Storyboards from the Photoshoot

Big "C"

This one that is cropped a little more is better, right? Or maybe not. I'm so indecisive. I need therapy.

Little "A"

Which One?

I had a photoshoot today with my friend Michelle's kids. They are so stinkin cute! This is the first picture I tried to proof and I already can't decide which one I like best. What do you think?

Life With a Four Year Old: Part 2

We're all sitting at the table eating dinner when out of nowhere Gage says, as if he's telling me a simple fact like the sky is blue, "Momma, you're SUPER-HUGE."


Today was not the day I wanted to hear that given I had eaten McDonald's, Dairy Queen, McDonald's(smoothie). So I got on my gear and ran 7 miles. I'm over it.

Keep the Applause Coming Folks!

Yesterday I participated in the Seafair Torchlight 8K Run. It went great, but not so much at first. I started off the race with what seemed like thousands of other people. There was barely room to wiggle, let alone run. But I managed to finagle my way in between people so I could get a good time. I was shooting for somewhere between 40 and 45 minutes. That would put me somewhere between 8 and 9 minute miles. It was a beautiful race at the beginning. We went up the Alaskan Way Viaduct where we had an awesome view of Seattle and the Puget Sound. However, right about at the top of the viaduct with the sun beating down on me I was thinking, what the heck am I doing running, this is hard. Why do I think I can run a half marathon in 6 weeks. It was quite humbling. Then I saw the Mile 2 sign and just about died. I had hit the wall at mile 2. I still had 3 to go. I had been trying to keep up with this girl wearing a green shirt that was a little bigger in size than me, but I gave up at mile two and let her go. I was pooped. It seemed like FOREVER until I finally got to mile three. I got a quick drink at mile three and dumped a glass of water on my head. Then I panicked when I saw that we had reached the Torchlight Parade Route! I quickly wiped the water off my face and tried to look as presentable as possible. There were thousands of people lining the streets waiting for the parade. They cheered loudly for all of the runners. You know I was loving that! There were several children lining the streets too with their hands out to give the runners "five." You better believe I was giving all of the kids five when I ran by. Let me just mention that maybe two percent of the runners were giving fives. I was loving all of it! Then I saw the TV camera hanging up by a wire in the middle of the road. I would be lying if I told you I stayed on the edge by the kids. Instead I made my way right in the middle of the road just in case that camera was on. Then I moved back over to the side to continue giving the kids five. There was a man in front of me who carried a backpack and threw out candy to the kids and there was a lady handing out glow bracelets. The crowd really cheered for them. The next thing I knew, there was the finish line. The last two miles of parade route flew by!! I sprinted my heart out to that finish line and got a time of 42 minutes 30 seconds. I was really pleased with my time and had a really fun race, minus the first three miles. :) I think I'll do it again next year!


Here is a picture of me at home after the race.


(My title is referring to the Seafair crowd.)

Housekeeping.

We also went to the zoo today (Friday the 27th) with my brother TJ and his wife Lindsay. I can't wait for you all to meet her. Anyway, so you can be expecting zoo pictures and more party pictures. (Read the post below this to hear about the party.) Also, tomorrow is our primary activity and my torchlight run at seafair. I'm really excited about it. I'm sure I'll post about that too.
Lastly, my sister Kimm has started a blog, check it out.



Click me to check out "ShimmDoctor's" Blog.

Happy Birthday Mimi!

When I was a little girl, I used to call my older sister Mimi, instead of Kimm. I think this was because my mom called her Kimmi and I couldn't quite say that. When my Gage was starting to talk I just naturally had him call her Mimi and it has stuck. She is Aunt Mimi to my kids. They LOVE her! She is so wonderful with all of her nieces and nephews. Sometimes I wonder who they love more, me or her. She can get those kids laughing like no other, I'm usually rolling too. She is very dedicated to her church calling of camp director and is so great at that too. The young women that go to camp love her. She has a way with them for sure. Today we threw her a surprise party and it was classic. Basically we had her singing Karaoke Revolution in the family room, with the window open, while we piled people in the backyard. Gage told her it was time for dinner in the backyard and out she came, TOTALLY surprised!


