A Few Photos

I do enjoy B&W photography, I really should do more.  Had fun with a couple photos.

Superbowl Sunday

Apparently American Girls are big fans of football.  Emma, you're awesome!

A Few Gray Hairs

Say hello to Skeeter, that is her nickname due to her massive reactions to mosquito bites.  It all started when we got that realtor sign, apparently a lot of things came with the sign.  Things were going well, the house was under contract, we had to run out to our storage unit, which was uncomfortably close to Utah Lake, or as we have come to think of it during the warm months of the year as Squito-ville

We knew she was allergic (its a real thing) so we were careful, but not careful enough.  The next day she had several bites (notice the bandaids on her arm, and the one on her neck).  Her eye was a little swollen, but didn't think much of it, expecting the swelling to go down. Clearly it did not (see the next picture).  I was helping with a youth activity during the morning, and came home to one-eyed-Sloan (that's her pirate name), and a crying Emma, she's definitely got the biggest heart.  But I must admit, I was a bit concerned too.  So we started to get ready to go to the pediatrician.

Surprise!  Amid the frantic events of the morning, we notice things were quiet, a little too quiet. Kid noise, check, air conditioner, check, birds chirping, check, refrigerator... nope.  We made the lovely discovery that our ice was melting, and our freezer defrosting.  Keep in mind our home is under contract, closing in a week, and a "working" fridge is part of the agreement.  

New plan, divide and conquer.

Rachel took Sloane to the doctor's office, bringing Emma along to reassure her that it's no big deal.

Cut To:

Doctor: "This is a real big deal, you watch it closely, and we have a huge shot of penicillin so she doesn't have to go to the hospital to be hooked up to the IV"

Emma had to go wait in the waiting room.

In the meantime, I stayed home to find someone that does same-day fridge repairs, and on Saturday.  Success!  The Fridge Repair guy was on his way.  

Cut To:

Fridge Repair Guy:  "In my whole career, I have never seen two different things wrong in one fridge, within the same repair visit."

Plus side, we could stop sweating it out over buying a whole new fridge.  Now we just had to keep an "eye" on Skeeter.  (snicker snicker)

A little sugar helped, but it kept swelling, pushing into her other eye, and getting more red.

Cut To:

Late night ER.  Sloane was a champ, she seemed un-phased, which was more than I can say for Rachel and I.  Needless to say, it took some time, they had to run some tests to make sure the infection was on the surface, and did not go into the deep tissues of her eye.  Sloane handled the CAT scan like a pro (unlike her parents), and we found out the infection was only on the surface, otherwise she would have been admitted for several days.  (Sigh of relief)  She was given Polly, her doll, a cuss-load of super antibiotics (which Target had to special order), and we were on our way.

It took three days just to get the eye back open, and then several more days to get back to normal.  Kind of a long time for a three year old to be a pirate.  Every day the kids came home from school and would ask if we could see her eye yet.  Emma used her own money to buy her a book and some stickers at her book fair.  I guess these kids do love each other.  

Aunt Alisha brought over balloons, and introduced her to Doc McStuffins, which was perfect, and Sloane loved it.  She is a big fan of Alisha and now Doc McStuffins.

  

But we are just glad to have our Sloane back.

Wild and Crazy

We have rapidly outgrown our house, so we figured it would be time to sell the joint.  So what did we do?

We got a fancy Realtor sign (a highly reflective one), which fortunately came with an awesome realtor, thanks Tom.  And we sold it.

We de-cluttered, crossed off a dozen "to-do" items, painted a few rooms, and had far more than desired late nights...

....packed up everything we own, friends came over, we did some work, (thanks for the help!), we partied too, took some breaks to energize (thanks Kickstart), forgot how much crap we had to move, good times had by all...

... hired Nintendo 3DS as a babysitter...

... and then we were outta there, onto our next adventure.

...whoops, I guess we forgot to buy a place to put all this stuff into.  To be continued...

Paradigm Shift

This stupid commercial has been somewhat of an inspiration for me moving into the new year.  Lame I know.  But it made me think about how much I like having a record of what we are doing, for ourselves.  Sometimes it seems joy is but a few small moments in a crowd of chaos and discouragement.  I don't want to forget that, nor do i want to forget where our family comes from, and how we got to wherever we are going.  

The Allison Diet

I think if I ever wanted to lose a lot of weight, I can just copy what Allison eats.  Tonight for dinner she ate one stalk of celery with peanut butter, was given two hostess donettes, but only ate one.  Way to save those calories Allie, rock on!

Christmas Cards

Twas the season for sentimental, meaningful, often bragging, but always uplifting Christmas Cards.  I am just glad our Realtor is tuned into our situation.  Thanks Tom Thompson, this one really made us laugh.

Solid Parenting

Christmas break is for making plans, venturing out, baking cookies, games, activities, family time and festive fun.... or you can let your kids discover Temple Run, and have a 3 year old put you to shame.

How was your day?

... cause we are having the time of our life!

Random photo from the past

This is an older photo of Allison, but it made me laugh enough to post it.

Nerf Battle of the Ads - REJECTED!

Yes, hard to believe that storytelling this awesome did not win the Nerf Ad competition.

Our talented little Sloane

The Hooligans

Updated photo of our kids... BOOM... Blog update.

Revenge of the Trolls

Yes, it's been awhile.  But mostly because we've spent the last year troll herding in the hopes that we can coral and contain the destruction and keep it to a a minimum.  Basically it got to the point where we stopped taking pictures of the messes, and clean up became a day to day routine.

