Colorado Visitors and a Graduation

This weekend was pretty busy and pretty awesome. My brother Michael and his wife Sara came into town from Colorado for my cousin Rachel's high school graduation. Friday evening, my parents had a deck party/BBQ as a "Welcome to the Family" for Cooper, and it was great to hang out with the fam. My crazy husband was busy staying up the entire night at a lock-in with some of his students, so he wasn't able to to be there. But we still had a great time.

Below is Cooper, the guest of honor. He's really hard to photograph. Wouldn't give me the time of day when I was trying to get his attention, and the one time I was able to get him to look my way for a split second, he blinked. Ah, well. He was being protective of the sow's ear my dad had given him to chew on.

He's mostly a German Shepard with short legs, haha. But really, he's a Welsh Corgi...the only kind of dogs my parents have ever owned!

My Grandpa Rollie has this little German rhyme he does along with a little tickle on your hand. He always did it to us as kids, and now Sutton LOVES it. He always squeals at the end and says "Again!"

My grandparents on both sides love Sutton so much, and I don't take him to see them nearly as often as I should. One of my regrets with my job keeping me so busy in the evenings. But he's the only great-grandchild on both sides, and I feel like he's so loved! Here he is with his Great-Grandma 'Netta.

Michael and Sara. They're so cute together.

Sutton wasn't too sure about Uncle Michael. Although in the end, he always gave him hugs when we were leaving, so I think he loves him deep down. :)

Michael's really just like a little kid, so Sutton's probably just confused, haha!

My other grandparents. Grandma Norma and Grandpa Melvin with Sutton. He was doing so great taking photos with everyone.

Grandpa Rollie was doing the hand thing again...

Sutton got lots of attention from all his grandmas. It's still so weird that my mom is a grandma. She loves Sutton so much and is so great with him. I'm excited for when he's a little older and will spend the night at Grandpa and Grandma's like I remember doing when I was a kid. Funny story...my Grandma Netta (in the red coat) only had sons. So when I came along, the first girl in two generations, she didn't know how to do my hair in the mornings when I would stay with her! It always ended in lop-sided ponytails.

Grandma Norma had a sugar bowl in her kitchen that she just couldn't keep Michael away from. He'd sneak up on the table, and just eat plain sugar by the spoonful. Gross!

Here's another attempt at a Cooper photo. Blurry, of course.

We told Sutton to sit on this rock in my parents' garden a few weeks ago, and now every time we go over there, he has to find that rock and sit on it.

We had burgers and salad and fruit pizzas for dinner, and then Sutton got a bath and got in his jammies before we headed home. The next day, we weren't able to go to Rachel's actual graduation due to Sutton needing a nap, but we went out to their house for her grad party afterwards. Sutton sweet-talked Grandma Nancy into sharing her ice cream.

He really likes butterflies...every time he sees a moth in our house (which is a lot lately), he gets all excited and says "Butterfly!" about a million times. Just in case we didn't hear him. So when he saw them on great-grandma's jacket, he had to point them out.

Then we took him outside where he chased their farm cats into an old barn and they somehow snuck away. I think he'd like a cat. Not happening. :) We took a few photos with the happy graduate before we left. Rachel is an awesome artist...she's talented in painting and drawing as well as photography. Apparently it runs in our blood. :) She's headed to Friends University next year to study art.

It was really cool to be at her party and to meet some of her friends and get a little glimpse into her fun life. Ah, to be 18 again.

Had to take a few photos of Sutton's favorite cats.

We headed over to my parents house again that evening to spend some more time with Michael and Sara before they left to go back to Colorado Sunday morning. We're excited to take a little trip to see them this July, and then hopefully they'll come back here for Christmas!

Mother's Day

I'm so blessed to be a mom, and to be able to celebrate Mother's Day. While I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, being a mom is a tough job...so I gotta admit that it's nice to get a little recognition each year. :)

We took a few photos before church this morning while we were dressed all nicely. I'm so glad that Sutton likes having his photo taken, smiles on command, and looks at the camera even when it's just on a timer!

My sweet boy and I...he's the reason I'm a mama and can celebrate this day! (Do you see his hair? I tried to style it all cute in a faux-hawk, but he has hair like mine that won't hold anything.)

