How did our eyes get so red?

My four readers have asked about the photography class I mentioned in the last post.

It was a church class, taught by Shallyse Gastelum, her website is http://freshpoppyphotography.com. And I happened upon a photographer that just wrote out the same tips on a blogpost friday. So for the excellent tips I learned (written better than I could have reiterated) go to http://www.martawrites.com/2012/09/10-expert-tips-for-better-photographs.html

A few other words of wisdom I found helpful:

-Catch all of your kids personality, the serious, the temper tantrums, the quiet moments, as well as the happy moments

-Toddlers will cooperate better if you give them two choices... i.e. would you rather sit on the couch or the blanket to take a picture

-Capture your day to day: bathtime, breakfast, playing with favorite toys... this will help you remember your children as they were at that age.

-Get in the pictures with your kids. SOOOO hard for me. I hate most pics of myself. But your kids will want to know that you were there playing with them, having fun, and it's great to capture the connection you share.

A little fuzzy, she still moves too fast for my point and shoot.

Check out those eyelashes!

Look at this photograph

I took a short photography class Saturday.

My pictures are generally awful, and I got a few good tips to really work on.

I'm a work in progress, but I was already a lot happier with the quality of this pic. No shadows, no blur, no red eye, and those pretty blue eyes... Now I just gotta catch a smile and the dimple on her right cheek!

So time to practice with all the tips, which means lots more pics of Zoey! (Let's be real, everyone only checks this blog for pics of zoey anyhow... :)

And I miss you, yeah I miss you

I got a job... cause we're poor. 

(I would think that would go without saying, but everyone keeps asking)

Cary says when I've been gone for an hour or two Zoey starts to wonder why I'm not back and goes to the door and hits it and cries while saying "mamamamamamama"

It breaks my heart.

I know she'll get used to me being gone more often, but that kind of breaks my heart too.

At least she gets to spend the time with Cary. They have lots of fun while I'm gone.

Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous

On pinterest I have a board titled "when I'm disgustingly rich..."

Sometimes something catches my eye and I think to myself, I want to try that, or I would totally buy that item that performs only one task--thereby making it only slightly more useful than the inconvenience of storing said item. Practicality keeps me from buying these things, and lack of storage space. (Yes, if I was a millionaire I'd own a lot of sold on TV crap... just cause)

Well... I happened to pin this little gem a few weeks back,

And I went down to my mailbox last week, and lo and behold, my friend had mailed it to me!

She was out yardsale-ing, and saw it and thought of me because I had just pinned it!

I can't even say how much this made my day. So ridiculous and simple, but pretty awesome.

Apparently I'm disgustingly rich with great friends!

Hopefully, I'll be able to pass on the favor someday--of course, then I'd have to go to a yard sale.

I believe that love is the answer

I watched the movie Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

We read the book for my book club a year ago, and it was a nice wrap up to watch the movie as I remember 9/11.

It is a fictional story that follows the life of an 11 year old boy as he tries to make sense of the loss of his father in one of the towers on 9/11/2001.

My heart breaks for all the broken families of that day. There were so many people who lost someone close to them who's lives will never be the same. My thoughts and prayers are with the survivors. I pray they may be blessed with the love and comfort they need, and that they may know they can see their family again one day.

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On another note: My baby is 10 months old! I shlove (shlove is what cary and i say when we more than love something. Shlove is definitely bigger and deeper than love) it!

Zoey finally got teeth! TWO. They popped up last week.


And she is soooo excited to brush her teeth. She loves watching me brush my teeth and then wait to brush her two little nubs. It's funny.

She can take about 4 to 5 steps without falling down, but that is all. We're working on her balance.

Her favorite words this week are "baby" and "puppy." She loves pointing out all the puppies on our walks, and just about everything gets labeled baby... but she especially loves carrying around her own picture saying baby. Perhaps we should call her Zoey more often than baby girl.


She still likes to eat with her feet.

She eats lots of new foods, but her fav are graham crackers. And I love the baby/graham cracker smell.

Her favorite games are still peek-a-boo and playing chase. She loves being chased, and she loves being scared (if I pop around the corner unexpectedly). She also loves when Cary "flies" her around the room. The girl is an adrenaline junky and we're gonna have to start saving for her to go to an amusement park.



At any rate, she's a hoot. I seriously hit the jackpot when it comes to babies. She is easy-going, fun, and adventurous. Love that girl.


Ok, ok I'm done with the photos.

Good morning and goodnight/I wake up at twilight

I hate the pressure to blog sometimes.

I would make a great novelist.

I often suffer from writer's block. And then occasional spurts of "I have 20 things to blog about right now, and there's funny dialogue running through my head! But.... oh wait.... it's not really kosher to post more than once a day."

People don't read your blog if you don't post enough, or if you post too often, or if you say too much, or you don't have cute pictures, blah blah blah. Oh well.

Random ramblings rolling in my head this week:

-I'm exhausted and feel ill... my only logical conclusion is West Nile.

-I'm ALMOST (like sooo close) to my pre-pregnancy weight!
I'm contemplating a 9 months there and back post--for your viewing pleasure ;)
Or to horrify myself into never getting pregnant again! I joke. I joke. Really, as a pat on the back for all the hard work I've done.

-I'm doing the conference-talk-a-day-before-next-gen-conference challenge.
It's fabulous! My favorite quote so far "The most important of all the commandments of God is the one that you are having the most difficulty keeping today" - President Harold B. Lee (Arise and Shine forth by Ann M Dibb)

It just reminds me not to get cocky because I don't sin a specific way, and that sin can be a slippery slop that starts with weakness in any area. May we all strive to be a little better.

-Oh and I need your bestest cupcake recipes! I'm the birthday baker for YW!!! (and since cupcakes are trendy and what not...)