Creations From Everyday Life

Vegas Baby!

My parents are in Vegas right now. Yesterday I took Teslyn and Calvin down to spend the day hanging out.

This is what a 6 month old looks like during her first encounter with a casino:

This is what my mom looks like amongst her Osmond crazy friends waiting to get into a "get together" in the Orleans showroom...

We went shopping and ate some lunch. Then Calvin passed out in the truck while my Dad ran into Walgreens to get some cokes for his hotel room...

Later, we rode the Monorail from the Flamingo to the MGM Grand so that I could show Calvin the Lion Habitat. He's been REALLY into lions lately.

My mom holding him up to see...

This is my Dad, playing with Tess.

Tess snuggling up to my dad, and playing with Calvin's lion that I bought at the gift store.

Me playing with camera settings and attempting to get both my reflection and the view from my parents hotel room.

The awesome view my parents had from their hotel room.

Then my mom left to go play with her Donny Osmond friends, and I hung out with my dad. We went to eat at a buffet before I left to drive home. While we were standing in line, Calvin found this wall mural and started hitting Donny in the face. I thought it was funny so I took a picture to show my mom.

AJ, Jessica, Kylee...

...my (husbands) super sexy cousins visiting from Arizona. Jessica asked me if I could take some pictures of her cute little family. She has the cutest daughter, Kylee, who was such a cheese. I even let her take a bunch of pictures with my camera... she probably thinks she's going to be a photographer when she grows up. Be careful... it's addicting!

Here are some of my faves!

Doesn't this look so dreamy?

This one is my total fave...

Here are Kylee's pictures:

A Photographic Series.

Occasionally I catch fun series of photos that tell a story. Back in January I captured this funny one of Kate.

Saturday, I captured this funny one of Calvin. We went to the river... and he decided to wade in. I guess the bottom was a little more uneven than expected...

The smart one... eh?

For those who know me best...

...you know I love my cameras! And you would also know that I've been itching' for an upgrade for some time. I kind of wanted the 5D. I really wanted the 1Ds.

Today I hopped on-line to check out lighting equipment and randomly looked at camera prices for the 1Ds. Curious about if the price had budged from the last time I looked 3 days ago... I looked on my trusty beachcamera.com website. This is where I buy most of my camera stuff.

Couldn't find the 1Ds.

Instead... I found...

The Canon 5D Mark II!!!
click here

...I'm so freakin' excited (not that I have the $$ immediately)...

But... It's basically the 1Ds in a 5D body! All 21 megapixel, full frame, live view, large LCD display, self sensor cleaning, awesome inch of it!

Plus... it will do High Definition Movie Recording and playback... something the 1Ds doesn't do.

The price tag?

About $2,700!!!!

Which may seem staggering to some. But keep in mind that, that is the same price range of the original 5D, and is about $4,000 less than the 1Ds!

I'm so excited!

Jared is shaking his head at me (as I am perspiring from running around the house [at 11pm] doing heel kicks)!

It's only available for pre-order right now. I haven't found an exact release date... but I think it's Novemver.

Guess whos birthday is in Novemver?

Novemver 2nd to be exact...

Mine!

I've been...

...playing with my camera again lately.

I love that Fall is around the corner. Fall brings (still warm but) cooler temperatures. And this makes my flowers happy.

If my flowers are happy, I'm happy.

I think I might plant some vegetables today.

Speaking of...

I hate these:

Life 20 minutes before Jocelyn gets home from school.

September Rain.

Deja Vu.

A good rain in September.

Like this one last year.

Jocelyn's been a little anti-camera lately. And I haven't featured her pretty face much lately on this blog.

 I think this one makes up for it...

We all (except Tess) had fun in the rain. Last year, I just took pictures with a telephoto lens from my doorstep.

This year?

I was out, in all my glory...

DSLR in hand.

Bath towel draped over the head.

I asked Katelyn, "What do you think of the rain?"

Katelyn replied:

This was Calvin's response to the situation:

Then we had a little puddle jumping (with some coaching for photography purposes from me):

I tried again to get a decent picture of Kate:

Then I tried Jocelyn:

And Calvin:

And then I felt like being creative...

Puddle reflection - (it's upside down).

