love is in the air

new home

Home is one of those words that brings up a lot of meaning for me. It's a physical place. A tangible place where you live, where you come back to at the end of the day. In contrast home is also a state of mind, a feeling in your heart, a drawer full of memories, a place of gathering for those you love.



There has been a lot of shifting this past year as we’ve moved from one home to the next. The weight of the change could have fallen on me quite hard if it hadn’t have been for this one constant — HOME. Gratefully we experienced a seamless transition between each move because we were there together. My family brought the feeling of home, not the structure itself. It’s definitely true what they say, “home is where the heart is”.

And so the shifting continues...

I have a new home to share with you -- an online home.

This has been a long time coming (I’ve been working on it off and on since July 2013) and I’m excited to be able to share it with you today. It’s definitely not 100%. There are still kinks to be worked out, my portfolio to fill, and posts to format, but I decided if I didn’t just do it now it was going to be another year before I rolled it out and I wanted to start 2015 off with a blank slate so to speak.

Fresh starts have always been synonymous with starting over and beginning a new and that’s exactly what I need. My intention for my new space online is to be present, connect, and share what I love and what I learn through this journey called life.

Thank you to those of you who have stuck with me through these last couple years of drought.

Welcome to my new home, amygretchen.com

gratitude journals are here

I'd like to once again share with you my daily gratitude journal and give you the chance to buy one for yourself for the upcoming year. I believe the practice of daily gratitude is not only important to keep our mind positive, but I believe it can truly change your heart.

I've had my journals available in one way or another since 2009 so I had this wild idea of redesigning the journal to celebrate the upcoming year. Unfortunately that put me behind getting it ready for print, so I apologize for such late notice in making this book available to you. But it's here and ready for purchase if you would like to join me this year in expressing gratitude.

Above you will find the gratitude journals for 2015. Feel free to scroll through the book to get an idea of what it looks like (included are only a few sample pages, not the entire book). The journal is softbound with 142 pages. If you'd like to purchase you can easily click on the shopping basket in the bottom right and purchase right from the blurb site. If you would like one of my books from previous years. Go here to find a link of where you can purchase.

If you act fast you can save 20% or 30%

These limited time offers end on December 19

20% off

Save 20% when you purchase two or more books*

(up to $150 in savings)

CODE: 2PLUS

30% off

Save 30% when you purchase five or more books**

(up to $150 in savings)

CODE: 5PLUS

12of12 | December

01) One of my fondest Christmas memories as a child is sitting for hours in front of the Christmas tree taking in the light. I find that I do the same thing now and sit in front of the tree as often as possible.
02) Saying goodbye to Megan as she heads off to school.
03) Our growing Christmas card collection. It's one of my favorite traditions of the holiday -- sending and receiving cards. Hoping mine will go out soon. I still haven't ordered them :/
04) The majority of the day I sat in this chair in front of this screen. Finishing up Christmas gifts and working on our card.
05) Lolapuppy having a playdate with her buddy June. I love these two. I also wanted to include this picture because I can't believe it was 60 degrees today! This is one of the strangest Decembers for weather I can remember. As I type this I can hear a storm brewing outside. I hope we wake up to serious snow. I am ready!
06) This is what a 12 year old selfie looks like.
07) Filling up.
08) Since I was home for the majority of my day I wore the most comfortable thing I could find that wasn't jammies. Scratch that. I'd wear this to bed.
09) Chauffeuring Bella around from ballroom practice to violin. I'm not sure what I'll do when she starts driving herself, I feel like we end up getting some great quality time in the car.
10) Megan busy working on her book report. I'm so impressed she will come home on a Friday and get it done.
11) Adam and I went out and enjoying seeing each other for once. Our evenings have been so busy it's been hard to connect.
12) Ended our night again with the lights. I tell you I can't get enough.

Can you believe that's it? Another year has come and gone. I can honestly say I remember so vividly when this year started and we began this project together it's just so hard to believe we are finished.

I hope you take a chance in the next few days to go through all your images and/or collages you made this year to see the beautiful story you created of your year one day at a time. Honestly it's what keeps me coming back to this project every year.

xo

12of12 reminder

Hello.

I just wanted to remind all of you fellow 12of12ers that tomorrow is the 12th. It's our last and final installment of the year so I hope you are ready to end it in style. 

See you tomorrow!

12of12 | November

01) I had a rough evening last night for various reasons so I had decided to sleep in. Unfortunately my body didn't get the memo and woke up at 5:15am on it's own. So I stayed in bed a while, read emails and looked through instagram.
02) I took Lolapuppy on a walk today, it was cold, but it was nice to be outside surrounded by what's left of fall.
03) Our friend made this mirror for us and just brought it over. It's enormous and we love it, but we haven't yet settled on where it will go.
04) While going in and out of Bella's room with laundry and noticed her bookshelf. I thought in a few years she would love to see what it looked like when she was 14.
05) I love having her company during the day.
06) I was on the computer a fair amount. It is nice to be able to move around and get a change of scenery. Still trying to figure out how to go completely mobile with my photos.
07) I got the girls out early from school to go to their orthodontist appointment. Megan was thrilled when she found out she was finally getting that expander out of her mouth.
08) Tess trying to decided which colors to choose. As if it's a choice with Christmas only a few weeks away. Yep she went with red and green.
09) Spend a fair amount of time in the car this afternoon. I seem to do that quite a bit during the week, but Wednesdays are usually my easy days. Definitely not the case today.
10) Megan showing us how to be #pomegranatemaster.
11) Again in the car waiting for Bella to get done with her quartet practice. Can I just say again how much I hate how dark it gets? I got home at 6:30pm and was certain it was time for bed.
12) When I was shutting down the house this evening I just loved the way the light welcomed me to bed. What can I say, I am a fan of sleep.

