New Tripod

What's so special about these pictures?  They were taken with my new tripod!  I didn't think I wanted one because I didn't know if I'd really use it or not, but I can tell I am going to loooove it!  I can take clear pictures at slow shutter speeds with no shake and the video is going to be a dream.  The best part?  I had been given a couple of gift cards and it      didn't      cost    me    a    d i m e.  Wooohooo!

 Thanks to Brooke for always being such a willing model...

 Mostly.

 My cool sister's in law gave me a remote clicker for my b-day so I can be in front of the camera for self-portraits instead of behind the camera all the time... hmmmmmm... maybe time for some family photos?

 Who wants to be in front of the camera though when you can take pictures of nuts like this?

Well, thanks for letting me share.  I'm a gadget geek.  They make me so HAPPY!

Halloween

Halloween day was beautiful this year.  It was the day before a big storm and it was warm with no wind.  There wasn't a lot of hooplah this time around.  The kids were pretty calm and took most everything in stride.  Brooke's was the only costume we had to  come up with.  She came up with the idea and all I had to do was buy balloons and a sweat suit.

 It was a little challenging getting the lipgloss on, but she managed.  

It always makes everything worth it when I see this kind of smile on her face.

It was my last year at the elementary school parade.  I got to hang out with this cute little munchkin, Tamzy, my niece.

Neighborhood girls, Clarissa and Daniella came over and they were off to trick-or-treat.

 Halloween is one of Terrence's favorite holidays (hmmmmm... as I recall so are Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I think he likes them all).  He has loved going around the neighborhood with the kids while I don't mind staying home and passing out the candy.  Big year for dad this year.  Brooke asked if it would be ok if she just went with friends.  It's so sad to see a grown man cry.  Not to be left out he had the great idea to pull our fire pit to the driveway and hand out candy from there.  It was awesome!  No more getting up and down for the doorbell and we got to enjoy all of the outside festivities!  He wants to add hot chocolate next year.  I could go for that.  Sam hung out with us too, so the three of us had a chill Halloween.

 I bought Conner an exposed brain beeny and some make-up.  He said he'd rather go as a lacrosse player.  This is what he resorted to... He put a pillowcase in his pocket, swung his bum around a couple of times and said he was a rapper.  Boys.  He and Shawn went out with a couple of others and that pillowcase came home full.

 I did hear a few parents say to their children- don't go to close to the fire!  It did die down a bit after the gasoline burned off.

 Towards the middle of the evening a large white van came lurking to the driveway and out poured Shawn's family to come visit.  They said they came to embarrass him, but he had shagged with Conner hours before.  These teenagers are smart.

 They provided good entertainment as Captain Underwear's son decided to jump the fire pit over and over again (much to Terrence's delight he got to relive some of those scouting days).  

 I love this picture.  It brings back so many memories.  Coming home to dump the loot and swap with your friends.  I love how they started to organize the candy into twix, skittles, m&ms, etc.  Girls.

Hope  you all had a happy Halloween!

Traditions

For the past several years we've had the Halloween tradition of going to Gardner's Village and enjoying the  Fall surroundings.  This year I was reading a magazine and it had suggestions on what to do in Utah for the holidays.  It mentioned going to This is the Place State Park and touring their haunted village.  I thought it might be fun to change things up a bit so we went for Family Night.  I had in mind a headless horseman roaming the park, spooky people telling stories and mild stuff like that.  I am anti-spook alley.  Terrence takes whoever wants to in our family to the spook alley in October and it's never me.  My idea of fun is not walking around with a bunch of demonic people startling me and breathing down my neck.  I know, it's a lot of people's cup of tea- not mine.  My first sign of danger was when they didn't allow us to go in until it was completely dark for the full effect.

This is us waiting for the sun to set:

 Ok, statues of Brigham Young...

 Pioneers praying...

Harmless Visitor Center.

It was a full on spook alley.  Not a super scary one, but still a spook alley (recommended for 10 and up). Conner and Brooke loved it.  I think what they loved the most was that they got me to a spook alley.  Sam felt tricked and wanted to get out, so I kindly waited outside a few of the buildings with her:)  Conner laughingly said, mom sure plans good Family Nights.  I wonder what she'll do for Christmas?

Last night Gardner's Village.  Ahhhhhh.  Now that's more like it.

Buying fudge is serious business and must NOT be missed!

Saw this in one of the stores.  Way better than someone running up to you and screaming with a knife... just sayin.

I think I'll stick with the old tradition.  Besides... it includes fudge.

Something to Think About...

I was given this link this morning.  Ironic.  It was just what I needed.  Just when I didn't think I could feel anymore it allowed me to cry and sometimes crying is a gift.  You see, I'm a mom.  Mom's are keep-it-together because if you fall apart it will all fall apart, and then WHO will keep it together?  Sometimes when things are difficult don't you just get tired of explaining, of telling the same story to everyone so when you do step back into your normal life if might be waiting there for you?  So I will save the explaining and let you read the post for yourself.

Say No to Auto

Warning- picture overload and if you're not interested in photography BORING!  I finally did it!!  I've been working my way around the awesome camera Terrence gave me last year from Auto, to AV (stuck there for a year), to finally the dreaded Manual and it's awesome!  Why did I wait so long?!?  I've been learning about ISO, shutter speed, aperture all that fun technical stuff and it really is fun!  I've always been afraid of missing the shot so I stayed where it was comfortable.  Yes, there were a lot of underexposed and blownout shots and do overs.  Like with anything in life- it will take practice but I think the results will be worth it.  This weekend Terrence took me camping for my birthday.  It was the perfect chance to have downtime and take pictures of stuff that doesn't really matter like weeds.  So here are my pictures of weeds and a few things that really do matter- like my family- but I loved shooting in manual, messing with all the dials and I even switched to RAW for editing purposes.  Oh, so easily entertained.  It was a great getaway by the way.  Nice to have the kids hostage with no distractions and wonderful to have the time to truly unwind.  Loved it.

Strawberry Resevoir

In the condo on wheels

Cool place called Moon Lake.  It had beach sand, ooooooooo!

Moon Lake even had awesome driftwood

Dutch oven chicken stew, Yuuuummmmmm!

Brooke in training with my old Canon

How did he get so big so fast?  

Back at home Kinsey, Kacey and Lane joined us for more celebrating.