IN PICTURES: May/June

I know its almost mid July already but here’s a picture story from the last two months. Hopefully I’ll be more prompt next time;) Enjoy!

Enjoying these longer evenings and watching the first stars as they start appearing every night.


These girls bonding over pretend play, toddler talk and anything sweet. Driving through the rain singing at the top of our voices and stopping on the way for ice cream and pictures.


Healthy dinner experiments and trying to practice some food photography.


Lots of flowers in vases as the weather changes, wildflowers collected from fields and brought back from walks along.


Babysat these sweet girls and loved the giggles and chatter of three girls running around and having fun.



Been doing a lot of photography related work recently. Love how sweet my clients are.

A day trip on mother day weekend and enjoying dusk on the way back. More here.
June began with some grilling. Grilled tandoori Salmon by the husband makes for some yummy and healthy dinners.
A last minute fathers day activity/craft with Anya, inspired by some I saw on Pinterest.
Long days mean reading in the sunshine as daddy gets home. (Above) Reading one of my own childhood books that I brought back from Pakistan, to her baba when he gets home from work. (Bottom) A sweet little read my friend brought for Anya.
A university friend was visiting the area, and absolutely enjoyed having our families meet up.

Celebrating on Skype with my Mom and sister.
Thanks for reading and stopping by!

To dads.

Sorry for being so slow on the blog the last week. Sometimes it gets hard for me to keep up and I hope you’ll excuse that. For today, wanted to share some inspiring links about dads from around the web. Enjoy!



'Isn’t it time we celebrate fathers?’ Love this video by Dove for fathers day and the message in it. As compared to previous generations, dads are increasingly more involved in their kids lives now and it is time for us to change our stereotypical way to look at them.

For any new dads around you, or for that matter any dad, love each and every lesson on this cheat sheet, from a dad of six kids.

Loved this thoughtful piece on how we forget to ask our dads about their lives, all the little things we don’t know about their lives before us. With my dad gone, I know there are so many things I wonder about my dad’s life, pieces of his life history that only he could’ve told us.

 Love this collection of funny lessons from some famous dads.

Caroline Kenney shares thoughts on how our homes and societies benefit when dads are more involved at home.

We moms have a tendency to keep correcting our husbands when they’re being dads and I loved this post about daddies loving just as much as mommies and how we need to take a step back.

These beautiful thoughts from a girl that lost her dad at 16

This beautiful read on how our dads stay a part of us long after they’re gone.

Being from Pakistan and raising a daughter in the States, I found these thoughts from a Pakistani dad and these thoughts from an American dad, so ironic, specially reading them within the same hour on the same day. No way of life is the best, and whichever part of the world we live in, dads of daughters have panic inducing fears as they try to raise strong independent girls.

We owe so much to our dads. Hope these links inspire you to celebrate your own father, your kids father and all the father figures in your lives. Happy Fathers Day.

Thanks for reading and lots of love.

AROUND SEATTLE: Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad

At least one of the pictures above was taken by my husband and a couple by my friend Ayesha.

A photo journey of our afternoon at the Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad, the story of one man’s passion to preserve this piece of local history. These historic trains have been running through the forests and foothills of Mt Rainier for tourists for more than 25 years now. We went a couple weekends ago on Mothers Day with a group of friends. Absolutely loved the peacefully beautiful scenery from it as we sat and enjoyed watching our kids excitement. Overall a nice day trip with family or friends specially if you have little ones that like trains. :)

Thanks for reading and stopping by.

More posts in this series here.

Conversations with Anya

Overheard, Anya pretending to talk on her toy phone: Hi, I’m Nataliya, yeah…

Me taking the phone away from her and telling her she’ll get it back after she puts her toy stroller away. She quickly does it and runs back to get her phone from me.

Anya on her toy phone again: Oh, sorry my mom take my thing (phone).

Me: !!

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At bedtime one day as I’m lying in bed with her and she’s whining about not wanting to sleep.

Anya: Mama ek dum se mei grumpy ho gayi hoon. (Mama, suddenly I’ve become grumpy)

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Bilal to Anya: Ap ko pata hai keh Taya¹ mere brother hain. (Do you know Taya is my brother)

Anya: (pause) Ap ko pata hai keh Taya to mere sister hain. (Do you know Taya is my sister)

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After a timeout one afternoon, Me: Say you’re sorry.

Anya: You’re sorry.

Me: No, Aap Sorry. (No, You sorry)

Anya: Aap sorry. (Aap sorry)

Me, getting impatient: Say I’m sorry.

Anya: I’m sorry.

Me: Will you do it again?

Anya, distracted: Yes

Me, staring at her: ?!

Anya: No

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And her latest favorite response when I tell her not to do something.

Anya: Mujhe samajh nahi aa rahi, ap kya keh rahi ho. (Mama I don’t understand what you’re saying)

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Me being a typical lecturing mom one afternoon when she wasn’t eating and telling her how poor babies don’t have any food to eat and Allah will be angry if you don’t eat when you have food.

Anya, after listening carefully: Mama hum babies ko parathas² de dete hain, taake hum na khayen. (Mama lets give our parathas to the babies, so we don’t have to eat them)

Anya: Hum fruit rolls kha leinge. (We can eat fruit roll ups)

Me, lol in my head!

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Thanks for reading and lots of love.

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FYI

¹Taya is the Urdu word for Dad’s elder brother.

²Paratha is a south asian type of fried bread eaten at breakfast mostly.Here is one version.