Wedding through the Viewfinder

I love this look that I get from Instagram on my IPhone and haven't been able to find it online. Did find some actions that instagram-actions-by-dbox.atn has put together. In the meantime I am learning how to do some of it with this Jessica Sprague class that I'm taking,  Photo Editing: Frames and Special Effects.

This is one of my favourite pictures from Vanessa's wedding so decided to tweak it! I gave it a vintage look  , then added a "through the viewfinder" texture that I found on Flicker and then added the blending mode multiply. The word art is from Weeds and Wildflowers Everyday Life Kit.  Love how it turned out and I think Vanessa does as well...

Vintage Everett

Glad to be taking another scrapbooking class! This is Jessica Sprague's Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects. This is what I learned in the first few classes, finding it pretty basic but it's always good to go over the basics because there always seems to be something new to be learned. I usually use actions to create my vintage looks but it's good to know how they create them.

This is a picture I took of Everett in his backyard in Calgary having fun in the swimming pool. I just love the curls...which I think he gets from our Granger side.

26 Years of Wedded Happiness

Wanted to write a post today because I've been married to my sweet Don for 26 years today! Every year that goes by, just seems to keep getting faster....

I meant to go for a long walk this morning (it turned into a shorter one) but sat down at the computer and looked for an early picture of us, which was a little difficult because the pictures we had taken at our wedding were awful! I think it's one of the reasons why I am so crazy about picture taking now and why I insist on good pictures for my daughter's weddings! I have so few nice ones of my own wedding.

Here is one that I tweaked today that was at our wedding reception. I used Photoshop CS3 and put a "Soft and Faded" action on it from Pioneer Woman which helped to give it that vintage look. Just wish I would have had time to clone out the person behind but will work on that!

Had a few comments that my daughter Melodie looks like me, but I think it's always hard to see when you are the mother. So fun to look back on pictures when Don and I were first married, before kids, before careers, before moving when we were just two young, happy kids trying to make our marriage work. So grateful that Don has been with me through the years, for his patience, faithfullness and willingness to work hard for his family. We love to laugh and read together; I think those are two things that make our marriage strong. I am a blessed woman!

Happy 26th Anniversary Don!

Vanessa and Scott Pierson

 It has been over 2 months now and it's still hard to believe that our little Vanessa is married to Scott Pierson from next door! I love this picture from their wedding because Vanessa looks so happy! Two months later and she is still happy whenever I talk to her on the phone, other than missing home. They are living and working in Edmonton for the summer.

 So glad that Kevin brought our Mel's picture that he had made. Everybody laughed when we included this but it made it just a tiny bit better because we all missed her so much!

 This happened to be one of my most favourite pictures that Russ and Jenn McCue took of the wedding. I think it's because it reminds me that weddings are a community effort! My kids have been influenced, loved and raised by not just their parents but by friends, teachers, neighbours and the community around them. This is the end result of a lot of love and effort! Not only that, but as a couple Scott and Vanessa will now have the opportunity to be an influence and an example to those around them, to take part in the community that raised them...

 Another one of my favourite pictures! What a beautiful daughter I have inside and out!

 Bless Ryan for reading a poem that Melodie wrote for the wedding. I know he had a tough time getting through it but he did a great job! It was pure MEL...a Dr. Seuss poem written to Vanessa and Scott in rhyme, it was funny, touching and full of love!

The end of the night....another daughter happily married but gone forever from our house! We miss our girls but feel so blessed to be their parents!

Vanessa at the Temple

Well we had an amazing Easter weekend because we were at the temple with our Vanessa! This was her first time through because she is getting married on June 10. We drove down Friday night with her and Scott, stopped in Chilliwack at a wonderful little Japanese restaurant called Osaka Sushi and had a fun dinner and then stayed with George and Sharon Hara that night in Abbotsford (they live right next to the Abbotsford Stake Centre). So glad we stayed with them, they are so warm and friendly and so we will be back. Deanne and I went through all her wedding decorations the next day and found lots, including a pond!