Hibiscus in focus with rain bouncing up from sidewalk (1/125 sec)...

Rain falling in the backyard, shutter speed slowed to 1/25 sec (hand held).

I love rain.

6 Months

She hit the 6 month mark 6 days ago. I'm wondering where all of this time has flown to...

Vocabulary:
She squeals, and babbles, and shreaks at a frequency that probably hurts the dogs ears. She says "mom mom mom mom mom mom mom," when she's sad. No I wouldn't consider that a first word. It's just the syllable she mumbles because it's easy.

Food:
She eats small amounts of baby food, but not enough to actually sustain life. Most of what goes in her mouth ends up on her hands and on her bib. She has tried green beans, applesauce, peaches, pears and sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes were by far her favorite. She actually ate enough of it to constitute a meal. She dislikes rice cereal in any combination (mixed with fruit, plain mixed with water, plain mixed with formula, plain mixed with breast milk). She loves instant mashed potatoes from my plate, and hates that I don't let her have very much. She loves it when I pinch off pieces of bread to give to her, and can actually chew & swallow the pieces). The picture above is of her eating her first french fry at McDonald's last week.

Motor Skills:
She's great with her hands and the manipulation of toys. Her favorite toys are (first and foremost) plastic bags, plastic chain links, mirrors that hang from her bounce chair, and a knit bear that Beka made for her. Although those are her favorites, she loves anything that rattles or crinkles. She can sit on her own for a few seconds, but lacks focus. She rolls from back to front in lightening speed... but gets fustrated when trying to roll from stomach to back. She can scoot and rotate, and can cover some distance... but mostly gets annoyed when she can't take off with her siblings.

Temperament:
She is fussy a lot. Mornings are good times. She's a morning person. She takes 2 long naps a day, and the occasional cat nap in her bounce chair. She hates her bounce chair (most of the time). It might have to do with the fact that she spends 75% of her waking hours in it while I'm tending to other household needs. I can't rock her to sleep. She wants to be laid in her bed and left alone. She doesn't like other peoples houses (even if I'm there). She especially dislikes Grandma's house. I think it has to do with the chaos that emits from there. She will cry for an hour straight if I leave her with dad while I run to Walmart. He's sort of a stranger lately.

Me:
Gaining weight again. At last weigh I was 135lbs, and that was several months ago. I know I've picked up some additional pounds based on the visual cues of my own body (and the snugness of my clothes). But whatever... I have 4 kids right? I constantly look forward to sleeping times, be they nap times or bed times. I feel like I never get a moment to myself. I need a vacation!

I currently have a cold. And it sucks.

Preschool.

After getting back from the reunion, it was preschool time! Katelyn had been looking forward to this day since... well... since she was born I guess. And it was finally here!!!

We took the classic, "wear your backpack and smile before we head out" picture.

Katelyn isn't much for posed pictures (as you can tell). She kept making squinty faces, and complaining that the sun was in her eyes. I had a hard time believing that, since the sun was BEHIND her... but we made due.

Off to preschool.

Katelyn is in preschool with Seth and Alex. They both think she's cool... especially since they have been friends since birth. But, at preschool they have to pretend they don't like her as much at risk of looking uncool in the eyes of their other male associates. From the look of it, they all fail miserably at keeping away from each other.

Shhh... Yesterday, I heard from a reliable source that Seth named Katelyn his "girlfriend." So it begins, right?

Katelyn's favorite toy on the play ground was this structure (above). I'm pretty sure she played on it the whole time. I wanted to get some fun pictures... but it was kind of hard to control the camera fully with Tess on the hip!

As we left preschool, Katelyn was mad and exclaimed,

"MOM!!! I DIDN'T LEARN ANYTHING TODAY!!!"

Afterward, we all (Beka, Megan and the kiddos) met up at McDonald's for some greasy food and playland fun!

Preschool: Day 2 - Art Class.

On Friday's they don't have regular preschool. But Katelyn is enrolled in a special "Art Class." We had an orientation for her Art Class last Friday, so again I was able to be there and take some pictures!

When we first got there, she was given a name "tag" to put around her neck so that the teachers could learn her name. She thought it was pretty sweet, to tell the truth.

