So Long, Farewell....

Alberta, say adeu. 

That's how the song goes, right?

It is time to say good-bye, ciao, Sayonara, Au Revoir, Adios to Life's Sweet Surprises.  I have been debating whether to keep this blog going for a while, since it has been badly neglected. With facebook and my backyard farming blog, I no longer have a need for this blog.

I have a growing passion for living sustainably and living more simply and want to focus my efforts on my backyard farming blog. Please join me over there! I will be posting about our endeavors to eat healthier, live more frugally, and our efforts to expand our backyard farm. 

I want to leave you this quote to think about, it is frightening, but also motivates me to learn as much as I can, I hope it motivates you as well.

"In the latter days the time will come when there will not be enough
doctors to take care of our medical needs and problems, and it will be
necessary for men to honor their priesthood and to be prepared to take
care of the sick; and every woman will have to be a home nurse with a
working knowledge of nursing to meet the need."

 J. Reuben Clark, Jr.; General Conference, 1937

Chickens Riding Motorcycles

We have a new contest over at backyard farming. Head on over to check it out!

Joy-ography Workshop

Well, the workshop was last weekend and we had an AMAZING time - pictures to come soon. We were really impressed with the group and how quickly they caught on and how much they improved in one day. We knew it would work! You can see their pictures from the day at the Joyography Facebook Page as well as their thoughts.

AND we have been overwhelmed by questions about when the next workshop is going to be so we are ready to announce it! Mark your calendars and reserve a spot for the September 18th Joyography Workshop. We're really excited about it and specific details will be announced in the coming weeks. See you there!

I can't believe it is snowing!

This Makes Me So Happy

What makes it even better is that my friend Megan actually did this workout in high school!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

We will be reading plenty of Dr. Seuss books.And of course eating green eggs laid by our Ameraucanas, and maybe a little bit of ham to go with it.

What are you doing for his birthday?

You can check out this fun Dr. Seuss website.

My Mom

I have one of those moms...

You know, one of those amazing moms. The mom that sewed all your clothes until you were 14 and you swore that you would rip your hair out if you heard her say, "oh I could make that for so much cheaper" one more time. The mom that for some reason that you still can't figure out, caught you EVERY time you snuck out of the house. Would sit on your bed and wait for you as you snuck back into your window. I'm sure she just wanted to make sure I had a good time! The kind of mother that no matter how early you had to get up for school, was up before you, had the house clean, was showered, dressed and had breakfast hot and ready for you along with your sack lunch. The mom that would do a dance to the song "Jump" for a church talent show and practiced singing and dancing with her walkman. Oh...and a dance to Abba's song Mama Mia with enormous Hershey Kisses, (get it? Mama Mia, here I go again, my, my, how can I resist you?)

The type of mom that desperately HATES having her picture taken, so it takes you an hour just to find one of her.

One of those moms that would turn on Ann Murray in the kitchen and make you dance with her. The type of mom that no matter how old you are, you can call her crying when you are sick and she always feels bad for you. The kind of mom that flies out a few times a year to see her grandkids. The type of mom that laughs so hard that she cries at a good poop joke. The type of mom that takes her trials and learns from them. The mom that has unshakable faith.

The type of mom that will never tell you what she wants for her birthday, and always says, "I just want obedient children."

I love you mom, have a Happy Birthday!

Seed Starting

Interested in starting your own seeds this year for your garden? I just wrote an article detailing all the instructions over at my backyard farming blog. Click here to check out that article.

Have a Babe?

I do, so I'm loving these 8 natural ways to soothe your baby. Go check it out at simpleorganic.net.
(Madelyn last month, 6 months)

Sylvia

I had the pleasure of photographing sweet Sylvia and her family. Doesn't her mom just look stunning?

To see more of this session, go here.

To view entire session, go here.

Get Your Head in the Game

Gotta, gettcha gettcha gettcha head in the game.

Reece gets really embarrassed and annoyed when I sing that song from High School Musical. Hey, that's my job as his mom, to embarrass him.

Reece is really talented on defense.

Because of this, he sometimes is teamed up with someone that may have a height advantage, as you can see in the picture below.

Hey buddy, go back to 8th grade, this is a 3rd/4th grade team.

At least we have a speed advantage on him when playing offense.All in all our team did really well!
We were unstoppable,
just check out the score.
Can you believe it?!?!?
Well don't, the score keeper was to busy talking on his cell phone to keep accurate score. It was really 10 to 2.

My Morning

So my sweet husband Michael, feels bad that he is at work on my birthday. He feels bad that I don't get to lay around in bed in my jammies while he watches the kids.

But, then I would miss cute things like this today, when Mason noticed he had a hole in his underwear.

I wouldn't get to play a game with Mason while the older kids were at kid's camp.

And I would miss out on all the joy this little one radiates.

I've decided to document the rest of my day in pictures as well.

What a Great Way to Wake Up!

So, this morning I woke up to breakfast in bed made by my little sweethearts.

And a cute "brithday" card made by Reece.

