for the birthday girl

Brandon made a video on his little digi camera just for you aunt Robin...

Hope you feel all loved and stuff. :)

Yeah, he deosn't really know the song - just sort of. :p

so yesterday

...was my sister's birthday.
I woke up planning on posting an entry to wish her the best day ever - then I took LV to school, played with Elijah, started doing my usual day stuff & didn't post. Again. I'm always a day late with this stuff & I was so gonna surprise her and be on time this time. :p Guess not.

Sorry Robin! Love ya sis & hope you had a fantabulous birthday!

I'm really not feeling very well. I think Brandon shared his coughing sniffly cold with me. (Yeah, we did just get over the stomach flu - what is up with me and the sickies? :p) I blame the crazy weather. You know I won't give up the hugs from my kiddos for anything.

Happy Wednesday!

so sleepy

I'm a sleepy girl tonight, but I finally downloaded all of the new software & drivers and thought I'd share a new shot or 2 before bed. Been playing with the parameters for color, contrast etc. and figuring out what level of sharpening I'll be generally using so I can make my actions for batch processing etc. I never use any sort of in-camera sharpening, so I need to figure out what's gonna work for my post-processing workflow. My 10d had about a 1/3 stop underexposure that I consistently compensated for. Things like that have me trying to figure out the quirks for this camera. The color seems different, but there are more settings so I just need to play enough to figure out which settings and parameters I like for different subjects. It's kinda wierd going from shooting with a camera that I've had for long enough to know intuitively what worked to starting anew. I'm having fun though. :) I played with the new RAW software too - it's much better than what I had going on. (Some day I'll have PSCS with RAW capability built in. :p Gogo me and my PS 7. lol)

Anyway, enough camera-type talk. That's just what I've been all absorbed in. I purposely signed up for every raid my guild has going on this week so that I'd be some sort of social, and plan on spending time outside with Ej on nice days like today. :)

Oh for you praying types out there - if you'd consider putting a shout out for Vern. He came home feeling cruddy & asking questions about maintaining blood sugar levels. I guess he'd had some sort of rough day & attributed at least part of it to his blood sugars. Apparantly he had significantly low levels at a physical he'd had at work awhile ago. He got around to telling me about it today when he wanted info after his rough day. :p Yeah, he doesn't really talk to me much about a lot of things. Anyway, for a guy who lives on coke and dr. pepper who eats sporatically (and almost never eats breakfast) he's got some changes he should be making. I gave him some info & left him alone while he pretty much slept the night away. I'll talk to him tomorrow when he's hopefully feeling better and maybe get some info out of him. :p Meanwhile, like I said - prayers, good thoughts or whatever would be appreciated. :)

Time for this sleepyhead to find her pillow. Nighty-night blog readers. :)

just because

...my blog needed a pretty face. :) This was in the navigator on the way to pictureline to get the new camera. Kirsten has always been my favorite little model. :)

Happy Monday!

so there

Almost, sort of kind of... yeah. :p
So these pics were an attempt to keep a promise. They weren't exactly what I pictured, but they'll do for now. I'm sad that I'm missing kiddos in these shots, but B wasn't home and K played photographer since I couldn't find the tripod to just timer it. We've been having fun playing with both cameras all weekend. These are 10D shots (since I'm lazy and haven't downloaded the new software yet) but there are so many pics to come. The plan is to get this post buried asap. ;) If I'd have planned better I'd have done this on a better hair day and gone somewhere with nicer light, but Kirsten did awesome considering. I heart that first blurry shot of me and my lil cuteness. LV's expressions and Ej jumping all over us was awesomeness. Oh, and J had better appreciate the fact that I didn't touch my lines - painful stuff right there I tell ya. I may or may not even admit this entry was up before I bury it. So there.
Muahahaha.

out of hiding

We picked up my camera yesterday & Vern laughed as I went into hiding with it. I'd still be off somewhere playing if I hadn't run out of things I needed to set up and subjects to point the lens at momentarily. Pausing made me realize that my tummy was growling too, so I'm sitting here with a V8 deciding which settings I'd like under custom function II. :p The menu set up is so much different than the 10D. I'm still figuring stuff out and will likely be a little more scarce than usual for awhile longer. I haven't downloaded the software to be able to upload any pics yet - that should happen some time today.

