Catch-up Post: July 2013 California Vacation–Part 1

In Summer of 2013, we chose California for our family vacation.  We missed all of our friends and the kids barely remembered living there.  We did most of the tourist stuff with the amusement parks.  The only thing I regret doing is going to Seaworld, because I came home and watched Blackfish and just felt sick. 

We did 9 am to 11 pm nights, which was tough for the kids because they are they are usually 7 am to 8 pm kids.  I did not take my DSLR with me very much because it’s not ideal for the beach or amusement parks.  I used my iPhone to capture most of our vacation.  Overall it was a wonderful vacation and the kids had a blast.  They talk about wanting to go to California every year.

Road trips made easy with IPads.

We went to San Diego first to see a good friend and go to the local amusement park, beach, and to Seaworld.  It was nice to run on the beach at sea level!

 

The kids thought Seaworld was boring.

 

We met a few friends at the beach when we got to Huntington Beach.

Cecily has known our kids since they joined our family.  It’s so fun to see how much they’ve grown!

(Charlotte’s 1st birthday party) 

We took them to Legoland and this was probably their most favorite place.

 

Life-size X-Wing made from Legos.

And on the way back to our friend’s house:

We had a great beach day in Huntington Beach.

 

Sarah’s Maternity–Baby #2

I love shooting Sarah and Hunter’s family (first baby maternity, Garrett’s newborn photos, Garrett’s first birthday).  They make it so easy and since she prefers less posed photos and I don’t really like posing people, so we are a good match.  The only problem I run into is that I end up with so many great photos after a very short session.  This session only lasted 90 minutes at sunset at a nearby old farmhouse and there were so many amazing photos!

   

  

 

         

               

                

Raeann’s Boudoir

My best friend let me practice taking boudoir.  I’m not posting anything revealing online, so I cropped all the photos.  This is the toughest part about shooting boudoir…I can’t really show the pics off!

Laundry Room

When we moved into our house 4 years ago, we knew we would eventually re-do the laundry room (located on the second level with the bedrooms), but since it was a utility room, it moved way down the priority list (over the other parts of the house we’ve done).  We dealt with the front load washer and dryer doors opening into each other, rather than away from each other, instead of re-routing the gas line or buying new appliances.  The color of the walls were dark and dreary, and we had a florescent light for the longest time in the room.  The fan was loud, the floor was ugly linoleum, and the cabinets above the washer and dryer were not only ugly, they were also non-functional.

Well, the room moved up the priority list when we found out that our dryer had a cracked drum and our washer had mildew.  Since we had to buy new appliances, we figured we should probably re-do the room.  The first thing my husband did was put in a new fan and new lights (with the help of a friend who knows more about electrical stuff).

Before pictures (but after lights and fan installed).  I would say ignore the dirty clothes, but it is a laundry room.

Inspiration from pinterest (links on pictures go to original websites that may include more information on how-to):

     

My husband did all the work and I did all the directing.  Our same friend who helped us with the lighting, also helped extend the gas line so that we could have the washer and dryer on the right sides so the doors opened away from each other.  We picked a nice creamsicle orange color, added wainscoting and a shelf/ledge at the top with new baseboards that match the rest of the house on the bottom, a drying rack, ripped up the linoleum floor and laid grey penny tile with very light grey grout, and removed the cabinets and built a pedestal and shelf.  I love how it turned out.  The room feels bigger, ceilings feel higher, and it so much brighter.