The Way I View - The Holidays

This more or less sums it up.  :)

Check back later and I'll link to some other blogs.

The Way I View - Blessings

I think the topic this month was particularly fitting for me.  True, everyone else in the US was also celebrating Thanksgiving this month, and most likely feeling especially grateful for all of their blessings.  But I have to say, I have really felt the Lord's hand in our lives lately.

There is seriously no doubt in my mind that He led us to this home.  We really had no intention of moving at the beginning of Summer, and before the end of the summer, we were in our new home.  And let me tell you, it has been SUCH a blessing.  Not just for the extra space, but it just feels like everything is better for us here.  The school is wonderful, the neighbors are so friendly and kind, the ward has been so welcoming.  At first I was a little bit nervous about the transition for the kids, but even they just love it here.  It truly feels like home. 

Yes, we miss our old neighborhood, and being so close to good friends, but the Lord knew what he was doing when he put us here.  And for that, I am so grateful. 

Now head on over to MelissaGibson's blog to check out another blog circle's take on gratitude.

The Way I View - Halloween

So when the twins were born, I dreamed of taking full advantage of them when they were toddlers and dressing them up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Halloween.   Two days ago I realized that dream.  In fact, we made it a family ordeal.

About a year ago, just after Halloween, I asked Addison what she thought about our whole family dressing up as characters from the Cat in the Hat next year.  She was thrilled when I suggested she be Sally.

She also suggested Hannah be Nick (for those of you wondering "who?", there's a Cat in the Hat series on PBS staring the Cat, Sally, and Nick, Sally's friend...I assume it's a friend...although I suppose I don't really know.  He could be her adopted or half brother I suppose...I haven't watched closely enough to figure it out...but I'll go with friend).  At this suggestion, I responded, "How about the fish instead?"

Not gonna lie, I was pretty intimidated at the thought of one of my kids being the fish.  I was planning on doing everything as inexpensively as possible, which meant making costumes, and I had no idea how to do a fish.  Fortunately I found this blog, and took it from there.  In retrospect I would have changed the head to look more like a fish and less like an octopus.  I also would have made it a bit smaller, but overall I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. 

I also am pretty proud of the fish bowl.  Bart does these people sculptures out of packing tape with his art classes every so often.  I used the same technique with a yoga ball instead of a person....well, really Bart did most of the work.  :)  (Like I said, it was a family ordeal.)  If I had had more time I would have cut down the top a little more so it'd look a little less like a ball, but eh.  She was happy with it and so was I.

In fact, Hannah wasn't just Happy with it, she LOVED it!  All night she was doing this little dance down the street singing, "I am the fish, I am the fish."   A few days before Halloween I even heard Addison telling someone that if she had known the Fish would have a fish bowl, she would have wanted to be the fish.  The bowl was a hit.

We decided Maya would be thing one since she was born first.

And let me tell you, it's a small miracle that I got any pictures of her.  She WOULD NOT sit still for even a second...EVER.  Most of the pictures I  got of her (and Lilly for that matter). Were very out of focus.  They played the part of energetic Thing 1 & 2 VERY well.

And here's Lilly:

Not gonna lie, they made some pretty dang cute...Things.


I gotta teach Lilly how to kiss without sticking that tongue out.  ;)

At first the twins weren't quite sure about the whole trick or treating thing.  They are rather shy shy around people they don't know well.

But they warmed up to it quickly.  It kind of reminded me of that Jerry Seinfeld sketch, "Everyone that we know is just giving out candy?!?!"

And Addison was actually with us.  She was just a lot faster than the rest of us.  As soon as she got the candy in her bag, she was off to the next door.  Thing 1 & 2 and the fish needed a little help getting down stairs (it's hard to walk in a fish bowl).

My sister Stacy came with us too.  She dressed up as a nerd.  She was the cutest little nerd I've ever seen.  :)

This was the most decorated house we went to.



In fact, there was a little boy right behind us that refused to go to the door because he was scared.  Poor little guy.

Overall it was a really great Halloween.



If anyone else in my blog circle posts, I'll link to their blog, but in the mean time, here's a link to another blog circle doing the same theme:  http://www.melissagibsonphotography.com/2012/11/02/the-way-i-view-halloween/  Enjoy!

The Way I View - Back To School

I can't believe another month has passed already.  I swear, the older I get, the faster time passes.

Well, this month's theme is "Back to School."  Even though Addison's my first in school, September has always felt like Back to school to me because Bart is a teacher.  But this year, the big difference in our house has been Addison reading for class.  Technically her homework is us reading 15 minutes every day with her, but we do that at bed time already, so I've been having her read books on her own, and she's doing great, and really enjoying it to boot!  :)








And um....is anyone as excited as me about Halloween?  Every time I go into a store I have to seriously restrain myself to keep from purchasing hundreds of dollars worth of Halloween decorations.  I suspect the next "Way I View" post is going to be fun.  :)

Check back and I'll include a link to the other Back to School posts in the blog chain.

