Winter

My sister sent me these pictures the other day. She went on a walk near her house and ran into these beauties. I forgot how beautiful winter can be!

Christmas

I know, I know .. I'm so completely behind on posting Christmas pictures! Sorry Gramma, I know you've been waiting for some! Our Christmas morning was wonderful and Christmas night? Well, how honest do you want me to be here? We started dropping like flies. Some 24 hour flu bug had five of us very under the weather. It was down right ugly by 1:30 in the morning. With the laundry machine in full force and the wet/dry vac humming away, Brent and I looked at each other and just started laughing. What else can you do? It was a.. memorable holiday to say the least. Here's a few pics of the crew before the fateful flu.

The classic gingerbread house tradition. I'd post a picture of all of them together, but it's so darn hard to get one! They're just too wiggly.



Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your holiday was a happy, healthy one.

sendin' some love..

Not sure why I've been neglecting my blog of late. We've kept the holiday busyness to a minimum this year but things still feel crazy busy. I decided Valentines Day cards sounded like a great idea and gave up entirely on Christmas cards. I think it's a pregnant thing. I have limited energy this season and would rather spend it with my punks going to the park and such. So if you don't receive a card from us please don't feel neglected. We still love you! We're just takin' it easy this year. Ever listen to the James Taylor Christmas CD? It's my new favorite. Very relaxing. And so.. Merry Christmas friends! We're sending some love your way... even if we're not sending a card.

Giving Thanks..

For a husband who doesn't mind bucking tradition and spending the day at the beach. We ate turkey sandwiches and had the beach all to ourselves. It was a lovely, relaxing day for which I am tremendously grateful.

I wanted to post about the many things I'm grateful for, but it felt too overwhelming. Suffice it to say that I'm truly thankful for my life and all the people and experiences in it. I savor every day and thank God for the love, joy and learning that comes with being a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend.

Happy Birthday Sis!

In honor of my awesome sister, today's post is all about her. A few of the many things I love about Cheri..

• She has really great hair.
• A fabulous sense of humor.
• She is the most generous person I know.
• She's always as excited to see me as I am to see her.
• Even though I'm thirty four, she still occasionally gives me her hand-me downs and I love it.
• She spoils my kids rotten... rotten I tell you!
• I know I can call her anytime I'm sad/mad/happy/tired and I always feel better after.
• she is resourceful, creative, and successful.
• not to mention genuine, feisty, and independent.
• I want to grow up to be just like her.

I love you Cheri and can't believe how blessed I am to have a big sis like you! I hope you get spoiled, pampered, and taken out to lunch today!

metering

After seeing so many beautiful portraits on Pioneer Woman's photography site, I decided to attempt spot metering and see what I could do. And you know what?..it's pretty cool! I was able to take pictures in full sun and not have faces in shadow. Lovin it!

she's a natural high!

I was looking through some old beach photos today trying to remember how to edit in photoshop, when I came across these beauties. (I've been too morning sick the last few months to even care about taking, let alone editing, pictures. Use it or lose it right. Well, I lost it.)

Notice any similarities?
Besides the fact that they are all taken at the beach and are of my kids?
Guessed it yet?
Abbey's feet are never touching the ground! Ever. I love it! It's just so perfectly.. Abbey. Now I need to figure out how to bottle her up so I can take a swig on those low energy days.

Because I promised my sister..

That I would update this thing before I left for Sacramento tomorrow. Here's a few pics from Brent's work retreat last weekend.

mac and cheese

Did you know that when you're pregnant Kraft mac and cheese tastes exactly like it did when you were a kid? It's amazing really. So you can consider this our announcement. Come April we're adding another one of these to our clan.

I found these old pictures today and got all homesick for Virginia. Or maybe it was just because Sarah and Abbey look so young? Why do they insist on growing up so fast!? Did I mention I'm pregnant? Hormones raging.. emotions exploding. *sigh* Wish me luck on this one.

Where did he learn THAT?

After an hour or so of giving Ty piggy back rides, Sarah fell to the ground all red faced and sweaty. Where Tyler proceeded to pounce..

find her belly button..
and dispense zerberts like a pro.
I have no idea where he learned such shenanigans. I mean, I would never blow zerberts on his soft, squishy, irresistible, perfectly round, baby tummy! It must have been Brent. Yeah, definitely Brent.

Brent's lonely birthday

After three days of dressing them up, hauling them to various parks, and great, GREAT coersion on my part, I finally got three pictures.   In our back yard.   Not in the parks.  Where I took approximately 4oo pictures trying to get the perfect shot.  Will I never learn to keep it simple?!  But here they are.  Brent celebrated his birthday all by himself this year because his wife and kids were off galavanting through Utah and Idaho.  So we left him something to remember us by. 

Lovely lovely home!

We swam..

and ate..
and fished..
and just had a good time in general with family and friends!
But we also missed Brent like crazy and are so, so, so glad to be home!

