A Pregnant Moment

Yesterday while I was cleaning, the boys were busy playing in their room. I went in to check on them and didn't see Shane. So I asked Jared where he was. Jared didn't know and so he and I went on a hectic search for him all over the house. It wasn't until he was spotted on my bed, asleep that I remembered that I had put him down for a nap earlier. I had to just laugh at myself. 

Family (this one is long, but has lots of pictures)

While in Mariposa we were able to visit with some family we have not seen in ages. It was so wonderful seeing everyone again. Sean and Lisa's kids and our boys got along great. It was like they have always known each-other. It would be so great to live close to them. Aaron is actually looking into electric companies in Phoenix. The housing is great, at least compared to CA. The only thing that worries me is the 115 degree summers. Ouch. 

Dallin and Carly and the cute Kitten. Ridge playing catch with Mom. 

Shane and Ridge in Papa's tire swing. Shane is about the same size Jared was when Aaron made the swing. 

The main reason we went to Mariposa was Muma's 80th supprize birthday party. She was amazed that so many of her friends and  family were able to make it. People all the way from Montana to all over California were there. I am not sure that I will remember everyone's names but I will post the few pictures that I have. I am sure Aunt Debbie can help me with the ones I forget. 

 

Muma aka. Shirley Anderson

This is Beverly, Shirley's sister. She was so great, she humored my Jared with his little games and I will always love her for that. 

Here is Lisa with her two handsome red headed boys, Ridge and Ty.

The beautiful Carly.

Here is Gary. He is my Uncle. 

This is Jason and his beautiful bride Jessica.

Here is Muma and her niece Jeannie (Bev's daughter) was one of the sweetest people I have ever met. 

Here is Dad. 

Thought I would throw in a picture of Aaron and I just because. 

Here is Christopher and his beautiful wife Margaret, she is really sweet. 

Here is a family picture with Uncle Doug, Jason and his wife and Aunt Kathy. We found out that Jason lives very near Folsom, we are definitely going to have to get together with him soon. 

Muma opening all her birthday presents with Jared and Ridges help. 

This is Kent's Step mom.  Kent is Aunt Debbie's hubby. 

Muma and Ridge

Sean, me and Lisa. Aren't big brothers great. 

Muma blowing out her candles. 

Here is Muma with all her kids. Uncle Doug, Robert (Dad), Uncle Gary and Aunt Debbie

Muma with grandkids and spouses

Muma with grand kids and great grandkids. 

Gary, Doug and Jason. The guy behind them is Papa's brother, Great Uncle Bob.

Yosemite

So last weekend we kept the boys out of school Friday, due to a family emergency. In that we had to go to Mariposa for my grandmother's (Muma) 80th Sup-prize Birthday party. We decided to go up and see Yosemite State Park Friday. I wanted to play with my camera and we were to meet Sean and Lisa and their kids there that day. They drove in from Arizona.

The mountains were so beautiful, It was sad that the waterfalls were all dry but it was wonderful just seeing the beauty that was there. I felt so blessed that God had created all this just because he loves us and wanted us to have a beautiful place to live. At times I wonder at the blessing he has given to me, what have I done to deserve it. 

While we were walking and looking around at everything the boys spotted a duck in a little bit of water. Dallin got all excited and told us that he found some nature. Here we are in the middle of a beautiful park surrounded by huge trees and mountains and the duck was nature. It reminded me of the Grand Canyon and the chipmunks. :o) The boys were also excited by the extremely fat squirrels that were playing around on the park benches. We finally met up with Sean and Lisa and headed into Mariposa for dinner. I took pictures of all the cousins but they are all blurry. Still learning. :o) 

Back to School

This year we decided to put the boys back into public school. With the new baby due in November I didn't think my stress level could handle doing everything.  They are really enjoying it, except Dallin says they are making him learn to read and he isn't happy about that. Jared being the social bee that he is, is making lots of new friends and has a wonderful teacher. He has a few friends that he made in Kindergarten in his 3rd grade class so I think that made him feel more at home. 

Dallin was just a little excited and could not give me a relaxed smile. 

He is by far the tallest kid in his class and I don't see that changing in the years to come. 

Dallin has a friend from church named Scott in his class, they are good buddies. They were so excited that they were going into the same class. 

They looked so grown up. Jared wants to walk himself and Dallin to school with out us. I guess he is old enough, It is just a little hard to let them go sometimes. Especially when you have no control over the situation.  I told him to give me a week or two to get used to him being so grown up. 

One more note is that the house is amazingly more quiet. I can actually hear myself think. Amazing.

End of Summer

We were invited to an End of Summer pool party at a friends and we had a great time. However somehow all I got was pictures of Shane. They are great ones though, I took them with my new lens.  

You know how usually the last child has the fewest pictures, I think it will be the opposite in our family. And some of you know just how many pictures I have of Jared. (Hundreds) It is probably the switch from film to digital. I just don't feel guilty about taking 100 pictures when I don't have to print them at all if I don't want to. The down side is that I rarely print pictures. I will have to work on that. 

Lesson One

I finally got my first lesson from NYIP, I am super excited to be able to learn more about something I have grown to love in the past few years. They say the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else so I figured that I would post my view on the lessons on my blog. 

So the first lesson is the Eye of the Photographer. 

Basically it comes down to 3 questions you should ask yourself when you take a picture. 

1. Does my photo have a clear subject and theme? 

What is the universal message of the photo? 

2. How do I focus attention on my subject?

3. How can I simplify my photo to eliminate distractions and draw attention to the subject? 

In this photo the subject is Jared, the theme may be growing up. I focused on the subject by using a small aperture and blurring the background. I could simplify the photo by removing the branch sticking out of Jared's elbow. 

In this photo the subject is Shane and the dog in the wagon. The theme could be childhood. I focused on the subject by keeping them focused and blurring the background. And kept it simple by making the subject large in the frame. 

In this photo the subject is Dallin, the theme might be childhood. Keeping Dallin large in the frame makes him a subject. To simplify the picture I could have kept the shadows off his face. I did keep the background blurred however. 

So what do you think? 

ChristyLynn Photography Gallery

I have a Gallery now that you can go to and see all my favorite pictures.  The address is http://gallery.me.com/christina.picker  

I am starting an Online Photography class and I am really excited. I have been told I have a good eye and just need to learn more of the basics. There are only great things to come. 

I already have a paying job to do head shots. Cool. 

I was privileged to be able to take pictures of these sisters so that I could practice. These are just a few of my favorites. I had so much fun. I think they did too.