Thinking Pink...& Angie & Amy Favorite

I'm thankful for the I heart faces challenge this week. Number one- it's fun to be a "Angie & Amy pick", but more importantly, it's made me "think pink" this week. Fitting that this morning my sister Shannon called me to tell me about a friend of ours that was diagnosed with breast cancer. This woman's name is Shannon Sevison. I didn't know her as well as my sister Shannon (I know, a lot of Shannon's in this post), but I didn't have to to love her.
 The scriptures talk about taking care of the widows...in my eyes, a single mom is today's equivalent to the widows. So anytime someone took care of my sister Shannon and my little nephew Preston, I loved and respected them. This woman Shannon served my sister Shannon ALL THE TIME! In fact, this woman would always invite my sister to join city league basketball teams with her (something my sister loved!) and when Shannon didn't have the money for it, she paid for her!  I don't know many woman personally that have dealt with breast cancer (Shannon makes two) but those that I do know are so brave.  I admire them and hope that I can be more like them.  Thank you for your examples.    

Camera bag

Have you heard of the Ephiphanie bags?  My friend Lacy and me have been drooling over them!  She loves the red lola and I love the teal clover.  In fact, she keeps me updated on any giveaways/contests that are going on with the ephipanie bags.  Why would we keep tabs like this?  Have you also seen the price of the ephipanie bags?  I guess if I had a product so cool, I'd charge a lot too.  Being that I just bought a new lens, my dream for a cute camera bag must wait...or does it??

I got this crazy idea that maybe I could make my own cute camera bag.  I found this bag at walmart for $12 (sorry, this is a cell phone picture)

And after 2 broken needles, seam ripping galore, foam tearing, and cotton stuffing...viola!

another after shot...

 another angle (contents- 1 camera with lens attached, 70-200mm lens, a fisheye attachment & cell phone, and room for one more lens) :)...

and on my shoulder (don't ask about my hair...at least it's not in a ponytail)...

and an after shot of my living room (the glue, foam, and ripped apart bag are my mess...the clothes i blame on the baby)...

oh, and the brunt of the work done here (this also became a sanctuary for any object that my son attempted to eat while i was hard at work.  did i mention that my son unknowingly snuck in a bite of velcro with his breakfast.  i wondered why he was gagging.  i didn't find the velcro til he spit it out in the bath) :)

Sometimes I ask myself, why do I even try.  Maybe the $150 for the bag is worth it :)  Well, gotta go clean up!

I Heart Faces- Breast Cancer Awareness pink photo

Pink. Kind of tough to do with a boy. I thought, maybe give him some yoplait yogurt (I always buy the pink top ones...I try to support)...then a friend suggested lollipops or cotton candy. No such luck. (They're all halloween colors right now). Instead, I came home with a grocery sack full of pink lemonade, pink bendy straws and pink licorice. Didn't anticipate those obstacles either. All I got was a pink, slimy, yet sticky boy (which collected all sorts of lint during our camera time). So, I default to this picture...(hint-the toenails- my other small way of supporting this month.)  Click on the link and check it out!  So many great entries and so many people showing their support for breast cancer awareness.

Update:  I was an Angie & Amy pick!!  Click here or here too see more!

More family pictures...

 k, I know you've probably seen enough family pictures of us.  But these ones turned out better...and I didn't anticipate getting family pictures done again (my husband said I could champion his mom with all this family picture taking and wardrobe changing I make him do).  We met up with some friends and I took their pictures and then I handed my camera over to my friend Marissa, and she took ours.  Didn't she do great!  Beats a self timer any day!

                      

More orchard pics...

I had a hard time deciding on which picture to use for this week's photo challenge, but finally decided on the one Chad thought I should use.  Here's a few others that I took in the orchard.

i heart faces week 42 In The Orchard

This week's challenge is "In the Orchard". I'm still new enough to Missouri that I had NO idea where an orchard was. I considered making due with my dad's pear tree, but changed my mind when my sister informed me it was growing out of some sort of sewage area and it was a "Charlie Brown" type of pear tree. Yuck! (I swear my dad has rose colored glasses when it comes to his farm!) I finally found this orchard though. I think the people thought I was strange when I arrived toting baby, camera and props in hand and informed them I wanted to take pictures in the orchard. But they were nice. And I got some yummy apples and jellys there too. Glad I found my orchard :)

I'm shocked!!

I won this week's photography challenge on I Heart Faces!  I'm honestly stunned.  There were so many good entries and I never win anything!!  Thank you judges for choosing me and thank you i heart faces for stretching me with photography!

Here's what the judges had to say about my photo-

As food bloggers, this photo caught our eye immediately.  It’s beautiful! The lighting is superb and we loved how the fresh green shade of the asparagus pops in the otherwise neutral colored photo.  The shot is focused as to draw the eye to the delicate details of the steak, asparagus and right up to the mushroom.  The styling of the plate is also fantastic.  One key to good food styling is to make it look like it wasn’t styled!  We loved how natural and rustic the dish looked while at the same time being very sophisticated.  The added bonus is that it all looks delicious! – Sara & Kate

where's the beef?

This week's I heart faces challenge is "I heart beef".  I ventured out of my comfort zone and made steak for the first time in my life!  I know, I know, about time.  (I'm more of a hamburger type of girl).  Although anything beef besides roast and ground beef intimidates me, this ended up being a lot simpler than I thought (and tastier)!  The harder part...plating and photographing the food so it looked good (not an easy task on my cheap Corelle dishes).

Update: I won this challenge! To see the judges response &/or mine, click here or here.

St. Louis trip

This weekend we went to St. Louis to go to the temple. So beautiful!  I walked the grounds with Liam and my camera while Chad was inside with the youth.  Then we swapped and I got my turn in the temple.  I am so grateful for the temple and the spirit that can be felt there and how my testimony and love of Jesus Christ grows with each time spent there.

We also made a stop at the St. Louis arch.  (After the temple and the arch, I'm convinced I now need a wide angle lense).

My husband defacing a national monument...jk ;)  but we did take a ton of pictures there.  Such a cool backdrop!

And a little love from our family to you...aahh... :)

We've moved...

It's about time I got a blog in my married name so...Please visit us at our new location. Thx! mngmnt

www.theguerrafam.blogspot.com

I LOVE FALL!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again- fall is my favorite season. The colors in the park are so beautiful and so Liam and me had to stop by one day on our morning walk to take pictures.

Family Pictures

Family pictures...finally. I'm always taking other families pictures or pictures of Liam and my husband, but never family pictures. So, this last Sunday after general conference, Chad and me ventured out to the park, camera and tripod in hand. I'm sure I got a mile's worth of mileage in for all the times I had to run back in forth from the blinking camera to my spot in the picture (I'm NOT photogenic so we have to take a million pictures to get one that's halfway decent of me). But all in all, it was fun to get out of the house and takes some pictures and just be in such beautiful surroundings. This could possibly be a new general conference tradition for us...family permitting :)  Here's a few of our pictures.

Black Walnut Festival

The events of the day included:

A 10K race (4th overall, 3rd in my age group).  You won't be seeing an after picture (the before race picture of me is bad enough).

Baby contest (2nd place).

Checking out all the booths...stopping for a picture at the entrance.

Watch a parade (Lynnae waving from her fancy car).

And that night we went to a pagent...but it rained so I left my camera in the car.