Halloween

I feel like no one reads my blog posts anymore because I post on Facebook enough as it is...maybe it's more just business stuff...man have we been overloaded with so much business this year but it's all been extremely amazing blessings for us all! We love what we do!

This year we went to my Aunt's pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins but still failed at carving pumpkins with the kids again this year! It was cute to see them pick out their own pumpkins though!! They loved it and Ethan wanted to keep his in his room!! Ali did not want to look at me for pictures!

I know it's been quite a while since we had Halloween but I thought I might do a quick little post. This year we got to take pictures of the preschoolers and their costumes and other people at AIM gymnastics. This meant pretty much that I didn't get any pictures of my kids (nor did I take them trick-or-treating) that are really remotely professional besides these few goofy pics of Ethan that we snapped at the preschool's Halloween party! Roger did take my kids to the trunk-or-treat at the Rose St. Chapel but that's it! They did score on some really good candy so thank you awesome parents who had your trunks all set up for my kids!! Ali really wasn't wanting to wear her snow white costume that night so we really had to bribe her. She is definitely one opinionated little girl!! Benjamin was a cute little lion!! Man he is growing up way too fast!! Not enjoying it!!

Ethan wanted to pose...Can you tell?

UpDaTeS

We have been so busy!!


I watch my nephews every day before school and after! So our whole family dynamics has changed. Alec & Owen are fun to watch! I hope that they think of me as the "fun" aunt! I have done a couple quick mini sessions with them after school and they love it!


We wake up around 6:30-7am every morning and get the kids in bed by 7:30-8pm every night. I have always loved sleeping in but am now finding that I love being up early because I get a lot more done in the mornings. (MOSTLY WORK)


The business has been so busy crazy lately. I'm working long hours...so for those of you who think our work is easy you have it all wrong!! I would rather be shooting than editing any day, but we definitely have more editing than shooting as always editing takes quite a bit more time, especially weddings. In the last three months we have done 5 weddings!! This is unusual for us because we like to only do 1 wedding a month, but all of our weddings were fun and we really enjoyed getting to know the brides and grooms even more! We even got to do a "trash the dress" session for one couple!! :) I LOVE my job!!


Which is why... I don't think I mentioned this previously but we moved back to Moses Lake with my parents until Roger is done at Eastern. We thought we'd be done in two quarters and then hopefully be into a PA school somewhere but it looks like it'll be a full year for him and then maybe PA school in June. We are applying to a school in AZ and they accept more students than other schools so we are hoping our chances are better!


And hooray for me because I officially am done with my BA!!! I hadn't been in school for a year because my school had messed up on my loans so we had to come up with $1,500 for my senior class before I could finish and when we did I got to it again and finished. My degree is in Business Management! I will apply for my diploma shortly which costs another $150 and it will take 10-12 weeks to get here! Man alive I don't know why I did the whole online thing because it costs way more than we thought we were paying, but I guess it helped while I was having babies like crazy!! HAHA I have been talking about how I would love to be in the medical field as an office manager, but don't know when that'll happen while I have little ones at home. I'm also thinking about going back to go to nursing school once the kids are in school. Who knows though...I really enjoy photography and will eventually take over the business!


Ethan says the darnest things lately!! The other night we were walking in the mall and Roger was saying how he needed more cologne and I said, "Where's your girlfriend when you need her?" because when you are dating someone that's always a gift you give..so anyways who knew Ethan was listening until the next day he asked me who daddy's girlfriend was. Haha..I laughed and asked where he heard that and he said in the mall I told daddy he had a girlfriend. Too funny so I explained to him that I was daddy's wife and that he didn't have a girlfriend I was just joking. He then told me how he wanted a girlfriend so he could kiss her!! What happened to my 3 year old? I guess he will be 4 soon! It's crazy to think that much time has passed!!


Aliana is such a little diva!! She loves her shoes and accessories. We painted the bedrooms upstairs and hers is a green..my mom bought a pretty chandelier to go in there and some cute shabby chic twin beds with a dresser! Once we get the quilts made we will have to post pictures! She loves her room! I went to hobby lobby last week because they just opened one in Spokane and fell in love with so much stuff so we are going to figure out what other things we want to use to decorate as well!!


