A Fun App

I found this fun camera app for my phone while driving to Missouri last week.  I decided to mess around with it the other day.  Declan and Payden had fun seeing the many different effects.  There are so many it's hard to choose from, but I did narrow it down for this post.

The Original

Vivid Colors

Black and White

Old Photo

Paled Colors

Vivid Colors and High Contrast

Old Yearbook Photo

Platino

A Color Highlighted
Can you tell which color?

Colors Swapped

Night Vision

Dreamy

Scary Movie
Payden wouldn't look at this after I told her the name of the effect. Haha.

Posterized

Black Board

I can't remember, but I think of it as Andy Warholized.

Negative

I can't wait to keep taking pictures and playing around with the effects.  I'm just worried there's too many options.

I shoulda ...

I shoulda moved my toe out of the way as I opened the front door ... it must have a knife on that corner of the door.

I shoulda insisted on something other than a Snickers bar.

I shoulda changed these along time ago ... it would have explained why they worked so horribly; someone switched out our windshield wiper blades (the correct pair on the right), giving us a pair that was not meant for our car (the wrong pair on the left).

Kinkajous

Shelby's class has been studying animals.  As an enrichment activity, she was assigned an at-home project to research kinkajous, write a report, and make a visual.  We focused on the report first.  We looked at a few websites, Shelby took notes, and then she compiled her report.  

Now it was time to do the visual.  Months ago I discovered this interesting website called LooLeDo.  We haven't been able to make any of the projects yet, and the girls have been dying to make one, so I knew Shelby would love to looledo her kinkajou.

Our supplies: 2 liter Coke, small Ozarka bottle, masking tape, spoons, Kleenexes, aluminum foil, buttons, cardboard, and permanent markers.

We had a good time working together.  Shelby loved every minute of making it.

After we assembled everything, the last step was to color it.  We used a permanent marker that is probably dead now, but I really like how it turned out.

She was a little nervous about taking it to school because kids would be looking at her and wondering what she was carrying.  I told her it was fine.  They would just know it was a school project.  She made an awesome grade on the project, and I was glad to be able to do it with her.  Good job, Shelby!

Camera Thieves

Declan loves anything electrical ... cellphone, remote, controllers, computers, camera.  If he finds something, he snatches it up and starts using it.  

A self-potrait

The coffee table viewed through the hole of a bead.

 Of course, Payden wanted a turn.  The animals she'd been playing with all day were the focus of most of her pictures.  Especially the giraffe.

But my favorite picture of the day was taken by Declan ...

My belly button as I sat down folding laundry.  Thanks, bud!

Silly Declan Moments

I had just snapped a picture of Payden while she was looking in the mirror, so Declan decided he needed his picture taken in the exact same spot.  Every time I'd hold the camera up, he'd run in front of the mirror and ask me to take his picture.  

Later, he took this blanket and tells me, "I a princess."

Followed by, "I a ghost. Wooooooooo."

He's a silly boy who always keeps us smiling!

They May Argue ...

They may argue and fight at times, but deep down they love each other.  I love seeing moments like this ... cuddling together in the morning, waiting for me to finish doing Shelby and Taylor's hair.

While Mom and Dad are Away ...

We might be out of town with our cell phones, but he will find one ...

While we were gone, Nana and Papa got to watch General Conference with the kids.  Well ... try to watch General Conference.  Basically, they are looking forward to the Conference issue of the Ensign in May, so they can get the messages then.  Sorry!

We are very thankful to my parents for being willing to watch our four kiddos so that we could check out the practice opportunities in Missouri in order to make a decision as to what's next for us.  Thanks, Mom and Dad

Road Trip!!

Time sure does fly ... even when you're not having the most fun.  I can't believe it's already time to start looking for a practice to buy.  When we left Utah, we knew Tom's temp job would end, and we would hopefully be ready to buy a practice again.  Plus he'd have been out of dental school for 2 years, which is the new magic number for banks being willing to lend to new dentists.  Well it's time.  

Two weekends ago we went to a small town in between San Antonio and Houston to look at a practice.  With that weighing on our minds and a few opportunities in Missouri, Tom and I decided to take a road trip to Missouri to check out the opportunities there and to get moving on buying a practice.  With the HUGE help of my parents, we left the kiddos with Nana and Papa, met up at my sister's place north of Austin, and headed to Missouri.  

Cool Camera App on my Phone + LOTS of Time Driving  = Homage to Coke

It's a long drive.  A really. Long. Drive.  Thank goodness we like each other!  We started Thursday evening and made it to the first practice Friday at 5:00 pm.   We had a nice evening checking out the town and the practice and visiting with the selling dentist and then headed up to St. Louis for the night.  One more plus that's come from Tom's living in a hotel for the past 6 months ... Reward Points!!!  Every night in a hotel on our trip was ... for free!  In St. Louis, we decided to live it up and go to the downtown Hilton right by the Gateway Arch.  We loved the view from our hotel room!

We got up early the next morning, ate an insanely expensive but thankfully free breakfast, and headed over to the Arch to take a look before leaving St. Louis.  It was a beautiful morning!

Handsome Man
(He was mad at me for taking this picture.)

We went into the memorial to possibly see about going up the Arch, but the 100+ people in line quickly drove that idea out of our head.  We finished up at the Arch memorial, checked out, and headed back on the road.  By the end of the day, we had eliminated the other two practices in Missouri and stopped at Oklahoma City for the night.

Sunday was another long day of driving ... but hey, that's mostly what we did on this trip.  We went our separate ways in Austin, and I made it home in time to tuck the kiddos in bed.

Next came the hard part.  Comparing.  Pondering.  Deciding. Pursuing.  We feel good about the one in Texas, so we are going for it.  Now comes the submitting and waiting ... and PRAYING!  Hopefully we'll be able to announce something soon, but definitely before Tom's job is up on June 1.  Hopefully!!!!