So since it's Sunday & I've been slacking with the posting I figure I'll do the meme tradition if I can find one quick.

Who made you smile last?
Kirsten & Elijah just now. They're so silly.
The last song you listened to?
Best I am, Flaw
Who made you cry last?
I'm actually not telling - the person had no clue he hurt my feelings and I got over it. :p
What is the last thing most people learn about you?
Um... I'm blanking here. The last thing they learn? Seriously, no clue.
What was your last fast food meal?
Went to arctic circle yesterday with Vern, Nina & Lauren and had a chocolate malt & onion rings. :p
The last thing you ate today?
The only thing I've had today was my V8.

Happy Sunday blog readers! :)

3 models later :)

You can't shoot a wedding without backup equipment. You just can't. And honestly, my 10D that has served me well since 2003 needed to be the backup camera body for Lauren's wedding.
It's hard to believe that I haven't upgraded my camera in 5 years, but I've got to say I'm grateful that I've never had any problems with it. I've had a couple of scary error moments - but mostly it's been awesome and worked perfectly.
You can see where I'm going with this, right? Yeah - I'm so excited to be getting a new camera! Having missed the 20D & 30D along the way, a 40D will be a nice upgrade. Three models later and hopefully every bit as awesome as my 10D has been. And then some.
I see a lot of playing in my future, getting to know my new baby. Have to be familiar with the new camera & its quirks before actual shooting begins. Just have to get it here. I seriously can't wait! :)
I wanted to find a pic of me with my camera, and what came to mind was this shot that Erica sent me that someone took of Vern & I in action on her wedding day in 2004.lol I'm all covered in equipment - camera bag on hand and reflectors & stuff hanging from belt loops. Ah, good times. :)

I'm sure there will be a sister entry to this one when I actually have my 40D in hand. And of course there will be pictures! lol It'll be nice to feel like we have the equipment once again to really do some things. Thank you Lauren for wanting me to do your wedding pictures, since that's what turned the equipment upgrade into a necessity. :)

this very moment

You – Sitting cross-legged in my computer chair wrapped in my blanket with Elijah on my lap.
Sounds– Elijah making car noises driving a lego on my shoulder, LV playing the xbox & Kirsten clicking the mouse like mad playing solitaire at the kiddos’ computer.
Feeling - Comfy in my blanket and still sleepy.
Song – Simple Plan, I can wait Forever

Thoughts– Thinking about my pillow. I’m considering climbing back into bed.
Plans – Other than a nap? Um, hopefully a workout and I should do Arinne’s dailies. And uh, yeah.

Have a great day!

spoke too soon

Oh boy. Brandon started barfing tonight, Vern's looking iffy, LV is nauseous again, & I'm headed to bed not feeling so hot myself. At least with us being mostly homebound this weekend we were able to get some things done. I had a little photo related project I finally got around to, and we just finished washing all of our bedding. Again.

The photo project had me delving through some of my old bridal work. I’m even more excited to work with Lauren in a few weeks after this weekend. Brides are my most favorite photography subjects. Especially cute little sisters in law I’m thinking. :o) I figure I’ll share a few old shots here in anticipation of sharing some new ones soon. If nothing else, they’ll make me smile when I check in & click on ‘em throughout the week.
Have a fantabulous day! Well, I should clarify that it's Sunday night & I'm headed to bed - but hope Monday's an awesome one. :)

(Sorry all the pics make this entry humungously long, I didn't have enough room left on my pb account to make a slideshow. :p)

good times

First of all, can you say dork? Dork! There. Thank you. I just read over my last entry and holy cow, I so am one. lol Should have called that one How many times can April say “happy” in one blog entry? Well yeah, obviously enough times to remind people of said dorkiness. :p
I must admit, it felt sooo good to not be sick, sad or taking care of anyone who was sick or sad. :p I must have desperately needed a friend last week, because the instant one stepped up and acted like they cared just a little bit I felt so much better. (You really never know what a simple kind word can do for another person. Seriously. Just an honest "Missed you. Hope you're doing okay" can be huge.) I think that even though I’m over yesterday’s sunshine, flowers & happiness state of giddiness I should be at least in a better frame of mind. :)

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. Remind me not to read previous entries & comment on ‘em if I wanna get to the actual point of a new entry quick. :p