Saturday was a beautiful day to go through the temple! How wonderful to be in the temple with our third daughter. There's such a feeling of love and amazement there, a feeling of wonderment.

So grateful that Danielle could fly out for the day to be with us! I know she was disappointed that she couldn't be there for Melodie because she was too far along in her pregnancy, so this was special to her as well.

We were so happy to have the Piersons, Lambs and Wilsons with us as well, it made for such a special day. Melodie was there with us in spirit!!!

WEDDING INVITATIONS...PIERSONS/MATHIESONS

Well I have been working on wedding invitations for Scott and Vanessa and those of you reading this get a sneak peek at the basic idea! While we were waiting for their engagement pictures to be taken, I made up a template for them and just used pictures that I already had. They found the design they liked and I used my photoshop program to try and make one that was similar. Here is the draft copy front:

Here is the draft copy back:

The hardest part was the swirl on the front, I didn't have anything like it and the few edges I tried didn't look right. This scroll was made up of 3 letters from the Ornamental Scroll font and I like how it turned out. It was also fun to try using my gradient as well. The fonts are Bookman Old style and Scriptina for the calligraphy. The cute film strip comes from Designer Digitals, Katie Pertiet's In a Strip Overlays.  I will be working on the final copy as soon as I get the actual pictures! Should be fun, but just trying to get them printed double sided and then finding the right envelopes...

Melodie's Mission Year Mark!

Well Melodie has been out a year now on April 6! Frankly, sometimes it has seem like yesterday that she left and sometimes it seems like forever since we have seen her. We still miss her tons but love to get her emails. She sent a few pictures a few weeks ago and I thought I would post them.  The whole time she has been in Peru she has only seen one Canadian...apparently she saw a young man on the street with a Canadian flag on his hat and she was so excited she almost went up and hugged him....luckily she remembered she's a missionary and can't! I think she misses Canada although she is loving Peru!   

We had to laugh at this picture she sent! She told us that pigs are allowed to just roam free all over but we didn't realize how big they were! Mel also mentioned that there are dogs that run free all over and they are always hungry, she feels sorry for them. They must not have a very good spaying system there.

Well here she is having ate guinea pig which apparently they eat regularly in Peru! We had heard that they did but she has never mentioned that she had it for dinner until she sent this picture! Apparently she has also eaten cow intestines which she did not care for much, hmmm wonder why! I'm glad she is so brave! In Peru the missionaries have pensionistas that cook and clean for them, I think it is mainly for health reasons. I know she has had some wonderful women who she is grateful for.

Bronchitis Blues

Well I'm sitting here in bed on my laptop getting ready to watch a marathon of Pride and Prejudice! Why? Because for the last week and a half I have been struggling with a cold and flu and everyday it seems to get worse. These last four days I have spent most of my time in bed feeling miserable. I finally went to the doctors today to see if it was anything serious and he thinks I have bronchitis, so he gave me some antibiotics. Sure hope they help because I am tired of being sick. I've missed two weeks of church, missed Young Women's conference and have been struggling with everything else especially because it has been spring break and we have Tim, Danielle and Everett with us and Darci and Ryan stopped in overnight a couple of times. I have read all my books and scrapped a bunch of pages and now I'm just going to do the movie thing for awhile.

We heard from Melodie today and it was wonderful.  I was worried about what she would think about Vanessa moving her marriage date up and she seems okay with it. She is so happy on her mission, really working hard with all her investigators and had 2 baptisms last week. It will be so wonderful to see her again!

We have Everett tonight, hope that goes well since Tim and Danielle booked a hotel and are gone for the night! It has been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY EVERETT!

Well as you can see I have been scrapbooking the last few days, nothing like a deadline to get you working. I wanted to get some pages done for Everett's album and what better time than his birthday!

Tim, Danielle and Everett are visiting us from Calgary. They stopped by on Wednesday, went to Vancouver to visit with his family, go to the temple and then came back last night to stay with us for a few days. Everett has changed so much in the last year as so many of these pictures show. He is almost walking now and is started to have real personlity.

