A Quote I Love

Usually on Wednesdays, I try to create a digital

print of one of my favorite quotes.  Today when I 

was thinking of & looking at quotes, I found this one.

I instantly loved it & knew I didn't need to change a thing.

From Screaming Meme

What are Photoshop Actions?

I have had many people ask me

"What are Photoshop Actions?"

Today I am going to tell you that they will

be your best friend when it comes to editing

your pictures.  Now, please remember,

I am not a professional photoshop action

user, however, I LOVE playing around 

with them & I am sure you will too.

Actions, or Plug-ins as they are sometimes

called, are basically a time saver (which we all need)

when you are editing your pictures.  Instead of editing

each picture and doing 10-20 different steps to each photo,

you click on one cute little button & watch your computer

do all the work. Then, all you need to do is play with 

the opacity and sliders to get the look you want.

You can make your pictures have a vintage look,

sepia, black & white, vibrant color, soft color-

anything your heart desires for the perfect photo.

To begin, you need to have some sort of 

photoshop software.  Either Photoshop Elements

of Adobe Photoshop work great.  And, by

the way- Photoshop Elements does 90% of what 

Photoshop does for a fraction of the price. If you are just

starting out- Photoshop Elements is the way to go. Please

read the use of each action before you purchase it or 

install it. Some are only meant for Photoshop, and not

Photoshop Elements, so read carefully!

You can go to either link to download a free trial version 

to practice with for a month. Anyway...

You will also need to know how to place the 

actions in your Photoshop program.  The best tutorial

I have found online is from Hummie's World.

Okay, so now here are some examples-

My cute little girl Morgan-

Do you notice how dark my first picture is- straight out of 

my camera?!  It really needed some help.  So I changed the 

lighting level a little bit, clicked on the Allure action from

Florabella and the computer did the rest- easy right- 2nd

picture.  Then, I decided I wanted it a little bit brighter

& warmer, & I wanted her eyes to stand out more, so I did

various different actions on top of each other to get the look

in the 3rd picture.  I love that the picture is clear, but

also gives her the soft & sweet look of my cute girl.

Now, some of my favorite actions are from Florabella and

Oh So Posh Photography's Actions, and Get Totally Rad,
 but these do cost a pretty little penny.
So, if you are just starting out, here are some great 

places to get AWESOME FREE photoshop actions

Coffee Shop Actions

so many fun ones to choose from

& you only have to download the ones 

you really want.

The Pioneer Woman

She has so much useful information

on her website!  I love her actions too.

MCP Actions

Check out these free actions & a free

texture applicator one too!  So cool!

With texture-

And, from

Photo Tuts, there are 

100 free actions- (only download

the ones you know you will use so your computer

doesn't run too slow)

and a tutorial on how to create your 

own actions in Photoshop.

I hope this helps you better understand 

what Photoshop Actions are, and makes

editing your pictures easy and fun.

A Beautiful Weekend

  This weekend was so nice as I spent it with my sweet little family.  I love the weekends!  I love having my house cleaned on Saturday.  I love working together to get things done, even after being kind of a mean Mom.  I love eating pizza and watching a movie together.  I love this time of year and exploring everything around me in the eyes of my children. And, I love being inspired by a talk from Saturday night like this.

President Uchtdorfs talk inspired me to be better.  To be more patient with myself.  To judge better between good and foolish sacrifices. To be happy now instead of waiting for a golden ticket.  To better understand the why of the gospel, and to always know that I am a daughter of a King- a Daughter of God.

Such inspiring words & words I needed to hear.

Be Your Best

Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love the

crisp cool air.  I love the sound of the 

crunchy leaves under my shoes.  I love the

smells in the air- apple & pumpkin pies, cinnamon,

nutmeg, & pumpkin.  I love the beauty of the leaves.

I think I need to go to New England in the Fall.

(picture source)

Isn't that beautiful!!!  I must add my trip

to New England onto my bucket list!

Because I love the fall so much, I wanted to create

a fall printable I could display in my home throughout

the season.  After talking to a friend yesterday,

she told me she was trying to teach her kids

values & that she decided to use this quote

as their theme for the upcoming months.  So,

I decided to use it in our home as well.

printable 8 x 10

I love the colors and can't wait to print

it & frame it in my living room.

These 6 Be's come from a talk by

former president of The Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter Day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley.

I loved President Hinckley, and in this particular

talk he spoke to the youth about being our best.

Brian & I were engaged at the time, and I 

remember the talk being so powerful.

These 6 Be's are how we can be our best!

For the full article, go HERE.

Linking up to these parties::
Whipper Berry, TaterTots&Jello

Moments That Matter Most

Lately I feel that my time is being demanded by

everyone and everything around me.

I'm not sure if it's the start of school,

and getting into the schedule of life, but 

I feel like I'm being pulled a thousand different directions.

Every day I feel like I am in a race, and yet when I go

to bed at night I don't see any medals or trophies 

honoring my accomplishments through out the day.

