i ♥ faces - bubbles

This week at i ♥ faces the theme is bubbles. I was about to get out the Ariel bubble blower that is sitting in my basement as a surprise for Sophie's Ariel birthday party in hopes of getting a great bubble shot. Until I remembered just how much Soph and Collin love blowing bubbles in their milk. It is a regular occurrence at dinner time. I am constantly reminding them of their manners. Imagine their excitement when I gave them a glass of milk with a straw and asked them to blow bubbles. What fun!

The entries are great this week. Go check them out!

The countdown . . .

The countdown begins continues! Literally.

Only 7 more days until the big Par-tay!

Sophie could not be more excited for her birthday. It is such a hard wait from Collin's birthday to hers. And understandably so . . . from her eyes she is older so her birthday should come first, right? So anyway she is so excited! That may be an understatement. She has so many plans for her party and I am just trying to keep up with her. Planning a party with a soon to be 5 (GASP!) year old is a lot of work, but I LOVE it! And I am pretty excited too!

Fix It Friday #24

Every Friday at i ♥ faces they have a photo to edit. I decided that this would be a good way to learn and practice editing photos. This weeks photo is from Muddy Boots and is titled "The Eyes Are The Window To The Soul."

original

my edit

I would love to share what I did to edit this cute guy, but I tried so many different things that I really have no clue exactly how I did it anymore. I tried using some actions, but had NO luck installing them. AARRHH! I was seriously so bugged and frustrated by this. But I did learn how to make eyes pop and how to trick PSE into making a layer mask. So a success! The tutorials at i ♥ faces are awesome!

Celebrating Summer: Picnics

We took the kids for a picnic today. It was so fun and quite relaxing. The kids loved eating outside, watching all the dogs, playing in the water, finding sticks, throwing rocks, and acting out The Three Billy Goats Gruff. And for me it was just wonderful to be out with my family enjoying the day.

the set-up

collin went from timid to soaking wet during the time we were there

i just love this smile . . . she is having a great time

watching all the fun

I ♥ faces - CrAzY, SiLlY, FuNnY Face!

This week at i ♥ faces it is all about fun! The theme is crazy, silly, funny face. I have a slew load of these! Anytime I take my kids pictures they always do a crazy, silly,funny face. You know . . . to make things just a little bit more fun! This is Collin's standard crazy, silly, funny face. I think he pulls it off nicely! He sure is one crazy, silly, funny boy!

8 Months!

My little Ruby Roo is 8 months old and growing and changing every day. I seriously wonder where the last 8 months have gone. I swear I just gave birth. She is still the sweetest thing you have ever encountered. Her smile is contagious and you can't help but want to make her laugh. She eats well, sleeps well, and loves her brother and sister like crazy as they do her ... sometimes too much! She has FINALLY figured out how to roll over from her stomach to her back and is now all over the place. I find her stuck in many crazy places through out the day. Silly little lady! I just know it won't be too long before she is crawling. Sigh. She loves to blow raspberries ... and I hate it. I always get some type of fruit or vegetable blown right into my face! But one can't get too mad when it is followed by such a cute grin. We just love this sweet little girl and I can't imagine not having her as a part of our eternal family.

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

We had the opportunity to take our children the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. What a wonderful experience it was. It is always neat to be in the temple with your eternal family. Sophie and Collin love the temple and quite often ask if we can go there; especially on our way home from Grandpa and Grandma's house where they always see it sitting so beautifully on the mountain.

As I think of taking my children to the temple, I can't help but think of these words given in a talk by President Thomas S. Monson

During one year, the Primary organization conducted an effort to have the children become better acquaited with the holy temples of God. As a loving teacher guided a boy or girl to the large door of the Salt Lake Temple and the little one reached out and up to touch the temple, I could almost see the Master welcoming the little children His side and could almost hear His comforting words: "suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid then not; for of such is the kingdom of God."

(picture taken by Shan'l Parish. To see more beautiful pictures of the Oquirrh Temple, click here)

"As we love the temple, touch the temple, and attend the temple, our lives will reflect our faith." Thomas S. Monson

I love to see the excitement my children have for the temple just in visiting its ground and in aspiring to go there some day. Although much of the open house was beyond their understanding, they did feel of the Spirit of the holy house in which we were in. And for Sophie I think it brought back some memories of the special day when we visited the temple to be sealed together as a family for all time and eternity.

Bountiful Temple, October 2006

"As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us." Thomas S. Monson