 My scrapbooking style has changed over the years. As I look at the pages I am making, I am discovering that I still like to use several pictures but I like my pages with a lot of white on them. I am also using templates a lot because they make it so much easier. Here I have used Songbird Avenue Port O Prince templates and I used elements from Crystal Wilkerson's "Me and My Baby Brother Elements" and "Oh Boy! Planes, Cars and Trucks Elements and the cute little banner is from Jessica Sprague Up and Running Class 2 Lesson 4. I am trying to be more organized in my scrapbooking and have learned to take notes about the pages I make but need to be consistent about it.

 I loved this page and had fun making it! This was a template from Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Friday #8 and I had fun learning how to use gradients in pictures to add journaling. I loved this picture of Tim reading to Everett, but then reading is always one of my first loves. The paper and elements were from Sweet Shoppe Designs Kristen Cronin-Barrow:  I love cocoa.

 I actually used this template over again from one I did of Mitchell's 10th birthday. Made it so easy and fun and it worked great for writing about Everett's bath time. I was happy to find these bubbles which I thought made the page. They are from the K Winiecki "Neverending" collection.

Bananas and Blogs

 Couldn't resist adding this BANANA!! Rebecca had her friends Miranda and Riley over and we found this banana in our fruit bowl. Totally made me laugh! Posted it on facebook telling her mother Patty that maybe Miranda is just a little too comfortable at our house!

 Here's our cute Rebecca! They had a blast tye dying their shirts yesterday and then of course they took pictures and used them for their new profile pics! The kids today are so computer savvy, kind of scary to think of what will come!

Here's Miranda and Rebecca having fun! I need to blog more! Cathy Zielske is such an inspiration to me, she writes every day and it is funny and interesting. Maybe part of my problem is that I don't really care for my blog and how it looks....so back to the drawing board to see if I can get it looking good so that I will feel like getting to it more!

Heading to New Brunswick

I am writing this post in the Vancouver Airport as I head home to Moncton, New Brunswick. I am so excited to see my family but this will be such a tough weekend! My brother-in-law Steven Taylor died two days ago of a chest anerysm. He was only 49 years old, so it's just seems so unbelievable! My sister Josee is devastated, they had no time to prepare for this. I will try to take pictures this weekend and post them because I haven't seen my family in so long. My brother Ed and his son Eddie are coming from Toronto and my Mom and her husband Bruce are coming from Nova Scotia. My brother Billy and his wife Sheila live in Moncton and my brother Ted and his wife Page live in Moncton as well. It will be wonderful to be with family, I just wish it was for a more joyous occasion. The funeral is tomorrow at our church in Moncton and I imagine that a lot of Steven's family will be there. When I talked to Josee on Monday morning, she was so upset. She told me that she just wanted to hear him say "I love you" one last time and he couldn't. Apparently his organs started shutting down and then he died not 2 days after it happened on Saturday, Feb 19.
I think it makes all realize how fragile life is and how quickly it can end! Are we really prepared, do we know what our spouse wants? Do we have life insurance? Do we really appreciate each day with our family? I want to make a greater effort to keep in touch with my family especially because they live so far away. Because I don't see them every day, I need to be better at just picking up the phone once in awhile or writing letters more.
I am saying prayers for this weekend, that I can be a help in some way! I am so grateful that I am able to be there!!

Don Makes Me Laugh

So I had to laugh the other day because Don came in with a new bag of chips. He's adventuresome my husband, always likes to try new things...new cars, new restaurants and new food. Well, he was all happy because he had found a new flavour of chips....yogourt and green onion, he proudly showed me! "Wonder what it will taste like? " he said. Oh, the look on his face after his first chip........"Hey, this is sour cream and onion!!" He was thoroughly disgusted that he had been duped, especially because he is not a sour cream and onion fan although I am! We both laughed when it dawned on him, that those marketing guys are pretty smart, if they just call it by a new name,..people will buy it! So no more yogourt and green onion for him...I'm sure he will find something else but maybe he won't be so quick to buy it, lol.

Off to scrapbook, I want to start Melodie's mission book but it seems like such a daunting task! I need to take it one page at a time!

