getting into the holiday mood!

so I LOVE these Elf videos -- they always make me smile...
enjoy ours!
ps: there's a limit of only 5 spots - and since I have 6 I was begining to fret about who I would leave out! Then it hit me -- my girls are identical - no one will ever know that both of them aren't in the clip - LOL -- well, I guess you all will - since I just told you - oh well....

ok.. we had some technical difficulties -- it automatically posts it to your blog for you and since I have mulitple ones it posted to a different one - and so now I've got to figure out how to get it here.. oh well.. trust me.. it was cute - LOL

Thankfulness

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2008

My Great-Great Grandmother was born on Thanksgiving day and was subsequently named Thankful -- kind of a fun fact from me today :)

Lots of things I am incredible thankful for in my life but 1 that doesn't get publically thanked (enough) is that I'm thankful for Good Visiting Teachers! Since moving into this ward 16 months ago I have been blessed to have had awesome Visiting Teachers! There's been a few partner changes in that time, but Val Ross has remained constant -- she goes beyond the required once a month visits and I really feel like I could call if ever I needed her help! The area that I really wanted to touch on was that she helps me every single sunday at church with the babies! I have never asked her - she just comes and parks next to me during Releif Society and takes over when I have to go play the piano. she always does this with a smile on her face too! There's even Sundays when her husband takes their little girl (almost 1) to EQ and then she STILL comes and helps me out - even though she could sit and listen and really get something out of RS... so for that I am truly grateful! She is just so thoughtful and fun and I know that Heavenly Father had a hand in inspiring the RS leaders to have me be assigned to her! Thank You Val!! Besides - she gives rockin' haircuts - and for that I'm grateful for too! Anyway, my VT's brought this super duper cute Turkey Pumpkin (that you see up above in the photo) and I've just loved it! It was even our centerpiece for our Thanksgiving Dinner - yippee!!

Urban Family rockin' downtown =)

Alright - I'm thinking I might need to just start a seperate photography blog for all of the recent sneek peeks (but I guess truthfully, it's now pretty much too cold for any more practice shoots - so maybe that'll be something for me to work on over the winter...) Anyway, I've got LOTS to share today -- I always feel more in my "zone" when I'm downtown doing the urban shots - but didn't know how family photos would translate into that realm of photography... so I met up with the Deebles and we had a blast! ok.. I guess I can only speak for myself - But I totally was diggin' their attire and they were all so easy going and relaxed! This was also a big milestone for me as the entire session was shot in manual (and I just learned how this weekend - LOL) - so here are some of the shots...

my girlies

My girls are growing up! I can't believe that at the end of this week they're going to be 7 months old! It has flown by so fast! They've hit a couple of new milestones this past week....

* They now hold their own bottles! I'd gotten rather good at feeding them simultaneously - one to the left of me while the other laid across my lap - me holding each of the bottles (and then I'd switch positions at the next feeding of who was on my lap)... anyway, they both feed themselves their bottles - I just sort of sit with them and do "bottle control" in case they drop it and need some help :)

* They both got their 2nd tooth on the same day (a week ago Sunday)

* Lexi is about to CRAWL!! she gets up on all 4's and rocks back and forth (she actually moved about 2 paces this morning alternating her arms and legs) so I know it won't be long before she's mobile.... Aubs is content to roll around :)

Enjoy the pics I took of them today - they are just so sweet and loveable!

I loved Twilight and I'm not ashamed

It was awesome. I'm secure enough in my manhood to declare this. We arrived at Edwards (how fitting) about 50 minutes early only to discover we were about the 250th and 251st people in line. The demographics of the line reminded me of th etime I surprised Shandy by taking her to a Kelly Clarkson concert for her birthday. Very few dudes, mostly 13 year old girls. I ran into one of my Soldiers while in line. We sheepishly nodded to each other and I said, "I'll just pretend I didn't just see you here and you do the same."

