Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Lipstick and Cleats!
As you may be able to tell by the pictures, I went to a concert! To get the Who, What, Where and When, check out my friend, Emily's site!!
Tal and Acacia- amazing voices!! Really clean and retro sound.
I just LOVE going to Christian concerts. How cool is it to PRAISE GOD while we're rockin' out?! Of course it helps being able to touch the stage!
Tal and Acacia- amazing voices!! Really clean and retro sound.
Em and I enjoying our VIP status!
Superchic[k]
We are fire inside
We are lipstick and cleats
We are not going home
And we are playin for keeps
We are girls who skin knees
We are concrete and grace
We are not what you think
Can't keep us in our place
Here's to the girls on their boards with bruises and scars
Here's to the girls whose fingers bleed from playing guitar
Here's to anyone who never quit when things got hard
You'll never let them say
"You'll never get that far."
(Lyrics to "Anthem")
We are fire inside
We are lipstick and cleats
We are not going home
And we are playin for keeps
We are girls who skin knees
We are concrete and grace
We are not what you think
Can't keep us in our place
Here's to the girls on their boards with bruises and scars
Here's to the girls whose fingers bleed from playing guitar
Here's to anyone who never quit when things got hard
You'll never let them say
"You'll never get that far."
(Lyrics to "Anthem")
I just LOVE going to Christian concerts. How cool is it to PRAISE GOD while we're rockin' out?! Of course it helps being able to touch the stage!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
High and Tight, Please
His hair wasn't out of control, but you would have thought so based on his daddy's actions.
OK- maybe I was in denial.
His hair was growing.. It might have been crowding his ears.
But the first haircut for me was... scary.
Maybe it was the fear of scissors and sharp objects so close to his innocent little face.
Maybe I wasn't ready to admit that he was old enough to get his first haircut.
None-the-less, John made the appointment at the barber shop where he gets his hair did. He goes to the Base barbershop where Sam, a wonderful and talented woman cuts his hair every other week. Sam would anticipate our son's birth while he was still hanging out in my belly and she enjoys seeing him for daddy's haircuts. She has offered a number of times that the first haircut is FREE! (For those who don't know my husband, that is talking his language!) So there he sat, on mommy's lap with a snip snip here. . . and a buzz buzz there.
She whipped out the clippers and just proceeded to do the "daddy" haircut or I guess it's a military cut.
Sam even put some product in and gave him a little spike. Oh be still my heart.
The shag look before- which I'll have you know I was perfectly fine with..
Clean-cut McPreppyson: ok, so he's still cute even after the haircut.
The haircut day again made me thank God for good friends. We, me and two girl friends had just gotten done with a workout on base and I was going to drop them off at the gate before the haircut but luckily they wanted to be a part of one of Riley's firsts too. Because of them, not only did I get some priceless photographic shots (thanks to Emily) that I will treasure for life, but the whole process was kept relatively stress free. When he would become anxious, Abby would practice her art of distraction which would put him at ease so we (Sam) could finish the cut!!! Thanks guys! I had no idea how much I needed them!!
With all that itchy hair all over him, it was time for the after haircut bath.
I am shameless..
Of course I'm putting the pictures up.
OK- maybe I was in denial.
His hair was growing.. It might have been crowding his ears.
But the first haircut for me was... scary.
Maybe it was the fear of scissors and sharp objects so close to his innocent little face.
Maybe I wasn't ready to admit that he was old enough to get his first haircut.
None-the-less, John made the appointment at the barber shop where he gets his hair did. He goes to the Base barbershop where Sam, a wonderful and talented woman cuts his hair every other week. Sam would anticipate our son's birth while he was still hanging out in my belly and she enjoys seeing him for daddy's haircuts. She has offered a number of times that the first haircut is FREE! (For those who don't know my husband, that is talking his language!) So there he sat, on mommy's lap with a snip snip here. . . and a buzz buzz there.
She whipped out the clippers and just proceeded to do the "daddy" haircut or I guess it's a military cut.
Sam even put some product in and gave him a little spike. Oh be still my heart.
The shag look before- which I'll have you know I was perfectly fine with..
Clean-cut McPreppyson: ok, so he's still cute even after the haircut.
The haircut day again made me thank God for good friends. We, me and two girl friends had just gotten done with a workout on base and I was going to drop them off at the gate before the haircut but luckily they wanted to be a part of one of Riley's firsts too. Because of them, not only did I get some priceless photographic shots (thanks to Emily) that I will treasure for life, but the whole process was kept relatively stress free. When he would become anxious, Abby would practice her art of distraction which would put him at ease so we (Sam) could finish the cut!!! Thanks guys! I had no idea how much I needed them!!
