Stuff For Sale

We have been trying to sell a few things on KSL Classifieds and Craigslist for a while now, but due to the holidays and tons of scammers, we haven't been able to yet. We are VERY willing to negotiate prices. So if you or anyone you know want any of this, let us know!

Couch--$175.00:



Neutral colored couch with 2 pillows. Good condition.

Pet free, smoke free home.





TV--$45.00:

20" Toshiba Quatro Bomba. 8 years old but has great picture and sound. The screen is flat, not curved, so there isn't any distortion in the picture.











TV Stand--$20.00:

Dark brown with 3 shelves on side and two inside. Very good condition.

Golf Clubs and Nice Bag--$65.00:



Grand Regal Plus Oversize Irons. 9,8,7,6,5,4,P,M,S. Acushnet Putter. Fairway 420 7 Wood Driver (Graphite). Very nice Knight golf bag (thick and padded shoulder strap and auto extending legs. A great deal.



Ilford Multigrade Black and White Contrast Camera Filters--$10.00:



Your student (high school or college) will need these for their photography class.

The twelve MULTIGRADE filters are numbered 00-5 in 1/2 steps, with the lowest filter number corresponding to the softest contrast. They can be used above or below the lens and can be cut to fit the enlarger filter drawer.

MULTIGRADE filters are very easy to use: no complicated calculations are needed when changing from one filter to another. The exposure time for filters 00-3 1/2 is the same; that for filters 4-5 is double.

The Sledding Event of the Season!

We had a really great time at Nate’s 3rd birthday party! We planned a sledding party with a bunch of Nate's cousins.  We had a lot of snow the day before so there was plenty to go around.  Nate really enjoyed spending time, laughing, and goofing around with his cousins.  Nate loved all the attention and loves all his toys.  Thanks for coming and making Nate’s birthday an awesome one!  See the rest of the pictures here.  Nate is growing up so fast.  We are very proud of him and love him so much!

Foto Friday - Star of Bethlehem

It's been a couple of months (sad!) since I've taken any "artsy" photos. Obviously, since it's Christmas, I wanted to photograph something that pertains to this beautiful season, but something a little more abstract than the usual holiday pictures.

Last week Rob showed me a picture from a photography blog that he follows. I thought it was cool and decided I should try something like that. I knew just the place. Layton Park has a huge setup of Christmas lights, which is perfect! It satisfies my theme plus works perfectly with the technique I was curious to try.

I bundled up and after showing me how to adjust the shutter speed, Rob wished me luck (secretly, I don't think he thought I'd have any!). I walked around the park, pinkie fingers frozen, excitedly getting what I thought would turn out to be fun shots.

For the technical junkies out there, the shutter speed that worked the best for me was 1 second and then I oh-so-slightly moved the camera in different patterns. These shots are actually very cropped in order to get such detail. I'm amazed that they are so crisp. I guess that wasn't so technical after all.

So, without further adieu, I present "Lightwebs" (Slideshow and Gallery).

Sweet Christmas Moment

This morning Nate crawled into bed with us before we all headed downstairs to open gifts.
Rob and I told him "Merry Christmas!" He leaned over me, kissed Rob on the cheek, and said, "Dwerry Drissdwass, Da-yee."

SO CUTE!

Southern Utah Ghost Towns

While visiting the St. George area we visited the Silver Reef and Grafton ghost towns (Gallery and Slideshow).  The photo above was taken at the Grafton ghost town (the Zion National Park area is in the distance).  They were both kind of cool but maybe not worth the drive to Grafton.  We only spent about an hour at each place (our visit to Silver Reef was cut short due to injury, and their just wasn’t much to see at Grafton).  I had a fun time hiking around in the ruins of Silver Reef and we were very fortunate to arrive at Grafton during “magic hour“ so we had awesome light!  Hope you enjoy the photos.

Thanksgiving Reunion

The day after Thanksgiving my mom’s side of the family got together for a reunion.  The family lives and works in a lot of distant places around the country/world so we took advantage of a lot of people being in town!  My parents put an insane amount of work into this reunion and we are all very grateful for their efforts.  It turned out really well!  My dad asked me to take some pictures and a large family portrait.  Not having enough power with my little SB-600 speedlight, I rented some really nice studio lights from Pictureline (if you ever need a camera go here, they are awesome).  These are the pictures we took and our first attempt with studio lights.  I hope you enjoy them.

Foto Friday – Discovery

Taken with the Nikon D40 near the Sand Dunes in Snow Canyon State Park, Utah on October 11, 2008. Manual Exposure Mode, 18mm, 1/25 sec f/7.1, ISO 800, Nikon Raw Format converted to Adobe DNG format. Edited in Lightroom 2.2.

We visited Snow Canyon on the weekend that tons of snow fell in Salt Lake (very strange) so it was still pretty cold in the St. George area.  We were playing on the sand dunes and not having much fun because of some strong and frigid wind (the girls and babies stayed in the car)!  Nate, Jake, and I decided to explore some rocks where the wind wouldn’t be so strong.  We came across this wonderful place and got some great photos. 

Some have expressed that this photo gives a feeling of entrapment; however, I feel much more excitement and sense of discovery from the light emerging from above to wrap around the rock and define the boundaries of the dark shadows below.  Perhaps some trove of knowledge, treasure, or even you are hiding in the shadow waiting to be discovered.  The pathway to discovery is often made with lots of texture, nooks, bumps, intriguing surfaces, angles that are perplexing yet fascinating at the same time, and filled with the great contrast that life has to offer.  Enjoy the ride and I hope you enjoy this image.

I took this photo back in October and I didn’t get a chance to work on it until this week.  What a treat it was to edit the Snow Canyon photos.  I really enjoy that place and feel that I have many more pictures to make of that park.  I hope that the Lightroom users out there will benefit from my processing description this week.  I have a cool tip for you.

My edits to this image in Lightroom 2 were not really extensive, although they were very deliberate.  I spent a long time working to get the boundaries of shadow and light just how I wanted them.  Too bad that none of you have calibrated screens to really see it right, sigh.  I worked mostly in the Treatment panel by converting the color image (by the way, it is always better to shoot in color and do the conversion to black and white in post – I’ll explain this sometime soon) and working with the exposure, blacks, contrast, and clarity sliders.  I increased the exposure by 3/4 of a stop to get the a really bright light from above.  Toggling on and off the alt key (command on mac) while increasing the black point (using the blacks slider) gives a very cool view of the how much of the photo is going completely black (this means all detail or texture in that area is no longer visible).  I used that approach to find the sweet-spot for the shadows.  I adjusted the contrast slider to give a little more separation to the lights and darks, then adjusted to the clarity slider (mid-tone sharpening) to bring out a little more texture in the gray areas of the image.  I almost forgot to mention that I used the adjustment brush (this allows me to make changes to specific parts of the image as part of the raw workflow – very cool) to darken the rock mass on the upper left part of the frame.  If you have a specific question about the editing please leave me a question in the comments.

