Here comes Santa ....

It is the season for eating too much, buying too much, and seeing too much of one other person. SANTA. he is everywhere! Now I notice most families have problems with their children at one point being scared beyond belief of the man... Personally in my house it is quite different. NEVER ONCE out of 3 children have I had one refuse to see him or act scared in any way. Most years it is quite the contrary... they want to be his best buddy and this year is no exception...

Amidst wrapping up a few gifts this morning Keaton came to ask me if I would come downstairs and do something for them...I come down to find that they have the little rocking chair set up beside the tree... with Kolby in his Bath-Robe and a Santa hat ... He needed the belt tied so he could be Santa

So I obllige and he sits in the chair

at which point Kyler screams SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANTA!! runs over and hops on his big middle brothers lap... all smiles and giggles...

'Santa' whispers in Kylers ear... "what would you wike for cwistmas wittle boy?"

"teehee" Santa and Kyler giggle

They took turns playing santa for half an hour!


PRICELESS. these are the things I love so much about motherhood.

SO many stories ... so little motivation to blog about them!!

One:

Last week we were eating supper and my middle man said he didn't want his milk ... he wanted water instead which is typical for him... he's a water nut.

SO. I tell him no... He has to drink is milk to get strong bones.

silence

I continue eating

then a minute later look up to find

he is drinking his milk... okay not all that exciting. BUT each time he takes a sip of his milk he puts his arms up and flex's his muscles to apparently see how strong his bones are getting!

It was cute and I am not the most eloquent so I'm not sure I portrayed it to its full capability but at least its out there !

Fix it Friday

Its that time of the week again... Head on over to i♥faces to join in this weeks fun! Personally I enjoy going through everyones edits more than actually doing my own... Its neat to see how others do their processing and maybe learn new tricks ... This edit is actually I process I do on alot of my photos because I love it so much... Its very old looking I think... The first is the before



And here is the after
Again this is pretty much all with TRActions...

1.adjusted the curves a bit
2.Oh snap 100%
2.Bitchin B+W 100%
3.Cinnamon Toast 26%
4. Oh snap again 100%
5. Dirtbag Texture by TRA aswell 26%( I erased it then off select areas as it was too much)
6. Highlight seperator 100%
7. Shadow seperator 100%

Wham bam thank you mamm.

3 minutes flat... maybe- I wasnt keeping track.

Now on to check out all of the other edits this week.

Today is fix it friday again over at i♥faces and it was an easy one... This picture was great so it didnt need a heck of alot... Here is the before...

And here is my after... I played with the curves to brighten it up... Levels to warm it up... used the sponge tool to saturate the background and ran the Pioneer Woman action- Sharpen this at 22% on the eyes. Easy Peasy...

What a cutie!

Time flies...

I was looking through some 'old' pictures and by old I mean this past summer... Canada Day... and it almost broke my heart. My babies are growing up. I cannot believe how big they are all getting and I just want time to stand still. I want back the sleeping newborn on my chest ... the two proud 'big' brothers ... one in his pull up and the other with the chubbiest cheeks and biggest brown eyes...who want to give the baby sloppy kisses and get in on the snuggle time. I want the boys that need their mommy for kisses everytime they get hurt. Instead I now have StarWars or Transformers battles in my living room daily... fighting over the nintendo DS... and 'Private time' in their bedrooms. That is THEIR room you do know. lol. Dont get me wrong. These things are great and Im sure memories that I will also one day cherish... I just wish it would have taken MUCH longer for us to get to this stage in our lives.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
deep breaths. I will make it ... right? I cant imagine the mess I will be one day when they are getting their diplomas. Oh gosh. CANNOT even go there!

Over at I♥Faces this week they are straying from the usual face photos and featuring 'Tooshies'!! I was excited when I saw this a) because I have a lot of faceless photos... not sure why... I just really like them and b) because I have a great tooshie shot from the last engagement session I did and I finally get a chance to share it!