Sooo... awhile ago there was a funny conversation on vent where Vern & a few other people were describing themselves physically. Vern was joking about his love of suspenders & the lack of butt that led to his initial infatuation with ‘em. Apparently I didn’t have any pics on here to show what Vern looked like back when he was way too skinny for his own good to back up the suspenders story. Well, I came across these pics of us. Wow. Just ...wow.See - he really was a skinny thing. He misses having a size 29 waist, but I think his face has filled out nicely over the last 10 years. :) (In the pic where it looks like we're standing up I'm not sure why we look so close in height. He's just over 6ft & I'm all of 5'3-ish :p) I’ll find a recent pic of Vern if I can. I just smiled when I saw these – it was a good times moment x2. Remembering that conversation and Vern describing himself, and seeing these pics was just awesome. (I do wish it wasn't such a crap-a-licious old scan, but oh well - serves the purpose. ) We’ve changed just a little, huh. :)Ok, this pic was of Vern sitting in the navigator at the park last weekend. He was reading while I chased K & LV all over trying to convince them they were done playing. I’m glad I grabbed this - it’s a typical shot of Vern these days. :) I can even almost guarantee he was wearing suspenders that day - for different reasons, but yeah. :)

Of happiness and hugsnstuff :)

I *am* happy today. Feeling better than I have in awhile. Gogo time with a fantabulous friend and some much needed sleep. (Big thanks to R for cheering me up yesterday just by being him. He's the bestest.) Oh and I think that I can eat again. My Fazoli's hit the spot and everything. I just need more breadsticks. And some diet pepsi. And maybe a malt. Yeah I think I found my appetite. :p

Well I was looking for a happy kind of pic for my happy sort of Saturday post, and ended up throwing this together in PS.Because yellow is happy. And flowers are happy. And I am happy. I hope you blog readers are too. :) Apologies for the thrown together pic & thrown together thought, but I'm headed to get some fresh air & exercise before Vern gets home & we go grocery shopping.

TGIF

Woohoo! I lived through yesterday. I spent most of the day in bed. Feeling courageous enough today to be sipping some green tea & even made me a piece of toast. So far so good! :)

So to celebrate making it through the week here's a really quick meme. Just choose the word that best describes each day of your past week.
Saturday - family
Sunday - sunshine
Monday - quiet
Tuesday - cuddles
Wednesday - sad
Thursday - sick
Friday - hopeful *crossing my fingers that I find an appetite & that stuff stays down ><*

I'm so grateful that I feel ok sitting here. I think I might actually log into WoW after I check in with the squirrelies.
Have a great day!

...and then I barfed. ><

So yesterday wasn't the greatest day ever. Got my feelings hurt over something silly early in the day while doing my first round of dailies. My stomach was hurting for the third day in a row & I was trying to figure out what was going on there. Then Vern made it home from work & we had yet another fight. We were still yelling back & forth at eachother during my ZA run. :P Apparantly I was quiet enough during the run that Brian & Brooks knew something was up. They're so sweet. Nothing they could do - just a rough day & a grumpy Vern. The ZA run started out really well, but we didn't get to the second boss. Kept dying on the gauntlet. It seemed like Lore was the only one focusing on the main guys and all the dps was aoe'ing. Not so good. :p
Anyway, then after ZA I did all of Arinne's dailies. 21 of them. Alone. We won't go into how long it took or how boring it can be. lol Crazy as it might sound, once I was done with Arinne I grabbed Lei & did all of her shattered sun dailies. Why you ask? Because she was sooo close to exalted. I made it. Yay! Arinne's pretty close too. A couple more days worth of quests, if & when I'm up to doing 'em. I won't be today. Last night, after Leilah finished up I found out what was up with my tummy.

...Yeah I have whatever it is that my boys have had. (aka the stomach flu I believe - I'm also really achey.) It was quite the way to end a not-so-stellar-day. I got hardly any sleep last night. Was busy shaking, crying & retching over the toilet bowl. :p So yeah, I've declared today a take-it-easy sort of day. Gogo cuddles, naps & movies with my kiddos. :)

...and then he barfed

This little nap looks innocent enough, huh.
Well, we woke up to Elijah barfing. Yeah, he got me good. He was so sad too. Thankfully Vern had just walked in and was able rescue Ej, and little miss photographer washed my blanket.

