MomShots

I should at least login and say, “Hi”…  I have been missing you all a lot but have been burried in all the going ons of our move and trip to California.  We officially moved in on Tuesday the 2nd.  This was a totally exhausting move as we had to move on a weekday and so didn’t have any help except for my wonderful brother in law after he got off work for the day.  He saved the day when we were exhausted beyond belief!  My two oldest kids actually helped much more than I thought would have been possible.  I never knew how much work a three year old and a four year old could do.  They were great.

The bottom line is that we have too much stuff…

But our house is really cool.  We have this incredible view of Utah Valley and Utah Lake.  Plus, our house is shaped like an octagon so that makes it even cooler!  We are excited to be here.  

I realized last night that this is the first house I have ever lived in that had a family room.  I feel so decadent - a living room AND a family room!  It’s nice to be able to stretch out and be able to find places for all of our junk!  Or at least that’s my plan.  We still have boxes everywhere.

So our trip to California for Thanksgiving was great.  We had a wonderful time.  I had a blast taking a ton of pictures and am now trying to find time to go through and edit some of the good ones.  

I was excited to do a little photoshoot of my new niece, but we didn’t have time.  We only got to see her when we were having big family get together time so it didn’t really fit in.  I am a little bummed about that but did manage to get a few snapshots. This is one of the three of them. I was one of many people snapping away so it isn’t the best angle. Oh well; I’m happy I got at least one of them!

I tried to get all creative on Thanksgiving night.  We have a tradition to go bowling in the evening and so I had my camera out and was snapping away.  I got these two shots that I love.  One is more snapshotty but I really like it.  I think it really shows Gar’s emotion well.

However I did get a chance to do a bunch of maternity shots of my sister in law, Trena.  It was the first day of her third trimester.  It is fun that we got a chance to document that with our shots.  I think we got a few good ones.  She is such a beauty and a fantastic model too.  We took some shots at my mother in law’s house and then we went down the street to a shopping center where they had a whole bunch of different colored walls.  The walls all made for interesting backgrounds and came out nicely.  

Oh, by the way I just want to reiterate how much I L-O-V-E this little nifty 50 lens.  It rocks.  I love the depth of field.  I love the quick focusing (when used with the D100), I love the large aperture and I love how much fun I am having playing with it!  I know a lot of you can relate.  If you are trying to decide if you should buy one, I whole heartedly recommend it!!!

I still am a gimp when it comes to using it on the D40x.  I am not so good with manually focusing.  Back in my day of using my manual film SLR, my lens had a little thing that you had to match up and then you would know if it was in focus.  This lens doesn’t have any indicator (because it is not primarily designed for manual focus, me thinks) so I am constantly guessing if it is in focus.

It would probably help if I got surgery on my eyes or would wear my contacts, but I don’t.  So it’s a big guessing game.  

Well…  Sorry to abandon you all for so long.  I am back in the saddle (or at least trying to be).  I will post up the “I” tip of the week, hopefully today but don’t hold your breathe.  It maybe tomorrow…  I will be back soon with more posts and some holiday related tips.

Have a great day!