my little star

As I mentioned in my last post, Collin sang with his Sunday School class at mass last weekend. It was adorable and I had to force myself not to cry.
Here are a few pictures from the big performance.

 Collin is the cutie in pink on the back row on the right.

Very proud after his outstanding performance!

new dress

Saturday afternoon, while waiting for all the tornados to hit, I sat down to my sewing machine to make myself a new outfit for church the next day (I'm crazy like that). I had bought fabric about a month ago with the intentions of making myself a dress, and never got around to it. This seemed like the perfect weekend because Collin was going to be singing with his Sunday School class at church, and then after we had a baptism to attend in which Dan and I were the godparents.
So anyhow, instead of actually making a dress, I decided that a skirt would be easier. In the end it looked exactly like the dress was going to, I just didn't attach the 2 pieces.

Ignore my goofiness. My husband was taking the photos so I had to work it for the camera :)

If I hadn't been so distracted it probably would have only taken about 30 minutes to do. I simply cut to "triangle" pieces for the front and back, sewed them together, created a tube at the top and inserted elastic and then hemmed the bottom. Easy peasy! Then I made a sash to tie around the waist creating a bow int he back that you can barely see. The top of the "dress" is just an old tank top that was too short for me.
I love this and will probably make a few more to twirl around in this summer!

photography

I have always been interested in photography. In college I was actually going to take a photography class but on the first day I arrived and there was a note on the door saying class had been moved to a different time. I wasn't able to make it at that time and ended up dropping the class.
So last week I started taking a photography class at the Maize Rec. It's only a 4 week class, one night a week for 1 hour. Our instructor is a local photographer named Nicholle Goodnight who is super cute, fun and very talented. This class is calle "A Bit Beyond the Basics" so last week we talked about our camera settings and when to use which modes and then looked at some of her photos and took note of lines, the rule of thirds, and lighting. Our assignment last week was to take some photos using lines, shooting vertically and paying attention to the lighting. On Tuesday I took the 2 younger boys to the park while Collin was at school and took some photos to hopefully please the instructor. Here are some of my favorites.

 I love this waterfall. It's hidden back along the trails and is so peaceful.

 It was really difficult to get them both looking at the camera and not looking like total dorks.

 This kid is gonna be a heart breaker.

My instructor e-mailed me back today with positive remarks. Yay! I know I have a long way to go, but I'm getting there.

future model?

I think he may have a career ahead of him. He picked out his own outfit and everything.
I so love this kid. I mean look at him. How can you not smile?

Paying attention

Guest post written by my buddy Royce Heath

I think there is a ADT Small house system that is a bit cheaper than some of the systems for larger homes. I am not completely sure, of course. I have not done as much research as I should. My friends have had the security system in their houses for a while now. They have told me all about it before, but honestly I did not pay all that much attention. I have such a bad habit of not listening when something is not super interesting to me. It definitely comes back and bites me in the butt sometimes. I think the last time I was caught not listening, it was actually when a friend was venting about a co-worker. I just stopped listening because I did not want to get stuck and bogged down with negative thoughts. She actually was talking about quitting and I just completely ignored her. I hate to admit that because how do you just not listen to someone venting about quitting his or her job. That is a pretty big deal. Same thing happened when they were talking about home security systems. Might not be as bad to not listen to, but I do sort of wish I had paid more attention.