Playing around

           I love experimenting in Photoshop and trying to see what kind of effects I can create, especially any that look similar to fine art media.
           I came up with this similarity to a watercolor painting. It could still use some tweaking, but I love coming upon some new technique that I can play around with and create various effects with. Too much fun. Ok I'm off to work on some stuff that NEEDS to be done. :)

Mondays

           I wish every day was a Monday. For some reason it is my best day of the week. I don't know if it's the new week resolve to tackle everything, having the energy to do it or what, but boy are they good days. My kids always seem to be ready to get out and play too, which sure helps me get a lot more accomplished. Here's to some of the best of today.
           Hours spent building cities all over the driveway with blocks. We should have pulled these out from the garage a whole lot sooner.
           Savannah setting the table by herself for lunch while I was in the other room. We let the kids enjoy Father's Day dinner with the fancy glasses. (They've been asking for them for weeks.) Well she decided that one meal wasn't enough, so we used them again.
           Eating fresh peas from our garden and making clover rings.
           Getting a lot of the house picked up and cleaned, some laundry done, some pondering and planning time, read some stories, worked on a new craft project, enjoyed a movie together and had family home evening. If only all days were Mondays.

My latest creative outburst.

           So my latest creative endeavor happened because bascially..... I wish this was me. On a bike right now, riding cross crountry with my husband to enjoy a few days away with each other... the good news? It might happen in August for our anniversary. Just need to beg the inlaws.
           But really my secret dream is to some day own my own leathers. I'm awaiting the day of graduation (and then a real job) when we can get Beau a bike instead of a second car. Until then I have to settle for borrowing my father in law's bike and creating digital scrapbook collections about it.
           We've had a few request for some Biker collections, and after Beau's last road trip with his dad I said I was up for it... and then months later I finally started it and finished. It was one fun collection to put together I tell you. It definitely made the need for a road trip even stronger though.
           Beau was helpful in taking care of the kids so I could get some time in but there's nothing more frustrating to going to bed with ideas still in your head and all you can dream about is computer screens, chrome and leather.

Craftiness

           These last couple of weeks I have not been the happiness mom around. Grumpy. Maybe it was the 2 solid weeks of clouds, rain and being stuck in doors. Maybe it was the feeling that I would NEVER get caught up on housework and that no one else seemed to care that the place was a disaster. Maybe it was lack of sleep. Whatever it was by the end of the week I was realizing we all needed to do SOMETHING. Something creative, something for fun, I needed to do something for my kids, and we needed to relax a bit.
           So I decided to make up some quick art carriers one for each of the kids to put their basic art supplies in, all in hopes of keeping things in one place, so I could eliminate them other places. I also just needed a quick easy fast project that I could finish up in a day and feel like I accomplished something! The kids were all excited about it and were excited to get 'theirs' finished so they could put their own stuff in. It fits some colored pencils, a normal pencil, pen, crayons, scissors, and a glue stick.
           Afterwards we pulled them out and did a quick project. I love Ed Emberely's book. They teach you the basics of drawing - that everything is made up of shapes that have just been put together. They are easy for kids to follow along, plus they work great for constructing things out of paper. They also help the kids learn how to follow directions. I helped them cut out the shapes the animals needed, and they followed the directions to put them together. Isaac thought it was great. He needed lots of help but he was so excited to see that all those shapes made a dog, that he immediately grabbed the paper and demanded we make an alligator too.
           Afterwards the kids wanted to hang them on the wall by the family picture. I've been meaning to get some individual pictures of the kids up on the wall here, but the other day all the glass to the weird size dimensioned frames got broken, and now I'm trying to figure out the next best solutions. So these pictures will have to do for now.
           Yesterday was 'clean like a mad woman' day getting ready for friends coming over for dinner. If your having trouble getting the house clean, invite someone over to dinner, and not people that see your house on a normal basis. The pride issue kicks in (which isn't a good thing, but a big motivator) and before you know it your house is looking better than it has for a long time. Now the challenge of keeping it this way!
           Now that my house is mostly clean, we're hoping to tackle my bedroom which didn't get done yesterday. I'm going to get my round of exercise in that I missed yesterday. This morning we'll be off to service group to get the kids out of the house so they can't mess it up. Tonight my husband has granted me privilege of letting him take care of dinner and putting the kids to bed so I can work on a design project that I'm totally pumped about. Here is to a good day.