Facing Fears

I wrote a post couple of weeks ago when I was having a tough day...thought I would share what I was dealing with...I wrote this about 2 weeks ago.

One of my worst fears came to pass over three weeks ago. One morning in December,  I felt a lump in my breast and it was big enough to be very noticeable. I had had a mammogram a couple of years ago but hadn't been diligent with it, so here I was crying and scared to death. Because it was a few days before Christmas and we were heading for Calgary to see my daughter, I didn't want to worry my family so I didn't say anything to anyone for 2 weeks.

It was the most terrifying two weeks of my life. As hard as I tried to distract myself and find moments of joy, the possibility of breast cancer was always at the forefront of my mind. After New Years, I finally shared it with Don  who listened with love and compassion and now we were both worried and concerned. During this time I tried to reach my doctor or the mammogram clinic but nobody was open between Christmas and New Years. I was finally able to get hold of my doctor’s office on a Tuesday and they fit me in the very next day. There my family doctor confirmed my fears and sent a request up to the hospital that afternoon. So Wednesday, was my "dark night of the soul". Because my doctor had verified my condition, it was definitely real and I couldn't push it away any longer. It was probably one of the most terrible days I've ever had, trying not to think about all the things I might have to go through, trying to keep faithful and not to bargain with God, and trying to have strength to face whatever I was asked to face. I had a family that needed me and loved me and I couldn’t give up hope! The hospital phoned me back that afternoon and said they had a cancellation the very next morning if I wanted it...I DID!!!

So I had to ask for courage to teach Seminary that morning (Don gave me a blessing the night before) and then I went straight up to hospital where in two hours they gave me a mammogram and an ultrasound. How grateful I was for Kathryn and Tasha who work at the RIH for their understanding and caring. They made a point of checking with the radiologist and telling me right there in the ultrasound room that it was only a cyst and not to be worried about it. It was all I could do to hold it together and not burst out crying. I was so grateful and humbled. My heart goes out to all those women whose nightmare starts, where my nightmare ended. I have a new appreciation for the fears they face and the courage they have to have. I was especially thankful for health care professionals who acted with quickness and compassion. I can't tell you the relief I feel today, for my body, for my family and for my life.

I share this because I would not choose the path with heartache, loss and fear. Unfortunately, life often chooses it for us. What we can do is choose to face fear with faith, hope and love.

The Right Card!

So Rebecca, Mitchell and I are in Shoppers Drug Mart looking for a birthday card, when 2 guys walk past me right to the rack and the one picks up a card and says "Great, I'm getting this one!" Who does that? Picks up the right card the first time...is it a man thing? First of all I have to find the right section, do I want birthday, her birthday or fun birthday and then you have to read at least 13 of them and then you have to pick 3 and ask whoever is with you which one they like best! Then... you have to read 3 more to make sure.....then and only then do you have the right card!!! Seriously, don't be giving me your 3 second card!!!
Then again, if I was more on the ball I would have extra home made birthday cards on hand! But I'm not today...




.

Getting through Today

Did a lot of decluttering today, as much as I love the Christmas tree...I also love taking it down. Today was a good day for that, just being home putting things away, cleaning things up and changing things around. Kept my mind off things, it's been a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. I teach Seminary tomorrow and it will be hard. I keep trying to remind myself of that scripture: 1 Phillipians 4:13  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Can I really? I don't know if I can today.

Rich, rich Mitchell

One of my favourite Christmas stories this year is the money that Mitchell made with his paper route! Christmas is always nice because people will sometimes include a little extra money in a Christmas card for their newspaper carrier. The most I have made in the years I have been doing it is about $60. This year a friend told me that her son gave out Christmas cards and so I told Mitchell that maybe he should do that.
The day before we left for Calgary Mitchell sat down and started writing out Christmas cards to his paper people, after 5 he stopped because his hand hurt. I encouraged him to do it while he was watching a movie and so that's what he did. He wrote out 36 cards and then he and his Dad delivered them the next morning just before we left. When we got back he received two more tips but it wasn't until we got our map and keys back from the Piersons (who subbed for us) that we found out they had collected 5 more cards for Mitchell. To our amazement, he made $180 in tips this Christmas, more than he makes delivering the papers. He was one happy boy!! I think it will give him incentive to keep going. His customers are sure happy with him. I am too, he sets his alarm and gets up every morning at 6am without us telling him too. He has been very faithful and I think they all appreciated it! So glad he is a hard worker!!

