Package from Grandma and Grandpa!

On Tuesday we got a package in the mail from Gma Bonnie and Gpa Ed. The boys were so excited to open it they couldn't stand it! Like everybody, they LOVE getting mail! We didn't know what was in it so it's just as much a surprise for us as it is for them! I was cleaning the kitchen when Chad opened the box for the boys and I heard him start giggling. I asked what he was laughing so hard about and he said this...

Turns out my father in law is pretty funny! :D



In our house Chad is a Redskins fan while I happen to LOVE the Giants! The boys however take after their grandfather...



I can not begin to tell you how excited Logan was, or how many times he has looked through the book or watched the DVD! They were both really excited about their surprise! AJ on the other hand... was not quite as happy.


We tried to convince him that the drink mixes were for him and equally as wonderful as his brothers Cardinals stuff but he didn't buy it...


So you can only imagine how happy he was yesterday when we got a second package from them in the mail with these in it...


Turns out Logan and Tristan were lying to him and grandpa and grandma really do love him too!




I know these pictures look like they were taken the same day but I assure you they were not. My children just refuse to wear clothes.


AJ has learned that we don't wear shoes in the house and we take them off at the door. He seems to think the same goes for his clothes to! Because first his shoes come off and then just as quickly with out another step in the house he strips down. I usually have my hands full trying to come in the door and we all have to wait because AJ is blocking the path trying to undress. Logan and Tristan were the same way. They are getting better about it...slowly. But let me just say...they don't get it from me.

Taking a break

Taking a break from Arizona pictures to share these...


aren't they beautiful?! I was vacuuming the other day when I looked up and saw this...



I was doing this...because of this...when I was surprised with these :D



Chad used to bring me home flowers all the time when we lived in Tucson, but since we've been here I don't get them as often. It's not because he doesn't think about me, or even that he doesn't want to. It's because flowers shops here are VERY few and VERY limited and VERY expensive!!! On base and off. I know this. It's okay. Because it means when I DO get these...

I love them that much more! I know he REALLY wanted to bring me flowers and it doesn't matter what kind of flowers he brings home. Because I know with out him even saying it... they would have been daises if they had daises but...
And it makes them even more beautiful!!

Easter BBQ at Aunt C's 2009

Here are some pictures from April 10th, 2009. We got together with Chad's mom's side of the family at Aunt Cindy's and Uncle Kelly's house a couple days before Easter. It was so nice! Everyone was able to get together and visit it made it so much easier on us because we were able so see everyone and didn't have to drive all over Phoenix. :) The kids got to play and do an Easter egg hunt and it made Easter morning a lot less stressful! Every year when we lived in Tucson, we dreaded the holidays. We have a LOT of family between the two of us and it always felt like we never got enough time with any of them on our visits or on the holiday's. Christmas Easter, Thanksgiving... they were always a blur. We would run ourselves ragged trying to make it in time to visit with everyone and actually "visit" with everyone, not to mention trying to relax and actually enjoy the holiday. And when you throw in the fact that our family lives at least an hour from each other on a normal day mix in the holiday traffic... We were ALWAYS late. We never got to relax and enjoy the time with family and we usually had at least one or two people upset with us by the end of the day...not including the kids.
So it was so nice to be able to get together 2 days before Easter when we didn't have to rush off to some where else. We really enjoyed it and the kids LOVED it! :)
I took a LOT of pictures that day so I'm going to post a few each day hopefully for the next couple days.

I love the face Rex is making here...





Chad... what can I say?! I love him!


I love these pictures of My father in law and Emma...


She looks like she's telling him stories. :)


but then she realized I was taking her picture. :)

so that's it. At least for now. More to come in the next few days! :D

What's taking so long?!

I know I know... everyone keeps asking me! I'm workin' on it is all I can say. The truth is I love editing as much as I love taking pictures. I LOVE a pretty picture and I love making a picture as pretty as I can. I don't get much time on the computer to work on my pictures and the truth is, when I do get time... I don't get much done. I am so indecisive about my editing. I'm CONSTANTLY asking Chad which he likes better, the before or after... of every little change. I know it drives him crazy, but I can't work without him. :)
The boys went to bed at 8:00 and I was able to sit down and edit. Now it's 11:22 pm. I was so excited to finally get some work done and was hoping to get through the Easter pictures. There are quite a few of them but I don't need to edit ALL of them. I just wanted to edit some of my favorite ones and start posting them on here to share. I didn't get very far. I started editing a picture of my mother in law... and I can't decide which one I like best. But just so you can see why it's taking me so long to share some of my pictures...

