Macros?

I'm not sure what the definition of a macro shot is and the rules/settings that apply to them- but here are a couple. They are made with my current understanding of a macro photo. I really like the third picture (not a macro?) of the mum before I cropped it for the second picture. I think it would make a good background for my computer. Enjoy!

Lunch Irony

I noticed that Dallin was through with his lunch the other day and I asked him if he was all done. He just looked up at me with his bright eyes and smiled. From the leftovers on his tray, it looked like he ate about half of what I put on his tray. This didn't bother me too much since he isn't a big eater and it's common for toddlers to go through a faze when their appetite slows down. I then took off his tray and found most of the rest of his lunch on his lap! It's hard to get those noodles in your mouth when you're thirteen months old!

Sugarhouse Park

This post will be my favorite post so far. I'm so excited to show these pictures! This afternoon began as a rush to get to Salt Lake City to have a VHS transfered to DVD for Young Womens. I decided to go last minute and tried to hurry so I could get back in time to pick up Syndey and a couple of kids from school. Tyler and Dallin were coming with me since Tyler is off-track until January. I got about 2 miles away from home when I realized I FORGOT the VHS TAPE! I turned around and realized there was no way I was going to make it back from SLC in time to pick up Sydney. I decided to call the other mom in the carpool and have her pick the kids up after school and have Sydney stay with them until I got home. THEN, after picking up the tape and making the phone call, on a whim, I decided to grab the new camera just in case I had a photo opportunity. Boy am I glad I did!

After dropping off the video in South Salt Lake City, we started to head home. Tyler and I were looking for anything that might make a good photo as we were driving. Suddenly I looked to the sky and saw this beautiful cloud formation. We looked for a place to pull off of I-80 and exited at 1300 E (Utahns recognize this as a major road running along the east bench.) We made a right turn and I realized we were next to Sugarhouse Park and that we could get some great photos of the sky there.

Not only was the sky beautiful, but the park was gorgeous as well. It had been a couple years since I had been to that park and a good portion of that was in the dark because of the 4th of July fireworks (I highly recommend the fireworks at Sugarhouse Park). Tyler was begging to take a couple of pictures and I let him from inside the van. This is his first good photo of the sky!

He tried to get a photo of a bird in flight and I doctored up his photo to get this next image.

I can't remember if he or I took this next photo.

Tyler took this one of the Sky through our front windshield of the van!

This is one Tyler took of the Rockies- looking so dark, tall and majestic. The next four photos I took.

I love the aspen(?) in the photo above! The creek below was one of my favorite photos!

Lights of the Season

For this shot I purposely pulled Joseph forward a little to look like he is protecting his new family. I also tucked their heads in to give a three-Dimentional look to it. Baby Jesus is pulled out slightly in front of Mary.

More shots playing with the new camera

Our feather duster that we never use! Actually, Ryan got it to use the feathers to tie flies for fishing.

Nickels, our cat putting up with me!

A flag near Syndey's school. There was a strong breeze that day and it was hard to get a shot with the flag fully open!

Our new camera is here!

We just bought a new Nikon D40 camera for our family and Ryan's business. I've been having a bit of fun with it and found out I like taking close up and macro shots. I use Jasic Paint Shop Pro 9 to edit them. Like I''ve said before, I've never had lessons or classes and I just take pictures of things I think are pretty, symbolic, artistic, colorful or important to me or others. I hope you enjoy these first pictures as much as I had fun taking them!

Thanksgiving with Loved Ones

This year I started the popcorn kernal thankful bowl- say that three times fast. It was an adaptation of Kim Greenfield's past family Thanksgiving idea of putting a candy corn in a bowl for the things you are thankful for. I decided since the kids definetly didn't need any candy and I had already spent enough on other food, that we would use popcorn kernels. Then, later on in the evening I made homemade popcorn on the stove with a frying pan to show how after we thank Heavenly Father for our blessings, he blesses us even more because gratitude is so important. By the time the kids had worn out their brains thinking of things to be greatful for, Tyler started saying "And I'm thankful for this kernel and this kernel" and Sydney chimed in. Pretty soon the bowl was full!

We were blessed to have my brother Randy and his wife Katie and their four kids join us for Thanksgiving. Katie is great at making sweet potato casserole and she also did our stuffing and deviled eggs (A Tucker tradition- deviled eggs at family dinners!). I cooked the turkey and made a yummy fruit salad and a few other things. Left to right- Sydney, Mc Kenzie- Randy's oldest, and Randy.

Here is the rest of the spread. This reminds me of my favorite punch that I made but served in my plastic pitcher:) Notice the late blooming Memorial Day Mums that I cut from my back yard. Gotta love the color purple!

3/4 of a 2 liter bottle of Sprite

1 can of frozen Welches white grape juice

Raspberry sherbert icecream

Water

Directions:

Mix the first two ingredients together and add water until you get the right flavor. Then add scoops of the raspberry sherbert until you get the right frothiness. Okay, I know these directions are worthless- just mix everything together and add sprite until you like the taste- you can't go wrong with this combo! You can only mess it up by making it too sweet or too watery!

Katie and her newest addition- Malia! Morgan is Katie's second child and she is the grinning one in the back. Tyler snuck into this photo and as usual, made a funny face!

Dallin, Me, Katie, Malia and Tyler! Grandma will love this picture!

Micah! He is the third child in Randy's family.