What can you find?

Being at home all day, there are short, random blips of times during the day where the kids are playing and don't need anything from me and the house is tidy and I find myself with a few minutes (never sure how long) and I roam the internet. There is a site that you can find almost any kind of t-shirt, button, mug, etc that I love to roam. It is the same site where I found the 100% Romney shirt for Romney. Killing those minutes today I found shirt above. They have all kinds of random designs. I also found Romney a hoodie with the Romney coat of arms. (see below). So, when you find yourself with a few of those minutes to spare, see what stuff you can find with your name on it.

First Snow

Last night it snowed for the first time this season. I am always filled with dread at the sight of the snow. Snow always signals the end of my favorite season (fall) and the beginning of my least favorite time of year (winter). I anticipate the seemingly endless winter months filled with gray, polluted air, and cheerless days without any sight of sunshine and I just want to crawl in my bed and hibernate until spring comes (which in Utah doesn't happen until late May or early June many years). However, looking at the fresh white stuff through the eyes of my children cheers me considerably. They don't see the first snow as a foreshadowing of bad roads, bad air and bad moods, they see opportunities. Opportunities to build in new ways, with snow and ice and sticks and rocks. They see snow forts and snow men and snow ball wars. They joyfully anticipate the approaching Holiday Season, of time off from school and presents and goodies and love and family togetherness and all the magic that is Christmas. They don't feel the crush and pressure of holiday shopping, decorating and preparing. I am trying to be like my children and see opportunities. I want to focus on service and love and family and ignore the fact that I may not see the sun for months on end and I will have to scrape ice and snow off my car! While winter and I have never gotten along, perhaps I can learn from my children the joys of each season and cycle and enjoy my time in the snow.

Romney is 5

I can't believe our youngest family member is already 5 years old. We celebrated his birthday with a party today. Romney made the guest list that included pretty much everyone he knows, then his Momma whittled that list down to a more manageable number. He wanted to make stuffed animals, so build -a- bear was a logical place to do that. Romney had such a great time with his friends and loves his new bear named Poopy-pants (he is definitely a 5 year old boy).

Crazy Hair Day

Around here, those seem like everyday. I don't know how my kids sleep on their hair, but every morning is a struggle to make it lie flat. Today was a beautiful day, I didn't have to struggle, they wanted it to stand up! For school spirit week they have been enjoying things like crazy sock day, tie-die day, pj day and it culminates with crazy hair day. I think the results were hilarious this year.



From Crazy Hair Day to Crazy Week! I have had an incredibly busy week running my new business: Tara's Taxi Service. I have had quite a few customers, but all of them have been broke and I have not made a penny. In fact if you factor in gas and maintenance and vehicle wear and tear I am afraid my little endeavor is in the red! I have run more children, more places this past two weeks. From school to soccer to piano to play dates to field trips to cub scouts to birthday parties. I haven't been busy, but my kids have been! I am looking forward to slowing down and having some time to reflect how truly blessed I am to have two healthy and happy, smart kids, a busy super-man of a husband who I adore and who adores me, a beautiful home, and a car that works to run them all around in!

Before and After

The cheapskate in me has been looking at all kinds of alternative methods to pursue my new hobby. My very inexpensive camera, turned expensive, in the way of processing the film, very quickly. Luckily, the internet is ripe with information for anything under the sun and that included how to turn a "traditional" photo into a "Holga looking" shot using Photoshop. even after looking at the online tutorials, I needed a private real-life tutor and Bill and I had a blast tonight experimenting and learning. So, what do you think? Should I keep spending a fortune developing professional film to get these results? (MAYBE, getting these results is more like it.) I probably will do a bit of both "real" and "photoshop" Holga shots.