image courtesy of Amazon

Check out this awesome book! Such cute quilt ideas! I want one!

Oh happy day!

Day 2

Sunday at the arboretum.

Day 6

I love these-my Mexican husband does NOT! What are the odds?

Day 3

Collision on Interstate Elvin. No fatalities.

Day 4

The one shoulder shrug "cheese".

Day 5

I love living in the North West.

Sorry that they are a bit out of order. :)

Day 1 Project Life

Camden has recently discovered these drawers in the kitchen. The only real surprise is that is has taken him this long.

The poor kid got into two fights... and lost. One with a balloon that was blown up too much and he received his first black eye. (thanks Daddy) Then he lost the other fight with Elvin and Elvin pushed him into a toy outside. But don't you worry. Camden is a tough guy. And he got even by sitting on Elvin's leg in the bathtub tonight. (Imagine an elephant sitting on an ant)

Oh the silence that these bring is so sweet and peaceful. The boys love them!

John has been working a LOT this week. And today, it was one of those days. Yep, its still 11am and my kids are not dressed. Yep, they are playing outside in their PJ's. Guess what folks, they were happy. And lets face it, it will probably happen again tomorrow.

Elvin did not want to be photographed today. But I got his legs! :)

Revamped!

I have updated my Whetten Photography & Design Blog. Go on over and check out its face lift! I added new pages that correspond with the event. Little by little folks, I am getting the hang of blogging. :) I have also added the Bingham's and Guzman's family photo shoots. Yay!

Project Life

Image Courtesy of Amazon.com

I found this thing called Project Life. I love this idea. Although it is basically just another scrapbook at heart, this particular one is centered upon doing a week at a glance or month at a glance book. Really, its kind of like a journal. And me, being a horrible journal keeper (meaning I don't really keep one) I really liked this. I would do the digital version, but you get the idea. For a number of reasons I really want to do this.

1. To have a journal. We all know that its important and why. I don't think I really need to go into all the nuts and bolts of why.

2. It would help to inspire me to get out my camera more and practice my skills between photo shoots.

3. I like the idea of making it a "reasons to be happy and grateful". And taking a picture a day, or two a week, focusing on things that would fit into the aforementioned category. For example, something that the kids did, a frame, a special flower (the big pile of wilted dandelions that Elvin brings me in droves), but you get the idea. This could even be a separate book from the personal journal one.

4. It is already layed out. I already scrapbook. I make my own pages and it takes time. As this Project Life would be more journal oriented, I want to spend my time on the other things besides the layout and design aspect.

So there you go. There are a lot of other reasons, but these are the main ones. I also was inspired by THIS GIRL, Cierra Owens. She is a girl I just recently got to know a little better and she is a photographer too! She is doing something she calls "Project 365" and she takes a picture each day. I love this idea! But check her out.

FREE Photo Canvas!

Just so you all know. I found this site that offers a free 8x10 photo canvas. You just upload whatever photo you want! And their bigger sizes are super cheap. Great father's day gifts. Check it out.

Sneak Peak

Sneak Peak from my last photo shoot with the Guzman's. More to come soon on my photography business blog. Also I will be adding the Bingham's family pics too. Two such great families! I had such a fun time capturing them!

Elvin's Tonsillectomy

He is doing pretty good. All things considered. He is a little trooper though. I have found that it is easiest when we distract him from the pain.

This was that night. We ended up having to stay the night. So Elvin got his new surprise toy early. He was trying to be excited about it, but he was so out of it.

This was after. My poor boy. He did pretty good though waking up from the anesthesia.

You can kind of see. Sorry. It was hard to get a good view.

This was just before they took him back.

Camden 11 Months

Camden loves to swing.

And unlike his older brother, he LOVES to eat.

And last but not least, he is walking. I cannot believe it. I guess he just wanted to keep up with Elvin. They are playing more and more together. And Elvin still likes to bully him. We are just waiting for the day when Camden will get even by sitting on him. :)

Aunt Leslie comes to town

Aunt Leslie, Jimmy, and Adrian came to visit for their spring break. We had so much fun with them. We love you guys!

My two lucky charms. I got these on sale at Old Navy.

Oh how I love thee...

Cost of unfinished box: $4.00
Cost of supplies: $2.99 (already had paint)
Cost of printing cards: $12.00
Time spent painting box: 1 hour

Cost of conversation at the dinner table instead of chaos or TV....
PRICELESS!

