sneak peek: Sarah and Gary

I am putting my fancy pants camera to good use and did my first engagement shoot today! This good looking couple is in our ward and are getting married in March. I had a lot of fun taking these this afternoon, except that it was cold! So much for our warm weather! Since she couldn't wear them in the photos, Sarah let me wear her gloves. I'm so glad she did! Luckily, you can't even tell these guys are cold. Sarah, there are lot more where these came from!

the Harmons

My friend Dianna asked me if I'd take some photos of her family for their Christmas card. I jumped at the chance to get in some more practice. We headed outside yesterday and enjoyed a beautiful, unseasonably warm afternoon. Little Clara is at that age where she doesn't want to smile for the camera, but I think we got some good photos just the same. Here are some of my favorites.

thanksgiving!

We had a really fun and non-traditional Thanksgiving this year. Last year it was Indian food, this year we did Japanese with our wonderful friends Molly and Arnie.

But first we hit up the movie theater to see Australia. It was good! Very long, but hello--Hugh Jackman for three hours=very good.



We brought Asher along for his first movie going experience. He was asleep when we got there but woke up when the previews started and proceeded to watch most of the movie. He was amazingly good! He slept for a little bit in the middle, but other than when I fed him, he watched the rest of the movie. It was really cute. He even talked to the screen. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him watching the movie, but I didn't think our fellow movie goers would appreciate that.

After the movie we met up with Molly, Arnie, and baby Thea (10 days old). Molly wanted to take advantage of not having her older two kids (They were at the grandparents in Virginia) and go out to eat. So we went out to a Japanese Steakhouse.


Good times were had by all.

Many thanks to the sweet Japanese lady who took this photo, even though we aren't in focus.

And many, many thanks to Molly and Arnie for hanging out with us on Thanksgiving!

Also, my little brother Michael came home from his mission in Brazil on Thursday. I was sad we couldn't be in New Mexico but we get to see him in a few weeks.
Welcome home, Mike!
Picture stolen off Facebook.

giving thanks

for the beauty of the earth

for the beauty of the skies

for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies

for the beauty of each hour

of the day and of the night

hill and vale, and tree and flower

sun and moon, and stars of light

for the joy of human love

brother, sister, parent, child

friends on earth and friends above

for all gentle thoughts and mild

Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise

depression: pushing daisies dead

I guess rumors have been swirling for awhile now, but it was confirmed last week that ABC is not renewing Pushing Daisies. In essence it's been canceled! This is tragic! Pushing Daisies is seriously the best show on television. It is so clever and funny and unique with so much charm and wit and a fantastic cast. I am really, really sad about this. ABC what are you thinking?! Maybe if you actually promoted this show once in awhile the ratings would be better. That stupid writers strike last year is still causing damage. All the new shows last year lost their momentum.

The only good news right now is that Daisies creator Bryan Fuller told E! News that he may finish the storyline in a serious of comic books or a movie. Please, please, please let their be a movie!!! I love this show so much. I love Ned and Chuck and Olive and Emerson and the Aunts. I love the Pie Hole. And we need to know what happens to these characters. Apparently, the last episode that will air is a total cliff hanger too!

Big sigh. I hate that good shows like this get canceled. It was nominated for like 12 Emmy's! What is the deal?

Here is ABC's address if you want to complain:

ABC
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-4551

Here is their online comment form: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html

And someone even started a website to try to save Pushing Daisies where you can sign a petition. Check it out: http://savedaisies.com

the need for speed

One of my favorite things about having a fancy pants camera is its speed. And one of my favorite reasons why I love the speed is because I can capture moments that only last a second, like my baby's funny faces.

For example:

I didn't even realize he made this face until after I looked at the photo. What is he doing with his eye here? Trying to wink?

It was quickly followed by this:

He loves rolling over. Especially when I'm trying to take his picture.

four months old

The Ash Man is four months old today! I can hardly believe it myself. We went to the doctor for his check up this morning. He weighed in at 16 pounds 11 ounces and was 25 3/4 inches long! He was between 75% and 90% for height, weight, and head size. Not bad! He's more than doubled his birth weight. Here are a few photos I took this morning. I love this little romper-- can you believe it is a size 6-12 months? He barely fits into his 6 month size stuff now.

We sure adore this little guy! He's been so happy today even though he got shots. What a trooper!





I'll be posting more photos and doing more of an update on Asher's blog this weekend.

mr. sleepy head

So this week is turning out to be rather the opposite of last week. Instead of major hysterics and little naps, the past couple days Asher has been sleeping SO much and when he's awake he's quite happy! Yesterday he took like 5 naps, one of which was 3 hours long. (The others were all under an hour.) Last night he slept for more than 7 hours straight which was lovely. Today he took a nap this morning, was up for an hour or so, then fell asleep again this afternoon for around 3 hours! I was laying on the bed with him for that nap, and he did wake up enough to eat at one point but then was right back to sleep. And then just a few minutes ago we were both on the bed-- I was on the laptop and he was laying here playing with his monkey. I realized I hadn't felt him move in a little bit and looked down and he was totally asleep! He never falls asleep on his own like that. He pretty much always has to fall asleep in our arms and then be laid down. I think he is having a major growth spurt. I swear he looks bigger every time he wakes up! We go to the doctor on Friday for his four month check up (can you believe he is four months old already?!) and I am excited to see how he's measuring up. And to find out if all this sleeping is normal! He hasn't slept this much during the day since he was a newborn.

thanks Danielle

...for this super cute onsie!

