I heart faces whrll story!

Amy and Angie also do a story on whrll... here is the post, I thought it was fun to remember it!  The reason I'm not in the first big group shot is because the car I was riding in got lost, so we missed the first part of the photo walk!

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Dallas, I Heart Faces Workshop!!

I just took a trip!  “What,” you say? Yeah, I know.  I haven’t gone on a trip in forever, at least by myself!  This trip was all business though.  I am serious.  We didn’t laugh, we didn’t get to know each other, and we didn’t do anything but take pictures and listen to boring… I mean BORING, lectures!  Can you see from the picture below how BORING it was? 

I am soooo just kidding!

I HAD A BLAST!!!!! It was so nice to get away for some me time!  Thanks Drew for this picture too!

I went to this workshop hoping to make some new friends, and to become a better photographer!  Well, I think I did both!  We laughed until we cried (yeah, I know that is a song, but that is what we did).  We made new friendships.  And, we all became better photographers.  We learned a ton!  We met some great photographers, that include D’Ann Wright, Amy Karp, and Pete Lacker.  They taught us so much.  And we had so much fun hanging out with Pete on the photo walk on Saturday.
We got there thursday, well most of us did.  We met in Amy and Angie’s room.  They are the co-founders of I Heart Faces.  We all got together and met some of the other girls who had come in that day!  We got to know each other and talked photoshop, bags, and photography. 
On Friday, we took a van down to the Dallas Arboretum, where we met up with the children that would be our models for the day.  D’Ann Wright was our teacher for the morning, so we followed her and the children around and just took pictures all morning long. 
In the afternoon, Amy Karp, and the model, Kim, met us for lunch and an afternoon photoshoot!  Amy made us shoot in manual all afternoon, which was a new thing for a lot of us!  But, it was a blast, and it was nice to learn how to do it!  I need to start focusing on doing that more often, because I noticed quite a difference in the quality of my pictures!  We had such a great time with her, and Pete Lacker also joined us that afternoon to give us some tips!
That night we went out to eat at Chuy’s, a Tex-Mex place down there.  We laughed and got to know each other, and just had a lot of fun!
The next day we met in the conference room, and Pete came to teach us all a few things!  We learned a lot about lighting, and a lot about photoshop.  He was so easy to talk to, so no one had a hard time asking questions or anything!  Then Amy, Andrea, and Angie taught us some more photoshop tips.  It was so much information, but good information!  We learned a ton!
Then we went downtown on a photowalk and learned some more!  But, first… we got lost, but then we found everyone, but that is another story!  We had so much fun that night.  We tried a real BBQ place, and seriously laughed until we cried.  It was so much fun!
One of the girls flew in from Germany, and she had never had doughnuts before, so after dinner we went down to Krispy Kreme so she could experience a doughnut!  They were nice and hot, and she had such a great time!  We also took her to Wal-Mart so she could experience that great store!
Then we had to say goodbye!  We all wished we could have had a few more days.  We were just getting to know each other and come out of our shells!  But, hopefully we can all remain friends through blogging and e-mail!  It is so great to be able to have this wonderful technology!  It was so awesome meeting everyone!  And… the trip was seriously all business.  NOT!!!!
Oh… and how could I forget!!  The trip was even more amazing… “Why,” you ask.  Because I won a new lens!  A new Tamron 18-200 mm Macro!  WHOOO HOoo!!  I never win anything, so it was quite the surprise to win the BIG prize!  So thanks Tamron.  And thanks Amy, Angie, and all the girls and photographers for an AWESOME weekend!  Stay posted for some more shots from this weekend as I get them edited!

Highlights of our Life... at least lately

So things have been pretty crazy around here lately!  Brevan started school and is loving it, although we are a little worried that he still doesn't know any of the kids names in his class, does that seem weird to anyone else?  But, he always comes home happy, except for this last Wednesday where he said he had a bad day, but wouldn't elaborate more than that.  But, I guess we are all allowed those once in awhile, right?

