a birthday post, one year late

my baby girl is about to turn eight.

I'm going to let that sink in for a moment.

some days she still feels just like my little squishy baby, and other days, a full grown girl.

this fall has been extremely challenging for our family filled with many ups and downs.

I finally made a point to edit her birthday video and I share these bittersweet memories here now.

in just ten days we will celebrate everly's 8th birthday, without her grandma.  this is our first celebration since her passing, and I'm unsure how it will feel.  there will for sure be something missing in that day.

this year has just taken so much.  looking back at these memories keeps me hopeful for when the time begins to shift back to normal. it also has inspired me to get back into blogging.  I am so thankful for the memories I have preserved here on this little page, and hope that I can find my passion here once again.  warning, past memories may be shared here soon.

and now some photos from celebrating seven, and a little mini-film at the end...

here's our mini-film from the day spent with our closest family and friends:

music: "This is Halloween" by the Vitamin String Quartet

happily I do...

I love weddings.  wedding shows.  wedding dresses.  wedding flowers.  all things weddings really.  so when two long-time friends say I-do you are ready to travel to the other side of the state to be part of each happy moment.

earlier this month we experienced the beautiful wedding of our friends colin & jayne.  everly got to be a flower girl for the very first time [something I joked she was just about to age out of, and something I always wanted to do, but just never had the chance].  the mr. was a groomsman, and I was the mother of the flower girl, and un-official videographer.

here's a glimpse into the beautiful details of that day...


music:
"we will become silhouettes" - the shins
"anything" - mae

22 churros, 8 princess dresses, 1 red balloon, and 6 years of park visits

this has been on my wish list of projects to complete, but knowing it was going to be a bit of a task, it had to wait for a little time away from the classroom.  and really, I consider this version just the first draft.  I'm hoping to dig up even more footage of everly in the parks, that might be hiding somewhere on some backup drive.  to be honest, I'm not really sure how much we were shooting that first year or so, but at least I know we were taking photos [post links below for all that goodness].  but for now, I've taken 2+ hours of every disneyland trip video I've made, and packaged into one *shortish* memories video.

^melting for this baby face right now^

this chapter of everly's first six years was a pretty sweet one, and one I'm not sure we will ever re-create with such intensity.  people say not to travel with little ones, but man, I cannot disagree more.  we loved every single experience we had in the parks, and getting to have this little time capsule of these memories is pretty special, and something I am beyond thankful for.  so, it is fitting to share this video this week!



music - my go to favorite mix of disneyland mini-film songs -
pretty much the soundtrack of our lives:

something that I want - tangled soundtrack
down in new orleans - the princess and the frog soundtrack
something wild - pete's dragon soundtrack
when can I see you again - wreck it ralph soundtrack
touch the sky - brave soundtrack

all disneyland posts can be found here
all these memories in a photo collection can be found here
and photos from her very first trip are here

we went to hawaii!

this month we had a major family milestone, our first trip to hawaii as a family of three!  the mr. and I haven't been since our honeymoon, so getting to go for our 11th wedding anniversary with our everly was pretty amazing.

to be honest, the thought of a trip to hawaii just always seemed out of reach for our budget.  however, turns out that a costco membership can really come in handy and made our island vacation dreams become a reality.  we are already semi-planning our next vacation!

I've been working like a crazy person since taking on an additional role to my teaching position.  and the long hours do come with a better salary, so it was time to play a little harder with the benefits of the hard work I put in during the school year.

it just seemed like the perfect age to take everly for the first time.  she LOVES the water, is an extremely capable swimmer, and is really easy to travel with.  and it turned out our hopes for the trip really became reality.  hopefully I can put together some more detailed posts on our trip soon.  this was our first time visiting the big island of hawaii, and I have some memories and special spots I want to remember for the future.

but for now, I'm just going to share our mini-film of the week on the big island.  we watched it last night on the 'big tv' and it was so fun to know we always will have this to look back on to remember this milestone trip.


music: Vintage Hawaiian Music
shot on our Sony A6500 and GoPro Hero7 Black 

swimming our way through summer break [mini-film]

I'm officially in stay-at-home summer mom mode, and it feels good.  with some exciting trips on the horizon this summer, I finally decided it was time to add another camera to our little family of tech.  a gopro hero7 black!

