G&G SALVESEN

While we were at my parent's house for Mother's Day a couple weeks ago, my grandparents came over for dinner. I was able to get a couple shots of them and while looking through them realized how important and fun it is to get photos of those generations before us. I think my grandma and grandpa are beautiful people, and there age makes them even more so. The photo of my grandma above is my favorite. Below are a couple of sweet moments as well. 

Now, I'm just sayin' but if you were to see my grandmas photos of her younger years, I might say there is a noticable resemblence between her and I.  I would be more than pleased to look like that when I'm her age. Here's hoping!

CHARMING WEEKEND

See. I told you it was a charming weekend.

I tell ya, when we went up north for Mother's Day weekend, the photo ops just kept coming!

First, we went up to Odgen for a 5k at the bird refuge there. I joined my friend Claire who was training (still is, just from a distance :) with me to do the Utah Valley Half Marathon in June. And let's admit, me running is always an event worth documenting. It was such a fun morning to spend with so many cute people.

This photo makes me laugh when I see it. You have Ryder thrilled with "Chitters" (the bald eagle) while my mom dutifully cheers for the young racers.

 Aren't I a lucky girl.

We lounged around that evening and enjoyed my parents pretty backyard and the nice weather.

This is another winner. My parents are always playfully competing for the attention of their grandchildren. Here you can see who is winning (and who is losing:)

I actually got a couple of other shots that I was really excited about and wanted to edit, but I'm waiting until I learn a little more about Photoshop to do so. 

Speaking of Photoshop? Can I tell you a secret? I figure if you've read far enough to get to this point, then you probably know me well enough to know this is kind of, very, hugely exciting for me...I got a new computer :D I lovingly call her Macky. Phil said it was for my graduation present, heehee. And thanks to my wonderful Adobe-employed brother-in-law, I got the CS5 for a fantastic discount. AND it arrived in the mail yesterday! When I'm not snickering to myself in pure excitement I'm left a smidge overwhelmed with learning how to use these programs (Photoshop and Illustrator specifically), but it should be fun!! Wish me luck!

HIVES & HOUSE HUNTING

I've been looking forward to blogging about our charming weekend before last filled with a 5k, fun company and a wonderful mother's day, but alas, I was derailed by the week that followed (last week) with Phil's trip back to NJ and NYC to find us a place to lay our heads after we move there. You see, since he has graduated I've had him at my complete disposal 24/7, and albeit wonderful, it has turned me into a complete pansy. So for Phil to leave me for four days was a smidgen shocking to my underworked mothering muscles. What? I have to change every dirty diaper myself?! Then, of course, a couple hours after dropping Phil off at the airport, Ryder gets severe diarrhea (TMI?). No problem. I force fluids and faithfully feed him the BRAT diet --but then he had to go and break out into a nasty case of hives. I hate weird unexplainable things like that. Poor, little boy. Luckily, he was a champ and the hives cleared up in about 24 hours. Oh and I started Weight Watchers that last week too, so the fact that I was hungry all the time may have added to my general crankiness. (More on that later...maybe).

However, I still think it was better Phil went on the house hunting trip than me. Things like this stress me out more than hives do. I'm happy to report he came home with two promising options. After going over the pros and cons to each place again and again, we made our decision. With a little bit of drama between then and mailing out our deposit this morning (seriously, do these things ever go smoothly?), we've finally got a little duplex lined up in our future place of residence: Summit, NJ! Wahooo! It's a cozy little place that will meet our needs quite nicely. Knowing where we'll be moving to brings us a lot of comfort and is allowing us to get more excited and better prepared for this next little adventure. So, phew! to that!

All in all, I'm happy to have that week under our belt. I'll be happy to report about our charming weekend soon. Heaven knows there are quite a few more charming weekends to be had before we leave.

I LOVE MY MOM BECAUSE...

...she thinks I'm funny...

and a for a billion other reasons. 

Mom, I love you and I'm so grateful that you're mine.

Happy Mothers Day to you and all the wonderful women I have the privilege of knowing. 

A BEAUTIFUL DAY

This last Sunday we got to go to my new neice's baby blessing. Her name is Rory or sometimes lovingly known as the Rooster, which is so cute, I can barely stand it. I love her and I love baby blessings. They always carry such a sweet spirit and it's so fun to see family and friends. What's not to love about that?

BLOWN OUT

Have you ever sorely miscalculated your camera settings and taken a picture like this?  

Yeah, me neither. But when someone else using my camera manages to turn a sweet moment into this, I'm left a little bummed. Since I'm currently introducing myself into the world of Photoshop (just Elements right now) I thought I'd see if there was anything to be done especially knowing  I couldn't make the image any worse.

After some cropping and goofing around with the lighting and color correcting I did come up with this, which I figured was better than a poke in the eye and best of all, this fun little moment we had today at the park isn't completely lost. 

I did try this technique on another one of my photo and it didn't turn out quite as well, plus, the editing I did in this photo didn't look as good around everyone else as it did Ryder, so it definitely isn't a consistent method. But worth a shot (hehe).

Anyway...kinda fun.

THE PERFECT BIB

I actually made some bibs awhile ago for this little (and many times messy) face. Because you see, when it comes to toddlers eating habits, bibs are one of the few but necessary tools needed to aid making a large sized mess into a medium size mess. However, after Penny rips it off and throws it on the floor for the zillionth time they have become the bane of my existence (along with sippy cups--but that's another story).

However, this summer, I noticed my friend Claire had these cute homemade bibs for her daughter. I found out her mom had made them and after commenting on how much I liked it, her mom made one for me! I later found out that it was the perfect bib. It latched with a button so Penelope couldn't take it off, it was wide enough to cover everything and she had made them with a microfiber cloth to make for easy cleanup. I knew I had to have more! So I used the one Claire's mom made me as a pattern.

They were quite fun and easy to make. If you want the pattern, I'll make you one (you could probably make one yourself just by looking at it too). You just take some fun fabric (a great project for scraps) and purchase some microfiber cloths at the dollar store and there you go!

"You think I'm messy?!?"