My sister wasn't feeling well... so I didn't want to wake her up to watch the kids. I took them with me. Calvin loved being there, especially when he found this huge tub of Lion King toys. He has this new fondness of Lions.

Katelyn liked these:

After my orientation, I left... and she had a regular day. They did cooking for their activity, and made "sticky buns" They made the sticky buns by taking refrigerated biscuit dough and wrapping it around a large marshmallow. Then they pinched the dough together, dipped it in butter, and then a cinnamon/sugar mix. They placed it in muffin tins (marked with their name) and then played while their treats baked.

Katelyn said that she got to wash her hands in a magic sink that they have at preschool.

"I put my hands under the sink like this, (demonstrating) and the water comes on like magic!"

She also said that her preschool had a magic oven, because the marshmallows disappeared from the middle of the sticky bun when baked. Magic indeed!

She made us sticky buns for desert the other night, and they were yummy. It reminded me of the time that I was going to make a desert for my family after I learned a recipe in Home Ec in middle school. It had to do with dipping dough into a butter mix and then rolling around in cinnamon and suger. However, we were out of cinnamon, and my mom told me to subsitute nutmeg. Being the unexperienced cook that I was... I didn't realize she meant to use A LITTLE amount, and I equally subsituted. Nutmeg is stronger than cinnimon. The desert turned out aweful! Luckly for Katelyn... I had cinnimon, and the mistake wasn't repeated.

(I bet my mom is getting a good laugh right now).

For preschool, we have a carpooling system set up with Seth. To read about some of the hilarious conversations between Seth and Kate durring the commute, click here.

Hummel Reunion

August 30th and 31st was the Hummel Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, UT.

I didn't bring my DSLR because of Jared's family and their negative opinions about my photography. I didn't want to stir the pot, so I brought Jared's 1981 Canon manual film SLR  for fun!

I just had the film developed tonight for 15 BUCKS (!!!!!!), so I had to share (since I'm trying to catch up on the blog posts anyhow). And... Jared is in L.A. tonight. This is the perfect way to share the pictures with him. There are a lot of good ones of him with the kids!

August 29th we left St. George and made our way to Mt. Pleasant. We decided to take the more scenic route, and went up through Salina, Gunnison, Manti... etc.

I always like to take that drive because it's cool to see the little towns, with their cool early 1900 era houses, that I'd LOVE to live in if my husband wasn't so into technology. I also love seeing the Manti Temple. Last year was my first time seeing it. We were there in the day, and I did take some pictures. This time... we were there at night. I really really really wanted to take a picture of it lit up. I didn't have a tripod, and I only had 400 speed film. But I made a go of it anyway. To get a correct exposure, I had to slow the shutter speed to 1/30sec. which is bad news when you are hand holding and trying to get a crisp shot. I tried it anyway... because... what other choice did I have?

And I TOTALLY ROCKED IT!
(...okay, it's a little fuzzy... but honestly... I rocked it)

When we got into Mt. Pleasant, we checked into our hotel. Everyone else cram packs into a little cabin... but I say "no thanks" to that. I need my space.

Jared went up to the cabin where everyone else was to drop supplies (Jared's immediate family was in charge of the festivities this year), while Tess and I hung back and watched the Discovery Channel in our underwear.

The next morning, Jared went fishing while the rest of us slept in. Then we made our way to the "Hummel County Fair," which was the theme for the reunion this year.

Here is our "fair" in pictures. Taken with a 1981 AE-1 Program. The pictures turned out a little "cool" for my taste... but the only way I know to fix that with film is to buy filters for your lense. I didn't edit any of these pictures because I want to show off my film skills (which I am proud of BTW)!

Jared and Tess chilling before the festivities start. I adore the way Tess is looking at him like he is the awesomest thing ever!

Kate gearing up to participate in the goldfish toss... or whatever they called it. If you land a ping pong ball in the fish bowl, you get to bring the fish home. Jocelyn actually got to bring one home (which was a PAIN). We released it into our pond when we got home. I think the other fish ate it because I can't find it in there anymore. Circle of life, right?

Face Painting. I really don't know what is painted on her face. I'd ask her... but she's asleep. She was proud of it though!

