My Life

Preparing

for the 4th, and more importantly this handsome guy's birthday! This week has been particularly busy since Kyle will be turning 8 and having his baptism on the 5th. He requested a suit and a suit he got. The boy has been putting it on everyday. Before school and after. Saturday can not come soon enough. He is quite excited about the big day and we are proud of him.

All 4 Together

Mission accomplished. I wanted to get a photo of all 4 kids. We plopped them in the back of the car to contain the little ones. I didn't even do their hair! Oh well, makes for a more authentic picture. The reason: Pixel2Canvas is having a sale on their canvases. I purchased a 16x20 inch. I know exactly where this will hang, and can't wait to get my hands on it. Not the most perfect of shots, but perfectly imperfect, which is perfect for me.

In other news, the office is finally unpacked. We spent most of the day Saturday organizing that mess. We have 3 large garbage bags to prove it. Yes it is true there are still mounds of filing to be done, but you walk in and it is actually nice to spend time in there. We felt very productive. Good feeling!

It is not unusual for Kade to ask me the meaning of large words. He has been doing this quite frequently lately. The other day he says, "Mom, what does associate mean?" I am usually shocked to hear such big words come out of him. "Where did you hear that word dude?" His usual response, "I have NO IDEA!" It always takes me a minute to figure out a way to explain so that he will understand the meaning. I have a feeling he will have a very broad vocabulary by the time he gets to grade school.

While driving to Target a couple of days ago, he points out a balding man walking on the street with a striped polo. "Hey look at that man, he doesn't have any hair in the middle!" After a few moments he adds, "He kinda looks like Dad, except for the no hair in the middle, Dad has hair in the middle ." I had to laugh because he looked nothing like Dad, the only similarity was the striped shirt. Kids.....they keep life interesting!

My three sisters have etsy shops.  Candace's Sparkle Power has been around for awhile.  Amber and her friend Jen started Just Be Jewelry and my youngest sister Kimberly opened her shop All Stitched Up.  Check em out.

He Speaks the Truth

Today he insisted on wearing his tennis shoes with socks. I tried to persuade him to wear the flip flops. He wasn't having it. At least he was wearing shorts. When he returned home from playgroup he stated, "It was so hot that it was burning me and my feet like toast in the toaster." Couldn't have said it better myself.

Checking......

things off the list.

I always feel behind.  I make little goals for myself in the evenings when I'm working on the computer.  Sometimes I feel like I spend way too much time sitting here, but to me it's just like one of those daily things that have to be done.  Editing pictures has become a part of my daily routine.

So tonight was productive on the computer end.  I am more than halfway through my blog book.  It looks so great on the screen.  It has been fun to scroll through and see my life.  My little pieces of joy...The pictures and words all in one place.  I happen to be working on images and posts from exactly one year ago.  This book is gonna be priceless, one of my most favorite treasures.  Whoever thought up this blogging thing and compiling a book to preserve it is genius.  I have never kept a better consistent journal.

One thing that stands out to me is vast improvement in my photography.  I still have so far to go, but I can visually SEE a BIG difference and that makes me so happy!  Something that I spend so much time trying to get better at and not really seeing a big change in the month to month....but oh my goodness what a difference a year can make.  So last year at this time I started my photography class with Wendy.  It has officially been one year since I took the plunge and started shooting manually.

Picture from a year ago....

And one I edited today....

Feeling.....

unmotivated.  I suppose the hot weather does that to me.

We have been vegging all day!  I have had a mild case of the stomach flu and we are passing that bug right around.  Lovely how that works.

Hoping tomorrow brings calmer stomachs and lots of checks on my to do list.

Washington Trip

I did not take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked.  I was too busy chasing after little boys.

I was most concerned about the flight.  That my friends was the easiest part of our travels.  When we arrived at the ticketing booth in LV, it was so backed up we feared we would miss our flight.  Apparently the computer system was down.  Thankfully they called passengers out of line according to the time of departure.  The nice lady at the counter went ahead and assigned us seats for both flights.  I was so relieved as I thought our children would be spread out all over the place.  Brandon was overtired and the Benadryl had not quite kicked in yet.  I had to hold his strong, fit throwing body down.

Once we got to the tinest airport I've ever seen, we had drama with the car rental company.  I had a reservation with carseats and apparently they don't take debit cards, even if it acts as a credit card.  Nice of them to tell us.  After hopping around from counter to counter, others took debits, they just didn't have what we needed.  Some had all their vans rented out others no car seats.  I was HOT!  So mad at the Hertz people.  Finally Avis came through for us.  Thank goodness!

Little tidbits:

• It is so green.  I know we were on the desert side of Washington, but it was still pretty.
• The Tricities area reminded us of a small town.  Seemed pretty cool.
• Steve passed by the house where they used to come to visit Grandpa and Grandma McClellan.
• I really wanted to cut my arm off.  The muscles were so sore from picking and carrying kids, luggage you name it.
• The pullout bed in the Comfort Inn was so thin the kids were having fits about it.  Steve and I both took a night sleeping on it, so it would be FAIR.  They were right, it was pokey.  Not the most comfortable of beds.
• Kyle leaving his flip flops to walk a few miles up to fish.  His poor feet were tore up plus he got a pretty good sized sliver.
• Running and playing with cousins.
• Late night swim at the hotel.  (Steve is so nice!)
• Grandpa Bruce's cowboy poetry at the talent show.
• Celebrating Grandma McClellan's 80th birthday.
• Seeing the Columbia River Temple
• Fits, tantrums and tired kids
• We saw lots of orchards, some sheep, cows and a horse.
• Swam and waded in the Columbia River.
• The kids hunted for clams.
• Watched old photographs in the form of a video highlighting the life of Grandma.  It was pretty cool.
• Steve told Kade to pee behind a tree.  He made it a point to go back to that same tree all day!
• It was nice having a minivan.  It is definitely much easier to buckle kids up and helps with the in and out of the car.  We have never owned a minivan, it was almost like driving a car.
• We sure did buy a carseat for the return flight.  It was so much easier.  He still had a meltdown, but I didn't have to hold him in.
• Steve's brothers, Mike and Doug, missing the flight home and having to wait until Tuesday evening.
• Fighting the crowds at the airport.  We were grouchy travelers.  It was hard keeping our rowdy bunch together.
• So HAPPY to be home!

When I am an 80 year old grandma, I want to be just like Grandma McClellan.  She is so independent.  She still drives, works at the temple, travels, reads, is in good shape, is gracious and kind and knows just the right things to say.  She is a delight.

 

Return Address Stamp

I attempted to report on our Washington trip, and got halfway through and Typepad ate it up!  Gone.....Uggh!  So I share this cute little find.  I found this package in my mailbox today.  The packaging made me even more excited to tear into the box.  Go here if you are interested.  There were so many styles that appealed to me, I may just order another.

We're Back

We survived! Had a fabulous time. I am completely and utterly exhausted. Anxious to get this house put back together. Will share more about our trip later.

It's Almost 12am

I told myself that I would get to bed by 10.  haha!

Glad I didn't because I am doing the biggest happy dance right now...my photo a day blog is finally fixed.  I was so sick of looking at the same darn post.  Because of the new uploading features, my smaller pics look oversharpened.  For that blog layout, I can't make them any larger.  So if you want a clear view click into the image.  Anyways, it's all updated.  Go have a looksie.

A few more for the fam....