I did something different today, I used my friends Canon 6D. I am not really in the market, I mean if I going to spend that kind of money I would prefer to get another lens, but I was curious how much better it is than my 5DII and how similar to the 5DIII. It was strange to use because the buttons are different and the body is a bit smaller, but it treated me right. It took great quality images and it was fun to use a higher range ISO.

Do any of you shoot with the Canon 6D? Is camera equipment on your wish list?

I hope your enjoyed your time documenting and felt like you got some great shots to represent your day. Some of my most favorite images are the ones I take on the 12th. I hope you can say the same. Remember to share with the facebook group.

Enjoy xo

12of12 reminder

Hello friends.

Just wanted to send out a reminder to all of you participating in the 12of12 project that tomorrow is the 12th so get your camera ready and mind prepared to document your day. After doing week in the life a couple weeks ago I'm excited to get back.

See you back here tomorrow to share.
Enjoy xo

pieces of joy

I believe we are meant to have joy in this life. Real lasting joy. I know from experience it can be really easy to get caught up in your struggles, to get overwhelmed by life's heartaches. Pain tends to take precedence, or at least it does in my life. I get depressed, I become a hermit, and I get stuck.

We all have heartaches and trials, it's just apart of this life. It's our way to grow and experience the world so we will become better individuals. As much as I wish it didn't have to be this way, I know there are lessons I couldn't have learned any other way. And while I wasn't grateful for my trials then, I can say now I am grateful for the woman it has helped me to become.

The problem is when we are down and struggling it is too easy to focus on what hurts and stop seeing all the good that's in our life -- because even when we struggling there is still good.

Especially when we struggle we need to see the good.

The Week In The Life project this past week has done exactly that for me. It helped me to see all the little moments, the bits and pieces of joy that make up my life I often fail to notice. It helped me to slow down and be more intentional, thoughtful. It helped me to see where I fall short, what I could be doing better, what we as a family could be doing better. It has help me to want to live my life more with intention. It helped me to see how much I have missed my camera.

This project lite a fire in me. I don't know what it means or how it will take shape, but I pray it hang out with me awhile. I have been waiting for this. I needed this. Thank you Ali for inspiring me to capture last week. I will never forget it.

week in the life | sunday

I definitely took less photos today than any other day. There are a couple reasons why:

1) I had several of those mind images that I talked about in Thursdays post. Several experiences that are just told better through words.

02) We did very similar things today so I didn't bother capturing it all. For instance we seemed to be in the kitchen all day making dinner, making desserts, etc. so I didn't capture it all. It just felt a little much.

SUNDAY PHOTOS

The story of today is how I was up at 5am, bummer since I love sleeping in, and worked for the next few hours on photos and posts while the family slept. I was happy once I realized I actually woke up at 6am.

The story of today is making my way to the kitchen and finding this mess waiting for me. We all basically fell asleep during the movie last night and barely made it to our beds.

The story of today involves me using the quiet house to my advantage. I updated my WITL daily sheets, read my scriptures, and gave myself time to just sit and think all before the family got up and we got ready for church.

The story of today is how I forgot about the day light savings switcheroo and instead of using my phone clock I  used the kitchen on. I bummed 3 girls out when I accidentally woke them up an hour early. Oops.

This story of today is how this girl without being asked started to do the dishes. I was glad I accidentally saw her doing it.

The story of today is these girls may be official done with WITL!

The story of today involves our weekly 3 hour Sabbath service (we have 3 different meetings that are 1 hour each). I love this time to reflect and recharge.

The story of today is noticing snow at the tips of the mountains and wondering when it is going to land on us. So far it really has been the most epic fall. I am not ready for it to be over, but if it was I would have nothing but gratitude.

The story of today is how these girls came home from church and started working on making lunch. They decided to tackle the brussell sprouts.

The story of today is how these girls love, absolutely love brussells sprouts. Wasn't it the most hated vegetable while growing up? Adam says it's because I know how to cook them. In case you want to know, we slice them up thin and saute them with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Cooks in less than 10 mins.

The story of today involves these little visitor and their excitement to join us for cookie making and Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

The story of today is how we made several batches of cookies. Some for the littles to take home for their family and some to take to a neighborhood social. (I intentionally didn't use any photos of the kids because I knew mom wouldn't want me to.)

