How to post Big photos on your blog!

Ever wonder how to get big photos on your blog? I have for a long time and I finally sat down and researched it enough to figure it out.  There seem to be a few different ways, but this seems to be the most simple!  So here goes...

1. Save your template! If you mess it up the first time, you can always go back to what you started with.

2. Alter your blogger template- You only have to do this ONE time.  You have to have 'minima stretch' as your chosen template.  Then, go to "Customize", Layout" and then " Edit html".  You want to make sure your posting area is big enough to accommodate the larger images.

Under "outer wrapper", change only what you see in RED below:

(note: for 2-column blogs, I believe you can go up to 915 instead of my 700 under the main wrapper.)

Outer-Wrapper

----------------------------------------------- 

outer-wrapper

width: 1150px;

main-wrapper

width: 700px;

3. Upload your photo to your blog post. Choose the "large" option. The photo below is how it originally looks:

4.  Alter HTML codes for your picture.  Click on "edit Html" in the upper right hand corner of your post, next to "compose".

5.  There are 3 numbers to change: Change the numbers in red to the blue numbers below:

300px; height: 400px; src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBRctjAV0-2qR2h-BXT05H_k6pobHZRCZwk48QJcJrFNSUl6hjq8IgAOhyYJZL_0HZd5ScInTcvwDc77aAJ8W8v_WeNJAY0c67wYlItVLZcG6zf99FFth5cpoVVMINZFEOZWq8699dGk4/400/100_2562.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364614918149483506" /

480px; height: 640px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBRctjAV0-2qR2h-BXT05H_k6pobHZRCZwk48QJcJrFNSUl6hjq8IgAOhyYJZL_0HZd5ScInTcvwDc77aAJ8W8v_WeNJAY0c67wYlItVLZcG6zf99FFth5cpoVVMINZFEOZWq8699dGk4/640/100_2562.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364614918149483506"

Here is the altered BIGGER photo...

5.  Here's the only confusing part: The numbers you change depend on the original size of your photo.  Whatever the size, add (up to) 60%, and that will be your new number.  For example, 200px + 60%= 320 px.

Smokin' Husband

Here's a little something about my husband.

I am proud to say he's one of the hardest working people I know.  When he gets an idea in his mind, there's nothing that can stop him until he gets it completed!

I like it- hard work, good work, and completing the task.

Here is his latest side project at work.

A Smoker.  Built mostly with scrap material. 

(They don't typically build smokers, they are electrical contractors and the smoker is for 'morale and reward' -I made that up, but you get the point).

Misty 6232

I have found a new paint color to go into my list of favorites!

"Misty" by Sherwin Williams.

(second color down)

I can be picky with paint colors, so my list of all time favorites is short.  This color made the cut!

It's a light blue-gray color and looks fantastic in my laundry room.  Our house is on the market, so as soon as I had a small square of test paint on the wall, of course a realtor calls and wants to show our house the next day!  So, about 3 hours later (Luke took an awesome 2 hr nap for me!) I had the laundry room painted. 

Here's the boring white walls before...

and the peaceful "Misty" walls after.

After painting, we headed to Publix and picked up a box of Borax and some Fels Naptha bars.

And I made this arrangement.

What are Fels Naptha bars?  I really don't know, I just needed something to put in my third glass container and decided on these in the laundry aisle.  They make the room smell SO clean!

Maybe next time I have a stain, I'll try them out.

12 Month Well Check

We had Luke's 12 month well check today.

His height is 32" (90th percentile) and he weighs 24 lbs. 3 ounces. (75th percentile).

He's a healthy little boy!

On the way to the Doctor, so peaceful...

We spent about 1-1/2 hrs. at the doctor's office! Do they seriously think a 12 month old is cut out for that?  I don't understand at all! Anyway, Luke did really well for the first 35-45 min.

We spent a good bit of time playing with the curtain.

Once the Dr. came in and checked him out, he was done!

We then had to wait, again, for the nurse to come back with his 4 shots.  One in each arm and each leg.  It was the first time I got tears in my eyes along with all of his tears.  I sucked it up, checked us out, and headed to meet Nanni for lunch for his first PB&J sandwich. (now that the doctor gave us the go ahead on the PB)  He ate every bite and has been cheery ever since.  He's a tough boy!

