yay 10!

Technically he won't be ten until Saturday, but we celebrated Kaden's birthday today because of the Utah holiday weekend. I do believe ten is my favorite age. We took Kaden and his friends bowling today and the kids were so respectful and so enjoyable. It's such a happy, content age. I'd really like to freeze Kaden at 10. He's such a happy boy. The balloons were Kyler's idea...he got all giddy this afternoon, ran over to me, and whispered in my ear, "Mom! I think I know what we should get Kaden for his birthday! BALLOONS!!!" What a wonderful idea! I'm so glad he thought of it. Of course, the first thing Kaden asked was if he could suck the helium out of the balloons. Great. You know, that is one thing I have never done. I once heard that sucking helium kills brain cells and I can't spare any brain cells. Ahhh, to be young and free with the brain cells...

Yay 10!

baked with love

A dear friend and neighbor who is a young, wonderful mother, is going through cancer treatment right now. I took these to her yesterday in hopes of letting her know I love her and that I am thinking of her.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Cream 1 cup brown sugar with 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup butter * Cream 2 eggs with 1 tsp vanilla and add to first mix * Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp baking powder * Add 2 1/2 cups oatmeal and 2 1/2 cups flour * Add 1 bag Ghiradelli, large chocolate chips * Roll in a ball and press with thumb or roll out and cut into heart shape * Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes * Makes about 3 dozen small cookies

wordless wednesday "Aaahhhhhh!"

more feet!

I. Love. This. Picture. (above)

I love this family!!

contest entry - feet

This week's theme at iHeartFaces is a fun one, judged by the awesome "American Mum," and this picture is the first one that came to my mind when I heard feet. This is my friend, Wesley, and her cute family. She allowed me to take their family pictures one fun afternoon, and, while I can't really take credit for the idea, (Wesley came up with it,) I can take credit for pushing the shutter button and capturing this fun feet picture. If you'd like to see some truly clever feet-themed shots, go here, and if you're dying to see more of these cute people, click here... (And oh my goodness, I've never had so many comments. THANK YOU for the bloggerly love!!! The feet pictures I'm seeing are AMAZING. I'm feeling so inspired!)

i'll miss this one day

This boy cracks me up. Today when I saw him on his bike, dressed like this, I RAN for the camera. He wears this all the time, especially when we go to public places and I forget he's wearing it and I hear people snickering and whispering and think they're laughing at ME! Kolby asks me several times a day if he can grow up to be Batman. What do you say to that? I usually say yes because I think it's cute (and because I'm just plain tired of the question,) and inevitably one of his brothers is there to say, "NO HE CAN'T! BATMAN'S NOT REAL!" And then we have to have a deep discussion about the reality of superheros. Sigh. I know, I know, I'll miss this some day.

photography is art...

Today's photo lesson at Jessica Sprague's website was selective coloring...here is my attempt...

I am loving this class! If any of you are interested in learning more Photoshop techniques, visit this website. It is awesome and, (don't worry honey, [mostly]) free! And here is a quote my mom sent me today..."There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness.'" -Dave Barry (What are you trying to tell me, Mom?)

a "real" photo shoot

Sometimes I like to pretend I'm a real photographer with real photo shoots. Yesterday was one of those days. But it took some real bribery of my kids...they're not always willing to pretend to be real clients. Oh well. It was fun anyway. (For me.)

(I copy catted the above picture idea from here.)

getting artsy

I've been taking a free online Photoshop class on textures, gradients, overlays, blending modes, clipping masks, and word art from Jessica Sprague. Here is my day 10 project, incorporating all I've learned so far. And by the way, these two cute boys are cousins but may as well be brothers the way they rival each other. Seems to me they behave just exactly like my boys do together! So when I saw this rare tender moment happening, I just HAD to capture it on film.

i heart faces entry

It's an addiction. I'm entering again because it's too much fun. Take a look at all the amazing sports entries by clicking the above button.

life lessons...

...from this Summer's swim team:

yummmmmm!

On Sunday night we had a yummy dinner, inspired by Uncle Jeff, who has made a super healthy, super motivating life and diet change...

Our charming chef, grilling chicken kabobs, with yellow squash, zucchini, red pepper, and red onion, marinated in Lime Zesto Lawry's marinade sauce. We served it with grilled corn on the cob and grilled, sliced potatoes.

