We escaped to Whistler BC over the weekend to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary (which is TODAY!!), and it was AMAZING!! The trip started off rocky… We had originally planned to leave first thing Friday morning. The night before, as I was packing, I got out my passport. EXPIRED!! UM…. Long story short. Lots of frustrated tears on my part. I felt so stupid for letting it expire, and not checking sooner. I was SO bummed that we wouldn’t be able to get away, because a) Anniversary b) the Huz has been working 70+ hour work weeks, and I’ve been working a lot too. c) Maya was so excited to go back up! Through all my crying and being upset, Maya was a total positive rock!
“Mommy, come here and give me a hug. I will make you happy again!!”
Not once did she get upset that the trip was cancelled (or so we thought). I ended up calling the 24 hour passport hotline, and got myself an apt at the Seattle Passport Agency the next morning. I drove to our local drugstore and got my new passport photo taken at 9:30 at night (all red puffy eyes and all-sweet….). I drove down a few hours early of my apt and got there right when they opened. They took me early, and I was in and out in 30 minutes. I was told to come back at 2pm and pick up my new passport! Well…I ended up having to wait an hour and a half, BUT…a new passport in 7 hours??!!! I was BEYOND THANKFUL! We ended up getting into Whistler around 9, but had the best day and a half after that!! Maya didn’t want to leave 🙂
ALL THAT ASIDE…here are some pictures I took the week before we left…
If there is one combo that stands the test of time, it’s a white top with denim.
You can dress it up, you can dress it down, it looked good in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s (ok, you get my drift) It still looks good now, and it’s a constant fall back for me when I don’t want to think about what I’m wearing.
My creative energy was renewed after our last outing during the golden hour a few days earlier.
I’d been so busy with work, camps, lessons, and life that we hadn’t done many outings, and I was shocked at how much my mood improved just by getting out with Maya and taking personal pics again.
Needless to say, I was in a great mood after this night too!! 
And it just makes me SO happy to see her playing and running around having fun!!!
Ok, a little photography talk here. I absolutely love that you can manipulate an image just by where you stand in relation to the sun.
In the above image, I was in the sun and Maya was in the shade. Hence the hazy sun flare.
The below image, Maya is just over a few feet, but I stepped into the shade too.
On me…
And…tossed her right out of the frame-dang it! 
Her growling face, which is her new thing… 
It was hard to distract her from the car, but a good swing usually does it! 
Practicing her kung fu moves…
Super cool that Jackson was able to come over too! So weird not having him in the house anymore… Maya was in heaven having both brothers back for the evening!
SO rare to get all these guys in front of the camera! 
I’ve been going through some serious withdrawals lately. I haven’t had time this summer for our usual outings, and it’s amazing how much it’s affected my mood. On the way home, I made sure to tell Maya how much fun I had with her.
I’ve REALLY missed shooting at the golden hour!! 
Looooove this next one 🙂
On me…
Hahaha. Her face!!!
I love her little dance kick in the background!!! 
See her tongue out? Yeah, she kept licking my back…
POOP!!! hahaha. 
Maya’s new thing is “ROARING!!!” It’s really neat…
And then, Maya all ready in her jammies, came out for a few!
Oh, and her nightgown is a 9-10 hahaha. I knew she’d love it, so I thrifted it for $3!!!
I can’t even…
I’m not 100% sure how I found 
LOVE the back on this dress!!
And the twirl factor is off the charts. A total win in Maya’s book 😉 
I didn’t get a good picture of the front, because she was constantly running away from me haha. BUT… the thing that initially sold me was the fact that they zip all the way up the front!!! It makes getting them on (and more importantly OFF) super easy! Even soaking wet-SCORE! 
It was actually pretty cold and windy when we first got to the park. We ate a picnic lunch, and then decided to explore around the low tide.
Once again…I had issues with my remote trigger. I made sure to change the batteries right before we left, but didn’t check the batteries. Turns out, one of them had been sitting in our “battery drawer” for a while, and was totally corroded ;{
Then it started getting a little warmer…
haha. This totally cracks me up. Again….SO glad there weren’t very many people here.
Maya could literally spend the entire time swinging if I let her. Honestly, in my more honest bad mommy moments, I usually try and go to parks that don’t have swings. She won’t run around and play if they are there.
This face is so her. Trying REALLY hard not to smile 😉 
Although, this is even MORE her….
On me…
LOVE HER!!
One of my favorite shots from the day… Although, I have a few! 
OMG! Both of our faces here hahahaha.
Another favorite… 
The camp Maya went to was 1.7 miles from our house. She walked there every morning, and 3 out of the 5 days walked home too! SO proud of her!!
She wants to pet just about every dog we see. This owner was nice enough to let Maya throw the Frisbee for her dog a few times 🙂 
I had this idea of shooting through the hanging branches, except it was pretty windy, and half the shots are like this… 🙂
My girlfriend’s teenage daughter curled Maya’s hair while we caught up. I’ve never curled her hair before, but it looked SO PRETTY!!
On me… (no time for links, sorry!)
dit-elle.org 