Many times I have had the thought that

Dory the fish says in "Finding Nemo"

"Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming"

And then today, I saw this quote

& remembered that I am not in a race.

It really is okay to slow down a little.

(from The Peas in Our Pod)

and then I love this message 

from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Today, I was reminded of what really matters most.

DIY Bedroom

A couple of months ago, I knew that our bedroom

needed a new look. Something brighter & more fresh.

I still have A LOT of work left to, but at least the bed

can be made every afternoon morning.

I started looking around for some ideas online

for my walls & art to display, and I

sidetracked with all these fun pictures.

My favorites are all of these great ideas

from Ana White

I love the farm house bed, especially the 

storage underneath.

How cool is this- I don't think Brian 

would go for it, but I love it!

I love the books underneath go HERE

I love how simple Ana White

made this bed HERE

Okay, so now that we've kind of seen what to do 

with our rooms, check out these awesome ideas

for your kids room.  

This is my favorite!  I can't wait to have Brian

build it for Jackson's room. His room is so

small and this will free up a lot of space!

Go HERE to create it!

And, this one Hallie would love

also by Ana White

My kids would go crazy with this bunk bed-

So CUTE!  Go HERE

Wouldn't your teen love this one-

Check it out HERE

So, now that we have all these great bedroom 

ideas we can get started right!

Just one problem- we all need some moola, dinero, cash

-whatever you want to call money.

So start saving your pennies & make the 

perfect room in your style.
Until then, I think we can all dream
of sleeping in a bed like this. :)

or this-
with lots of pillows and peace.

Hey, a girl can dream right?  

Healthy Living:: A change in lifestyle

I am not a health nut-

I LOVE sugar in anything & everything!

But... I want to be healthy & I want

my family to be healthy too.

(picture source)

Brian & I were talking about it last

night & decided that our family eats way

too much sugar.  How do we change that?

We decided it comes with a change of

lifestyle.  I am not going to take out

sugar completely, but just not offer it 

or have it available as much.

So, as I was looking online and reading blogs,

I found these great & helpful tricks and

some salads that look wonderful to use

with all the farmers produce that's available now.

First up...

Hearty Caprese Salad

found HERE from Shawni- her entire post is great!

I love how this salad looks!

(link)

and this one look so easy, especially for 

the busy school time schedule.

Israeli Salad HERE

 I always love the recipes here

at Our Best Bites.  This one is my

favorite- my Mom made it on the 4th of July.

Summer Salad with Strawberries & Feta

So hopefully with these yummy

salads and recipes we can start

the change to our healthy lifestyle.

Free Digital Scrapbook Fall Page

Hello Friends- it has been a long week.  Remember how I posted

about balance... yeah, still trying to figure that one out!  :)

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you something that 

I LOVE... digital scrapbooking!

I will always love scrapbooking with paper, but,  there is so much you

can do with digital scrapbooking.  Here are some of my favorite things::

1.  No glue, tape, glue dots, etc

2.  I don't have to store supplies anywhere except for files on

my computer.

3.  When I make a mistake I hit the "Undo" button which happens

a lot!  However, the "Undo" button does not work in real life. One

day I was helping clean Jackson's room and I put something in the 

wrong spot. Immediately my mind thought "Undo" but there was 

no undo button.  Yeah- I use it a little too much! 

4.  So many options of pages, ideas, papers, elements, etc...

that can be used over and over again. So, if I have a favorite 

paper or embellishment I can use it as much as I want to

and my favorite part

5.  I LOVE digital photo books.  I have tried 5 different

photobook companies and I have to honestly say that

BLURB is my absolute favorite!  They give you the best

quality for the best price and with the most pages.

Now, as for digital scrapbooking programs-

Which one should you get?

(and these are completely my own opinions)

If you are wanting to design- I would start with 

Photoshop Elements. It will do 90% of what Photoshop does,

but only costs around $100 compared to Photoshop which is around $600.

It does have a bit of a learning curve, but is so much fun to use

& perfect for design and scrapbooking.

You can also find some great tutorials 

HERE

If you are wanting a program that is VERY user friendly

for digital scrapbooking and a great price too,

Your best choice would be Memory Mixer.

They seriously are wonderful!!!!

I have tried 3 different software programs,

and I have to say my absolute favorite is 

Memory Mixer!  You can do so much

with their program, it's only around $40

and you can use the files over and over again.

Another great part about Memory Mixer is you

can use your digital scrapbook pages to

make a slide show movie- a great feature &

a great gift for your family or friends.

So, to get you started today, here 

is your very first free digital scrapbook 

layout for Fall. This is in a png. format,

which means you can add your own pictures

to it and print wherever you would like.

Have fun & let the creativity begin!




(Linked up to these parties and the parties
at the bottom of this site!)


Tatertots and Jello

A Little More Realistic!

I was thinking about making one of these for my house

to display on my fridge as a constant reminder

to be calm, especially in moments of stress.

