For Today

August 11th, 2009

Outside my window...it's windy but warm out

I am thinking...about Eli waking up soon

I am thankful for...Regan.

From the kitchen...chocolate banana muffins and a banana Carmel bundt cake

I am wearing...black yoga capris and a grey t-shirt

I am creating... curtains for Lucy's room to match her quilt.

I am going...to go in the backyard with the kids.

I am reading...The Weight of a Mustard Seed and One True Thing

I am hoping...Eli is happy when he gets up.

I am hearing...Brooke and Micheal sing together with great harmony

Around the house... there are toys scattered

One of my favorite things...is when Dad gets home

A few plans for the rest of the week...editing lots of photos and tomorrow we are off to Medicine Hat for residency teaching days.

A picture to share... of the Cardston temple.

7 Random Things

1. Lucy's current favorite sayings (which we hear at LEAST 3-4 times a day each)
• "Not today sir, not today"
• "Well bust my buffers"

2. Just in case you read over the comments from last post I did NOT in fact make the last comment. It would have been my husband last night after I was in bed. But all the comments. Wow. That's easily my most comments ever. Cool. And hello to you all :)

3. For the last 5 weekends I shot at least one wedding plus other shoots. (some times three in one day) sooooo I have a lot of editing to do. And now I am on a bit of a break. So I have lots to edit and catch up on. It was a little toooo many at once. But I did enjoy each bride and groom. There is really something neat about having them choose me to share some of their day with them. Especially those quite private moments that seem to often happen. Thanks to all my photo clients! And keep your eyes on the photo blog for lots more updates.

4. Eli is officially the worst teether. Seriously. H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E. I feel like I have been sleep deprived for WEEKS. And the sad note about it. He still has only broke 3. 3 measly teeth. That's still a LOT of teething to go thru. Which I am TOTALLY stoked about.

5. It's weird to live in Southern Alberta. I am still adjusting. And the biggest thing I am still adjusting too is finding my friend groove. It seems most people hang out with family or friends they have had for years. And any one I did use to hang out with moved on with their lives (and rightly so! we've been gone for 7 years....) so still finding my place in that way.

6. It's part way into August. School is coming. And I will have a kid going to school ALL DAY. now THAT is strange!

7. I am learning to crochet. I want to make some photo props. Hats, baby wraps and cocoons. Flowers for hair. Etc. I've started doing it in the backyard while the kids play around me. Or in the van. OR wherever.

And since a post is no fun without a picture.... here is my good friends Kim and Mark. Who are soon to have their first little one (who I can't WAIT to photograph!!)



smooches

Hellooooooooo out there

I've feeling a bit of the blog blahs.
Anyone still reading this thing?

I've been adding lots of photos to my photo one.
So check out those.
Here are some other photos from our RAS (Rural Alberta South) Residency opening getaway thingy in Lake Louise.





Some one was a bit of a goof.

And yes i totally brought a tutu with us just in CASE we ended up having time to walk around and take pictures....

And we did. I could have missed this GREAT door.


I actually brought a whole little outfit and was going to do her hair cute... but she was NOT having any of that.


oh well. She looks cute. She is a ragamuffin, so she might as well look like one in pictures :)

I need a little motivation to blog.
So leave a comment so I can see who's reading this thing still! Pretty please :)

P-A-R-T-Y

Eli Turned One on June 28th.

And I was good and had a party. (well it was on the 29th but close enough!)
But I haven't posted about it yet.... sooooo

We had TONS of family over for it.
Brooke and Brett
Bryan and Erin and their 7 kiddos
Lindsay and Derik and 2 kiddos
Brad and Whit and 2 kiddos
Both Grandma's and Grandpa's
Bob and 1 kiddo

So we had it outside in the new backyard. Had to break it in!

His cake. I came up with this idea from a shirt he was wearing - it didn't look like this but it had a robot on it...


He wasn't totally sure about the cake thing. And I had totally pegged him as a dive in head first kind of kid.

