Spring Loves

I haven't posted many favorites lately (or at least I don't feel like I have). But I came across these little goodies and just love them all. The dress from Kayce Hughes is just adorable and so springy. The stackable birthstone rings are dainty, yet significant. And I love the colors of these bowls from Urban Outfitters. I have concluded that I am going to start collecting bowls. I am drawn to them and love all the different varieties out there. So, I will have to go to URBN and check them out.

Right Here, Right Now

I'm feeling:
overwhelmed with all the decorating decision about the new house. Color schemes, color schemes, color schemes! Very difficult decisions. Paint or not paint the girls rooms (and if so, when?), drapes, new bed and bedding, ceiling fans, etc. So, many options and I am running of out time.

I can not wait:
to move into our new home. Regardless of whether we sell this house or not, (I am told by my husband) that we can move into the new house in 2 weeks.

I'm looking forward to:
making carrot cake tomorrow night and seeing how this new recipe tastes.

tonight I'm going to:
go out to dinner with the family. Put the kids to bed and just veg out on the couch with my husband.

I'm trying not to forget:
I am blessed. Even though life is stressful and we want to sell this house so badly... I have to remind myself... I am more than blessed!

I hope that:
my friends know how much I appreciate their friendships!

Summer Movie Must See

Can't wait to see this one! I never saw the musical, but love the music and the movie just looks fun. And it is filmed in Greece...

Leftovers

I came across this great idea on how to do something different with those "pure sugar" Peeps. Make them even more sugary! I don' know if it will make them taste any better, but it is worth a shot and could at least be fun to do with the kids.

Pretty easy... just buy melting chocolate and melt it. Stick a lollipop stick into the base of the chick or bunny. Dip peep into chocolate and then sprinkle with sprinkles and then freeze for 30 mins. And wa-la... even sweeter peeps (if that is possible).

More Easter photos

Here are some photos of the Saturday's activities. As a child we always (or I think we always) decorated easter cookies. So, of course now that Hannah is old enough, we too made and decorated sugar cookies. Hannah was pretty good at it, beside dumping a pile of sprinkles in the middle of each cookie she made.

So question for all of you out there. I am in search for the best sugar cookie recipe. Anyone have a recipe they think is the best! I would love to try it.

Then later that evening we colored easter eggs. Hannah still loves to dip the egg in more than 2 colors, so we created some fun and interesting colors.

Easter Photos Begin

So many photos to share with you. I came to the conclusion that I take more photos on Easter than any other holiday. I had to take pictures of the cookie decorating, then the egg coloring, then easter morning and the girls in their Easter dresses and then the egg hunt. WOW! My camera was used a lot this weekend.

For now, I will share the photos of the girls on Easter morning and the ones of them in their Easter dresses and our family photo for the day.

Easter morning Hannah woke up and walked into the living room and got so excited to see her Easter basket. She opened up each egg to see what was inside. Then right away, her and daddy started having their Easter breakfast (the candy!). Ella got cheerios and goldfish in her eggs. Hannah helped her open her egg and Cheerios went all over the carpet, so Ella parked herself on the floor and ate all the cheerios around her. She would leave every once in awhile to walk around, but knew where to come back for her goodies. (You can see all the Cheerios in the pictures).

What a weekend

We had a great weekend doing so many fun easter things. But I haven't had time to go through the photos, so it might take a day or two to get something up. Until then, I had another photo shoot (trying to get that perfect photo for a canvas I am going to order), but again, no luck. Although, I got this one... which is close.

Happy Easter

Like Christmas, Easter's true meaning gets somewhat lost amongst all the festivities and commericalization. It is fun to decorate Easter eggs, hunt for Easter eggs and receive Easter baskets, but Easter is really about our Savior and His sacrifice and resurrection. So, to celebrate the true meaning of Easter... here are some of my favorite pictures of Christ.

If I had to choose just one... I think my favorite is the one with Christ in Gethsemane with the angel. I have seen the original painting in a castle in Denmark and it struck me the first time I saw it. In the LDS faith, we don't depict pictures of angels with wings (don't misunderstand, we believe in angels, we just don't believe they fly around with wings)... so of all the Carl Bloch paintings we use (which is a lot), many members haven't seen this one. But I love it because I love the tender, loving countenance of the angel as he is there (as a friend) watching and trying to console the Savior in His most difficult hour. And even the Savior in this image shows His vulnerability and need for love. It is such a tender moment. One that I love.

Peep Show

The Washington Post is showcasing a collection of different diarama's using the favorite Easter holiday treats.... Peeps. Most of them are interesting to look at, but the one that caught my eye was this! This one is for my sisters and Happy Day before Easter Day!

Weekly Dinner Menu #11

It's Back

Sunday - Quick Chicken and Gouda Gravy and smashed potatoes and broccoli****

Tuesday - Beef-Broccoli Lo Mein and cantaloupe **

Thursday - White Chicken Chili with chips****

Need a Good Living Room Set?

I look at Craig's List every day. Just to make sure there isn't some great buy I might be missing. And today I found that great buy! (Okay, you know I'm kidding right?!). Can you imagine walking into a home and seeing this? I saw this and gasped and then started to laugh out loud. I love it... the owners had the table custom made to match the sofas. If anyone is interested... you can have all of this for a mere $800. Hard to pass up, NO?