This is the edited picture... I like it, but it seemed like it was lacking some "umph"...



so then I RE-edited it. I like this one...it's got a LOT of "umph" and I love the way her eyes look, but it takes away from those lips. :)


So then I once again RE-edited it. I like the color on this one but it's a little dark. I asked Chad what he thought and he said "she looks so sad". To me she looks like she's contemplating. But I took the picture so I know she was in fact contemplating. But I look at it and I still don't think she looks sad. If you click on the picture it will show you a larger version of it.



I even started to take out the stuff in the background but decided I didn't like that either...

So I'm stumped. Do I try to RE-edit again or do I leave it as is? I get so frustrated with myself because I want every picture to be perfect. Either exactly how I saw it, or how I WANT it to look. The more I learn, the better I seem to get, but then it just makes me realize how much I still have to learn. AND of course I keep telling myself... it's art...MY art and there are no rules.

So as I was going through my trip home pictures to add these to this blog, I found this...





It is 100% UN-edited. It breaks so many photography rules and yet I LOVE it. That easy... no work required, I love it just the way it is! It's crooked...the horizon is dead center in the picture (probably the biggest photography rule broken there), you can see the dirty windshield and there is a chili dog container on the dash.
I love for all those reasons and more. I took this picture as we were leaving Arizona driving to California to fly "home". I LOVE the Arizona sunset. But this picture can bring me close to tears. It was what I was seeing as we were driving away at 6:49 pm. It reminds me how heart broken I was/am to leave my parents and family. The sun set on that day and I got a picture of it knowing it's going to be another year before we get to see/hug everyone again.
Knowing we were headed back to our little island to enjoy the beautiful Okinawan sunsets was bitter sweet. And since we have been home I have settled back in and am not quite as homesick as I was that day, but now when I look at this picture it makes me sad all over again and makes me REALLY want a chili dog!

Back at it...

I haven't blogged in WAY to long!! A lot of things have changed/ happened and a lot are still the same. I guess it's called life. :)
The biggest thing is that the boys are out for summer vacation right now so my days are extremely busy! And the days that are lazy with no appointments or errands to run, I spend breaking the boys up or trying to keep them entertained. I swear these boys fight NONSTOP some days! I would let them fight it out but the living room gets very small very quick and things are going to get broken. :)
AJ and Tristan fight the worst and in close second is Tristan and Logan because Logan gets mad at Tristan for picking on AJ. My poor dad, now I know what he went through when us kids were growing up!
I've had plenty of activities going to keep the kids busy this summer and lots of pictures that I hope to edit and blog about soon.
But one of the biggest things was our trip back home to the states. I know there are a lot of people that are still waiting to see pictures from that trip. I've been getting a few out here and there, but I took over 3,000 pictures on that trip. I'm starting to realize I may not ever get them all edited along with the ones I've taken since we've been back home, and the ones I still needed to edit before we left. So I've decided to post some pictures as they are... I'm not happy about it or proud of it, but it's the only way some of these pictures will ever get seen.
Here goes nothing...
The pictures say they were taken on April 11 2009. That may be wrong give or take a day. I'm not sure if I had my settings set to Az time or Japan's.






It was so nice to spend time with family! I hate that the boys don't get to grow up around ALL their cousins! We have such wonderful family on both mine and Chad's side of the family and I hate that the boys don't get to spend a lot of time with them.
I think my favorite part of the trip were the times we just hung around the house and visited with family.










And of course we all had a good laugh when my father in law opened the mail...to find Chad's smiling face driving his truck. Chad got not one but TWO photo tickets while we were in the states. Did I mention my father in law was extremely nice and let us use his truck the WHOLE time we were home?! :)









We tried to get pictures of all the grand kids sitting together. Getting a picture of 6 kids in less than perfect lighting is REALLY hard work! I wasn't able to get any pictures of all the kids looking at the camera nicely in focus... so these will have to work. But I did learn that with fluorescent lighting, I should use my flash...no matter how much I hate to.














Then I tried getting pictures of the big kids... again, I learned my lesson with fluorescent lighting...I'm going to have to do a little studying and learn how to work in that kind of lighting...all of the pictures turned out yellow like this first one... so the only editing I got to do was fix the white balance on the pictures, but that doesn't help with the focus or noise in the pictures. :(

Here are those pictures...















So that's it for now!
I guess now I better go find the boys. :D
I'll post some more as soon as I can find the time!!