Miscellaneous Things

Chad recently informed me that my blog title should be changed from Boyds Will Be Boyds to Holly's Pictures, since I haven't had too much to say about Team Boyd recently.  So here are some miscellaneous things about the Boyd family.

I absolutely LOVED the snow storm of a few weeks ago.  Hopefully a blog post is forthcoming...we'll see if I actually make it happen.  Now that I really care about my pictures so much, I don't want to toss any old thing up on my blog.  It has to look pretty.  Which means I have to go through all my photos from the week and edit the ones I like.  It could take awhile.  By the time I get around to finishing that, the snow-storm-story-of-my-life may not be worth documenting anymore.  I WILL say that it was soooo nice to be forced to slow down during the great arctic blast of 2012.  We are so busy right now, it was wonderful to get to stay in our jammies, play games, build snowmen, drink hot chocolate, and just enjoy the slow and easy days at home.  (Caveat: when the power went out for a few days, my good feelings about the snow storm were gone.)

My four year old told me yesterday that I have many wrinkles.  I contemplated not feeding him for the rest of the day.

My puppy is really in love with my Pillow Pet.  Yes, I, a full grown woman, have a Pillow Pet.  Don't judge.  It is the perfect book prop for reading in bed.  But now that my pug has violated it in so many unnatural and unwholesome ways, it's not as appealing for me to snuggle with.  Why must he does this?  Why?  Dirty dog.

Chad and I are now teaching Sunday School to the first and second graders at our church.  We had 21 kids last week.  Most of them were boys.  It was loud, very loud.  I loved it though.  Chad is so good with the kids, it just kinda melts my little heart.

Cole was awarded the Honorable Hawk for the month of January for EFFORT!  I am so proud of him for this.  The beginning of the school year got off to a rocky start for my Cole (another reason I was MIA from blogsville...just not motivated with all the trauma drama going on), which was a real shock for all of us since he's always done so well.  But he's managed to turn things around and all his hard work has paid off as evidenced by this achievement.  He's been wanting a mini Pillow Pet to keep Shell Shocker company while he's away at school, so I surprised him with a little congratulatory goody bag when he got home today, complete with a new Tornado Bey Blade (essential for any 8 year old that is serious about Blading), a pack of gum, and a mini Shell Shocker, which he has aptly named Pip Squeak.

I've been following a blog for a while now that I found through the P52 challenge.  I love the writer and her posts.   She calls her husband Dream Boy after 30+ years of marriage...I LOVE THAT!  Today she wrote a post to me!  I asked her to share what she's reading sometime with her followers, and BAM!  She got right back to me, little old me, with an entire blog post.  I felt kinda special.  It truly made my day.

The boys have decided that they enjoy watching movies in Spanish.  I don't know why because they don't understand it, but it's their new thing.

Chase had his first basketball game on Saturday.  He was very shy, but he DID go out on the court a few times.  He didn't really play, but he wasn't crying or trying to hide, so I consider it a SUCCESS!   Cole's become quite a little gamer, so I have hope for Chase to grow into it too.

Everybody loves our new dog more than words can even say.  That cute little nugget has really just brought so much happiness to our home.

Literally, and this is a true story, while I was just typing about how wonderful my puppy is, Chase's sweet voice just called up to me, "Mom, you better come down.  I just stepped in dog poop."  Seriously.  That really just happened.

And I think that's just about the best and most accurate way to wrap this thing up.  Boyds will be Boyds...pug included!

Tutorial Tuesday

Ashley Sisk started a new photo challenge called Tutorial Tuesday, where each week a tutorial is shared for either a camera process, or a photo editing process.  This week she taught us how to make a light box.  Thank you, Chad, for helping me make it.  (And when I say "helping me make it", I actually mean he made it for me.)

The idea is to take a picture with a completely white background.  I had so much fun taking pictures of a variety of subjects, but in the end, this is my favorite...mostly because it displays something very important to every person in my house...Angry Birds.

