Molly and Foster

We had Foster and Molly over the weekend while Scott and Elisha were in Germany.  When Chris got back from running 17 miles (crazy, I know) we got the kids ready and decided to go check out the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake.  Foster's favorite part was easily the snakes.  Molly loved them too.   I got just close enough to take a couple pictures and tried not to look at them.  Molly's other favorite was the "real live dinosaurs".  I guess their animatronics were more impressive to her than they were to me.  Foster didn't even hesitate to run straight up to this dinosaur and look up his mouth.  These kids just cracked us up the whole time. 

 

Molly wanted her photo taken in front of the tiger that was right next to the glass.  Then it suddenly got up freaked her out.  

After the zoo, we went to the park and then introduced Molly and Foster to slurpees, which as you can imagine, they LOVED.  Then it was dinner and Megamind and bed.  Fun day!

Sunday was fun too.  We fit in a little better in our ward with two kids on our bench and we had the best behaved children in all of sacrament meeting.  In the afternoon we went over to the temple to go for a walk.  

Ok, Elisha, I just love the poses you're teaching Molly these days.  She loves the camera and just kept posing in the funniest positions.  

Up Ding Down Dang

 We had hoped to do Coyote Gulch this weekend (an overnight slot canyon hike) but when that fell through, our quick back up plan was Goblin Valley, Ding and Dang canyons and Little Wild Horse.
8 of us headed down Friday night and camped just outside Goblin Valley.  It was a prefect night.  Not too hot or cold with a moon so bright we never had to use a flashlight.  Of course, that just gets annoying when you actually want to get some sleep, but we managed.  In the morning we set off to do Ding and Dang.  The plan was to go ascend Ding canyon and descend Dang canyon.  We got up Ding just fine, but had a little trouble locating the drop in for Dang.  We took a wrong turn down another canyon we named Dong and then finally got back on track.  The weather was nice for hiking and it just felt so great to be down in Southern Utah.
I decided to just shoot with my 12-24 lens.  I haven't spent very much time with that lens so I thought this might be some good quality bonding time.  We were on great terms for the first half of the day, but I don't know what went wrong later on.  I guess I still have a lot to figure out.

Little Wild Horse Canyon is pretty sweet, but SO CROWDED.  I felt like I was in line at an amusement park sometimes waiting to get through a narrow section.  It's long and gorgeous on pretty level ground, so it appeals to all ages and skill levels.  We just did a few miles of the good part and then turned back.

I have always wanted to go to Goblin Valley, maybe more to check it off my Utah list than anything else.  I just wanted to see it.  This was the perfect trip to tack it onto the end of.  We were all so tired of walking/hiking by the time we got there, that we just wandered for a few minutes, took some pictures and then got back in the cars.

finally.

Every year I make a mother's day book for my mom, gathering photos from all my siblings and compiling them in a Walton family album for the year.  For the last three years or so I have used Shutterfly for convenience sake all the while waiting for a better solution before I started on my own yearly albums.  Being a graphic designer, you'd think I'd just use InDesign, and I started to at one point, but Shutterfly has the convenience of lining up all your photos in chronological order so you can just drag and drop them onto the page.  The only thing I hated was how limited the page layouts were.  I wanted to create my own.

FINALLY!  Shutterfly has a 'customize your own book' option where you can resize photos, add text boxes and completely create your own page layouts.  I am loving it!  Seriously, Chris hears about it all the time.  It really has all the convenience of the original method and then you can go in and make the adjustments to make it perfect!  I am having so much fun.  I'm working on my 2010 album and it's so fast and easy, I've already started thinking about my 2009 and 2008 albums.  I have to go back and fill in the years since I quit scrapbooking.  Oh, and then a wedding album...

Anyway, I don't know how long this has been around and I've missed it or what other programs are similar or better, but I just wanted you to know.  I am proud of Shutterfly!

moms and mother's day.

I got a flower today at church in anticipation of the incredible mom that I may some day be.  A little presumptuous perhaps, but I accepted anyway.  Now I'll HAVE to try and be a good mom.

How ironic is it that today I went to a family ward and got a flower on Mother's day and my mom went to a singles ward, and I'm assuming, received no flower?  Just a thought.  I haven't been in a family ward for a proper mother's day celebration for years and years.  (Obviously, since I'm making such a big deal about the flower).  It was darling to hear 4 children and youth speak on their mothers.  I don't care who's kids they are.  I cry when I hear children saying such profound things like "I am a child of God."  Most of the world doesn't even understand that.  I cried all through sacrament meeting.  Can you imagine if those were MY children?  I'm going to be a wreck when motherhood hits.  If my kids are sweet, I'm going to cry and if they are rotten, I'll probably cry more. Chris thinks it endearing, which means he laughs at me.  We'll see who's laughing when my eyes are permanently swollen and red!  It won't be me...  I'll still be crying.

Well, on to more important stuff.  My mom and other great moms.

I couldn't be more grateful for the relationship I have with my mom.  She has always been supportive of my decisions and taught me to rely on the Lord for answers.  Her wise council has helped me make some of the most important choices in my life, but more importantly, her love and empathy has taught me that she trusted me to make the right decisions anyway.
I am grateful for her example, her consistency, her diligences, her love, her weaknesses, and her strength.    I see these same qualities in these other great moms and I feel blessed to have their experience at my back for when I will need their help.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the awesome moms out there making this world and my life as great as it can be.  I love you.

perks.

Chris and I have been wanting to go to a Salt Lake Real game for a while now.  We finally scheduled a date and planned it for the first game of the regular season.  A few days before the game, my coworker came to me and asked me if I wanted tickets to the Real game.  You see, Silhouette had donated a couple of machines to a special mother's day half time event, so they offered us 4 tickets.  Sweet! 

Our VIP tickets came with lunch and free snacks and cold beverages throughout the game...

...front row seats (on the field level)...

... and my favorite part, a press pass for me, so I could wander around the sidelines and take pictures of the game!  I LOVED it, and barely spent any time in my seat.  Really, the press pass was available to me, so I could be on the field to shoot this event.

50 moms sprinting to the prizes of their choice. 

Fun.  But I like shooting this stuff better.

This turned out to be a broken tibia, broken fibula, dislocated ankle and torn ligaments. Poor guy.  He looked like he was in so much pain... and now out for the whole season too!

Salt Lake Real fans are funny (or soccer fans in general).  This section did not stop playing the drums the ENTIRE TIME!  I don't think the smoke machine let up either.

 This was just after he let the ball in... and so was this!

This one was sad.  He totally beat the goalie and then completely missed the goal. 

I had SO much fun shooting from the side lines.  Sometimes, I'm just amazed at the unexpected perks that have come with my job.