The Way I View - Summer Life

Well, really, the way I view summer life has been very different than the reality of summer life this year.  But the other day we took a break from packing boxes and spent some time out in the yard playing.

It was a much needed break, but it was also very bittersweet for me.  We will be moving in a few weeks, so we're coming down to our last few days of goofing off in our yard.  I know the move will be great for us, but we just love this home so much.  And considering how much we have to pack and clean, I realized, this may be the last time I get photos of the kids and Bart goofing off in this yard.  I loved it, but it also made me a bit sad.  Change may be for the best some times, but it's always hard.  :)

Anyway, these pictures are really how I view Summer Life...Bart off for the summer playing in the yard on warm summer evenings.  Even if it's not very representative of our summer this year, this is how I want to remember summers in this house.







Lilly was very nervous about the ball being thrown/kicked around.


Dad made sure she got in on the fun though.


Really I think she was just sad that I blocked off her playhouse.  (There are a TON of spiders in it and I decided it was no longer safe to play in until someone (cough cough...Bart) got in there and got rid of them). 

After I took that picture she literally tried to climb in the window.  I wish I had caught a picture of her feet hanging out of the window, but I was too busy keeping her from falling on her head.  Girl loves her playhouse!

After that she decided to sit on the porch and talk on the phone.  I'm pretty sure she was reporting all the shenanigans to grandma.

 







Bart started this game with the girls where they'd run away from him and he'd kick the ball at them...AS HARD AS HE COULD.  He sure knows how to stress this mama out.  And how to get these girls to giggle and laugh like none other.  (Out of focus, I know, but totally worth it.) :)



Yep, this is exactly how I want to remember summer life in this home.



Check back in a few days for a link to some other lovely posts about summer life.  :)

The Way I View - Fatherhood

Good grief, how is it July already?  Well, I'm not going to lie, my plans for my Fatherhood posts turned out much like my plans for my Motherhood post.  Except I didn't realize I hadn't fulfilled my plans until...well...today...which was a bit too late for the month of June.

Fortunately, Bart is out of school for the summer, so we've been doing lots of stuff as a family, so I had lots of pictures of him.  There are some definite benefits to being a school teacher.   :)

We started off the month visiting the Children's Art's Festival in Springville.  And honestly, I'm pretty sure I couldn't have planned on pictures that are more illustrative of the special bond Bart has with our girls than these. THIS is their thing.  This is what they do together.  What they bond over.  Bart is an art teacher, and the girls absolutely LOVE it when he does any type of art with them.  And I KNOW that the feeling is mutual.

I was horrified when we got to the art's festival and realized I had left my camera at home.  Fortunately Bart had his iPhone, so all was not lost and I was able to capture the day with that. 

Just like Motherhood is not all fun and games, neither is Fatherhood.  This month we had to replace part of our fence that had blown down in a windstorm.  It had blown down a while ago, but Bart had absolutely no time to work on it because he was trying desperately to finish his Master's degree.  Technically at this point he wasn't done, but he had submitted it and was waiting for a response from the Dean, so he thought he'd take the day he had to put up the fence. 

In the process of digging the holes for the posts, he realized that the roots of a dead tree were right in the way, so pulling down the dead tree moved from relatively low on his to do list to first priority. 

Unfortunately, pulling out the tree wound up breaking EVERY SINGLE sprinkler connected to the sprinkler box right next  to the tree.  So fixing that was added to his to do list that day. 

It was a long (although quite productive) day.  He NEVER would have been able to do it all without the help (and positive attitude) of our good friend.  Seriously Jake, I'm pretty sure we owe you for the rest of our lives!  Thank you!

Fortunately, the good things tend to outweigh the...trying things.  Ice Cream with the girls.  AWESOME. (Don't worry, that's face paint on Hannah's face, not some sort of crazy scratch.)

And going to the older girls' performances, and seeing them dance and sing and have a great time...a total perk of fatherhood.

Even if life isn't always sunshine and roses, I sure am grateful I'm going through it with this guy.  And I'm so grateful he's my girls' dad.  They are so lucky to have a father who loves and adores them so much.  I love you babe!

Head on over to Candace's blog to see her take on fatherhood (I promise it'll make you smile). ;)

The Way I View - Motherhood

The theme this month for our "The Way I View" blog circle is Motherhood.

I hand very grandiose plans for my pictures this month.  They were going to be tender, loving, happy, wonderful.  Yeah, you all were going to cry...and then motherhood happened.  Things got busy, kids were crazy, schedules were full, the house was dirty, etc.

I originally wanted the pictures done by Mother's Day, then I figured it'd be fine if they were done the week after Mother's Day, then as long as they were done before our Moab trip, then I knew I'd have more time this week to get them done, and lo and behold, tonight as I'm putting the older girls down for bed I realize, "Oh my gosh, it's the last day of the month and I haven't done the motherhood pictures."  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the way I view motherhood. Te he he.