- John

Holy SOCKS Batman!!

ok.. I don't know about any of you... but when it comes to the laundry - I HATE socks!! I got so tired of not having matches making it out of the laundry together that I started a "sock drawer" (way back in like March) where I would stash all of the socks that didn't have a match after they came out of the dryer. Well, that sock drawer turned into 2 sock drawers and before it could grow into a "sock dresser" I decided it was time to put them all together... So I dumped all of the mateless socks onto the middle of the floor (ok, originally I dumped them on my bed but then had to move them down to the floor since I didn't get to them on that day - yikes!) and so I attempted to match some up this morning with the girls rolling around in them - wasn't working either... so I STILL have a mound of socks in my room.... anyone find pleasure in matching up socks? If so... come on over! I'm thinking that will be a super fun *game* for the boys!

John's idea - throw these all away and just buy all of the same socks from now on so there will always be matches! At this point.. I'm liking that idea! why do socks have to be so expensive for that plan to work?

2 family photo sessions

After some gentle nudges from my best friend - I decided to take my photography beyond my own family and took some for their Christmas card - I totally thought it would be a repeat of my nightmare of a photo shoot (since she's got 6 children too)... lucky for us she didn't have a 2 year old (this year anyway - heee!) and they were all so cooperative! I was quite impressed and it gave me hope for next years attempt when Nathan is a bit older and before the girls hit 2! Anyway, here are a few from the session....

how sweet is that with her youngest son trying to give his little sis a kiss! Totally not even prompted!

and I totally love this one! It's so hilarious! With her looking at her husband with that expression of "yep... we ARE a crazy family!" I thought since so much fun and craziness was going on - I'd empahasize it with an Urban processing...

and then since I was already going to be down at the park... my other friend was hoping for some family photos... so here are some from that session... again - I was so impressed with the cooperative nature of everyone! I'm so jealous - boohoo (LOL)... but seriously, it was pretty fun :)

and a farewell one to end with....

new teeth, getaways & face paint

It's official - my little girls are getting teeth! I knew they'd been teething for a while now but at a baby shower on Saturday one of my friends said "hey, I just saw a tooth!" I was like "what?!"... sure enough.. little Lexi had a tooth popped through! Aubrie is right there with her -not quite erupted yet - but a definite bump and whiteness trying to show through... so I'd imagine any day now... They've done really well with it and so I'm conting my lucky stars! ID twins usually get their teeth within days of each other so I'm antcipating A's real soon!

**Update: as I was putting Aubrie to bed I saw that her tooth is in too!**



As you all know - yesteray was Veteran's Day -- Thank you to everyone (including John and myself - hehehhe) for sacrificing your time and service for the sake of our great country! Several local businesses were showing their gratitude with extending their products for free to military personnel -- The Anniversary Inn being one of them... So... John and I got to sneak away for an awesome getaway. We only had to sneak the girls into the room in our suticases and pray they didn't cry (since children aren't allowed) -- JUST KIDDING! (sorry, couldn't resist that one - LOLOLOL)... Actually John's mom (who is the Ultimate Mother In Law!) came and stayed the night with our children and got them all ready and off to school this morning while John and I slept in until 9am and had a wonderful breakfast in bed =)..... Just in case any of you are curious - we stayed in the lighthouse room -- oh, we also went to the Olive Garden for dinner the night before -- Spending some good quality alone time with John was really wonderful! Thanks again, grandma for watching the kids overnight!



Also this past weekend was another BSU game - Here's what the guys decided to go as this week.... They have been painting up since the 2004 season (so I have many pics over the years of the different artisitc face paintings... and have been working on a post with some of my favorites through the years... so stayed tuned for that one!).... After the game John and Brent started jammin' out to Rock Band -- I'm telling ya - it's quite the sight to see 2 grown men in their 30's with orange and blue face paint on beating on the drums and singing at the top of their lungs to "Dirty Little Secret"! I even got some video of it - but thought I'd spare them the embarasment - hehehe - but yes, quite the entertainment! And then if that wasn't enough... when grandma brought the older boys back from going to Disney on Ice -- I guess the cotton candy came in a bag with a crown around it and when the boys got home - anyway, John had crashed on the couch - and Ben went and put the crown on his head -- I about died laughing! isn't that the best!? Anyway.. enjoy the pics =)

Just so you all know...

...I love my wife.

- John

only 2 days left...