It was great. She even let Gage help her blow out her candles.

There were lots of people there, including lots of kids. We had cake and the famous ice cream machine was up and running. I know Gage had a great time.

Kimm is also very funny. She was telling everyone her age is twenty-ten, as apposed to thirty. Gage really believes that she is 20-10 and was correcting people who made the mistake of calling her 30. He loves his Mimi. Happy Birthday Kimm, we'd be lost without you!!

Angela Goes to the Movies

Last Friday Nate and I went to see,

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD

I really liked this movie. Right from the beginning there was non-stop action. It was very entertaining the whole time. Granted, many of the things that happened were things that wouldn't happen EVER in real life. And certainly Bruce Willis escapes dying several times, but what do you expect from a Die Hard movie? If you want a realistic movie, do not watch it. If you want non-stop action and an entertaining story line with lots of explosions and such, it's a must see. I didn't mind paying the money to see it in the theater either.


Next movie on my "to see" list.

HAIRSPRAY

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

I was reminiscing the other day with my brother TJ. TJ is the brother just younger than me in the line up. 3 years and 3 months to be exact. We both recalled an event in our lives that was one of our scariest memories as small children. I'm guessing we were ages 4 and 7. We were at the mall with my mom in a dept store. Kylee was a little baby in the stroller and Rocky was an obedient 2 year old walking next to my mom. We were waiting for an elevator that TJ and I were most excited to ride. My mom warned us to wait until everyone got off before we got on. Let me just say that went in one ear and out the other. When those doors opened, we ran on in between what seemed like a lot of people getting off. Just as the last person got off, the doors shut. There we were on the elevator ALONE! TJ immediately started to scream. I told him not to scream. He listened to his big sis and stopped. But not 5 seconds later as we continued going up I said, "OK, SCREAM!" And we screamed the loudest most terrified screams ever. It seemed like the elevator was never going to stop! It finally did stop on the top floor, a floor that was under construction, a floor that apparently the elevator was not suppose to stop on. For some crazy reason, we got off the elevator terrified and still crying. This is where my memory fails me a little. I thought we found a desk with the lady who announces thing over the big store speakers, TJ thinks someone found us on that floor and took us to the announcer lady. Either way, we made it to this lady and we told her we were lost and we told her our mom's name. She made an announcement over the store's speaker system and we waited. Apparently our mom was on the elevator and didn't hear the announcement. However, she was on that elevator stopping at every floor checking for us. By this time in my little mind, surely TJ and I were never going to see her again. Finally she made it to the top floor. I remember her walking off that elevator and just RUNNING to her! I was so relieved. We were not in trouble, she just told us that if that ever happened again to stay on the elevator and it would eventually go back down to her. You better believe that TJ and I never ran onto elevators again without our mom!

Pretty Girl Goes to Prom

Well obviously she didn't go to prom, she went to church. But I thought this little dress looked like a prom dress, sort of. She was so stinkin cute I just had to take a pic, even though we were running out the door to try to avoid being late to church. (Once again my priorities were TOTALLY straight- Nate's opinion differs) Keep in mind, she is literally walking out the door to the car when I took these. Also, I really was just trying to get a picture so everyone could see how cute her dress was, no fancy photography here.




How cute is her curly hair?!~

Catching Up.

I know that I write posts and make mention of "that gets it's own post later" and then it never does get it's own post. So I'm trying to remember what was suppose to "get it's own post and then catch up on them. At the moment I can remember that my 5k race on the 4Th of July was suppose to get it's own post. So here we go.


Menan City 5K Fun Run. 07/04/07

The night before the race we were trying to decide at what time to get there. We found several mentioning of the race, all with different check in and start times. Ranging from Checking in from 7:00am to 7:30am and starting at 7:15am to 7:45am. We decided to get there just after 7:00am to play it safe.
When we got there at 7:05 in the morning at the city hall, this is what we found.