I remember as a kid the disposable underwater cameras we would get for our trips to hawaii.  there is just something extra magical about taking photos where you are pretty sure you aren't supposed to be taking photos.  being the photo/video junkies that we are around here, I couldn't wait to get ahold of a camera that would let us bring that magic to reality.



I'm still learning my way around this little camera, but for now, I'm pretty much in love.

here's a little peek into our first time in the water...for the record, I was too lazy to put the video clips on my computer, so I edited the entire thing on my phone.  that still amazes me what these little devices can do.

happy summer!

gopro details here music: Portugal the Man, Live in the Moment

halloween and mickey pumpkins

man, am I so behind on so many posts.  these days I'm averaging a post a month, which isn't excellent.  hopefully a new computer will help me stay on top of things more in 2019.  mini films of our family is something that I love to do more than anything, but they can be time consuming to put together, especially on an old computer.  but they are always worth it.  ev and I will sometimes stay in bed on a saturday morning just looking at old photos or our little films from past trips.  getting to relive those moments is always worth the effort.  and why I need to kick my butt back into blogging.

this wall is still one of our favorite new photos walls, added during last year's pixar fest.  I recently re-did the gallery wall in our house, and these images of us with ev are some of my favorite prints added to the display!

back in october we took a trip down to disneyland with my mom to enjoy the parks in all their spooky glory.  everly rode space mountain for a second time, but immediately noticed a change.  as we were going up the first ramp, she looked at me and exclaimed, "the music is different!"  from that point on, she was on to the fact that the ride had a halloween overlay, something I didn't think she was going to notice, because she sits so low in the car, I figured she wouldn't really be able to see the fire ghost graphics on the walls.  well, I should have known that little miss music would have remembered what the music usually sounded like on that ride, even though she had only been on it once before.  she did survive the experience, but determined she never wants to ride space mountain again for halloween, just regular.  and in other news, my mom rode space mountain for the first time since she was a teenager.  she swears she remembers it going backwards.  I think she really just hated it, and so it felt like it was going backwards [in my disneyland history research, I couldn't find anything to confirm her backwards track theory for the record].  she was a trooper, not sure if she will go on it again, but she sure took one for the team.someone also decided it was time to see minnie mouse again.  it has been years, but I think the adorable witches outfit really pushed her into the moment.  I love this photo, everly is explaining her minnie dress features to minnie herself.  so space mountain during halloweentime, no, minnie during halloweentime, YES!

I was dying while editing this film.  how many days were we there???  pretty sure it was just a long weekend, but by the look of how many outfits everly wore in the parks, it looks like we were there for a week!

the wall outside sprinkles cupcakes is a great backdrop for photos - but everly did not care for the cupcakes.  she's more of an 'inside the parks' kind of treat kid I guess.  whenever you can find a great wall, stop and take a photo.  it is a great trick to getting great photos in disneyland, and make it look like you have the park to yourself.  which we know, there are literally thousands of people behind me while shooting this photo!

this little hallway by rancho del zocalo can be timed just right in the mornings.  very little foot traffic over here at that time, and a great place to snap a park photo, sans people in the background!

always beignets for these two.

another new moment this trip was when everly and I rode guardians of the galaxy together for the first time.  I hadn't even been on it since the marvel update, and I really had no idea how ev was going to do.  the entire fastpass line, families were giving me looks like I was torturing my child.  it really could have gone one of two ways, awesome, or my daughter would never trust me again.  I got some great selfie footage of her on it for the first time.  lots of big eyes, then terrified looks, then smiling and dancing along with rocket.  in the end, she loved it.  and also stated, "mom, I thought it was a roller coaster.  it just went up and down."  for anyone who has been on tower or terror or guardians of the galaxy can tell you that yes, she is right, but man, no one else would explain that ride in that way.  she even took a ride on it one more time with grammie.  again, grammie was quite the ride trooper this visit, but I think one and done with this particular attraction.

