I took a vacation day night on Friday. We were supposed to go to Sea World (it was Christian Family day and there was a free Third Day concert) but tons of things kept coming up that we needed to do that we ended up not going.

That meant Friday night could be spent relaxing.

X, Krys, and I drove up to San Marcos outlets to meet Mary & Thomas so Krys could spend the weekend with them again. The drive up there (~1 hr) was horrific as Krys couldn't keep her hands to herself and kept pestering X. I rewarded X's amazing endurance and patience with new clothes after we dropped of Krys.

I mentioned that it was a beautiful evening to hang out on the deck and X got really excited about that idea. 

So that's what we did. And when you start your weekend like this….it's bound to be good.

picture taken by X

A cold front started coming through and my "beautiful evening" turned into quite a chilly night.

We decided to try and roast marshmellows over the grill. Ha. Ryan ended up toasting these inside on the stove.

After that we gave up and ate them cold. Along with m&m's and cinnamon rice chips.

I may get in trouble for posting this one….and it's not even a great picture. It's just funny.

On Saturday we decided to partake in the community yard sale. In true yard sale fashion, we had early birds who just about bought everything we had before I could even get it outside.

It was still pretty chilly so everyone was dressed warm again.

X found this Texas Longhorns hat when she went looking for her winter hat. I'm not sure where it came from…..but regardless, it looks like E has chosen his side.

For those who don't know what that means, in the state of Texas you can go one of two ways: UT or A&M. (Sorry JD.)

Saturday night we went to our small group Play-Date. It was an awesome
time….we're feeling super blessed by all the great couples we have in
our group right now.

 E flirting with his girlfriend.

And now, I'm back at work for the next 5 nights. Krys is back (althought she'd rather not be) and the relaxation is over.

These pages will soon be posted to The Scrapbook Room (link on the right) in larger pictures, but for now here's a peek:

(fyi: I had to take photos of the pages since the scrapbook is actually multiple 4×6 cards…I didn't want to hand scan them all in; sorry for the awkard quality)

Some specific details:

*This is a photo album with (5) 4×6 openings purchased at Michaels ($11 with a 40% coupon)

*The gratitude and observation journaling cards I made using Photoshop

*I picked about 8 pieces of patterned paper out to use. I stuck to those 8 pieces the entire book. (you can see 6 of them on the first page cut into strips behind the "capture the moment" block; the other 2 are on the "daily food" cards

*All the word stickers are either Making Memories Word Fetti or 7 Gypsies 97% complete autocollant stickers (can be found at Hobby Lobby)

*The tiny rectangular letters are Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers

*I used a 01 and 08 journaling pen (Michaels or Hobby Lobby) for all my journaling and the white pen on the pictures is Sharpie Poster Paint

*and FYI: anytime you see the stamped coffee mug on the daily food card-that means I had Starbucks.

-I completed the "Week in my Life" 2009 scrapbook today

-I emailed Kara and Ginger 7 times.

-I've drank the equivalent of 9 cups of coffee.

-I registered X for 3 summer camps (that she chose): Acting, Musical Theatre (both at SOYT), and Gymnastics.

-I went to my (new) Walgreens to pick up pictures and a prescription and ran into my District Manager (who was one of my direct bosses when I was a Manager). He said to me,

"Kelly, you look good, so…..relaxed!"

To which I replied, "Yes I am. This was the best decision I've ever made."

-Ryan scolded me for leaving home without locking the front door. The he walked upstairs and found I'd left my camera lens (detached from camera body) without a cap on. I was driving home from Boerne at the time and said, "Geez, I'm having a forgetful day….next thing you'll tell me is that I left my flat-iron on."(which I very often get in trouble for)

As soon as I spoke the words I knew that I had indeed, left it on.  And Ryan, of course, had to go check once I brought it up. I really thought I was in for it. Luckily, my husband is very paitient and understanding.

-I listened to my iPhone as an iPod all day today just because I love how  you can take a phone call in the middle of your music and use your earbuds to be hands-free.

-E pee'd on the potty at school today

-Krys pee'd her pants 3 times between school and bedtime.

……and just to throw a picture out there:

This is X picking out her pictures for her 2008 scrapbook. These are the Matte with white border pictures from Scrapbookpictures.com that I am so in love iwth.

