Christopher Isaac and Ava Daphne

I drove home last night, woke up this morning, have gotten ready for church, and then realized... no more babies to hold! Life just got boring again.

At least I had fall break to see my new niece and nephew. Look how sweet:

Ava Daphne has her vanaisa reading "One Fish, Two Fish"

Christopher Issac and Granny. He makes the funniest faces.

And the best video we got this week of Dad reading "Green Eggs and Ham" to Christopher.

(and sorry it's on its side... I don't know how to change that.)

Give us a few years and we'll have some avid readers on our hands!!!

What a day!!!

Episode 4 of the podcast is up...

Found out the BFA portfolio is due in one week...

School...

And these two cuties are FINALLY here!!!

One more week until I get to hold them! Just gotta survive :)

Update on Life

I haven't had a lot of particular excitement lately, but in the spirit of keeping up on what has become my only form of journaling, I'll list off the fun that is life:

1) I now work as a TA for the best art history teacher on campus. (Best job ever! I get to help students who actually want my help, work for one of the sweetest people in the world, and it gets me thinking art history all the time.)

2) School is crazy great. While 21 credits can be a little overwhelming at times, I really really love my classes. This includes ASL Literature, Advanced ASL, Fine Art Photography, Advanced Photography, 19th Century Photo processes (I have some really fun projects in mind from what we've done so far!), and 20th Century Art History. Oh, and History or Photography, which I started working on this last summer since I'm doing a sort of different course of study with it. The big plus to that one is it's given me more to read than I've been able to in a long time, which---believe it or not--- has helped with my photography as much if not more than anything else.

3) I've got an awesome podcast going with a group of other students. When I started, I was a little worried I wouldn't find anyone as passionate about making it happen ... I was wrong! Really great people and we're having fun with it! (Go check it out... listen... learn... become edu-ma-cated).

4) Living in Orem is awesome. I liked Provo while I was there, but you can't beat living down the street from campus. It's nice to know I could walk if I had to.

5) My friend Chessie has gotten me into a fun kick of exercise mode. Unfortunately, some foot issues are flaring up again. If you remember just keep me in your prayers or wish me luck and hopefully it's just a little swelling. Either way, I'll keep up the being healthy.

6) I'm looking forward to Tuesday when my niece and nephew are finally here... and when in a week and a half when I actually get to hold them!

I have to admit, I kind of like when life gets into these little swings of just doing and going and being productive. And I'm grateful to friends who are constantly saving me from myself by reminding me not to take on more than I can handle!

Just a few thought

I'm not generally one for getting all emo or airing out my frustrations online, but sometimes I get tired of having to keep it to myself--to sit here realizing no one cares about how they've made me feel. That no matter how hard I try to swallow my wants and needs, the second I mention one I'm labeled "selfish" and told I think it's "all about me". After I've given all I can, I'm never looked at with an eye that judges my workload or a heart sincere in considering my thoughts and concerns. It's about what they want, instead. How my inability to do what they want right now is a terrible inconvenience to them.

I got to thinking about a quote from Power of Myth, a book of an interview with Joseph Campbell I read this summer. The book discusses the myths in our lives and what's thought of as important to humans by virtue of the myths we create. At one point Campbell starts on the idea of dragons:

"... There are people like that, and we call them creeps. There's no life from them, no giving. They just glue themselves to you and hang around and try to suck out of you their life."

What happens when you realize that those dragons are the people you love the most? The ones you'd do anything for? What do you do when you need them to take a moment--not one in a disaster or when you're at your most helpless physically, but when you just need to know someone sees you as important enough to take a minute. Just a minute. To look, to see, to talk. To experience something that's important to me. Or to support me in a decision. To nod and say "I understand" rather than "Why did you do that?" or "Couldn't you just..." with some version of events that works better towards their ends.

I don't know why I feel so compelled right now to share this, except I imagine I'm not the only one. Maybe someone out there needs to know they aren't alone in fighting the dragons.

Art History Podcast

My cousin put my life perfectly the other day. He said "it's all about your perspective. My glass is half full... yours is overflowing and you need two more glasses to catch it." I'm sorry to say he wasn't talking about my superb sense of optimism, though I'm working on that. I like being busy. So I do things like podcasts.

Yes, podcasts. I'm part of a group of students running an art history podcast on UVU campus. We've got an amazing group--several art history enthusiasts like me, as well as one spectacular audio man. Take a minute to check it out at http://artsandfacts.blogspot.com/.

We'll soon be up and running on iTunes U as well, which will make it easier for you to get our podcast as it comes out!

Family Portraits

With a family that is constantly on the go, working on one project or another, I would have to wait forever to get them to sit long enough for me to get a picture (and that's if I could convince them to be in a picture in the first place). So I took it upon myself to do something a little... different.

 

Ava Daphne and Christopher Issac Arling

 

Cory Allen Arling

 

Megan Kristina Arling

 

Melanie Jayne Teemant

  

Mike Teemant

 

Self Portrait

If you like this project, please go to my facebook page and hit "like".

Guest Post

Hey all! Wanted to share with you that I've posted some thoughts on a book I got to read (finally!) on a blog called

The Thousander Club

Sounds epic right? That's because it is. The club is meant for all those who want to achieve the goal of reading 1,000 books in their lifetime. I know plenty of you who I'm sure are well on your way, so go over and follow/join up! They're also always looking for more people to contribute thoughts on books they've read, so if you're interested or know anyone else that would be, spread the news and I'd be happy to get you in touch with the person in charge. 

And, may I say, after all my school reading this summer, I think I earned getting to read one novel!