The Lantern Fest

When I learned that the Lantern Fest would be in Arizona, I was ecstatic! My older sister had gone to one in Albuquerque and raved about how beautiful and photo worthy the event was. I had high expectations for the evening, especially for all of the gorgeous photos and videos I had anticipated making. Well, if you follow my Instagram account you've probably read my rant about how the night went terribly wrong, ha! There are lots of negative things that I could say about that night, but in doing so, I feel like it won't help me get over it (yes, it happened over a month ago and I'm still a little bitter, but when my high expectations are not met, I tend to hold a little grudge....). I've included my Instagram post about it below:

Are you the type of person to get really bummed out when things don't turn out how you thought they would? I am. It's hard for me to get over things when my expectations don't line up with reality. (Think about that heart wrenching scene from 500 Days of Summer. Oof.) The lift-off from the Lantern Festival was supposed to be the most exciting part of the night, but instead it was the most stressful for a few reasons. 1. My toddler- fire was literally surrounding us, from the fire pits to the tiki torches to the lanterns themselves, and we had no way to contain her (kicking myself for not bringing our stroller to contain her during the launch). So when we found out that lighting the lanterns was a two person job, I was heartbroken because one of us had to hold Gwen at all times so she wouldn't run off into a fire pit, making it difficult for the other person to light the lantern by themselves. 2. I didn't get as many videos or pictures of the launch as I wanted to. Again, this is due to keeping my eye on Gwen the whole time. This may seem trivial to some, but I really wanted to take like three times as many photos as I did tonight. It's the photographer in me. 3. Ryan and I got in an argument about how to light the lantern. He apologized. I threw myself a pity party. Life goes on. 😓 Sorry for the massive caption- but mommin' is hard! I want to take Gwen to do fun things like this, but tonight just proves that we should never leave the house. 😂😂 I'm totally joking... It just feels like it's not worth the stress, sometimes. I wanna hear other mothers' stories about going out with their kids, expecting the best and coming out of it thinking "Why did we do this??" Sorry for all the complaining!! Mom life is rough, but it can also be pretty sweet. It's just hard to see that balance with a toddler that drives you up the wall 😬 There were some really fun parts about taking Gwen to this festival, like dancing to the live music and playing with the hula hoops, and the lanterns were gorgeous in the sky 😍 #lanternfest #lanternfestival #momlife #toddlerlife #thisiswhywecanthavenicethings

A photo posted by Beverly Houpt / What A Day (@bevhoupt) on Nov 12, 2016 at 12:23am PST

I did take some videos of the event! Of course, I wish I would have been able to give better attention to my artistry while using my camera, but also I wish I could have given Gwen better attention, instead of just being cross with her half the night for trying to run away.  Mom guilt for sure. It was stressful. At least I know for next time that we should bring friends and take turns watching each other's kids while we launch the lanterns. I learned a lot that night!

A photo posted by Beverly Houpt / What A Day (@bevhoupt) on Nov 13, 2016 at 9:40pm PST