Facebook Cover Photo Contest

First of all, I wanted to thank you all for indulging me while I posted a billion day-in-the-life posts. I still have a couple more to post before I'm all caught up. Then I'll start getting crafty and useful to you again. ;)

This post is for my scrapbooky friends...

I just saw that Peppermint Creative is doing a fun little contest. (Sadly, I'm not on the team anymore. I'm actually not on any scrapbooking teams anymore. I needed a little break from those obligations.)

Miss Mint made up some templates to use with your Facebook Cover Photo. All you've gotta do is "Like" Peppermint Creative on Facebook, download the templates and make up a cute topper. If it's in place by the end of the contest, you'll be elligable to win a giftcard to her store.

Here's my topper:

The "so adorable" tag looks funny out there in the open, but on my facebook page it sticks out from under my profile pic and looks much more grounded. Cute though, right?

If you want more details, check out the 411 on Miss Mint's blog.

First Camping Trip / First Caught Fish

In the middle of April, Justin's family all went on a camping trip to Moab. But we didn't go. Since Justin started a new job he's only got a few family vacation days, and we wanted to save them for the big trips during the summer. And he had to leave on that business trip the morning after we would have gotten back, so we opted to stay home. But we were bummed about that.

While we were eating dinner one night while everyone was in Moab, we starting thinking about how we could fit in a little camping trip. We realized that Justin was flying home on Thursday, and since he worked over a weekend he could take stay home our family until Monday! We called up his parents to see if they wanted to go camping the first weekend in May up to the Hot Springs Camperworld.

I'm so glad we planned it ahead of time, because although it was a lot of work to get everything together (by myself, because Justin was gone) it was a much needed weekend of relaxation after a stressful 10 days for the both of us.

We got everything all unloaded and set up. Harvey was his heaven "helping" his dad set up the tent.. and Avery was content just to hang out and play on the blanket while we got everything together.

Once we had finished, and eaten dinner, the boys went fishing...

while the girls headed to the (nice and hot) swimming pool. I snapped a few shots of Avery in her swimming suit before we got in... but no pictures after that!!

Avery was in heaven in that warm pool. It was her first time swimming (although I wasn't surprised she liked it... she loves taking baths). It was a little chilly out, but since the water was nice and warm it was heavenly. Until the wind picked up... and all of a sudden the weather changed for the worst. It started raining, and the wind was freezing cold, so we decided to get out. By the time we came out of the dressing room it had turned into a major windstorm.

We drove back to camp (although it was a short walk, we were so glad we brought the car!) and I saw the tent was collapsed. I thought the windstorm had broken the poles or something, but the boys were in the trailer and Justin told me he had just taken it down as a precaution. We tried to "wait it out", but that wind never stopped. All night. There were a couple of times during the night we woke up thinking the trailer might tip over from all the wind!

When got up, Justin set to work getting all of the water out of the tent. It was quite the job!

Then the boys went fishing again. This time Harvey caught 2 fish with his little pole!! The first one was "too small." I know he was excited to catch his first fish, but he kept saying it was small. I'm not sure what he was thinking at this point...

After Justin threw them back, Harvey kept saying, "I want a big, big, big, BIG (like 20 times) one this time!"

And he got his wish... the next one he pulled in was big.

 

He couldn't take his eyes off that thing.

And I couldn't take my eyes off this guy... It was so great to snuggle him up for the weekend after being apart for so long! (I don't know how people do this travel gig all the time. It's so hard for me!)

Avery couldn't fall asleep for her morning nap in the trailer, so I took her for a little drive. After strapping her into her carseat, she was asleep in about 30 seconds. I drove for about 5 minutes, and then just rolled down the windows a bit and let her snooze in the car. We kept checking on her... but she crashed for like 2 hours!

When she woke up she was perfectly happy with all the attention from grandparents...

...and from Mommy.

