Playing With Photoshop

We got to spend some time this weekend up at the good ole Williamson cabin with some friends. I took a break from picture taking so that I could just relax and enjoy. I lied. I did take one picture of the guys doing the dishes because I was not sure the next time I would see that. We had lots of fun and wished we didn't have to come back!

So today I felt like I still needed some relaxation so I took some time to play around on photoshop and practice some things I have learned lately. I played around with this picture that I have been wanting to edit for a while now.

Here is the original picture. It's this cool tree just in the middle of nothing. I had to take the picture quickly because I was at a stop sign in my van and cars were behind me. I took it through the windshield and everything....

Here is the cleaned up photo-Photoshop is {amazing}....

and here are some of the edited versions trying some fancy things on Photoshop and I totally realize I am not expert and these are not great, but I had fun playing...

Lasik Post-op

So, I am 3 weeks & 2 days post-op and lovin' it! So why do I still have these guys on my shelf?It took a while for me to be {secure} in the fact that I didn't need them anymore!

For the first couple of weeks after surgery I was still grabbing for them off my nightstand as I got up in the morning. And when I feel like my vision is obscured or out of focus I am still grabbing at my face as if I would adjust my glasses. I could have actually survived a day without my glasses before the surgery so my vision was not that bad. Just bad enough to want the glasses. My vision is better than 20/20 , but for some reason I was expecting it to be life altering clear and magnified, but it is at the level or better than my glasses, but without them!!! It's great and well worth it!

So, overall I am good. It takes a while for your eyes to adjust and level out but they should only get better. I just put the saline drops in when I think about it, I wear make-up and now I am cleared to swim! If you want to know more of the details read on....

So, after down to the minute negotiating between 2 different places I narrowed it down to Nationwide Vision ( if you decide to go there tell them I sent you and I get $25=)). This is where my mom had it done so I was totally secure in their abilities.

So, here is my description of the actual surgery. You go in and they put some drops in your eye to open up some veins or something (?) and then you put on a cap and some booties and wait your turn! (Somewhere at the beginning if you are nervous they could give you a valum to calm you down) You go in and you lay down under the machine and then here is what happens....

1-Numbing drops in your eyes-you don't want to feel it do you?

2-Tape down your eyelashes -don't worry it does not rip them all out and after a few weeks they'll grow back.

3-They place a metal ring in your eye to hold it open-imagine those rings dentists use for cavities (hey I've been seeing dentists a lot lately so that is all I could think of) but bigger. This was a little uncomfortable at first, but once it was in place it was fine.

4-Then they put in this thing that I think resembles those little goggles you wear tanning except it's metal and there is a hole in the center-don't feel at all.

5-Then they were right when they said this was the worst part... They suction your eye through the hole in the "tanning goggles". This was generally uncomfortable especially because you cannot see anything for a moment which they assure is what is supposed to happen. I could not see anything so I think this is when they cut the cornea and peel the flap back.

6- Then they warn you that you are going to hear the laser...ddddddd and it's over.

7- They irrigate your eyes with tons of medicated liquids of some sort.

8- Put the cornea flap back in place and you can see them using this squeegee type thing to smooth it back in place.

9- Place a protective contact in that they said would be removed at your check-up the next day.

10-Take it all off and do the other eye. ( I forgot to mention that somehwere in the beginning they put a patch over the eye that they are not working on.

Seriously. painless. and soooooo quick! I would say about 5 minutes for both eyes. Take the cap and booties off and have your ride take you home, but don't forget the sunglasses (they gave me some really attractive one:-))because your eyes are pretty sensitive for the first week.

The first week requires the most attention-Come home and sleep for 3-4 hours. You have to sleep with these goggles on so that you do not rub your eyes when you sleep-Tylenol PM will help you sleep just fine with them but I was glad when I did not have to use them anymore.

Keep the eye activity non-existent for atleast 48 hours and then low for the week-computer, TV etc.-trust me your eyes will be tired if you try. Rest as much as possible.

You have lots of drops to put in your eyes-a non-medicated lubricating drop every half hour and an antibiotic drop 4 times a day as well as an antiflamitory drop 4 times a day. At my 1 week post-op appt. I had some scratches on my left cornea so I had to keep up with the antibiotic drops to avoid an infection but no big deal.

2 weeks with no make-up

3 weeks no swimming

Your eyes, muscles and brain have to adjust to the change so it takes a while, but at the one week mark they felt a lot better and closer to normal.