Easter Lesson

For Family Home Evening this week, we had a fun Easter lesson about Jesus Christ's last week and the different events that lead to His resurrection. It involved the plastic easter eggs (which Hannah loved) and different objects to teach about Christ's and Easter.

This idea is not new, but it is great especially for little kids which I now have. So, in case you are looking for something to teach your children about the true meaning of Easter this Sunday, check it out.

Not as easy

I wanted to get some pictures of my girls in their adorable matching Crazy 8 outfits. So, I dressed them up and went outside with high expectations which came crashing down. I could not get the girls to look at me, smile at me or be still. I have been photographing a lot of teens and seniors lately, that I became spoiled.

But I did get some cute photos of the rebellion... hope you enjoy.

adorable shoes vs. cute shoes

I came across these adorable shoes the other day on another blog and fell in love with them. I keep thinking about them all the time. They are so original, classy and trendy all at the same time. But since I can't justify yet another pair of shoes (at this time and at this price), I am going to settle for these other cute pair of shoes. My sister told me about these cute little guys at Target, so today I am going to go and get me a pair. I think I can justify $22 for something so cute and versatile.

Senior Shoot #2

I was able to photograph one of my other YW for her senior pictures. I have to say I love doing this. The girls are so fun to work with, so photographic and my friends... what could be better. Here are some pictures of the shoot for Miss E and her mom. I am showing more photos than I planned on, but it was too hard to pick just a few, so here are a lot to look at. I hope you enjoy this sneak peak. Can't wait to show you the rest.

It's a Small World

....after all. There are so many reasons I like blogging, but one of them is the connections you make with others that you might never have known had it not been for this wonderful world of blogging. Case in point.

Elizabeth Harris, the one I did the logo for.... I have been reading her blog for almost a year now. I found her somehow (from some other blog I was probably reading). Well, back in August 2007 she posted an entry about her dear grandfather Wayne Brimhall Garff. The name "Brimhall" caught my eye. Why? Because "Brimhall" is MY maiden name. So, I decided to email her and ask her about it (since you don't see the name "Brimhall" very often.)

Well, she emailed me back to tell me more about her family name and we figured out that we are related. We both share a great (several time over) grandfather named George Washington Brimhall. Crazy, huh. Little did I know that this random woman's blog that I enjoyed reading and viewing was unbeknownst to me - actually related to me. We have tried to get together to do a swap photo shoot and now I have helped her with her logo.

I thought it would be fun to share yet one more reason blogging can be so great... the connections with people and then you find out they are related to you through distant relatives.

Open for Business

I have mentioned in the past that I have dabbled in logo design. Every once in awhile someone comes to me asking if I would design a logo for them. Just a few weeks ago, it happened again. I really enjoy it and love creating a person's brand (I think we should all have a personal brand whether we have a business or not).

So, I have decided to officially start taking on logo design projects along with my photography business. It is simple - for $60 (very cheap compared to most graphic design rates) I will give you 3-4 different concepts and than work with you to narrow it down to the logo that fits your brand.

So, spread the word! Here is the latest logo I created for Elizabeth Harris Photography. (Check her out, I love her stuff.) Thanks E for letting me be a part of your brand! Click on my ABW Design logo to the right to see more of my logo work.

Project Canvas - Success

I have a client/friend that is just awesome. She is having me take photos of all her kids and then to top it off, she is ordering these large (24X30) canvases of the photos to display in her house. Not only does she like the traditional photos, but she loves to have fun with the photos too. She is so much fun to shoot for and her kids are great.

Well, the canvases came in the other day and they were just spectacular. The "deco art" one was awesome. So, I had to take some pictures of the canvases themselves, just to show off how fun and great they looked. I can't wait to see all her kids pictures hung in her house well all is said and done. I have been inspired to do the same... I am trying to get a photo shoot of my girls to get a large canvas of them, but something keeps getting in the way. But hopefully soon :-)

An Idea for ABC's

I came across this fun poster or flash cards of ABC's by Jo-Anne Cavanagh. She created this ABC using objects around her house and her photography talent. I love it. And it gave me an idea on how to create my own version of ABCs.

I am going to create ABC flash cards using Disney characters and my photography "talent". I have been coming up with the list of characters for each letter of the alphabet. I have about 1/2 of them already, but I need to go back to Disneyland a few more times to get the rest. This could take a few years to complete, since we probably won't go back until September and I probably need a few more trips to complete it, but I will start to work on them, so I can get it done as soon as humanly possible.



Here is my list of Disney ABC Characters: (if anyone can come up with a better "x" "y" or "V", let me know.

A - Alice in Wonderland
B - Buzz Lightyear
c - Cinderella
D - Donald Duck
E - Eyore
F - Fairy Godmother
G - Gepetto
H - Hopper or Happy
I - Incredibles
J - Jiminey Cricket
K - King Louie
L - Little Mermaid
M - Mad hatter
N - Nemo
O - One hundred and one dalmations
P - pinocchio
Q - Queen of Hearts
R - Ratatouille
S - Simba or Sebation
T - Tinkerbell
U - Ursula
V - Villans
W - Woody or Winnie the pooh
X - xtra "something"
Y - Yummy
Z - zurg