So LV was barfy on Monday night, and Ej was yesterday. Lets hope that everyone's feeling ok today. :p

Nothing to say...

...but I'll share my kisses!

Have a great day. :)

Six things

Today started out beautifully.

I woke up to kisses from Elijah. My favorite thing.
Sunshine coming through my window.
Kirsten doing her chores without a word. She wants to go to Katie's house later. ;)
No headache. Yay!
I slept in.
My kiddos are all happy and each quietly doing their own thing.

Have a great day! I know I'm going to. :)

school's out, sunshine & a random sort of meme

My elementary school kiddos are off track for the next 2 weeks, and we’re finally seeing some beautiful weather. Well, the local snowboarders are happy too (gogo snow in April) but the valley is looking & feeling like Spring. Finally. :) I foresee some visits to the park and slurpee runs in the near future.
Meanwhile, it’s late and I’m too tired to think of stuff to write so I thought I’d fill out a meme. It’s a random-ish one that I grabbed off a blog - wish I remembered which one. :p Feel free to skip if you’re tired of learning stuff that you never wanted to know about me through these things. :)

1. Name one person you've lost touch with that you’d like to look up. Vivian. Love that girl & miss her. She found me here a long while back, but I lost track of her again. :(
2. Where are your favorite vacation spots? Hmmm… Does this require that I’ve actually been to said vacation spot? If so then maybe Baptiste Lake in Northern Ontario where we used to rent a cottage at for a week during the summer, or Niagara Falls where I spent many a weekend growing up. Really it was all about sunshine & water. Those 2 things make for a happy April.
3. Your thoughts on Low Carb/Sugar Free foods? There are some seriously yummy ice creams out there – Breyers comes to mind. Thanks to feeling out of whack lately I dusted off my little blood glucose monitor the other day. I don’t love poking myself, but knowing where I’m at is helpful. Looks like I may have to tweak my eating habits and find more low carb foods I like again. Go me?! Bring on the carrots, snap peas & strawberries. :p
4. Would you prefer chocolates or flowers from a loved one? Why aren’t kisses an option? I mean, I do like flowers and chocolate - but smile at me, hold my hand... kiss me and I’m a happy girl.
5. Have you ever danced/splashed/played in the rain? All of the above. The parking lot next to the townhouse I grew up in used to get these huge deep puddles when it rained hard. We’d go out and play in ‘em. Good times. :)
6. What did you dream about last night? Actually, I’m so not telling. ><
7. Name 4 mood-lifters. Chocolate malts, friends’ voices over vent, fresh air & exercise.
8. Name 3 things you love to eat but rarely do. Hmmm… Fettuccine Alfredo (so yummy but oh-so-fattening), Jamaican patties (they’re extremely hard to find in Utah) and rice noodles with beef (good Chinese food is also hard to find here).
9. What’s the most painful or life-changing thing that has ever happened to you? Physically or emotionally? The first thing that comes to mind is kind of both. I will say that emotional scars last longer than physical ones. I don't really talk about this stuff much though. Hmmm… Where to start? I guess near the beginning:
I was chronically plagued with sexual abuse throughout my youth. Certain boys in my neighborhood would grab me when I was walking home from school & I’d find myself pinned to the pavement behind a building or on a basement floor. Even got shoved into the boys’ locker room after school once in jr. high. Yelled my way out of that one though. (The guy I was totally crushing on was the one who heard me & came in and scared them all off. Yay!) My sister will attest that it got to the point that I’d answer the door with knife in hand when my mom wasn’t home. Not sure she knew why though – she may have just thought I was crazy. :p Anyway, when the big R-word happened in college I kinda reacted like it was my fault. Really, that was just a rough time for me. After years of being treated that way trying to find worth in yourself is not an easy task. I made it though. I decided that I was much more than what any dumb boys saw. The stress of HIV and pregnancy tests made me mad enough to decide once and for all that it wasn’t my fault, and Vern (the total opposite of every guy in my life to that point) whisked me away to Utah with results pending. Gotta appreciate the one that’ll see through the worst. Yeah, not something I ever really talk about, but there it is.
Now that's a long-winded answer. Apologies.
10. Name 3 things you’d like to do today. My dailies. Been slacking – it’s been a couple of days. Take some pictures of my kiddos. Enjoy some sunshine. It’s supposed to be mid-70s today. Yay!

