Celebration of life (Feb. 28th)

4 years ago today my Dad passed away and Kristen and I decided to make it a family holiday. I know it sounds a little (maybe alot) weird but, we look at it as a day to Celebrate Life and our future. We took a negative day and in our own way made it a positive thing. My Dad loved his family, so as a family we do things we used to do when we were all together, like this year one thing we are are doing is making my Dads famous fajitas (family favorite) and we are going to spend the day as a family. I wrote a poem (yes I write poems) about this day about 4 years ago.

February 28th

Today is a special day
Today is the day of Pain
Today is the day a great man passed away
Todau, one year ago
Today a memory of grief and sorrow
Today a day never forgotten
Today, like December 25th a constant forever
Today a reminder of a great life
Today a reminder of what will be missed
Today is a day that may be hard
Today is a day that will get easier
Today is a day that will be celebrated
Today is a day for a family to come together
Today is a day to be grateful for DAD
Today I miss him, tommorow I will too
Today is a special day
Today we celebrate life, love, joy
Today we will forward
Today eternity may start
Today I know where I stand
Today I stand on two feet
Today life goes on
Today love never stops
Today WILL become easier



Religious note: 4 years after this poem it has gotten a lot easier but, it is still sad. Through all this I have learned some of the greatest Gospel truths i may ever learn and that is that the Atonement is real! It is more than forgiveness alone. It is more than a payment for sins. It is a constant reminder of love, peace and sacrifice. It is also a reminder of strength of self and family but, most of all it is a reminder of strength of our Savior and constant reminder that we are not alone in all our worldly dealings. Jesus knows how you feel no matter what is going on in your life. The Atonement is the single greatest gift ever given to mankind ever!!! So as we celebrate life this great day I hope you too will remember that even in death, life can be lived!!

love love love

Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.

-Secret life of bees

In trying to find a favorite love quote, this one just keeps coming to me. We rented the movie tonight, loved it.

I was so happy to wake up on Friday morning with a dozen red...tulips from Buddy. When I told him how romantic I thought it was that he was so thoughtfull in buying my favorite flower, as opposed to red roses, (which are great as well) he said that it was a collaborate effort with Bella. I thought that was sweet. He also left little heart notes all over the house in inconspicuous places for me to find all day. It was so sweet and fun, actually, the heart notes have been left all week. I just loved that he thought of that. In addition was chocolate..and get this, this is how big of a dork I am...he bought me The little mermaid 2, return to the sea, because he knows I have been dying to see it...dont be to harsh on me, I'm still 5 at heart. And our hot date was pretty great. We went to see a movie and then a little shopping at the gateway, and then...then...a fabulous dinner at the Market Street Grill...it was gooo-ooood. But the best part was just conversation. To just sit and talk about things and be alone for once, it was so nice. I am sure ALL married women with children can relate!

When I showed up to help with Bella's school party, my heart turned into candy goooo when I saw her valentine bag. Hers was the only one with a message to her mom. How I love her. One day when she's like me, 32 and rifeling through all of her memorabilia and *crap her mom just couldnt let go of, she will come across this bag. I'll have to make sure to tuck a valentine from me inside before I put it away for good so that she knows just how much it made my day. (and when I say crap, mom, it means wonderful gifts of my treasured youth that I am SO glad you saved for me)

Bella and I made her valentines this year. It was a valentine of simpletons, thats for sure, but we sure did have fun making them. We cut out a billion..and one little heart petals, it was fun. And, she looked happy to be handing them out. Thats what matters to me anyway.

If you cant quite tell what they are, due to my fabulous photo skills (or lack of at the moment) Here is a closer look. And, I will add that it is truly my first successfull backlit photo..and quite possibly the only in my lifetime. I am proud tonight :)

And lest we forget about our favorite rockin' valentine. We took Moses to get a haircut today. When I was asked what I wanted, I just couldnt form the words What do you say anyway? "just like a little boys cut" is about all I could spit out. Buddy goes "she'd like to be able to spike it out a little"

Wha-la!




Happy Valentines day!

ready for my close up

I knew it would happen, darn in, I'm just a little day, or two, behind on my personal photo challenge. This week has seen the flu, ear infections, an eye infection and a sinus infection. The best photo I could muster was that of a syringe filled with motrin. Moses temp was up to 104.2 the other night, I was so worried, luckily it broke, he's better, and now the torch has been passed to me. Good thing it only lasts a day or two, Buddy and I have a hot date tommorow! Thanks everyone for your well wishes for Buddy! He'll kill me for saying so, but I secretly believe he loves comments just as much as I do. Lets be honest, who doesnt love blog comments?

