Creations From Everyday Life

The other day,

we had a full day. After swimming we went to In-N-Out burger...

They gave us hats and it was cool. Originally I hadn't brought my camera in, but it was in the truck. So I ran out to get it to document our good time!





...and although Tess was just sleeping in her seat on the floor... I had to take a picture of her too.




Erica took this one of me...


Then we went to the library.






And then we played at the water features...

By Popular Request...

Amilee's Baby.

Forgive me for the butchered spelling of her name, but I'm spelling it Milee









Then Tess wanted to get in on the action... so I sat her by the basket we were using...


But that wasn't enough. She wanted to be featured... so we did this...


And as you can see, she was happy about that.

...then they held hands,

Tess

I took some pictures of a friends baby the other day, and I snapped this one of my chunky Tess. So I thought I'd post it since I haven't posted anything in a long time...

 

Anyone need underwater pictures???

A weeks worth of posting wrapped into one!

I've been a little preoccupied the last week, and haven't really had a chance to sit down and post. For anyone who didn't know, my youngest sister Erica came to live with us for the summer. She got here on Wednesday, so I've been working to help her get settled.

But, I'm really feeling like wasting some time... so I finally plopped my CF card into my card reader and uploaded a bunch of pictures from my camera. And I've been playing with them, and I'm ready to share!

Last week was Katelyn's birthday. She is now 4! She wanted a "rose cake" for her birthday.

Here is a picture of her when we were singing "happy birthday."

I'm mad that I forgot to take the UV filter off my camera. That's why there is a glare from the candles...

Here is an upclose picture of her roses and "Kitchen Fairy." She gets one every year on her birthday from me. And my mom has started giving them to her too...

*I desaturated the picture in case you were wondering... 

On a different day, I thought it would be fun to take pictures of a sleeping Tess.

And then the sound of my shutter woke her up (she was on the verge of waking anyway)... and she smiled.

And then... on another day... Calvin was helping me pick peas in the garden.

I asked him to smile for me... which resulted in this shot:

Hummm... what else do I have...

Oh!

Here are some cute little pictures that I took of a friend's baby. I was trying to get some material for my portfolio. They have a lot of "noise" because I turned my ISO all the way up. I didn't want to use my flash because there was a cute reflection off of the wood floor... but I think I may have gotten something for my portfolio nevertheless.

Let me know if you want full sized, non-cropped copies Jamie...

This one was with a flash:

And................ yesterday was Jocelyn's last day of Kindergarten:

Here she is coming out of school on her last day:

I actually think I almost cried as she walked out. It felt like her last day was more emotional for me than her first day. And it didn't help that she cried all the way home because she would miss her teacher!

Then, yesterday...

I took these:

And proof that my sister really is here...

Here's Erica in the middle of the chaos!

(her hair kind of matches my wall... don't you think)...

Irrational Fears

I'm scared of spiders.

When I'm in my normal self, I'm pretty tom boyish.

However seeing a spider crawl across the floor will bring out the girliest girl in me. Jared gets a kick out of seeing me in all my squeeling, jumping to the tallest piece of furniture glory!

That happened to me today. I was folding a pile of quilts that we keep next to our couches in the living room. While folding I saw a BIG spider crawling out of the quilt I was holding. This is what happened:

I screamed and dropped the quilt.

I chanted over and over... "it's a spider, it's a spider, it's a spider."

I jumped up on the couch.

I shuddered as a nervous panic feeling shot through my body.

I found a piece or railroad track from Calvin's Thomas the Train set and while balancing on the couch proceeded to smash the crap out of the spider (which wasn't as big as I made it sound above).

I threw the spider away, because I had to have it out of sight.

...all the while, Katelyn and Calvin (watching Beauty & the Beast) just glanced over at me, and back at the TV.  Apperantly this is commonplace, and they no longer find it amusing!

Birthday Breakfast & Drinking from the Hose.

