I Spy: Week 3

I'm starting to really enjoying telling the story of each week through pictures. You might just see more of these photo a day challenges, so I hope you're enjoying the little glimpses of life around here. This week I've discovered "actions" for Photoshop, so I've been playing more with the editing process. That being said, here we go again:

Day 15: Memory

Last Saturday we went up Big Cottonwood canyon with some of Graham's family to make foil dinners and s'mores. I LOVE campfires. It's one of those smells that instantly returns me to childhood camping trips to Princess Campground. There are few things better than a perfectly roasted marshmallow (except maybe a perfectly roasted Starburst...but that's another topic altogether).

Day 16: Soft

Soft skin, soft blanket, soft light. Perfect morning.

Day 17: Dramatic

I feel like this fire should be on the cover of The Hunger Games or The Lord of the Rings. I think it's what one would call...epic.

Day 18: Gift

Best gift I ever got. And he even arrived in time for Mothers Day this year. Now, that's service. Those storks know how to run a business.

Day 19: One

I took this picture yesterday. You can't see what a dark and gloomy day it was in the picture, but this single bright yellow flower made my day. 

Day 20: Low Angle

This is one of Will's favorite games these days. It's one of the best ways to get big smiles out of him. If I'm really lucky and he's in a good mood, sometimes I even get a laugh. Oh, how I live for his giggles.

Day 21: High Angle

Will and I drove up in the canyon yesterday because I wanted to take some pictures. He was a little cranky on the way there (he has a testy relationship with his car seat), but once I got him out of the car, he was in awe of the world around him. It was a little tricky taking pictures of him while squatting on the ground and propping him on my knee, but we made it work.

Day 22: Black and White

I didn't take this one, but I love it. We took family pictures last Tuesday, and it was quite the adventure. Despite our best efforts to be prepared, the experience was extremely stressful. Will wouldn't eat very well before, and he spit up on his outfit and Graham's right before the shoot, so he was really cranky for the rest of the short 45 minutes we had. I came home and cried because I was so exhausted, and I wasn't sure if the pictures were even going to turn out. Then I cried again when I went to look at the proofs that afternoon because I was shocked that some of them actually turned out well...and because I was still exhausted. I think this picture really captures Will's curious personality. He's ALWAYS looking around and trying to understand the world.

Day 23: Sunset

This is more of a "late afternoon" shot, I suppose, but I love the soft light that comes at the end of the day. This picture makes me feel all warm inside, like I'm still sitting in the sunshine.

Day 24: Blessings

Do you remember the remake of the Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street? I love that the little girl's Christmas wish isn't for a bike or a doll or something else trivial that will likely break or be outgrown in a matter of weeks or months. Instead, what does she want? A house, a brother, and a dad. I feel like I'm Mara Wilson at the end of the movie when her wish really comes true...except my wish for so many year has been a house, a husband, and a child. And now I have them. I am blessed.

And...here's a bonus picture, because it makes me smile. That's my boy.

I Spy: Week 2

Last week I managed to find something OTHER than Will to take a picture of for each day's challenge. Although he's my favorite subject to photograph, I wanted some variety, so I tried to branch out from proud mommy shots. This week, however, I included some photos of him because they just fit perfectly with some of the themes...and he's super cute. Here we go...

Day 8: Laughter

Will discovered his toes last week, and he spent the better part of a stormy Monday playing with them. He can't get enough of them, and I can't get enough of watching him discover the world. It makes me laugh to see him so intrigued by little wonders of life. What a blessing to see the world anew.

Day 9: Light

This was the view from my sister's front porch last week. Beautiful!

Day 10: Home

They began framing our house last week. We now have a garage and a bathroom (sort of). We're ready to move in! Funny side note...they would have been much further on the framing of the house when we went to check, but apparently they had to send all the carpenters home because the lumber they had was too short. That's the bad news. The good news is that the reason the lumber is too short is because they dug the foundation deeper than planned and poured concrete for nine foot ceilings in the basement! Hooray for MAJOR upgrades at no cost! 

Day 11: Sweet

Umm...hello, beautiful. This was dessert last night. Fudge, cookies, and cheesecake. I love Costco, and I love my sister and brother-in-law for having wonderful taste in desserts.

Day 12: Happiness

When I was a child, we had a Charles Schultz (Peanuts creator) book called Happiness is a Warm Puppy. Each page had something simple that can bring joy to life, like a warm puppy or a soft blanket. For me, happiness is my little boy who is oblivious to the impressive waterfall of drool hanging from his chin. :)

Day 13: Comfort

Will's favorite toy, and one of the best ways to comfort him, is his toy moose. Yep, a moose. It has everything he loves: bright colors, various textures, jingles and rattles, and lots of parts to grab and chew on. Yum. 

