Idaho trip 2010

We went to Idaho for a fun little summer vacation the past week and had a really good time. Mike surprised me by coming unexpectedly and actually ended up on the same flight. It was so nice to have him help me through the airport with all of our stuff. Liam was a good boy on the flight. He especially liked looking out the window, pointing, and saying, "Ooo!" We spent time with my sisters and their families, swimming, picnicking in the mountains, parading, eating, and just hanging out. We packed quite a bit into the weekend while Mike was in town. By Sunday we were all exhausted. Mike flew home on Sunday night, but not before getting delayed in Salt Lake for a couple of hours. Liam and I stayed in Pocatello until Thursday evening.

One of my favorite things to do at my parents' house is card making. My mom has all sorts of awesome equipment, supplies, and paper to make some really intense paper crafts. We spent several hours chatting and crafting. I always leave Idaho more motivated to create things.

Most of the rest of the time in Idaho was spent eating yummy food, visiting with family, and letting the kids play together. We got some cute pictures of all of the cousins together. That is the best part about those mini vacations- family time; I love seeing the kids. Those girls are so cute and sweet. We loved being there with everyone.

We also loved coming home because Liam wasn't sleeping well. I think he is like his mom in that he doesn't like to sleep when things are going on. He doesn't want to miss anything. So, he wasn't getting his naps and was staying up way too late. We've only been home for a day and a half, but already he's pretty much back to normal sleeping patterns.

Now our week in photos:

We had lunch in SLC with Grandma and Kristen before driving with Shaylee to Pocatello.


We swam and played with cousins.

The little ones ate graham crackers and nilla wafers. Liam ate his own share plus stole the other kids', especially from Kinlee...

...which is why she is upset in this one.

The big kids played water balloon volleyball for a bit. We made up silly rules and just had a lot of fun. Peyton was our official water balloon girl. She made sure that the winning side had a fresh balloon to start the new round.

July 24th was a Pioneer Day Parade. It was a typical Pocatello parade with some good floats, some not so good floats, and lots of candy! Here is the whole gang at the parade.


We had fun making faces...


...playing with cousins...




... and taking pictures.


I posted a lot more photos on my facebook page. It is easier to post a lot of photos there than here on the blog. So to see those, go here.

Here are some family pictures that Whitney took: (more to come)



Bonus video:

Liam and Papa playing at the stairs. Sorry about the abrupt ending, but I was worried he would fall into the bricks.

July 20- another day at the park

For FHE last night we went to the park. Liam was really sleepy, so it took him a while to really get into it. After warming up, though, he liked the swing, crawling around like a bear, standing in the grass, and playing with his ball... oh yeah, and eating the dirt, rocks, and grass.

Bonus! Video of Liam playing and standing. He has taken a couple of steps, but only when we make him. I think he can get anywhere he needs to go by crawling at lightning speed, so there's no need to walk. We're working on it, though.

July 19

Liam hasn't been sleeping well again/ still. He wakes up about every hour and a half on average. We've tried letting him cry it out, we've given him ibuprofen before bed, we feed him lots of food at night so he shouldn't be hungry. Anyway, this boy needs to start sleeping at night because otherwise he'll have a couple of perpetually cranky parents.

Noonles

That is how my niece, I think it was, used to say "noodles." So, now Mike and I call them noonles. Liam loved eating them, almost as much as getting them all over the place.

Voting will begin later...

So, I just found out that you cannot vote until after the photo has been up for 1 month. I will post a reminder when voting begins. Sorry about the confusion. You can be rallying votes, though!

Thanks!

Vote for our Gerber Baby

I entered the photo from the last entry into a Gerber contest. There are something like 50,000 entries so far, so it will probably be a far-fetched idea, but go on over and give him a vote. It would be so cool if he won!

http://www.gerber.com/Photo/?entryid=49265&source=10086654&utm_source=Gerber&utm_medium=email&utm_content=PhotoAcceptedReminder&utm_campaign=GerberGeneration#/gallery/

You can do a search for specific pictures by first name or entry number. His first name is, of course, Liam and his entry number is 49265

Get on over there and give him a little votey vote. (I think you can vote 1 time each day from each email address.)

Photoshop fun

I've been playing around with Photoshop for a bit this Sunday afternoon. You will probably recognize most of these photos. I've had a lot of fun tweaking the colors and doing some other neat things. There is SO MUCH that can be done in Photoshop. Each picture can take on a completely different mood depending on the effect that you change. It is very addicting and I had to stop before I spend all night doing it.

Original photo

Intense colors, especially the eyes and lips, fixed the scratches

Desaturated, added a burned edge

Original photo

Cropped, color adjustments, intensify eyes

More cropping to enhance composition, slight desaturation for effect

More desaturation...
now that I see it on the screen I think maybe I like the previous saturation better


Took the exposure back a bit per Mike's suggestion. I tend to go a little overboard sometimes. Added burned edge. Me likey!

July 7

I had to go up to Girl's Camp for a couple of days this week to teach a watercolor class for certification. Of course, Liam came with me to flirt with girls and to get swooned over. This is Emily- one of my Young Women. She didn't go to camp this year, but she came up with me to help with Liam. She's cute and Liam loves her. I think she loves him, too, so it works out.

Check out his cute budding teeth!

This is Liam's "face." Ha ha!

Come Out With Your Hands Up!

"I surrender! I surrender! Yes, I took the Doritos! Forgive me!"

July 5

We went to the park with some friends to celebrate Independence Day. We had yucky food (picnic-type food... so disgustingly delicious), played some games, roller-blade danced (okay, let's be honest- only I roller-blade danced. The rest of the girls were jealous of my skillz, though), got eaten alive by the mosquitoes, and had a really fun time. We then came back to our house, made some raspberry ice cream, and watched a cheesy movie. It was a very successful 5th of July, indeed!

Liam was the bully, knocking over all the other kids to steal their doritos. He was caught orange-handed.


Sometime during our roller-blading, biking, walking adventure Liam fell asleep. This is him waking up, still in the stroller, realizing I put his hat on him to keep the sun from scorching his baby skin. He promptly took it off because he's a stinker.


And this adorable video is from on the way home after our fun day. Mike ran in to Freddy's to get some berries and other ice cream necessities while Liam and I played in the car. I was simply tapping the bottom of his foot and he thought it was so funny! The video is 2:28 just of Liam giggling. This is only the last 2:28 of about 5 minutes, too. I don't know why it was so amusing, but I LOVE his laugh. I can't get enough!