Benjamin crawls and pulls himself up all the time! He is a crazy little monkey! We get him to say mama and dada every once in a while!! He is a perfect little baby besides his pinching. I had to quit breastfeeding because I wasn't putting out enough with the diet I was on!


Oh yeah...I have been doing the Ideal Protein diet for almost 11 weeks! In the first 6 weeks I lost 30 pounds and have continued to lose a little and manage my weight. I am in phase 3 now and feel great. The best thing about this diet is you don't lose your muscle mass just your fat!! I have already lost more than my original goal (weighing less than what I did when we got married) so now I am setting new goals. If you want to know more about it I am thinking of doing a blog post on it! I am going to start doing P90x I think here soon.


We managed to grab a quick family picture the other night! Benjamin's face cracks me up every time!! Can't wait to get some more done!! I love this little family of mine!! :)

What do you think?

The picture above is of Ethan at 8 months! Benjamin will be 8 months on Tuesday and the four images below are ones I took today of him real quick to compare. Do they look a lot alike?? The first picture of Benjamin is the real color...can you believe how red that hair is? I can't!! You can see it better if you click on the image.. He is too cute with those two teeth poking out!!!



This was a picture I took of Benjamin a couple weeks ago that I love...but you can barely see his teeth coming up..

Website Updates!!

We finally got our website updated with more recent pictures that we have taken!! We are so busy it's been hard to find time to do it, but finally sat down to get it done!! Check it out!!

JULIEWAITESPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Saturday

was a day we all wish we could have lived without!!!

We had been invited to Alexys Sanchez's birthday party and we were really excited to go since their family (Michael has been his best friend for years and was also his best man) has been such a big part of Roger's life and because just the night before her movie "Grown-Ups" was released so we also wanted to congratulate her on that. When we got there we noticed they had an above ground pool and we told Ethan since he didn't have his water wings he couldn't go in the big pool but just the small kiddie one. He was fine with that and played in the kiddie pool for a good 30 minutes. Then he decided he was done and came over to switch back into his regular clothes. Well about 10 minutes later he wanted to swim again and again went to the kiddie pool. Then we walked around a bit and the adults decided we were going to play some volleyball so while they were getting the teams set up I decided I better make a quick trip to the bathroom so I wouldn't have to miss out during the game to run in. Well when I cam back outside I did not see Ethan or Ali...there were between 70-80 people there so it was hard to see everyone anyways but I told Roger I didn't see them and asked if he knew where they were....that concerned him a little so we headed toward the pool and toy area and all of a sudden I see Roger book it in a hard sprint to the pool pull Ethan up out of the water and on to the ground. I really can't remember if I fell to my knees then and cried before making it to Ethan but that's what I think happened. I got to him quickly and he started to cough and foam at the mouth a little. We kept him on his side and Kyleigh, Michael's wife, and another gal who is also a nurse were right there coaching me on what we needed to do to get the water out. Since some water was coming up we didn't do CPR....He was purple but the color was starting to come back slowly...we raced him inside after someone had called 911, which let me tell you I did not hear sirens coming when they finally arrived. I don't know if it's because of what the person who finally got ahold of 911 said to them or what, but it was not a quick response. The grant county sheriff was there before the EMTs were. Once we were inside I told Roger we needed someone to help him give him a blessing asap and he grabbed Eloy Sr. to help him do that. Things got better after that...more water came out and we moved him outside when the sheriffs got there and he threw up more water. I held him this whole time crying because I didn't know what was going to happen and I didn't know how much water was still in his lungs. Once we got him in the ambulance they took his oxygen levels and his heartbeat and said his levels were good and normal so they drove normal speed to the ER all the while I'm worried it could get ugly and time because he kept gurgling up water and swallowing it. My dad later informed me the swallowing was ok because it would go into his stomach and be out of his lungs. Once I got in the ambulance I finally got a chance to text someone in my family (Brandi, my sister-in-law, because she was the last person who had texted me) and just said Ethan fell in the pool. Call my dad. Get to the ER. In the ambulance. Roger had tried to call my dad once he pulled Ethan out of the pool and searched for the phone to call 911 and then my dad but since he couldn't find his phone he had called my grandpa because he was the only Waites phone number in the phone book and then my dad. I could tell Roger felt awful about the whole thing because he kept telling me he was "sorry" over and over again while crying and he had to keep his distance because he just couldn't take it.
While I was in the ambulance I just kept fighting with Ethan to stay awake with me and I had to hold an oxygen mask close to his face. I did not want him to fall asleep because I knew we needed him awake and going to make sure he would get it all out. Roger was supposed to be following behind but I was so worried because I knew he wouldn't be in a good enough state to do it...We are so grateful for the wonderful friends we have that were there with us. Michael drove Roger to the hospital with Ali and Brooke Caldwell stayed with Benjamin at the party until someone could go get him. Roger said he wasn't able to drive because he was too much in shock.
Once we got to the hospital my whole family was there...somehow they all beat us because the ambulance was slow...The Dr. and nurses were ready for us and asked questions right away and got an x-ray really quick. His arms and legs were still a little purple but by this time he actually could respond and tell us what our names were. This made me smile. There was still a little bit of fluid in one lung so the Dr. said since my dad was a PA that she felt comfortable with him going home with us as long as we watched for a cough or fever because it could be pneumonia forming or get worse. We were so lucky he got most of the fluid out and was becoming more responsive. We had decided in the hospital we needed to go back to the party and say hi and let everyone know he was okay so we did so and while we were there he threw up some more with food this time. That was the last time he threw up that day and has been doing really well since. However, my husband and I are still freaked!! Roger more than I because he was the one to see him blue and pull him out when unresponsive. He really didn't think he was going to make it. He has been sleeping (well attempting to sleep because he really can't) with Ethan since and ended up taking the rest of the week off after trying to go back to work yesterday.