....to be able to get a steal of a deal at Costco!

so last night we had an enrichment activity over at a gal in our ward (Tiffany's - for all you local peeps) and she had the MOST AMAZING L.A.R.G.E. (like a 3ft x 4ft) picture of Christ (that's pictured on the left) that I just absolutely fell in love with and so I asked where she purchased it (she had just gotten it that day) and I was surprised when she answered Costco! and.... for onlyl $199! yes... you read that correct! (that same size painting sells for $540 on their website so it's an incredible deal!) so anyway, I went down there today and was sooooo impressed and moved by all of the beautful pieces of art and at the prices they were selling at - (ranging from $39-$209) - but they're only there for 2 more days (at Costco - at those prices...) So if any of you have been debating getting some awesome church art - now is the time! oh, and this DOES include the awesome 5" hardwood distressed frame too!

Here's a link to their website: http://www.culturalhall.com/ that has what they sell (pretty much all of it was there at Costco but if it's not - they ship it to your house for free - yippee!)

oh, and they also customize the artwork (if you want...)

It was soooo hard for me to choose! but I ended up with the one pictured above and then this one of the Boise Temple (that I ended up having customized -- with our name, wedding date and then "Boise Temple" written in the upper left corner like the one below:

Slideshow

We had our family pictures taken about 2 weeks ago and needless to say it didn't quite go as smoothly as I'd hoped... as I mentioned in an earlier post - Nathan wanted nothing to do with the camera (and turned out he had double ear infections -- however we did get a couple of good shots that I'll need to post =) -- but before I got the CD back (and the weather was gorgeous) we decided to attempt "TAKE 2 OF FAMILY PHOTOS".... we decided to get all decked out in our BSU gear and head down to Bronco stadium.... we had our futuer BIL (the one I took their engagement photos a while back....) meet us as the stadium and take some photos - he really did a good job! (especially considering that Nathan wanted NOTHING to do with the camera... again.) Afterwards I asked him if he was ready to become a family photorapher - he politely said "No!" - hehehehe
I've had to do some editing and several head swaps, body insertions.... ya know... the basics that are required when trying to get a family shot! (of course I didn't do this to all - actually just 2 of the family shots....) anyway, here's the Vogt family sporting their true colors - and all set to the BSU fight song - GO BRONCOS!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Countdown to Twilight!

With the premiere being only a little over two weeks away, Johnny and I thought we'd take *the* quiz to see who we were. It came as no surprise to me who John was. John guessed who I would be also but then threw in, "I bet you really would rather be Alice, though." He's right!

So, without further ado, here's who we are:


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Another week has started and I have to admit that I sort of like the rainy weather we've been having lately... there's some-thing romantic about the rain to me... Yesterday was Stake Conference and so we were out of church by noon (where normally we don't even start until 12:30pm) and John's EQ meeting was canceled so we had the whole afternoon free -- we decided to head out to Eagle to John's parents for dinner. We used to go out every sunday when we lived in nampa - but it's just too far now and plus not really enough time to get out there and back before John's weekly meeting... anway, they live on a farm and it always has the B.E.S.T. fall colors!! Even though it was a bit drab yesterday, I still snapped some shots while we were there - and I just had to post this one of the baby girls -- isn't that a hoot with them crying! I got individual ones of them in the basket and they were all smiles.. then I put them in together and they just wailed! LOL... maybe it was just too tight of quarters - who knows.... heheheh

John's brother keeps his hunting dogs out at the farm as well - when we got there and I saw all of the doggies running around their pen I thought - "MAN! that's a LOT of dogs to take care of!"... then I started counting them... and there were 6... It was then I realized that's how many children I have to take care of - LOL

Didn't make it to my WW meeting tonight - but truthfully with Halloween and going out to lunch on Saturday to Red Robin... I don't think it would have been a pretty site anyway... so maybe it was for the best - hehehhe...

ode to Twilight....

ok.. so I've been loving all of the trailers that have been posted for the upcoming TWILIGHT movie - which happens to be coming out THIS MONTH!

anyway... thought you guys might like a heads up where to get a Twilight font - you know.. for all those love letters you'll be writing to your "Edward" -- yes, definite team Edward here!

ClICK HERE to be taken to the blog where you can snag up this beauty for free :)

(ps: it's a couple of posts down.. so just scroll until you see it)