A couple people have asked us for a few tips on how to improve their pictures of people.  Julie and I plan to put together a few tips that really helped us and guide a lot of the pictures we take.  Hopefully that will be beneficial for you all.  That’s all for this week.  Hope you enjoyed this image.  Have a great week and have fun behind the lens.

Snow Canyon

Here are our landscape pictures from Snow Canyon. It was really cold and windy that day, which was a bummer for Rob because he had two freezing girls with him. Otherwise, he would have been there for hours taking pictures!

Snow Canyon is such a treat! It's so fun to play in the sand, climb the petrified dunes, and view the amazing landscape. I don't think the place gets enough credit. Such a fun place for families to hike and explore! Here is a post we did about a different visit there. We'll probably return every time we find ourselves in the St. George area.

Oh, and you're in for a real treat tomorrow. Rob has an excellent Foto Friday that he took while there.

Yubanian Intermission

Continuing Julie’s theme of some of our activities while staying in St. George I present to you the story of a quick stop at Yuba Reservoir.   When traveling by automobile it is customary to take breaks every couple of hours to keep the kids happy and save our sanity.  Julie is really good at finding great ‘break spots’ wherever we happen to be.  She has mad skills; you should see her with a bow-staff!  Rain fell for most of the day; however, we were granted a brief window of fabulous conditions (most of the pics show threatening clouds in the distance) for our little stop-over at Yuba.   I feel pretty good about calling that a ‘tender mercy.’

Nate excels at ‘getting right at the fun’ in any situation.  No sooner had we arrived and got his sand tools out of the car, Nate was instantly having fun and we were right there enjoying the show.  Those of you that have a decent relationship with Nate know that he comes with his own traveling show (quite a perk I must say).  Watching him roll this log around in the water was so enjoyable; the trudging, the rolling, the concentration, awesome!

It appears that Madeleine enjoys the sand and water as much (maybe even more) as Nate did at her age.  She was really cute playing and watching her brother (the show factor here again).  After about 45 minutes, the rain clouds threatened more seriously and we continued our trek to Southern Utah.  More to come from our Southern Utah adventure.

Foto Friday - Boyhood

I love this picture. It's just so...Nate.

I used an imported preset called "New York Vintage" which faded the colors and added a slight vignette for me. Then I pulled some green and blue back in, and played with the lights and darks a little.

I took this picture on our second day at Zion's National Park on the Riverside Walk trail. Nathan and his dad had just finished throwing rocks and playing in the river. He is damp and covered in sand. You can just tell he's fascinated by the dirt he's walking through. He's not in a hurry to be anywhere or do anything. He's content. What I wouldn't give to be like that at times!

It was so great being outside in such beautiful surroundings and letting Nathan run around and play and explore. Isn't that what boyhood is all about?

St. George - Family

We took SO many pictures in St. George back in October that it's been hard to get through them all. We had tons of fun while there. For one of the weekends, my sister and her family came to stay with us. Which was totally cool.

During the two and a half weeks we were there we ventured to Snow Canyon State Park, Zion National Park twice, and two ghost towns (neither town totally worthy of the drive).

It was so fun to be somewhere different for more than a quick trip. We enjoyed the area very much and especially loved the weather and gorgeous scenery!

These pictures are just of the family in different locals while there. We'll do a separate "Landscape" post later.

Yoga

Wow!  Amazing!  About a year after Nate was born, Julie started some yoga classes at our gym.  Julie became very excited about it and is now a strong advocate for yoga and its benefits.  Well, Julie would come home and show me some of the cool positions she learned that night.  So I convinced Julie to let me photograph her doing some yoga during one of our photoshoots.  These photos are so much fun and so cool (photos and slideshow)!  The stuff that Julie does is amazing to me so I just had to share it!  Julie wanted me to mention that if she knew I was going to do a post on this, she would’ve done some other really cool moves (and that she’s kind of embarrassed by this).  We’ll photograph those next time we rent some studio lights.

So when I do yoga… well… you better just see the picture here.

An Illness

I have an illness. It's some mysterious disease that has plagued me as long as I can remember. The symptoms include the following (in this order):

Excitedness
Intense thinking
Driven searching
Becoming overwhelmed
Aimless wandering
Fatigue
Freezing up
Desperation
Hopelessness
Utter despair
Angst
Regret

This whole process takes place in under two hours. Sounds pretty bad, huh? Well, it is. I don't know what the scientific term for this is but the lay person may call it something as simple as "BUYING A GIFT."

I have had a major case of this my entire life. A few examples:

I was six and for her birthday, everyone gave my best friend Barbies. I gave her Barbie lipstick...that is, lipstick for Barbie. Not only a weak gift, but it didn't even work when we tried it in front of everyone.

I was nine and was invited to a birthday party for the daughter of one of my dad's friends. I didn't even know her but had $5.00 to spend on her gift. I searched the three toy aisles at Fred Meyer for an hour trying to find something great. I ended up buying plastic glow-in-the-dark bracelets. The party was a huge social event with dinner and clowns and all her other gifts included fancy clothes and a doll house.

While Rob and I were dating, I went to Sea World with my family. I wanted to bring him home a souvenir, but nothing significant because, at the time, we weren't on the best of terms. In fact, I thought that me going away for a week would either make or break us. Anyway, I walked around the gift shop for 45 minutes trying to find something and ended up getting some play goo stuff with an orca whale embedded in it. I just thought boys like weird, gross stuff. When i gave it to him he said, "Slime? You got me slime? Is this supposed to tell me something? Do I deserve slime? Do you think I'M slime?"

I always have the best intentions. I really care about the people I buy gifts for and want the present to be personal and something they'd enjoy. After going through all of this, as I'm leaving the store after purchasing the gift, I regret what I chose 95% of the time.

I know gift cards seem like a cure to my illness, but those just aren't fun to buy. I know, I know, what I go through isn't fun, either. In fact, it's miserable. But I always go into it thinking it will be.

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Foto Friday - Wave

Taken with Nikon D40 in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago, Illinois on October 29, 2007. Aperture Priority Mode,1/100 sec, f/20, 26mm, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format Converted to DNG. Edited in Lightroom 2.1. 

This is the structure above the stage in Millennium Park in Chicago.  I was completely amazed by this building.  The curves, the texture, the light.  It all blew me away! 

