Hobby Update

I am not wasting my birthday gift! I finally found a photography class to take. It's just a start--one hour a week on Thursday evenings, for four weeks--but I am excited to take it, and excited to be doing something to nurture myself. I hope to be posting some fun, maybe even amazing photos soon.

Last Three Counties in Utah

Last Friday Jeff and the boys were out of school for their Fall Break (a.k.a. UEA or deer hunt holiday). We decided to take advantage of the long weekend to drive over to Vernal to visit Jeff's brother and family. In the process of the trip, I finally made it to Duchesne, Uintah, and Daggett counties, the last three counties I needed to visit in Utah. Ta da!

That puts me at 652 of out of 3141 counties (20.76%), 36 of 50 states, 2 Canadian provinces, and 9 other foreign countries. I have now visited all the counties in Nevada, Utah, and the District of Columbia. You can find the website I use to track my counties and access a map of my U.S. travels on the Scoreboard here.

We had a great time with Nathan and JoLynn and their boys. The kids all played pretty well together and we just enjoyed each other's company. On Friday they gave us the grand tour of the Utah Field House of Natural History, otherwise known as the "dinosaur museum." As museums go, it is really nice. If only Jared weren't afraid of dinosaurs. :-( Saturday we took a picnic lunch and drove north on U.S. 191 towards Flaming Gorge. Our first stop was a hike near Red Fleet State Park to see some dinosaur tracks preserved in the sandstone on the edge of the reservoir. The weather was very pleasant and the hike was enjoyable, but a bit long for the younger kids (3 miles round trip). Jeff had Dallin in our backpack, but we ended up taking turns carrying the three toddlers a lot too. Next time we'll be better prepared. After the hike we had a quick picnic lunch in a scenic spot before heading home. Here are some pictures of the kids and the scenery:

Cheesy Grins














Nathan & Aiden




















Corbin the Lizard















Adam was hungry enough to eat a rock sandwich. Mmm, sandstone!

Hobby #3--Photography & photo editing

It's been awhile since I've done a hobby post--Hobby #1 and Hobby #2 came pretty early in my blogging history. Actually, photography is more of a wannabe hobby. I've taken a few good pictures here and there, but they've been more the result of luck than skill. I think I do have a decent eye for composition, but I'd really like to take a photography class or two sometime and really learn how to do it right.

I actually have taken a photo editing class. Earlier this year I signed up with two good friends for a Photoshop class at our local community college. It was a lot of fun and I learned some cool things, but I haven't found much time to use and practice those skills.

If I'm going to write about photography, I really should add some of my photos, but when I started this post I forgot that I'm not currently using my own computer and I don't have access to them right now. Sorry! Maybe another time.

Hobby #3 Photography and Photo Editing

I've always enjoyed taking pictures, especially since we got a digital camera. It's kind of a wannabe hobby though. I've gotten lucky with a few pictures that turned out nice, but I don't really know much about the principles of good photography. I'd like to take a photography class sometime and learn more.

For Christmas Jeff's parents gave me some Photoshop photo editing software. I was thrilled, but wasn't sure when I was going to find the time to sit down and learn how to use it. Then I heard about a Beginning Photoshop class at the local community college. It was offered two nights a week for four weeks in February and cost $90, and I had two friends that wanted to take it with me. I figured that commiting to the class and investing money in it would make me take the time to learn how to use the software, so I signed up. Jeff was kind enough to take care of the kids so I could do it. I learned a lot, I really enjoyed it, and I wish I could have continued with the intermediate class, but baseball season was starting for the boys, so our family schedule was full enough. Anyway, I still don't have much time to sit down and play with it, but I've got the basics. Here's a small example of what I can do:

Before

After

Hobby #2--Yoga

Another hobby that I spend some time on is yoga. I was first introduced to it by my sweet friend, Patricia, four or five years ago when we lived in Cincinnati. She did a class on it for homemaking meeting at church once and shattered some of my preconceptions that it was a weird Eastern religion thing with chanting and all that. (Originally I'm sure it was just that, but Westerners have adapted it and many practice the physical aspects--Hatha yoga--simply as a form of exercise.) My interest was piqued, but when I checked out some classes they were more than our student budget could handle, so I didn't pursue it.

Then last spring my friend Stacie, a sister in our current ward, needed to do ten hours of volunteer yoga instruction to get her certification to teach it at a local health club. She offered to do a beginning yoga class twice a week as an Enrichment Activity. I jumped at the chance and I've really enjoyed it. She's kept going long beyond her ten hours, which has been a great service. In return, we've been lucky enough to be her guinea pigs as she's learned new things and practiced them on us before teaching them at the gym. In addition to yoga we've done some Tai Chi and some Pilates, but I still like yoga the best. I've tried to figure out how to describe what kind of yoga she teaches. She often calls it "yoga-flow," but as near as I can tell it is equivalent to Power Yoga and is encompassed by vinyasa yoga and Ashtanga yoga, which are more general terms. I enjoy the sun salutations and balance poses most, and I struggle most with the warrior poses.

I still need to find a way to work some cardiovascular activities into my life, but yoga has been great for flexibility, strength, relaxation and stress relief. I did it all through my pregnancy with Dallin, and although there were a few positions I couldn't do as I got bigger, I really believe it made for an easier pregnancy this time around. I also think one of the keys to aging gracefully, besides a good attitude, is staying active. My Grandpa Seegmiller started doing yoga several years ago and still does today as an 86-year-old. I hope I'm still doing it when I'm 86 too!

County counting

Since I've been married, and particularly since I've had kids, I've had a difficult time answering the question, "What are your hobbies?" It's not that I don't have any. It's just that the time I have to spend on them has pretty much disappeared. I can tell you a whole lot more about hobbies that I've enjoyed in the past or interests I'd like to pursue in the future than I can about hobbies I'm involved in right now. There are a few things outside of raising kids and household chores that I do spend a little time on. I thought I'd write a blog about each of them, as I get time.

"County counting" may not seem like much of a hobby, but I've been having fun with it. Our friend, Dan Miller, from Cincinnati introduced me to this one through his blog, Every Whatever. He's a fun-loving guy with many hobbies, some of them pretty off-the-wall. He found this website, www.mob-rule.com/counties/, that allows you to keep track of every county that you've visited. Did you know that there are 3141 counties (or county equivalents--parishes, etc.) in the United States? So far I've visited 625 of them (19.90%). Here's my map. Thanks and credit mostly go to my parents and Jeff for moving me to several states in various places across the U.S. Most of my counties I got without even trying. I do have plans to get a few more counties in Texas before we move back to Utah this summer. Then when we move we'll alter our normal Texas to Utah route just a little to get some new ones as well. Here's an interesting map of the U.S. showing which counties have been visited most frequently by "county-counters" on the website. You can have fun checking out the county-counting website to see where people have visited, or you too can be a county-counter by starting your own account following the simple instructions here.