10 Years

Its been 10 years since I went shopping for a new car.  A lot has changed.  I realized my taste in cars has also changed.

I purchased my Expedition in 2005 and the following year, they changed the body styles for the Ford SUV's.  Instead of the large box, they made them sleeker.

I never like the new style so I stayed away.  I paid off my Expedition and kept driving it.  It was the first car I've every driven that I never wanted to give up.  It never required any major repairs.  I changed the brakes a couple of times and the tires when needed.  Got the oil changed and basic services at required intervals.  The perfect car.

And then I got an itch.  I pulled up next to the new Explorer and I totally wanted it.  I think my Expedition knew what I was thinking.  Immediately, things went wrong.  The motor on the back passenger side window stopped working.  Someone hit the side view mirror while I was parked at work and cracked it.  Someone bummed into my front and dented the corner.  The defrost didn't really defrost anything.  The AC needed work.  We started adding up the cost to repair some of these things and realized I could put a down payment on another car.

So we did.  I test drove several cars including the Explorer XLT and the Nissan Xterra.  Both cars I really liked but the Ford won out in the end.  I wasn't impressed with the Nissan guys and they were trying to get me to buy a car in a color I didn't like.  I tried to explain to them that I wanted a specific color.  Nope, they kept trying to get me to take the silver Xterra.  In the end, I walked out and went to Ford.  They've been good to me for my last 2 cars and my husbands 2 Fords so we went back.

I sat on the decision for almost 2 weeks before I found my color at one of the dealerships.  It was hard to trade in Big Blue but I did.  I did cry because that was my car.  I bought that car when we started trying for a family.  We were looking for 2-3 kids and I knew I'd need a big car.  (We also bought the big house for the same reason.....)  Turns out, we had 1 kid.  I had a big car and no one to drive around in it.  

The Explorer is the perfect size.  Still has the third row and enough room to fit the hockey equipment.    

 Hello. Goodbye.

 I love the color.  Magnetic.  Not black and not silver.  A dark grey.  Perfect.

Nice relaxing Memorial Day

Just trying to escape the rat race a little bit this week.  Tired of reading negative things all over the internet and that work is consuming my life these days.  Taking a step back.

This boy turns 6 in July.  (Don't know where the time goes.)

(we went to the park before hitting the beach and I got a few decent shots with my iphone)

I'm going to be brave this year and do a photo shoot with him.  No expensive photographer, just me.  I have the camera so why not, right?  Right?  (I'm scared.)

I just don't think I know how to use this camera well enough to get the shots I want so I'm practicing.  I have a good month to play around with settings and PS.

I got a few decent shots at the beach today.

 Treasure Island Beach

 There are some awesome tide pools here but the tide was coming in so I only got a few minutes of time wondering around.

 This is one of my favorites from the day.  

 Obligatory name in the sand shot.

 We were stalking the lifeguard tower all day.  Waiting for the lifeguard to go home.  I'm usually a rule follower but this one time I broke it.

 Looking into the sunset.

 The beach is attached to the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach.  One day I will stay here.

 The tide pools I mentioned earlier are down there.  I wanted to get pictures of N in that little cave but its a popular spot.  Pregnancy photo shoots, proposals, engagement shoots - you name it, it was happening in that little spot.  So we skipped it for now.

 All of the little beaches/coves are accessible by these cute wooden stairs.

 A milestone we're looking at this year is learning to ride his bike without training wheels.  Its not happening.  He spent 5 minutes on the bike and after some tears, we put the wheels back on.  This kid can skate circles around most adults on two thin blades but he loves his training wheels.

 Playing around with the new Elsie Flannigan Instagram App.  I'm not one for these fancy things but I really like this app.  And I probably spent a few bucks on the add-ons too.

 A crab in the tide pools.  The one lone creature I came across.  Well, there was a sea snail but he wasn't as cool as the crab.

So now I'm editing the photos and having them printed to see how they look.  I just placed my first order with Persnickety Prints to see their quality.

A few more elf

shenanigans.

We've been trying to enjoy the little family time we have together these days.  The other night we went out looking at Christmas lights.  There is a local house that goes all out.  The outside is completely covered in lights and the inside is a maze of tiny villages.

 This house has the lights timed to a radio station.  Its pretty cool.

 Inside the big house with villages.

 Their upside down tree.

 The Disneyland village.

 All of the rippled stuff is styrofoam.  She carves it  to look like snow and then sprays it with glitter.  It looks really cool in person.

 The Whoville/Grinch village.

 Of course, he was fascinated by the train in this village.

A parting shot of the Grinch.

 Junior tried out for the Junior Kings last week.  He's the tiny guy in the white jersey.  He did really well and will be part of the program starting in January.  VERY excited about this.

 Rascal's holiday attire.

 Checking to see if he's right or left handed.  Daddy wants to get him some golf clubs for Christmas.

He rode his bike in the local holiday parade with the school.  He was pretty excited to decorate his bike and ride it through town.

Not much crafting going on this month.  Between work and the holidays, I've lost all desire to touch anything in my craft room.  I am keeping up with picture printing for the December Daily.  I've got a few days finished that I need to share.

We are family

A couple of years ago, I contacted someone I used to work with at my last job.  After the major layoffs, we all went off to find other jobs, starts our own ventures etc.

She started her own photography business and I was lucky to snag an afternoon with her.  She did such a great job capturing Nick's personality.

These were some of my favorite shots from the afternoon.

I used the Simple Stories fall line again because the colors match so well.  Some older Thickers, burlap string and a sketch from Scrapbook Generation.