I started editing in Lightroom with my fake HDR process then really went in and tweaked the sharpening and contrast until it popped just right.  My goal with this treatment was to really help you see that aspects of the structure that really captured my attention!  Let me know if it works!  Sorry this is so short; I spent all my time tonight editing photos instead or writing!  Please enjoy this work and keep finding ways to enjoy yourself behind the lens!  Even in the cold!

The Kids – Fall Edition

The kids have been up to some pretty interesting things lately. They are growing up so fast. Here is a set of photos that we put together that show their fun personalities.

After looking through the photos we realized that Nate seems to have a shortage of clothes. Rest assured that Nate has all the clothes he needs; he just doesn’t want to wear them! Nate usually strips down to his skivvies within 30 seconds of coming in the door. He is just comfortable in his own skin I guess. Madeleine isn't very dressed either because it inhibits her crawling and she gets frustrated.

Some other details about them these days:

Nathan:

• He completely body slams his sister, pulls her down, drags her around, wrestles, etc. Most of the time she just takes it and laughs.


• His favorite saying is "Whatchu do, daddy/mommy?" He asks us this constantly.


• He loves, loves, loves to read books. We probably read six of them at a time six times a day.


• Repeating prayers is getting much better. For months he would just say ad ad ad ad adda. ad ad ad ad adda. aaaahhh (amen). Now he actually says real words.


• He has to sleep with no less than five blankets. Every time one gets dirty, I'd put it in the wash and if i didn't get it through in time, I'd pull a new one out of the closet. Then he never lets me put any of them away. Each week I try to sneak one, wash it, and put it away but he always finds it before I get it back to the closet.


• When he knows it's bedtime, he tells me "No sleep" and then puts his hands next to his head and snores, and says "No sleep" again just so I don't misunderstand him.


• He has such a spunky personality. He makes his dad and I laugh all the time. We see his imagination starting to kick in and we love it.

Madeleine:

• She is so determined. Especially when it comes to crawling over, under, and through anything to get to something she wants.


• She sucks up mandarin oranges like a vacuum.


• She's adopted a bedtime bear. This thing isn't very old but already looks like a maimed mess. She sucks on its limbs, cuddles her arms around him, and lays her head on his chest. She won't sleep without him.


• Her absolute favorite thing to do is to hold onto my fingers and walk around. She's getting really fast and she steers me to different rooms with ease.


• She observes how people do things and tries to do them herself. She tries to put the lids back on her snacks, fit her shapes into her bucket, color, put money in the piggy bank, etc. This girl is smart.


• She is a very happy little girl. If she isn't tired or hungry, she doesn't have a care in the world. So playful and satisfied.

These kids are great. We love them so much!!

Foto Friday - Variations on a Drip

I took these shots in Zion National Park on the Lower Emerald Pool Trail. I pushed the stroller (when Nate didn't want to walk) up the mountain and Rob had Madeleine in the backpack. He and everyone else on the trail were snapping tons of photos but I wasn't really in the mood to take my own...I wasn't feeling inspired to do so for some reason.

As I was sitting there waiting for Rob to be done and keeping an eye on Nate, I noticed a specific drip coming from high above me and hitting a very small puddle. I was amazed at the perfect little bubble the splash created! How cool! All of a sudden I was inspired.

I positioned myself and put the camera on action mode so the camera would automatically take four consecutive shots. This way I was sure to catch some good shots. It was still harder than I thought it would be because the splash occurred and dissipated so fast. I ended up taking about 40 shots to get these six.

They're not the highest quality, but still really cool. I encourage you to look at the large version in order to see the detail in the bubbles and ripples.

Cute Robby!

How adorable was he?!?!

Foto Friday - Corners

 Taken with Nikon D40 at Snow Canyon State Park outside St. George, Utah on October 11, 2008. Manual Exposure Mode, Nikon Raw Format. Edited in Lightroom 2.

We visited Snow Canyon the weekend of the big snowstorm in Salt Lake City (glad I wasn’t there).  It was fairly chilly but still had a good time.  I wanted to stay for hours more but the kids and girls with getting cold.  The overcast skies provided very interesting backgrounds for our photographs.  Stay tuned for a whole bunch of family pictures from our stay in St. George. 

I took this shot near the top of a very large petrified sand dune.  I just loved seeing where the plant life has developed on the petrified dunes.  The folds and curves in the rocks are a surprising contrast with other rock fragments that are just strewn about.

In Lightroom I did the black and white conversion, added a sepia treatment in the split-toning panel (give a color to the highlights and darks), adjusted the contrast, made the light spot in the corner show up more and adjusted the darkness of the shadows a little using curves.

Now a question for you.  I’ve been debating on whether or not the bush on the rock line is distracting.  I’m considering removing the bush and the other small areas of grass that creep into the scene at the rock line.  I think they take away from the rock/sky transition.  Let me know what you think.  Hope you enjoy this image and remember to enjoy yourself behind the lens!

Fort Buenaventura

For Labor Day (I know, this post is 2 1/2 months old) we went to Fort Buenaventura in Ogden. We were supposed to be there for the big Mountain Man Rendezvous, but it didn't end up starting until the next day. Oh, well. It was kind of nice being there without too many people.

I'd say the best part was renting a canoe for $3.00 and watching the testosterone leak out of Rob's ears. He had a blast paddling around the little lake and feeling like a burly man.

The fort has a few fun events that happen year-round and we're excited to venture there again when actual stuff is going on.

1 Year Since

I'm sick, so this is going to be short. But I wanted to write a little because today marks one year since my brother passed away from intraocular (eye) melanoma. My family went to Leatherby's, his favorite ice cream spot, to commemorate but I was too sick to attend.

It's still hard to believe that it happened. It's been a pretty emotional year for the whole family. I'm in the process of writing down every memory I have of him so that I can remember him as much as possible. It's sad, but I find it therapeutic.

We really miss you, Brian, and think about you all the time. How about being an angel on the field for the BYU vs. Utah game again?? You did it last year!

Julie's Tag on Rob

1-Where did you meet your husband?
In a Salt Lake Community College student ward. My first Sunday there I spotted him from a distance and thought him an interesting prospect. Later that day I heard that the ward choir had plenty of men but no women, so I went and he was there. I introduced myself.

2-How long did you date?
We were friends for a couple of months until he realized the girl he was dating wasn't worth his time. Then we dated on and off for a couple of months, then seriously for 4 months before we got engaged. We married 3 months later for a total of 1 year from when we met.

3-How long have you been married?
6 fabulous years in December.