Katelyn's birthday is on Sunday... so today Jared woke Katelyn up at about 6:30am so that he could take her to her birthday breakfast at I Hop. It's a special thing that he started with the girls last year, and plans to do it every year for their birthdays. The girls very much look forward to it!

I asked him to take a picture with his phone before they left. It's not very flattering, but it will do...

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...and on another note.

Today I was doing yard work and was thirsty. So I drank from the hose for the first time in years. Man I miss that!

Success!

Just yesterday we decided to get off of our lazy parenting butt, and attempt to teach our kids how to ride a bike without training wheels.

First we started with Katelyn... simply because she just seems to "get" those type of things. But after 30 minutes or so, she decided that she was bored with it and was done.

Jocelyn at the time was at a play-date. When she returned home, we talked Katelyn up... telling Jocelyn about how cool Kate was because she rode her bike without training wheels. We didn't tell her that Kate didn't ever really ride without assistance (except the one time Jared let go of the seat for about 2 seconds without her knowing).

Jocelyn decided to give it a go. For at LEAST 30 minutes she rode around with me running behind her. I never let go of the seat, because I could tell by the way she was leaning she would immediately tip. I decided that she was relying too much on me. And I was plain tuckered out from running behind her. So I told her to practice getting started herself while I got a drink and rested.

So she practiced, and practiced and practiced! And she got better and better and better. At about quitting time, she was riding alone, with 2 wheels for about 5 seconds at a time. She would have to stop because either (1) she would get to the curb and couldn't figure out how to turn... or (2) she would get SOOOOOO excited, she would have to stop because she was too overwhelmed with joy to concentrate any longer.

This morning she was at it again. And she is doing much better! Now she can ride around in circles in front of our house (since she learned how to turn) and she has been practicing stopping using the break.

She fell once... but she was cool with it because she got a princess band-aid.

I'm so proud of her.

And even more important... she is proud of herself!

Here is a video that I took with Jared's camera. Go over and turn off the tunes if you want to take a peek:

Awesome Kids!

For a couple of years now, I have been taking pictures for friends and family. Nothing formal, and never paid. I've really just enjoyed showing up with my camera and having fun.

I've been told numerous times that I should build a portfolio, and photograph professionally. And I never have really wanted to. I've always been afraid of mixing a cherished hobby with money making. I think I'm afraid it will take the fun out of the hobby.

However, lately I have found myself taking pictures of everyones kids... close friends, family, random people at church... And I really like it!

Then I decided that I needed to save for a new camera. Yes, I do have a nice camera. But, I admit that I'm afraid it has seen better days. The shutter life of a SLR is only so long... and I am creeping up on 25,000 shutter releases!!! (yes I take a lot of pictures)...

The problem: The camera I want costs around $8,000 for just the body! I definitely don't have cheap taste!

The solution: I have started to build a portfolio... like my friends have encouraged me to do for so long! Lucky for me, I have so much support! I have friends throwing their kids at me to photograph! Which is kind of cool, because I have some awesome photographer friends!

Today I hung out with my Sister-in-law and her kids. It was cute, because they were SOOOO excited to have their pictures taken. They ran up to me when I pulled up in front of their house and asked me when we were going to get started, haha! And they were the perfect subjects! They just stood there waiting for instruction. They would have been great kids to pose, but I wanted candid shots of them playing. So, we went to the river which is walking distance from their house... and played... a bunch. It was tons of fun! Here are some of my favorite pictures:

A Happy Mother's Day to me!

Jocelyn was excited all week about the present she made for me. She made it at school. First thing yesterday morning, I was greeted by her with this awesome present. I wore it all day, and I'm even wearing it now! I had Jared take a close up picture yesterday after church so that I could show it off on my blog ;)

The heart in the middle says, "#1 Mom."

Then I got this most awesome camera bag from Jared. It's one that I actually have been wanting since about November. And he let it slip a couple of days ago, because he was afraid that I was going to run out and buy it before he had the chance to give it to me. Yeah, it was my fault because I started talking about it again... and was actually planning on browsing a local camera store...

