Aaaah China

I mentioned a few posts ago that Caroline had just run a 5k. Well they gave out some stuff in a little packet to all those who participated in the race. The usual shirt, wristband, water bottle...you know. Anyway, the water bottle came with some great instructions - pay particular attention to instruction #2.

We'll be very careful to keep it away from any water. Nothing like stuff made in China. :)

Family Fun

We had some of my family over last week for dinner. We had a blast. I pushed Victoria on my longboard for awhile, then we rode together, and then she decided that I needed to be pushed by her.

Victoria enjoyed playing croquette with us, but she often looked more like she was a little witch trying to ride a broom.

In the end Caroline had to show us how it was done.

She also enjoyed looking after baby Joseph.

Hatching Turtles

Caroline and I went with my family to duck pond on the south of campus last week. The ducks were not hungry, but they were pretty active. At one point the ducklings decided to climb up on the turtles and keep them warm.

One of the turtles lay on a branch, sprawled with his legs just dangling. Looked rather comfortable.

Running Woman

Last Saturday Caroline and her family ran in a 5k at Thanksgiving Point. It was fun to see the crew and Caroline was the fastest of her family, and in the top third of all the racers.

She was in great spirits at the beginning of the race.

By the end she was all business

Playing with Colors

So last week I photographed a really nice family at the old BYU Academy (pictured above), otherwise known as the Provo library. I was a little unsure about taking photographs there, especially since we took them at about 1:30pm, which is generally about the worst time of day to take pictures (the high sun equals dark shadows and squinty eyes). However, I was able to utilize the old brick on the building, afternoon shade cast by the builidng, and a little Photoshop to get some nice pictures.

Another thing I have been doing is trying to learn more about selective coloring, saturation, and such in Photoshop. So I took this picture of these two cuties and worked to make their blue eyes pop at you a little more. I also brightened up that red dress to create a contrast with their blue eyes (as orange and blue are complimentary colors, in case you have forgotten ;)). I am not sure if you can tell from this picture (because I shrunk it for the blog, however if you click on the picture it will show you a bigger image) but I was pleased with the results. I also added a bit of vignetting, which is something that happens with some camera lenses when they are all the way opened up, which actually is something you don't want to happen (ask Brad about the technicalities of that), but can be duplicated with the power of the computer. It creates the darkened corners forcing your eye to forcus of the center of the picture (see I learned something in art school...well maybe).

Finally another bonus of digital photography and computers. In this photograph there is a window, can you find it? Hopefully not, as I did a little cover up work. Behind the boy on the right I added a brick wall where there is actually a window. Anyways, that is just a little something I have been up to.

Mothers Day

Mother's Day, as you know, was last Sunday. Brad and I invited my parents over for dinner. Then Brad's father came into town, so of course he was invited too. Then we decided to invite my brother Clayton and his wife Jessa, since they live a couple of blocks from us. And then we figured we should just make it a party and so we invited the Memmott's too- Brad's sister Kelly, husband Grant and their kids Victoria, 3, and Joseph, 11 days. It was a lot of fun; thanks for those who attended.

So Brad was kind enough to make some apple crisp. He was so cute about it. Because I was taking up the entire kitchen (literally) making Sweet Barbacoa Pork, fresh Pico-de-Gallo, and cream sauce (which you can find on my cooking blog), he moved his operation to the table. It was fantastic. He pulled out all the ingridents, lined them up, and appeared to be filming a cooking show, as you can see from the picture above.

Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures at the event, but I got a couple. Above left is my parents and Grant Memmott. On the right is Brad and his father.

These lovely folks are (starting from the left) Brad's sister Kelly and daughter Victoria; baby Joseph (who slept most of the evening which made it nice for Kelly so that she could eat); and Jessa and Clayton Rather.

Thanks for coming everyone. And if you are interested in coming over sometime for dinner, we'd love to have you.

What a Wonderful Surprise

Did you have a favorite food as a kid? One of mine was brown beans with hot dogs. I am sure my parents hated it, but since all they had to do was open a can of brown beans and cut a couple hot dogs into it to make me happy they rarely refused. It was the best thing ever! Thus, it was to my great joy that we found this can of Beanee Weenee at Smiths the other day. I didn't know that you could get it with the hot dogs already inside. How awesome is that!

*Sorry about the picture, it was from a camera phone...ugh!

A Bad Storm Means Good News

Since we moved in we have been worried about a tree in our backyard. It hangs over power lines, phones lines, etc, that run to our house and our neighbor's house. About six months ago we finally got the city to come look at it and despite resting on so many lines, they declared it perfectly fine. Suuuuure...



A couple weeks ago we had a surprise snow storm here. The weather was bad enough to break some of the branches on the tree and weighed it down quite a bit. This resulted in the power line to our neighbor's house getting ripped off the side of their house where it had been attached.



We talked with our neighbors and our landlord about it and surprisingly they got the city to come and look at it. The man who came was very concerned, so he called in a crew and within an hour all that was left was a stump. The poor guys had to work in a heavy rain storm. Too bad they didn't take it out when they came six months ago and the sun was shining.

The Tea Party

Caroline and I went to the local 'Tea Party'. There were a few good speakers and some great signs. Here are a collection of my favorites.


Debt is the problem, how can it be the solution too?


Talk is cheap, except when congress does it.


Extinction is forever. Save the taxpayers

Waiting and Hoping

Two things, I am hoping that it doesn't snow more today, as I will be outside photographing a wedding....

...and I want you all to anticipate the story of the return of Maria!! If you are unfamiliar with Maria and the events surrounding her disappearance, click here...

Tax Day Tea Party

Today is the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party! National grassroot efforts are organizing rallies around the counrty to oppose the rise in big government, big government spending, etc. It is a chance to organize and rally as a nation. It is tonight, 5-7pm at the Old County Courthouse, University and Center. I will be there near the beginning, if you want to go with me, call. Here is a link to the website with more info.

"So who's behind the Tax Day tea parties? Ordinary folks..."

The Only Escape

Isn't it depressing to think that the only escape from taxes is death? Caroline and I did our taxes on Saturday and had to write Mr. Obama a nice big check and we weren't very happy about it. I am happy to pay for essential services and public education, but other than that...no way. Charity, in all its forms, including welfare, should be voluntary.

It's not all politics in our house, but...

It's not all politics in our house, but tonight I am preparing for the communications class I teach. Tomorrow we will be analyzing political ads, and specifically ads from the 2008 presidential election. As I have been meandering through the web, I have found many interesting things. One, Hillary Clinton's campaign ads are not available online anymore. I have searched several sources, and cannot find any, plenty of spoofs, but none of her official ads, interesting I think. But that isn't actually the reason for this post. I found this website that has tracked the money donations from specific industries for the last group of candidates and I thought it was very interesting. I am sure there are many sites that track this info, but I thought I would give you a link just so you could look. It is amazing how much money is donated and interesting to see what industries give who what money. Anyways, have a look, the site is called OpenSecrets.org

Socialism

My friend Anabelle put this short economic lesson on her blog, I think it is great. You should read it.

BMW Offers Tractor Beam for Better Mileage

BMW has come up with a novel idea to improve your fuel economy. A large magnet that allows you to 'grab' onto the car in front of you and have it tow you. Sounds great, except for the guy towing you. Oh and by the way it is April Fools Day today.

Kia had couple fun ones two including this new Popemobile.



If you want to check out the rest go to www.motorcities.com