With all that itchy hair all over him, it was time for the after haircut bath.
I am shameless..
Of course I'm putting the pictures up.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Fighting 'till the End...
We are the Champions.
We are the Champions.
No time for losers, cuz we are the Champions...
(duh duh)
Of the World!!!
To be totally honest- It was a great night for us but it could have been any of the teams as they were all very good! We played really well and seemed to gel and of course we got some lucky calls and the ball just rolled our way! None-the-less, we were the victor's of the Spouses Crud Tournament! Don't we look tough?
I'm competitive- as you may be able to tell by this fierce picture. But being competitive, I don't think there is room for grudges. I take no notice if someone is tough and knocks me on my butt (in the spirit of the game) and I hope that my competitive nature doesn't make other's angry either.
The ceremonial Champagne toast!
This win means that guess who is in charge of setting up the next tourney in the fall (blah). Oh well, I'll just bask in the win a little longer before I start worrying about that!
We are the Champions.
No time for losers, cuz we are the Champions...
(duh duh)
Of the World!!!
To be totally honest- It was a great night for us but it could have been any of the teams as they were all very good! We played really well and seemed to gel and of course we got some lucky calls and the ball just rolled our way! None-the-less, we were the victor's of the Spouses Crud Tournament! Don't we look tough?
I'm competitive- as you may be able to tell by this fierce picture. But being competitive, I don't think there is room for grudges. I take no notice if someone is tough and knocks me on my butt (in the spirit of the game) and I hope that my competitive nature doesn't make other's angry either.
The ceremonial Champagne toast!
This win means that guess who is in charge of setting up the next tourney in the fall (blah). Oh well, I'll just bask in the win a little longer before I start worrying about that!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Filtered for your viewing pleasure
In lieu of keeping up with the Pioneer Woman's blog, I've enjoyed many photography tutorials (cropping, aperture, etc) and I've been inspired to blog a little tutorial of my own. Something that I just learned about- colored filters on black and white pictures. I was originally trying to find the option on my camera that filtered out all color except a chosen color. I thought I found it but when I set my camera, I was getting black and white with no color accent. Turns out my camera doesn't have that feature (which lead me to explore the options on Adobe Photoshop and Corel Paintshop Pro) and I was just picking a colored filter for a black and white exposure. I did a little research and here's what I found...
Based on this guy- the color wheel- the color that you choose is basically like you're looking through "that color" sunglasses at a photo.. I know- it sounds totally common sense and you all already knew this. But it's new to me and maybe... just maybe someone out there is learning this filter concept for the first time too.
--cricket, cricket--
So back to my sunglasses. There you are with RED tinted sunglasses on looking at someones face. Everything that is in the red family (lips, rosy cheeks, blemishes, bloodshot eyes) will tend to fade or appear lighter and everything that is opposite red on the color wheel will pop! Same is true if you put on your blue tinted sunglasses. The blues will lighten while the reds/oranges/yellows will stand out more.
Let's take a look and see if we can see a difference.
Straight out of the Camera (SOOC)
Red Filter- Look at the detail in the water! There are a trillion ripples! It also darkened the whole picture since most of the picture is blue and the red filter contrasts with that.
Blue Filter- Wow- look at the difference between the blue filter and the red filter! It's a much lighter picture. The white on John's shorts really looks white where on the red filter, it got much darker. The water looses some detail and looks a bit smoother.
SOOC
Green Filter- I feel like there isn't much contrast here. The sky is unremarkable and the picture looks alright but nothing special. It is said that the green comes to life with a green filter. Maybe I picked the wrong picture but I don't see it.
Red Filter- look at the drama in the sky.. I didn't even know there was anything but a clear blue sky in the original.. hmm. I feel like the detail in the leaves (especially in the foreground in the bottom left) has come out a little. Biggest difference for me is still the sky though.
SOOC
Yellow- this has just a subtle change and looks pretty true to the SOOC shot.
Red: All his skin tones are lightened up and the rosy cheeks have been tamed down quite a bit. His hand is quite apparent and really stands out. The blankets are pretty contrasty.
Orange- Pretty neutral. Creamy and fair skin tones. An orange filter is said to be good for portraits because it can slightly reduce the appearance of blemishes and freckles.