Memorization

Okay everyone. Reece is in 4th grade now, and I as part of his home school curriculum I have added memorization. I'm pretty much running out of ideas, what did you memorize in 4th/5th grade? This year he has memorized:

30 days hath September, April, June and November
All the rest have 31,
Save February, 28 days clear,
and 29 each leap year.

And...

The Be Verbs

Am
Is
Are
Was
Were
Be
Being
Been
Do
Does
Did
Shall
Will
Should
Would
May
Might
Must
Can
Could

Now, he is memorizing this (the states song)



I was thinking about the Gettysburg Address?

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks!

It's a Family Affair

In the past, just Michael and I have enjoyed browsing through the Seed Savers Exchange magazine together. This year I have found my kids picking up the magazine circling and making little stars or hearts next to the produce they want to grow this year. I couldn't be more proud!!! It has been so fun to include them in this stage of the process. I hope that this will help them feel even more ownership in the garden.

Do you plant heirloom seeds?
What is your favorite thing to grow?

We Have Hair

I don't know if you remember "my terrible mistake", you know, when I shaved my babies head completely bald. Well, we can all move past that now, Maya found enough hair to put into a little piggie tail. Hurray!

I LOVE LOVE this skirt!

One of my good friends made this adorable skirt and embellished the shirt to match, and I just had to share the pictures I took of Madelyn in it. I have been anxiously awaiting her to grow into this outfit, and it is even more adorable worn.

I Say Tomayto, You Say Tomahto...Quiz

Have you taken the tomato quiz over on my
backyard farming blog?

If not, head on over there. Well, what are you waiting for?

I Can Feel it, Can You Feel it?

Spring. It is getting close, and I'm getting excited. There is so much to look forward to in the garden during the warmer months. Here are some things I'm excited about:

Freshly picked strawberries.

Power Rangers protecting my garden.

Filling my kitchen with greenery.

Freshly picked melons.

When the kids ask for a snack, I just have to send them out to the garden.
This is Reece munching on a raw beet.

FRESH VEGGIES and HERBS!

Making forts in the garden.

What are you excited about?

~marisa

Feeding Fiasco

Hey mom, did you see who grabbed my spoon and thinks they are going to feed me?

Yeah, Mason, the kid that can't even remember to flush the toilet,

The one that calls me "Big Fella",
The one that thinks he is going to be a Power Ranger when he grows up,
The kid that is ONLY FOUR YEARS OLD!

I guess I will give this a try.

Not bad, I think he's got it.

Look what he's done to my face!

Mom, you seriously are going to let this continue?

Check out this ridiculous face he is making!

You are just going to stand there taking pictures the entire time?

You don't need to put the spoon in my esophagus.

Only one of us is enjoying this!

OK, now I'm just getting mad.

What do you mean say ahhh? I just need to open my mouth.

HELP!

Can we be done here?

Nothing like a full belly, no matter how the job gets done!

Giveaway- Free Spot to Joy-ography Workshop!

Hey ladies, Megan and I are so excited about our photography workshop for beginner's . We are so excited about it because we know that it will enable people to leap like 5 years ahead in their photography skills. And we are also giving away a scholarship to the workshop for which the contest starts today!!!

If you don't know what the workshop is about or want to know what to expect you can go here.

When It's Time to Change, You've got to Rearrange

If you didn't catch the reference to the Brady Bunch reference in the title, I so kindly left you the 'you tube' video below.

With that said, Moondoggie Photography is making a few changes of it's own, and there is no better time than at the beginning of the year. Not only for tax reasons, but it seems that everyone is inspired and ready to push forward full speed ahead.

Megan and I have been friends since I first met her at a birthday party 20 years ago when I first moved to Texas. We have had a lot of the same interests over the years, (surprisingly enough, never in the same guy) but photography has been a common interest over the past 6 or more years. Megan was in Texas, I in Utah. We both started our businesses at the same time with the same equipment, and with daily phone calls we shared all our photography secrets and business ideas. When Megan moved to Utah, it just seemed right that we would abandon our old businesses and start one together.

The journey building Moondoggie Photography has been amazing! We have both had a great time and learned a lot in the process. But, it is time for a change. We found that coordinating the business aspects, managing a website and blog, managing the finances, and driving an hour round trip between our homes took away from the time we could be talking about how to be better photographers. We lost all that we loved about our businesses because we were "coordinating".

Marisa will be keeping Moondoggie Photography, and Megan will be reinstating Megan Knorpp Photography. We are happy to say that Megan and I agreed that there won't be any awkwardness between the two of us. So, if you are a previous client of mine, and want to give Megan's a try, I won't be offended, and visa versa.

Megan and I are still calling each other every day exchanging tips and ideas. My phone rang today, and my son Reece said, "it is either dad, or Megan", it was Megan. We are still planning on doing weddings together as well. So if you book a wedding with one of us, you can pretty much plan on seeing the other. Most importantly, we are still working vigorously on our Joyography Workshop! We will be giving away a scholarship to our workshop, so start thinking of all the reasons YOU deserve it.