4-What does he do that surprises you?
Not much. I know him pretty well. But he did surprise me with an amazing birthday this year including a surprise party and a song he learned to sing and play on the guitar.

5-What is your favorite feature of his?
His broad shoulders and his legs. He has very muscular soccer legs.

6-What is his best quality?
He's really good at making other people feel important and at ease. Even when he has just met them. He is also the most amazing dad ever.

7-Does he have a nickname for me?
Julianna, which is weird because when I first introduced myself to him as Julianna, he immediately asked if he could call me Julie.

8-What is his favorite food?
Pizza and Jamba Juice.

9-What is his favorite sport?
Soccer.

10-When and where did you first kiss?
It was after our first "official" date to the zoo. We were in his driveway and he kissed me. I'm telling you, it was a storybook kiss.

11-What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
Talk and talk and talk. Anywhere about anything.

12-Does he have any hidden talents?
He's a really good teacher and very good at math. His high level engineering classes had math problems that were tens of pages long.

13-How old is he?
Going on 29. Ouch!

14-Who said "I love you" first?
He did, twice. The first time we were driving down to St. George together to spend a weekend with his grandparents. Right before we got to their house he pulled over to the side of the road and told me "I think I'm falling in love with you. I'm not there yet, but it's coming." Two weeks later on my birthday he told me that he had indeed fallen.

15-His favorite music?
Can I list his top 25? He's a music fanatic with over 2800 songs in his i-tunes library.

16-What do I admire most about him?
There are a lot of things, but his patience, his positive attitude, and his outoing nature are a few.

Foto Friday - In The Eyes

So how cool is this elephant? When the circus came to town I took Nate and Madeleine to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey parade down the street in the middle of Gateway Mall. It was short, but so much fun! We were really close to the big elephants and Nathan just loved it.

These shots are kind of bizarre. I wanted to play with different settings and tried to get really creative results. It was really fun! There are a couple of shots that are pretty wild (Rob would say creepy) but that's on purpose. Seeing that they're circus people and all...

With this shot, I turned the exposure all the way up and masked out some background noise. Then I turned up the clarity to bring out the texture in this elephant's skin.

Every time I look at this picture I'm drawn to her (or his) eye. Is she smiling? Does she enjoy making all the little children happy? I'd like to think so.

A Little Party in the Park

Near the end of August, my cousin Nicole was making her way north to attend BYU Idaho (please don’t judge her too harshly).  Nicole and her mom Roberta stopped in Salt Lake to visit the family on the way to Rexburg, ID.  We had a little get-together at the park and had a really fun time visiting together.  We didn’t take too many pictures but please enjoy the few that we took here.

Things I Could Be Doing Instead of Blogging

A MILLION THINGS!!!!

So why am I sitting here instead of doing one of those million things??? Because I do stuff all day long and there's ALWAYS more to do. So sue me for wanting to chill.

There's so much on my mind that I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep tonight; which is one of the most frustrating things ever. So I was going to write a bunch of my thoughts down with hopes of getting it all out of my brain before bed. But there's just too much. It would take me hours.

So instead, I guess I'll go finish cleaning the kitchen. That way it's ready to get dirty again tomorrow at 7am. At least this way I won't feel like I've wasted a spare moment. That would be tragic.

I'll hope for the best with bedtime.

Foto Friday – Colors on the Wall

 Taken with Nikon D40 in the Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah on October 25, 2008. Aperture Priority Mode, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format. Edited in Lightroom 2.1. 

This is my (I think Julie has more coming – Yay!)  last hold-out from the photowalk we did a few weeks ago.  See more photos from that day by the whole group here.  While wandering around the Gallivan Center wondering what I could shoot, I wandered into a recessed grassy area next to a bridge (this was actually a bridge over nothing – weird).  On the side of the bridge were large stripes of various colors!  I was really excited about finding this wall!  The theme of the photowalk was “contrast” and I thought this would work perfectly. 

Not much to say on post processing.  Added a little contrast then put them together in Lightroom.  Easy.

We (people) are extremely similar in some ways and extremely divergent in others.  We all feel the same emotions, yet our expression of these emotions is as varied as the colors on the wall.  The 2008 elections are finally over and whether we feel discouraged, elated, or indifferent about the many choices that we (the people) made on Tuesday, we need to remember that we are all People, all Americans, and all Children of God.  Remember our common nature and revel in our differences.  They’re fun after all aren’t they?  :)

Wouldn’t this wall be boring if it were just painted white?  How does the bridge over nothing play in here?  Weird.

Invaluable Learnings

I've had the thought come to me quite frequently lately that Rob and I aren't posting enough "personal history" because we're always posting about our latest pictures. We have such a backlog that I get caught up in catching up instead of writing about more important things.

One thing I've been meaning to write about is some of the invaluable lessons I've learned from each of my parents. They've always tried their hardest to be great examples to their seven kids and I want them to know that I appreciate it.



From my dad I've learned:

• To find something, anything, that I love to do. He always wanted each of the kids to find a niche and explore our talents. Two of mine just happen to be two of his! Reading and photography. There were many nights growing up when I saw him reading in the living room. The room was dark except for one lamp on next to him. I don't know why, but that always gave me a good, peaceful feeling. My dad had a really old (by my standards) camera that I was fascinated with and always wanted to learn how to use, which I never did. He frequently gave tips on how to compose a nice shot and think about lighting.

• That it's okay to let someone get away with something (Translation: You don't always have to tell it like it is). There have been many times when I've asked him either out loud or to myself, "Why is he letting him/her get away with that?" or "Doesn't he know better than to believe him/her?" It's taken me a long time to understand that he is letting that person work things out on their own. It's not always our place to correct. Sometimes lectures don't work. Sometimes you just need to show love.

• To enjoy traveling and exploring new things, including different people and cultures. He was in the Navy and was stationed in Southeast Asia and I always liked hearing him talk about the funny people and his experiences. He has always had the urge to get up and move somewhere new. I have that same urge. He also got me my first job in travel when I was 13. When I was 16 he took me on a tour of the Travel Department at Church Headquarters and introduced me to people he knew. I ended up getting a job there two years later.

• To value the Priesthood. My dad was such a good example of a worthy Priesthood holder. Along with giving us a name and a blessing and baptizing us, he gave father's blessings whenever any of us felt we needed one. Without him, how would I know what to look for in an eternal companion? How can I ever thank him for that?

From my mom I've learned:

• That cooking for and eating dinner with your family is a really good thing. I was one of those really fortunate kids whose mom took the time to prepare good, healthy meals almost every night. Of course, I didn't fully appreciate this at the time, especially on Minestrone Soup night, but I've learned how valuable this is. When I got married I didn't know how to cook hardly at all. But the desire was there and I realized how much I wanted to provide that meal and time for my own husband and children to eat and talk together.