Without further adieu... My entry :)


This is a great couple who's wedding I will be shooting this coming summer... I am so excited because they were just so fun to hang out with and he was a riot. Cant wait :)

In the Zone

So this morning I slept in... let me justify that by saying that Kolby was up ALL NIGHT throwing up...and now is fine!? SO. when my alarm went off at 7:30 it seemed like the logical thing to turn it off and lie back down. Only its not logical to then fall back asleep until 8AM when your oldest child needs to be out the door for school by 8:20. So to say the least it was a rushed morning but we made it! Once I got Keaton off to school I decided to pop upstairs quick to check emails and such... Only on my way upstairs I could hear Kolby following me so I stopped on the landing part way up the stairs to wait for him... And here he comes... carrying a transformer.... trying to transform it and walks right past me... within INCHES... up to the top of the stairs where he turns in my bedroom and says. Can you...Mom!? Where are you!? Thanks for noticing me buddy... I know you love your transformers and all but come on!

On another note. This weekend Old Navy has some crazy great deals on... I might try and drag my husband to the city for some of that action :)

Go down to the bottom and pause the music first :)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

This weeks challenge over at I♥Faces is ... SUN FLARE! Now anyone who knows me knows that I am absolutely CRAZY about sun flare... I try and get some sun flare pictures every time I do a shoot... And I say try because it doesnt always want to work for me. I have yet to perfect it which is the case with pretty much all of my Photography skills... I am a work in progress :) Below is a beautiful girl who I had the pleasure of doing some grad photos for this past summer... and I thought this turned out great with the sun just peaking through the tree... I hate to admit it but it is not my favorite flare photo - my favorite is far from perfect so It cant go in the contest :)

Without further adieu my Entry:

and just because its my favorite... but this is NOT MY ENTRY. just sharing time. lol

I love emotion... I love catching the moments Im not meant to during the shoot... and thats why I love this... It may be far from perfect... But really. could it be MORE perfect?

It is fix it friday again over at I♥Faces... And frankly. Im sure this must be a record for me. 3 weeks in a row!!

Okay here's the original... not hard to work with considering how darn adorable this little girl is. LOVE her.

Okay and here is my first edit.

I played with the curves and cropped

increased the saturation a wee bit

ran the following actions at different opacities: green with envy(on the leaves) yin/yang, o snap, and pro retouched her cheeks a bit :)

I then selected her eyes and ran the unsharp mask.

And for #2 all I did after the above was run the actions:

Grandmas Tap Shoes at about 40%

Boutwell Magic glasses 100%

and added the texture... Dirty Diana which I erased off of her face. BTW... all of the above actions are Totally Rad Actions and they are just that. TOTALLY RAD. love em.

Things my Mother never told me.

Are there any other mothers out there feeling cheated by this whole romantic idea of domestic bliss... you know... the 'happily ever after' that I'm sure we were all deluded enough to dream up when Prince charming was down on one knee... Only now 'Prince Charming' just spent a long day sick in bed while you spent 4.5 hours at the hospital with your 2 year old...Came home to clean up the mess that had accumulated while you were gone... took care of 2 sick children and one perfectly healthy trouble maker... made supper... gave medications... got Jammie's... broke up fights... took away toys... sent boys for timeouts... tried to calm another down when he got so mad that it was bedtime and screamed/cried until he puked all over his bed... Got all that bedding changed... got him calmed down... gave him his inhaler... You put them to bed early thinking PLEASE GOD let them go right to sleep so I can finish this cleaning and park my rear on the couch for the rest of the night. FINALLY this day is over and I can relax.

Only to find Prince charming has miraculously awakened and beat you to the couch now that the children are all snug in their beds... and Hockey is on. GREAT.

Oh I could go on and on.What day is it today. Wednesday. Maybe I will need to start a whining Wednesday where I can throw a pity party once a week over all of the things that drive me crazy in my life. That sounds good. Because really. I could go on like this forever.

My Name is Mom. I'm not Elisha any more folks... I'm the cook... the maid... the doctor...the referee.. the carpenter... painter... landscaper...errand-runner...

That seems to be what it boils down to lately. Me... working my butt off and getting no appreciation or acknowledgement from my Mr. Happily Ever after.

