It’s been a while since I shared a favorite, but this one definitely fit the bill. Love that quirky expression and the spark in his eye. So him right now.

I’ve scrapped the [...]]]> This will be my sixth time joining Lain Ehmann in her Layout-A-Day challenge (LOAD) and I cannot wait. This challenge always pushes me to get more done than I thought I could. Last year during the February challenge I managed to scrap my entire vacation while I was on vacation:

I’ve scrapped the loss of my dad:
        

I’ve scrapped old memories:
     

and new memories:
     

I’ve scrapped about us:
  

And lots of him:
  

During this challenge, I’ve scrapped big moments, small moments, totally insignificant moments. I’ve scrapped some of my favorites photos and I’ve scrapped without photos. What I know for sure is that I’ve recorded way more memories than I would have without this challenge to give me a push. If you’re signed up and feeling a little nervous, my best advice is to relax! I promise this will be way more fun for you if you don’t put too much pressure on yourself and get involved in the community. If you’re lacking a bit of inspiration, spend time browsing the gallery. Wow – will you be inspired! If you’re not signed up and want to learn more, head on over to Layout-A-Day for all the information you need.

If you’re following along on the bloghop, your next stop is with Joy. I hope to see you in February!

Katrina Forman: http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com

Jessica Baldwin: www.inkyaddict.com

But back to the Christmas tree. When I was taking down the [...]]]> We finally got around to taking down our Christmas tree this past week. We usually don’t wait quite this long, but our new year started off a little crazy and that’s just what happened. Here’s to a 2013 that settles down a bit.

But back to the Christmas tree. When I was taking down the ornaments, I got a bit sentimental. We don’t have a fancy, match-matchy sort of tree. Ours is full of ornaments collected over time and from our childhoods.

Mark’s mom has given him an ornament every year. These little angels are from the 70′s or so. They are adorable!

A few years ago, my parents stopped putting up a real tree and I ended up with these ornaments from our family’s collection. I never really thought much about these ornaments growing up, but I’m happy to have them for our tree.

These ornaments came from my mother-in-law. She continues the annual ornament tradition and we received these a few years in a row. I just love how delicate they are and think it would be gorgeous to have a tree full of them!

This was my 17th holiday season working at Starbucks. I’ve somehow managed to collect 19 of these guys. I would also love a tree full of little cups – how cute would that be?

Mark and I took our first overnight trip to a sweet little town in Eastern Washington called Leavenworth. It’s an adorable Bavarian village with lots of Christmas shops. All of these came from that first trip and I love them.

Here’s the full stash. Some old, some new, some store bought, some homemade, some made by little Alex hands. I will admit that I sometimes envy those with perfectly coordinated, designer looking trees. They are so clean and pretty. But the one thing that those trees will never have is the heart and soul that our tree has every year. It’s almost like a scrapbook of our lives and one of my favorite parts of every holiday is pulling them out of the attic and remembering where each one came from. Long live the hodge-podge Christmas tree!

My iPhoto library, [...]]]> If you know me in real life, you know that I am rarely without a camera of some sort. You can leave it to me to capture every big moment and, more typically, all of the small ones too. I love a great photo – in particular one that tells a story.

My iPhoto library, which goes back to 2005, has nearly 28,000 photos in it. Since 2008 in particular, I’ve tried to be mindful of taking at least one photo each day and, when I looked back, I found most days even before that had at least one photo.

In 2013, my goal is to be more mindful of the photos I’m taking. I still plan on taking (at least) a photo each day, but I want to be more focused on improving my photography. I want to be more focused on the story.

Last year, I used Instagram on my phone to capture at least one of my photos and I’m sure that my phone will play a large part in the coming year, too. But, I want to pull out my DSLR more and really learn it inside and out, not  just a little bit like I feel like I do now.

I went back to 2005 and picked three random dates. A couple of these photos were a day or two off the actual date, but I love that each photo takes me right back to that moment and I can remember so much of what was going on in my life. I love seeing Alex grow up over the years. I love that I’ve captured images from every part of our lives. I love that look on Alex’s face going down the giant slide on July 31, 2009.

This year, I have three goals related to my daily photography:

1. Increase my skill level
2. Search for story
3. Be in the photo more often

Did you get a new camera for Christmas? Maybe a new iPhone? Maybe you just want to capture those small moments and stories? I would love for you to join me in a daily photo practice. Now, there are lots of places on line where you can find daily photo inspiration (Capture Your 365 is my favorite). Search them out or just search your life. No matter how you approach this, I know you won’t be disappointed in the result.

If you’re interested in sharing, I’ve created a private Flickr group to post and share my photos. It will likely be a pretty small group, but I know that I get inspiration from others and would love to see the daily photography of some of you. If you’d like to be part of the group, leave a comment here or get in touch and include your email and I’ll send you an invite.

Here’s to great photography in the coming year!

I am so thankful for my camera. I am not the world’s best photographer, but it’s a delight having a great tool at my disposal and it challenges me to do more, learn more and try harder to improve my skills. Love it!

I’m thankful for my wonderful in-laws for hosting us for another Thanksgiving holiday and the wonderful food that is soon to come! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I’m so thankful that my friend Theresa talked me into a cake decorating class! It’s crazy fun [...]]]> no. 22: thanksgiving with family

I’m thankful for my wonderful in-laws for hosting us for another Thanksgiving holiday and the wonderful food that is soon to come! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

no. 21: learning something new

I’m so thankful that my friend Theresa talked me into a cake decorating class! It’s crazy fun and I love learning new things.

I am so thankful that I found Project Life this year. It has been the perfect way to document our lives – it makes me just so happy and even the boys have been looking through our albums a lot more often. And today, I took a big step outside [...]]]> no. 20: project life

I am so thankful that I found Project Life this year. It has been the perfect way to document our lives – it makes me just so happy and even the boys have been looking through our albums a lot more often. And today, I took a big step outside my comfort zone and submitted some of my layouts for the Project Life creative team (wish me luck!)

I’m thankful for an impromptu date night (and a husband willing to sit through Twilight movies with me).