Deserted!


Oh, but before I forget, Jana and I had a photo shoot before the race in our matching super cute running skirts, with spandex underneath, and blue tanks.





Can I get a fiver?





We were getting a little silly.






We're running, can you tell?




Back to the race. So we get there and the place is deserted. Luckily, about 15 minutes later, people show up. This was seriously one low-key race. They had you sign a little release form and then put your name on your shirt with a plain white sticker. When you finished the race, you gave the sticker back and they put it on a poster and those were the final results. Anyway, so we sign up and put our names on our shirts and then this man starts to make the start line with a can of orange spray paint. It was a little crooked. I don't know why this was so funny for me.


There were about 30-40 of us running. My brothers Jeff and Jordan, and of course Jana and I were in the mix too. The race ended up starting at 8:00 because they wanted to make sure everyone who wanted to race had a chance to. They started us out by saying "on your mark, get set, go" and then a gun went off about 5 seconds later. ????? The course was well marked with people telling you where to go and it was beautiful! We ran by horses and all sorts of things I don't see here in B-town. I love small towns. Jordan took off like a wild-man and ended up getting 4th or 5th place. (I can't remember his time) Jana and I ran in together with a time of 26 minutes and 57 seconds. We think we were between 10th and 15th. We forgot to look at the poster. Jeff came in about a minute behind us.

Post Race Pics.








About 10 minutes after we finished, here came this super cute little girl running with all her might across the finish line with her mom. It was so super cute. I had to get a pic. You bet your buns we all cheered loud for her!



It was really fun to do a 5k fun run with the family.


P.S. If you can remember something that was suppose to get it's own post, but hasn't, will you let me know. Love you all!

My EXTRA Pretty Girl!

I really wanted to bring the dinner I made for my friend over ON TIME. I also wanted to leave the house with at least a little bit of makeup on. As I was rushing in my bathroom putting on a little makeup, Gage came rushing in and said that Kyah had makeup all over her face. I rushed into the living room to find this.








And here she is rolling around-mad because I took the makeup away- getting it all over the carpet too! And yes, I keep taking pictures. My priorities are totally straight. Lucky for me, the Resolve worked like a champ getting it out of the carpet.





I took her to the bathroom and showed her to herself and asked her if she looked pretty. She emphatically shook her head yes. Then she kept saying, "makeup, makeup." I told her makeup is just for Momma, not for Kyah. Meanwhile she got under the sink and grabbed the extra body wash. Then she walked around saying body wash over and over. At least she knew she needed to be cleaned up.



I did eventually put down the camera and video camera and clean the girl up. I know some of you will ask what kind of makeup she has all over her face, shirt, and arms. I have a little pack of cream eye shadows and she must have grabbed it and ran when I was done with it. I only use the light pink. That's why there was plenty of dark blue for her to use! Oh, dinner was late too.

The Beauty of Photoshop!

After Kyah's bath shoot the other day, I decided it would be fun to post the before and afters of the photos. As in, before and after photoshop. You've already seen the "afters" in a previous post, now here they are paired with their SOOC (straight out of the camera) "befores."



Do you notice the angle is changed slightly?







If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask. Next time I do this, I think I'll use all color photos. It's easier to see the difference.

More Holiness Give Me

More Holiness Give Me, no. 131

1. More holiness give me,
More strivings within,
More patience in suff’ring,
More sorrow for sin,
More faith in my Savior,
More sense of his care,
More joy in his service,
More purpose in prayer.

2. More gratitude give me,
More trust in the Lord,
More pride in his glory,
More hope in his word,
More tears for his sorrows,
More pain at his grief,
More meekness in trial,
More praise for relief.

3. More purity give me,
More strength to o’ercome,
More freedom from earth-stains,
More longing for home.
More fit for the kingdom,
More used would I be,
More blessed and holy—
More, Savior, like thee.