It was delicious and beautiful!

Then I got so full that I stopped taking pictures, but after the main course we abandoned Jeff's diet (by we, I mean me...certainly not Jeff,) and fried Dutch oven donuts that Kenyon had learned to make at scout camp. They were devilishly good. We also had Dutch oven scone fry bread with honey butter and the most delightful frozen creamsicle dessert I've ever tasted (thanks Camie!!--and I need that recipe!!!) So we started out healthy and got progressively worse the longer we played. (That's usually the way my diets go!)But it sure was fun and it sure was delicious!

cousin day

We had a picnic in the canyon yesterday with...

It was so much fun...but we could have done without the deer flies. (Ouch! They bite!)

Nate, Noah, and Nik. (I can tell the twins apart now - and I get it right almost every time!) (But I kept asking Noah which one he was, just so he didn't feel left out.) (And look, he's smiling!!)

We waded in the river, and don't tell Aunt Amy, but Nate went for a little swim when his flip flops floated down stream. (Yikes!) But all was well and then the boys really wanted to go for a hike but...

These are the hiking shoes I brought, so...

We headed down to the BYU Dinosaur Museum instead.

What a fun day, and now cousins have gone home and guess what I'm hearing all day today..."Mom, I don't know what I should do, so what should I do?" COME BACK cousins!!

babysitting

I'm "babysitting" for a couple of days. Wait. Scratch that. Three little boys are babysitting my kiddos for a couple of days. Seriously. It's great. Kolby hasn't said to me once today, "Mom, I don't know what I should do, so what should I do?" I have had a wonderful, glorious, heavenly break from that sentence today because cousins are here and we're having so much fun while their parents vacation in Australia. This morning the boys had finished with the slip and slide by 10am. Now they're busy building legos and playing Star Wars, and I'm playing on my computer. How fun! We're all on vacation!! My goal was to be able to tell the twins apart, but so far I'm not having any luck. I was a tiny bit consoled, however, when I asked Nik (or was it Nate?) who was in these water pictures, and he couldn't tell me. My other goal is to capture a picture of Noah smiling...we're still working on that one :) He's actually been really happy, especially after we finally found something he will eat...cinnamon toast! But he doesn't seem to like smiling for my camera. Maybe it's because it's in his face so much, but he's just so cute, I can't help myself! My older boys have had all their friends over today. They see the twins as their own personal show and tell, and Nic and Nate seem content to tease us all about who is who. (How am I ever going to learn!?)

lessons learned

When I posted the picture of Kolby in his tux for the I heart faces photo contest this week, I was reminded of this picture I took at Larissa and Ryan's wedding. It has to be my favorite picture I have ever taken. Can't you just envision what Kolby is thinking? "Whatcha got there, brother?" then the grabbing that took place right after this picture was taken!? Unfortunately the picture's a scanned image because shortly after taking it, my computer's hard drive crashed and I lost every digital picture I had taken for the previous THREE years. It was heartbreaking. I'm so glad to have been a part of Close to my Heart at the time and to have printed and scrapbooked so many of the pictures that were precious to me. I don't have the digital images, but I have the prints, and for that I will always be grateful. Lessons learned from this heartbreak: (1) Never store pictures ONLY on a hard drive. (2) ALWAYS back everything up - (I guess that's the same thing.) (3) SCRAPBOOK everything!!

fix it friday3!

I learn so much from these Friday fun days at:

Here is my before and after, but I have to admit that I kind of copied Teresa Norris' beautiful idea. This is such a fun exercise to stretch the photo editing muscles and I learn so much by trying it out and by looking at all the creative ideas others submit. Click on the above button, download the darling original photo, and try fixing it up for yourself. You'll love it! WARNING: This can become very addicting!

oops...

I have egg on my face, but a friend was kind enough to tell me. A few weeks ago, thinking I was so clever, I posted pictures of the five men in our family and of me, inside of the symbols for male and female. My friend and neighbor, Kristine, informed me that I had put my picture inside the male sign, and all the boys inside the female sign. (I'm not the "brightest tool in the shed".) Now I've fixed it all, but I thought I'd post about my funny mistake. I'm grateful for a friend who would tell me if my dress is tucked into my panty hose. We all need a friend like that. Thanks, Kristine!