(pinterest)

And then, I saw this - it made me smile

and I thought it was a little more realistic.

from pinterest- I'm not sure who the clever

mind behind it was. :)

Either way, I need one of these in my house!

By the way, from my post yesterday- Jillian

is kicking my butt bum!!! I am so sore!

That means it's working right!?!?!!?

Finding Balance

Friday night on our smokin' hot dinner date-

(which only took us 2 hours to get to because of traffic)

We had the best waiter- someone who reminded us of Elvis.

Brian was waiting at any minute for our friendly

waiter to break out in song, which unfortunately he didn't. :(

However he was very "cool" and entertaining.

Anyway, as I watched him and thought about it this weekend,

I thought about how sometimes it's so hard to balance.

Our waiter had a plate or a pitcher in each hand at

all times.  He went from table to table serving people,

yet still didn't quite make it on time to fill up the thristy

camel Brian always takes on his dates- aka Me.

Still, he did his best & made it fun for all of us 

in the process.

I feel like my life is like this.  I try to carry

different plates & pitcher (my kids

& husband) around at all times, &

for the most part I do pretty well about balancing

& being there when they need me.

And then, there are the times when I feel

like I am trying to find balance with all the 

additional bowls & pans & cookie sheets that

need to be taken care of as well.

How do we do it?

I asked one of my brother-in-laws the other day 

how he finds balance in his life and he said,

"I make sure I exercise before I do anything else."

Blah!  Exercise!  Uh-huh yeah, that's not something

I really want to balance in my life right now, yet

I know I need to because I know how good I feel

when I do exercise & it gives me energy for the 

rest of my day & I feel better about myself.

My two friends Marnie & Jillian wait for me

EVERY day, and EVERY day I ignore them.

(both from google images)

Why do I ignore them-

because they make me work... hard!

Today we became friends again & 

guess what- I am sore, but I feel great!

So, as I begin to find more balance in my life,

I hope Marnie & Jillian will help me have energy,

shed some pounds, & feel better about myself.

These are my two favorite

20 minute workout videos.

and doesn't this look good!

I think if I knew I had one of these

babies waiting for me everyday after

my 20 minute work out  I would have

no problem.  :)

10 Years & A Mustache Printable

Ten years ago today my life changed forever.  I know that 

many people do not remember the exact day they met their 

one true love, but we do...

This is our story-

I was 19- young I know. I had a lot of friends, but had 

just moved to a new place & I was alone.

I have never felt so alone in my life, and one night,

September 7, 2001

I prayed with all my young heart, that I could find a friend

Not just any friend-

a best friend.

Brian was a 21 year old returned missionary.  He had come home

6 months earlier from serving a mission in Mexico.  He had

plans to go south to college & last minute, plans fell through.

He was alone & didn't know where life was going to take him.

On September 8, 2001 in a tender prayer,

he prayed that he could find his wife- me.

September 9th my friend called and told me he was setting

me up on a blind date with his friend Jake 

I changed the name just in case Jake reads this :) 

I did NOT want to go on a blind date, but my friend

Paul was persistent and didn't give me much choice.

I climbed into the car and noticed that Paul & Jake

were there, as well as a guy sitting right behind me.

I figured my chances must be pretty good to have

3 guys to myself for the night. :)

However, I was not attracted to my date at all!

What a shame, and my thoughts were that this was going

to be a loooong night!

Just then, the guy in the back said something to make 

me laugh.  I turned around and saw this cute face.

He will hate love that I put this picture on here. :)

Now the date was getting interesting.

We drove to Salt Lake City to a meeting for all the 

young adults 18-30 in the area.  The President & Prophet

at the time Gordon B. Hinckley was speaking to us.

It was a beautiful night.  Paul could tell that my 

interests were not in the date he had brought for me, 

but rather in the random stranger he himself had 

just met that day.  We hit it off instantly.

It's interesting how one moment changes our lives forever.

I will be forever grateful to a Father in Heaven who

heard our silent prayers for each other & allowed

our paths to connect with one another.

Ten years goes by fast, even when you feel like

you have known someone forever.

The best part of the last ten years is

that we are still in love.

Brian is my strength through the happy

times, as well as the tough.

He has been my best friend for the last

10 years & will be forever.

I love that together we get to raise these

sweet, funny, beautiful children & 

be with them forever.

(I love this picture - it shows how life really is

messy hair, kids not looking at the camera, mismatched

clothes & our sweet family & life.)

We have had a great ride the last 10 years,

and I look forward to what the next 10 will bring.

I could go on & on about the last 10 years,

but what I really need to say is this...

Printable 8 x 10

(This adorable font was created by Natalie 

at www.doodlecraft.blogspot.com  So cute!

Thanks Natalie!

You can download the Pea Sugar Noodle font

at www.kevinandamanda.com)

Ha ha ha... I love it!  :)

We are off to Salt Lake to celebrate &

Grandpa & Grandma are watching the kids.

Have a great weekend!

Linked to Tatertots and Jello