1. Vitamin Water. I'm currently not drinking any soda.

2. Buying Handmade at Etsy. I just bought this and this as a gift.

3. Dancing

4. Library hold lists. I've been wanting to get into the groove of this for a long time now. I love it.

5. Word Fetti. I love using these stickers in my Week in the Life book (which is 60% complete).

6. Jason Mraz. Kara gave me a couple of his songs on my "Stay Awake Kelly" playlist and I love 'em!

7. You are Special I love reading this story to the kids. Tonight, X read it to me.

8. ScapbookPictures. I just finished Krys's scrapbook using the 4×6 white bordered matte photos from there. LOVE them!

9. Fructis Ultra Strong Hair Gel. Great for "Dino-hair".

I decided to attempt taking some RAW photos this weekend in order to play with my 30 day trial of Adobe Lightroom 2.

First things first. I'm in desperate need of a book or tutorial of some sort to know what the heck I'm doing in Lightroom. Right now I'm just playing around.

Here's my RAW photo unedited:

Here's the same photo edited in Lightroom 2:

Here's a NON-RAW (JPEG) photo unedited:

Same JPEG photo edited in Photoshop Elements (how I normally edit):

Same JPEG photo edited in Lightroom 2:

So far, I definitely see the difference between editing a RAW in Lightroom and a JPEG in Lightroom. I had a lot of trouble trying to get the JPEG photo to be "just right". Whereas the RAW photo only took a couple clicks and I loved the result.

Here's some RAW photos of my sour-puss yesterday edited in Lightroom 2:

She had recently fell off the monkey bars….although not hurt, she wasn't happy.

Anyway…..I still have tons to learn, but I love every second of it!

As I left to babysit Saturday night I handed my camera over to Ryan for the evening. I had all the settings ready to go for outdoor close-up pictures at dusk.

This was because our neighbors were having petting zoo outside in the cul-de-sac last night.

And because I'm really wanting Ryan to get more comfortable using the camera. He claims I have the settings "too jacked up" for him.  Just recently though he finally noticed and commented how I'm not in any pictures in the kids' scrapbooks.

So using the advice of one of my photography inspirations, I set everything up for him and handed it over. Then specifically planned not to criticize any of the pictures he took (or didn't take) as a way of encouraging him to use my camera more.

I didn't even need to implement that last part as he did an amazing job getting pictures of the kids.

Now, the last time E saw a goat at a birthday party petting zoo the goat pee'd right in front of him, traumatizing him. He went around for the next 48 hours after saying, "Goat pee'd" over and over.

I think this time he was keeping his distance.

Three things:

1. What an awesome picture, Ryan!

2. I fixed X's hair "curly" yesterday. I really liked it…let me know what you think.

3. We are all very in to bunnies right now. It looks like Ry and I have decided to get one for X & E as an Easter gift……there will definitely be more of these type pictures soon.

And hopefully there will be more of Ryan's pictures posted soon too!

Saturday was a full day home with just the Newcom 4 (Krys still visiting with her new adoptive parents).

It was so nice….if I can be boldly honest.

5:00am-E is up and rearing to go.

8:00am-I head to Target to get my copy of Twilight.

9:15am-Kara and Ginger come over to scrapbook. Ry was outside doing yardwork so I had both kids inside with me which was good until they both decided to watch Twilight on my lap (thus hindering me from getting any scrapbooking done)

So yes, I did end up letting X watch it. She left for the one semi-violent scene and generally didn't grasp the rest of what was going on so I feel cool with letting her see it.

12:00pm-The four of us have a picnic lunch out on the driveway

2:00pm-I tell X about Krys being adopted by Thomas & Mary. After I explained everything I asked her how she felt about it.

A huge smile came across her face and said: "Happy."

3:00pm-X and I head to Starbucks to grab our "coffee" that we never had time to get in the morning. We sit in my bedroom recliners and read our books while drinking our "coffee."

7:00pm-I head out with my small group friend Laura to babysit for other small group friends Jarrett & Lacey (they have 2 foster children currently….but no blog). 

7:45pm-Laura and I watch Twilight (again).

12:00am-I get back home from babysitting and Ry and I watch Twilight (seriously….again).

So officially: there is something wrong with me. I can't believe I watched 1 movie 3 times in  less than 24 hours.

Regardless of my Twilight obsession, it was a FABULOUS day.