But honestly, it didn't ruin the surprise! I'm thrilled that he actually pre-planned a gift! It's so awesome!

It's like a hiking backpack. It has a Camel-Bak type bladder in it and drinking spout (if that's what you call it even)...  The bungee straps on the outside are to hold a tri-pod, and the little pocket on the bottom zips open for the tri-pod base to rest in!

Then inside it has all of these cool pockets! I used Jared's camera to take these pictures so that I could get a pic with all my gear!

And the black bag above my camera has smaller compartments for spare batteries and memory cards... as well as places to store keys, cell phones, snacks, and other things you may take with you on a shoot!

In a couple of days, I will have to rearrange to make room for the flash diffuser that I ordered last week!

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In the evening, we went to Jared's grandma's house. I wanted to take my camera of course... but didn't dare because of the recent chaos over me taking pictures. So I just took Jared's camera.

And would you believe it was over 90 degrees?

This was as good as I got of the kids:

And when we got home, I put Tess in her bounce chair while we got stuff out of the truck, and got kids in jammies. And while we did so, Calvin brought the Toy Story gang in to keep her company! I couldn't resist getting a picture of this!

HAPPY BELATED MOTHERS DAY to those I didn't see!

Comic...

My husband e-mailed this to me today:

Gazillions of Pictures!

Over the last two days, I've went a little nuts with my camera! Which is funny, because a few days ago I was telling Jared that I hadn't been getting my camera out as much lately.

First, here is my little cowboy:

Cool lens flare, eh? I was trying to get that effect... so I'm pleased ;)

Calvin has had this thing with cowboy hats lately. This may or may not stem from watching "Rawhide" re-runs with daddy every day after work.

...and when a cowboys had enough, he's had enough!

Then there is Tess of course. Yesterday I was 100% inspired by Tara Whitney to take this picture:

Only Tara's looks better than mine. Tess was actually being fairly fussy... so I was in a hurry. Consequently, I didn't get the FAB picture that I envisioned... but it's good enough for now!

Then I took this one. She fared a little better because she could see me in her face.

...and I'm quite certain that she is beginning to think the camera is her mother (as she sees it more than me).

Then today, I caught her trying to suck her thumb. But then she saw her mother... er... the camera and was happy:

After my "Projectile Vomit" post, she helped me do laundry. Her hair is a little floofy because she just had a bath (to get the vomit off):

...AND lastly, here is my crazy dog:

He was totally on his way up to attack me with slobber. He knocked me down, and Jared had to come out of the house and yell at him. I was too busy trying to protect my camera from the masses of flying drool to ward him off myself!

Crazy dog...

Projectile Vomit.

Teslyn is officially a finicky female.

She was trying to suck her thumb a little earlier this morning. So instead of letting her suck her thumb, I attempted to give her a pacifier instead.

She didn't want to take it and protested by projectile vomiting all over me, herself and the carpet surrounding us.

AND it wasn't even that she choked on the pacifier... because I hadn't put it in her mouth yet! It was just touching her lips!

Lesson learned... don't give Tess a pacifier!

Two Months + One Day.

This is Tess today. Actually, this is Tess about 1 hour ago.

At two months, she is very happy. She is full of smiles, despite the nasty cold she has had for the last week. But she is finally getting over it, and that is OK with me!

This month:

• She earnestly smiled for the first time. And, she smiles at whoever talks to her.
• She loves attention. Especially attention from her siblings.
• She was conked in the head by a pirate sword for the first (but I'm sure not last) time.
• She has started to play by kicking her legs and waving her arms. As a result of this, she has started to wiggle out of her bounce chair. I strap her in now...
• Her neck is getting stronger day by day. She attempts to push her self up if she is laying on her stomach.
• She throws up A LOT!
• She hates her car seat... and can throw up seemingly on command when placed in her car seat.
• She can't stand it when her diaper is dirty.
• She cries real tears (more now than ever before).
• She babbled and cooed for the first time (yesterday actually).
• She loves to blow bubbles, and I long to get a better picture of her doing it.
• She sucks on her fists when she gets hungry. She found her thumb once today. I think it surprised her. We here at the house of Hummel are striving to keep her thumb out of her mouth.
• Every time she sneezes, she coughs once afterward.
• She sticks out her bottom lip when she gets upset.
• She hardly ever falls asleep in mommy's arms, but always falls asleep in daddy's arms.
• Her eyes are still blue.
• She loves to be in the shower.
• She doesn't love lotion.
• She still has baby acne.
• She always smiles when I'm changing her diaper.
• She sleeps from 11pm to 7am.
• She's been kicked off a family website for being too cute! (...don't ask)