Alrighty, what fun is an entry without a picture? Following the random theme, here's my babe...
Have a great day! :)

Happy Sunday!

...from my beach to yours.We're headed out for the afternoon, but first I wanted to check in and wish you blog readers a great day. :)

now THAT was fun (another WoW related entry)

...a Zul'Aman entry to be exact.

Go us! We almost have Nalorakk down fast enough these days to make the timer. We started him within the 20 mins, but we didn't get him down in time. :( Soooo close though! He dropped the tank boots again. (Go Lore!)
We had lots of time for our 2nd look at Akil'Zon. It took a few tries, and Lore ended up switching to Purraj to take down the adds, but we got him! He dropped a dps chest for Zert. (Yay!) We even had time to go peek up towards the 3rd boss before calling it a night.
Now that was a seriously fun raid night. :)

no more snow

Happy Thursday blog readers!

I missed saying happy birthday to some people I love. Sorry dad, I love you! Happy birthday old man! And Vivian, love you, miss you and hope you had an awesome birthday too. :)

I guess I’ve decided that yesterday’s entry can stay. I won't share that pic anywhere else, but a little blip somewhere on my blog isn’t so horrible. It’s the kind of entry I will be happy to bury, but it was honest. I was surprised that the people who spoke to me about it wholeheartedly didn’t agree with me, but thank you for the kind words. I admit that hearing the same thing from each of you made me smile & feel loved. I really wasn’t asking for an ego boost - I just liked my “change your stars” type thought, and didn’t hate the ps’d version so much. At least the girls mostly liked the 2nd version better. See, I’m not totally crazy. I was asked what exactly the flaw was that I was seeing, and couldn’t even put it into words. For me it was the whole pic. Just …ugh. I think most girls at least understand. :p

So today it’s sunny and looking beautiful out. My kids walked home from school yesterday in the snow. Yeah. It snowed again. Such craziness. Hopefully we’re about done with that sort of thing. lol C’mon now, it’s April 10th - no more snow in the valley please. >.< Gosh.

Well my tummy is growling & Elijah needs some lovin’, so off I go.
Have a great day! :)

comfort vs reality and some thoughts

The other day while waiting for our pizza to arrive I let Kirsten take a picture of me. (You would think that by now I'd have learned that I *never* like pics of myself when I'm not feeling well, but yeah. They still happen. lol)

True to form, after my initial "ugh, ick, gross!' type reaction I played in ps to see if I could "save" it. I still end up deleting pics like this 99% of the time, but yeah I play first. It's funny to me that I'll try to distort reality to see if I can make it so that like it better. I grabbed the curves of this shot & blew it out to try and draw the focus to my eyes. :p It's still the same shot of me looking tired and not exactly happy in some slightly funky lighting (it bounces around so weird right there) but with a focus shift to something I don't hate I dislike it less. I'm at least more comfortable sharing it.
I'm feeling brave enough to share my pooky pic & my attempt to save it at the moment just to show what a spaz I am - just note that the likelhood of them remaining is pretty much zero . Yeah, just glanced at 'em - it's not gonna happen. lol I promise I'm not as unhappy as I look in this. My pain meds just hadn't kicked in yet. And yeah, I look tired. Eeeew. :p

The moral of this story, or at least the thought in my head when I started typing was this: Things are what you decide they are. You choose your outlook. If you don't like something about your reality change it. Play with it until you like it better or discard it and move on.
...And if you have faults that you're aware of (like me being way too self conscious & wanting to look perfect even when I feel like total crud) be brave and face 'em. Show your gross icky photo to the world before you delete it. lol
Wanna hear something funny? Sure you do. :p LV just looked at these pics and said he liked the "before" pic better. !!! He said he liked being able to see my skin. lol I'm so grateful that those who love me don't see all my faults quite as clearly as I do. Especially when I have no ps to play with in the morning before they have to look at me. lol My sweet boy even called me pretty. Ice cream for him after school! (Oh, and it's okay if you agree with me and not with LV - of course his view is biased. I love him for it and won't love anyone else less for seeing what I see. I'll have to get me some sun, put on a smile & have K take a pic that I feel is more true to how I see myself.)