Thank you God for this day... It was hectic and horrible... and now that it is over I can see that it helped me to appreciate all of the wonderful things that I have in my life and all of the great days I have been given...I have three BEAUTIFUL children who are all sleeping peacefully right now :) Is it wrong to want to strangle my husband even if he is sick? lol
Amen.

Good Night... I think I may need to have a hot bath and unwind a bit!

Well. It was Tysons 30th Birthday on Friday and I held a suprise party for him... It turned out well and he didnt suspect a thing! Pictures to come but for now Im in mommy mode trying to nurse my big boy back to health... They're telling us he has H1N1 so Im keeping him in his bedroom and going crazy with the sanitizer in hopes that no one else will get it- Only time will tell :) But Im really hoping it doesnt spread since Tyson is back to work tomorrow and I'll be on my own again until the weekend... Over and Out.

Fix-it-Friday

Today is fix it Friday over at I ♥ Faces and in an attempt to blog more I am going to partake again :) I did all of the following in Photoshop CS3

Here is the original

Here I tweeked the levels... increased Saturation 22%....Selected the eyes and brightened/increased saturation/and ran the unsharp mask...Deselect the eyes...I then ran the TRA Oh Snap at 51% ... Boutwell Magic Glasses at 100% and Warm it up Kris at 30%

Now one more :) This one is all TRActions... BAMF 100% Oh Snap 100% Cinnamon Toast 46% Yin/Yang to lighten the face a bit...Dirtie Birdie Texture( I removed it from his face) and then good old Oh Snap again :)

Today was another completely exhilarating day... Tyson is gone... so I got up with the 3 little men... got the biggest one off to school... middle one off to playschool... and then came home to park Kyler in front of the TV to watch the movie UP so that I could get some work done on the house. The kitchen is now about 95% complete so that's great...

Flash forward... went to pick Keaton up from school so that I could to explain to his teacher that he faked being sick on Tuesday so that he wouldn't have to do the work they were doing in class that day... Got her to send him home ALL the homework . tee hee. I'm so great. He LOVED me for that.

It is now 6:55 and I am patiently awaiting bedtime .. Yay Greys Anatomy and Vampire Diaries... I cant wait to see you old friends.

I
AM
A
DORK

yep.

That's all I've got but come on. I'm making an effort.



Just took a time out to mop some pee off my floor... Oh the wonders of Motherhood never cease to amaze me.

Okay... so I promised I would get into more detail on my lack of blogging ... and well. I dont have any GREAT reasons... Only great questions... Where the heck do all of these other bloggers find the time/energy/inspiration to blog all of the time!? To be honest with 3 kids at the end of the day blogging is the last thing on my mind... Its more likely that the couch is calling my name.

That said I have had alot going on in the last... oh Several months that I have been slacking big time on the blog scene...

My Photography is really taking off... couldnt be happier but that eats up most of my computer time... Also in the News... We are moving!! Not this instant but Tyson has a new job out of town so while he is there working during the weeks I am here trying to finish our renovations / take care of 3 kids/ run them to school / hockey... You know - all of that fun mom stuff. We are hoping to put the house up for sale next Monday although unless by some sort of Miracle all of the work finishes itself- I do not see that happening. But irregardless wish us luck... I dont want to spend one more day than I have to here and husbandless.

Apparently this month is NABLOPOMO... Is that it? not sure. Anywho... In the spirit of that- and with my flair for slacking I am going to try to post more often... Not every day like you are supposed to ... but Come on. Anything is better than what I have been up to!

Well its been a LONG LONG time since I have blogged but I will share more about that and whats going on in my life later... As for now I wanted to take part in this weeks Fix-it-Friday over at I ♥ Faces

Here is the Before:

<>

And Here is my edit :)

I did alot to this photo... Adjusted the Levels.. increased saturation... Then actions galore- Oh Snap, Eye Boost, Pross Crossessed, Highlight and Shadow seperator to bring more definition to the hair and face, Yin Yan to lighten the grass and her shirt a bit, Green with Envy on the grass and a little select-o-sharp on the eyes... All Totally Rad actions. Now I could have gotten away without using so much stuff but I was playing :) and It only took 4 minutes... and I like the result.

