Life Lately, Mostly in Pictures

So I don't usually post more photos than words, but this may be one of those times. Just got to catch up a little, and I think my brain is too tired to write more than captions at the moment.

Jared in his favorite birthday beanie, made by my dear friend, Charlotte is the Best! Doesn't he have the cutest smile?

Adam playing in his piano recital in April. He has a lot of musical talent, and he's getting better--despite minimal practicing!

Adam is enjoying another season of baseball, on the Angels this year. I love to watch him play, but it makes for awfully busy weeknights. I've been running around like crazy lately. Thus the tired brain.

Ryan has a nice smile too, although it's sometimes hard to catch in a photo. This was from his 4th grade program about Utah history a couple weeks ago.

Here he is singing a song, with actions, about both ends of the transcontinental railroad meeting up at Promontory Point. It's a really cute program with fun, catchy songs. Starts with dinosaurs and goes through Utah history up to today.

Gathered in Cedar City for my little sister's graduation from Southern Utah University last weekend. I'm proud of her!

My mom specifically wanted a shot of her jumping with her diploma. I think it turned out well!

It was really nice to spend Mother's Day with my mom. She is an amazing woman! I am grateful to be her daughter, and grateful for all the love she's given me over the years.

Dallin showing off for the camera.

Jared, Ryan, and Dallin eating treats at Grandma's house. Couldn't resist snapping this photo.

Autumn in American Fork Canyon

About a month ago, when the autumn leaves were peaking, we took a drive up American Fork Canyon for a Family Home Evening activity. It was beautiful! I love fall, and I think it's mostly the gorgeous leaves that do it for me. Here are a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment. (Ruth, I hope they don't make you too homesick. :-)

A couple Christmas photos

This one is for my cousin, Kim, who has this exact same Santa picture at her house in Iowa, with the exact same number of cotton balls glued to it. :-) It's only Dec. 19th. We can still catch up!

Jared hesitantly agreed to be a shepherd when the Primary children sang for our ward Christmas party. Isn't he cute?!

Halloween costumes

Our little green dragon

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!

Ryan really wanted to be a Death Eater from Harry Potter...

"Memo," starting center for the Utah Jazz

Peace, love, and rock & roll

P.S. I love it when the kids don't want their chocolate candy bars!

Cute kid

A few recent pics of my youngest. He's definitely the most photogenic member of the family at the moment. I still can't figure out how to format photos on this blog thing. Oh well. He's still cute.

Out of it

I am so out of this blogging thing right now. It's not that I want to be, but summer happened with all it's craziness, and I just haven't had much chance to put life into words lately. So how about a few pictures now that I finally have my camera software re-installed:

Ryan played coach pitch baseball this year

Dallin before haircut

Dallin after haircut

Packer-Seegmiller marshmallow gun fight (thanks Uncle Enoch!)

Kids' Photos

You may remember my Photographer Frustration post from a few weeks ago about getting Dallin's and Jared's pictures taken. Well, I finally succeeded in getting them done at Wal-Mart with my coupon. The photographer had to trick Jared into smiling and it only happened once. Luckily I got a decent picture out of it. Unfortunately, his Lightning McQueen car was lost, so it didn't get in the picture with the other Cars figures, but this is still pretty representative of him and what he likes at three years old. Dallin's pictures are just cute because he is so cute and he was very cooperative with the smiles. He was five months old in these photos.

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

Photographer Frustration

Grrrr. Does anyone else get frustrated when trying to get pictures taken professionally? I won't even start on the unpleasantness of taking family pictures or how they get more complicated the more kids you have. I pick the time and the frequency of our family photos very carefully to minimize the stress and grief as much as possible. Kids' photos though, I try to make happen more often, usually at least once a year. It's slightly easier once they get in school, unless their school pictures turn out lousy, like Ryan's did this year.

So I've been trying for over two months to get Dallin in for a photo while he's still a little baby. And Jared hasn't had a successful photo since he was 18 months old. We tried last summer, but the photographer at Wal-Mart literally scared him so much that all we got was tantrums and tears. So this time I've been debating between Sears and Wal-Mart, both of which are relatively convenient for us without being ridiculously exorbitant in price. The last time we tried Sears, the pictures turned out okay, but weren't really worth the price we ended up paying for the package, and the customer service was poor. I hadn't seen the guy who scared Jared at Wal-Mart for awhile, so I went ahead and made an appointment there for this morning, reasoning that even if the pictures didn't turn out perfect, at least I didn't have to invest $60 or more to keep them. I got the boys dressed in their respective outfits and got over there on time, a feat in and of itself. Dallin was fed and rested and happy, and Jared was even acting like he was going to cooperate. The photographer seemed a little harried, but was nice enough. And then she started snapping pictures of Dallin's cute little smile and realized the camera wasn't working properly. Arrgh!!! We hung out for a little while and even did some shopping while she tried to get it working, but no luck.

I did get a coupon out of Wal-Mart for a free advertised package, but I'm back to the same dilemma. Do I reschedule and go for inexpensive because the kids are so unpredictable at any given time that the photos might not turn out that great anyway? Or do I go with Sears again, pay more, and still not have any guarantee that the kids will cooperate. Or do I try an independent photo studio here in town that will cost me an arm and a leg, but probably give me much better service (and I still risk the kids not cooperating).

I honestly think with a few photography lessons and the right equipment, I could do the pictures myself as well or better than most photographers we've tried over the years. Maybe someday. In the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions for resolving my dilemma? I'll probably go back to Wal-mart and use my coupon this time, but I'd like a better solution for the future.