Green- Holy cow. Who put lipstick on my boy???
Blue- Apparently Riley has been out in the sun too much- he's got a tan! His hand almost disappears into it's surroundings.
Well, there you have it. Did you learn anything about filters? I sure did and I just wanted to share. Play with your pictures and see what kind of effect you get and how it changes with the filter colors!
Based on this guy- the color wheel- the color that you choose is basically like you're looking through "that color" sunglasses at a photo.. I know- it sounds totally common sense and you all already knew this. But it's new to me and maybe... just maybe someone out there is learning this filter concept for the first time too.--cricket, cricket--
So back to my sunglasses. There you are with RED tinted sunglasses on looking at someones face. Everything that is in the red family (lips, rosy cheeks, blemishes, bloodshot eyes) will tend to fade or appear lighter and everything that is opposite red on the color wheel will pop! Same is true if you put on your blue tinted sunglasses. The blues will lighten while the reds/oranges/yellows will stand out more.
Let's take a look and see if we can see a difference.
Straight out of the Camera (SOOC)
Red Filter- Look at the detail in the water! There are a trillion ripples! It also darkened the whole picture since most of the picture is blue and the red filter contrasts with that.
Blue Filter- Wow- look at the difference between the blue filter and the red filter! It's a much lighter picture. The white on John's shorts really looks white where on the red filter, it got much darker. The water looses some detail and looks a bit smoother.
SOOC
Green Filter- I feel like there isn't much contrast here. The sky is unremarkable and the picture looks alright but nothing special. It is said that the green comes to life with a green filter. Maybe I picked the wrong picture but I don't see it.
Red Filter- look at the drama in the sky.. I didn't even know there was anything but a clear blue sky in the original.. hmm. I feel like the detail in the leaves (especially in the foreground in the bottom left) has come out a little. Biggest difference for me is still the sky though.
SOOC
Yellow- this has just a subtle change and looks pretty true to the SOOC shot.
Red: All his skin tones are lightened up and the rosy cheeks have been tamed down quite a bit. His hand is quite apparent and really stands out. The blankets are pretty contrasty.
Orange- Pretty neutral. Creamy and fair skin tones. An orange filter is said to be good for portraits because it can slightly reduce the appearance of blemishes and freckles.
Green- Holy cow. Who put lipstick on my boy??? 
Blue- Apparently Riley has been out in the sun too much- he's got a tan! His hand almost disappears into it's surroundings.
Well, there you have it. Did you learn anything about filters? I sure did and I just wanted to share. Play with your pictures and see what kind of effect you get and how it changes with the filter colors!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Going Mobile!
Back when Riley first started the "push ups," my church friends and I all placed bets on when he'd start crawling. But first we had to define what "crawling" is.. The following are the qualifications of crawling that we came up with:
Nothing like the contents of Daddy's flight suit to entice Riley to practice his new skill. What really caught his eye? Daddy's lucky barf bag (eye roll).
As I was trying to get the crawling on video, here's one where I'd wave the carrot (this case- an airplane) in front and peak his interest, but the darn knit ball kept distracting him.
- Forward Progression
- Complete at least one "cycle"
- Cycle= R. hand-L. leg movement and L. hand-R. leg movement once.
Nothing like the contents of Daddy's flight suit to entice Riley to practice his new skill. What really caught his eye? Daddy's lucky barf bag (eye roll).
As I was trying to get the crawling on video, here's one where I'd wave the carrot (this case- an airplane) in front and peak his interest, but the darn knit ball kept distracting him.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
JT'in it up!
Riley's first camping trip is under the belt... and it was doable. I won't lie- I was nervous. We weren't sure how to do sleeping arrangements with a baby- especially since the only tent we have is a super compact 2 man backpackers tent. John and I fit but we're like sardines in there. Once we packed up and headed out with our friends Notch and Carissa, I felt a little at ease since Notch had a large tent that we could even stand up in... which meant that i could bring the pack'n'play and set it up in the tent! Yay!! I'm thankful that our first camping attempt was "car camping: as apposed to the backpacking (hike in a few miles, set up camp where there's not a sign of another person for miles) like we have become privy to since being married. Since it was car camping, I could bring my p'n'p and I could completely over pack without guilt or suffering the consequences of having to hike all that extra weight in.
We left around 4:30pm on Thursday for a 3-4 hour estimated trip. Well the head winds and fuel efficiency issue got the best of Notch's truck and after stopping a couple times- once to figure out which exit to take and another to chow down on our delectable MRE's (thankfully I didn't get the veggie and cheese omelet one- my condolences to Carissa)- we rolled into our campsite by 10:30 that night!