• How to keep good finances. She helped me open a checking account when I got my first job and taught me how to balance my checkbook. This skill has proven absolutely vital! I have no idea how people get along without knowing where and when the money goes. Money matters are still stressful, but mom's example: Priceless.

• That it's okay to not have a "Lightning Bolt" experience in order to have a strong testimony. She always told us "I don't know how I knew, but I just knew." If I hadn't known that, I may have gotten discouraged for never having a "born-again" moment when it all came together and my testimony was formed. Instead, I feel good that I always just knew.

• To be charitable with time and means. My mom has always done so much for her kids, grandkids, and parents. She spends so much of her time serving them! She's had several kids and parents move in and out of her home. She's always running errands for them, loaning or gifting money when needed, offering advice, praying for, and planning fun get-togethers. Whenever one of her kids asks how they can repay her for whatever she's done, she just says, "Show the same kindness to your kids when they need help." What a great example!

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. I just felt it was very important to express my love and gratitude for my parents. They have gone through so many things that would have broken any novice in no time flat. But they are pros. They've seen and been through it all, with much more to come, I'm sure.

Mom and dad, keep up the amazing job that you're doing! I promise, it's not thankless!

I love you!!

New Wallpapers

I know it's been a while since we added anything to our "Free Desktop Wallpaper" set, but today your wait is finally over! Go ahead and browse our new backgrounds.

Some have had questions regarding exactly HOW to download a wallpaper. Flickr isn't always very intuitive, so here are the instructions:

1-Click on our "Free Desktop Wallpaper" link at the top of our webpage.
2-Click on the picture of choice.
3-Click on the "All Sizes" link above the photo.
4-Click "Original" above the photo.
5-Click the "Download Original Size" link above the photo.
6-Choose either "Open".
7-Right-click on the picture and choose "Set as Desktop Background".

There you go!

An Hour in the Afternoon and a Walk in the Dark

I find it interesting that children seem to have very specific needs from each parent on a one-on-one basis at such a young age.  I spent some fun time with each of my kids today and I just wanted to write it down and share. 

This afternoon while Julie was at a meeting for scouts and Nate was sleeping (the poor guy was pretty sleepy) I spent an incredibly rewarding hour with Madeleine.  After feeding Mad a bottle she wanted to play with my face for a while (this was really fun).  Then I helped her stand up (she really loves standing up these days) to face me and we engaged in a laughing and giggling competition.  Then we both got down on the floor to crawl around, push books around, put things in our mouths (this was mostly Mad), laughing, giggling, smiling, and just goofing off.  We had a fabulous time.  I think she really enjoyed spending time with her dad without competing with her brother.  Madeleine has been mobile for a couple of weeks now and she has already moved past the crawling stage and started pulling herself up on things and is most happy when we are helping her walk.  What a cute and ambitions little girl.

After playing with Madeleine we (Mad and I) went upstairs to wake up Nate from his afternoon nap.  Nate was groggy and just wanted us to go outside and play.  Well, it was pretty cold and wet outside and I didn’t really want to take Mad out either.  I explained to Nate that Mom would be home soon, that we would make and eat dinner, it would get dark, then he and I would take a walk outside in the dark with a flashlight!  He thought that was a pretty cool idea and was excited about it for the rest of the afternoon/evening.  Finally dinner was over and it was time to go out.  Nate wore miss-matched shoes, I wore socks with sandals (terrible I know), we both wore long sleeve shirts and sweaters, and we were armed with one maglight. 

We walked slowly around our area, examining leaves, dead bugs, trees (Nate really liked illuminating the (pokey) trees and declaring their existence to me), water, storm-water grates, the sidewalk, and occasional basket ball hoops.  The world looks very different in the dark and Nate had a blast discovering anything and everything from that point of view.  We got cold after a while so we came home to sit on the couch under a blanket to get warm and watched the rest of a dinosaur movie to relax.  Nate is so creative and interested in everything around him.  At one point he identified a bush as a tree and we went back and forth a few times trying to decide if it was really a tree or a bush.  LOL, I really love that kid.

I have two great kids and I love them both so much.

Foto Friday - Red Bridge

Creative name...I know.

I took this picture a couple of months ago at the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake. We were there with the Williams' side of the family for a picnic. Those pictures are forthcoming.

I really liked the contrast of the red bridge against the greenery. I just punched up the colors a little bit and added a slight vignette.

Happy Halloween!!!

The Dark Side of the Moon

How many of you have heard the Dark Side of the Moon live? A few weeks ago my brother Kelly and I went up to our family's italian restaurant LeNonne (their food is absolutely amazing) in Logan to hear precisely that. The evening was complete with awesome food, friends, family, and of course awesome music. My cousin’s husband PierAntonio is the owner and executive chef of LeNonne and the bass player of the jazz band Hot Karl and the 3rd Street Band – no web page. :(

A few times a year they get together with a few extra musicians and perform the entire dark side album. They are all extremely talented musicians and their combined skills along with projected graphics and sound effects combined to created a great performance and experience. Kelly and I had a great time.

While enjoying the music I snapped several pictures of all the cool musicians – if I qualify musicians with the adjective cool, does that imply that some of them were not cool and that I don’t have any pictures of them? I hope I got them all! While shooting these photos I envisioned a very dark and grainy representation so I took a bunch of slightly to somewhat underexposed images at a high ISO and I think I was pretty successful at complimenting that feel with my post processing edits (let me know what you think). You can find the pictures here and a slideshow here; please enjoy them. Well done to the band!

High School Yearbook

Hope you enjoy these as much as we did! We basically couldn't stop laughing!

Untitled

This is my favorite shot that I took from our photowalk yesterday. I've left it untitled because I think it's a picture that induces a little bit of thought and can reflect a few different ideas.

I'm curious, what does this picture say to you???

More Hymas Family

Since babies grow up so fast, we did more portraits for my sister. It wasn't an easy shoot because we lost the sunlight really fast. Note to self: Schedule fall and winter outdoor photoshoots earlier in the day.

I do have to say that Jake and Karen are so easy to take pictures of. They have really good chemistry and are so easygoing that it makes posing them really fun. Plus, Jake is such a jokester and makes us all laugh the whole time, so it's easy to get natural smiles from them.

Jordin is 3 months in this picture and always wears the cutest outfits. Her little diamond earrings are so adorable.

Below are links to our favorite picture from the other shoots we've done of them.