Later we found out that Ethan had thrown a ball in the water and started to climb up the ladder when an adult took him down and told him not to go up there again and gave him the ball back. Well she turned away and he threw it again and went in after it and the other kids thought he was swimming supposedly when Josh Jesse Jr. (only 10 years old) noticed he was under and not coming back up and pulled him up as much as possible which was when Roger booked it and pulled him out. Thank goodness that Josh went to the party that day when he was supposed to be at a softball tournament with the rest of his family. We owe him a lot for knowing what to do and how to help someone..

The lesson we have learned is to always keep floatation devices for your children if they will be around water...And watch them closely...yes there were lots of people watching but it only takes a split second for them to fall or jump in without someone seeing..

Thanks to everyone who has prayed and is still praying for our family. We won't be swimming for a while...but sooner than later... You can't keep these kids out of water forever when they love it. When he was in the hospital bed he told me he wanted to go swimming at Brandi's pool because he didn't get "sick" there. If he only thinks he got sick I think it's the best. I hope he doesn't remember the feeling of the fluid filling his lungs. I can only imagine how scared and alone he felt at that time and it makes me hurt. I love my children and I'm so grateful for the wonderful gospel we have in our lives and that my husband is a worthy priesthood holder so that he can administer blessings when necessary.

Too LONG!!

I have been a big slacker when it comes to posting....and there has been a ton going on so I will just name a few...

Ben is 5 months!! Wow I can't believe he is that old already!!
He loves to grab everything and anything..found him with a cookie in hand gnawing at it today.. (Ali set it down by him)
He is trying to crawl...and loves his belly!!
My Brother Ben gets home from his mission on Tuesday!!! WAHOO!!
Roger finished another year of school...wahoo... sad though that there is still more to go...
He is working hard to support the family and trying to find a job in Moses Lake for the summer..
Which leads to the next news...YES we are moving back in with my parents!! Just makes the most sense right now...more details later...
My mom's business is doing really well...which is good for me to keep working...We have I think 6 weddings left to do for this summer...
Ethan is picking up on lots of "adult" words/sayings...and uses them in the right context!!! For example he was telling me "oh my gosh mom....." the other night and I couldn't believe he knew all of that together! I try not to use that saying around him too much because I don't want him to accidentally say the Lord's name in vain once like most other people say now days.
Ali loves to just jump off things...no matter how high above ground it is!! (scary)

SUMMER HAS BEGUN AND WE LOVE THE SUN!! Hope to spend some days at the Surf 'N Slide with the kids so they can get their skin a little tan!! :)

I hope to post more this week after my brother gets back with pictures of everything!!

Benjamin will be..

4 months tomorrow!! What happened to my newborn? I think it may be time to have another one..LOL

My sweet sister got them these outfits. The boy's shirts say Ladies Man on them...so true! Do you see my redhead?? It makes me laugh that I got my "white" boy!