Well, when I peek at my blog later in a more fully awake state, this post might suddenly change or disappear. :p Or I'll go blog entry happy and push it back a few pages. lol Either way, happy Tuesday blog readers!

the cutest thing

This hangs above my desk and makes me smile every day. He'd better make one for next month.

bringing back the music

So I made it to Nina's birthday party yesterday headache and all. It did fade down to bearable at least, so I was able to be somewhat sociable for the night. I hadn't seen Wendy or Jill in awhile, so that was fun. :) I'm sure that I dipped one too many strawberries into the chocolate fountain, but they were just so yummy.
Lauren had some music going when I first got there. Broken played & I realized that I haven't heard that song in ages. I had that vid on here forever but when I re-did the sidebar I somehow lost it. So yeah, I'm putting it back and then some. ;) I'll go back to alternating stuff from my youtube playlist on my sidebar. Blogging's just more fun with tunes. :) It's also more fun with pictures, but yeah. :p I'll play with my camera between now & the next entry, I promise.

I'm grateful to be feeling better today, I have lots to do. It's looking a little gray outside but that's okay - I plan on having an awesome day anyhow. I hope whoever finds themselves reading this does too. :)

owie :p

By now you'd think I'd be used to waking up with a headache every day (have had one every morning for weeks now) but today's was different. Today I'm hurting bad enough to make me totally nauseous & wanna cry. I took pain meds and buried my head under my pillow all morning & I'm still in pain. Thankfully Vern managed to take the day off work - so he took LV to school, bought Elijah a happy meal for lunch and has let me just try to kick this thing. I just need to get it to where I can function so I can get going and get ready for Nina's birthday party tonight. Thus far only pitch dark, silence & my blanket have taken any sort of edge off. Oh and the meds I guess. Elijah's been awesome too. He doesn't like it when I'm sad so I get extra hugs 'n kisses. Yay! That's the best medicine ever right there. He's stayed right by me and played quietly. I love his company. :)
Pic taken with the Elan 7E & scanned. It's low quality being an old film scan & all, but seemed fitting - if I'm stuck burying my head under a pillow all day, I'm absolutely gonna daydream about being on a beach somehwere. :)

I'm headed back up to my bed I guess. Just wanted to check in and wish everyone a fantabulous Friday!

A quick one

Hooray, a meme! I have some photos to work on & some dailies I'd like to do now that LV is safe at school & I'm done working out, so a quick blog entry sounds just about right.

Five words that describe your day so far:
Sleepy, sunshine, cuddles, fresh air & phone calls.
Four names you answer to:
Um, April ...to most people.
Mom to most of my kiddos.
Madre to Brandon.
Ari/Arinne (pronounced every concievable way plus some that make no sense) to friends and fellow WoW players.
Three things you really want:
A new camera, to find a dress for Lauren's wedding & an appointment with Ashley. :)
Two things you said this week:
"You're all crazy. I hope you know that." Said to my kiddos. It's surprising how often I say that one. They're monkeys you know. :p
"Kiss me baby!" And Elijah did. He's the bestest. :)
One movie you want to watch:
Super Troopers. I blame Hy. ;) Brandon says he's heard it's funny too. I'm thinking we need to grab it this weekend.

Have a great day! :)

April Fools?!

I was trying to come up with some sort of April fools type joke for my little blog, but haven't come up with anything fun & tricky yet. Oh well, I'm gonna go ahead & type something anyway since it's been a week and all since I last checked in.I haven't been able to work much on getting some sun - it's been a little chilly this past week. We've even seen some snow. Crazy huh? Utah weather is weird like that. My little tulips out front are trying to hang in there and the plum trees are slowly starting to decide that it really is Spring.

I was gonna do a meme but think I'll save it for another day. I'm thirsty and my weights are sitting right here reminding me that it's an upper body day. Now that I have LV off to school and Elijah set up with some pb&j style lunch it's definitely work out time before I sit down and play me some WoW. There's also the ever-present mountain of laundry to tackle.
--You know, Vern jokes about wishing the kids would learn to eat once a week or so for financial reasons, I'm thinking that my crazy wish would have to do with dirty laundry. :p The sheer amount of clothes that a family of 6 goes through per week is nuts. I really want a laundry mountain that washes & folds itself. Come on little wish fairy do your thing. :p

Meanwhile, I hope it's sunny wherever you readers are & that you're having an awesome April 1st. :)