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Monday, November 22, 2010

Silhouette Giveaway

*Sorry, I had to re-post bc I forgot to link to the sites.

I normally don't post these on here...but this is a good one. And one that I really want.

I'm in love with Kara's Party Ideas. My friend Kristin referred me to her site and now its in my reader so I can see what new party ideas she's featuring. I found Brody's birthday party idea on this site and can't wait to put it all into action in January.



Well, she is hosting a giveaway for this amazing craft cutter..the Silhouette. If you know what at Cricut is, its similar, but doesn't use cartridges. To me, that's amazing! You can just create something on the computer and have it print to the Silhouette and voila! You have a piece of art! Cute shapes for crafts and cards, print out a word on vinyl to stick on your wall, I could go on and on and on with the many uses of this.

So I'm blogging this so that I can get another entry into the giveaway :) So you should go enter to!!

Changing Seasons

After 3 years, I am saying goodbye to something I dearly love.  Something that has taught me so much, grown me and even changed me. Something that has been such a blessing to my family. Something that will never leave me and will always be a part of me. But after June of next year, I will no longer be a photographer. 

Earlier this fall, the Lord laid it on my heart to stop shooting professionally. At first I thought I was just overwhelmed with all the editing and that once things slowed down I would change my mind. But things slowed down. And nothing changed. I still had this overwhelming feeling that we were supposed to stop. And just in case I wouldn't listen, God told Matt the same thing. So it was pretty clear to us that we should stop booking weddings and just fulfill the commitments we had already made to people.

Over the next few weeks it became very apparent to me how much I wanted to stop shooting. I wanted to be able to give my children my full attention all day. And I wanted nap time to consist of housework or fun crafts and projects.Things that other moms were getting to do. Not full of being stressed out by high maintenance brides, editing photos and designing wedding albums. 


We had 4 wedding contracts for 2011 and 3 verbal commitments. I was thinking that 7 was a lot, but had already committed to these people and couldn't back out. Soon, we found out that all 3 of the girls who hadn't actually signed a contract had either found someone else or just never got back in touch with me. So now we only have 4 weddings next year! Who would have thought I would ever be so excited about someone NOT choosing me to shoot their wedding? Just more proof that we were making the right decision and God was leading us this direction. 

For so long I've been known as Larra aka wife, mom and photographer. I can't even describe how excited I am to drop the photographer off the end of my title. Its not like I am this super start amazing photographer. There are waaayyy more talented people. But its something that I got pretty good at and provided things for my family when we needed them. Like 2 sets of expensive leg braces for Brody boy. And a big start to a downpayment for our next house. Things that would have taken us years to save up for or pay back. 

I am so thankful to the Lord for this talent and for allowing it to be a big part of my life for a few years. There are seasons in life and they come for a while and then change. I'm starting a new season of life now. A season that includes a camera by my side at all times. But the subjects through my lens will be 2 precious little boys and their daddy, family Christmas parties, my sweet nieces and nephews, our family, our friends. Our everyday life. And no one will ever have to pay me to capture those precious moments. Moments that I won't miss by being distracted or pulled away by a girl in a big white dress. 

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Oh Yes I Did...

turn this on today.


I'm all high tech now and have it in my itunes. No need to bust out the age old CDs. So while I'm cooking dinner for our church potluck tonight, I'm jamming to Mariah Carey Christmas. I post about this every single year. Because its my all time fave Christmas CD. The girl has some pipes. 

I know its only November. And don't worry, I'm not forgetting about Thanksgiving that is next week. But this time of year just gets me so excited about the coming season. The time to celebrate Christ's birth. I hope to have another post in the next few weeks about our Christmas crafts and traditions. 

But I just thought you all should know that I'm already listening to Mariah. In my mind, once Mariah is playing, its Christmas time!! 

Friday, November 12, 2010

MRI Update

I wish I had some cute stories about this trip to Temple. But it was fairly uneventful. And I guess that's probably a good thing sometimes. We made it right on time..we were cutting it close because I was starving and had to stop and get lunch on the way. So then the whole drive over I was frantic, thinking we were going to be late. But we made it right at 12:30. Of course all that didn't really matter because they didn't bring us back until after 1. Gotta love that. We talked to the sedation nurse and she went over the IV process with us. She said she was going to get her supplies and when she came back we were going to get started. We were under the impression that when she inserted the IV that they were going to go ahead and give him the sedation medicine.

And we were wrong.

