Photomanipulation

So, I've really gotten into Photomanipulation. Ben surprised me with Adobe Photoshop CS4 as an early Christmas present. These are a few of my "creations."
Some are just touched up and some are quite complex.

So, last week we were walking into Walmart when a young lady stopped us and asked how old Chance was. I guess she is a scout for a talent agency and said she wanted to see him for a Baby Gap advertisement. We didn't end up signing with the agency (not exactly the life I want for my kids? but they wanted some pictures of him and so here they are. You can't tell me he's not photogenic.

Ranch Adventures

Over Labor day we went up to my family's ranch in Vail, Colorado. It was so good to see family and enjoy nature. Benjamin and Chance were delighted with all the rocks, bugs, moose, horses and water. Enjoy the pics!

Baby Joseph is Here!

Joseph Taylor Choate arrived into our family Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 10:57 am. He was born 9 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long which was a big surprise for us (ok, bad joke, I know, but I'm going on little sleep here :)The labor was long and hard (7 1/2 hours), by far my hardest, but I did it natural again and both he and I are doing well.


Props to Ben for being such a good support: he helped coach me on breathing and didn't even mind when I told him to "stop being mean" during one of the contractions (he was, in reality, the furthest thing from mean- it was the pain talking not me).


Little Joseph is the sweetest baby. My heart feels so full to have him as my son. The Lord has blessed us greatly and I am so thankful to him for the honor of being this child's mother.

Big brother's Benjamin and Chance are "adjusting" (we hope) to the new baby. Chance likes to say "eyes" and poke Joseph's eyes and steal his pacifier which is so Chance, but he seems pretty happy. At the hospital, we asked Benjamin who the new baby was and he said, "Baby Joseph-- I found him."

So, Baby Joseph has been "found" and we are all a little tired, but very happy.

Rain, Rain, Please go away!

Ben and are spending the week in "Sunny Colorado," everything is great, except for the sunny part. There has been a severe absence of sun. Ben is up at my parents Ranch, at 9,350 feet cutting down trees- in the pouring rain. It is wet and miserable and while we need the moisture, I just want the rain to go away!

My Story- Readers needed!

Wow! I did it! That's over 87,000 words. I finally finished my new book! Well, finished isn't exactly the right word, because I still have a lot of work to do on it. If any of you are interested, I need feedback from readers to help me improve it, and see how it shapes out. Let me know if you would like to read it. I will only send the first few chapters, that I have revised, to you so that you can see if you want to read more. I would really appreciate any help you can give!

Big Changes for us

Things have changed pretty drastically for us this past week. On Sunday, we came home from a wedding in Colorado to a note from the owner of the apartment complex that we have been managing for the past two years saying that he will be taking over the management to save money and that we have a month or so to find a new job and new place to live. This came as a big shock to us because we were planning on living here for the next two years until Ben graduates. (Many of you know and helped with the additions we did, like add the white-picket fence and washer and dryer, to make it a nicer place to live).

So, it has been a time for a lot of faith and prayers. Ben is still looking for employment and so if you know of anything, please let us know! Hopefully we can find a job soon and an affordable place to live. Things are so different now, with two kids and one on the way! Starting over isn't as easy as it once was!

We appreciate all your prayers, faith and support!

I am going to finish this book already! Seeing how much I have left to go helps me stay on track and see how much I've already done! My goal is to finish writing it by June and finish revising and editing it by August, when the baby comes, because I know that once he is here, I won't be able to think straight let alone write a book!

The truth about making $ from Home

A lot of you have asked, and so here it is: I'll tell you how I make good money working part-time from home. I started doing Data Entry online in August 2008. I was happily surprised when I made several hundred dollars the first month, one because it was actually a legit program and two, I made money on my own.

I don't know about you, but being a stay-at-home Mom, I miss making my own money. All my life I have worked and paid for most things myself. After having kids, I always feel a little bad about having to use Ben's money (especially to buy his own birthday presents with) and so I looked for ways that I could make some money from home. I found Data Entry and I love it!

The freedom of working at home and spending time with my two crazy boys is awesome!