The happ happ happiest day!

Buddy's hard work paid off with a well deserved treat this morning! We knew the state updates their database at 2am, so he could hardly sleep in anticipation of his test scores. He logged in at 430 this morning to see this!!!

Awh, I am so so proud of him. He is now a licensed practicing nurse, after 6 years and several challanges, today feels so good. His big exam will be at the end of the summer for his RN, but I'm not worried, I know he will pass with flying colors. Way to go nurse Focker, we tottally love you!

music to my ears

If the King loves music, it is well with the land.

~Mencius

im cheating

Im really sick tonight and dont have the energy to download any of todays pictures. My photo today is that Bella got her part for her Enchanted play in May, turns out they are incorporating many different disney charachters into the show so that everyone has a speaking part.

Bella is going to be Melman! I love it. She is so going to rock Melman.

lazy.cold.sicky day

What I learned on my real life personal photo challenge day 2 ....

1. dont force the issue if its cold outside just because you want a picture of a cute new headband (I am in l.o.v.e. with this new accessory)

2. Miracles happen. first, she actually took a nap. Second, after only about 8 shots, I semi got a good exposure. It is extremely dark in this part of the house as far as picture taking goes, so its a challenge for sure.

For any wise photography friends who may stumble across my blog from time to time..can you tell me how to capture great catchlights? I am using my 85mm and it seems I have to be so far back in order to get the composition I want, but then I lose the detail in the eyes...how do I get that great light in her eyes?

my photo challenge. Day one.

Day one was exciting. Buddy took his first of two state board exams in the morning. When he passes, because I know he will, he will be an LPN, which is exciting. We will find out on Tuesday! He got home around 10:00 in the morning and we went right to the Dr. Bells has another ear infection. She woke up saying "I feel a little blue today" Poor girl. While we were out we made a quick trip to the grocery store. Okay, why does all this matter? Because my challenge yesterday was to try to find the right white balance for those awefull flouresent lights in the Dr. office as well as the grocery store. I usually just keep my camera set to "auto WB" and let it figure it out, but I tried to learn something yesterday and found that it helps to change the settings. I also learned that I need a faster shutter speed. Staying in Manual mode really helps to figure out what needs to be adjusted to make the exposure right. Boy, do I have alot to learn..but I think I am off to a good start. And for those of you who dont care about the technical aspects of photography, sorry to bore you :)

The grocery store with kids...isnt is SO fun?

winding up on the internet

Sometimes when I take pictures of my dad, he says "these will just wind up on the internet" And, hes pretty much right. I really like this of me dad reading to my little guy. When I get home tonight, I will post my day one photo of today...its going to be hard to choose which one that will best sum up our day!

I have an idea

This picture is terrible, I mean the subject is adorable, but the photo quality...please. But I am posting it to start a new project. I used to do a photo a day to keep practicing and learning photography. I found that if I took photos everyday, I learned so much and could see improvement. Well, the winter has set in and lets face it, its gross outside and I feel terribly un-inspired. So, I thought to challenge myself to get better at indoor photography, I would post a picture a day of the family happenings. I think this will help me to jump back on the bandwagon..and hopefully not bore you to tears. You may get awefully sick of seeing our daily rituals, but heh, its great practice and will be fun for me, so I am going for it.

To start, the above picture was taken on the fly in long beach while we were waiting for a flight. I decided to play around with it and came up with this. I know its s funky crop, but somehow it speaks to me.

"A two year old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it."

-Jerry Seinfeld

We're just on a roll with all of this mischief.

Hi, poison control, this is Kristen...

we may have a problem here.




When I came back downstairs from putting dinner in the oven he said

"yook mom, I dwink it, it yummy"

He drank about 1/4 of the bottle and was feelin' goooooood. I immediatly gave him a huge glass of water, hoping it would dilute it. Luckily, it didnt affect him and we didnt have to take him in. Isabella had been sick so I had given her some tylenol, I thought I had put the lid back on and put it out of reach far back on the bathroom counter. Well, the stool, Moses' new bff, was instrumental in him climbing up and grabbing it.
One disaster averted...he'll be lucky if I leave him alone more than 5 minutes again.

And, if this happens to you, Poison control said not to give water, just wash out their mouth with a towel and watch them closely....He's giving me a run for my money, this one.