We spent the rest of our weekend golfing, fishing some more, swimming some more, and just relaxing and relishing the fact that we didn't have to do anything.

Then I got sick. Hit with the flu or something terrible. I was exhausted. (Good thing I had nothing to do!) So we headed home and I slept for the next week.

No Photoshop? Milestone Template Tutorial - Part 2

Thank you to the couple of you who e-mailed me and mentioned that you didn't have Photoshop, but still wanted to use the Milestone Templates. You gave me the little kick in the pants to figure out a way for you to be able to use them! Drum-roll please?

Kidding.

Anyway, there is a program pretty similar to Photoshop available for download - for FREE. It's called GIMP, and you can download it here. After downloading... come back for the tutorial on how to use it with the Milestone Templates.

...

Okay, welcome back. Let's get started.

(I'm going to write this tutorial as if my mom is trying to figure out how to do it.. sorry if I include way too much information!)

0. Open the template you'd like to use, and a picture to match (file>open.. and make sure you open a .psd file - NOT a .tiff)

1. Click on the number layer.

2. Click on the Color Picker Tool, then on your picture wherever you want to match (I clicked on the purple icon on Avery's shirt). You can double-check that it's the color you want by looking at the color box.

3. Now choose the Paint Bucket Tool, and click on the number. It should turn the color you chose in step 2.

4. There will be little spots that didn't get painted, just click on those spots as well to change their color too.

5. Now click the "you" layer, and do the same steps to change it's color... Color Picker Tool, choose your color on the picture...

6. And use the paint bucket tool, then click the "you" on the template.

7. Unfortunately, GIMP isn't able to open the text paths that I did in Photoshop, and the text isn't editable. You'll have to make your own text boxes. Choose the Text Tool (the little A), and drag a box around the text in the template.

8. Zoom in so you'll be able to see what you're typing. I chose 25% and then maximized the window.

9. On the lower left hand side are all of your text options. I started typing (in the top box) "Century Gothic" and the list popped up, so I chose that font. Feel free to change your font to whatever you like.

10. Size 72 will closely resemble the size shown in the template. (It's WAY smaller than the normal 72 font size for some reason.. In Photoshop it was size 18. I'm not sure why GIMP is different.)

11. Click the box, and choose black as your color.

12. You will type right over the words shown in the template. You can click the little eyeball next to "Milestones List" to turn my words off/on. One other thing... the text will just go over the number, so you'll have to hit enter every time your line gets close to it. Think of it as typing like on a typewriter...

13. If the "you" is in the way of your text, or you just want to move it to another spot, make sure the "you" layer is chosen, click the Move Tool, and drag it wherever you want.

14. Choose the Text Tool (little A) again, and drag a box around the weight and height measurements. Click the Center box down in the left hand corner.

15. Turn off my text by clicking the little eyeball next to "Weight/Height".

16. Type your text first (it will all be sized 72), then highlight the lines you want larger. Change the text size to 140 and click somewhere inside the text box to unselect your text.

17. When you're satisfied with your page, save it! Only GIMP will save it as some funky file extensions if you click save. Instead, click Export.

18. On the left side you can choose where you'd like to save your file. On the top, name your file INCLUDING the extension (like .jpg). Then click Export.

.....


Phew! Did I lose you? Hopefully all my photos and arrows and instructions weren't too confusing (or too bossy..). If you have any questions, just e-mail me: dayinmylifeblog@gmail.com. I'm happy to help!

His Bike

One of the nights when Justin was out of town for work, we were waiting for my mom to come over and I decided to grab my camera and try to snap some pictures of Harvey riding his bike. It was mostly just to pass the time and I wasn't expecting or trying for anything specific. 

Although I have my camera in his face plenty, he has not grasped the smile-and-look-into-the-camera pose. Usually I can get him looking into the camera without a smile... or I get the smile with him looking off into the distance at something or another. It's a good thing I love candids.