Brett has been in Price now for I think 5 weeks, maybe 6... I can't remember.  He thinks it will be at least another 3 weeks.  So we are on the downhill of that at least!  Hopefully anyways.  He is working 3 days a week now for 13 to 14 hour days, but at least he is home more often than not.  We are grateful for that.

My computer has decided to finally die though... what great fun we have had this past couple of months.  We took it in 3 times, and the last time the guy just said there was nothing they could do for me... that was after I had just paid them 2 days before to take a virus off the dang thing.  So, they got $150 out of us, and we get a new computer... if we ever get to order it.  Having Brett out of town has made it difficult, and I feel like we will never reach a decision.  I have been borrowing my mothers computer (her laptop), but I definitely need to get it back to her soon! 

The elk hunt starts this weekend, so we will be busy for the next couple of weeks, but we are excited to get out of the house for a few days!

The kids are growing like crazy!  The other day we were all brushing our teeth in my bathroom, when all of a sudden Sydney reaches up and puts her toothbrush under the water by herself.  Now I know that doesn't sound like anything, but I still remember not too long ago when she was whining like crazy if you didn't lift her up to rinse her toothbrush!  She could never reach and would become so frustrated!  Now she can "do it herself"... as she always tell me!  She is always reminding me that she can "do it myself."  And if you do it for her, you better find some earplugs quickly because you will be hearing about it for the next 5 minutes!  She is very, very independent and stubborn!  But, she is also the sweetest little girl!  She is always telling me thank you, and showing Madisyn how to do things,... like jump off the couch (that one includes Brevan doing the teaching.)  They love each other though, and it is fun to watch them show it too each other!  She loves to play, and she plays so well even by herself.  She will go outside and entertain herself for quite awhile.  She will ride her bike, play in the playhouse, jump on the tramp... she loves to be outside!  We have been going to the library for story time lately, and the kids love that too.  Syd loves to do the crafts after and is such a good little worker and helper!  All the kids love the train they have too.  It goes all the way around the room and through some tunnels.  They will follow it all the way around the room and wait for it as it goes through the tunnels.  They will pull up chairs and just watch and wait... it is so cute to see them all lined up like they really are on the train!  Syd loves to follow Brevan, and she looks up to him so much.  Anything Brevan does, so does Sydney.  They stick together!  She loves to help, and she is very smart.  She loves to sing her ABC's, twinkle, twinkle, her 123s, and any other song she can remember.  Today she was singing the Bare Necessities in the car... it was so cute!  She loves to read and color, and now that Madi is in Nursery with her, she has come out of her shell in there too!  She loves to talk and has come a long ways!  We are so proud of her!  One other thing she is into lately is taking pictures!  She has one of my old cameras and she will drag that thing around and pretend to take pictures like mom!  It is so adorable, I love it!

Madisyn is getting so big now too!  She can reach and put things on the table, as I was noticing today.  That seems like a feat for her!  She is a very curious little child, and you will find her in the funniest places.  She loves to climb on the table, has figured out how to push chairs over to the counter (hasn't been able to climb on that yet though, thank goodness), can push a chair in Brevan's room to his bed and climb up.  She climbs on the couches, my chair and then climbs to the couch from the chair.  She is always climbing, jumping, dancing, laughing, hugging, running, and talking.  She has the cutest little personality, and she makes us all laugh daily!  She is also very smart.  She understands so much!  She is learning new wordS daily.  It is amazing to watch her and listen to her.  She repeats so much!  She has learned, Grandpa(pretty much her first word), grandma, Taylor, Kelsey, Bree, Brevan("where's Brevan" is her favorite question every morning), outside, get down, juice, Christal, Brett, Sydney, Rella (Cinderella), candy, cow(even the horse is cow), she will name animals after you say them, and sometimes when she is being funny she will just repeat random things after you say them!  Here is a funny story about Madi! The other day Sydney was sitting out on the couch in her pajamas.  Her top is big and hangs loose.  Madisyn and I came to sit on the couch by her, and then Madi climbed up by Sydney.  All of a sudden she reaches out and grabs Sydney's nipples, and screams "BOOB!  BOOB!"  I have no idea where she heard the word, but she thought it was hilarious!  Of course, I had a good laugh about this too, after I removed her hand and told her no!  One other thing about her is that she is fascinated by Cinderella.  She has these little figurines and she will carry Cinderella around and say, "Rella, Rella."  Isn't that just adorable!  We also cut her hair the other day, I will post pics when I get my computer back!  She was in that mullet, curly on the bottom stage.  And, I just couldn't take it anymore.. so I cut it so it was even and gave her some bangs... and I love it!  She looks older, but she is still so cute!