I don't even think about it now. I loved Nationwide because all follow-ups are included and I have a lifetime warranty in case I ever need a touch-up (which happens occasionally).

My only regret is that I waited so long!!! Atleast I should have a good 10 years before I need the reading glasses! Yay it's over and went great!!!!

2 of {My Favorite People}

Two of the people I can always count on as my friends in the ward (or anywhere) are moving!!!! And I am not happy! I am a mom (as are they) so I don't spend a lot of time being as good of a friend as I want to be or should be so they may be a little shocked/creeped out/embarrassed by this post, but oh well-that's how I roll!

In alphabetical order here they are....

Becky

*She is an awesome scrapbooker and I bet she is close to caught up (she wins pretty much every contest she enters)!

*She is my partner in crime for scrapbooking conventions, classes and sales!

*She has amazing endurance and is an awesome aerobics teacher-kicks my butt!

*She's quiet and humble and everyone knows her and probably all consider her their friend. I remember when I moved in the ward I kept hearing people say Becky Jones did this, Becky Jones did that, and I was seriously like I gotta meat this Becky person because I kept hearing about her.

*Her daughter Madysen and Macey get along great!

* I am amazed at how she handles her husband being gone all of the time wether it is his money making job-pilot or his 2nd job-hunting.

*She has 4 girls and their hair is always done in lots of braids and ponytails-nothing plain about these ponytails-So CUTE!!!!

********

She's not moving far, but it's still going to stink. I will have to make sure to stay in touch!

Mariane

(yes one "r" -it took me a while to remember that one)*I can always count on her for late night girl talks-usually in my van in front of her house.

*She keeps an incredibly clean house-all of the time!

*She is going back to school to get a nursing degree and already has a cosmetology license-more brave than I am!

*She is like a work out freak and I make fun of her for it sometimes, but really I wish I had that much discipline and she has like 0% body fat to show for it!

* We play Bunco together every month and both love the break-and she has great luck!

* I can always count on her for her funny, sad and informative email forwards!

********

She is most likely moving further, but she's got family in town

so she'll be around and we'll have to meet up when she's here!

________________________________________________

*I feel like in general we agree on most everything! Like I said EASY.

*They are not complicated at all-if I call to go do something and there is any way they can they do!!!

*I have been pregnant at the same time as both of them and we comiserated with each other.

*They both tolerate my stupid judgemental out of line comments that I am always making because I don't think before I speak-well atleast I assume so since they still talk to me=)

*They are both super easy to be friends with!!!! I don't have to plaster a smile on my face or be fake!!! And I never feel like I have to walk on eggshells with them. Like I said EASY!

*I love them both. In my life I love easy. I am going to miss their friendly faces at church and around the neighborhood! All I can say is thank goodness for FB!

Claire's Somersaults

Claire totally started doing somersaults out of nowhere. We have not even been teaching her how to do them so I thought this was hilarious. She was doing them for a while before I even started taping. I think she was loving the attention! Hopefully you can get past the dirty house in the background and her dirty diaper!

Tate's Teeth...

have been a nightmare lately, but hopefully they are good for a long time!!! ***long post. read if you want, but the whole ordeal was terrible!!!!****

It all started with Tate's {first} dentist appointement.

All went well and fine, Tate got a goodie bag and a token for a prize and we were off. He had some small cavities, but we were going to wait on them since he is so young and with the hope that with good brushing they would not grow bigger.

Well, just about a month later Tate's front tooth turned dark.

Back to the dentist we went.

He took another x-ray and compared it to the one a month before and there was evidence that it was starting to get infected and it was little loose.

He said that right around his last appointment he must have hit it, and he was shocked that I was not aware of what happened.

Tate plays outside a lot and gets banged up all of the time. I vaguely remember him coming in grabbing his mouth and crying a couple of times, but no blood and I did not see exactly how he did it so, I never concluded that it was serious.

So, we had to go back another time to take out the front tooth.

Well, since he was going to have the sedation anyways we decided to go ahead and fill the cavities. Well, this is where it all started going downhill. I was under the impression that the dentist was going to pull the front tooth out first and then get the cavities-that would make sense right. Well, the dentist decided that he would do the cavities first and after he had drilled the last cavities Tate's eyes popped open and decided that he would have no more. So, the dentist hurried and filled those.

