Finals are done!

Now that finals are done, I feel like I have some time to breath! This semester was a tough one for me but I'm glad I stuck it out. Here's my final portfolio for my photography class, one of my favorite classes. I chose to do light painting photography (aka using lights like flashlights to draw out your photo). Anyways, I had never done it before and wanted to try it out for myself. Thanks to all my helpers, I couldn't have done it without your help. It just seemed like a waste to put so much effort into this project and have no one see it, so take a look and enjoy!

Also, a little about the project. Each picture correlates to a saying about the home.

My whole theme surrounded the home and my photos are my interpretation of those sayings.

I live in my house as I live in my skin: I know more beautiful, more ample, more sturdy and more picturesque skins but it would seem unnatural to exchange them for mine.

Primo Levi
If I were asked to name the chief benefit of a house, I should say: The house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.
Gaston Bachelard

Home is where you truly believe

They are the happiest, be the king or peasant, who find peace in their hands.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts to build a home.

Home is where we love- home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Home is where we are free to create who we are.

Give a Little...

Now that our family is back into our own place again, it's been fun celebrating the holidays together and finding new traditions. This year we got to help Santa out by giving a toy that would go to another child.

Justin's Aunt Sherri told us that in her neighborhood the kids get to bring a gift for another child and tell Santa what they gave. If I remember right, they've been doing this for about 4 years. It's all in a garage, there are tables for presents, refreshments and of course Santa is there too!

Santa passed out candy canes to all the children. Marie was the first in our group to talk to Santa. I was hoping that if she did then Ikaika wouldn't be so leery of him.

Marie and Sherri. Santa was calling a bunch of kids by name and i think they were so stunned that Santa actually knew them. It was funny seeing all the kids reactions

Ikaika and Daddy. This is what i get when i say smile! ha ha

I was proud of Ikaika he jumped right into his wish list, which consisted of the toys he saw other kids bring in. ha ha. and he did tell Santa what he brought. He took Justin up with him as well, didn't want to do it without his daddy, his hero!

I Love this kid so soooooo much.

Sydney was so cute with Santa. If she was scared of Santa, i didn't see it. She just smiled and answered all his questions.

Jordan was probably the warmest one there, it was pretty cold in that garage.

Conner wasn't feelin it but he did let me take a picture of him :)

All the yummy desserts, but i think the hot chocolate was the best!

I think this will be a fun family tradition for us and someday Ikaika will understand what it's all about.

Cutting Coupons...

The Davidson's are now a coupon cutting family. Yes we have used them before but not often. In an effort to be more thrifty and better with our buck we decided to use coupons more often.

One of my professors at the community college loves to use coupons, in fact she has a binder set aside for just her coupons and such, which she did bring to class. On average she saves half on her total bill. After hearing that I wondered "why the heck haven't i been doing that?" Well now I am and so is Justin.

We saved ourselves maybe $15 off our last grocery store visit. I don't know about the whole binder thing, actually i already started putting one together. haha

Here's to being Thrifty!!!

Can't believe my baby is 4!!!!

Talk about time flying, can't believe Ikaika is 4 already!! Since Ikaika loved his Spiderman costume so sooooo much for Halloween, we decided on a superhero party theme!

First we made super hero masks! They turned out great although tying them was more tricky then i thought it would be, but the kids had a blast!

Next we played pin the spider on spiderman and being the procrastinator I drew that spiderman the morning of. not too shabby if i say so myself :)

Third came the spider walk aka cake walk. I wasn't too sure how this game would work out and eventually we just let the kids pick out whatever prize they wanted. Hint: make all the prizes the same! luckily most the kids didn't notice and those that did, got what they wanted

Then there were cupcakes! red and blue, don't let the pink fool you! lol also we made the mistake of using regular sugar....duh! But sugar is sugar, the kids ate them. I even found one where just the frosting was missing....IKAIKA! ha ha ha

Finally Presents! You could not believe how fast Justin was attacked by the horde of pizza and sugar filled children, when he brought out the presents. Plus their little hands had sugar and cupcake all over them! lol, the back of Justin's shirt was covered with sugar and crumbs!