Guess not!

He was exhausted by party time and really just sat and did this...

or crawled around and spilled people's plates!

Opening presents (most of which he could have cared less about!)


I can't believe he is one!
My little man!

He certainly is a LOT of work.
But we love him and are so glad he's in our family!


--------------------------------

AND I have lots of editing and posting of photos on my photo blog as of late. (i've got 3 shoots done and 7 more to edit and more shoots scheduled!)

AND we had our family pictures taken with one of my favorite photographers. You can see a sneak peak here. :)

Always an adventure!

(this is long... but pretty crazy!)

This past weekend was eventful. We borrowed a tent trailer from my brother and so we also had to borrow my MIL's vehicle for the hitch to pull it.

We got it all and we off on the road at about 5pm. Later than we wanted to leave, but Reg was working so it was what it was. We filled up the tired on the trailer and left town.

Got to about 5 km outside of Nanton and heard a loud BOOM - which happened to be a trailer tire exploding. So we pulled over to the side of the road. And got out to check it out. There was NOTHING left. Just a few wires around the rim. And we were in the middle of nowhere. So I did what I always do when it involves my vehicle. Called my dad. Who had already left town to go to the reunion and could do nothing for me. But my mom said 20 minutes before we called he said to my mom, you know Rhonda and Regan might have tire rot on those tires. They might have trouble. And then I called and he said it's Rhonda isn't it...... He told me to drive it to the nearest farmers house and ask for help. After calling the Brother to check about a spare (there wasn't one - the other tire had actually blown the last time they had used it, which was apparently was 2 years ago). So with a prayer in our hearts and driving about 10 km an hour, we drove down the high way a bit and turned down a gravel road and slowly made out way to the first farm house.

I walked up the driveway and knocked on the door (Reg said they would be more sympathetic to a girl... I thought about taking Eli to the door with me...:) ) And told them I had a tire blow out and asked if we could just park the trailer anywhere around their property so we could go get something figured out. The farmer came out and told us to pull up. So I flagged Regan down. He pulled up and the farmer took a look. Said you know I think I might have a tire that size. Why don't you let the kids out and let them wander around. Regan, the farmer and Alden looked through one of his shops and found a boat trailer tire, which just happened to fit perfectly. Which he let us borrow for the weekend. Which he also put on our trailer with his air compressor and lifted the trailer with his tractor. And then also gave us another spare tire just in case. And let the kids play on the swing set. And let Lucy use the bathroom inside. And told us we could camp there for the night (we didn't). They were so kind. And so nice. Wayne and Diana. Very very nice people. The prayer in our hearts was answered.

We pulled out from Wayne and Diana's place at 840pm. And drove straight to Okotoks to stay at my other brother, Sean and Val's house, who set us up wonderful sleeping rooms, feed us supper and breakfast. (also very kind!). The Saturday morning we finished our drive to Wetaskiwin. Which is waaaaay up north!

Set up the trailer, had fun. Visited with family. Had lots of fun.

That night at 4 am Lucy woke up screaming mad. She was convinced that someone had snuck into the tent trailer and switched her and Alden sleeping bags and she absolutely refused to sleep in THAT sleeping bag any more. She wanted her sleeping bag. Both Regan and I tried to convince her that that was in fact CRAZY. And that she was in her sleeping bag. Finally Reg had to take her out and put her into the vehicle. Where she screamed it out. Until she got so cold that she just wanted to go back to any sleeping bag and go to sleep. Which Reg happily helped her do. (Luckily Little Eli slept thru all that.)

Sunday we drove home and dropped the two tired back off the Wayne and Diana. And they told us to stop by any time we drive by.

What a weekend.
I seem to remember camping being so fun as a kid. And I've come to decide that camping is lots of fun when you are the kid and just a whole lot of WORK when you are the momma.

Waterton

A while back we called up SIL Lindsay and Grandma and told them we wanted to go to Waterton (or the mountains as our kiddos call it) and we wanted them to come too. I took a whole whack of photos. Most of which I haven't edited yet. But I did do a few.