Day 14: Pure

No frills. Just pure sunlight, a soft spot to relax, and a curious boy...practically perfect in every way.

P.S. - In other news, Will is now four months old! He had a checkup last week with shots to celebrate. Here are his stats:

Length: 27 inches

Weight: 13.4 lbs

He's still our tall, thin boy who's learning new things every day. He'll probably outgrow his infant car seat by six months if he keeps going at this rate. 

I Spy

Since Will was born, I have been trying to improve my photography skills so that I can capture all those priceless moments that he regularly creates. This month, I started a photo-a-day challenge that my friend sent me on Facebook. Here is the first week's worth of pictures....Enjoy!

Day 1: Fall

I can't believe the leaves are beginning to change color. Where did my summer go?

Day 2: Sun Flare

I had fun learning how to make sun flares with my camera. Hooray for Google and The Pioneer Woman for teaching me how to do it. 

Day 3: Vintage

Graham worked late for a few days this week, so I took Will to Wheeler Farm for an after dinner adventure to keep us sane during the evening hours. Plus, I thought it would be a great place to find inspiration for "vintage" photography. Then again, anything looks vintage when you put it in sepia tones. Don't you think?

Day 4: Games

Graham and I have become addicted to puzzles lately. This is our fourth in the last month or so.

  

Day 5: Inspiration

Down the street from my apartment complex is an old, kinda run-down auto shop. On my walk with Will the other day, I noticed that out back they had these stacks of tires. Why did I take a picture of tires for "inspiration"? Well, frankly, because I thought they looked cool, and it inspired me to photograph them. That counts, right?

Day 6: Love

Love can be many things. It can be a kind word, a hug after a long day, or it can be your husband catching a bee in a cup at a wedding reception that is driving you crazy (and making the other guests at the table think you actually ARE crazy). Love is the simple acts of service.

Day 7: Friendship

My dad and my niece. The have SO much fun together and are such good friends. At my sister's wedding, their friendship reached a whole new level as they bonded over their matching band-aids.

Stay tuned for more pictures from my photo challenge!

Home Sweet Home

This is my house:

Or, more correctly, it's the ground on which my house is being built. If you use your imagination, you can see what it will look like. If you don't have an imagination, I've made a CGI version to help:

Okay, so that doesn't help much, but happily, you won't have to imagine the house much longer because they began work on the lot last week! As of last Monday, we didn't know when they would start building, but as of Tuesday, we had a hole...

and now we have some concrete in the hole...

Graham and I have been house hunting since the first of the year, but we had a really hard time finding what we were looking for anywhere in Salt Lake or Davis counties. We had hoped to move before Will was born, but clearly that didn't happen. When Will was 5 days old, Graham noticed a new listing that looked interesting. It was in a great area, and at a really good price. We went to the neighborhood to drive by the "house" and quickly realized that they were just lots with suggested floor plans you could build. Although we had previously ruled out the possibility of building a home, we were intrigued by the location and the possibility of being able to customize a home to our needs. Besides, what better way to adjust to parenthood than by driving around the valley with a one week old baby to meet with agents and builders? 

It was all a bit crazy, but we're happy that the house is making visible progress at last. Plus, this means that I can sing "I'll be (in a) home for Christmas" this year...and NOT only in my dreams. On the contrary, this IS the home of my dreams in many ways. It will have a beautiful kitchen, open floor plan, lots of natural light with a walkout basement, and plenty of room for Master William to run around in the big backyard. We're even going to turn the formal living room into a library/office! What more could a former English teacher want?

While we were there on Saturday, Will had fun playing in our new backyard.

For now, though, we are enjoying our little apartment. Will has officially learned how to roll over...

and now he's working on his reading skills...

And the adventure continues!

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Higher. Faster. Stronger.


Is anyone else ridiculously excited about the Olympics? I had forgotten how much I enjoy watching them until they began again last weekend. I think it's amazing that hundreds of countries (205 to be exact) are willing to put aside differences for a few weeks and come together to challenge themselves and celebrate the best athletes each country has to offer. Yes, it's a competition. But it's also an opportunity to find common ground.


