In the eye of the beholder...

My wish for owning a SLR camera was fulfilled early one morning after randomly watching QVC. I've never watched QVC in my life, but this one morning it was meant to be. At least that is what I told Cris.

There were 10 min. till the Today Show aired and this camera and its price caught my eye. It also helped that the salesman was very convincing and showed how easy it is to take lovely pictures. I have owned Sony cameras before and know a little about how they work and liked them -though I could never take spectacular pictures. After reading and learning more about it I had a QVC account and a camera was on its way.

Turns out a couple of friends recently ordered SLR cameras and thus our quest for how to use them began. For the past four Mondays we have been attending a class at the Community Center. Our teacher is ... not sure how to describe him... kind of nice, interesting, critical and not afraid to tell you your picture is GARBAGE. Each week we have had an assignment to take different types of pictures and then he chooses which one is the best. My first two pictures admittedly looked like GARBAGE. My PTA responsibilities have consumed my life during January and learning how to use my cool, new camera has been at the bottom of the to do list. But after three weeks of ISO, F stops/Aperture settings and shutter speeds I was ready to show I learned a little something. Our assignment this week was to shoot something red. I have lots of red things but he is hard to please and so my search began. I hadn't planned on procrastinating till the afternoon of the class, but once again I did. Syd's new favorite activity is to wear my shoes, pick a purse and fill it up with all kinds of treasures and parade around the house as though she is going around town. Monday, she came out with green shoes looking so cute. Ah ha. I have cute red shoes. The afternoon light was perfect and Syd was up for modeling and so our photo shoot began.

This one was deemed the winner of the night. He said it showed personality and tells a story. Believe me this girl does have personality. I was pleasantly surprised as the other photos shown were extremely creative and good. It was a good way to end what started out as crummy day. (My 400+ fliers for the Spelling Bee had a mistake in a web address. Sigh!)

I really liked this one. Such cute feet!

I am excited to learn more tricks to the trade, get/learn photoshop and am thankful to have great friends help teach me along the way.

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Happy Birthday Syd

Sydney turned four today and it is bittersweet. Some days she is 4 going on 13 (loves to get into my makeup) and other days she is still my baby with her tattered silk pink blankets in her mouth. She loves being a little mom to her babies and Mason when he comes to play. She is always in her dress up clothes and high heal shoes and lately has an obsession with lip stick. The other day she told Zach she had to drink out of a straw so she wouldn't wipe off her lipstick and she couldn't kiss him. She loves "the brothers" and often coaxes them to play house with her and in turn plays a mean game of basketball with them. Every moring she puckers up to kiss them off to school and then asks all day when the brothers are coming home.

We went skiing over the holidays and were rather nervous about sending her down the hill. She turned out to be the best skier out of the three and as soon as we were down the mountain she wanted to get back on the "swing" or chair lift as it is more commonly referred to. She made several runs with out a fall. She was one tired girl by the end of the day but had a huge grin on her face.

We celebrated her birthday with a Surprise Party during playgroup. After having been to a couple of surprise parties for friends, she wanted her own surprise. Dad helped pull it off and brought Strawberry Shortcake Balloons for the festivities. We had cousins over for dinner and cake and the highlight of the night was her new Strawberry Shortcake bike.

We love her so much and the joy she brings to our family. Happy Birthday Syd!

Will Shovel for Candy or Cookies

Thanksgiving Highlights

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner with member's of my Dad's family. We had 12 adults and 4 kids which means we needed some creative ideas for seating. With Cris' "Handy Manny" skills we cut two large half circles bracketed them together and put on top of my square table to create one large table 96 inches in diameter. Comfortable seating for 12 adults. Since 120 inch round table cloths are a scarce find, I went for a layered look and I think it turned out great.

Kid Zone

The food was as good as it looks.

Thanks to the aunts and my mom for bringing many of the side dishes.

Not sure how Martha would feel about 2 liters of soda on her Thanksgiving table, but it was convienent for refills. It was also nice to have all the food on the table, although it would be nice to have longer arms.

Kitchen cleanup by the men. Thanks Steve and Devin!

Other activities included Syd and Mason sword fighting Jake, football watching by Grandpa, Mason playing farm with lots of cows, more eating, extreme turkey carving by Cris and consumption of pumpkin pie. Yum.

It was a wonderful day with delicious food and great company. The Richardson boys began the day with a Turkey Bowl at the park down the street and I keep hearing comments about my MVP Quarterback husband. Must have showed them his moves. I was just grateful he didn't come home limping! We scoured the ads for deals and I took Black Friday shopping to a new personal level. We left at 4:45 am and returned around 12:00. Got some good deals and most importantly Syd a mattress. Friday night was another great BSU game and and even better BYU game on Sat. I won't mention the Notre Dame game as it was another annoying loss. Thankfully, Sat was a quiet day for Syd and I while the boys enjoyed some male bonding time with friends four wheeling. I had an extreme shopping/Thanksgiving hangover and wanted nothing but to chill and sleep.

