Fun Photoshop!

I'm slowly learning the ins and outs of photo editing. I still have so much to learn but it has been so fun to see what I can do with the photo editors.I've been using a great FREE program called GIMP. It is a great photo editor if you don't want to spend $80 or more on Photshop Elements.

I took this picture yesterday at the park. My friend Danielle was sweet enough to let me use her adorable daughter Kate to model a new headband.

This is the "before" picture. She looks great but has a mouth full of pretzels. :)

And this is the "after" picture. She has such pretty blue eyes!

I just downloaded the coolest program called Picasa that makes it a million times easier to update my blog. I just click on the pictures I want to blog about and click "blog this", and viola! you have a new blog post!

So hopefully that means I will get out of my blog slump and start posting all the great stuff that is going on in our lives.

Park Day! Hooray!

The boys got to play at the park today with Si's best buddy Tyler, and their other friends that we don't get to see very often, Camryn and Kate. It was so fun to have all the kids together, enjoying the lovely weather!
 Ryan did the best he could to keep up with the big kids.

I loved this shot of the boys on the playground steps. I had to share it with y'all.

What were you doing New Year's Eve?

I finally downloaded the pictures again from my "other" camera and I completely forgot about this one! So, better late than never.


 What was I doing at midnight New Years Eve?

Enjoying an kick-butt game of Guitar Hero World Tour with my adorable hubby!!! (Well I was, until it was his turn to play.)

11:55 I was wide awake, watching Jeremiah rock out,  and the next thing I remembered was waking up at 12:05.

I missed it!

Maybe I was hypnotized by the huge, never-ending ,scrolling fretboard on the 60 inch TV. Yep, that's it.

♥ Things that I love ♥

I posted this on my Cantaloupe Corner Blog a couple days ago but it makes me smile so I think it's worth posting here too.   

:)

♥ Things that I love ♥




#1. My Family (ok, that was totally obvious but I had to put it in there becuase they are that special!)

#2. Cantaloupe Corner. My creative release!

#3. Really cute fabric! (It makes me so happy!)

#4. Pearls. (Sometimes I wish I could wear them everyday.)

#5. Anything handmade. (There's something magical about making things yourself.)

#6. Sunshine. (Hence the reason I live in Arizona)

#7. Singing.

#8. A clean house. (If only my house could be clean everyday. I'd be in heaven!)

#9. The smell of fresh cut grass, orange blossoms, fresh homemade bread, and clean laundry.

#10. Chubby baby cheeks

#11. Food! (I love to bake. Especially something chocolatey!)

#12. Painting. (Be it a canvas, furniture, or walls.)

#13. Fresh fruit.

#14. My Miniature Schnauzer, Zeus (it's a love/hate relationship, but most of the time it's love)

#15. Being outside. Hiking, biking, running. . .

#16. Learning something new.

#17. Harry Potter movies

#18. Dancing with my kids to silly songs!

#19. My antique piano.

#20. Flowers.

Train Museum, a 3 year old's heaven!

I'm sure by now you know how much of train fan Simon is. He plays with his Thomas trains all day long and dreams about trains at night. He even has nightmares about trains sometimes. He just can't stop thinking about steam engines and deisel engines, cabooses, freight cars, passenger cars, engineers, railroad tracks. . . you get the picture.

So last Saturday we took Simon to the Arizona  Railway Museum.

 You would have thought he stepped right throught the gates of heaven.

 

We took lots and lots of pictures so I have a lot to post. Enjoy the ride with me.

Here's Simon looking out the window of a passenger car at all the other train cars and such in the yard.

Jeremiah was remeniscing about his train rides in Russia. I think it made him a little sleepy.

Unfortunately, Ryan didn't enjoy himself as much as Simon. Train museums just aren't made for babies. He kept falling down and bumping into things.

He did enjoy the dining car. Maybe he was just hungry. Too bad there was no food on the train.

Look at this monster! If you know the Thomas trains, this one would be Harvey. He helps the trains that get off the tracks by using his crane to pick them up and put them back on.

Simon's practicing for when he gets to work on a railway. He's switching the train tracks.

My boys. :)

The little blue diesel engine.

How big is that steam engine?

These machines are incredible! You don't really realize how big they are until you are standing next to (or in front of) one!

Simon had to yell at Ryan to get off the tracks. Even after some reassurance, he was still convinced the train was going to start moving and run over his little brother. Don't worry Simon, this engine hasn't moved on it's own in years.

Yep, that's a big ol' engine!

Simon was showing Ryan all of his railroad smarts. "Look Ryan, a gondola car!"He begged and begged for us to put him up in the big steamy and when it was finally our turn he got so scared he grabbed onto Jeremiah's shirt and would not let go! Thank goodness his dad is strong.