You would think I would be proud that Sloane is showing an artistic interest.  Well FIND A NEW CANVAS!

Some of her handiwork with the markers. Probably not as extensive as Allison's Sharpie episode, but still a pain to clean up.  

The great protein powder predicament.   The stuff was everywhere.  

The worst part is that Sloane would open up a dvd case, dump a scoop in, and then close it.  
Weeks later we were still finding cases with a little protein powder surprise.

I wonder if she truly believed that by hiding the canister we wouldn't notice the mess.

Toilet bowl toys. 

Unwrapping a roll of tinfoil, (which I tried to roll back up) and a pile of mixed nuts.

Judging by the innocent look on her face, she has no clue who shredded the Dora book.

And if protein powder was not enough, we also had the hot chocolate incident.

Maybe Sloane felt she was being watched or something.

Two Little Trolls

Two little trolls named Allie and Sloane

Two little trolls who will not let alone.

Two little trolls, devious and mischievous

Breaking and dumping, and completely oblivious

Causing stress and messing messes quite grievous.

Two little trolls reeking havoc in halls, in kitchens, on rugs, on couches and chairs.

We clean up each mess as we pull out our hair.

So pray for us, we’re slow, we’re tired and our heads are a spinning

And lets hope it’s a phase end, and not a phase beginning.

Two little trolls, grab a quick bite to eat.

I am sure the huge mess, was never their intent,

We’re just glad they didn’t add a bit of two percent.

 Two little trolls playing with knives

Sharpened edges, risking their lives,

But the mischief survives

And the mischief still thrives

But these sorts of things usually happen in fives.

 Two little trolls, now onto the pasta

Oodles of noodles from egg to spaghetti, rigatoni, fettuccini and even macaroni

What ever should we do with troll Alley and troll Sloaney!

And lets not forget, the onions the garlic and popcorn,

Scattered with bites and peels all forlorn. 

Can’t a mom, just get a small break,

and have two little trolls that aren’t such a headache?

 Two little trolls, with a craving for bread,

The loaf gave quite a fight, but ended up dead

Destroyed and demolished, what to do next?

why face painting Sloane’s face, with green, blue and red.

What is a day for a troll without a few good books,

But of course not for reading, nor looking nor chattering.

But for spreading, and shredding, and skittering and scattering.

 And go ahead, load up your truck with our chocolate chips,

I know your addicted trolls, but now we have zero!

Zilch!

Zip!

Oh two little trolls, what did you do now?

This mess, well this mess is a real moon jumping cow.

Seriously!!  Cream of wheat all over the place!

We vaccum and vaccum, and dump case after case. 

We had to wash the entire couch and the chair.

Now don’t you give me that glare!

 And of course Christmas, it doesn’t come with its share

Of destruction and mayhem, we are quite aware,

But tipping over a tree was quite an assault,

But at this point baby, it’s your own darn fault.

Two little trolls, keeping are hands full to the brim

Sometimes you wonder, when will we ever win?

They are cute as a button, with personality that shines.

We guess we can take the mayhem, the messes and whines.

We will survive, we’ll move on, and we will make-do.

I just wonder

What comes next?

Ohhh, just a little baby doll voodoo.

  

  

A couple of cool animations

Work has definitely been busy, but a lot of fun.  For years I have been talking about using animation for media, and for years it would get shut down one way or another.  It was quite a mountain to climb, but the view has been breathtaking. 

The Book of Mormon piece was a blast to work on.  Maybe had it's fair share of sleepless nights, but I think it was worth it.   (Well, unless you blame it for causing the Palsy, but my theory is that it was strictly coincidental.)  It was a great group to work with, and I think it turned out excellent.  A huge plus for the animation effort.

And of course the Coat story is a bit closer to the heart for me.  After multiple rejections of animated ideas being pitched, I knew we needed to just create something, something simple something short and to the point to show how animation can be used.  So a couple of friends from work who also wanted to work on animation formed the Animation Underground.  Our goal was to create an animation, as our own personal project, outside of work to show the benefits of animation.  We would meet during lunch, discuss script, make assignments, and it was extremely slow going, but eventually we had a solid script, a decent animatic, and even some music, testing the waters the whole time to see if any organization would want an animated piece.  After about a year of this, finally there was a need within the Mormon Channel, they wanted to fund the project.  Of course timing could not be any worse.

Mid October:
Mormon Channel: "This would be the perfect piece for a Christmas Message, can we have it Dec 1st?"
My voice: "Yes! Definitely!  We can make this happen!"
My thoughts: 6 weeks???? 2 minute animation????? are you insane!!!!!!

Apparently my voice and thought process do not collaborate much.  It was a whirlwind, but I loved every bit of it.  Once again, had an amazing team of artists that did an amazing job, and worked so smoothly together.  I couldn't be happier.   It was rather satisfying to see your work go from idea, all the way to completion.  Of course as an artist, I could pick apart my work with never ending changes, fixes, or spotted flaws, but honestly, it has been a great way to finish up this year.   

(P.S. please share the Coat story with anyone and everyone.  The more views it gets the greater the possibility that I get to do more.)

Fall Shenanigans

Here are just a few pics of some of the happenings the last few months.  Some cute faces, some temper tantrums, some odd outdoor napping behaviors, and a couple of birthdays.  Party on.