Weddings....

you can see a sneak peek of the wedding at my photography blog

http://everafter-photography-blog.blogspot.com/

where you can ALSO see the number I did on my foot!

Wedding Day!

I am shooting a wedding today so it would only be fitting to share with you that I was in the hospital until midnight last night after I sprained my ankle loading our vehicle for today...nice right! Luckily I have a friend of mine coming with me today so Im sure she will be alot of help for this old cripple.lol... Keep your eyes on here...Maybe I'll give you a little sneak peek tomorrow! Oh. I forgot to add...its been grey and rainy since yesterday....not great considering its supposed to be an outdoor wedding!!

Favorite Vacation spots...

First of all... I have not had much...

If any....

chance to travel since having children and seeing as I started that at 19 I think it goes without saying that I just haven't had much of a chance to travel ever.lol.
Before then I did visit the Rocky Mountains which are about a 7hour drive...many lakes...went to Victoria ,BC with my art club in school... AND...wait for it...

Paris, France when I was 15

Those were the days before digital and frankly I don't know where any of the pictures are to scan so you get a google image :)

Although I am not well travelled I would say that is one of my favorite vacation spots... it was so rich with history, culture, and of course shopping... I swear I was depressed for weeks coming home to little prairie town Alberta. lol.It was just beautiful...and hopefully one day I will see it again.

Other Vacation spots? Well I would LOVE to visit Ireland or Scotland...Beautiful right? LOVE IT. Another perk is the whole Gerard Butler with the accent in the movie PS I Love you...Although I'm married I'd still like to meet a man like that! lol

Since having the boys... lets see... Ive been to The Rocky Mountains a couple times... Drumheller,AB

The Calgary Zoo..which was great...and all of which posts are coming soon! Cant wait to see everyone else's favorite vacation spots so I can start dreaming!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Oh wow. What haven't I done this time? Lets see.

This week I finally broke down and decided that maybe, just maybe its time my house needed an all out cleaning. I spent an entire day cleaning all boys rooms , they are now spotless. However I did NOT take anything that I couldn't find a place for and shove it in my bedroom. I have not kept my bedroom door shut since avoiding the disaster zone and I do not need to spend another entire day straightening things out in there. Eek. That's all I can say.

Last weekend we all went on a 3 day vacation in which Alberta saw thunderstorms like it never has before. How those were not Tornados I am not sure but it was NASTY. Just go to you tube and look up Big Valley Jamboree 2009. That's a little taste of what my holiday was like. okay back on topic now. This was not our first time tenting since our honeymoon 5 years ago... and the tent was not utterly destroyed by the storms before we even got a chance to sleep in it. I did not abandon the tent in the campsite and never go back. Not me. I also did not dream about my brand new 5th wheel sitting at home while I was laying in the 6" of water that pooled in our tent...trying to get our air mattress' to safety.

Okay its been an hour. my kids are fed. one is napping... I can hear this soother squeaking from his bedroom... and the other two ran across the street to play at the new park.

SO

I came up stairs to start cleaning the previously mentioned master bedroom. I am most definitely NOT putting that off and trying to finish my not me post. Nope. Not me. I also cannot see 4 glasses, a bag of gummy bears, Tupperware full of change, a months worth of mail, diaper cakes, towel cakes, sticky Velcro, jewelry box, wedding invites, childs toy aquarium, and 3 dead pens in front of me. My room could not be that messy. And I am not sparing you and leaving out the other 99% of the mess. eek. Well I guess I'm off. I have now worked myself into a frenzy and must clean.

Cant wait to read some of the things you did not do this week... I tend to draw a blank when its time to write about it so my not-Me's usually lack the lustre of a professional not-me-er like McMamma. Oh well :) Don't you just love how I always strive to write with proper grammar... that's me. A perfectionist. HA

Sweet Home Alabama

Okay maybe not Alabama... Im heading home to visit my mommy for the weekend. Its okay to still call her mommy even though Im a grown woman right!? So the picture full ... summer catch up excitement is officially on hold until Sunday night... or most likely Monday morning. farewell and I'll leave you with a little food for thought.