Brevan is making new friends in the neighborhood, and he just started a 6 week gymnastics class.  He is loving it and can't wait to go the next week!  He wishes it was every day!  He is doing a good job too!  The first day he was scared and wasn't quite sure about it, but after they started, he loved it!  He is learning a ton every day, and it scares me how fast he is growing.  He had his first Primary Program this last week.  I learned his line a couple of weeks before, and every day we would ask him it.  His line was, "Be honest, and don't lie."  He would always repeat it back to us, and before long, so was Sydney.  It was cute!  But he did a great job when he said it!  He loves to sing too, and we love to wake up to him singing "I am a Child of God."  What a great reminder!  We are so grateful for his sweet little innocence! He loves his cars and books, and he would watch TV all day if you would let him.  But, he is a good boy most days, unless he is tired.  That is a whole other story!  He wants to be a dinosaur again this year for Halloween... that just changed 2 days ago from a ghost!  I am afraid to buy a costume for fear of him changing his mind again... we will have to see!  He is a little helper, and dad told him he is the boss while dad is gone.  He loves telling me that!  He is really such a great little boy, and I love him so much!

The other day, I went to get Sydney up after her nap.  We walked out of her room, and Brevan opened his door after his nap.  All of a sudden, Sydney and Brevan run to each other and they give each other the biggest hug.  Brevan says to Sydney," I love you, Sydney!"  and Sydney says it back to Brevan!  It was the sweetest thing, and I am so glad I was able to see that moment.  My children fight like normal brothers and sisters, but it was so much fun to see that sweet, tender moment of loving brothers and sisters!

I know I am a slacker, and I wish I would do this more often, but there are the highlights of our life... at least lately! 

Brevan's First Day of School!

Brevan started school today at the Richfield Preschool!  His teacher is Mrs. Hansen, and he likes her already!  I was worried when he got out of school because he didn't want to tell us anything, but he finally did later and he said he had a lot of fun and liked it!  So that made me feel better.

We've been sick at our house, Brevan yesterday, and Madisyn last night!  Hopefully Sydney doesn't get it.  Because of this, I was worried about him being ready for school today.  But, he was feeling good and we got him there barely on time!  We took him out really quick before school and did a fast picture taking session!  Then we hurried and got him there!  He got to play with play doh right when we got there, and after that I have no idea as he wouldn't tell us!  But, he was having fun when I left!  Here are some pics in a collage!

Frustrated, yet Thankful...

Can I just say that I think I have had some pretty rotten luck lately!  I just had most of my post typed, and somehow I erased it all... and right after that it did the save now!  How is that for luck?  The funny thing is that my whole post was about my rotten luck lately!  Well,  not the whole post, but some of it.