The family rounds

Three more days until we leave on our Big Trip through Utah and Idaho.  I'm taking the kids.  By myself.  Please pray for me.  And wish me luck.  

Actually, I'm super excited.  Aside from being "on call" 24 hours a day for the next three weeks, I think it'll be a  blast!  I remember my Mom taking us kids to Seattle (or was it Portland?) to visit her brother when I was just a little kid.  I know it wasn't easy for her.  We were ornery little punks.  But I remember that trip quite fondly.  So even though Brent has to work and can't come with me, I'm going anyway.  So please..please.. pray that my sanity will hold out for three weeks.  And that my kids will remember this fondly.

If I had a picture of Sarah etched on my heart right now, it would look exactly like this.

pink flowers and such

My goal is to learn something new in photoshop every day.  Today I learned how to bring a touch of color out of a black and white.  Lovin it!

Sweet, sweet Lauren..

We love bugs round here.  Or rather, my kids love bugs.. and I work hard to be ok with that.  This week we had three ladybugs, one orange grasshopper, and an enormous moth come to visit.  Lauren found this little guy yesterday and promptly named him Rosy.  All ladybugs that come to our house are eventually named Rosy.  I have no idea why.  You'll have to ask Lauren. 



I just gotta say it.  This kid breaks my heart every time I look at her!  That gorgeous hair and perfect skin!  And she has freckles.  I love freckles!  I am in so much trouble.

I think I'm in love...

What I really wanted was photoshop CS4.  Downloading other peoples lovely photoshop actions sounds so wonderful.  Fabulous effects.. very little work.  Some call it lazy but I prefer efficient. After much thought, I decided Elements would have to do for now.  And you know what?  I love it!! It meets my needs.  Here's one of my first attempts.

Before..

And after.  
Happy Tuesday everyone!

Please, please don't tell anyone...

The other day one of my children (who shall remain nameless) accidentally broke a lamp and immediately cried out "I'm sorry!  It was an accident!  Please, please don't tell anyone!"  For her this experience felt utterly humiliating. I kissed away her tears, assured her I wasn't in the slightest bit upset and that it was seriously no big deal.  Then we cleaned it up together.  End of story.  And I started thinking... about the times in my life when I've felt embarrassed or *gasp* maybe even humiliated.  I started thinking about one time in particular...

To really get this story you'll need a little history.  Back in the early days of college  I met a boy, Jon.  We became friends.  Friends with potential.  He left to serve an LDS mission overseas and broke my heart when he decided to stop writing.  His feelings for me were a distraction from serving the Lord.  I understood..but holy cow!  Ouch!  Here's  the tricky part.  His family lived close to me and over time I fell in love with them.  During the two years he was away, these relationships grew and I really, truly loved them with all my heart.  Although I'll never regret that, it was a mistake.  Never love the family more that the boy.  It spells disaster.  So then the boy returned and after a while we became engaged.  During our engagement he met a girl he decided he liked better and our engagement ended.  Painfully.  Humiliatingly.  Because, you see, I lost him but I also lost his family.  They married rather quickly and I felt totally and completely expendable.  Replaced.  Many dark days followed and then, like it always does, life went on.

 

Ok, so here's the Seinfeld worthy part.  About a year later I was trying on some clothes in a dressing room.  Three girls came in and took the dressing rooms beside me.  I heard them talking and suddenly realized who they were.  It was Jon's sister,  replacement wife Martha, who was now expecting, and one of my friends from work who knew my drama but apparently had made friends with Martha and was now bad mouthing me as if she didn't know me.  Traitor.  They were laughing about a time when I cut Jon's hair and accidentally shaved a bald spot into the side of his head.  Granted, the story was pretty funny.  And considering how badly our relationship ended, I'm kinda glad I gave him that bald spot.  Wished it'd been bigger.  But that aside, in the moment, I felt like dying.  I sat in the dressing room for about an hour after they left.  Dying.  And then, like it always does, life went on.

That was then.  If it had happened now? I can tell you it would have end differently.  I think I would have laughed.  Maybe sauntered out and said hello.  Taken a bow and let the full impact of the situation sink in.

So I've decided I like getting older.  Time changes things and takes the edge off.  I don't get embarrassed much these days.  I just laugh and remember that life goes on.  I wipe away any tears, tell myself it's seriously no big deal, clean up the mess and move on.  End of story.

grandma's by design

I must have been about seven when I first started visiting the Jones.  They lived in a mobile home park a few blocks from my house and had this adorable little pug dog that wiped his nose on me every time I visited.  For whatever reason, I just couldn't get enough of them.  I must have visited  every other day for two years at least.

My point?  I'm in the habit of adopting grandparents. Young and old.. we just need each other.  My husband's grandma's sister and her friend live about an hour away and we love spending an evening with them every few months. 
 They are gracious, lovely women and our kids adore them.
Come to think of it, so do we!  So thanks Grandma Dawny and Grandma Betty.  We love you and can't wait to see you again.