Play Date.

Yesterday I had lunch with a few friends who are all in our Connection Group. It was our first play date! Check out the cute babies in our Group (pictured here) and Ella (pictured on her blog). We have been so blessed by these new friends at church and really love hanging out with them.

At our "date", Grace was the only girl - man, does she have the pick of the boys!

Grace Haugland, Ryan Putney, Michael Sage, & Alex

Ahoy Mateys.

Some of you may be wondering what ever happened to the Pirate Mama role I was playing after Alex was born. (You may remember that I was stricken with Bell's Palsy two days after I delivered Alex.) Unfortunately the Bell's is still hanging around. Hence the reason I have not posted tons of pictures of myself on the blog. Smiling with half your face is kinda weird! I am happy to report, though, that it seems to be improving. Several people in the last week have commented that they see real improvement. I'm encouraged.

It's not exactly a treasure map with tons of gold at the end, but it is a relief from the "poop deck" of postpartum recovery issues. I'm hoping to give up my Pirate status soon.

I guess I could look on the bright side - at least I'm not dealing with a hook for a hand!

Smiling Alex - I finally caught him on camera!

Outdoor Assignment.

My second Photography class assignment was to shoot 100 photos outside. I chose to do all the shots in my neighborhood...Partly because it's got lots of cool historic charm and partly because I was pushing around a sleeping baby. I wasn't sure how far Alex was willing to go to get good photos, so we stayed fairly close to home. He turned out to be a very cooperative assistant.

Dear Year 31...

Year 31, you've been good to me. You've given me the man of my dreams as a husband, a remote island vacation, a state-to-state moving experience, a beautiful new baby boy and countless other memories. It's been good...but I must inform you that it's time to move on. I'm moving on to bigger, better years. Year 32 is next and then 33, 34, 35...you get the idea. Don't take it personally. It's not you, it's me. I hope we can still be friends, though, and I'll think of you every time I look at photos and my blog journal. You've been a good year to me.

32 has a lot to live up to!

Your friend always,
Nicole

The first assignment...

Here are a few shots from my first Photography class assignment. I'm already addicted to Photoshop. When I came home from school today, I announced to Jason that when I finish class we will need a new iMac with a massive screen and Photoshop. Oh how he loves when I come home and request expensive new things! I tried to convince him that this is an expensive new thing we will both enjoy. Actually, I reasoned, it is part of what I should have as a tool to successfully accomplish my Domestic Managerial duties. Not sure if he's buyin' it yet...but a girl can dream, can't she?!