Happy New Year 2011

The first day of 2011 and I wanted to be sure and post today. I have not been good about blogging this year and hope to be better. I follow so many wonderful blogs that are fun and informative! I want to do better.
I know what my WORD is this year!! Ali Edwards always picks one word to use for the year and I have decided today that my word will be FOCUS! I really need it, I need to procrastinate less, to work harder, to stay on task, to be focused. I want to focus on what is necessary, to cut out the time wasters and to focus on what is most important. How can I do this? By sticking to my daily tasks, to make sure I journal, read scriptures, to declutter and to make a to do list the night before! I hope that by being focused  I will get more done, be happier about myself and feel a sense of accomplishment at what I finish. I want to not only focus on taking pictures but on tellling the stories behind the pictures. My goal is 4 scrapped pages a month and at least that many blog posts. If I commit to one a week that might be doable for me. I want to focus on moving more and eating less. I also want to focus on family relationships especially on doing better at keeping in touch with my White family. Lots to work on and focus on this year but if I can keep that word in the forefront of my mind I am hoping it will help me this year.
So FOCUS is my word for 2011!!

...and what I will spend most of my focus on this year is my family,

and our sweet missionary Melodie!

WE REMEMBER

WE REMEMBER.........how grateful I am for a wonderful husband and amazing children, a new grandbaby, a daughter serving a mission, family and friends who support and love us and........ the wonderful men and women who fought and died to keep our country free and make all this possible! It's a remembering sort of day...

I wanted to learn how to make reflective type in Photoshop because I saw this on the news today, loved how they made this font. Found this tutorial that was perfect and made it easy... http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photoshop-text/text-effects/text-reflection/

Flowers for ME???

"Flowers for me!! How kind!" says Don to Vanessa's newest beau (Scott Pierson) who is standing nervously at the door with a beautiful bouquet of flowers......it will be a miracle if we get them all married off with DAD looming at the door!! "Boys, boys, boys....why do we have to have more boys around here?" is his favourite question. ...I will be answering for more times than I can count....."BECAUSE we had 4 girls!!"
What's really funny is that when Don was over at the Piersons later that night.....apparently Scott had asked his Mom, what should I do if Don answers the door and she said, well give him the flowers!!

New Scrapbooking Techniques

I was working on some new techniques this morning using Designer Digital videos http://www.youtube.com/user/DesignerDigitals#p/u/6/DbcynExgUK0
and loved this big letter look! Then found this totally cute picture of Mitchell that I took at Christmas last year and decided to use it. I also learned to make text look like stickers and fill the loops by taking Jessica Spragues Photoshop Friday #18 class http://www.jessicasprague.com/. As you can see, I have spent too much time on the computer this morning, but it was sure fun!



Everett at 4 months

Trying to send a picture from Picasa and found out how easy it is? This is one of the last ones I took of Everett when we were in Calgary visiting with Vanessa and Danielle. He is sure a cutie....

It's A Decluttering Sort of Day

I wish I could say that I clean every day, especially that I declutter every day!! That would be half the battle of keeping my house presentable. Today I feel like decluttering, YEAH. I want to get rid of stuff that I don't need, want or even use. There is too much stuff that I might use someday...but I never do!!!
So today I am throwing away:

1. Old envelopes that I keep for the addresses that I might someday send a wedding present that I meant to.
2. A bag full of thin cardboard paper that I have collected from the ones that Costco uses to protect my 12x12 pages.
3. Clothes that are too small, that no I will never fit into again, like I'm going to lose 25 pounds!!
4. Shoe boxes that I will never use
5. Stacks of school notes that the kids have not looked at in 3 years.....