A whole slew of great grandkids listening to instructions on how the fair was to be operated. I love how the 4 little girls in the middle of the group (Katelyn, Genavieve, Jocelyn & Shealiann) are holding hands. They are the 1st cousins from Jared's family.

Although Calvin didn't understand the rules, or the concept of winning/losing... he loved going through the motions of the games. (He had a car painted on his cheek).

Darts & toddlers.

This is Jared's grandparents meeting their great grand daughter Tess for the first time. I think it may be my favorite picture ever!

Jared and Jocelyn racing on "wiggle cars."

Nap Time...

These little rings are Tess's favorite toys right now.

On Sunday, we all gathered around in the cabin and listened to Jared's grandparents tell stories from when they were young. It was really cool, and I'm glad that I was able to get this shot of Katelyn listening to the stories. I'm not too happy about the red line that is across the top of the picture. Looks like the film may have been damaged in processing. I'm yet to get the negatives out to look at them, but it will be my next stop after I get off of here!

And this is the last picture I took. There isn't much to explain. It's Jared and Tess listening to the stories... and  I just love it. Doesn't she have such chubby cheeks! ...(again with the red line).

Next Post.

Preschool.

First Day of 1st Grade.

Yes, I'm well aware that I'm a little backed up as far as blog posting is concerned. Tonight, when Jared got home from Scouts, I told him that I would be updating my blog a little. I figured that it wasn't asking too much since the house is practically spotless!

Jocelyn's first day of 1st grade happened almost one month ago! It's hard to believe that the time has gone by so quickly. Katelyn even started pre-school last week (but that is another post entirely).

On her first day... Jared, Katelyn and I went into her classroom to help her settle in. We thought it would be fun to take Kate since she would be starting pre-school soon.

I helped her find her desk. Not that she couldn't read her name or anything... but I think she was overwhelmed by the number of individual desks, and she was SO FREAKIN' EXCITED to be able to eat school lunch!!!

Here she is settling into her new desk:

Then, of course... I had Jared take a picture of her with Kate and I:

I don't know how long she has been teaching, but her teacher definitely didn't miss the class that taught how to start your class on the first day.

...with some sort of desk work assignment to ease the class into learning mode... and ease the parents out...

Jocelyn got started right away:

But then, in true Jocelyn form... she had a question right away! I thought she was so cute, politely sitting there raising her hand. No screaming, "Um... Teacher! I need some help!!!"

Proud mommy moment:

Quickly her teacher answered her question:

Satisfied, she went back to work... and I snuck out the door.

Kate thought that she should start preschool immediately.
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SEP's

A couple of weeks ago, she had her first SEP testing. She did really well. Her teacher had a list of class goals that she wants everyone to be able to meet by the end of the school quarter. Jocelyn passed them all off during her test except for being able to tie her shoes. Then it dawned on me that we would have to actually purchase her some shoes that had laces! I don't know if anyone has realized this... but shoes with laces are pretty hard to come by these days! Heck, most of MY shoes don't have laces!!! And if they do have laces, I don't lace them because they have the bunjee straps on the sides... so I can just pull them on and off. I told her that I'd take her to buy some lace shoes. I still need to make good on it. I keep forgetting I guess!

Her teacher was sending home level 2 reading books for her to read nightly as part of her homework. I knew that the level was too low, but we were waiting for her SEP for her to start getting harder books. I think her teacher just started sending level 2 home with everyone to start. When she went in for her test, she tested at a level 10. Her teacher thought that bringing home level 8 books would be good because she did struggle quite a bit at level 10. Now she reads me her level 8 books every day after school. I can tell that she is improving. And her confidence is building to the point that she feels like she can read any book. Her problem before was that she thought she could only try to read books that were on her level. She would never read a book that we had at home because they were "too hard." I've been helping her get over this by having her read the first few pages out of picture books we read at home. Then I'll finish it up. This way, she realizes that she can read the book... but she isn't daunted by thinking she needs to read the whole thing.

It's seemed to work so far.

Her favorite book to read is "Harold and the Purple Crayon."

Katelyn likes it too. For anyone who knows the story line of that book... I found a picture that Katelyn drew today.

It was a page full of windows.