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To see more weddings. click here.

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To see other family lifestyle session. click here.

To see more documentary work.  click on each number:  one  two three

<- Or just click on one of the category links to the left.

You can vote once a day....

*Voting ends on Sunday, February 1st at midnight.*

drink more water.

I'm so excited about everyone who is on board for this month's contest! Yay for all of you. It's not to late to jump in and share your hints and tips for losing weight, sticking with it, little ways to stay motivated, etc. and get in on the contest. (Read more about the contest here.)

Water is an important part of keeping your body healthy. Make sure you are drinking enough of it. Eight 8-ounce glasses are recommended for keeping your body hydrated through out the day.

Here are a couple of tidbits about water and your body:

*Drink more when you exercise. "If you exercise or engage in any activity that makes you sweat, you need to drink extra water to compensate for the fluid loss. An extra 400 to 600 milliliters (about 1.5 to 2.5 cups) of water should suffice for short bouts of exercise, but intense exercise lasting more than an hour (for example, running a marathon) requires more fluid intake. How much additional fluid you need depends on how much you sweat during exercise, the duration of your exercise and the type of activity you're engaged in.

During long bouts of intense exercise, it's best to use a sports drink that contains sodium, as this will help replace sodium lost in sweat and reduce the chances of developing hyponatremia, which can be life-threatening. Also, continue to replace fluids after you're finished exercising." Mayo Clinic. Read more here.

*"the liver's duties is to pick up the slack for the kidneys, which need plenty of water to work properly. If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do their work along with its own, lowering its total productivity. It then can't metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently as it could when the kidneys were pulling their own weight. If you allow this to happen, not only are you being unfair to your liver, but you're also setting yourself up to store fat.* Maia Appleby at inch-aweigh.com Read more here.

*If you think that drinking that much water sends you running to the toliet all day long don't give up. Maia says, "What is really happening is that your body is flushing itself of the water it has been storing throughout all those years of "survival mode". It takes a while, but this is a beautiful thing happening to you. As you continue to give your body all the water it could ask for, it gets rid of what it doesn't need. It gets rid of the water it was holding onto in your ankles and your hips and thighs, maybe even around your belly. You are excreting much more than you realize. Your body figures it doesn't need to save these stores anymore; it's trusting that the water will keep coming, and if it does, eventually, the flushing (of both the body and the potty) will cease, allowing the human to return to a normal life. It's true. This is called the "breakthrough point."

*Do it for your skin. "You've heard this since high school, and it's true. Water will do wonders for your looks! It flushes out impurities in your skin, leaving you with a clear, glowing complexion. It also makes your skin look younger. Skin that is becoming saggy, either due to aging or weight loss, plumps up very nicely when the skin cells are hydrated.

In addition, it improves muscle tone. You can lift weights until you're blue in the face, but if your muscles are suffering from a drought, you won't notice a pleasant difference in your appearance. Muscles that have all the water they need contract more easily, making your workout more effective, and you'll look much nicer than if you had flabby muscles under sagging skin." Maia Appleby. Read more here.

Water and Weight loss myth:

*"Drinking water in and of itself will not lead to weight loss. Of course, water is key to a healthy lifestyle and drinking enough has many benefits, but when people lose weight due to drinking water, it's most likely because they're substituting it for high-calorie juices and sodas."  about.com Read more here.

Whether it's possible to lose weight drinking water or not it, the overall health benefits are huge.  I think it's definitely true that water can help you avoid things that make you GAIN weight.  If you are replacing soda or other drinks with water than, to me, water is helping you lose weight.  If you are drinking water instead of putting food in your mouth, then water is helping your to lose weight.  If you are drinking water before, after, and during your daily exercise and helping your body to run more efficiently, then your body may be losing weight. 

I know that, for me, when I drink water before dinner my stomach gets the message sooner that I'm full.  I also know that when I drink water instead of having that high fat snack I'm much less likely to eat the high fat snack and reach for something more healthy.  If nothing else, it buys you some time to rethink what you you are eating instead of mindlessly shoving whatever is in front of you in your mouth.

Here's another take on hydration.

No matter the reason for drinking water you can't go wrong with making eight 8-ounce glassesof water sprinkled through out your day part of your daily routine.  Your muscles and skin will definitely thank you.

So here's to water and better health.

healthy. LIFE.