We love that we CAN call them up and we are close. It's simply marvelous. All the kids lined up.


hee hee. Gotta love the wind down here.


What a handsome and good dad. :)


We are off to a family reunion this weekend. Camping.
We'll see how it goes! :)

And after I'm back, more photos to share, a contest to end (finally), and perhaps a few Q&A (so if you have some about anything really, let me hear them!)

And if you need something to look at while I'm gone, I've put more photos on my photo blog. :)

Growing up

This getting to be big kid was talking to me last week
I said "wait, Alden open your mouth."
So he did.
I said "did you know you are missing a tooth?"
He was like "where??" So he ran into the bathroom and saw there was his first space. He had no idea it was even lose or that he had lost it.


All day he kept looking around for it to no avail.
That night he had babysitters and he knocked on the door (when he's in his room for the night he always knocks when he needs something) and asked them if they had seen his tooth. He even prayed to find his tooth.

I told him that the tooth fairy was pretty smart and maybe she already found it and would bring money anyways.

He was delighted to see I was right. :) Since then he lost the other bottom middle one. And lost that one too. But at least he noticed it was lose and when it fell out. Looks like I need to sew a little tooth fairy bag.

Can't believe I have a kid big enough to start losing teeth!

And as for Regan building the fence. He is not the handyman type. He is smart though. And with the help of all my brothers and dad to square the posts (the trickiest part) he was well on his way and did the rest himself. He's becoming a handyman bit by bit. :)

Our Backyard

When we moved in our backyard was a parking lot. Gravel, no fence. No real dirt. So over the month we were here and Regan had off, he worked on it.

First he shoveled out all the gravel into a wheelbarrow and moved it.
Then got dirt and leveled it all out. At which point the kids were loving it.


They are plugging their ears cause he was doing this...


After my great hubby built the fence (his first one and he did a great job!!)
He laid sod.


Alden also worked on it. He likes to do little jobs to make money so he can buy Bakugan's. He helped dad out and made some moola. Together they did this....


It's all finished and looking great.
And we've been enjoying it.


(Now I really need to get my act together and stain it!)

Hello again

This little man turned one.
And learned to walk.


These two in the backyard before it was filled with sod, Which funny enough they seemed to enjoy just as much (or even a tad bit more....) in such an Alden and Lucy pose. Goofing around together.


Love 'em.
Glad to be at home with 'em.
Reg's started residency. So we are settling in.
Back to the blogging more often!

I've been insanely busy with photos lately.
Got some posted on my photo blog if you wanna check out Amanda and Harvey's wedding. Next up a Maternity shoot with Tracy & Ian .

Dear Blog

Hello there old friend. I've missed you. I've got lots to tell you. And I'm going to. Soon. I promise. You're on my list of things to do. Along with photo editing, staining the fence, scrapbooking, playing in the backyard, more photo shoots, among other things. But for now, know that you're on my mind. I promise.

Love me.

New York Day 5

Well sorry I got a little side tracked around here. Been doing house stuff and haven't really gotten to the blog :)

We've been sodding the back yard, building a fence (well actually REGAN has been doing those things), having a few fun shoots (more on my photo blog),

going to waterton (a post soon about that!) with grandma and Lindsay, watching nieces and nephews and settling in. We are good.

So back to New York....
Lora asked "Did you have time to visit it? " It meaning the LDS temple in NY. No we didn't. We just walked by it :)

Our Last day in New York.....

We started the day out with, surprise.... walking :) Went to B&H Camera which was completely and utterly overwhelming and huge. I didn't get a thing there. It was a fancy smancy pro shop where I felt like I wasn't smart enough to enter. I like my good ol' Camera store in Calgary thanks very much.

Then we walked to the UN. On the way we passed....


The United Nations was the one thing Regan wanted to do.

And I am glad we went. It was amazing. The tour was awesome. And I learned a lot.