Katelyn to me:

Kate: Mom. My flowers are crying.

Me: Why are your flowers crying?

Kate: Because they are going to die.

Caterpillar (Final Installemnt)

This is the final installment in our little caterpillar story... 'cause as you can see... our moth has arrived:

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon Jocelyn was in the kitchen. I was in the living room feeding Tess. Suddenly Jocelyn became very excited and exclaimed that the moth came out of its chrysalis. For some reason, I thought she had to be kidding... or at least mistaken. I had absolutely no faith in that caterpillar from the previous posts making it to a moth. Maybe the fact that Calvin one day ripped the chrysalis off of the stick and threw in the garbage had something to do with it.

...granted I had dug it out of the garbage and reattached it to the stick with Glue Dots. I had no clue if I had attached it the right way up, but I just hoped...

Really, I think I was hoping that the kids would forget about it so that after time went by, I could just get rid of it without them knowing.

But in ran Jocelyn with her jar, and sure enough... there was a little gray moth on the stick next to an empty chrysalis! I immediately handed Tess off to Jared and ran for my camera.

(We didn't have a top for the jar, and I didn't know how long the moth had been out, and I was afraid it would fly away before I could take a picture.)

We took lots of pictures, and then stuck the stick in one of my flowerbeds and took some more pictures. I took the chrysalis off of the stick so that kids could examine it. It was kind of cool, because it just came out of this little hole that it had made in the bottom. And you could see it's caterpillar skin sluffed off inside. Kind of cool. Kind of gross.

Unfortunately it was nap time (for everyone including me). I put Kate and Calvin to bed. Jared was already asleep on the couch. I told Jocelyn she could stay up and watch the moth. She desperately wanted to see it take it's first flight. And I couldn't deprive her of that. I mean, how often does a kid get to watch a metamorphosis like that?

I took a nap.

And when I woke up, the moth was gone. And Jocelyn was bummed because she had missed it. While she waited, she decided to play a little bit. So as she ran around the backyard and browsed around the vegetable garden, the moth made it's exit. But she's cool with it now.

Jocelyn with her jar...

After we took the stick out...

Placed among the shamrocks...

Me hand modeling with the empty chrysalis. It's that thing that looks like a big doobie.

Downtown Fun

Last Week I decided to take the kids downtown to this cool water feature they have on Main Street.

Lots of fun for parents and kids alike!

Before leaving, I packed up a lunch. Sandwiches and chips. Then I stopped by the gas station and picked up some "Bug Juice" drinks for the kids.

I didn't take the kids in their swimsuits because I was afraid that the water would be really cold. But, it was a warm day... so I figured that we could walk around in the water at least.

Bad Idea.

When we got there, half of the population of St. George toddlers were there. In their swimsuits.

The day turned out to be really hot, and I began to wish that I had brought MY swimsuit! Although, thinking about it... I don't think I can really fit into any of my swimsuits quite yet...

Anyhow... The day was awesome, and the kids begged me to let them get wet in their clothes. So I let them. I mean, it was my misjudgment in not letting them bring their swimsuits anyhow!

Of course I had my camera in tow. There was this cute little girl from my  (church) ward there so I took a bunch of pictures of her too. Then I took a CD to her parents house with the pictures. I hope they turned out okay!

And isn't Calvin's shirt adorable?