Ikaika and his best buddy Lucas playing with their balloons!
Ikaika's party was a lot of fun! I'm so glad we decided to let him have a little party with his friends!


Now for the After Party!!!

We had a little get together with grandparents and aunts and uncles later that day, plus ikaika's friend Riley and her family minus her dad.

I'm not quite sure why but Ikaika decided that opening his presents with his mouth was the better choice. ??? I don't get it

After a long and fun filled day, this is what Ikaika slept on! You may think it uncomfortable but he had the biggest grin on his face. He was in heaven!!

Happy Birthday Son!!!

What I am is.......

Need a little boost for the day? You should listen to this cute song.

It just makes me smile and think how much I am grateful for the beautiful creation that is me! I hope it makes you feel the same way too! :)

Sesame Street: Will.i.am's Song" What I Am"

t

dancing to the music

Every now and then i need a good tune that just makes me smile! or at least gets my foot tapping :)

Eric Hutchinson- "Rock & Roll"

Happy Halloween

I Love Halloween

We had lots and lots to do this year. Since I missed last years Halloween carnival at SLCC, i had to make sure Ikaika got to this time!

As soon as we got there I asked Ikaika if i could take his picture next to this pumpkin. He promptly said yes, and as I took the picture told me to hurry because....well as you can see the urgency in his face, a bathroom break was needed!

Next we made our way over to pin the nose on the witch. Ikaika didn't really understand this one. After the girl put Ikaika's blindfold on, she then directed Ikaika to pin the nose on the witch. He simply replied with " but I can't see." I tried to explain that for this activity that was the point. So he walked as far as he dared blindly then lifted up his blindfold to put the witch's nose where it belonged. :)

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins or in our case pumpkin at Justin's aunt Sherri's house this year. It was a lot of fun! I'm sad to say i forgot my camera at home so I wasn't able to take pictures of everyones pumpkins but i did get a shot of Justin's hard work afterwards. He'll blame me for picking the difficult pattern but it was really him. (since he probably wont read this I'm sure he wont mind me saying that. lol)

Puss n' Boots

Trick Or Treat, Smell my Feet, Give me Something Good to EAt!!!

Skip the smell my feet part and let's go straight to something good to eat! Ikaika and I got to do something new this year, decorate Halloween cookies! Thank you Mandie, Jenny and Sherri!

Below you can see some of Maire's lovely handiwork.

Ikaika and Conner who ate as many cookies as they decorated :)

Jordan in her way too cute Halloween outfit.

Sydney and Chase were big helpers!

Halloween Parties

Of course there are always parties around the holidays. Some neighbors in the ward put together one for the kids. It's been great in our new place and our neighbors are wonderful! Ikaika loves his new friends too! Here Ikaika and I are putting together his candy necklace. He chose the colors and i put them on the string.
All the boys, we had lots of superhero's!

Witch's Night

Witches Night, I think is becoming a tradition. Justin's aunt introduced me and I really enjoy going. In fact I don't know if I had even been to Gardner's Village before then. All these ladies dress up as witches and go shopping, eat and dance. Can there be any more fun in one place?

Sydney, Marie and Alivia, watching the witches go round

This is our group picture. Justin's aunt Sammy definitely had the coolest costume, kids were pointing her out all night. I told her next year she should start charging for pictures! :)

I love October, it's such a fun month! We had a wonderful Halloween and I hope you had a fantastic one as well!!

I Love to see the Temple...

For one of our date nights Justin and I , decided to go down town. I have a new camera and a photography class that i love, so we thought it would be a fun way to practice some picture taking and have a good time.
I love my sexy hubby :)

I love being at the temple and even just walking around it. It is always so peaceful and beautiful. Remembering the day my family was sealed together for eternity was such a special day. It always makes me smile :)

One Lucky Mom

It's little moments like these, where he just makes my heart melt. Where would I be without the little hand prints all over my mirrors, the constant "mommy, mommy mommy!", the need to carry around a second bag for the "just in case, you never know what could happen" scenarios, the "I can repeat everything i hear" and finally where would i be without that little boys smile! :)

Life as mommy is one of my greatest blessings in life

What a stud!!