How great is it when people share their knowledge and skills.  I LOVE IT!  Thank you, Ashley Sisk!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

smile

stand alone

rusty 

(I had a hard time with this one!)

artificial

repeating pattern

Join the Scavenger Hunt fun HERE.

P52: rest

I love these boys.

P52: community

Winner! Winner!

Guess who feels like a winner?  That's right...it's me!

Every year my handsome hubby's work holds a photo contest.  This year over 350 photos were submitted and just 30 were chosen to be blown up and hung on the walls of Intel for all of time.  I reluctantly gave Chad my pictures to enter (he really had to force me into it because after looking at some of the other submissions, I felt it was quite pointless).  When my picture made it through the first round to the top 80, I felt like a champion.  I really didn't think it would go further than that.  But...drum roll, please...it made it all the way!  I can't believe it!  Toot toot!  That's my horn.  (Sure, it's not cool to toot one's own horn, but I'm doing it anyway because I'm so excited!)  What did I win, you might ask?  Fame?  Fortune?  No, no.  Nothing like that.  Just the affirmation that I took a cool picture.  AND Chad will think about me every time he goes into work when he walks past my giant picture.  As if he doesn't do that already, right?

Here is my winning photo!

Thank you, Chad, for encouraging me in my photography endeavors.  You are wonderful, supportive, handsome ta-boot, and I love you!

Scavenger Hunt - Snow Storm Edition

This week was a super atypical one in that we had a huge snow storm the likes of which my fair city has never seen.  Everything was shut down!  Schools were canceled for the entire week, businesses were closed (even Urgent Care, we discovered as we traipsed there twice for two sick boys).  No phones, cable, power, internet, etc, and several areas are still without. So it was a challenging and fun week to try and capture all the prompts.  Here it goes...scavenger hunt, snow storm style.

sunset

(This picture was actually taken in the morning, but it was the only little peek of sun that I saw all week.)

  

black and white

a day in my life

(Three of my favorite people to spend a day in my life with. 

 I know that technically my dog is not a person, but to me he really sort of is)

four

(We took a trip up to the mountains for some sledding, and saw this amazing sight!  The picture isn't awesome, but I was standing super close to them whilst shaking in my boots that they might tackle me.)

colorful

Join the scavenger hunt fun HERE!

Snow Day

P52: shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it...

P52: new

The newest addition to Teamboyd.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I decided to try my little photographic hand at Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunt Sunday.  Each week she provides five topics to be captured in photos and shared at her blog on Sunday.  I've been following this photo challenge for a while now, but was a little too intimidated to throw myself into the mix with all the amazing pictures people share.  I mean, seriously amazing pictures.  But then my very wise husband said, "You'll never get better if you don't jump in."  So here it goes.  My interpretation of Ashley's prompts this week:

Stacked Up:

Winter Wonderland:

Sweet:

Hole:

Frozen:

Next week's topics are:

sunset

black and white

a day in my life

four

colorful

Okay, I'm about to post this entry over at Ashley's website.  I'm nervous.  Here's to jumping in!

Ten on Ten: January

I have two things to say about today:
1.  We had lots of running around to do, so I took my camera with me to document all our bee-bopping around town for 10 on 10 purposes.  It was much harder than I thought it would be.  I did manage to get a picture at the grocery store.  Riveting.
2.  I have a new dog.  I am not a dog person in any way, but I love my new dog.  Technically, he's not mine.  Santa brought him to the boys for Christmas.  But in my heart, he is mine.  He will probably make several appearances in my 10 on 10 posts from now on.  Because he is cute.  And I love him.

The view from my bedroom window this morning.

The view from my living room this morning.  Happiest boy in the world.

A picture of me with my doggy.  Because I have one.  Who, me?  Yes, me.  (Isn't he so cute!)

The grocery store picture.  I told you it was riveting.

Star of the Week!

Lunch time.

Angry bird.  Happy puppy.

Greenery in the dead of winter.

Chase's new favorite spot in the house.

Play time.

Join the Ten on Ten fun HERE.