You will never guess what my next post is going to be about!! HA

The early morning mind.

You know when you first wake up in the morning... everything in the house is still silent...and you can actually still hear yourself enough to think? Well this morning I lie in bed thinking about....BLOGGING! (and going to the neighboring town for groceries...but that's not what my point is here). SO. I'm laying in bed thinking of what adventure I should share next...I finally decided I should TRY and go in chronological order. Only to realize. Okay... wait- but my last post was about swimming- which was NOT the first thing chronologically. So that method is out. Then it hits me. I went through all the trouble of coming up with the clever 3 infused title for yesterdays post... referring to our 3 day getaway this past weekend... and then did not blog about it!? Who does that!! Apparently I do. So take that blog land. Totally random post titles! HA.

Well. Don't worry. I will be making a NEW post in the days to come with that SAME title... but this time you will actually get the goods.

So whats on the menu for today you ask? Well todays special is Canada day with your choice of Keaton , Kolby or Kyler .

Just look at those sugar induced glassy eyes. Oh the joys of a parade!

You can just tell by the way hes holding his hand that hes just waiting to jump out into the road at the first sight of someone throwing

THIS. This is a great parade float. To make a long story short. We live in a SMALL town. The people on town council think that our 300 tourists in a 5 year period need a new visitor information center (you know... to tell them they're in the middle of nowhere with nothing to see)
So they fund raise their butts off to build this "Tourist information Eco Center" which is going to be 'green'

Its all about the environment baby... solar panels... motion sensor activated stuff... I don't know what else. Honestly I haven't paid much attention since they miffed me.

So they go to start building this ECO center.

wait for it

ready?

they cut down the 3 oldest trees in town to build on top of them!

If that's not environmentally friendly thinking I don't know what it (roll my eyes) So this is the point that float is making. Kudos to who ever put it together!!

Here's my wild man... he was a machine I tell you! And a Hawk eye. whoo!

The whole gang... since we live right on the parade route there was a ton of friends and family that came over to share a few beers and watch... Here I believe we have my husbands cousin Hillary's elbow... his little cousin Piper... my 3 boys and Honey...His brother behind him... and Tyson's Aunt Kathy in the left hand corner with the camera... Shes a great photographer. LOVE HER.

Well that's it for todays excitement! see you soon! HA.

My Baby and I , 3 days , 3 boys , and 1300 kms

Okay. In all honesty it was closer to 1600 kms but I was trying to stick with the 3's in order to keep the title 'catchy' for my whole 1-2 devoted readers...HA!

Well. Its been said before. Several times actually. SEVERAL. But I am a slacker. Its been a busy summer for my boys and I ... and it seems the blog has been neglected. AGAIN. Not to worry. I am going to positively overwhelm you in the days/ weeks to come. There's camping trips , a Circus, a Zoo , the Mountains , Birthdays , at home fun... tons of things COMING YOUR WAY!

I'm going to start with this :




SWIMMING LESSONS!

Now. I'm sure whether you know me or not... You know children LIKE my children. You know... the ones who scream bloody murder the second a drop of water touches their face... the kind that refuse to lay down in the bath tub or try to claw their way up your arm as your rinsing their hair. Yes . Those children.

WELL. I have two of them. Water haters since birth. Was it something I did ? God only knows. What I know is that any activity ... be it a bath... running in the sprinkler or having a water gun fight is going to end badly. Screaming , crying , snot flying ... that's the way these boys roll. Can't you tell?

No?

well. That may be because of one week... 45 minutes a day... and one(x2) failed salamander class.

And a new day has come! You could search the world round and you would not find a mother happier than I about the fact that both of her children failed swimming lessons. Why you ask? Well.

1.Kolby did not spend every one of his lessons hiding and crying. He partook. and he had fun!

2.since the completion of lessons ...BOTH. yes . BOTH of my boys are now SWIMMING! ALONE!! with life jackets of course... but in water that they cannot reach the ground! eek... even water on their faces!