We held him while they inserted the IV and she taped it all up so the cords weren't hanging. She injected some liquid into it so we thought that was the dopey meds. I asked how long it would take for him to fall asleep. She said "Oh, this is just something to keep the IV from clotting. The dr is going to come in and talk to you about the sedation before we do that."

Little did they know, this was not the best course of action. Brody is a champ at getting his blood drawn, needles poked in him, etc. But having to leave that thing in his arm was not an option to him. He was not happy about it at all. We were pretty frustrated that they didn't just wait to do that until the dr had talked to us and we were ready to do it all at once. He was crying and trying to pull it out while we waited for the doctor. We finally got him to calm down by blowing up a rubber glove and tying it off and acting like it was a chicken. We looked like a couple of nuts in that room, but it was all worth it.

When the doctor came, Matt took Brody in the hall so I could hear her talking. When Matt and Brody came back in, Brody showed me that he was Buzz Lightyear with his IV in his arm. He was pointing his arm out and shooting lasers like Buzz. A few seconds later, the doctor injected the sedation medicine in the IV. And a few seconds after that, Brody was out. He went from talking about Buzz, to his eyes rolling, to his head slumped on Matt's shoulder all in about 10 seconds. It was quite humorous, yet scary  how fast it worked.

They took him away to the MRI and we waited for an hour. When we were brought back to see him after, he was still sound asleep on the stretcher. When he woke up about 20 minutes later, it was like he woke up from a nap and never knew he had been in a drug induced sleep. The whole drive home he was happy and talkative.

This was such an answer to prayer. I was more concerned about the sedation than anything else. And it went smoothly and he wasn't phased by it.

And what you're all waiting to hear....we got the MRI results today...and they were perfectly normal!! Praise God! So this means there is nothing in his back like a tumor or mass that is preventing his nerve signals from being sent to his legs.

So what's next? More waiting and testing. We're trying to get the nerve conductive study (where they sedate him again and shock his nerves) scheduled. Until then..we wait and pray.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Prayer for Today: Brody's MRI

We are headed to Temple today for Brody's Spinal MRI. They want to check to see if there is anything blocking the nerve signals from being sent to his legs correctly. He will be sedated and then the MRI will last about 2 hours. Here are the prayer points I sent to our hope group.

-His cooperation as they administer the IV
-Safety for him while he is sedated
-For Matt and I as we wait. Its scary to have your little 2 year old under anesthesia
-Wisdom for the doctors as they look at the results
-That everything would come back normal
-He had to stop eating at 7:30am today. He can only have clear liquids (water, gatorade, apple juice) up until 11:30 and then nothing until after the test. So when he wakes up around 4 or so later today, he's going to be starving. Pray that he understands what we explain to him about not being able to eat and that we have patience with him if he gets upset because he's hungry at lunch time. 

Thank you friends for your faithful prayer throughout this process. You make it so much easier to get through all these things! I'll update you with results as soon as we have them!

Monday, November 8, 2010

These are a few of my favorite things

Its been a while since I've posted. And even longer since I've posted anything fun. So I thought I'd do a fun post with random pics and moments from life over the last month. Enjoy!




Moments:
-When Carson toots, he squats down, grabs his diaper and says "poo-poo!"
-Carson is talking a lot. Check out some of the new words he's added to his vocab on the All About Carson page.
- Me: "Brody, who is your best friend?" Brody: "Carson Jace!"
-We decided to wait until we got some answers from the doctors before we tried to potty train again. At the last appointment, the dr told us that his muscle weakness could definitely be affecting his potty training. So we're waiting a short while longer before trying again. However, every time we change his diaper, we talk about how he will be such a big boy when he tee-tees on the potty and wears underwear and we talk about his friends that are potty trained. Now, every time he lays down to be changed, he immediately says "Tee-tee on the potty like a big boy like Shane and Aaron and Cole and Daddy and Mommy and..... He names just about everyone we know.
-Brody calls Carson "Monster." He just gave him that nickname all on his own. He'll go through the house looking for him saying "Monster, where are you? Monster Carson, where are you?"



October in Photos
My Little Monsters soaking in the last few days of Summer:
Precious Brody Boy. Poor guy..I think we're gonna need braces.


Little Sluggers


We had a church community picnic and Brody got his face painted. 
He chose a football and ATM for the Aggie Game Day.  

Their newest obsession is Daddy's hats. They wear them around the house all the time, especially Carson. He will find one, put it on backwards and spend an afternoon in it. Its soo adorable. 

Here Carson is working on his saw em off sign. 

We had a dress up party at Hope Group and the boys went as 50's Greasers.