So, the truth about working at home is that, like anything, it requires you to work but it is worth it. I spend about an hour a week and bring in several hundred extra dollars a month. My sister in law just started doing it and she made $100 in one day! I could get used to an extra $100 a day, couldn't you?

Doing Data Entry won't make you rich, but it will certainly help pay the bills (and put some cash in your purse) in the meantime.

Check it out at: www.magnifyprosperity.com/My-Data-Team

Let me know if you have any questions and here is to your wealth and success!

Love,
Heather

It's a Boy!

Yes, another one! We had an gender-check ultrasound yesterday, and sure enough there is nothing girl about this baby! Three Boys!!!

I am excited to see what this next one will look like: if he'll be more like Benjamin, or Chance, or his own design!

We haven't settled on a name yet, but I really like Joseph and that names just feels right to me.

I am looking forward to someday having a girl, but for now, make way world... another Choate boy is coming in!

Shine

I have been feeling very frustrated lately, but I realize now that I shouldn't be. Things have been particularly stressful with Chance being sick and a bunch of "crises" at the apartments I manage in Provo. I set several goals at the beginning of the year including one to finish my new novel by the end of February. Well, that's not going to happen! I hate setting a goal I don't achieve and I have been upset about it.

But, my younger brother, Roland, taught me something. He plays basketball for his high school and is getting really good. There was one game however, that the defense they were up against played the lane really tight, and Roland, being center, didn't get a lot of action in, whereas his teammates on the outside were putting up shots all day. At the end of the game, Roland felt like he had a horrible game. In reality, if it weren't for his good offensive skills keeping the defense busy in the lane, their team probably would have lost. I told him that his time to shine would come at another game.

I realize that this lesson applies to me too. I've been on the defense, and haven't been able to call the shots or shine like a star, but have been busy helping our team/family to survive. I may not meet my goals, but what I've been doing is much more important in the long run and I know that my time to shine will come sometime.

I share this with you to let you know that we all have moments where we are cruising and doing great, and we have moments where it is more important for us to support others so that they can have a chance to shine.

We did it again.

It never ends with us! Yesterday, Chance and I both came down with the flu! At first I was the only one sick, and I prayed that no one, but especially not Chance would get it. Sure enough, it's just one thing after another with that child! His arm is in a hard splint, he has a big bump on his head from where he hit it on the bed, and now we're back to Pedialite and crackers. He was supposed to get his shots today too, but he's too sick to. Maybe by the time he's 18 he will finally be well enough! AHHHHHHHH!

Happy 1st B-day Chance- We are glad you made it!

We did the impossible! We kept Chance alive to see his first birthday!


Because of all the craziness of our lives, we chose to keep his birthday real simple. My dad was in town and he took us out to Red Lobster (Chance loved the cheddar rolls)

and then we came home, opened a few presents and then we had cake:

"What are these bright colors?"


"I guess I'll poke it before I eat it"


"Huh, interesting texture."


"Guess it's not too bad!"


"What are you looking at? I like cake!"

"Crazy Man Chance"

Life is funny. A brief intro before I dish into the newest breaking news in the Choate family: When Ben and I were first expecting Chance, we both had separate dreams in which this child was a very rambunctious, and "energetic" soul. I had no idea just how true that would be, nor how soon that would manifest itself in Chance's personality and life.

After finally recovering from his month-long bout with diarrhea, I finally felt I could breathe a sigh of relief, but before I could even exhale, Chance proves himself once again to be our "crazy man."

On Friday, I noticed that his left arm was bothering him, but only occasionally, so I watched it, but by Sunday (yesterday) it still wasn't any better. I took him into the doctor. Suspecting a possible dislocation, or fracture we had it x-rayed.



Sure enough, three days before his first birthday, Chance broke his arm! He fractured his little humors bone, which is incredibly funny to Ben, but not so much to me. It is a pitiful sight seeing him in his hard splint and trying so desperately to crawl with his sling that they had to modify because there wasn't one small enough for him.

This new experience now leaves me with only one question: What more do I have to look forward to in this child's future?