Quiet Day

As much as I enjoyed going to the movies last night with friends (we went and saw Eat, Pray, Love) I don't think I better go to the late one anymore! I have been tired and lethargic all day...it's been tough to get anything done. Lots of business meetings with Darren this morning since Don is out of town, I learned lots.....most of all I learned how little I know!!
I miss my men. Don and Mitchell went out camping with the Scouts last night and don't get back until tomorrow. I bet they are having lots of fun, Mitchell was pretty excited to go. Don will have lots of work when he gets back, we will need to set up the new desks. Will include a picture when I get them set up. I've decided to write whether I have a picture or not. I was trying to blog with a picture all the time but then I wouldn't write at all, so this is better.
I miss my Melodie, some days worse than others.

Painting.....

Well I spent all day painting the office yesterday but I love the colour and am so grateful I got it done in one day!! It's been in desperate need of an overhaul especially when I found out we are putting in new desks! I am super happy to have it look better, it's always looked kind of awful with old unmatched desks that we have had for years! What a lot of work because so much junk piles up in an office so not only did we have to move everything to paint but I am going to have to major declutter, which is actually good. Thank goodness I talked to Jen Oviatt because she mentioned that she puts on the second coat as soon as it's dry....I was planning on having to do it today. It was so hot yesterday that the paint was almost drying as I put it on so yeah, I just finished it all with Rebecca and Don's help!

Camping at Monck Park

Wanted to write that we had a wonderful time camping in the Monck Park Provincial campground last month! We ended up camping with the Wilsons, Edis and Lambs. So happy to have Danielle and little Everett with us, just too bad Tim couldn't come (but he had to work). Jaymie and Luke joined us as well with little Mari, Danielle was sure glad since they are best friends.  Lots of visiting, eating and hanging out at the beach. The kids were happy to play volleyball and even got a big game of soccer going a few times. They loved getting out on the Lamb's boat and did lots of tubing as well. Glad Craig had his guitar so we could have a song campfire! Best of summer, camping and having fun with friends!

We learned that the best way to eat Smores is to use Nutella instead of chocolate, they were amazing! Thanks for the tip Helen! This picture just makes me hungry, although I was getting strange looks from my kids when I started taking pictures of it.....

Bright happy girls together again, just missing Melodie and Vanessa!

Getting to the Cayman Islands

Here we are on the plane flying from Calgary to Dallas, Texas, then on to Miami. Our last flight went from

Miami to Grand Cayman Islands! It was quite the long day for us especially since we didn't get much sleep the night before. We had to be at the airport by 5am on Wednesday because our flight left at 7. Danielle bless her heart drove us to the airport. We arrived in Georgetown at about 8pm and Darren was there to meet us at the airport!

 We found out that in the Grand Cayman everybody drives on the left, so brand new experience for Don who has never had to drive on the left before! What's pretty unique about here is that they have very few traffic lights, everywhere you go our traffic circles. So you just have to figure out every time you hit one, which turn you need to take! Don seemed to figure it out pretty quick though!

Have to mention how wonderful it is that Darren and Sioban Hatcherd (Don and Darren went to optometry school together) found us the cutest condo right on the beach where we could stay. We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and are pretty amazed that we can be here. It is the most beautiful little condo...here is a picture of the back door.

Here is the beautiful kitchen equipped with everything you need whether you want to cook or eat out. It has dishes, appliances and is completely set up. It even has a garbage disposal! Have to admit, it's even nicer than my kitchen at home.

Big gorgeous kitchen table which it usually filled with our books since 2 people don't take up much room!

Thought our kids might like to see the 2 bedrooms that come with the condo!

It has a beautiful screened in porch that comes with barbeque and big bins filled with snorkeling gear, boogie boards and whatever you need to have fun in the ocean! It's also equipped with huge aluminum shutters on every door and window as protection against hurricanes. I loved just sitting here reading and looking out on the ocean, hearing the waves crash on the beach.

This is the beautiful view from our back door! The sand is amazing...and Don quickly found crabs and geckos.