New Year's Resolution

I used to make elaborate New Year's resolutions: multiple goals that were divided into categories of physical, spiritual, educational/mental, and personal development. It was good at the time, but in an effort to simplify my life and lower stress levels, I stopped making these detailed resolutions a few years ago. Last year, my goal was simply to "be present wherever I am." I made it my motto for the year, and I think it has helped me be a better mom.

However, I miss the tangibility of measuring a goal, and I have a specific one that I've decided to tackle this year: improving my photography.

While I was encouraged by all your kind words about the wedding photos I shared with you in my last post, shooting that wedding really opened my eyes to all the things I don't know how to do with my camera.

Someone once told me, "If you're ever unhappy with something, there are two options: change your expectation or change something you are doing. That's all you can control."

So, I'm taking control of my photography and changing my actions.

I'm embarking on a photo a day challenge for the year. I will take at least one photo each day, preferably with my nice camera but my phone camera still counts, and I'll post them weekly (I hope) on my blog to keep myself accountable. I'm also going to try to tackle a different skill each month (nailing crisp focus, setting custom white balance, improving shots in low light scenarios, etc.). My goal is two-fold: first, to improve my photography skills, and second, to document the sometimes overlooked aspects of my daily life.

January's skill to improve: learn to manipulate focus better so that the subject is tack sharp.

Here's the first batch of pictures. Enjoy!

January 1: Choo Choo!

January 2: Book Lover

January 3: Serious Science

January 4: Making Sunday Dessert...Like Father Like Son

January 5: Nom Nom

January 6: The Tallest Tower in the World!

January 7: Puddle Stomping

January 8: Float or Sink?
Would you believe this game kept my crazy son occupied for an entire hour?!

January 10: Alfajores (AKA - addicting cookies) for Peru Night



January 10: Wild Man
Walks in January? Yes, please! Especially if there is a stick involved.

January 11: Six Months Old! (Okay, the photo shoot was a few days late)

 January 12: Brotherly Love

January 13: Food, Glorious (Solid) Food!

So You Want to Be a Wedding Photographer?

I've already written about our bustling, busy, full-of-family Christmas. What I haven't explained is that the reason we had so much family around for Christmas was that Graham's brother got married two days after Christmas.

He had to go all the way to Romania to find her, but Consuela is wonderful, and I'm sure Josh would say she was worth the wait.

Planning a wedding in two and a half months is no small task (I know, I did it, too), so I offered to do whatever I could to help. What they needed, in the end, was a photographer. Something about the fancy camera I own must have tricked them into thinking I know how to use it, and they asked me to be their photographer. In truth, I love photography, but I know that I am far from being a professional. Still, I told them I thought I could probably get them a few good pictures.

By the way, did you know that it is incredibly difficult to photograph a wedding? It's a day full of priceless moments that you can't ever get back and that you want to capture in a photo forever. Oh, and it turns out that getting the proper exposure on a shot that involves a white dress and a black tuxedo is tricky. It didn't help that it was beyond cold on their wedding day, which made outside photography tricky. By the time we were done shooting outdoors, I literally couldn't feel my fingers, so I had to keep looking to see if I was actually pressing the shutter release. Brrr!

Still, it was a great learning experience for me, and I loved getting to spend time with Josh and Consuela on their wedding day. It's amazing what you see through the lens of a camera when you're watching two people interact. I loved watching their love.

Here are some of my favorites:

This was a random shot I took as Consuela was trying to stuff her dress in the car when we were heading out to go take pictures, but I love it. She's so beautiful!

Josh carried Consuela every time we walked outside so her dress would't get dirty or wet. 

What a good man!

I think this one is my very favorite. They just look so natural and happy.

During the ceremony:

I had to include one of Will as the ring bearer! He actually gave the ring to Josh. Hooray!

The Wedding Party

Enjoying Life is Not Negotiable

Do you ever think to yourself that maybe you got in a little over your head? I have a really bad habit of doing just that. Because of my ambitions to make homemade gifts, entertain various groups of people, attend several holiday events, and keep try to find a clean house, I found myself a bit run down the week before Christmas.

The weekend before Christmas I was madly trying to finish sewing a handful of projects I had started with the intent of giving several homemade gifts this year. I was also trying to finish neighbor gifts, clean the house before company arrived, and plan all sorts of activities related to Christmas. I ended up with a to do list that was more than two pages long. Seriously. We're talking 8 1/2 x 11 binder paper...college ruled. Oh, and I had made two columns per page. Can you say overload?

Needless to say, I was stressed. Graham was stressed. Neither one of us was in the Christmas spirit. As we sat on the couch one evening, overwhelmed and tired, I was reminded of a conversation we had a few days before we got married.

At that time, we had been up to our eyeballs in wedding preparations, and I was trying to figure out how to juggle everything that needed to happen the day before the wedding. Graham was telling me that he would like to schedule some time in the day for us to be together, just the two of us, and I was expressing concern that I didn't know if that was feasible with everything else that was going on. Then he said something that made me reconsider my priorities: "Megan, spending a little bit of quality time with my fiancee the day before we get married is not negotiable to me."

He was right. I had gotten so wrapped up in all the other details of the wedding that I had forgotten what was most important.

This all came back to me on that night a few weeks ago, and I turned to Graham, and said, "Enjoying Christmas is not negotiable. What do we need to change so that we can focus on enjoying family traditions and celebrating the birth of the Savior?"