And since it is the time to give thanks, I give thanks everyday for these

four adorable people who put up with me everyday.

Thanks for the photo Aunt Peggy! Could her cast be any brighter?

Meet Bob

 

 

 

Almost five years ago, we met Bob Clark. We called a realtor about a house we were interested in looking at. We drove over to the house on Mariposa Grande and saw a man standing out in front of the house wearing shorts, buttoned down shirt, and baseball cap. Not your typical realtor look. There was no car in the driveway so we were unsure how he got there. We looked at the house, liked it and asked if he knew much about the neighbors. He smiled and admitted he lived directly across the street. He not only was selling the house but also interviewing potential neighbors. We must have passed the test because we bought the house and grew fonder of our new neighbor Bob. He is a huge sports fan, particularly baseball, and got a kick out of Alex's endless sports knowledge. It was wonderful to have a neighbor who kept an eye on things and tolerated your three kids harrassing him (in a good way) all the time.

We recently talked with Bob and he told us he rediscovered a collection of plastic baseball hats he had once hung in his son's room when he was young. He thought the boys would enjoy them and so they were packaged and sent to Idaho. They arrived last week and the boys are in heaven. He didn't forget Syd and added a few things for her too. My heart was overwhelmed with gratitude for good friends who go the extra mile. We pray for Bob every night. He is currently undergoing his third round of chemotherapy for cancer and we wish him the speediest recovery possible.

I'm calling to remind you that you have a docotor's appointment...

It seems we have been spending way to much time in the doctor's office for a myriad of reasons. Dental cleanings for all of us. I was the only one to go back to repair a tooth that had chipped. Physicals for both Cris and I so we can qualify for the lower insurance rate. Happy to report we are healthy and happy. Plus, visit after visit for Syd's broken arm. Her follow up visit to check the healing and to get a short cast did not go as planned. Never a good sign when the doc looks at the new X-ray and says this isn't good. The bone somehow slipped in the first cast and her arm had a nice bow to it. It had a 45 degree reduction if you speak orthopedic lingo. Sometimes, (rarely) does this happen when both bones are broken. So off we went to a ped orthopedic doctor and then to the hospital the next day for the "procedure." This little procedure would require Syd to go under and then reset, which really means rebrake, her arm and put a pin in place to hold the bone while it heals. Her surgery went great and Cris and I survived too. I think they should sedate mother's as well. She requested a blue cast but second guessed herself after she awoke and saw it. She thought it was ugly and should have gotten a pink one. She went home with some obvious discomfort but after some Tylenol and McDonalds she was running around as though nothing happened. We had to remind her to take it easy.

An appointment was scheudled two weeks later for a follow up visit. However, on Thurs eve a playful bath got her cast a little too wet. The bag/rubberband combo didn't work this time around. We dried it, but I was nervous as there is the open wound where the pin is coming out. Later that night, Syd threw up in bed and of course the cast did not take cover. So it was back to the doctor on Friday for a new cast. This one is BRIGHT pink and hard to miss. It is also very well padded where the pin is and thus hard to get shirts over. The good news is after another X ray we could see the bone was healing perfectly and should get the cast off in 3 weeks. The look on Syd's face when she saw this pin coming out of her arm was priceless. My look was priceless as well. I could never cut it in the medical field.

I'm hoping to go an entire week without going to any type of doctor. Wish me luck!

 

 

 

Pictures taken before Syd's surgery. She was in a very funny mood while waiting. She didn't know what she was in for.

Road Trip

Logan Temple

Salt Lake Temple

Oquirrh Mtn. Temple

Provo Temple

Boys out of school Thursday and Friday + Cris' business trip to Utah = Family Road trip and sightseeing

Last weekend we took off headed south. Alex has been wanting to go to Temple square and we decided to visit the temple grounds of three other temples along our route. We picked the perfect weekend as the weather was sunny and warm for November. No jackets needed. We were surrounded by beautiful fall leaves. The kids had a great time strolling through the leaves and brought a few leaf souvenirs home.

Christus in Temple Square Visitor's Center

While in Provo, we visited our Alma Mater BYU. While some things were exactly the same as it was 11 years ago, other things are very different. We walked through some of the new buildings and the boys loved the Hall of Fame building with all the sports memorabilia. Zach bought a football at the bookstore and it was so fun to watch them play catch while running around campus.

We headed up the mountain to Sundance Resort. While at BYU, we would drive up and go for long walks and have some serious conversations about our future. He popped the question on this bridge a little over 13 years ago and we had our engagement pictures taken in front of the waterfall. It is always a fun place to go back and reminisce.

It was a wonderful trip and we were lucky to visit with some good friends and special thanks to Aunt Trudy and Uncle Lance for letting us stay when we were too tired to drive all the way home on Saturday.