So, we had to come back again another day and get the sedation again in order to take that front tooth out because that could not wait. The dentist also redid those other quickie fillings and then we were off and done ,or so we thought! Tate immediately started complaining that his face hurt and would grab his face on the side where they refilled the cavities. I just figured the spots where they did the shots were sore or his mouth was sore from it being open so long. Well, several days later he was still complaining about it off and on and waking up at night, but I kind of thought it was getting better.

Back into the dentist we went.

Since he was not complaining continuously he thought it might have been the bite so he did the little paper thing and sanded some more of the filling off until it looked right thinking that that would fix the problem-WRONG.

The next day or two he was still complaining about it. At night it was really bad and he was not sleeping. Friday night he kept crying and not sleeping at all so I turned on the light to get him a drink and some medicine and his face was swollen HUGE!!!! I was taken aback. And then the "mother guilt" hit me that I should have known it was something more serious especially since it was Tate complaining because he is usually so easy going and slow to complain about anything. All I could do was give him pain meds and hope it would help. Of course, I called the dentists emergency line because by golly if I was up in the middle of the night he was going to be too! He called me back in the morning and called in a prescription for the antibiotics and he was on a 3 hour rotation of Tylenol and Ibuprofen and man, he needed it every 3 hours on the dot! The next week the dentist had him back in to look at it on Wednesday and the swelling had just started to go down. He took an x-ray and of course it was infected and needed to come out. So, since the dentist was going out of town for the 4th of July weekend he was just going to pull it right then. He gave him the laughing gas and tried to numb it the best he could, but Tate was kind of fighting him and he warned me that he would feel it. I held Tate's hand while the dentist yanked his tooth out! It was horrible!!!! Tate was screaming and would not bite on the gauze so there was blood all over my shirt and we just had to get out of there so Tate could hopefully settle down.

WRONG again!

Tate screamed bloody murder straight for atleast an hour afterwards.

On the way home he just kep screaming things that he wanted, I am sure anything that he thought would make him feel better. The things he kep yelling for were a drink, blanket, ice cream cone, blue slushy from Sonic. I just don't think he could figure out what would make him feel better. So, I attempted to stop at McDonalds and after I ordered the cone and pulled up to the window they informed me that the machine was not working-WHAT?!?!?!? UGgghhhhh. I quickly drove to Burger King to get a chocolate milkshake (that was what he wanted now even though his mind kept changing every 30 seconds). I felt so bad for him and now he will probably forever be scarred and terrified of the dentist. We got home and I gave him some Ibuprofen and as soon as that started to kick in he settled down. As I was driving home I felt this anxiety and distress that I have never experienced before and my driving was definately not at a safe level, but by the grace of God we made it home safely. So now Tate is missing 2 of his teeth that should not be coming out for years. Infection is gone and so is the pain. Poor guy.

I tried to get a good picture of the swelling. He must be all doped up since he is sort of smiling in the pictures because he was miserable.

#1-I don't think I am going to change my blog header and design for a while because I think we need a little more reminding of our freedoms and how they are being threatened by our own people as we speak. WE should appreciate, realize, fight for, stand up for, etc. our freedoms 365 days a year. Not just with a BBQ and some fireworks and some swimming on the 4th of July!!!!

#2-Now I am stepping down from that soap box and realize that I am extremely behind and lacking with my posts of the recent happenings. Soon, I will update I promise. Also with an online ebay style sale to come so keep checking back!

Backus Reunion {2009}

Back at the beginning of June

(ya I've been slackin' in the blog department)

we packed up the family and headed to New Mexico for the Backus reunion for Scott's family.

Just a small delay heading into Globe.

One of the activities was a mean bean bag tournament with a full bracket poster and all. I got to the finals and of course Scott would not let my team beat his in the finals so he won. It's still funny to me because Scott loves the win and I don't really care!

Although I do relish any time I beat him which is few and far between.
We hiked the Catwalk which is hike where part of it is a metal walkway that is suspended on the side of the canyon wall with water flowing beneath you.
We visited the local fish hatchery and caught this moment of {sweetness}
( you didn't really want to see the thousands of fish did you?)

This storm was looming, but never produced rain.

Just this full rainbow!

This is "Papa" and "Nanny" Backus. The reunion was on the weekend of their anniversary and I can't remember which one it was, but I believe it was in the 50's!

{simply amazing}

We had a good time reuniting with the relatives, but after that

carsickness inducing drive we were glad to be home!