Dear Sister,
I’m excited for your wedding on Wednesday and super jealous of the family your gaining. They are amazing.
Dear Blog,
I don't know what I want to do with you. I think of all the posts I want to write and what direction I want this blog to go in and then it just doesn't happen which just makes me sad.
Dear Netflix,
I can’t get enough of you lately. I wish I could spend every night with you.
Dear Vacation photos,
Can you just edit yourself and then when your done doing that, blog about it?
Dear New house,
I miss you and cant wait to cook in your kitchen. I dream about it every night.
Dear Apartment,
Cant you just let us go already. Start packing while I am at work so then we can move out quicker. Ugh.
Dear Summer,
Please don't leave us just yet. I have yet to fully enjoy you. We haven't been in the pool much and I have a ton of popsicles in the freezer to eat. I only ask that cool down just a bit.
Today I thought I would share with you guys some before and after photos of our house. It has been a long hard road (mostly for our uncle THANK YOU for all the work you’ve done. seriously, you are pretty amazing!) to get our house looking good.
Can I just tell you that I am in love, IN LOVE with my kitchen. I can see my self spending a lot of time in here not only cooking but just enjoying it.
The changes we did to the living room make it sooo much bigger and I also love the main bathroom plus I love that we now have a bathroom in our room. awwwwwwe.
Oh gosh while I was looking back at those awful before shots of the house it made me cringe at the thought of the people who had to live in it. Man, did it need a redo. bad.
Okay Seriously, people just look at my kitchen again. Isn't it amazing! I am soooo glad we painted it orange and I am glad that I am not stuck with the old one. I would have died. seriously it was bad.
I will take more photos to show the rest of it soon maybe I'll do a video tour.
I love the way you look in the morning when you first wake up. The way your eyes slowly open to discover the light, your hair mashed and squished against the pillow.
The way you look towards me in the mirror as I fix my hair and lightly brush my make up on. The way you grudgingly get out of bed and touch my back as you pass me.
The way you thoughtfully say you love me and kiss my forehead. The way you grab the keys to warm up my car.
The way you sit out in the cold while I finish my morning routeing to keep my seat warm. The way you drop me off at work each morning even when its out of your way.
The way you call me while your busy at work just to let me know that you love me.The way your face lights up as your picking me up from work.
The way you laugh at the stupid nonsense I say as we pull into your driveway. The way you look at me in deep thought as you get out of the car.
The way you come into your room with a slight smile on your face after you’ve brushed your teeth. The way you sit right next to me on your bed and we talk until our thoughts run dry. The way we head back to my apartment holding hands quietly and I love the way at night just before we slip into a deep sleep you kiss and tell me you love me holding me tight for me to know that no harm will happen to me.
The way you try to get comfortable on my hard bed just to be next to me when I know you wish to be in yours and the way I know that I will love you always.
And Oh how I love the way you look in the morning when you first wake up.
Omg, people. We have carpet, which means we started moving boxes in. But lets not get too excited because we wont be in “in” for a few more weeks (or another month) We have until Sept 1 to get out of our apartment So my plan is to start doing one room at a time. Pack and then unpack and put it all away.
We will see if that's going to work but for now that's the plan I got. Tomorrow the kitchen will be pack and ready to be moved in. Unless it gets interrupted because if you live in Utah you know its Pioneer day which means parades bbqs and fireworks which we are going to do 100% (since our fourth was not really that exciting.) I just hope that I get my packing act together to get this plan a rollin’
Can you believe its move in time!?! Yeah, me either.
I admit I use my iPhone as my main camera more then I use my dslr camera. The main reason is because its small enough to stick in my pocket, always available and I am an instagram-oholic.
So today I thought I would share my tips and tricks to get amazing photos from your iPhone. I hope you use them to your advantage.
1. Never use the instagram camera. I notice that when I have used the instagram camera the quality is well, crap, grainy. plus you cant take multiple shots. So your stuck with that imagine until you load it to instagram.2. Hold your phone like you would hold your camera. With two hands. The more steady you hold it the better the image will be.
3. Find the perfect light. Its just the same as when taking photos with your dslr. you look for that perfect light. do the same thing with your iPhone. The better the light, the better the picture. (you could use a tripod even.)
4. DONT ZOOM. ever. You will lose heaps of quality and your photo will be extremely pixelated and grainy even if its just a tiny bit zoomed. If you want a close up picture go closer to the object. period.
5. Clean the lens often. (duh)
6. Look for different perspectives. I know when I shoot with my dslr camera I take the time to find a different way to look at what I am shooting. I do the same with my iPhone. shoot from below, from up high, from a different side. Shoot multiple times to get the photo that looks the best to you. (you can always delete and start over.)
7. Use other photography apps to process your imagine.
The main apps I use to process my iPhone photos are:
I am struggling with the work life balance bit in my life. I cant seem to get a grip on how to know which is more important. I love being able to get out of the house and work. I love my office, the job and the over all social time I get. But then I get home and I see the laundry still unfolded the dishes left in the sink and my little man saying “momma when is it you and me day?” and then I feel like I am a failure. That I am not a good mom and that my 8-10 hours away from home, away from Wyatt were completely pointless.
Here I am working to provide with my husband a home that Wyatt can grow up in, to provide the adventures we have, to provide clothes, food, and the basics.
If I didn't work, we wouldn't make it.
If I didn't work full time we still wouldn't make it.
Being able to make money is taking away that time I want to have with my son. Money is making me feel like I am not a good mom.
Money sucks.
Then the other day I watched THIS and listened to his words very closely. I listen to his story of the day he picked up his son and how he went out on a simple trip that was the best day of his sons life which made me realize that I do that same thing.
I make sure that on the days I have off I am completely, fully there for Wyatt.
I plan trips, outings and moments that are shared with only us so he knows that he is important to me.
And Wyatt isn't asking when my next day off is to make me feel bad, he is asking me because he knows that we will be together fully and completely.
So I will continue to leave work early some days to just be with him a little longer because I miss him. I will continue to have those day off adventures because money will always suck and I will always have to work.
But that doesn't mean that I am a bad mom it just means I have to be a little more on the moments I do share with him and I am okay with that.
I still recall last summer where we spent our days in the pool and our nights in the shaded trees playing until that last evening light disappeared.
I remember feeling the sun on our shoulders when we took those secret adventures as we dressed up as pirates, super hero's or who ever we felt like at that moment.
We’ve done very little of that this year. Its one thing or another but mostly its be nothing but summer for us and I am sorry for that Wyatt.
Truly I am.
I plan on more trips to the pool, more days at parks and a lot more adventures to come.
Be prepared.