The story of today is how we were able to ding dong ditch much earlier because of the light change. I was so bummed, to say the least, when the clock said 6pm and it was already dark. :(

The story of today ended by hanging out with friends chatting and catching up. Reminds me that I need to make more time for relationships and really being aware of their needs. It's especially important now as it's so easy to become a hermit during the winter.

Friends it has been an amazing week. A transforming week. I have more thoughts coming on this probably tomorrow or wednesday. I am excited now though to get putting my album together. I am going to be doing it Project Life style, 6x8 size.

week in the life | saturday

SATURDAY PHOTOS



The story of today includes going to bed way too late Friday night and getting a very early phone call that had me rushing out the door. I was privilege to take some birth photos of this little lady. Sadly I didn't make it to the actual birth. Mom barely made it to the hospital.



The story of today includes Megan's last and very exciting soccer game. She didn't get a goal, but she was so close a few times. Oh and her team decided they wanted to play their last game as zombies.



The story of today includes a winning lunch. Megan ended up going home with her friends and I didn't see her for the rest of the day until I picked her up at 7pm.



The story of today includes these girls just having a pretty chill day. They did homework, watched TV, practiced instruments, went to 5guys with their dad while they ran errands with him.



The story of today involves a very windy, off and on rainy day.



The story of today involved time with him. A lot of good quality time. I always enjoy that we can regroup on the weekends after a busy week.



The story of today involved me sitting at the computer for a couple of hours editing photos. It's not my favorite part of the process, but a necessary one.







The story of today is how much this scene has change since monday. It's crazy to think these trees were full of leaves 6 days ago.





The story of today includes these grateful words -- I trust him with my heart.



I just have to say this guy was a trooper and very patient with me this week as I had my camera out 24/7.





The story of today ended with all of us watching Harry Potter 3 while enjoying homemade popcorn. I've decided as a family we comment with much frequency as we watch movies (well not adam). Oh dear.

week in the life | Friday

I have to admit, when I first heard about WITL being the week of Halloween I was a little bummed. I tend toward documenting life when there aren't big events or holidays. I love seeing the everyday, the routines that sometimes get mundane and give them new meaning, but you know what, I have love documenting this week. It has been the perfect combination of everyday + events. I couldn't be happier with this week Ali chose.

Halloween for us was a holiday, and by holiday, I mean a holiday from school. It never fails, but our school district absolutely never has any Halloween festivities on the actually day. It drives me crazy! In fact a couple years ago we had the school parade and parties on November 1st. I was livid because as much as I love Halloween when it's over. It's over. Anyways, I digress. The point is Halloween was off and we made the most of it -- or at least I did. ;) It's possible I am the meanest mom every -- you'll see why.

FRIDAY PHOTOS



The story of today is sleeping in. It really is such a luxury and I welcome the change from getting up at 5:30am daily.



The story of today involves the girls making orange waffles in honor of Halloween. I love how holidays make everything so much more festive.



The story of today is the sad state of my studio. I do love being able to look at my desk and see what I've been up to, but it is time for a fresh start.



The story of today involves time with friends playing Just Dance, doing hair, and drawing. I did Just Dance with them for a couple of songs and it is a great workout.



The story of today, to my children's chagrin, involves deep cleaning. It was time to empty out doors and get a good organize going.



Megan, "This is the worst Halloween ever!"
Me, "but doesn't it feel good know that you've have earned your candy."





The story of today is how nice it



The story of today includes this welcome home puppy bear hug. You would have thought Adam had been gone a week with how excited she was to see him -- had to get up on her hind legs.





 

The story of today involves a trip to hobby lobby. I was looking everywhere for these two and I found them testing our the markers. I couldn't help but think of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.



The story of today includes our traditional Halloween photographs. Normally the girls would be so irritated to have to take these shots, at least they have in the past, but the last couple years that have been way into it.



The story of today is how I broke from tradition and we got Indian take out  instead. It wasn't intentional, but I thought we were going to have a bunch of kids at the house with loads of pizza, so I made beef stew for dinner earlier in the week. I guess I need to remember with teenagers plans change. So grateful to be able to just roll with the punches.



The story of today involves getting Lolapuppy ready for Halloween.



I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this crew. To much for words!



The story of today involves Megan out of her mind excited to be invited to her friend's birthday party. Later she said made Halloween "awesomer".



The story of today involves us getting girls to and from their Halloween parties/trick-or-treating. It was quite an eventful drive through the neighborhood with all of us trying to accommodate the puppy in such a small space.



The story of today involves the very traditional Halloween trick-or-treating except this year we were not invited to go along with Megan. It was a blow, but we took it in stride. We headed to our friends house and had a nice evening of answering the door and chatting. We may have a new Halloween tradition brewing.



I think this is absolutely my favorite photo from the entire week. It speaks volumes to me and every time I look at it I can't help laughing out loud and grateful, beyond grateful I just happened to snap the picture as they headed down the road.



The story of today involves little girls happily going through their loot and most importantly making trades with their friend who can't eat nuts. It was sweet to over hear them and see how generous they were being.



The story of today involved a bunch of teenage kids converging in our basement. They played rock band for most of the night and laughed for the rest. We were more than happy to play hostess.



And I couldn't end Halloween without just one glowing pumpkin.