I am very thankful for Brett having a job... that being said, the whole situation around that job decision made me very frustrated.  There were 3 jobs that were open.  There were 3 rotational engineers that could apply... Brett, his brother, and one other guy.  Brett's brother should have had his first choice, but instead they gave it to the other guy, so Brett's brother took his second choice, which was St. George.  That left Brett with his 3rd choice, staying here and taking a job that would most likely be traveling a lot, even though they said he wouldn't.  Our first choice was St. George... and if Brett's brother would have gotten his first choice, we would have too.  It is frustrating because we had wanted to move again to better our relationship.  For those of you who live away from home... you were smarter than us!  We love Richfield, we love our families, but our relationship suffers more when we are here.  And, we recognize this and want to make it better again!  Not that we are on the verge of divorce or anything... we just realize that we didn't fight nearly as much when we lived in Logan or Cedar City.  So that is why we had wanted to move!  Anyways... it didn't work out, nothing we can do, and we move on.  But... here comes the next frustrating part.  They told Brett that he wouldn't have to travel and stay overnight a lot like his brother did for 18 months.  His other brother pretty much lived in a motel in St. George for 18 months, they told Brett he would be traveling during the day, and maybe some nights, but not like his brother.  Well... guess what he found out about 2 weeks ago.  That he would be in Price for 3 or 4 days out of the week.  He can come home or he can stay there at night.  Well, if he comes home, he gets here after the kids are in bed, and he leaves before we all wake up.  So what is the point of coming home?  Yeah... no point.  All he would do is go to bed, get up and work!  So, he is staying in Price at night for at the least, 6 weeks.  Jobs are frustrating.... but at least he has one I guess!

A few weeks ago I had 3 people ask me if I would do some pictures for them.  Of course I was excited, but when I told them to pick a date, not one of them has gotten back with me.  I don't  have a clue why, and I have left a couple of messages to see if I could feel them out, but I don't want to be pushy!  So, I just get to wonder why!  Frustration there too, me and my bad luck lately!  But.. I am thankful that it has pushed me to become even better.  I hope that I can keep improving my photos and someday open a business!

The other day, Brevan and Sydney left their trikes down at the end of the cul-de-sac.  When I realized it a couple of days ago, we went looking for them.  Brevan said he had left them in the trees they play in.  So, we looked, and they weren't there.  So I asked the neighbor that lives right there... she had them in her garage thankfully.  But, they were almost taken by some guy walking with his son.  I guess the guy told his son to get on Sydney's and ride it home.  Thankfully the neighbor heard him and went and got them before he could take off with them!  I couldn't believe that someone would do that right in the open like that!  But, I am very thankful for good neighbors that wouldn't let it happen!

Tonight, being the scatterbrain that I am lately, we left Brevan's sweater up at the park.  This isn't just a cheap sweater though, it was a Hurley, and I know they don't come cheap (it was a gift from my brother).  So I was all freaked out and worried after we got home and realized it, that it had probably been stolen!  But, when we got to the park, it was still sitting there.  I was so thankful for good people that didn't just take it because someone had left it behind.  I am thankful that there are still some honest people in the world!

I guess things always happen, and they might not be what we like.  It isn't like my bad luck is life or death! So, I guess I just need to realize this and take things as they come. I am very thankful for all that I do have, because I know I have been blessed immensely! I love my husband, and my children, and my family and am very thankful to have their support and love! I am very thankful that we are an eternal family and that I have the knowledge of the true church! What would our life be like without it? What would our life be like without the atonement and sacrifice of our Savior?  I have been very blessed, and I am thankful...

Just thought these were fun!

Happy Anniversary!

Today has been six years since Brett and I were married! It is crazy what has happened in that time! Marriage has its ups and downs, but the saying is true, "Together we have it all..." We have had our challenges, and I am positive that we will have many, many more. I look forward, with a lot of anxiety, to those moments when we will become stronger together. Marriage is sacred, and I am very relieved and happy to know that we are sealed together as a family. It makes us work harder, and makes us want to live worthily so that we can all live together when we die. I am so very grateful for that wonderful blessing.

Brett has been a best friend to me, pretty much from our first date. I don't really remember him that much before he asked me to prom 10 years ago, but after that date, everything changed. I remember thinking that night, and wondering and hoping that Brett and I would keep dating. I even wondered if we would get married. I think it is kind of weird that I would think that on a first date, maybe it was inspiration... who knows! But, I do know that I am glad we worked it out and stuck together. I don't know what my life would be like without him. He makes me happy, most of the time, and I love that he can make me laugh! He is a wonderful dad, and husband, and I'm so very grateful to have him in my life!

