and we had a birthday and a fun trip up the mountain to blog about but that will have to wait for another day that doesn't interrupt my nap time.  :D

A week before his birthday

More pics from Gray's Year Photoshoot

pretty much want to smooch his face over and over when i see this one

prob going on my wall.

this one makes me giggle with the amount of dirt/leaves stuck to his face.