Engagement
Wedding
New Baby

Post Photowalk Instructions

We all had a great time on the photowalk this morning!  It is so much fun to take pictures with friends.  You can find the official Flickr group here.  If you participated in the photowalk and are not a member of Flickr or one of my contacts, then we need to fix that before you can participate in the group. 

How to get in the group!

• Go to www.flickr.com and sign up (why not, it’s free!).
• Upload some pictures, set everything up, and get used to Flickr. There is really good help information at the bottom of every page.
• Go to my profile page here.
• In the upper right corner you see blue text that says, “Add Engineering Nerd as a contact.”
• Then wait for me to invite you to the group.  You’ll get an email asking you to confirm.  
• To access the group, click on the “Groups” button at the top of every page on Flickr where you’ll see a list of groups that you participate in. Click on “Main Street Photowalk – Salt Lake City” and you’re there.

How to add photos to the group!

• After uploading your picture to Flickr, click on the picture in your photostream (here is ours).
• Just above your photo you should see several buttons.  Click “Add to group” and choose the “Main Street Photowalk – Salt Lake City” and then click “add” when prompted. 

In the group you can share your photos, make comments on the photos of others, and participate in the discussions.  My hope is that we’ll all learn a lot as we post-process the photos and discuss the results together. 

Have Fun!

Foto Friday - Salient

 Taken with Nikon D40 in Zion National Park, Utah on October 18, 2008. Aperture Priority Mode, 22mm, 1/160 sec f/11, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format. Edited in Lightroom 2.1. 

We are finally back from Southern Utah and we have a ton of sweet pictures to share.  To wet your appétit, I decided to use one of those shots for Foto Friday!  I don’t have much time tonight so I’ll keep it very brief!  In the words of Nate, “HOLY COW!”  Zion National Park is freaking amazing and if you haven’t been there you just have no idea what I am talking about.  Bottom line here is that we have an amazing world with some of the most amazing scenery right here in our state!  We are so lucky.

This shot of a foot bridge over the Virgin River was taken at the trailhead for the Emerald Pools (great hike by the way).  Nate and Mad both did really well on this hike!

To recreate the singularity of the scene I increased the contrast, increased the saturation (I did this selectively for each color), and added a little mid tone sharpening.  That’s it!   Hope you enjoy this image and remember to enjoy yourself behind the lens!

Note to the photowalkers!  Tomorrow’s lunch location has been changed to Pier 49 Pizza because the sandwich shop is closed on Saturday.  See you tomorrow!!

Final Photowalk Details

The RJSnowPhotography Photowalk is coming up this Saturday at 10 AM!  The theme is CONTRAST. Here are the details.

• Meet Location: Let's assemble at the west entrance of Gallivan Plaza (download map). 
• Route: Main Street between 1st and 4th South Streets. 
• Parking: You can arrive at the plaza using Trax or by parking in metered parking stalls (free on weekends) on the streets surrounding the plaza. 
• Food: We will be eating at Gandolfo's located at 158 South on Main Street around 11 AM to discuss the our photos.  Bring a laptop if you have one.
• Check below to see if you are on the official list.  Please contact me if I accidentally left you off the list, can no longer attend, or if you would like to attend.

Rob and Julie S.
Andrea R.
Travis and Claudia G.
Eric B.
Dean and Holly O.
Deb J.
Jason
Dayna M.
Dayna's Friend
Tyson and Diane G.
Becca G.

UPDATE 10-24-08:  Gandolfo's is closed on Saturday.  We will be eating at Pier 49 Pizza instead.  See you tomorrow!!!!

Pain in the Butt

Ouch!!!!!

Last weekend we visited the Silver Reef ghost town in Southern Utah with Karen and Jake (Julie's sister and brother-in-law).  Julie was enjoying herself taking some photographs of the town and the rest of us were having a great time exploring when our fun was interrupted by a yelp of pain from Julie.  Moments later we learned that she had crouched down to get a photograph and sat on a cactus! 

As you can imagine this was a very painful and embarrassing experience for Julie (I really couldn't stop laughing, I'm bad I know).  The stickers were not too bad; however, it did cut our day trip short! 

Lesson learned: always watch where you stick your butt!

Foto Friday - Luminance

Isn't fire amazing? Who can't stare at a candle flame or campfire for any amount of time and not be blown away by its beauty? I've learned the science behind it (not that I truly understand it all that well), but just like so many other things on this earth, it truly attests to the existence of God. Only an almighty Father in Heaven is able to create such marvelous miracles.

This picture was taken a couple of years ago with our small Nikon point-and-shoot. I didn't really tweak anything except blacken out the background.

Sorry for the short post. We're still in St. George and might not return until the middle of next week. We'll keep you posted.

Handsome Nate

Here are some pictures of Nate captured with Rob's camera phone. See a trend? Yeah...cute...

Photowalk Theme

The RJSnowPhotography Photowalk is only two weeks away now.  We have about 15 people registered so we should all have a great opportunity to learn from each other.  I'm so excited!

Julie and I have spent a lot of time bouncing ideas about the theme or subject for the photowalk.  We had so many good ideas and thoughts but finally settled on "Contrast."

We are not going to expand on our theme in order to let your own minds feed your creativity.

We will be meeting downtown at 10am and will announce the route, parking suggestions, meeting locations, and where we will be eating a few days before the photowalk.   If you have any specific questions, please comment below or send an email to photowalk@rjsnow.com.

Foto Friday - Weathered

This post was accidentally deleted. I'll try to restore the text at a later date.

Welcome to Washington City

We are in Washington City (St. George), Utah for the next two weeks. Rob is working on a design for a lane addition to a bridge over the Virgin River. The kids and I were able to join him because I was able to get us into a rental home rather than a motel room. Definitely the way to go!

Nate has had so much fun exploring all the incredibly fun things to do here. We have an enclosed Nate-proof backyard with a water spigot and lots of landscaping rocks. He loves "swimming" in the large and deep garden tub and had a blast in the glass-enclosed shower. The kitchen faucet has a spray function that he loves to play with (I haven't dared show him that it extends!). The big-screen tv has a woofer on the floor next to it that he enjoys putting his juice boxes on. There are no toddler locks on the doors so he can go wherever he wants. The kitchen chairs have wheels so when Madeleine is in her booster chair, he pushes her around the floor. There are lightweight bar stools that he can carry wherever he wants to go in order to get into things formerly out of reach. The owners must have a grandson because there are a billion matchbox cars for him to "vroom" with. If only we could all be so happy with such simple pleasures!