NOTE:  Nominations are now CLOSED.  Click here to VOTE.  VOTING is open until Sunday, February 1st.  GO VOTE!!

tell us.

With a new President coming up this week I thought it would be fun to vote for favorite images of 2008.

You can pick a favorite picture from the slideshow above (there is a gallery icon so you can look through them slowly) or from here on the blog.

Just put your nomination in the comments or send us your nomination at info@davinafear.com Soooo.... if you want your picture to win then you need to make sure your friends and family nominate your faves! We'll take nominations until Friday.  The voting will start January 27th.

What will you win??

The couple or family with the winning image will get a $100 gift certificate to their favorite store (for me that would be Anthropologie) and a beautiful 7x7 album of favorite images from their shoot!

fun. LIFE.

it's time.

I've been thinking about what to do for the contest of the year and decided that we are going to have a year long contest (no matter what don't give up this year...it's easy to get back to a simple plan, remember!).  We are also going to have some monthly contests.

Contest for this month:

This month's contest will go through the first week of February.  To kick off the year the winner will receive a pair of workout shoes valued at $70, a magazine subscription of your choice, you will also get the book that I'm talking about today.

To win:

you just need to be the person with the most comments/help/advice on Move it Monday posts.  Give us all of the wisdom you can muster.   We want to hear about a favorite recipe, a way to feed the midnight muchies something healthy, your favorite motiviational tool or quote, emotional tips, what you do when you're trying not to eat something you love, what you do to exercise, your mantras to keep you on the path, anything and everything you can think of that helps you out when you're trying to lose weight.  Tell us how you battle through those times of the month when it seems like you do nothing but sit around like a bloated whale because you're feeling full on pms.  What do you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  The person that posts the most ideas and is the most helpful will win the prize package (and some additional goodies).  SO get thinking and sharing in the comments section of Move Monday posts this month!!

Contest for this year:

The winner will receive a full day with me.  It can be a Day with Davina or it can be a full day of a photo session with me.  You get to choose.  It will also include other goodies that we will add onto the winner's package through out the year.  You will want to win this!

To win:

*Be the person that posts the most often on Move it Monday through out the entire year.

*Keep a journal and have at least 12 entries by the end of the year. (That's at least one per month...this is about getting some consistent habits.)

*Check in every week on Move it Monday comments.

*Get 20 minutes of exercise at least 4 days a week.

*Start eating off of smaller plates...or at least eat much smaller portions at every meal.

Now,  I know that you can't do this every single day of your life.  Take it a day at a time.  Do the best you can.  Don't give up.  The person that does the best at developing consistency will be the winner.  It's not really about being the one that loses the most weight (although I think that it will be a natural thing that will happen) it's about changing your approach to food and moving your body.

I just read another book..."I can make you thin"

 Paul says that you just need to do the four golden rules:

*Eat when you're hungry.

*Eat only what you want, never what you think you "should".

*Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.  (When you slow down you eat less naturally)

*Stop when you think you're full.

He discusses how our brains have made well worn paths from our thoughts and habits toward food.  In order to make new paths you need to change the way you're approaching food and exercise.  He has what he calls hypnosis moments that he has you do.  It seems to me that they are meditations coupled with acupuncture/pressure points.

I don't think that there is a magic formula to losing weight.  I do think that Paul has some good points.  Many of the golden rules that he suggests are ones that I'm already doing and seeing results with.  The other issues he addresses in his book are ones that I know I need to work on as well.

This book is included in this month's prize package.

So...share share share share.  Tell us in the comments what your hints and tips are for eating well, exercising, healthy food, and all of the rest.  Be the one with the most amount of helpful comments on Move it Monday posts and you'll be this month's winner!

good. LIFE.

new. home.

So there it is....we are moving to Clover, South Carolina.  It's a little town in the Charlotte, North Carolina metro area.  So...that means that Ingrid (email me as soon as possible!) was the first to guess the closest to where we are moving.  She wins a $100 IKEA gift certificate!! 

THIS IS OUR HOUSE.

Yes...this really is our house.  We're moving to a piece of dirt.  It's so strange the life works, the way it moves, and the way it does something that is completely unexpected.  As many of you know, because you've been following our home search, we looked at a lot of homes.  You voted and gave us wonderful thoughts, advice, suggestions and so much more.  We appreciate it immensely! 