This hymn is one of my favorites. It basically has been the prayer in my heart today as it seems that today I have way less patience than normal with my kids. We all have days like this as mothers, right?

Life With a Four Year Old.

Today on the way to Costco.

Me. Hmmm, what should we have for dinner tonight? I know, pot stickers.

Gage: What are pot stickers?

Me: It's kind of like a big noodle with meat and vegetables inside.

Gage: I don't like pot stickers.

Me: Then I guess you'll be hungry.

Gage: Yeah, hungry for chicken nuggets.


On the way home from Costco and Gage really had to go to the bathroom, so I'm going fast. Gage starts laughing uncontrollably.

Me: Gage, why are you laughing? Are you teasing me?

Gage: You're a crazy driver.

This is why we call her "Pretty Girl."

Because she's just so pretty.




Which one do you like better? Color or B/W.



These were taken during her bath last night.

Note: This is my 200th post!! Wow huh.

Feeling inspired!

I mentioned in my week review that Nate and I went to a celebratory dinner for the organization that he volunteers for. The organization is W.W.E.E.("we" is how they pronounce the acronym.)Washington Women's Employment and Education. It was founded by four women 25 years ago. These women happen to see an episode on 60 minutes that inspired them to start this organization. WWEE is an organization that helps women on welfare to get off of welfare. They do this by providing them a program that consists of several courses. The courses teach them life skills, self esteem, and job skills. This is their mission statement.
"Transforming Lives from the Inside Out

The mission of Washington Women’s Employment
& Education (WWEE) is to assist low-income individuals
to gain the skills, the knowledge, and the courage to be
self-supporting"
It's a wonderful program! Nate goes to WWEE every Wednesday to help teach a computer course. He also recently redid their whole web-site. It was a pretty big project! Check it out here.
At the dinner, they had several speakers: a couple of the founders, the current director, a teacher that has been there for 24 years, and two graduates or the program. Note: they have had over 12,000 women complete their program in the past 25 years. Not only that, they have had a 90 percent success rate in that women leave with jobs or continue their education at a college. Of the two graduates that spoke, one is a teacher at Clover Park Technical College and is in the middle of getting a doctorate degree, the other woman is a motivational speaker! I was truly inspired after going to this celebration dinner! At first I was dreaming of starting my own program! Then I got back to reality and decided that I could start collecting business clothes for these ladies. Most of these women don't have clothes to go to a job interview in, so WWEE gives them business clothes to get them started. I am going to help collect these clothes. I'm not sure how, other than to spread the word to my friends. If you have any business clothes that are still usable and you are getting rid of them, feel free to give them to me and I will give them to Nate to take to WWEE. This organization really is great. I am so proud of Nate! He is really involved in something that is making a difference. One of the speakers mentioned the new website and how several people, (including sponsors, students, and teachers) have commented on how much more user friendly it is now. She told everyone to go home and look it up. Way to go Nate!! Anyway, I left feeling very proud and very inspired!

Nate:The Photoshop Master!

Recently my sister-in-law Jana asked me if I would look at this old picture of her Grandpa who died when her mom was only 5. She wanted to restore it and print it for her family. I was happy to work on it, but after a few minutes, I knew it was a little out of my league. I wanted it to look the very best it could since it is such a great and priceless photograph. So I asked Nate if he would do it. He was happy to help. He really is amazing at photoshop. He has read multiple books on it and is self taught. He's just like that. Here are his before and afters.