We celebrated the opening ceremonies on Friday by having our own Olympic competition. He had five events:

Shotput 

(Yes, those are balloons)

100 inch dash 

(These were our decorated racers that went over a lemon that we had to "poke" across the table and back)

Javelin

(It's harder to throw a toothpick than you might think)

Boxing

(Okay, this was a stretch. Have you ever played the game where you have to wear ski gloves and try to open a candy bar with a spoon and knife? That's what we did. How is that boxing? There was a BOX of candy, and there were GLOVES involved. Told you it was a stretch. It was also one of those moments where Graham and I realized we had very different ideas of how a childhood game that "everybody knows" is supposed to work.)

and basketball...which I didn't get pictures of because I was trying to take care of Will and I forgot. Oops.

It was absolutely ridiculous, but so fun! I think it's going to have to be a tradition during the Olympics. Maybe next time I'll make medals and everyone can come up with a personal anthem that we can play if they win. Hmmm...possibilities.

Oh, and for extra fun, here's a recent picture of Will to finish the post.

 Why did I choose this picture, which is pretty mediocre photography? Because it's proof that Graham and I had to put him in a 9 month sleeper last week for the first time because he's growing like a weed! See...

 Love that boy!

Let the OLYMPICS begin!

I can do it MYSELF

I saw this video on Facebook today:

On monkey bars, girl sums up childhood in 20 seconds

Go watch it now. It's only 20 seconds after all.

MSN, who posted the video, entitled it "On Monkey Bars, Girl Sums Up Childhood in 20 Seconds." As I watched it, however, I couldn't help but think that this little girl's experience at the playground explains more than childhood; it sums up my entire relationship with my Heavenly Father (and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one).

So often, we say, "I don't need you" only to realize seconds later that we actually need the help of our eternal father desperately. Then, when He, in his infinite mercy, rushes to our aid, we shortly after dismiss His help and forget to acknowledge his hand in our lives and his all-knowing eye watching over us. The human, imperfect side of me says that maybe the Lord should just say, "Fine, you don't need me, huh? See what happens now!" and let us fall off the monkey bars. But the Lord is perfect...and loves perfectly. So he, like the father in the video, continues to stand nearby, ready to help whenever we call upon Him.

Oh, how I need Him. I CAN'T do it myself...and the beautiful truth is that I don't have to.

Two Month Birthday

Will turns two months old today! Part of me can't figure out how the past two months have gone by so fast, and the other part can't remember life without my little man. He had his two month check-up yesterday and he's growing well (although the doctor commented on how long his ears are...never heard that one before).

Here are his stats:

Height: 25 inches (above 95th percentile...so, really, he's off the chart)

Weight: 11 pounds 2 ounces (50th percentile)

Cuteness: Also off the charts

Will has learned a lot in the past two months. He decided a few weeks ago to start sleeping through the night, which is a HUGE blessing for his parents. I feel almost human again. He usually goes to bed between 10:00 and 11:00 and will sleep until 7:00 or 8:00. Wahoo! Ironically, he will NOT nap in his crib during the day for more than about five minutes. I think 20 was his record.


He'd rather hang out is in his bouncy chair, which is pretty much the best investment we made. Sometimes though, he kicks so much that he just about slides off the bottom of the chair...and then falls asleep. Whatever works, right?

He is also much more interactive and smiles in response to people now. I love when he first wakes up and smiles at me (until he realizes he hasn't eaten in nine hours and gets cranky).

He also gets really excited when Graham comes home from work and holds him. He LOVES play time with Daddy. Can't you tell?

He's experienced a lot of firsts this month: his first hike, first concert, and first parade. The biggest event this month for our little family is that we blessed Will on July 1 at church.

Thankfully, it was nothing like the dream that Graham had when I was pregnant. He dreamed that we were sitting in church with our new baby boy (p.s.-he had this dream before we knew the baby's gender), and we realized all of the sudden that we were supposed to bless him that day. The only problem was that we hadn't picked a name for him yet! We had a hushed discussion about it as the announcements were being read over the pulpit, but we couldn't decide. His dream ended as he was walking up to the front of the chapel, still not sure what we should name the baby. Good thing that in real life we were confident in Will's name, so all Graham had to worry about was whether Will would spit up all over him in the middle of the blessing. I am happy to report that he didn't. Instead, he just sat quietly (except for one kick in the face to Graham's dad) and looked adorable in his suit made by my mom.

So, life continues to be an adventure around here, but we're loving our little man and look forward to watching him continue to grow. Oh, and in other news...he'll get to spend his first Christmas in a HOUSE. We've decided to build a home and it will hopefully be done by the end of November. More on that later. For now, we're keeping cozy in our little apartment. Happy July!