Ice

My crushed-up freezer ice.  Definitely leaves something to be desired.

It has reached that point in my pregnancy where I crave ice.  Unfortunately for me (but fortunate for my teeth), the ice from my freezer just doesn't satisfy.  Oh, what I wouldn't give to have a Sonic nearby and their wonderful bags of "chewy ice."  

Cafe Rio had "chewy ice;" too bad it's even farther away than the closest Sonic.  Ugh.

A "Before and After" photo

Right before Brett deployed, we had some family pictures taken with Brett's family.  None of us were happy about the way they turned out, so that's why none of the photos have ever been posted anywhere. I don't know about you, but when paying someone to take family photos, I fully expect the photographer to try to bring out the best in not only the surroundings, but in a person's appearance as well.  In her defense, the weather was bitter cold and windy, but had we gone to someone with more experience, I believe any situation can turn out well.  Unfortunately, this experience did not turn out as well as we had hoped.  I won't go into detail about how many things just didn't seem right with this particular photographer, but I do wish she wouldn't have tried to come off as a professional the way that she did.  It only made her work that much more disappointing. As a result, I had to "play" with the photos to get them to be somewhat up to mine and my mother-in-law's standards.  For example, here is a "before and after" of the one photo this photographer took of Brett's grandparents.

Now, there is definitely a time and place for Photoshop.  I am no expert, but I know enough to be able to make the best of a dire situation.  As you can see, I didn't alter anything to the point to where it altered who they really were, but I did bring out the best in them.  Also, the things I changed were things that my mother-in-law wished that the photographer would have fixed (or that she would have even paid attention to before even taking the photo).  Can you pick out the things that I changed?  I know for a fact that the photographer used Photoshop to "enhance" the photo, but none of us felt like it did anything to really make it better.  (I actually asked the photographer for the original photos, but she wouldn't give them to me on account of she "didn't want me to see what they looked like before she had made them the best that she could." It sure inspired a lot of confidence, let me tell you.)

So, a word to the wise... When paying someone to take photos for you, make sure you know what you are actually paying for, and make sure you see some of their previous work so that you don't end up with any surprises in the end.  

As good a time as any...

I keep telling myself I will start blogging again when something inspiring comes to mind, but since those instances seem to come and go rather frequently (much like the birds in the above photo), I figured why not just post something now.  It has been just over a year since my last post, and what a crazy year it was!  That's probably the main reason for my absence - too much going on and blogging was the least of my concerns.  Here's a mini breakdown of how 2012 went:

• The boys and I moved to Utah.
• Brett deployed to Djibouti at the beginning of January.
• I spent the next several months missing Brett while trying to make the most of the time I had with my family and Brett's. 
• Saw my old dermatologist and tried some new hair-growth treatments, but with no success. 
• Brett got back at the end of June.
• We moved back to Maryland.
• I found out I was pregnant.
• Both boys started school. (Yay for "me time!")
• I was EXHAUSTED from being pregnant (thank goodness it didn't last past the first trimester).
• Found out we were having our first baby girl!!
• I turned the mighty 3-0. No big deal.
• We had holiday after holiday just like the rest of the world, and then I finally got to relax after the new year.

Now I'm spending my time trying to gather the energy to keep my house in order and making every preparation I can for Baby Girl who is due to arrive April 1st (I'm really hoping she surprises me and comes a week early).  I don't have much to say these days, especially because "pregnancy brain" is in full swing and I'm lucky if I can remember to put pants on, let alone remember something witty and interesting to write about.  I have every intention of getting back into blogging, though.  If you have any suggestions of things I could write about, please shoot them my way! :-)

Blessed

I found this un-posted draft sitting in my post column, and I have no idea why I didn't post it.  It's just as true today as it was 5 months ago when it was originally written.



I'm so grateful for my friends and neighbors, and the wonderful people I get to associate with on a regular basis.  Lately, I've been very aware of how fortunate I am to know the people I know, and have the friends that I have.  They definitely help fill the void of not having family close by.  They are definitely my second family and I'm so grateful to have them in my life!

*Update: now that I'm over 2000 miles away from these people who I miss so much, I'm grateful that I have another set of faces, old and new, that sustain me and can keep me going.

I can only hope that I can do as much for them as they do for me no matter where in the country they may be.

Hiatus

Wow... Have I been absent or what?! Life got busy, then it got overwhelming, then it got unreal. Let's just say that finding time to actually write about it wasn't even on my radar. There were times when I did sit down to write - and I have a slew of unfinished drafts to prove it - but now that I have some free time, I can't even remember the reasons for jotting down the few thoughts that made it on the screen, so they will probably remain unfinished drafts for the rest of their days.

I have new things to write about, though, and I'm anxious to be at it again. I hope I still have some readers and not everyone has given up on me!

(Erin... Thanks for the comment and the gentle nudge to get things going again.) :-)

Totally Made My Day...

Earlier today, as I was going around to the Primary classrooms to give them the 10-minute warning before class was over, I happened to run into a few of our ward's young men.  Just as I was turning the corner to open the door to one of the classrooms, I hear, "Hey, cutie."  It had come from one of the young men.  I didn't acknowledge the guys, because out of the corner of my eye, I could tell that as soon as the kid said it, he and his friends realized who I was and they quickly turned away and hit the kid that said it.  I just acted like I hadn't heard or seen anything in an effort to save him from even more embarrassment, but I really wanted to say thank you and bust out laughing.  It definitely made my crazy day a bit brighter.

Invention

As I was going through my photos from the past couple of months, I found a photo that I took while I was on a plane to Utah a couple of months ago.  It requires a little bit of a backstory...

When I was little - like, elementary-school aged - a friend and I came up with this brilliant idea for an invention.  It consisted of a camera at your front door so that when someone came to your house, it would take a picture of them.  We figured it would mostly be useful if you weren't home and wanted to know if someone stopped by, or if someone broke into your house and you wanted to snap a photo of them.  We were super serious about it, but never did anything but draw pictures of it.

Imagine my surprise when I was looking through the SkyMall catalogue on the airplane and found this:

If you can read the description, it is EXACTLY what we had envisioned.  Kinda weird, huh?

(Maeg, if you're reading this, do you remember when we came up with this?)