This past long weekend we were on holidays... as you will see in the days to come.

Well our hotel had a pool. And the boys swam like there was no tomorrow!

No tears ...

no screams...

it was a mothers dream!! Thank you failed salamander lessons!

And just so that you don't get to excited... I forgot my camera in the hotel room during that momentous occasion so don't get too excited waiting for those pictures...not gonna happen.

FYI. yes I know these pictures are gigantic. I was trying something new. didnt work. will not be doing that again so no need to worry. lol. Because I know you were.

It seems to be that time again over at McMammas Place... Kindof snuck up on me! This last week has been so confusing... Tyson didnot work...Tuesday , Wednesday or Friday... then he worked all weekend so It put a royal kink in my ability to remember what day of the week it isHere we go! I did not laugh my butt off just now reading McMammas not me post because I did the EXACT same thing as she did regarding Micheal Jacksons death! Yesterday I did not boost the two littlest Hawryluks onto the kitchen table and encourage them that we should have a dance party... with them table dancing. Not me. that first of all sounds dangerous and second of all is nothing any mother in her right mind would encourage her children to do. For our anniversary Tyson and I had a getaway to the city last weekend - childless! We did not decide at nearly midnight that we would go for a walk down 'whyte ave'(where all the bars and clubs are) Only to spend 10 minutes driving there... and decide it was way too crazy and busy... maybe we were tired and should go back to the hotel. Were not that old that when presented with a lively child free night that we would choose to go sleep. not us. Were wild ones. On the way back to the hotel I did not decide that the city skyline was GORGEOUS. make him park on a dark deserted side street so that we could walk down by the river in an attempt to find the perfect view for a picture. The entire walk was not down a dark steep hill... and my excitement for a 'romantic' mid night walk did not quickly fade as I realized I may die climbing my way back up this mountain. Once at the top of the hill I did not hide my camera when a man was walking past us... freaking out because it was nearly one am in a 'sketchy' neighborhood so he must mean trouble right. Envisioning him jumping me for my new camera ( what hoodlum doesnt want to steal someones camera right!?) and my knight in shining armor fighting him off. Yeeeaah... can you tell Im from a small town. Thats all Ive got. And Im not going to do a spell/grammar check. I used to... and determined that is a waste of my time.Or I didnt.Not me.

Show us where you live Fridays... Saturday.

I'm a little late :) I was out of town for my husbands uncles funeral yesterday so I didn't get a chance to post... and thought better late than never!

Hop on over to Kelly's http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ to see the rest of the people who joined in... This week was show us your Yard/Garages , I did not take photos of the garage so you all should thank me for sparing you- it is not a pretty site! As for the yard - here we go!

This is the front yard... I LOVE LOVE LOVE that big Apple tree by my deck. It is the most beautiful old tree I have ever seen... nothing is more beautiful than in the spring when it is full of the most beautiful , delicate , white blossoms. If it weren't for that I don't know that I would put up with raking thousands of apples up all summer long!


This is 'the rock' . the rock that I had scouted out on the side of an old road for two years praying no one else would go steal it. lol. When we moved here I finally had a spot that I could put it so Tyson took his picker truck and a friend and got it for me !! He wasn't the happiest camper about my obsessive need for this rock - but I have got tons of compliments on it ... Most people say it looks fake- I love it too.

Flowers hanging on the front porch. if it were not for Tyson I'm sure they would be dead by now. I am not the most reliable when it comes to watering my flowers.

Not the best photo but this is the gate my husband built out of a garden trellis. Love it too. Can I say that too much in one post?

Fire pit. green grass. VERY green grass... Tyson was a fertilizing maniac this spring and I think he may be second guessing that now with how often he has to mow it.

The swing where I sit and watch the boys play... Here.