My latest project

This is one of the conversation cards that I am doing. I got the idea from something called a conversation jar. Where you write down a bunch of questions on strips of paper and put them in a jar on your table. During meals you take turns selecting a question. I decided to make them cuter (idea from yet another blog) So I have been having tons of fun designing a different card for each question. Then I will decorate a cute box to sit on my table.
I love this idea! Some of the questions are serious, some funny. But I think this is a great way to make meal times family times. And you don't have to do it with just family! You can do it with friends that you have over too. Shoot me an email and I will be happy to share if your interested. I can just email you the file. You can just take it to Kinkos or something and get them printed off. It should not cost very much. Or you can get them printed off as 4x6 photos.
P.S. I have been using all my newly downloaded FREE digital scrapbooking items. YAY!

Digital Scrapbooking Results

So after many site searching, blog stalking, and kids screaming, I have found some helpful information. I have posted the links in my sidebar for any and all to find. I found that a lot of sites offered a few free items to use for digital scrapbooking. The rest of their "kits" were for $2-3 dollars. And while that is pretty reasonable, lets face it-I am cheap. I want FREE! Who doesn't right? Also,I am not the patient sort to only do one or two items per site. One site I found is by a gal and all her kits are free. Yep. ALL of them. It is time consuming to download them all, which I did. But it is worth it. And the other site that was recommended to me had some great free stuff too. These two were by far the best I have found so far. And as I find more, I will add them here. Good luck everyone!

Digital Scrapbookers....???

So I have amassed an extremely impressive amount of scrap booking supplies. Seriously. I have a ton. You may think I am kidding. But I am not. So I have been off and on considering switching to digital. I think that I would enjoy it because I would not have to banish myself to my Harry Potter-isk closet/craft bunk. For another reason, it would be a whole lot easier to clean up and get out. So my question is this, who does it and what are any pointers/advice, or what ever that you can give me. I do not know that much about it. So any and all things you can tell me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! There is also the benefit for all you die hard regular scrap booking fanatics-if I switch, I will probably be giving away most of what I have. So bring on the comments!

Updating...sort of.

I have seriously been slacking on updating my business blog and my personal. All I can say for my self is that I am working on it. I am going to update my business blog first and one event at a time. I still have events from December that need to be updated! I will probably post one a day or so until I am current with both blogs. So keep checking back! Click here to see more of this last photo shoot I did.

7 Months and counting

I love his expression in the first picture. Our little man is just over 7 months old. I have been trying to get a picture each month and the big milestone moments like we did with Elvin...poor second child. His 1st year scrapbook will be much thinner. But we love him just as much!
Camden loves that his older brother is playing with him now instead of trying to sit on his head. They love to play tag in the curtains while Camden is in his walker thing. He has also discovered the very best toy in the world. BALLOONS! He loves to eat and is starting to eat meats. Although he takes after Elvin and loves his Ritz crackers. He is crawling all over the place and his favorite place is near all Elvin's toys-go figure. And he discovered the power cord button that turns off the computer and lots of other stuff. He loves to take baths with Elvin, and loves to snuggle with everyone. And although he still is a bit of a party all night kind of guy, he is doing better and we hope to continue that progress. His next doctor appointment is in April, and we will post his weight and height. We expect he will soon surpass Elvin in the weight department. We are guessing that he weighs about 20-21 pounds already. Elvin is still chugging along at about 29-30 pounds. I worry about the day they start wrestling one another! OH! I almost forgot that he had his first haircut! The baby comb over was getting a little out of control. And it looks like his stripe in the back will be permanent. He still has a patch of hair in the back that is a very light color of hair.

Don't ya just wish you were our neighbor...

I decided to make these as they have sort of become a valentines day tradition. They are chocolate eclairs. Mmmmm... don't they just look good? On another note, notice who is losing our biggest loser race? Yeah, I just cannot figure out why...

Our BIGGEST Loser...

So me and John have decided to do our own biggest loser contest. The winner between us gets $100 to spend as they want at the end of this semester (to be taken out of our hopefully substantial tax return). So you will see the trackers here on the blog to see who is winning so far. I figure if the people on the show can get in front of millions of viewers half naked... we could track our progress here. :)
So here we go. Wish us luck!

Christmas in Washougal

Elvin and his cousin Maryn. They got to be really good friends. Elvin keeps asking for his "friend".
Camden and Aunt Kate.

Hot wheeling...er...John Deering?? Elvin and Maryn go for a test run in her new ride.
Elvin loved going into the room to see what Santa left.... to bad he left in for Maryn. :)

Yeah for December!

Maryn is setting out cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. I cannot wait until Elvin gets the whole Santa thing.

We all opened one gift on Christmas eve... new pajamas for everyone!

We made gingerbread houses with the Penberthys. The one above is theirs.

Sean, Anna, and Camden.

Elvin is helping to put the tree together. Notice who has the instructions...

Elvin giving his brother loves. Elvin calls him "doggie". "night, night doggie", "luy you doggie".

Just some really cute clips.