Yesterday was the Oldroyd family reunion (I'll post that at a later date). We had such a busy day, starting with golf in the morning. It was fun to be together with Brett and just play. We haven't done that for a while it seems like! We usually have the kids. But, because of our busy day, all day, I almost forgot our anniversary this morning. We were sitting in Sunday school, when Brett leans over to me and says, "Do you remember what today is?" I looked at him kind of funny, and then... "Oh my gosh! Happy Anniversary!" I can't believe I almost forgot... we have been talking about it for days! But, I blame it on the 2 1/2 hours of sleep the night before the reunion, and the busy, busy day of the reunion! (We were in charge of it, Brett's mom, me, Chelsea, ShaVon, and Christie Lee).

So... I didn't forget honey, I would have remembered at some point in the day! I love you to eternity and beyond....

Our Crazy summer in Pictures!!

Our summer has been absolutely crazy! But.... here a few of the highlights! Well, a lot of the highlights. There are a lot of pics, so this is your warning! This post was inspired by I heart faces. Go check out the other fun summer stories!

For most of the summer we have been outside in our morning glory covered backyard that is no more! We killed it off a couple of weeks ago. But here are the kids on the slip and slide!

They seemed to like to drink it like dogs, more than play in it...

The kids and I participated in the kids parade on the 3rd of July. They had a lot of fun, and liked riding their scooters!

We tried to get a family picture on the 4th... but that didn't work so well.

Here are the kids on the 4th. Doesn't Brevan look happy.

My parents in Disneyland.

My brother, Taylor, and his wife, Kelsey, in Disneyland.Brett and I on the Grizzly Run in Disneyland.

We went to a Yankees game at Angel Stadium. My dad loves the Yankees, so we planned our trip around their games!

Brett and I at the game.

Jeter on first base. We actually had some really good seats, and we had a lot of fun even though the Yankees lost.

Brett and I at the Indiana Jones ride.

Sydney, at the lodge while camping at Fish Lake

Madisyn, eating her Creamie. She wasn't gonna let anyone get near it!

Brevan eating his ice cream sandwich.

Sydney and Brinley in the stroller playing!

Brevan and Braxten looking at the lake.

Madisyn eating dirt while camping.

Brevan and his fish.

Can you see the mouse....

Everyone trying to get the mouse out of the trailer. It was hilarious watching them try and get it out of camp! It was a huge mouse, or kangaroo rat, or something...

We had a baby shower for Kelly while she was down visiting. They are due in January, and we are so excited for them. This is the diaper cake I made for her.

Shooting fireworks.. me and Syd.

Brevan and Dad.... kind of blurry, but still fun!

Braxten and Madisyn watching the fireworks!

Brett and I at 7 peaks waiting to go on the Boomerang!

Brett and I going down the Boomerang!Brevan going down the slide!

Sydney swimming!

Madisyn playing with her tube!

This is Baby Isaac. He was placed into his adoptive parents arms 2 days after his birth. The birthmother is a friend of ours. She wanted some pictures done before she had to give him up.

These are the adoptive parents. Crazy to see such a sad, but yet joyful moment.

The kids swimming at Grandma's!

Madi swimming...

Sydney and her crown. She won the Cinderella State Tiny Tot division. Here are her thank you cards for her sponsors.

Brevan eating chocolate!

Here is her other outfit for competition. This is after our hurried photo shoot!

Madisyn playing while doing Sydney's pictures!

We put gravel next to the driveway. This is Brett and Dad doing the work!

The backhoe that spread it for us!

The kids watching the whole time! They loved it!

And that is part of our summer in pictures! Such a fast summer this has been, but we have had a lot of fun! Busy, but fun.