Why yes, you can send my name to Mars

Best five bucks I ever spent...just kidding...it was free.

Family Portraits: First Run

A few weeks ago my friend Cherie asked if I would take some family pictures for her.  I said, "Um, you're aware that I have absolutely no experience & really don't know what I'm doing right?" 

She said, "No problem."

So I said, "Yes!"

We headed to Grapevine's Botanical Gardens where there were approximately 200 other families taking pictures... (Okay maybe not quite 200).

There was a beautiful little grove of trees with light streaming in through the branches so I decided to experiment with sun flares.  I've never really done that before but it turned out really well!  I had to use the manual setting instead of aperture priority (the crutch I usually rely on) to get the right exposure.  

Too much?  How do you know when it's too much?!

Amy was a little shy at first, but slowly warmed up to the camera and we got some really cute shots.  

I feel like I still struggle with proper exposure.  I need to learn how to use my light meter well because I generally guess on my settings and then check out how the picture turns out on my screen.  It works decently, but it's certainly not the most effective way to shoot.  For example, this picture is over exposed.  Whoops.

And I feel like this one is too...

Good thing the Gurneys just looked so good anyway...  

Thanks Gurneys for being my puppets while I figure things out a bit!

The Glory Days

Ahh... there it is.  Best pumpkin ever.  Lindsay is nearly suffocating me in approximately 90% of our pictures from growing up.  I think she loved me just a little too much :)

The Children of Halloween

As fun as adult tooth fairies are, we just didn't measure up to the cute children at our ward Halloween party.  

Tinkerbell & the cutest lion I've ever seen.

He wasn't too sure about Grant's extra poofiness.

This little pony is in my Sunbeam class.

And this little beauty will be in my class next year.

And the cutest little redheaded sisters.  Look at that curly hair!  (I dream of my children having curly hair... I'm afraid I dream in vain...)

Oh to be a four year old Tinkerbell... 

I need to go find some old pictures of me & Grantie from Halloween when we were but young babes :)

Halloween Delights

It was Halloween.  I love Halloween.  Not so much the scary part of it, but more the decorating, candy filled, giggles and silly costumes part of it.

I especially like the candy part... Crunch, Snickers, Skittles, Milk Duds, Reese's, Kisses, 100 Grand, Laffy Taffy, Dum dums, Milky Way, Twix, Butterfinger, Starburst, M&M's, Smarties, Blow Pops, Razzles, Caramello, Gobstoppers, Swedish Fish, Whoppers, Sugar Daddy's, and of course, Tootsie Rolls.  I can never decide which are better- the chocolate ones or the fruity ones...

With all that candy, I think some children will have teeth falling out soon...  Good thing the tooth fairy is around...

Did I mention I love candy?  Mmmm....

I noticed your machetes...

A few weeks back we headed out camping with a few of our closest friends.  We took off to Ray Roberts Lake, about an hour north of where we live.

Okay, so it ended up being more than a few friends.  In fact, the park ranger wasn't too excited about us when he made us all sit down to make sure we weren't going to attack him with our "machetes."  (They were actually hatchets from Walmart to cut firewood).  And that's when I thought, "Yeah... a group of married Mormons who don't drink or smoke and who brought small children with them on their overnight camping trip... good one..."  But anyway... 

We made some foil dinners (of course).

And toasted everything we had around including starburst.  Yum!

We stayed up until two or so talking.  The great outdoors turn good talk into great talk.  Especially when you're eating awesome camping food.

Nobody ever claimed we were normal...

Lone Star Park

Last week some of our best friends, the Mallory's moved away to Washington.  Before they took off we went on one last outing.  We headed to Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie.  

The races are every twenty minutes or so.  Everybody sits around, eats food, and bets on horses in between.  You pick Win, Place or Show (1st, 2nd or 3rd).  If the horse places where you picked or higher, then you win.  

It was a fun, laid back atmosphere.  And then when the race began, everyone would stand up and watch.  The races were all short that day; only 400 feet or so (or 400 yards?  or meters?  or horselengths?... I don't know)

You can't tell in these pictures but the horses kick up dirt way up into the air.  That was my favorite part... the flinging dirt...  Hah

We went up front to steal a look at one of the races up close.

There weren't too many people there so we didn't have to fight for space so that was nice.

Logan put about two dollars on a horse and we took a classic Logan picture.  Don't believe me?  Look here or here.

This little guy (did I tell you the jockeys are little?!) was picked to win.  

So we watched at the horses got to their gates.

And there's number two!  Right in front where he was picked to be.

Oh and see that pink one... yep, that's the one we picked.  Whoops.

When asked why I knew so much about horse races my only excuse was Hoyle Casino, the computer game that also taught me how to play poker :)