Muscles!

Up there?

Sutton loves his Daddy. I may be a teensy bit biased, but I'm pretty sure I get to live with the two most handsome men there are. I'm a lucky lady.

I also had to Instagram a photo of Sutton and I on my phone. He was being all cuddly and sad because he's a crazy boy and had just fallen after trying to stand on his four-wheeler to get on our bed. As soon as I pulled out my phone to take a photo, he turned on the charm. :)

We had a big weekend (blog post to come...), so he got to bed a bit later than normal the past two nights. He ended up falling asleep on the way to church today.

After church, we stopped at Noodles & Co. for lunch, Sutton just looks like a tiny little man here, haha.

After his nap this afternoon, we hung out outside for a bit before going on a walk to QuikTrip for fun Mother's Day drinks (Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew, and apple juice).

You might have noticed that red mark under his right eye. Well Saturday morning, we were at the park and he decided to run down a muddy hill. He fell, of course, and had mud all over. Luckily I had a towel with us because it had rained the night before and so I had to dry off all the swings and slides before he used them. I used the towel to get the mud out of his eye right away, but he has that leftover bruise. Below is a photo of the poor muddy boy after his fall.

We immediately went home and straight into the bathtub.

This was my Mother's Day gift. I actually got it on Friday when it came in the mail. Props to my husband for creativity. He took a bunch of fun photos of Sutton and Yoda "looking" for me in all kinds of places, wrote a story to go with it, and had it printed in this fun book. I've been showing it off all weekend.

We finished off our Mother's Day with dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, and made a trip over to Adam's school to let Sutton burn off some energy running around in the gym before bed. A great, relaxing day...Adam and I even got to nap while Sutton napped. It was pretty awesome. Until next year...

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! I know I have an amazing mom who has always been there for me. There's no question that I would not be where I am today without her constant love, support, and encouragement. She's always been my number one fan. I love you Mom!

Lately...

Just a random sampling of photos from my phone. That's about all we have time for these days...life is BUSY.

I had an awesome but tiring wedding on Saturday. I don't know what it was, but it beat me down more than usual. I was so-ore. So Sunday evening, we decided to go on a last minute date night to see The Avengers. We were also celebrating Adam finishing his masters classes for this semester. Hooray! We went to the downtown theater where you can order food right at your seat, and we gorged ourselves since we never go to the movies anymore. Pizza, popcorn, and Dr Pepper were my choices. Yummm. But it's been bread and water ever since. Junk food always sounds good at the time...but then makes you feel like a cow afterward. Ha. :)

Sutton still really likes his jumper. Not sure how much longer it'll be safe, but he can keep enjoying it for now. He likes to have all his blankies tucked in around him. If and when they fall out from all his flailing, he's figured out how to pick them up with his feet. Such a smartie.

All you moms with iPhones out there have surely done the trick where you turn the camera around so your baby can watch himself. Well, we were doing that one day and Sutton took this photo of him and me. Budding photographer? :)

I don't like to post bath photos normally, but thought this one was pretty cute and "safe." You see that crazy red hair? We get comments from strangers on it every day!

Sutton is very sensitive to the sun, so we're always having him wear his sunglasses. If he sees me put mine on, he says "Mommy glasses, baby glasses?" Only not that clear. :) On this afternoon, he wanted to wear Mommy's glasses.

We recently gave baby boy his summer haircut. If I haven't mentioned it before, he's a SWEATY baby. I've never met someone that sweats so much. And his mop of hair was always getting soaked and curly. So we took the clippers to it. Above is the before, below is the after.

It's a little too short for my taste (although it looks cute in this particular photo), but I'm sure he feels much better. You may have also noticed his little friend in the background. Yoda is his new buddy. They have all kinds of adventures together. Sutton even likes to put him "Nigh night" by laying him down and giving him his blankies. He often puts him in his high chair and tries to feed him too.

Sometimes he gets to come along on outdoor adventures. Such as playing in the birdbath.

And Diesel's thriving as the only Dreher Dog. He's come out of his shell and is more like his puppy-self. He doesn't always shut himself off in our bedroom anymore, he likes to come hang out with us now, and he'll play fetch outside. I've been taking him with us in the car more often, and he always comes out with me to my studio while I work. Definitely reaffirms the decision we made with Sadie.