Here's something that's weird. Rob and I have been down here a multitude of times, both separate and together, and it's always been kind of "eh." You know? It's just St. George. But this time we both are really liking the area. I'm not sure if it has to do with it being more developed than it used to be while retaining some "rural" qualities or the fact that now we have kids and see it as a clean, safe, and friendly place. Don't worry, we're not considering moving down here. The three main reasons are (1) The summer heat; (2) There are no equivalent engineering jobs for Rob. And (2) there is a house for sale one street over from where we are now. We looked at its flyer and found out it's a 3-bedroom home just a little bigger than what we live in now, but nicely updated and upgraded. It's selling for $337,000! Wow. That's a lot of moolah for such a little home. Oh, well. There aren't any kids around here anyway, only elderly snowbirds.

Foto Friday - Peace and Purpose

The best photos one can take aren't those that capture just a beautiful image, but one that captures beautiful memories and feelings.  As mentioned before, I worked for 6 years at the Church Office Building on Temple Square.  Almost every day I was able to walk on the stunning grounds in the shadows of some of the most beautiful edifices on earth.  I could be having a hard day at work and all I'd have to do is walk out the doors and I'd be in instant peace.  I could physically feel my body ease and my mind quiet.  

All seasons are beautiful there, but in late April and early May thousands of tulips and trees are in bloom, just in time for spring General Conference. The hustle of the tourists from all over the world, missionaries, and general authorities galore gave me and the work I was doing a sense of purpose and meaning.  It wasn't just another "job."  I was one of the many, many people giving their best to further the work of the Lord.  

I still miss it.  I have never second-guessed nor regretted my decision to stay home with my children. But I will never forget all the lessons learned, friends made, and special feelings I had while there.  Eventually, when I go back to work again, I have a hard time thinking I'll want to work for anyone other than the Corporation of the Presiding Bishopric.

I decided to just finish off my old Temple Square batch and put the last of the photos into a slideshow.  Who knew I'd get so much mileage out of one short shoot?  

Joseph, the Red Chair, Breanna, and Grandma Snow

Breanna (my sister), Gene, and Joseph came down from Boise a few times this summer.  We spent some time with them at the International Peace Gardens, at the Snow Household, visiting the Grandparents Snow, and rocking out at the Warped Tour listening to Kelly's Band (Poetica). 

Most recently we took a few pictures of Joseph in the famous red chair.  This is the same chair that my Dad used as a young child so there is a lot of good feelings and emotions surrounding this chair.  So much emotion, in fact, that it was very difficult to shoot Joseph in the chair. Hoards of grandparents and relatives congregated around the shoot location blocking out the light, blocking Julie while she was trying to light Joseph with the reflector, distracting me (shooting at the time), and completely distracting Joseph, only to get a few pictures on their cell phones of him sitting on the red chair.  Despite all this we still got a couple pictures that are cute.  You can see his other picture from the shoot here.  

Before heading to see Kelly's band play at the Warped Tour, we all had a good time visiting with Grandma Snow.  Grandma Snow has had a sweet and kind influence in the lives of her grandchildren.  We love her very much and I think this shot of her and Breanna is very cute. 

Stories For FHE

In the past we haven't been the best at having Family Home Evenings. We just plain forget or know that it will be impossible to keep Nate's attention. But a few weeks ago we made yet another commitment to do them.

So one Monday night I got a book out that showed a few different pictures of Jesus. We showed Nathan the picture of Jesus' birth, teaching people, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, hanging on the cross, and his resurrection. We didn't really have a lesson planned, we just talked about what happened in the pictures. To our amazement, Nathan was fascinated!! Okay, well, mostly about the bad guys hammering Jesus' hands and feet. But we felt pretty good about him even being interested in the stories.

Being encouraged, we decided to try again the following Monday night. This time, I didn't have any other pictures to really look at but Nate LOVES to watch Rob and I draw. So I decided we'd keep his attention by having Rob draw the pictures to the story I was telling. Hmmmm, what story?? I thought Jonah and the Whale would keep his attention and teach him about obeying Jesus when He asks us to do something. It totally worked!!

Last Monday night we did it again, only with the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den (teaching about Heavenly Father answering prayers). It worked yet again!

Moral of the story...Nate is totally game for FHE as long as we tell a violent story. Maybe in the upcoming weeks we'll teach him about Abinidi in the fire, Moses and the 10 plagues, or King Solomon threatening to cut the baby in half. Geez, there are a lot of fun "boy" stories to choose from!!

Yeah...We should probably try and tell nice stories, too...

Foto Friday - eerie

Taken with Nikon D40 near Alcatraz, California on January 26, 2008. Aperture Exposure Mode, 30mm, 1/125 sec f/4.5, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format. Edited in Lightroom 2.0.

I'm pulling another photo from our trip to Alcatraz today.  There was just so much material to shoot, so many emotions, and so much history that everything became totally fascinating. As we cruised in on the "double decker" boat most of the visitors congregated on the upper deck (open air) while Julie and I stayed on the lower deck.  The upper deck was extremely packed which really hinders the photographic process; the lower deck however, was almost empty (good start), and best of all, some of the windows could be opened!  So I camped out at an island-side window and prepared to shoot.

We first passed the west side of the island which didn't look to disarming in the nice and warm light of sunset.  We circled the island and came back to the port on the south east side.  The east side (shrouded in shadow) is where the eerie and scary feel of the island really jumps out at you.

As we passed by I made this exposure of the the old chapel and sally port (GPS Lat 37.827, Long -122.422).  To be honest, I didn't realize what I had until I got this photo into Lightroom and started playing with it.  I increased the contrast and mid-tone sharpening to bring out the texture, blew out the light clouds in the sky using the adjustments brush, did some split-toning to slightly bring out the yellows and greens (split-toning adds a color cast to the shadows and/or highlights), and gave a slight blur (in Photoshop) and vignette to the edges of the shot.

These changes help share the eerie feeling that I had as we cruised past this part of the island. It was a great experience that you all should take if you are even in San Francisco. Remember to take the night tour and bring a fast lens. Anyway, that all for this week.  Enjoy yourself behind the lens and happy shooting!

Photowalk Dream

Last night I dreamt that everyone met at our house to go on our RJSnowPhotography Photowalk. I came up with a fantastic route and an equally fantastic place to eat afterwards. As everyone gathers, he tells me that I can't go. I have to stay home and watch the kids!! He also decided that the walk was going to last all day and into the evening so he was just going to stay at The Hotel Monaco overnight. I was so mad!! To smooth things over with me, he had some homeless man deliver me candy...M&Ms and Triscuit crackers.

To Rob: Yeah, well I AM coming and you can't stop me! (By-the-way, the M&M/Triscuit combo wasn't bad. I may have to try that someday.)

