What in the world in the heck?!?

I learned that, Daddy! And this from a kid living outside of Utah. (What in the world?!)

Here are some pics from this week. Mostly my camera and I are just working on getting to know each other. I have the Manual mode figured out but focusing is a problem... most my pics come out blurry. I got my new lens (50mm) and so now its a new ball-game. Working on playing with different lighting conditions and manual settings. Playing with Picasa's new effects. Next week I'm going to focus more on Photoshop edits.

My little subjects are not very excited about my new hobby. Looking for willing models...



I'm liking some of these expressions, even though she's refusing to smile for me. It will remind me of how she is at age three. She wants everything to be her idea. I can live with that.

She's running away from me and my new lens. Over exposed but happy.


Continuous shooting mode is perfect for little Soph. She is so playful and fun and wild as can be.

Running away from me constantly.


Spinning in her new ballet shoes. Need a $300 flash to make this pic better.

I love this angle. It's my angle on her 90% of my life right now. Not for long...

Aaaaaaaaaand.... the wrap-up.

The week after Christmas was a fun week for us to all hang out and take turns taking breaks from our kids. It was awesome. In addition to that we did some other fun things.

Playing at the park. Time for me to practice with my camera. Lucy is the most photogenic and cooperative subject. I love taking pics of this cute little face. This was probably the 4th pic I took of her. I snapped at Eva for 45 minutes straight and I never once got her to look at me.



If I'm lucky I can capture a picture of them in action that isn't too blurry or maybe a pic of them sticking something up their nose.



The guys golfed to their hearts' content. Here are pics from the famous Pinehurst golf course where the U.S. Open will be played in 2014. Devin promised this place was famous and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.




Eva had a ball with all of Lucy's princess stuff.




And Devin had a ball watching the Cougars win.


I had a ball competing in Iron Chef. Tom makes a great chairman in my new Sunggie.






This is from our trip to Durham to see the beautiful Harry Potter-esque Duke campus. It was a fun trip and we are sad it is over. But now I'm happy that the blogging is finally over. :)

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

When it comes to posting I'm slower than the OJ trial. Just a few more posts then I'll take a much needed blog break to finish up this year's blog book.

We started out Christmas Eve with a Santa Cena. Where you eat they types of foods Mary and Joseph would have eaten in Bethlehem. We ate on the floor by candlelight. Then we acted out the Nativity Story (twice, one for each Mary). Eva was very into her role as Mary. Every night after, she wanted to be put to bed as Mary wrapped up in her Mary blanket with her baby Jesus.






Then it was time for Santa to come. Eva wrote a cute letter the previous week and we took all the cousins to see him at the mall. (The gingerbread house is in front of the pic that I still need to scan.) Eva and Sophie both got a princess doll and a few other toys. Eva got her Minnie Princess she'd been asking for and Sophie got her very own roll of toilet paper to unroll... a life-long dream. After Santa they were pretty much done with presents so the tree portion was kind of a disaster. We still have presents waiting to be unwrapped!












Cute Christmas dresses from Grandma Joanie!



Later we had a wonderful Christmas dinner of raclette and fondue sans babies who were finally asleep!

Fun Times NC

My dear sis-in-law, Sara had to bear the brunt of the Christmas chaos. We're so grateful to her and her family for opening up their home to us for the big family gathering. After a few days in Richmond, the crew headed down to beautiful Pinehurst, NC. We spent the week before Christmas making gingerbread houses and sugar cookies, cooking all sorts of wonderful meals and goodies, taking walks and runs around the lake, shopping, playing and Eva's new favorite past time "scooting". (My kids were in heaven with a new house, yard and toy supply to explore.) All this while we waited for the menfolk to arrive who were busy working and paying taxes.