Fun with Photos

Hello there! I've been experimenting with photography and got some fun shots this month:

I also did a last minute photoshoot of my niece (below):

I need to edit out whatever that is in the bottom corner there, just ignore it for now :-) 

That's all for now :-)

Photoshoot

Here is a sample of some finished photos from my first newborn photoshoot. I'm still a ridiculously new learner as far as Photoshop goes, so I'm hoping these look good ;-) If they are a little extra grainy it's because I read about, but did not practice, or remember, the technique for saving a photo for the web in Photoshop. Still, I'm happy with the results!

I couldn't decide which edit I liked better of this momma shot, what do you think?

It was really fun to do this shoot, and I'm excited with how the shots turned out. Can't wait to do more shoots this summer! I plan to make a separate blog for just my photography, so I will post the info for that when it's done. I already have one on Wordpress, but it's more complicated to run than Blogger. I'm thinking of offering to do photoshoots for free or for a donation with anyone interested this summer. I just love getting the knowledge and experience under my belt. I think I want to do this professionally, but not for a few more years. I have a lot more to learn, and more equipment (woohoo) to acquire :-)

March Recap

Where does the time go? It's April already?

Well this is a March recap.

At the beginning of the month we made a trip to Anchorage for Spring Break. On the return part of the trip we saw these Caribou:

It was my first time seeing Caribou in Alaska. I've only seen them, previously, while driving through Canada!

We had a St. Patrick's Day party at the in-law's

For the record, the hubby told me to make that face for the picture....

I wanted to practice frosting stuff, so I made the cupcakes and decorated them:

These two wanted to pose for a lot of pictures, so I took a few:

aahhh, don't kiss me, bleck!

I did a photoshoot for a friend. It was my first newborn photoshoot. I'll post some pics of that later. But while setting up for it, baby 3 jumped into the props and began posing. She's so cute!

Here is my final project cake for my first cake class, thanks goes to my sis-in-law for helping me think of a design for it:

It wasn't actually anyone's anniversary, but writing Happy Birthday seemed so boring.

And I've gotten to have my sis-in-law over a lot of weekends this month, usually to help her for a Saturday date with her beau. They had a formal army ball to go to so I helped her with her hair:

And then some photos :-)

G-boy lost a front tooth. I thought he had already lost those.....

The tooth fairy bear brought him a $5 bill. He thought it was just a paper dollar. Apparently we need to continue our money learning.

Also there is a war going on between the tooth fairy and the tooth bear. Apparently fairies are too, well "fairy", so in my hubby's family there is a tooth bear, and he brings more money than that silly fairy.....

I still let her come though :-)

Guns, Cakes, Kids & Church

Friday night was the tournament night for the shooting league I joined recently. I did so good!!! (Compared to how I've been doing all along anyway :-) I was in division B, which is next to the top, I only expected to be in a lower division. Then I took 3rd place in my division, by ONE point!!!!! That was agonizing! In shooting, if you tie, then whoever had more X's (bullseyes) breaks the tie. I had him on X's, 6 to 5. If only I hadn't missed that ONE shot, I'd have passed him in points.....oh well. It was super fun, I've already signed up for the next league and hope to keep improving. I shot enough qulifying scores to reach the Pro-Marksman level, woot woot.


Also, I have started cake decorating classes at Jo-Ann's. Here's my latest practice:

The icing got too warm, since I let it sit out over night.....so next time, if the icing is stiffer it will make prettier flowers.


On a child-related note, the other day G-boy asked me, "Mom, did Dad choose you to get married to?" I was like, "Yes, of course! And I said Yes" ;-) G-boy then said, "because he gave you a big ring?" "Yes, I married Dad because he gave me a big ring" lol.

And lastly, my calling at church is with Activity Day girls right now, we had fun doing this on Wednesday:

Dare I Hope?

 The above photo is a significant view. One that I only get to see a few months of the year. The sun shining in my window. It was so bright and warm. I had to document it, no matter how silly. Dare I hope that Spring is coming soon? It was "warming up" for awhile (15 above, ha). Then yesterday it dipped to -11, but the sun does that sometimes because it takes away the insulating cloud cover. So, I am going to hope. Spring has to come at some point anyway. Besides the sun feels sooo good.

Averie had her third belt test in Tang Soo Do today. This is her receiving her new belt. Both Gideon and Averie started Karate in August. Averie is a Tiny Tiger, so they have a few more "tests" than the older kids to help them feel like they are progressing I think. Gideon has not had a test yet but it's coming soon. His teacher can be scary on test days, so I'm nervous for him. They work really hard, but they have to get it perfect. Gideon is really coordinated though. He really really enjoys karate and is often picked to be the example to the rest of the class of how to do things correctly. Whew! This momma couldn't take it if he were one of the ones being yelled at and crying every day.....