Luckily Carissa had some cool climbin' girlfriends (Chelsea and Amanda) who were road tripin' for a few months and they met us at Joshua Tree and even reserved a camp site for us. If not for them, who knows where we'd stay since all the sites were paid out by 3 that afternoon! So we set up camp in the dark by only the dim glow of flash lights but awoke to the beauty of Joshua Tree National Park!
I have to admit that my expectations were high once I realized that I'd be able to bring the P'n'P. After all, Riley's sleeping 12-13 hours now so why should it be different just cuz we're outside? Because it was SUPER DUPER chilly- like low 40's at night, and my little Riley only sleeps with his arms thrown up over his head as if to signal a "touch down!" Despite my bundling him in layers of PJ's and blankets, little hands and little face got very cold so he upgraded into a shared sleeping bag with mom since it was Carissa and I in the tent and I'm (perhaps overly) paranoid about inconveniencing others with Riley's cries. We cuddled up and he laid like a little inchworm on my chest/belly and he seemed to be just fine with that... for a little while. Then it got to the point where he was letting out cries every 15 mins or so and I figured if he wasn't comfy anymore, and I wasn't comfy to begin with... something had to change. So we spent the remainder of the night in the truck... And I didn't sleep, but it worked.
Wouldn't you know it.. he went down just fine for his mid-morning nap- and so did I!
He hung in great for the climbing and there was plenty of help that we are so grateful of!
And so we climbed!
And climbed!
We ended up spending 2 nights there. We enjoyed the camp fire and camaraderie. Man- the climbing community sure is welcoming and friendly! If I were not married, I could see myself fitting into that free-spirited climbing nomad just traveling around for the next big climb! It's pretty cool!
We left Saturday night instead of sleeping there. I took the 11-3am shift driving and it was fine. I don't mind driving at night.. I get in the zone- Jam away to my IPOD! Got home at 3 and took a quick shower before enjoying sleep in our comfy bed! Riley didn't make a peep the whole way home!
We left around 4:30pm on Thursday for a 3-4 hour estimated trip. Well the head winds and fuel efficiency issue got the best of Notch's truck and after stopping a couple times- once to figure out which exit to take and another to chow down on our delectable MRE's (thankfully I didn't get the veggie and cheese omelet one- my condolences to Carissa)- we rolled into our campsite by 10:30 that night!
Luckily Carissa had some cool climbin' girlfriends (Chelsea and Amanda) who were road tripin' for a few months and they met us at Joshua Tree and even reserved a camp site for us. If not for them, who knows where we'd stay since all the sites were paid out by 3 that afternoon! So we set up camp in the dark by only the dim glow of flash lights but awoke to the beauty of Joshua Tree National Park!
I have to admit that my expectations were high once I realized that I'd be able to bring the P'n'P. After all, Riley's sleeping 12-13 hours now so why should it be different just cuz we're outside? Because it was SUPER DUPER chilly- like low 40's at night, and my little Riley only sleeps with his arms thrown up over his head as if to signal a "touch down!" Despite my bundling him in layers of PJ's and blankets, little hands and little face got very cold so he upgraded into a shared sleeping bag with mom since it was Carissa and I in the tent and I'm (perhaps overly) paranoid about inconveniencing others with Riley's cries. We cuddled up and he laid like a little inchworm on my chest/belly and he seemed to be just fine with that... for a little while. Then it got to the point where he was letting out cries every 15 mins or so and I figured if he wasn't comfy anymore, and I wasn't comfy to begin with... something had to change. So we spent the remainder of the night in the truck... And I didn't sleep, but it worked.
Wouldn't you know it.. he went down just fine for his mid-morning nap- and so did I!
He hung in great for the climbing and there was plenty of help that we are so grateful of!
And so we climbed!
And climbed!
We ended up spending 2 nights there. We enjoyed the camp fire and camaraderie. Man- the climbing community sure is welcoming and friendly! If I were not married, I could see myself fitting into that free-spirited climbing nomad just traveling around for the next big climb! It's pretty cool!
We left Saturday night instead of sleeping there. I took the 11-3am shift driving and it was fine. I don't mind driving at night.. I get in the zone- Jam away to my IPOD! Got home at 3 and took a quick shower before enjoying sleep in our comfy bed! Riley didn't make a peep the whole way home!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)