DisneyLand

On Monday we are going to be at Disneyland. WoHoo! I can hear the jealous comments now. It's going to be awesome!

In order to get Audrey excited about Disneyland, Patrick was looking for home movies that other people have posted on youtube and Vimeo. In his search he came across these awesome videos.

This is what Jeff Allen, the poster, says about the videos.

Shot by my grandfather on his Bell & Howell Filmo using 16mm Kodachrome film stock. This footage was taken a year after the California theme park opened.

It was quite a surprise going through this and seeing my grandmother meeting Walt Disney himself! I've been doing my best to find out what they were shooting at the front of the park. So far I've been unsuccessful.

Transferred to HD (1080PsF 23.98) myself off a Spirit and Color Corrected using a da Vinci 2k Plus. Slowed to 18fps to match the original film speed.

Home Movies At DisneyLand - 1956 from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.

Home Movies At DisneyLand - 1956 **Part Two** from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.

Seriously, how cool is it that they actually met Walt Disney outside the gates of the park.

I Love It!

another slew of posts

Sorry about this. But I figure I should share with you one of the projects that made my life a living $%^& on Monday.

The project was a storytelling assignment. We had to take a series of photos (between 3 and 5 to be exact) that would tell a story.

I really had a hard time thinking of a good story. I thought it would be fun to do a real story and get some costumes and get someone who would be willing to be my model. I knew that I couldn't pull something like that off.

My first idea was to do "The Life of a Balloon." It was going to follow the life of a pink balloon from birth (purchasing it) to death (shriveled, forgotten on the floor). I thought it would be awesome. But realized it might be too much effort since I would have to take a picture of it at a birthday party and kids (note the plural) playing with them. And it was cold outside and I didn't want to leave home.

So I ended up coming up with this....

A Mundane Morning

Date and time totally photoshoped.

Take note of the dates and times in all the images.

Yes, I took them all at work. But my teacher doesn't need to know that.

I figured forgetting your wedding day was a little far fetched, but we have all gotten up and gone about our morning forgetting that we had to do something important. Then once we realized it, we rush off to our forgotten task and hope that no one noticed. I've done it loads of times.

With this Post...

..I have exceeded the amount of posts I created in 2008. Ha Ha

I figure I should commemorate this moment with an awesome comic that Patrick found.

It is titled

Natural Parenting

to see more awesome stick figure comics visit http://xkcd.com/.

you all know my thoughts about being a mom and this adventure called parenting...I love it....but man is it hard.

For Instance....

Last night Audrey woke up from what I imagine was a night mare. It must have been a pretty bad one since I couldn't calm her down. She didn't want comfort but at the same time she did. I held out my arms for her to cuddle up with me and she would willingly accept the cuddle but once she was in my embrace she would struggle to get out, So I would let her go but then she wanted to be held again. This happened about 5 times. Poor thing didn't know what she wanted. And neither did I. She wouldn't stop screaming....not crying, mind you. It was full fledged "I hate what is going on" screaming. I kept asking her to tell me what happened but that would throw her into a bigger tantrum. The screaming caused her to start to gag so I ran her into the kitchen. I would rather have the puke on the tile then on the carpet. Once she threw up, I knew it was bound to happen, she started in hysterics again and kicked the puke bucket, I had provided over. Mom intuition...you got to love it.

After about 10 minutes or more she finally calmed down. For a while there it was a little scary.

At one point, of this horrific tantrum, I just let her roll on the ground kicking and screaming. At this moment Patrick thought it would be an awesome idea to taunt the little thing. So he would nudge her with his foot every few seconds causing her to scream louder and kick harder. It wasn't helping. But it was pretty funny. I put a stop to it after about a minute.

Can't Imagine myself with another one. Seriously...I can't. But One day we might have another.

Almost Done

The semester is finally coming to an end....holy cow has it been a long one. Why did I go back to school? Oh Right, to better myself.

I really don't know how I'm bettering myself when....
...I'm always stressed out...
...I'm spreading myself too thin...
...I get to spend less time with Audrey...
...I never make dinner...
...I'm so exhausted that I don't do the laundry, do the dishes, basically be a mom.

I'm really not looking for any sympathy or words of encouragement. I know I'm doing my best and that's what matters....But, it is nice to moan and groan about it once in a while. Really it's only due to the fact that I had a final at 7 and 9 this morning. My assignment for the 9 o'clock final magically messed up last night and 11:30(the audio was 14 seconds off) and I had to spend another 2 hours fixing it and I had already spend 5 hours working on it. (In hind site I should have not worked that long on the project, but the problem is I am a perfectionist when it comes to my assignments. I want to be that "A" student. Plus assignments and projects are really the only way for me to show my teachers how good a student I am. I get B's or even C's on tests because I have such bad test anxiety. It's really horrible. I like to show them that even though I don't test well I am very good at practical applications and hope they give me the benefit of the doubt when it comes to grading time. Hey, it worked when I was pregnant. I didn't even take the written final in one of my classes, I didn't even show up to the final, and my amazing teacher gave me an A in class because he knew I knew my stuff. I'm totally going off on a tangent....sorry)

So, I was up until 1:30 fixing it (I still don't think it's the best that it could have been) and I still had to look over my photography notes for the 7 am final. And believe me that final was intense. We had a written exam and then a practical exam and we had to turn in our final project. I set the alarm for 5:30, so that I could be up by 6, so that I could look over my notes and then start getting ready at 6:30 in order to leave at 6:45. No, I did not shower this morning. No, I do not have make-up on. No, I do not smell. But I was so nervous for the day I woke up several times throughout the short night and then ended up being pretty much awake at 5. I tried to go back to sleep but it didn't work. Then, after all that test taking and stressed outness, I had to work until 5 pm. Good thing I didn't go to guard tonight I might have started to cry. Did I mention that on top of working full time, going to school 3/4 time, being a mom, and a wife I'm doing guard? Yes, I am stretched out. But I am pretty positive I am not the only one. I just have to read your blogs and stalk you on facebook to know that I am not alone in this crazy crazy life.

Plus the fact that Patrick has a final tomorrow...that means I can't go home and just sit on the couch. He's going to go to the Library while I'm home with our little ball of energy Audrey. Seriously she is such a ball of fire. Like in the Incredibles Jack Jack attacks. I think most of you know what I am talking about. I doubt she cooperates and goes down at her normal bed time.

My goodness, I am getting sleepy just thinking about they day I've had.

Basically this is the gist of the post...woohoo! School is hard...I am stressed...and want to sleep.

Seriously this post was not a "woe is me" post I just needed to vent about the day.

It's COLD!

I just want to let all of you know how cold it is here in Orem.