I went out to North Carolina pretty convinced that we would, by a miracle of some kind, be able to find my dream house (the 100 year old renovated home in a great neighborhood with fabulous schools).  Every old home we looked at was in a delapidated neighborhood with schools that were even worse.  Needless to say I was pretty disappointed to walk away from those homes.  I also knew that I didn't want my kids to go to schools that were ranking 1 and 2 out of 10 on test scores.  It was a difficult decision but one I knew I had to make for the future of my kids' education.

That decision left us with 5 homes...one of them was my absolute fave but was way too far out of our price range.  It goes without saying that the seller couldn't meet what we were able to pay.  Of the other two homes one went under contract the day before we decided that it was on our finals list and the third home was going to have a freeway built next to it.  Huge bummer.  I was feeling pretty discouraged at that point knowing we had less than 48 hours left to figure this house thing out.  We only had two homes left on our list.  We knew that one of them could work and the other one we had remembered was too small.  Neither of them felt like THE home when we had walked into them.  We were hoping on a second walk through one of them would feel like the one. 

I went out to North Carolina really believing that I would walk into a home and would just love the one that we needed to move into.  I'd hoped I would feel really good about at a home and all other homes would pale in comparison.  Was that too much to ask?

At that point on Saturday morning I hadn't felt really good about a house except about the home that was beyond what would could afford.  We went to the leftover two houses on our list.  I went into the first house and we talked and talked as we walked through it.  We discussed every detail of how we could fit into this home.  It was beautiful and open and I was almost talked into it...until we walked out in to the back yard.  Then I didn't like the house.  The yard was close to other neighbors and didn't have one single mature tree in the yard, no fence, no porch...nothing.  I also had it in my mind that I was moving from Utah where I couldn't get hardly any trees to grow in my yard to a yard that would have an enormous amount of gorgeous trees.  Big strike against that house.

We drove down the lane to a brand new house.  We walked around the lot and it was gorgeous!  There was a grove of trees behind the house the led into a green space area (we don't have those in Utah...they are places that they zone for leaving green and undeveloped...ever).  We LOVED the lot.  Although this had happened a number of times.  We would find a gorgeous lot only to walk into the house and have it be way too small or way too trashed.  Or vice versa...a gorgeous home on a lame lot.

We held our breath as we went into the brand new home.  It was beautiful and the details were so nice!  It wasn't big enough!  Huge bummer.  We went back outside and walked around, saw that the other lot was for sale and hoped it had the same builder.  We looked at one last home that our amazing realtor set up for us (she was quite the patient person taking us around on a whirlwind tour of homes in the area...Nicolette Wiggham.)  As we sat in the sunroom of the next home totally disappointed that yet again it was a house that was not big enough for our family we finally smiled.  We had just spoken with the builder of the brand new house.  He had said that he was planning to build on the other lot, didn't have a buyer for the property, and was just starting the plans.  We were so excited.  He had answered a lot of our questions.  We talked about the possibiliites and finally felt like we had found THE house...we just never walked through it.  We are so excited to be working with Matt Swyt of Alluring homes.  He's a custom builder who does beautiful work.  We can't wait to get the ball rolling with him.  We've aleady been talking about the plans for the house and were thrilled to have found a 1/2 an acre of yard for our kids that opens up into wild land (check out the view that we'll have from our future bathroom).  We finally found something that will work on all fronts. 

When we went to check out the schools for the kids and the church we'll be going to it just confirmed to us that Clover, SC is the place for our family. 

The school that the girls will go to has a class size of 20 or less, they get the option at lunch time to eat in the cafeteria (can you believe how awesome their cafeteria is?  mine didn't look like that when I was growing up!) or outside, the technology in the classroom was amazing, the principal knew every person and child that we passed in the hallway during our tour, the teachers are wonderful, and so much more!

Emmett's school has a gifted and talented program at the school (currently we drive him to a school 20 minutes away for his program), it has band, choir (that has won state for three years running), a science club, lego team, newspaper, and photography club.  They have art every week (they don't have art at all here in Utah) and music every week.  There are so many exciting things about this adventure.

The skies were dramatic and pretty while we were there and I couldn't stop taking  pictures of them.  It's incredibly green and just driving down the road is an experience in nature. 

We are going to miss Utah very much.  We have so many people here that mean so much to us and who have cared deeply about us.  To you, please know that we cherish and treasure the blessing that you are (and will hopefully continue to be even though miles will separate us...) to us.  We have been so blessed by your lives and by your hearts.

adventure. LIFE.