Arizona, you are forgiven

I'm beginning to forgive you for the steering wheels that are too hot to handle, the ice cream that is melted before I even make it home, the $400 utility bills and maybe even for introducing me to such things as 'stache sweat--and I don't even have a 'stache!  Yes, we're just starting to enter our glory days outside so I guess you and I can be friends again afterall.

don't mind yesterday's lunch all over the trampoline.  I keep waiting for the birds to come eat it.  It's not happening.

friday night homemade pizza night on the patio while the kids raided the Halloween box and spent the next three days playing pirates and wizards.  It was a swell weekend.  {oh wait, except at the swim party for Kylie's dance team when Maddox's nose started gushing blood in the pool and Ryder got attacked by ants.  Oh and when BYU lost and poor Jason took it personally as if he were the one playing the game. swell, not so much.  But hanging out with good friends and eating good food during the game helped soften the blow.}

Cheat sheet

First disclaimer: if camera talk makes you want to poke your eyeballs out with a portable tripod, then just skip this and pretend it never happend.  Disclaimer 2: I am in no way a professional photographer, I just know my way around google. I've researched tips for camera settings and then with trial and error I've come up with a little cheat sheet that I keep in my camera bag so that I can remember what settings work best in certain situations and I thought I'd pass it along. 

 I have the Canon Rebel T1i, but I'm pretty sure most DSLR cameras have the same settings.  I never shoot in full manual, just too much to think about, but I've noticed that the ISO (how much light is let in) and the shutter speed make the biggest difference and then I let my camera auto adjust for aperature, exposure, etc.  Don't be scared, I promise not to use words like "aperature" ever again. I also try to set it on a flat surface if possible (since who really wants to carry a tripod around in their back pocket?), to minimize camera shake.

Christmas lights

For the maximum glow affect:  High ISO, slow shutter speed and set the camera on a solid surface. 

-camera mode: "TV"  (stands for Time Value, or shutter speed priority for all those who actually really care.  I don't. It's just the setting that allows you to adjust the ISO and shutter speed and auto adjusts for everything else) 

-ISO: 3200 (the highest it will go)

-shutter speed:1/30

(picture via, cause how can I take a picture of my camera with my camera? duh.)

To still get the glow affect even during the day, just turn the ISO down since you don't need to let in alot of light.
-mode: "TV"
-ISO: 200
-ss: 1/25

Dance recitals and plays: 

I thought I would be screwed for pictures since I procrastinated buying tickets and we got stuck in the very back of a dark theater.  I spent alot of time on google and found the best setting and thanks to that and my zoom lens they turned out better than I thought.  For these you want to keep the ISO high and the shutter speed high to let in as much light and avoid blurred movement.

mode: "TV"
ISO: 3200
ss: 1/320 (some shots I could bump the ss up to 1/550, it just depends on how much stage lighting there was)

The disadvantage of having a high ISO is that it can turn out a little grainy, but I found that converting it to black and white usually helps with that.

Night time shots

I rarely ventured outside of the pre-programmed settings but I'm glad I finally got brave enough to experiment with the "TV" setting, it has totally changed the way I take pictures in low and almost unexisting light.  I just mess around with the shutter speed until I get it right (too fast and it will be too dark, too slow and it will be blurry) and always keep the ISO at the max.
mode: TV
ISO:3200
ss:1/100

Birthday candles: 

at night:

mode: TV
ISO: 3200

ss: 1/40

during the day:

mode: TV

ISO: 800

ss: 1/8 (make sure you have the camera on a solid surface or tripod if you have the shutter speed this slow.  You can bump it up if you need to, I just wanted a slower speed to absorb more natural light)

Fireworks: 

If you want them to freeze in time then do a faster shutter speed but not too fast then it's too dark.
mode: TV
ISO: 3200
ss: 1/100

To show more movement slow the ss down a little bit

mode: TV

ISO: 3200

ss: 1/50

For sparklers you need to slow the shutter speed down ALOT to capture all the movement:
mode: TV
ISO: 3200
ss: 0.6

 Blue skys:

I find myself using the "lanscape" setting a lot when I take outside pictures, and not just for landscape shots.  I love the way it makes the sky and any bright colors they're wearing just pop. 

mode: landscape (the one with a picture of a mountain and cloud)

Water pictures: 

The "action" setting is my default setting alot with kids because they're always on the go and with such a fast shutter speed it freezes time and avoids blurry shots.  I also love using this setting with water.  Water suspended in air is just plain cool.  I like using it too because I don't have to use my brain and think too much about numbers, but if you must know, have the shutter speed around 1/800.

mode: Action (the one with the guy running, if you haven't figured that one out then maybe you shouldn't qualify to own a camera :)

School: 

The flourescent lights can be tricky
mode: TV
ISO: 1600
ss: 1/250

And there you have it.