Original Image



Afters

The Week In Review

Gages started swimming lessons last Monday and went everyday this week. After day one-all they did was sprinkle water on each other's heads, literally- he gets in the car and matter of factly states, "I am such a GREAT swimmer!" To which of course I respond, "You ARE a great swimmer!" Note: I can not wait until these lesson are over next week so I can stop feeling like I've wasted my money. Gage actually really loves going, so I guess it's not a total waste.
Thursday Nate and I went to a celebration dinner for the place he volunteers at, but that gets it's own post later.
Friday of course was the anniversary and we took the kids with us to Red Robin and then rented the movie Breach. We are doing a more formal celebration next weekend when my mom can watch the kids.
Today I decided to be super spontaneous again and take the kids to the zoo. I mean, I have these year long zoo passes that expire in a couple of weeks and I am NOT going to lose money on them!! We had a good time until the ride home. Kyah was holding a water bottle with a lid that screws on. She refused to share with Gage. So I told Gage he could just have a juice box. Then of course, pretty girl wanted a juice box too. I told her that she could not have a juice box because she wasn't sharing her water with Gage. Next thing I know, she flings the open water bottle over onto Gage where all of the contents spill out onto him. You can imagine the freak out that came after that! Then pretty girl demanded a juice box. I'm sure in her mind she had shared so where was the juice box! Don't worry I did not give her one. But secretly, I thought it was a little funny.
And that is the week in review.

Friday the 13th: My Lucky Day.

Six years ago on Friday the 13th, I married one of the greatest men ever. You know him as Nate, I like to call him cute husband, or Nater-gater, or honey....you get the picture. In honor of getting married on Friday the 13th and as it is Friday the 13th again, here is my list of the top 13 reasons why I loved Nate the day we got married and why I love him even more six years later.

1. He supports me in all that I do

2. He is very determined and driven

3. He is very smart

4. His testimony is unwavering

5. He loves music and plays me love songs on the guitar

6. He is an amazing Daddy

7. He's one handsome guy

8. He has goals and ambitions

9. He is willing to help those in need

10. He helps me out at home as much as possible

11. He encourages me to be a better person

12. He has a good heart

13. We laugh and love together


In order to keep it real, I have to admit that being married is a little bit like the analogy of climbing a mountain I saw on Amy's blog. Some days are easy and the path is clear and beautiful, some days are hard and it feels like it's all straight uphill, and some days you get the most amazing view that keeps you going strong. It hasn't all been a straight flowery easy path, but it sure has been worth the climb.

Six years, two college degrees, two children, six moves, countless church callings, one set of stitches, and one new car later, we are still married and celebrating it today. Happy Anniversary Nate, with many more to come. I love you.

My Fourth of July

The day started out with a 5k race. My oldest brother Jeff, my younger brother Jordan, my sister-in-law Jana, and I ran this race.



Then we went home and got ready for the city of Menan parade and arts festival. The parade was fun. They handed out pint sized jugs of chocolate milk. The kids enjoyed picking up the candy that was thrown to them. There was one marching band, lots or horses, and some cheerleaders. Oh yeah, only in Idaho do you get tractors going down the street as part of the parade!







We walked around the festival for a little bit, but it was so darn hot! My brother Jeff and I each bought three ducks for the canal race. Basically there were over 1000 toy ducks that were dumped into a canal and then the first three to make it to the finish line got prizes and the last one got a prize. Then they drew out several for other prizes. Each duck was numbered. When you bought a duck, they put your name next to a number and wrote you phone number down. F.Y.I. I got a phone call the next morning and two of my three ducks won. Can you even believe it!! I got a 20 dollar gift certificate to Bajios and an ironing set. Anyway, the festival was fun.




Then we went back to the house where Gage played baseball forever with himself and Kyah enjoyed swinging and playing in the yard.






That evening we packed up and headed for a parking lot just outside of Idaho Falls that was right by the runway of a small airport. We met my cousins, aunt, and grandma there. If you check out my link that says Erin, she has a slide show posted right now of our BBQ and firework show. It's pretty neat. Anyway, we met there and barbecued, Gage played baseball the whole time, and we just enjoyed being together. We watched the firework show which was AMAZING! I'm so sad I couldn't get out my camera to try and figure out how to take firework shots. A certain little girl wasn't allowing that. Erin has a few on her slide show. Then we went home and got a good night's rest! The kids were asleep within minutes of getting into the car!
Note: My cousin is Scott, and Erin is his beautiful wife. They have two darling kids.


This is Erin.





My only picture of any fireworks at all.


All in all, we had a great 4th!!