Mostly, my answer was to change my attitude. I still had a lot to do (you can't host 25 people for Christmas dinner without having some necessary tasks to accomplish), but I stopped trying to be the "Pinterest Perfect" hostess. I could still make sure everyone had clean sheets and food to eat without worrying about having a welcome basket on every bed, hanging all the artwork that had been sitting around for months, and creating a list of fun activities for family members coming into town. I realized our house would be much more comfortable for our guests if I focused on having fun than if I stressed over making place cards and a DIY centerpiece for Christmas dinner.

Graham and I decided that we WOULD enjoy Christmas. And, you know what? We did. It was still crazy, and I was a bit exhausted by New Year's (no thanks to the adorable baby who decided to forgo sleeping for several nights), but I really did have a great holiday.

Here's a peek at what we did:

Wright Sisters (and families) Christmas Eve Crepe Breakfast

 Daren and Jason sporting their dino hats I made (they might actually fit by next winter...oops)

Christmas Morning!

Will LOVES candy canes! (Okay, he loves any kind of sugar)

 The Kings...we loved having them stay with us for Christmas, and Will loved having cousins around.

 Logan opening his very first present (and yes, he's eating the paper)

I didn't know our house could actually hold this many people, but apparently it can.

And after Christmas, the fun continued with a WEDDING! Stay tuned for how I attempted to be a florist and a photographer all in the same day.

I'm Thankful For... My Smartphone

Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday of the year (It's hard to compete with Christmas). I love that it isn't overly commercial, and I love that it gives me cause to reflect on the many blessings I have...one of which is my phone.

If I were to glance at my blog post title from the perspective of a stranger, I would probably roll my eyes and lament the state of a world completely overrun by technology. But, before you begin to think me just another screen addict, hear me out.

Someone once told me that the hours and minutes of motherhood sometimes drag, but the months and years fly by far too quickly. For me, it's easy to get bogged down in the monotony of daily life. After all, I've changed over 2500 diapers this year. There are some chores that just aren't exciting the first time, let alone the two-thousandth.

But, that's why I'm grateful for my smartphone. A few weeks ago, when I was in the midst of the 4:00 in the afternoon "Is-it-time-for-Daddy-to-come-home-yet?" doldrums, I began flipping through the pictures on my phone. This is what I found:

Suddenly, rather than being overwhelmed by the need to come up with ideas of what to do for the next two hours, I was smiling at all the fun we'd had in the past couple of months. See, I need these reminders of all the good, happy, funny, silly, and hilarious moments in my life. It's too easy to focus on all the tantrums, sleepless nights, and fussy times. It's too easy to get swallowed by the laundry, crumbs, and clutter piling up as I try to take care of my boys. But, I am grateful for the convenient little camera on my phone that helps me capture the good moments that would otherwise be soon forgotten, pushed aside by problems to be solved.

So, I am grateful for my smartphone. Not because of the cool apps or its pretty teal color, but because the pictures I take with it help me put my life back in perspective on days that otherwise seem really hard.

There and Back Again...Our Epic California Trip

So, last week, we did something kind of crazy. We packed up our little family, and we drove to California with Graham's Dad and younger brother. We also met his sister, Megan, and her family there. In five days, we drove there and back and went to Disneyland, California Adventure, and the beach. Can you say whirlwind?

I was more than a little nervous before we left. I knew Will would be okay in the car (thank you, iPad!), but I had no idea what to expect from Logan. He actually did better than expected overall, though I definitely had a sore arm from reaching into the back seat to hold his pacifier in his mouth during some rough patches. 

Beyond the car ride, I didn't know how Logan would do in the parks. After all, they're not really geared toward infants, although I was pleased that several of the rides didn't even have height restrictions. He's now ridden Buzz Lightyear, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, the carousel, and a few others...mostly while sleeping in the Moby wrap. I can't say I would actually recommend taking an infant to Disneyland, but I learned that it is possible, and we still enjoyed ourselves immensely.

My favorite part was watching Will's reaction to everything. He's such a little observer that he didn't react strongly to most of the rides when we were on them. He would just stare wide-eyed at everything going on. But as soon as a ride would end, he would look at me and yell, "More, more!" And, with the help of a few napkins stuffed in his shoes, he was tall enough to ride a lot of the rides. His favorite by far was Radiator Springs Racers in California Adventure. He loved how fast the cars went. He was completely exhausted by the end of each day, but I'm pretty sure he would do it again in heartbeat.

Here's the whole gang in front of Disneyland:

Toon Town--We love fire trucks!

Will, exhausted, but happy:

I even managed to get a shot with my boys!

Sandwiched in between our two days in the parks, we spent a morning at the beach. Will wasn't super thrilled about playing in the water, but he loved having a giant sandbox to dig in. His cousins were so good to him, and they were really patient with his tendency to destroy things. We're working on that.

It was a great break from the crowds and fast pace of the parks, almost relaxing even...until I locked our keys in the car. I am so talented, in fact, that I even locked our back up key in the car along with the normal key. I'm impressive that way. Thank goodness for a father-in-law who has AAA and for a speedy locksmith. 

The highlight of that day was getting to see my best friend, Stephanie, who drove up from San Diego. After she waited in the pool area at the hotel for an hour while I sorted our the locked car issue, we finally met up and had a great afternoon letting our boys play at the pool and having dinner at CPK. I tell you what, good friends are hard to come by, and I'm grateful to have one like her. We don't see each other often, but I always love when we do manage to carve out some time to spend together.

So, we survived our adventure, and we made some great memories along the way. Now, on to celebrate Halloween. Stay turned for ridiculously cute pictures!