here's a little bit of our first ride -

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and our mini-film from the trip: Halloween 2018 Disneyland from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.

music:
"When Can I See You Again?" - Owl City, Wreck it Ralph Soundtrack
"This is Halloween" - Vitamin String Quartet

this year we decided to take a break from our annual passes.  the crowds have been so intense lately, and will only get worse with start wars land opening this summer.  so, we might not be back until a halloween party this fall. 

so, good thing we have lots of disneyland videos to get us by, we have never gone an entire year between visits!

2018, the little moments easy to forget

last year, right around january, I started seeing people sharing their One Second Everyday videos from 2017.  of course, I was immediately intrigued.  creating little films of our family is my absolute obsession.  and finding a way to compile those little photo moments that are not worthy of an entire trip/event/holiday movie made me smile.

so, here it is.  one second, most days, or maybe many days, of 2018.
I can't even handle how old ev has gotten this past year.  I now have a new nickname for her.  she has the soul of an 80 year old, and when it really shines, I call her gertrude.  or gertie for short.

these days I've really been noticing how much she doesn't act like a kindergartener, so I'm thanking her for being my gertie often.
2018 - little seconds, most days from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.

music:
Sam Smith - Palace [because she LOVED that apple ad so much]
Family of the Year - Hero   [because I love the way she sings this song in the car]

summer of disneyland [mini film]

this summer we soaked up two trips to the parks.  it seems that no matter when you go, the parks are pretty full.  but there are some magical hours that need to be attended, and no, I'm not talking actual magic mornings.  I'm just talking the first three to four hours the parks are open.  it is cool, and quiet, and as long as you stay out of tomorrow land [it gets so crowded so fast, and I never really understand why] you can get onto pretty much any ride with a very small wait.

as soon as it crept closer to noon, we would grab a bite to eat and head back to the hotel for a swim and a rest, typically making our way back into the parks around dinner time.  the middle of the day always feels the craziest, and during the summer, the hottest, so we just avoid it altogether.  getting back into the parks just before sunset makes for the most magical photos - the lighting is breathtaking.  and, besides sunset, I always love the parks at night the best.  the lights, oh the twinkling lights, always the best.

here is a look at our summertime moments in disneyland.

music -
bring it on home to me - sam cooke [guardians of the galaxy vol. 2 soundtrack]
when can I see you again - owl city [wreck it ralph soundtrack]
married life - michael giacchino [up soundtrack]
I see the light - mandy moore [tangled soundtrack]

shot on our sony a6000 & a6500

here's a look at our other disneyland mini-film trips here, here, and here.
all disneyland posts here.

ballerinas [mini film]

everly's first dance recital was a bit of a learning curve for me, but I think we managed things just fine.  because ev dances two days a week, this meant two different dance numbers in her first recital.  she handled everything like a pro, including the quick change behind the curtains back stage.  I really wasn't sure how our semi-shy around strangers girl was going to do when those lights hit her face, but she loved every minute of it!  and for some reason, and I don't really think it has to do with the makeup, but maybe, she looks about twelve in this photo to me.

the studio she dances with allows photography and video during dress rehearsal, but not during the actual performance.  even though everyone didn't necessarily abide by this policy, I loved how I could just be in the moment on the big day.  these photos are from the dress rehearsal - a night that went extremely fast.  two dances practiced on stage and photos with both classes and out within an hour - impressive!

I loved the photos props they had up for the rehearsal night.  we opted just to get a group photo done professionally and everly and I still have on the calendar a day to run around in midtown to take some photos of her in her costumes.  

^and while filming, I managed to sneak in one photo on stage^

here's a peek into our first recital moments - mostly from dress rehearsal and a few moments from the big day!

songs:

"rainbow" - Leap! Soundtrack

"when you say nothing at all" - Alison Krauss & Union Station