Friends Birthday Party

Luke's second party was for all of his "baby friends".  It was low key...lunch and swimming, and it turned out great!

Everyone tried to grab something to eat in between keeping an eye on all the babies and kids around the pool.

Luke likes his swing by the pool better than being in the pool.  He also loves to find his belly button.

Mr. Clint, keeping his eye on two at one time.  Good practice for his coming arrival in February.

We sang to Luke and gave him his cake.

After eating his cake.

We gathered inside to cool off and opened all his fun gifts!

Happy, Happy birthday boy!

ALL the kids were into ALL the gifts...

and Luke was into Brodey's belly button!

Luke thanked everyone by clapping after all the gifts were opened.

Thank you to all our friends who came to celebrate Luke's birthday! We feel so blessed.

Family Birthday Party

Luke's first birthday party was with all of our family.  Luke had so much fun; he ran around like he knew everyone was there for him!

I did a simple construction theme and had dessert for everyone.

My favorite (and by what was left, everyone else's favorite) dessert was the dirt cake in the dump truck. Yummy!

The favors everyone went home with, candy coated Oreo cookies.

If you want to make fast friends with Luke, offer him a bite...of anything!

Luke's first gift of the day came from the sweet lady at Publix.

And the second from Nanni and Papa.  Both were hits!

Did you see those 2 seats in the wagon above? Yes, we already have the next space filled.  See the sweet, tiny bump below?  Baby Evans is due to come January 1st!

Luke trying out his first chair.  He loves his chair, although because it talks to him and spins around, he's still a bit cautious. 

Cake time.  I thought because Luke loves to eat so much, he would surely dig into his cake and have it everywhere.  To my surprise, he was very gentle with it.  Maybe it was because he had about 30 people staring at him and singing to him.

Thanks you so much to all of our family for not only sharing Luke's birthday with him, but for being there this entire past year for our family! We love each and everyone of you!

Happy First Birthday!

Here's my sweet boy on his birthday!  I am so blessed to have spend a whole year with my buddy!  I love him to pieces, more than words could do justice!  More to come on all the birthday happenings...

A Year Ago Today...

This was me a year ago today in surgery, hard to believe! The video is very "g-rated" but not for those of you who are squeamish about surgery.

Happy Birthday, Andy & A Weekend Away

Andy turned 31 this past Wednesday! Because I was 8 days away from giving birth last year, for his big 30th, we didn't really do anything special.  So, to make that up to him, I planned the most fantastic weekend away at the Ritz Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation as a surprise!

The surprise could not have gone more perfect.  I had gotten him off work for 1/2 day on Friday without him knowing it. (It's nice when his boss is his uncle and his mom works there also to make sure the surprise would go flawless!) 

As we were on our way, he figured it out by looking at my GPS, even though I told him not to.  I then filled him in that our friends were coming on Saturday morning to join him at the golf course and me at the spa!  As always, I didn't take enough pictures.

If you've never been here, I HIGHLY recommend it!  (It's only about 1-1/2 hrs from Atlanta.)

The whole group at the infinity pool with Lake Oconee behind us.  Beautiful!

The hotel has s'mores every night at the firepit.

Everything about this quick weekend vacation was absolutely perfect!  It was my first time away from Luke and I missed him like crazy!  However, it was good to have some time away and without a schedule and I knew he would get quite spoiled by Papa and Nanni while I was away!  When I got home, I had imagined Luke's huge grin and how he would run straight into my arms.  Instead, he stayed right by Nanni and hugged on her and just stared at me! What?!?

When we arrived on Friday, Andy & I spend a couple of hours touring some of the model homes and cottages at Reynolds Plantation.  If you're interested, here is a slideshow of some of the photos I took...

Playground

We visited Nanni at work today.  The kids aren't back in school yet, so we couldn't resist the empty playground!

Dress like a Cow, eat free Chicken

Yesterday at Chick-Fil-A if you dressed like a cow, you get a free meal.  We met our friends, Kristin and Clint, at Chick-fil-A (a normal "night out" now that we have babies!).  While all of us refused to dress like a cow, we did dress Luke and Maddy up!  They were the cutest 2 cows at the restaurant!

"Can we PLEASE get these stupid ears off?"

He's a WALKER!

Even though Luke knows he can get from place to place faster if he crawls or walks with someone's assistance, I think it's safe to say he is officially walking!