In other news, wedding season is in full swing. I'm a busy lady, working til the wee hours most nights to edit photos. It's easy to get burnt out in my line of work since it's all evenings and weekends and cuts into my family time like nobody's business. But I'm enjoying it lately...trying to stay positive and realize how lucky I am to have such a great job that provides for my family. Life is good! God has blessed us.

Rachael & Matt's Belly Photos

I arrived in Kansas City on Thursday afternoon, after a crazy/hectic morning (to say the least). Adam's mom Janet came with me so she could spend the weekend with a friend up there, and we timed the 3-hour drive during Sutton's nap time, so everything went great. I needed the break of mindless driving after my ridiculous morning.

That evening, we went and took belly photos with Rachael and Matt around West Bottoms and in Loose Park. Taking their photos at Loose Park has become a bit of a tradition for us...which I love because it's beautiful! This is where Matt proposed to Rachael, and I took their engagement photos and wedding photos here. I'm sure we'll take some of little Baby Clark here sometime soon too!

Big thanks to Rachael's sister Shelby who entertained Sutton with ducks and sticks while I was busy snapping away. The parents-to-be had planned on taking us to The Cheesecake Factory as a thank you afterwards, but it was past Sutton's bedtime by the time we were done, so we quickly grabbed some Panera and headed back to the house.

To see the full blog post of their photo session, click here!


(So technically, this should be titled Kansas City Pt. I, the Sutton photos should've been Kansas City Pt. II, and the shower was Kansas City Pt. III. Lest anyone sit around waiting for more Kansas City posts...there won't be any.) :)

Rachael's Baby Shower

Rachael's baby shower on Saturday was awesome! I helped plan it along with Rachael's two sisters Amanda and Shelby, as well as Matt's three sisters Kristen, Leslie, and Emilee. We all had our own ideas/projects that we worked on separately, and then we came together Friday night to put it all together...it turned out beautifully! The photo above was our main table layout.

The signs and cupcakes were made by the talented Amanda. The yarn balls and scrapbook boxes were Leslie's baby.

Can you believe those silver silverware are plastic? Neither could I! Perfect for a shower. We had all the guests self-address a Thank You card envelope when they first got there so Rachael wouldn't have to dig up everybody's addresses later on.

Shelby organized the headband-making craft, and we laid out this pretty table with all the supplies and instructions.

The chalkboard was my idea, but then my father-in-law Ed totally put it together for me. Thanks Ed! I chose out a verse to go on in, and Amanda used her mad skills to write it. Another sign made by Amanda on the right.

Leslie made all the decorations on the left, and we used Rachael's recipe for Luscious Slush Punch (it really was luscious). The make-your-own fruit pizza bar was a hit!

Decorations around the gift-opening area.

And one more photo of the table once it was complete.

Rachael got to the shower and we took a photo on the front porch with her mom Sandy, Aunt Dory, and Grandma Lois. She LOVED our decorations. Rachael is the craftiest person ever, so we felt a ton of pressure in planning a shower for her. But by putting six heads together, I think we pulled it off.

The first thing we did when everyone got there was eat. All the food was amazing. Then we gathered everyone together and had them all write a little note to Baby Girl that Leslie is going to make a scrapbook out of.

Then we began our fun headband making craft. Shelby had researched how to make fabric flowers, so she taught us all. I'm NOT crafty, so I had to have proof that I could make a cute flower...that's mine on the right. :)

Next, we spent about 2 hours opening gifts (literally...Rachael has so many people who love her and her baby!), then we finished off by gathering around Rachael and praying for her baby, delivery, and transition to a family of three. We were able to get photos of Rachael with most of the guests before they headed out.

Top left: Great-Grandma Lois, Grandma Sandy, Mama Rachael, Great-Aunt Dory
Top right: Aunt Leslie, Aunt Emilee, Rachael, Aunt Kristen
Bottom left: Aunt Amanda, Rachael, Aunt Shelby
Bottom right: All the hostesses...Shelby, Emilee, Leslie, Amanda, Rachael, me, Kristen

Such a great day honoring such a beautiful lady and her baby daughter. Next up...meeting this little girl!