Weekend Adventure

           Beau has been in the process of putting together and organizing the stake Boy Scout camp that is going to be held in August. Because of this he has been trying to find a place that will be large enough to hold all the boys, have room for the activities, be at a place with water and timber so they can build and float their rafts and that is not going to be crowded by every other camper out there. His friend suggested a place were he went when he was a boy scout and it sounded pretty good. The only thing is that was 3 1/2 hours away. They needed to actually go there, check it out and determine whether or not it would work so they could continue to make plans and do all their arrangements.
           So it basically had to happen this last weekend. He wanted to know if I was up for a camping trip (which at the time I really wasn't.) So he made arrangements to go with his friend and they would take all the kids leaving me home with two days to get everything done that I possibly could with no children. I was so looking forward to it. The day before the camp out, I thought, "What if Sam can't go?" Do I send him still with all the kids. He really needs to get this done. But kept thinking no, if Sam can't go I need to go. It's not smart to send him to some place high in the Uintah's with 3 kids under 5 and no other adults. What if something happened to him... all my kids would be stranded up there with no one. What if one of them fell and cut something open, how is he going to keep them calm, keep them from bleeding and drive down from the mountain. It's just not a wise thing to send him alone. I had the feeling I would be going. I was right. So Friday we set off on our adventure. I won't even mention that it had a 20 percent chance of rain and that it's been raining for the last 2 weeks here.
           So we followed google maps, and headed off, packed up with the kids all excited. We made it through all the major towns and started branching off to the unknown roads. Google was directing us to get there, since we had no other directions. Well at one point we were supposed to turn off on to "turkey tracks".... That would pretty much describe it. Huge ruts, (just created from all the rain) one really rough road and we knew we still had about 38 miles more to go... I kept wondering how we were ever going to make it out if it rained in the night. This would be one big mud pit all the way down the mountain. Well to our luck eventually the turkey tracks ran into a ...paved road.
           What? A paved road?! Why haven't we been following this the whole way up... were did it start from? That gave Beau hope after all. Maybe they could bus all the boys up, that wouldn't be happening if it was going to be the turkey tracks all the way up. The scenery was sage brush and cedar trees which I will admit that I am not a huge fan of. I am from Wyoming... (we definitely have our sage brush.) But I grew up in the beautiful part. I am an aspen and pine fan... When I think camping I think aspens, pines, the woods, not flat sage brush land.
           I kept joking to Beau that the snow covered mountain in the distant is where we were headed. Kidding him that google's satellite shots showed him pictures from past years... this year it was still covered in snow. I wasn't too far off. :) The higher we climbed the more beautiful it got. I started getting my aspens, the sun was setting and it was a gorgeous site. A beautiful view below. It is not until moments like this that you realize how much you miss nature after being in the city for so long.
           We ran into some wildlife laying admist all the aspens with the setting sun making the aspen glow. There were about 20 or so, and we just sat and enjoyed them, snapped some pictures and let the kids share their excitement. I also joked to Beau as we were climbing that at least I wouldn't have to worry about Bears in the cedar and sage brush area if that was where we were going to be camping. He said yeah they won't be around here they only live in deep timber. Well by the time we got to the camping spot we were IN deep timber. I admit. I'm a chicken that way, and nervous. (Only because last summer there were 2 weird incidences with bears here in Utah, one kid being dragged out of his tent and killed. Can you blame me?)
           It was also fun to notice the thermometer in our car dropping the higher we climbed. We left Provo with it in the high 70's. The higher we went up the mountain it went to 68, 52, 48, 43.... I'm thinking we were going to be having a freezeree instead of a camp out.
           But we made it. We found our camping area... it was soaked in water. Spring run off and the ground was saturated with so much water from the rains. We were lucky to find a spot that wasn't too wet to pitch our tent for the night. Caitlyn was loving it. All the things to touch, see, and play with.
           The only down problem with going while it had been raining and was still wet, was there was no dry firewood anywhere. The only time we had a roaring fire was when Beau drenched it with lighter fluid.. other than that it was a small flicker. The kids thought it was great to see it flare up with he squirted more on.
           We made it through the night after wondering if anyone would sleep because it was so cold and we had forgotten extra socks and blankets. Amazingly they kept each other warm and with enough maneuvering we were able to wrap them up pretty good. I slept light all night... kept wondering if the kids were freezing, kept having dreams about kids having food in the tent and thinking... hey get that out of here... that will attract bears! What has happened to me. I became a mom and a worry wart at the same time.
           See that serious face.... She is a couple of weeks away from being one, but this girl is walking and acting like she is already 18 months or older. She's learned to throw tantrums from her siblings... and she's an observer and a thinker. She honestly is contemplating something here. I love that look she gets.
           This is one of the beautiful meadows next to the camping spot, it did turn out to be a gorgeous beautiful place.
You can't go camping without leaving with some sort of collection. I loved seeing my kids just go and play. They ate it all up, they were enthralled with everything, they were in heaven. The only time they were not too happy to be around was when they got too cold, but I have to give them credit. They did awesome on this camping trip.
           What can I say.. sometimes I just have to snap pictures of the guy for myself. That smile and those crows feet will get me every time. Add a black coat, and a little mountain ruggedness and I fall in love all over again.
           The only other wild life we saw... the kids thought they were so great. They'd follow them around they'd squeal when they spotted one. Boy we really need to get out more.
           This is what I'm talking about when I say the whole place was water logged.... everywhere.
           Then you just have to have a few pictures of the happy campers...
           Breakfast goolosh cooked up in the dutch oven.. Yumm.
           A hike through the deep timber to the other side of the lake to check out the huge meadow they were thinking of setting up the boy's camp. Some time to play in the mud, throw rocks into the lake, pick our ways through swamps, streams, and the spring melt.
           We came home exhausted, yet refreshed from enjoying the quiet outdoors. I'm really glad I went. It was good to spend time as a family. It was good to smell the pines, hear the birds, feel the breeze. It was good to get a little cold and feel alive. It was good to exercise on a hike. It was good to realize what a beautiful world God created for us.
           We left thinking we need to do this a lot more often.. Every other week... get up in the mountains for either camping, hiking or dutch ovening. We have a few friends that we owe a camping trip to... You up for it Cantrells and Denny's?

