Videocameras

Our anniversary is a good 2 months away. But I have the habit of picking out what I want my parents to get us way far in advance. And 2 months is actually kind of late considering last year it was about 10 months in advance! You can tell, I like anniversaries. Anyways, we went back and forth and ultimately a piece of electronic is what would get the most use around here. And if it’s something to record their grandchildren doing, my parents are all for it. 

So behold, came in the mail yesterday, and already getting major play,

And it’s pink. Aaron didn’t mind because he did all the research and this one fits our needs the most, so pretty much he picked it out. It came in black, but who can not like the pink! I really was leaning towards the Flip HD, but then I found out it doesn’t take stills. So this little videocamera, takes HD video, an awesome LCD screen where you can play back and delete immediately. And it takes stills. It’s about the size of a blackberry, and comes with rechargeable batteries. And get this, $150! I will have to load some video later this week and show you the great quality.

layers

I didn’t take this photo, I think Amanda took it from the car on our way up to Mammoth last month. But I am trying to learn some new steps in Photoshop with layers. Here’s the before and after.

BEFORE

AFTER

And a little different AFTER

 

sorry

Sorry all for the unexpected break. We are having a hard time over here with all the sickness. I am dying. But as soon as I’m alive again, I’ll be back.

Union Station Part IV

Some last favorite shots Mike took of us at Union Station. The ones of all of us are classic, chaos going on, everyone in their own world. Love them. And on Mike’s site, he went ahead and edited a whole different set of photos than the ones I chose. It’s great how we both chose our favorites to edit and seriously only a handful overlap!

And in case anyone tried to call me this weekend. I was so sick! So I just got the messages tonight. Sorry! I had a wicked flu/ear infection thing. It was not fun. Not pretty. 

 

bakugan

Okay, if you have a son then you need to pay very careful attention to the information I am going to share. If you have not heard of this craze yet, that probably means your son is not 5 years old yet. And if you know what I’m talking about, then we can commiserate. 

Bakugan. O h m y g o o d n e s s ! Gunnar came home about a month ago running his mouth about a mile a minute talking about something so foreign to me that I couldn’t figure out if this was a dream he had, a book he’s reading at school, or a kid whose name is Bakugan. I thought I knew all the kids in his grade, maybe I was missing one though.

None of the above. Bakugan is this toy/game whatever you want to name it and it’s a Japanese Anime thing. That’s a good explanation right? Not pokemon. I can’t handle those demonic looking things with red eyes and the crazy card collecting that goes along with it. These Bakugan toys are little spheres and when they drop on the ground or touch something made out of metal, they open, or transform. And each little Bakugan has a name and a power source, I think I’ve heard the boys refer to it as G Power. Anyways, there’s this whole game where it’s an arena and you drop the Bakugans and somehow where they land gives you points. I don’t know the whole deal yet. I let Aaron read the directions three times and he was still confused. And every time Gunnar plays the game, the rules apparently change. So I need to do a little investigating on how this game is supposed to be played.

But in the meantime my boys are nuts over these things. And it’s mainly Gunnar’s age and up, but Sawyer being a younger brother is way ahead of the curve. He’s all over it too. 

So now you know what a Bakugan is. And if you’re playing with an 8 year boy, you can actually look cool since you know what it is.

A few of mine- Part III

Here are a few photos I got to snap of the kids while we were at our family shoot.

Union Station Part II

Here is some more beautiful handiwork by Mike. I will have to do a separate post of some shots that I was able to snap in between posing. I could’ve spent all day there photographing. Don’t worry, there are more to come! I won’t bore you with too many more posts of these. Probably one more will do.

 

Family Pictures- Union Station Part I

We are a little late this year with family photos. Usually we try to get them done by January, but there was a lot going on in January so we had them done this past weekend. Since we’ve had photos done at the beach and a park, I wanted a more urban setting and decided to go downtown to Union Station. Once again, Mike came through. His website is in the blogroll under “my photographer”. I didn’t know if we would get asked to leave, but I did my research ahead of time and they said as long as it was for personal use, photography was allowed. Phew. Because this place had the most amazing lighting and architecture. So beautiful. Thank you Mike! We love them. LOVE LOVE LOVE them!

When we do family pictures we usually put the emphasis on getting the kids photos taken, but since I’ve been able to photograph them a lot in the past year, and when they’ve been much more cooperative, we let it slide this time. Instead we focused on the whole family in their element and Aaron and I. 

Here are some of my favorites of Aaron and I. Now, in the first one I had to demonstrate what it meant to Aaron to act seductive. I told him to sex it up a little, and I got zilch. So I had to show him what I meant, of course laughing hysterically the entire time. 

This is what I was going for.

And this is what I got.

Can he get any further away from me?? At least he was making me laugh, right?

Greta’s Favorite Playtime

I cannot tell you how many times a day Greta asks me to play “prince and princess” with her. I am always stuck being the prince. Always. The activity involves her little figurines and we usually end up back at her dollhouse, no, don’t get any ideas now. They always get married first. Well, one day I decided to videotape her and I playing “prince and princess”. This is the unedited version, I posted a shorter version on Facebook earlier this week. Anyways, it’s about 5 minutes and it’s pretty entertaining. And I am so happy that I have these clips because in a few years when she is speaking like a grown up person, I will get to look back and remember her little voice.

Aaron and I attempt to liven it up occasionally, but ultimately it usually ends in the prince marrying the princess and then I take the Cabbage Patch sprout horse and they ride to the castle, and then, yes, you know, live happiwy eveh aftew.

Flat tire

My first flat tire happened Monday. I drove to work and wondered what the little light was on my dashboard. Seriously, an exclamation point with a little squiggly line under it? Huh? That means low tire pressure? I had no clue. Well, when I walked out to my car after work I saw the cause for the little exclamation point and squiggles. A major flat tire. So flat I thought that maybe someone had slashed my tire. 

My first flat tire. I don’t even know if I have a spare tire somewhere in my car. No clue. So my first instinct is to curl into the fetal position and lay on the backseat of the car. Then I decide that wouldn’t do me any good, so I called Aaron. He told me to walk to a nearby gas station and see if they can figure out if there’s a nail in it. Also, he added that I should probably flirt and be cute so that they change my tire for free.

Yuck. Flirt with a greasy mechanic?

Wait a sec! I am married to a greasy mechanic. This could be very very easy. I walked to the 76 station and explained that I work across the street and my tire is flat, can they help me out. He grabbed some machine and walked with me back to my car and filled the tire with air. Apparently the nail was in sideways and air was seeping back out pretty fast. But we drove back to the gas station and he changed the tire for me. I secretly think all men enjoy being able to save a woman in distress. Especially being able to fix something that appears to her to be so complex and really the last thing she could figure out how to do without an instruction manual. 

Since this day, I have decided that I need to learn to change my own tire. I don’t like being that woman in distress. I don’t like having to depend on “acting cute” to get my car functioning again. And I believe that it will be a great and potentially life saving skill to have. 

I came home and decided to tell Aaron of my plan. I told him, ‘that’s it, I don’t want to be helpless anymore, I need to learn to change my own tire’. I think I caught him a little by surprise, but he seemed agreeable. He told me he would show me soon and that he agreed that it’s something I needed to know. 

Perfect. I would soon be defenseless no more against the tire changing men of the world. Then, Aaron decided to tell me the truth,

“sweetie, I think it’s a good idea that you want to learn to change a tire. But you cannot actually lift the spare tire out of the car. It’s too heavy for you.”

Great.

So I guess, flirting it is.