Wesley's 8th Birthday

Warriors preparing for war. Toilet paper fight. That is what Wesley requested. No Problem!

Was it a big mess? Yes, but... the boys cleaned it all up. 5 Minutes flat. Good kids

Wesley's cake was Despicable Me. Super cute.

He had a great birthday, great time, great friends. Thanks to all that came.

Cali for nia

Disneyland on Thursday. It is a good day to go. Nate and I really enjoy taking the boys to the magical kingdom. Indiana Jones Ride. One of our family favorites.

I didn't get a picture of the tower of terror but here is a little insight that I find interesting. Nate likes rollercoasters, but doesn't like T of T. The up and down motion bothers him. Then we come to find out that Andre (his brother) doesn't like it either. But his problem is the same as Burton's. It is too scary. Andre says that it freaks him out a little more everytime he rides. HaToy Story Ride. Probably my favorite ride ever. It is amazing.Eeek. Slow Shutter makes my heart Flutter. I snuck away from the kids and Nate. They rode the jungle cruise and I took some night shots. It still amazes me. There were a ton of people in and out of this picture but they are gone as you can see in the final image. 30 sec for this one. F/8 200 isoPirates was 20 sec. F/13 200 isoThe astro ride was 15 sec F/13 400 iso Oh I loved Burton's little face in the Nemo Ride. So sweet. And those eyelashes. Just kill me.Hey, Me with my boys. Grizzly Bear Mountain Ride. This is one of the boys favorite rides. It usually has no line when we go which makes it loads more fun. I like to get pictures of them when they are getting started and then again in the end. This one is HDR. That's why it looks a bit cartoony. But I still like it. I missed getting them when they come down the big falls but got em at the geyser.

Wesley got "Nailed." That's what the boys call it.We spent a little time at the beach. YY had to be forced down the stairs. He thought we were going to make him swim and no amount of "no Wyatt we are not swimming" would convince him. Nope only him being down by the beach and sitting for 15 minutes and then he was ready to punish the ocean for being cold, by throwing back it's gifts of sticks and weeds.Tyler's shell. This one is also HDR.

The sky was so amazing on Friday last week in Laguna. I actually just used 2 different photos to make this one. Masked in the dark sky on the brighter picture. Nothin like a dark sky. Makes me feel grounded. Happy. I love the rain.

I convinced the boys to sit for a couple pictures. Not Tyler, he wasn't in the mood. I got #2,3,4.

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Wesley! He is now 8. What a delightful helpful child. Love him so much. He is an amazing person.

Tyler is drawing

He hasn't for a while. It is good to see him doing it again. He also did a dragon. He asked me to post them on his blog. I will get them up soon. How does he do it? I really don't know. So grateful that he can. It is a real talent.

Christmas and New Year 2010-11

Christmas was a blur. Loved the season and just didn't get to everything we wanted to do. Totally slacked on the baking and passing out treats. I have mixed emotions about that. I love the baking, but I don't want it in the house. And how am I to push it on unwary friends. Not nice. So I didn't make christmas treats. Except sugar cookies one night. Frosting. etc. Then one night I came home and Nathan was making gingerbread cookies. Yes Yes I am serious. I walk in the house and there he is with my bosch out and MIXing. He did a great job too. Wow. I guess I am not letting him express him self enough.

The boys were so excited and YY got the hint about Santa finally about a week before Christmas and has been gaining info ever since. Watched Rudolph TRNRD 5 times today. Keeps thinking that Santa is at church, because at the ward Christmas party, Santa disappeared into the building when he was done taking requests. Oh it is so fun. He is just a delightful child.

Ok so that last picture Tyler has the fingerlights. I put these glasses on my camera lens and it shows a snowman shaped halo around every bright light. This is COOL. My sis gave us a pair. Check em out. I think I am going to get them next year.

Oh YY got a new bed and the boys were all reading. Soo cute. And I got a picture of Oscar smiling genuinely at me.

New Year's Eve Was COLD

But we braved the weather about 4 times. Each time going in to get warm again.

Our neighbors across the street also did this and at 12 we finally had a duel. I guess you could call it. The neighborhood was definitely popping that night.

I finally got my settings right on the camera. I need to remember to do a

deep field of focus when I do this night time stuff. Works better.

This last one is my fave. Look at those sparks.

Happy New Year

Bokeh Fun

I like MCP actions on Facebook and they have some pretty cool blog posts. This one about Bokeh, I have been meaning to try since I read it. I was shooting pictures of my tree and decided today was the day. Oh my gosh, the endless possibilities. I just did a star shape and a heart. But you gots to try it. You need your slr camera and paper.

Here is the out of focus picture before...

And After... (these are all sooc= Straight out of Camera shots) Not time to edit.

MCP lady attached the paper to the lens. I just held it. I also needed to take the paper away to focus. I have my camera on back button focus so it locks and it doesn't change when I press the shutter release. I shot in Av or Aperture priority mode. Just set it to 1.8 on my 50 mm lens.

Love these cookie ornaments. Have one for everyone.

Oh. I love this the stars leading away on the right are beads. Not lights. Well they are reflecting light.

Christmas lights/ Night photography

Karen and I went out to do some night photography. Practice. We went armed with Tripod, stool, boxes for supporting the cameras.

Frosty here was shot at 3200 iso f/2.8 for 1/200 sec. Hand held. Added a seventies finish to it. And a stary texture to the background.

Oh I love this one. This tree was so cool being under lit by these hanging globes.

100 iso f/18 for 15 sec. Have to mount this one on a tripod. Ok here is the great thing about closing down the aperture. This takes the light longer to get in. And the iso is as low as possible. So look at the individual lights. This is how you get the starburst effect with lights. I have a couple of sunsets that have the sunburst look to them because the iso is low and the exposure is long, and the aperture is small.

See all the detail because it is such a low iso. Lots of time to get the information into the camera. This just fascinates me.

iso 100 f/2.8 for 1/2 sec. hand held

For the editing. I played with it plenty. I took out the red glow off the ground. It was a bit over whelming. Also brightened the exposure around the lights. Then sharpened the front light.
This last one was hand held also 3200 iso f/2.8 for 1/125 sec. Just sharpened the front of the present. So get out there. SLR cameras on manual. YOu can do it.