These pics of Hallie are just showing a technique I read about forever ago but finally got to try today. Notice the shadow on her face on top, and the improvement on bottom? You just use something solid and white, i.e. foam board to bounce the light from a window or light source onto the shadowy side of your subject. I used something similar to foam board used by a sign company in town for making signs for businesses. It was neat to see the subtle, yet difference-making change it can give your photos. 

Can I show off a little?

 This is what we made for family members for Christmas:

 (Please excuse the yellowness, oops)

I've been wanting to make plaques of some kind for a long time, so I was so glad when the hubby said he would help me. We cut the borders of the wood ourselves, primered, painted, cut vinyl letters on my Cricut, then painted over all of it with a clear coat. We made 5 in total, whew!

I am not good at keeping people updated because I feel like I am so busy all the time, but then I cant remember what I was doing that made me so busy.

For one thing, we are just trying to keep the homeschooling going strong. I think I am finally finding my comfort zone with it, and I have found some awesome resources. (And then there are those days that Charter schools are looking really good......I can always threaten I guess)

Tim is school until 7pm every weeknight this semesterl except Thursdays, then he's in class until 9. So I just keep busy.

I have been trying my hand at shooting in a .22 gun league, and am actually really enjoying it. I am not an ace at it yet, but not bad, I think I will keep doing it when finances permit...

Otherwise we have spent a lot of time at doctors offices. First because the kids were all sick so we put them on antibiotics for about 4 different things between them. Thats all under control now,  just have to remember to give them their vitamin D and fiber supplements every day and hopefully they  will stop getting sick! I swear I never got sick as often as my kids do, what gives? 

The doctors have also been trying to figure out why my feet and legs have been hurting since October. They said it was tendonitis, but they were lying just so I could go to physical therapy and be approved to go for my insurance, have to have a diagnosis..... then they thought I may have a herniated disc in my back causing refer pain in my legs. But I had an appointment today and I don't fit the bill for signs of a herniated disc, sigh..... At least then I would have been able to get it fixed.  

So that's us, I'm excited for spring to get here. I started a bunch of seedlings really early this year, since last year my flowers didn't bloom in time.  But I overwatered a lot of them this year, so I hope I still have time to re-plant some more flowers. 

Also, I found a really neat website that emails you and tells you what you should plant that week according to where you live and your climate etc...it's really cool. http://www.sproutrobot.com

If you have been on Pinterest you may have seen it, and if you're not on Pinterest...you should be.....

;-)

Wow, so I haven't blogged in a long time. I barely found where to add a new post since Blogger has changed a little since my last visit.
I like the way my blog looks though....lol Didn't even remember the last changes I made to it.

For now, I just wanted to say that I am adding some resources to the Education link at the top of the blog. I have found some awesome sites thanks to Pinterest. If you don't use Pinterest, you're missing out, really you are.


I will try to post more with a better update of us when I get a chance....no promises though ;-)

TGIJ!

Thank Goodness I Journal!
I don't even remember things that happened a month ago except I see them here on my blog! Being a mom means donating your brain to your children I think.....


We've been busy.
Averie had her 4th birthday. We were going to just have a party 2 days after her birthday, but Tim wanted to make her real birthday special too, and I am really glad he did. We had a lot of fun just planning and being together.

Home party.

Balloon fights!

Human jungle gym

Everyone got "shades" & ring pops.

Here is Tim's present for Father's Day:

Kind of cheesy, but each food item had a quote. My favorite was the apple: "Thanks for being the 'core' of our family".

I ordered this print from Iloveitall on etsy. I know the card is blocking part of it, but you can tell what it says.










And, very sadly, a friend of ours, Michael Murray, passed away June 4th from an accident at work. We've been trying to be there for his wife and we went to his funeral services Friday night. He was an awesome guy, wonderful father and husband. We were in total shock and still can't believe he's really gone. It's so sad to think of the family he's leaving behind, and scary to think sometimes that it can happen to any of us. I'm so grateful for the gospel and that I know Heavenly Father's plan for us. Michael's wife has been very blessed to be surrounded by family and church friends and we'll all continue to try and take care of her every day and keep her smiling. She is pretty awesome though and is taking everything a lot better than most.

We just love their kids (they actually have 3, the older one is just missing from the photo) and on a somewhat lighter note, Mike's wife and kids wrote messages on balloons and sent them up to him on Fathers Day, I thought that was such a sweet idea.

So it's been a busy month already. Gideon rode a bike without training wheels for the first time this week, Averie turned 4, Hallie is 9 months now and had her first "beach" excursion at the lake this weekend ( I forgot my camera though). Tim's in summer school, and I keep busy with everything that a mom's life entails. Yea for summer! (Anyone else notice your house messes double in the summer?)