RJSnowPhotography Photowalk - Downtown SLC

Julie and I are hosting our first semi-annual RJSnowPhotography Photowalk in downtown Salt Lake City around 8 or 9 am (subject to change to get us the best light) on October 25th. Save That Date!!  The downtown area is overflowing with interesting things to photograph.  Check out a set of photographs that Julie took with a "point and shoot" camera a couple of years ago while waiting to meet some girls for dessert at the Melting Pot. 

So what is a photowalk anyway?  A photowalk is an opportunity for a group of photographers to work together, have a great time, and improve their skills through collaboration!  After the photowalk, we'll assemble at a local eatery for some food and to view (I figure that we can come up with enough laptops) and discuss each others photographs.  For some weeks after that we can continue to share and discuss our photographs after post-processing.  I'll probably set up a flickr group to create a common area for us to share our photos. Details of the photowalk route and lunch location will be forthcoming but please save the date and contact either Julie or myself if you would like to attend.

Update:  Attendance to this exclusive event will be limited to 20 people so get on the list soon!

Foto Friday - Wallpaper

For those of you who get our posts via email, you may not visit our actual webpage very often. Well if you do, there's a new incentive to do so.
Free wallpapers! There is a link at the top of the site.

Once again, I took these at Temple Square a few years ago. I didn't do much editing, just a little white balance and contrast. No biggie.

This was Rob's idea and I think it's great. This picture is an example and every so often we'll add new wallpapers here. So check back!

Rob & Julie Before the 10-Year

 

On August 15th of this year we attended my (Rob) 10-Year Reunion - you can always count on a reunion to help you feel old. We had a fairly good time at the reunion.  I got to see a bunch of friends (Dee, Mel, Erica, and Wyatt and Lacey) which was really nice.  We sat next to Wyatt and Lacey and we had a really good time hanging out with them. 

I graduated from West Jordan High School TEN freaking years ago! It is sort of weird to be this old but I can't complain one bit about how my life has turned out.  I have an amazing wife, great kids, a challenging calling at church, a stimulating career (most of you probably don't consider dirt and earthquakes to be stimulating...but I do), photography, travel, and UTA.

Since we were all dressed up and going to a nice place for the reunion (Gardner Village in West Jordan), Julie and I decided to try our hand at taking some self portraits.  With a lot of teamwork, about 20 minutes, and of course our sexy subjects, we took a bunch of really good pictures.  See the complete set here (or slideshow).  I had such a good time with Julie on this photoshoot.  We have great chemistry and it is just so rewarding to share a fun hobby. Enjoy the photos!

Foto Friday - Lime

Taken with Nikon Coolpix L6 at Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico on March 17, 2007. Automatic Exposure Mode, 6.3mm, 0.003 sec f/3.2, ISO 50, JPEG. Edited in Picasa 2.6.

The beach at Punta de Mita differed a lot from the beach near our condo in Bucerias.  A few more people, more rocks, birds, and boats.  As we walked onto the beach we came across these awesome tables and umbrellas!  I love the natural construction of the umbrellas, the sand, and blues in the water and sky against the vibrant lime green of the tables!  Outstanding!   I also really like the little kids playing in the background.  Very fun and free.  Thanks for that amazing vacation Julie!!!!

To continue Julie's theme from last week I chose this photo that I took with our little "point and shoot" L6 (of course it is a Nikon) and only slightly modified the exposure in Picasa 2.6.  That's all for this week.  Remember that it is more about the photographer than the camera or software. Enjoy yourself behind the lens and happy shooting!

When The Hubby's Away....

Rob's in Glenwood Springs, Colorado again for work. This is how he describes what he's doing this time. "Driving around all day looking at cliffs. Then spending a few hours writing about cliffs." Hmmmm. Pop Quiz....what is Rob's profession??? Anyone? Anyone? I'll even give bonus points if you get the exact term. Even people who have heard him explain what he is never really remembers except that it has to do with dirt. Give up? He's a Geotechnical Engineer. Whenever he tells people this, they all nod their head and pretend they know what that is. Don't be embarrassed if you're one of those people. Those people are EVERYONE. But he loves it and that's all that matters.

So anyway....

Once again I came down with the travel bug and Rob had to continually remind me that I did NOT want to go with him. Remember this post?

Not 30 minutes after he left I had two emergencies. My MSN Messenger wasn't working (I love IM-ing! I'm actually chatting with Rob right this minute!) and there was a huge spider! Okay, medium spider. But it got away!!! And isn't it weird that the house always seems darker when the man is gone?

Well, I hope you have fun with your cliffs. I love you, honey!

Someday...

Someday I hope to...

• Sleep in until 11am on Saturdays like I used to before kiddies.
• Get Lasik. I'm blind as a newborn.
• Go all over Asia and on a European river cruise.
• Have my bangs do a perfect side swoop. Two cowlicks makes this nearly impossible.
• Have a spotless kitchen for a whole day.
• Go to a ball, just so I have a reason to wear a gown and look like a princess (I know, I'm like a 4-year-old).
• See all my children married in the temple.
• Stop thinking about my to-do list.
• Have rippling calf muscles.
• Have a fenced-in backyard for Nate to play in.
• Follow promptings 100% of the time. I'm good at it unless it involves talking to or interacting with other people. My shyness kicks in.
• Buy a shirt that's not on the clearance rack. Old habits are hard to break.
• Be published.
• Have a real-looking fake tan.
• Go to bed at a normal time. After years of staying up until 12:30 doing homework, It's been hard to get to bed any earlier.
• Paint my living room. We've lived here for over two years and it still isn't done.
• Spend an entire day at an expensive spa getting the works done.
• Consistently edit and post pictures within a week of taking them.

Wow. That's a lot of "somedays". Maybe someday I need to focus more on the present.

Foto Friday - Aspiring Heavenward

I took this picture 4 years ago. I worked at the Church Office Building at the time and decided to walk around Temple Square one day after work. It was springtime, which meant all the beautiful tulips were out and the trees were bright white with blossoms. It was gorgeous! I was a little worried since it was overcast, but I think the clouds in the background ended up working really well.

To get the shot to look this way, in Lightroom I turned down the exposure and upped the fill light in order to get the detail in the clouds. Then I played with the contrast and clarity so that the Gothic architecture of the temple would stand out. I then bumped up the yellow and orange luminance so the plaque and Angel Moroni would pop.

One reason I wanted to show this photo is because I took it with our very first small digital Nikon Coolpix camera. See! No fancy SLR required! All you need is a good eye and some photo editing software (a couple of FREE ones are: Picasa and Photoshop Express).

Experiment with your camera and software and get great photographs!