The trampoline is completely hiding your view of the 'tree house' which is not actually built into a tree but it sounds more manly than play house.All those toys are filling the sandbox... and yes. the grass is dead here. This is the side of the yard that we put the skating rink on during the winter and it absolutely killed our new sod we put on last year. Its slowly coming around... we've discovered grass grows great under the trampoline so we keep moving it to a new dead spot until eventually when we should have none left :)

Twas the night before Saturday and all through the house... not a creature was stirring- not even a mouse ! With Ma in the bath and Ty on his run... A little boy snuck out of bed for some fun! He was slick as could be...never let out a sound- Hid beneath the table - then fell asleep sweet and sound!

With that said... I definately did not think I lost one of my children briefly before spotting this ...

He did not sleep through the entire 'rescue' and not remember a thing in the morning.

That is also not spray foam around the windows waiting for trim for the last ... oh... year since we put them in...or the manufacturers sticker still hung in the left corner... Just in case you were wondering... that is totally not the case.

Oh and in the middle photo... that is not food caked onto the side of the table that I always 'forget' to scrub off.

Its a beautiful day

Today is our five year anniversary... grandma is booked... the hotel room is booked...and I am looking forward to a weekend in the city without my kids. I'll miss them terribly but this happens so rarely that I cant help but be excited! I'll be taking my new camera(yes. I got a new camera-after it being on backorder for 7WEEKS!) so keep your eyes on here next week for pics of our romantic get away.

In other news... Im sick. Ive got a cold and it really kicked my butt yesterday. At bedtime instead of me tucking Kolby in he came into my room... rubbed my back... gave me kisses and tuck-ins... asked if he could get me a glass of water... told me he loved me and whispered so quietly to his daddy while rubbing my back as not to distrurb me. It doesnt get any better than that. He is such a gentle hearted little boy. I love it.

Now he's downstairs belting out the lyrics to his favorite song- had a bad day by by Daniel Powter...

Over and Out. lol.

And FYI... this is where we'll be staying...Ive wanted to stay there since I was a kid so we'll see how it goes!

multi use clothing ideas

A couple nights ago I had an awe inspiring vision of. hold it... wait for it. Convertible pants. Its perfect... from pants to hat... then back again! Who would have thought! lol. Heres some photos from the prototype!

You know you love it!

To Pan or not to Pan?

So Ive been taking a very basic photography course hoping my new camera would be in and it would be a great way to learn all about it...(I ordered it oh-5 or 6 weeks ago!) and its not...so I decided that's fine...maybe I would learn some new little secret or technique... However the main thing that I have learned is that panning is IMPOSSIBLE. Hardest thing I have ever tried to do!! So finally I gave in thinking that a merry-go-round would be the answer only to discover...in case you don't know... they are an endangered species! Tyson and I drove around for over an hour to a couple small towns in search of the species only to come home let down... there just aren't any left! OR SO I THOUGHT!



Lindberg, Ab ... the home of the Merry-Go-Round. Thank you! These didn't turn out the best I know but much better than my previous merry-go-round-less attempts.

I have also decided this is the best park ever... They have a gigantic teeter totter ( okay I so do not know how that should be spelled so I'm just going to roll with it.) Tyson and I made fools of ourselves and had a blast on it. I'll be going there again I'm sure... who doesn't like a park with equipment big enough for you!?

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past weekend was finally the first weekend that it felt like summer...so we took advantage of it ...got out the sprinkler and spent the day in the yard...We were letting the boys jump on the trampoline and play with the hose ... And after SEVERAL warnings not to spray Kyler ... Kolby grabbed the hose and aimed is straight for Kylers face. I did not take this as an opportunity to steal the hose and chase my screaming crying two older boys around in circles inside the trampoline (they were trapped!) Spraying them down with everything I had in me. I wouldnt do that! And I most definitely wouldn't think it was hilarious and use it as a lesson not to spray their baby brother ! Some might think that's cruel... so that's why I would never do anything of the sort!

I also have not been staring at this morning cereal remnants on the floor and been pretending they're not there... I'm a clean freak I would never just pretend not to see something like that!

That's all Ive got...Well I'm sure thats not it but that's all I'm sharing for today ;)

Just a sneek peek of a wonderful , kind , artistic girl named Diana... she will be graduating later this month and is planning on taking photography afterwards!