I thought about copping out and just pulling together some pictures I got this month of my kids doing the crazy things that I absolutely love about them, but then I thought, "NO! If I don't get pictures of me with my kids now, when will I do it next?!?"  So I grabbed my camera, tripod and shutter release and took them upstairs to get some pictures with my older girls before all the evening light disappeared.  This was the result:

Oh how I wish life could be about blankies and barbies forever.

So there you go, that's the way I view motherhood.  Mostly improvised, not quite perfect, rough around the edges, but a whole lot of fun.

I've included links to my other "The Way I View..." posts in the footer down below if you want to check them all out. Now go check out Candice's post about motherhood.

The Way I View - Friendship

It's that time of month again!  And this month's theme is friendship.  I actually was thinking about using several pictures, but I just kept coming back to this one:

Yes, that is me on the right, and yes, technically I did not take this picture...although I did get all the settings right in the camera before I handed it off to my husband, and I edited the picture....but no, I did not click the shutter.

Nevertheless, this picture, more than any other I have from this month, depicts the way I view friendship.  These are two of my three best friends in the world.  One I've known since second grade, and the other since junior high.  How many people are lucky enough to have had friends for so long?  We've been through teenage drama together, gone through first kisses and boyfriends together, graduated from college together, had girls nights (and weekends) out together, raised kids and started jobs together, cried together, laughed together, stayed up talking into the wee morning hours together, and done crazy color 5ks together.  I seriously can't imagine my life with out these two.

In all honesty, we never get together as much as we should, but whenever we do, it's awesome.  And no matter how long it's been since the last time we've seen each other, when we do get together, it's like no time has passed.  Friends like that don't just come around every day.  They only develop over a lifetime, and I feel so lucky to have them. 

As for my third best friend, well, I know she's loving being out of Utah, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm rooting for her to come back after her husband graduates.  ;)

And, because it still kind of feels like cheating since I didn't take the picture above, here's one I did take of my kids at the same 5k.  I'm glad they're such good friends.

Now go and check out Angela's take on the theme.

The Way I View - Happiness

So March's theme was "The Way I View Happiness."  (In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can check out this post, or this post).  This winter has been soooo unbelievably warm.  Instead of a March that felt very much like the middle of winter, there were quite a few days that felt very much like late spring.  For someone who detests the cold (uh, yeah, ME!) it was WONDERFUL!  I even was able to sneak to the park with the older girls while Bart was home watching the twins.



When I was young I LOVED to swing.  I loved going as high as I could and would pretend I was flying.  It was the best!  I think my girls take after me.  I LOVE it.  :)

Now go check out Courtney's blog, she's sharing a picture that will bring a smile to the face of any mom.

The Way I View - Sweetness & Love

As I mentioned last month. I've joined 11 other photographers and committed to take a picture each month depicting a theme.  February's theme was "sweetness & love".

Having twins is very tricky...in a lot of ways really, but lately I've felt concerned about making sure I get enough one on one time with each of them.  Maya actually makes it pretty easy for me to get alone time with her.  She wakes up from naps nearly forty-five minutes before Lilly almost every day.  Most of the time we head downstairs and start getting lunch or dinner ready, but one time this month I decided to just play with her on our bed.

We were interrupted briefly by a phone call, after which Maya demanded the phone.  When my attempts to distract her with something else failed, I finally just gave up and gave her the phone.  Then I just sat back and watched her discover, what to her, was this amazing new thing.  The buttons, the beeping, the lines and dots, the funny noise it made after a while until mom pushed one of the big buttons.  There's something so endearing about watching a baby explore something you take for granted every day. 

Having little ones can definitely be challenging at times, but I have to admit, I'm going to be very sad when there are no more babies in our house.

Now head on over to Leslie's blog to see her interpretation of the theme.

The Way I View - New Beginnings

So I'm not a huge resolution person, but I do love taking time at the beginning of a new year to make some goals for myself.  To me, each year is a fresh start.  A chance to commit to improving myself and trying new things.  I used to make a rather lengthy list of goals every year, but since the number of children in my house exploded in a rather short amount of time, the list has been whittled down a bit.

This year one of my goals was to really work on slowing down and spending time thinking about the pictures I'm taking instead of just snapping away and praying that I get something good.  In order to keep myself accountable, I joined a group of 11 other women and committed to take a photo based on a theme each month and then share it on our blogs.

January's theme was "New Beginnings," and for my picture, I decided to photograph one of my other goals: trying a new recipe at least two times a month.  Below is a picture of one of the new recipes Bart & I tried out this month.  It's a Citrus Shortbread Torte, and it was FABULOUS!  It also didn't really help with my other goal to eat healthier, but eh, here's to New Beginnings!  :)

 

 If you'd like to see pictures from the other ladies, head on over to Kelly's blog.