Today's Map

I saw this idea on Ro's blog and loved it. It was just a fun way of documenting her week. I'm trying to do one thing for me everyday that's creative and just for fun... nothing other than that. So tonight I documented my day. Nothing too exciting or fancy... just a day in my life.
           I had a great weekend. My sister and her family came and stayed for a few days while she attended a photo seminar. The cousins played non stop. Her husband and Beau attacked a bunch of projects, which was a relief to get done.
           The best part of the weekend though was getting together with my three sisters for the first time in 10 years without any children... ok we still had 2 kids (the month old twins) but we didn't even know they were there hardly. No one calling mom every two seconds. No husbands around, no fights, no broken conversations admist everything. We went out and hung out at the craft store where we could actually take time to look instead of running through the store at mock speed hoping for no one to throw a tantrum or break down. We then enjoyed a night of 4 rich yummy desserts (each different so we could taste them all) with some spinach dip to finish it off. Great company and a good time. We definitely need to do it more than once very 10 years.
           I restocked my oil paints and pulled them out for the first time last week... boy it's been about 7 years and we're a little rusty, but it felt so good. I'm also spending some dedicated time to fine tuning and redeveloping my drawing skills, especially drawing people. In the process of practicing some sketches and drawings we created this brush set for those beach / ocean pictures.
           Hopefully there will be more... there has to be more uses for these types of drawings than just sitting in my sketchbook.