We love it!

To get one of your very own check out Danielle's Etsy Shop!

thinking about photography

I've been thinking about photography a lot lately. I've also been taking lots of photos. Like these from my walk the other day. But back to the thinking... I've become quite passionate the past couple years, and especially the past couple months, about taking pictures. It really fills me with joy to capture a moment in time in a photograph. I like beauty, and I like being able to capture the beauty around me, whether it's my baby's face or a colorful leaf.

Photography has always seemed rather glamorous to me. I remember back in high school thinking that being a photojournalist would be my dream job. But for some reason it also seemed utterly impractical and was never something I really considered, although I was able to take one photojournalism class in college as an elective.

It wasn't until I started blogging that I really started getting into photography again. There was something about having a place to put my photos that made taking them much more fun. Also, the blogosphere is a never-ending fountain of inspiration. There are so many great photographers out there. And I really want to become one of them!

I've been quite happy with some of the photographs I've taken recently, but I always see where I can improve and am quite critical of myself. Also, I have pretty much no official training and am trying to figure things out on my own. When I see the work of some "professional" photographers who I know went to school for photography, I get all intimidated and feel like I'll never be that good.

My dream is to have a little photography business where I take photos of kids and families and maybe an engagement photo now and then. I have very little desire to do weddings--way too much pressure! And I would love to do some fine art photography too. How cool would it be to someday have an exhibit of my photos? So cool.

The other day I was feeling rather uninspired and overly critical of myself, when I read this from Ken Rockwell. He is a photographer/engineer who has a photography website and dishes out lots of good advice. He said:

Photography is only about seeing cool things and taking their pictures. Seeing is the hard part; taking of the picture is a trivial afterthought.

Too many hobbyists find it easier to skip trying to grasp the difficult and abstract seeing part, and instead jump ahead to worrying only about the easy and relatively insignificant technical part. Sadly, being a technical master still won't get you good pictures, but a kid with a QuickSnap [disposable camera] and a decent eye will.

If you can see, you'll get good shots... If you haven't (either consciously or unconsciously) mastered gesture, balance, humor, color, tone, impact, harmony, rhythm, positive and negative space and all the other real parts that form the fundamentals of every photograph, any good shots you get are pure luck. You'll get boring pictures no matter how much you spend on camera gear, so I'm always stressing learning to see.

This idea really boosted my confidence. Yes, I have a lot to learn. Yes, I have TONS of practicing to do. But I already am well on my way with the most important aspect of taking great pictures--I see! I get all those abstract things he's talking about. Of course I have lots of ways I can improve, but I do basically have a good eye. I'm really excited that as I practice more my eye will just get better! And I'm excited that by getting better at all the technical stuff, I'll be better able to capture what I see.

Plus, I always take comfort in the fact that for every great photographer there are also tons of crappy ones. And there are even crappy ones making money at it! So while I will never be the best, I think I've got some potential and I can only get better.

And if in the end, I never end up doing this professionally, at least I'll have the ability to capture my family and leave a visual record of our lives.

one of those days

It's been one of those days. You know. Just see the above photo.
Actually the past two days have been one of those days. I saw a lot of the crying face.
A LOT.
I'm not sure if it's a growth spurt, or if he's feeling a little sick, or if he's just plain tired, but it has not been fun.
And now I am just plain tired!
Also, my house is a disaster. Seriously.
I watched Oprah today and they were going to people's houses to help them organize and clean.
I could be one of those people. I would welcome the help and not even be that embarrassed at this point. Well, I'd still be embarrassed. But to have someone else clean and organize my house would be worth the embarrassment.
Yo, Oprah producers, wanna come over?

But it hasn't been all bad.
In fact, Asher has also had some really fun moments. We got him laughing the other night.
Oh, how I love the sound of my baby laughing!
Tonight between the hours of 7 and 9, he was just darling and now he is sleeping soundly.
Oh yeah, and we did take a nap together this afternoon, although I felt just as tired when I woke up as when I fell asleep. Go figure.
So say a prayer that it's a good night and Asher sleeps well.

Occoneechee Mountain

We have had absolutely gorgeous weather the past week or so. The colors are vibrant and the temperature temperate. It has been ideal! I wanted to take advantage of this and go for a hike over the weekend. I did a little internet search and decided to try out Occoneechee Mountain State Park. I found directions on google maps and we were off Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, Google maps let me down and what should have taken less than 30 minutes, took more than an hour. We had to stop and buy a map at a gas station and FINALLY got there! It was really frustrating and I almost gave up a few times, but we finally found it and it was so worth it! It was a so beautiful--the light was perfect! And it really was a little mountain!







How precious is that sweet face?




It really was this beautiful!


An obligatory self-family portrait








This was at the top of the mountain at an overlook. Sadly, there was a sign that said we couldn't go closer because it was unsafe. Is that an amazing view or what? I'm really bummed we couldn't go to the edge.


I can't resist this face!


This is pretty much what I do all day long--kiss those cheeks!


I love that he is actually smiling in this picture with me.


This is the same pond that I posted the other day. The light and the trees and the water were all perfect!