But every once in a while I get lucky, and I am actually able to capture the real thing. When he forgets that he's trying not to look at the camera, and he shows me that grin. My new favorite picture of the Harvster:

And on this evening... somehow the stars aligned. I even had beautiful light on my side. And then my mom showed up. Harvey got so excited.

Cherry Hill

Recently, Justin had to leave us for a business trip for TEN DAYS. Seriously, that is a long time. I don't know how people do this separation because of work travel gig. It's so hard for me and the kids. Luckily, Skype makes it possible for us to see and talk to him while he is gone.

And, luckily I have an awesome family that helps to distract us as well. My sister-in-law invited us to sleep over at her house... and take my kids to church with her while I took a 2.5 hour nap. I know, I probably should have at least gone to church, but that offer was way too good to pass up!

Before we arrived, my brother and sister-in-law took their kids to see Spiderman jump and do tricks on a bunch of trampolines. But Spiderman pulled a hamstring so he just stood there with a brace on and told all of the kids' parents to sign up for health insurance. Lame. But if the kids wore their wristbands through the end of the day, they could get in free to Cherry Hill. So after the kids and I arrived, we headed over to try out their mini golf.

Hole One: Russ told the kids the basic how-tos of mini golf. He said we would all take turns from youngest to oldest... and that lasted about halfway through the first hole.

After that, it was pretty much a free-for-all to hit your own ball anywhere kind of close to the hole.

If the club doesn't work out, go ahead and throw it in there with your hand.

Although, that second set up kind of bugged those who wanted to actually try to play... I just gave up my club and ball altogether in favor of them camera.

Then the littlest boys decided it wasn't fun enough to try and get their ball into the regular hole... they decided to throw them under/into random places on the course.

Then one of us would have to try and fish it out. It worked out most of the time... but we ended the course with about half the golf balls that we started with. Who knows where they ended up.

After the kids started climbing these snowy twin peaks, we decided it was time to go.

And, well... these boys didn't really mind, as long as they could run and play.

We had such a fabulous time (thank you so much for your hospitality Russ and Krista!!)

BYU Spring Practice

Every year BYU does a Spring Practice scrimmage and allows the public to come cheer them on. It only lasts about an hour, and you can go onto the field after it's over to collect signatures from the players. It's just perfect for kids who are too young to handle a 4-hour football game.

Back in April, we decided to head down to Provo for the practice, and ran into a bunch of traffic. It was stop and go and one of those times... the lady behind us didn't stop! We couldn't believe it. We were hit. (And our other car was hit while parked in the street about 3 weeks before that. What luck!)

After pulling off the freeway, inspecting the damage (which was just a small dent the size of my fist on the back bumper, but just enough to want it repaired), and spending 30 minutes on the phone with the insurance company, we started our trip down to Provo again. We turned on the radio, and discovered the practice was almost over!

By the time we got to the University Parkway exit, it had already ended, but I had high hopes that Cosmo, the cougar mascot, would still be hanging around and Harvey would at least be able to get a photo with him, so we kept driving. Plus most of Justin's brothers were there and they told us the field was still a madhouse.

Anyway, we finally made it in time to chat with Justin's cousin, Joe DuPaix, who is the Running Backs Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for BYU. All of Justin's brothers had fun trying to get all sorts of inside secrets out of him.

Harvey had fun pretending to be a real BYU football player...

Good thing I brought his little football - it kept him entertained the whole time.

Well, except for that one moment when he found a helmet sitting in the grass and decided to put it on. (See that player in the background? It's his... and he shot me a concerned look when I started snapping pictures.)

Then all of the cousins waited in line to get a photo with Riley Nelson, the BYU quarterback.

And for some reason, Harvey got special treatment. :)

Just to prove that Avery and I were there...

Jud wanted a photo of her on the 50 yard line...

Then the kids wanted to sit on the cougar out front. I'm not sure what Harvey is doing... petting him?

Despite the car accident, we had a great time!