I love this picture. Pure bliss on his face as he sits in the engineer's chair.  The boiler takes up about 80% of the cab, along with the whole front of the train. This is a massive steam-making machine. The engineer has to peek out of little windows on the sides of the boiler to see what is ahead of the train. I don't think I would have the guts to be a steam engine engineer.

This kid, he dreams about driving trains. Maybe someday he will.

Christmas part 3

The final chapter of Christmas 2010.

After missing last year's Udall Family Christmas Eve Party, I was so happy to spend this Christmas Eve with the fam. I just happen to have the cutest family in the world (I'm a bit biased).

We had the most scrumtious Mexican food, Aunt Darla told us stories, including some old letters from Great Grandma and Grandpa Burk, and we had a very interesting white elephant gift exchange featuring the dancing chicken from last years exchange. Guess who got to take home the chicken. ME! 

I got some funky stuff called "flarp". It's just slimy goop that you squish into it's container and it makes "flarp" noises.   Simon played with for the rest of the night. He's such a boy.

I have to mention our pre-Christmas gingerbread house making party that resulted in these beauties. I would tell you whose they are but I'm sure you can find Simon's and I might get credit for the lovely houses created by Karissa, Cabrena and Jeremiah. (My poor sorry house was never finished because I was making yummy Cinnabon cinnamon rolls! Ok, you probably can narrow down which one is mine.)

Christmas morning was SO FUN! Here's Santa Simon with sleepy eyes. This year he finally understood who Santa is.

We had to hold him back from unwrapping everyone's presents. But we did let him help mom and dad open presents.

At the Udall's house he got the coolest remote control train from santa. The kind you put around your Christmas tree. He had been asking for one for months and it was the only real toy on his Christmas list. The rest of his list was PJ's and socks (huh?).    I'm so mad at myself for leaving my camera behind.  His face was PRICELESS!

Here's Simon and his best buddies/cousins Everett and Keaton.

While we were enjoying our White Christmas in the mountains we took the kiddos out sledding!

We bundled Ryan up till he couldn't move anymore, put him in our little sled and pulled him up and down the hills. It was a great workout and Ryan loved it (till his little hands got cold). Then he spent the rest of the trip in the car with Grandma Sue.

Where was Simon when all this action was going on?

I tried and tried to wake him up. He was SO excited to go sledding, but he was comatose.

We took his sledding at the Primary school once we got back into town and his eyes were open.

Bad parenting moment: Just because it looks "safe enough" doesn't mean it's ok to send your 3 year old zooming down a steep hill toward a retaining wall with only a mom to catch him.

Mom's not always fast enough.

Don't worry, he's ok.

Christmas Part 2

Fun in the snow!

Simon couldn't wait to get dressed up and play in the snow. We bundled him up till he looked like the kid on "A Christmas Story" and sent him out to play.

The first thing he did was eat the snow. mmmm.
Ryan had to watch through the window, wishing he could join his brother in the winter wonderland.

We finally got Ryan in his coat, all ready to go see Grandma Udall, and the first thing he did is fall down in the snow. "What is this stuff, dad!?

l

Christmas: Part 1

Every year for Christmas we drive up to the White Mountains to spend the holiday with our families in Eagar and Springerville. We are lucky enough to have both families in the same area.

As soon as I turn the calender over to December I start to crave snow! The rest of the year I love the sunshine of Arizona but I want snow in December. So I spend the 3 weeks before Christmas anticipating our trip to the mountains and praying that we will be blessed with a white Christmas.

We took a whole afternoon driving up to Round Valley. We stopped in Superior to see the red caboose. Simon LOVES anything to do with trains and we know how much he loves this caboose. We normally just drive past it so it is a special treat to stop and see it up close and personal.
We left our jackets in the car so Simon is turning into a popcicle. We snapped a photo and ran back to find our coats.

To make the trip even more exciting for our little engineer, we stopped at the big steam engine in Globe.

Have you ever driven around the back roads of Globe? It's full of stomach-dropping hills that I wouldn't want to face on a snowy day. We drove around looking at the old buildings and enjoying the ups and downs.

As we approached the outskirts of Show Low it started to snow! And it snowed, and snowed, and snowed! All the way to Round Valley and all night long.
Cabrena left a couple of hours after us and she had to stop in Show Low because the roads were too snowy and dangerous. Our Superheroes (Jeremiah and his dad) drove to the rescue! They made it to Show Low and helped drive her car back to Springerville.

Look at the beautiful snow! This pic was taken as the snow was just starting to stick to the ground. It was breathtaking!

Snowy, snowy snow! I love snow! My dream of a White Christmas came true!