This cool sculpture was outside. See reg in the reflection?


Recognize this from the general assembly hall??


Just a little hanging out time with the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon .
(he's short)

All around the UN there were these amazing pieces of art from all different countries. It was wonderful. So many weren't really able to take pictures of, but this one i just loved. Even though this isn't the best photo... it is all made of tiles. It was beautiful.


It was a foggy day and the tall tall buildings looked cooool.


We walked all the way back and caught some lunch and then off to the airport.

New York was fun. I am glad we went. And I am especially glad Susie and Ryan and Sadie let us impose and crash at their house and eat their cereal.

New York Day 4

Denise asked "What camera did you take along?" We've only got one. And it's my big Nikon D-80. So i took that :) But even if I had a smaller one, I would have take my big one. I see part of the pleasure of travel (not that I've done THAT much) as taking pictures in new places.

Crystal asked "How's your new house ??????" It's marvelous. We are still settling in. Getting things hung up, getting a fence put in so we have a yard, waiting for our new kitchen table and chairs to arrive. The thing I probably loving the most is totally the dishwasher. i looooooove it. :)

Day 4:
This day I had been waiting for. You might not know it about me, but I loooooooooooooooove art museums. Really I love all museums. But add in some art, and I'm in heaven!!! The Metropolitan Museum of Art was very very high on my list of things I wanted to do in New York. And Regan indulged me on it. We spent pretty much the entire day there. We got there a half an hour after it opened and stayed til it closed. And it was wonderful.


We started out in Greek and Roman Art in the Greek Scuplture Court.


Now just because I love art museums doesn't mean I buy into the full art way of thinking. I mean when I see the words "heroic nudity" used to describe Greek sculptures... i'm GONNA laugh! Or colossal or ample used for round ladies....




This is a mosaic made of teeny tiny pieces of rock.

The time and skill it would have taken to do this... amazing! And some rich person just had it made to fill a spot in their floor....

Be still my heart, it's the Great Hall


Hit Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.

Now this picture does NOT do this justice AT all. It is actually the roof to a ceremonial hut. Each family paints a shield and a roof is made out of them. It would have four legs holding it up the air and the the ceremony would take place underneath it. It was huge too.

This is actually a carved boat from one of those human eating tribe way far away. Wonder if they had to sacrifice someone for the team to get it back?? :)



Quick stop in Modern art

Saw some Picasso. Which was totally cool. I saw a few REAL Picasso's.



The kooky but oh so fascinating work of Salvador Dali. See the Madonna and baby in the ear?


Lots of wonderful sculptures!


Another fascinating one.

This was actually telling the story of a man who was starving to death and his children loved him so much they were willing to let him eat them so that he wouldn't die. Hence the seriously torn look on his face.

Stopped in at the Cafeteria for a really surprising good lunch.

Then off to the European Paintings.
And the best of the day, 19th Century and Early 20th Century European Paintings and Sculpture.


Can you tell I am EXCITED here??

i looooooooove Monet.
Reg said I was a little like a kid in a candy store at this point.

love it


love, love, love it!


Then off to Musical Instruments (where we got to sit down and list to a performance by a women's choir), the American Wing,

(this one is one of Regan's favorite paintings of the day) the photo doesn't do it justice at all either!)

Drawings Paintings & photographs,
and Arms and Armour. Which was cooool.


i look tough eh?


Had to walk back through Central Park so we looked for Belvedere Castle which was awesome!


The view from Belvedere Castle.


Amazing greenery around the castle (and really through out the whole park!)


This sums up my feelings on the MET.


While walking back down Broadway we spotted this...

The New York LDS Temple.

Ended the day with the Phantom of the Opera.


I've wanted to see this for a while. It was so different from In the Heights. Couldn't BE more different. The stage work, the costumes, the chandelier falling. All amazing. And of course the music was amazing.

Dinner at a Greek restaurant in Hell's Kitchen.
Back to Susie's to crash.