Oh, and I wrote instructions on my cheat sheet for taking pictures on the spinning teacup ride, if I ever get brave enough to go on the spinning teacup ride, but here is the link if you feel the need to throw up your entire complimentary continental breakfast the next time you visit Disneyland. 

Worth it?

I was busy getting my domestication on

and Maddox was busy flooding my kitchen floor so that he could recreate George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River

besides the Mississippi running through my kitchen, it was 6 1/2 long hours, $54, 6 games dumped out, 500 pack of straws scattered throughout the house (twice), Elmer's glue poured on the floor, 5 toy baskets dumped out, 10 tinker toys broken in half, and one launch pad consisting of every pillow in the house piled on the stair landing.  Remind me again why every Fall I feel the need to get intouch with my inner Martha and stock my shelves with mason jars?  Especially when Kylie and Jayden come home and tell me they don't even like peaches.  I think this is why Costco was invented.

Premature park day

It was a sweaty cleavage kind of day.  But little boys seem to care more about being outside than they do about sweaty cleavage. Besides, I needed to show those people flooding facebook with pictures of hiking and all sorts of outdoor happiness that two can play at this game.  So off to the park we went for the first time in 6.2 months.  I thought Ryder would love the baby carrier on the bike, instead he cried most of the way and kept trying to push me off the seat when usually my other babies would just try to stick their fingers down the back of my pants.  That's okay, I'm a little sensitive to bike carriers myself.  In elementary school I was the one riding a bike to school with a baby seat attached (10 kids, bike shortage, don't ask).  My dad, ever the optimist, told me how lucky I was to have a nice little carrier for my backpack.  So I strapped that Jansport in and rode back and forth to school with my little brother yelling, "Jamie shops at D.I.!" until I promised to let him play the nintendo first when we got home.  Those elementary years have definately seen better days. Once we got to the park I realized this might be the real reason he was crying.  We didn't have a helmet his size so I grabbed Kylie's and thought it would be better than nothing.  In this case I think nothing actually would have been better. 

We came, we swung, we dug in cat poop infested sand, we sanitized, we picnicked, we realized we should have brought more water, we tried to overcome Ryder's fear of the tunnel slides after getting stuck in one at Chic-fil-a. My apologies to any 3 year olds who were scarred while witnessing that rescue.  And then we also realized that yes, it is still way too hot to go to the park.  See ya in 2 more months.

Next up: lessons on contagious diseases transmitted through sucking on public waterfountain spouts.

Anticipation

So back in April I did my marathon furniture painting weekend and scoured etsy for pillow covers in anticipation of the new couches that would be arriving any day.  And then after like 5 months of calling every weekend for an update on the back ordered couches I decided that the anticipation would do one of two things: either the "good things come to those who wait" where I would immediately fall in love at first sight, or I would be disappointed because all the anticipation would build up and the real life version couldn't hold a candle to visionary masterpiece created in my mind. You know, kinda like the whole Twilight saga.  It was entertaining, but all the hype left me, well...let's just say my world didn't crumble and the sun somehow managed to rise another day when Robsten broke up (that just doesn't seem to roll off the tongue quite like "Brangelina").  So the couches finally came, they were a catalog order so I hadn't seen them yet and I kinda have to admit that I was a little disappointed.  I immediately fell in love with the accent chair, but the couches were too dark, the tufting wasn't tufty enough, the pillows weren't working and they looked kinda cheap.  After a couple of days we started getting to know eachother better and I'm liking them more.  I made some new pillow covers that were the right shade of blue and rearranged some accessories and then it all started meshing better.  And then I pulled up the before shot of the room, smacked myself across the face with my orange geometric print pillow and gave myself a talking to about gratitude. Granted, I accidentally deleted the real before shot and the only one I could dig up is like the ugly stepsister.  It's like those weight loss ads where the before picture is a lethal combination of no makeup, dark lighting, bad perms and reaks of acne and sweat pants and then the after shot is dripping in spray tan, bleached teeth and hair extensions.  But you get the gist.

I loved these chevron pillows I ordered but they were the wrong shade of blue and competed with the patterned chair, so the living room got a mini makeover too: