Beautiful Morning

I was just telling my friend that I'd probably have to wait until next year to see fog again, but I got a lovely surprise this morning. I got the kids bundled up and let them sit in the warm van while I played with my camera. I believe these are mules and the same ones I came across last year when the fog was stretched over that particular area.







I noticed the frost on this barbed wire fence and had to get a macro shot.

Caught

Santa visited our house, lucky for me, I had my video camera on hand....

Star Struck

Santa is a rock star to the boys, they are usually tongue-tied when they meet him. It's fun to watch how excited they are. It might be the last year of belief for Jared, he's starting to question things so we're milking it for all it's worth. The kids have never had their rooms so clean (I told them Santa likes a clean house). We let them visit with Santa at the mall, here's the picture I took. They asked me to buy a small package in order to take my own pictures so I did, it's only fair - they have to make a living too :)

Yay for no school!

Want to know what a typical day is like for us when there's no school plus friends? I uploaded a video so you can laugh at me, feel sorry for me or tell me you have it worse.



Seriously though, we had fun. The boys only did that for about 30 minutes.... all spread out. I think they watched parts of a movie in between it all so I could at least hear myself think.

The cat's out of the bag

I can finally share this video I made awhile ago. It was my sister's way of telling us some exciting news and an opportunity to prank my boys.... which is too good to pass up on any occasion.

Addiction!

I can't make these cookies for a long time because they are seriously addicting! It's like crack, so I'm sharing :)

Pecan Puffs (or Crack Cookies..... whichever fits once you've tasted this small piece of heaven)

1/2 cup butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour less 2 Tablespoons

1 cup pecans (crushed fine)

Heat butter until soft, add sugar and blend. Add vanilla and flour (don't forget to subtract 2 Tablespoons). Stir in pecans. Roll into small balls, place on cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar while still hot and again when cooled. Should make about 26 - 28 puffs.

I know you'll be excited to toss these into your mouth once they are done, but be careful not to inhale when it's too close to your face..... hello, powdered sugar! This is another reason I am thinking of changing the name to Crack Cookies. I got this recipe from a dear friend, she used to make these every year and deliver them to friends. They are oh so yummy!

Characters

I went back to take more pictures of the reindeer because it was an overcast day and I wanted some more character shots. Here are my favorite two.....





I need a funny caption for both, please leave a comment with your best idea.

Wanna Kiss?

I knew that I was spoiling the reindeer by bringing a large box of raisins just for them, but I didn't expect a kiss for it. I'm just not that kinda girl :)

Chocolate Covered Cherries

My dad used to make these years ago when I was young, they are a family favorite. It has been a LONG time since I've enjoyed this treat. I don't know where he got the original recipe, but I got a hold of it and tried my hand at making them for the first time. They turned out great! I tripled the recipe and ended up with 150 chocolate covered cherries. They'll make tasty gifts!

Chocolate Covered Cherries

1 lb Powdered Sugar (about 3 1/2 cups)
4 Tbsp Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
4 Tbsp Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Bottle of Maraschino Cherries (or about 50 cherries)
2-3 (8 oz) bars of Semi Sweet Bakers Chocolate

Cream butter and sugar together, adding sweetened condensed milk in small amounts.
Add salt and vanilla. Blend well, it’s best to use hand blender on a low setting. Also, if it’s too dry, I like to add 1 Tbsp of regular milk. It should be doughy, but not sticky.

Drain cherries, dry well. I would leave them on a paper towel for at least an hour. It’s okay if they are sticky, just not wet. The dough won’t stick if they are wet.
Take small amount of cream mixture at a time (about the size of a cherry) and roll it out flat in the palm of your hand, wrap it around the cherries and shape it into a ball.
Lay on wax paper on a cookie sheet.
Freeze for about an hour, you can leave it overnight.

Melt chocolate in a pan on the simmer setting (be careful not to scorch it).
Dip cherries in chocolate, lay on wax paper or in mini muffin cups.
Chill again, it aids in solidification. Also, aging the chocolate allows the center to become more liquid – makes excellent cherry chocolates.

Some options –
*add nuts to the chocolate or sprinkle nuts on top
*melt white chocolate and drizzle on top of cherry chocolates for variety

Foggiest dream come true

I mentioned in an earlier post that I wished I had taken a shot, but passed it by on the way to an appointment. Yesterday was another foggy day and this time, I set up my own opportunity with the help of my friend, Heidi. She knows about my little addiction and was kind enough to humor me.

Lady with the red umbrella....




Last night the local photo club met up at the park for some light painting. It was a lot of fun, here are my favorite 3 images.

Can't get enough

I think foggy days are the best! I hope we get just one more, I am kicking myself for not pulling over to get a shot of something that caught my eye - next time I will be late to my appointment.... if there is a next time.

Here are a few that I took and did quick edits on - thank heavens for photoshop actions (shortcuts). I hardly get time to work on my own these days with Christmas so close and so many family photos to do in between it all.

This could be 100% awesome if it weren't for all the bird poop :P






I found a Great Blue Heron (thanks to a friend who knows her birds) and it let me get close enough to notice its bright yellow eyes. If you click on any of these pictures, you might see it in better detail.


I got too close for comfort, but was lucky enough to have my camera to my eye as it was flying off.


Just a few days ago, we went to the park to do family pictures for our Christmas cards. I had my tripod and with the right threats bribes, I was able to get a couple I could actually use. Next year, I want a remote!

Jared's drawing

I love it when Jared draws some random picture in school for me. He proudly handed me this a little while ago, I had to scan it and share. It says "The bad cops chased me!" with a little illustration to make his point. I just love the expression on the face of his stick figure. I wonder what a psychologist would say about this one....... any guesses?



Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Weekend Party

There was a release party for the New Moon movie which came out before the weekend. I was asked to help a photographer with the workload and in exchange, I got 2 tickets to the event and the midnight showing of the movie. I'm going to start off by saying that I'm too old for midnight showings. I'm a morning person and I get sleepy around 10pm, BUT they were free tickets so I couldn't let them go to waste :) Plus, the opportunity to take pictures of the "crazies" was too good to pass up. We only live once, right?

The fans were interesting. Some had a little too much to drink and others were so into Twilight that it was a bit nauseating. I'm a fan of the books and the movies were pretty good too, but that's as far as I go. I'm not collecting memorabilia, dressing up as a vampire/wolf for the movie or yelling things like "take off your shirt" when Jacob enters the scene at the movies. I laughed it all off. The best part about the night and the only thing that made it fun was having my friend, Heidi, along for good company.

This event was organized to benefit The Edith Bishel Center for the blind. I would say that it did very well, there were a lot of people. Some local actors were cast to play the characters from the movie and a couple of them looked like the real thing. Here's my attempt at recreating one of the poses from the New Moon poster of Jacob and Bella.....



And here is the cast, they were a lot of fun and so good at putting up with the "twihards" wanting certain poses with them. It was REALLY hard to keep a straight face at times.

Jared won 1st place!!

'Beauty' was the theme of this years Reflections Contest, a national art appreciation program. Jared entered this photo.....



He used my spare camera and I walked with him around the yard while he took pictures of things that caught his attention. I explained a few basic ideas about composition and let him be creative. I also allowed him to pick 2 flowers so he could arrange them the way he wanted. He took his favorite flower and put it between the slats of the bench that sits in front of our house. Once we got all of the pictures onto the computer, I took a few of his photos and walked him through the editing process. I showed him some very basic things and then let him play with it. He did some wild and crazy things at first, but then got serious. I pulled up a few of the best ones and he processed them himself. I was so proud!

Here is a short video of the award ceremony. The 1st place winner got a Toys-R-Us gift card, a certificate and really nice blue ribbon. His entry will move on to a regional contest so we're wishing him luck!



And if the night couldn't be more perfect for Jared, he lost a tooth so he'll get a visit from the tooth fairy. :)

New trick

I met an older guy named Bob Davis at a photo club meeting in September. After I gave a short presentation to the club, he came up to me and handed me a slip of paper with "Harris Shutter Effect" written on it. He assured me that I would like this technique and to research it. Naturally I was curious so I did. It's a way to combine 3 different color channels in photoshop to create a colorful image. It's best for moving things like smoke, water, trains, cars. This morning I was bored so I finally tried it with water, here is the end result.....





This time I used smoke - even more fun!


I don't know what I'll do with this technique, but it was fun to try a new thing.

Another foggy morning

I was planning to crash after the kids went off to school because I was super tired and didn't sleep well. However, I could see fog out over the city and that woke me right up. What a treat! I drove to several locations around the area's bridges and found my two favorites.

I love the Cable Bridge! It's a great subject to photograph in almost any weather and at any time of the day/night, I really enjoyed the fog around it this morning and the clouds in the background.



I could barely see the Blue Bridge through the fog, but I kind of liked the effect.

Savvy Moms Save

I thought I'd pass along this neat blog. Crystal, a friend of mine, has the neatest website for ladies who like to save money. You get tips, coupons, how-to's and she has giveaways (now who doesn't like those??). Click here to visit her blog (http://savvymomsaves.blogspot.com).

A new shirt

The boys visited their grandparents last night and grandpa gave them a new shirt. He was in Brazil on business for a week and the shirts he bought were from a famous soccer team. I thought I would snap a couple of pictures before they left for school. If I had let him, David would have slept in his new shirt, but I insisted he wait until after their shower in the morning. It's amazing what a new shirt (and not just any new shirt, a shirt from another country representing a famous soccer team) can do to the boys. When they are wearing their new soccer shirts, they are not just superman.... they are soccer players.

More from my Sumpter trip

I've had some extra time to play in photoshop lately so I'm posting some more from my Sumpter trip. I think steam engines are a new favorite subject! I REALLY loved shooting this one.



Sometimes I can't decide whether I like the color better or the old fashion tone, but it just seems to fit better for an antique steam engine.





I hopped across a little stream and was wet up to my knee for the rest of the trip to get these shots. It was worth it to me, I really liked what the little stream added to the image. Only 2 other photographers were as crazy as I was, the rest stayed dry.....their loss :)




I wanted a close up of this tree that changed colors in the fall, it was so pretty mixed in with the evergreens up in the mountains.


This was a normal experience in Sumpter, lots of close encounters with wildlife. Larry and I at a cafe next to our cabin and we heard about an injured elk who came every night around 6pm for his free handout of leftover food.


This is another antique item found on the ranch we visited in Baker, OR.

A disturbance

Every morning I wake up and look out the window to see what the day looks like. I always keep my fingers crossed for fog so I can run out and play with my camera. This morning, I was partially rewarded. While the fog didn't stretch over the whole of my city, it did hover over the river long enough for me to get the shots I wanted.

I was sitting by the waters edge watching a flock of geese (or so they look from a distance) just floating in the water peacefully. Out of nowhere, they freaked out and flew off. Now I know I didn't put my makeup on this morning, but their reaction was a bit extreme. Sheesh.



On another note, Jared is finished with soccer for the season and he was able to play his last game. He sprained his ankle a couple of weeks ago jumping off a tall haystack and it is still tender, but he was able to run and kick the ball. I got the boys together for team pictures during their last practice, here is the funny one.



The boys made out like bandits this Halloween. Their candy should last us a whole year if I ration it correctly. Last years candy did make it a full year, I threw it away before they went trick-or-treating. We don't eat a lot of candy around here, the boys have enough 'crazy' in their system without adding to it. This year, Jared was a fireman and David was a ninja.



Larry and I were dressed the same as last year (Jack and Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas) and as you can see.... Larry is as excited as ever!


Seriously, am I the only one smiling?

Our weekend adventure

Larry and I went to Sumpter, Oregon with the Tri City Digital Photography Club for a photo opportunity. The club arraigned for us to ride an old steam engine, it was quite an experience with fall colors and billowing smoke against a beautiful blue sky. Even the operators of the train were dressed for the experience, they made it authentic for us. Larry sat in the train for most of the way while I went with the photographers to set up at the different locations they dropped us off at. Here is a peak at some of my favorite images.....







Here is the conductor, he knew everything about this train and the history of the area. I don't think there was a question he didn't know the answer to. He is definitely the best steam engine conductor west of the Mississippi.




We were treated to a train robbery, it was pretty neat! One of the guys walked on board the train and yelled a bit for fun, everyone had their cameras out.


Larry makes friends wherever he goes! We visited a ranch near Baker City, OR because we heard a guy had a whole bunch of cool old stuff. He only charged $2 per person so we walked around a couple of acres of land and Larry kept the horses at bay while I played with my camera. They were very interested in us, especially Larry. This one was rubbing up against him in order to block the other horse from Larry's affections :)




Now here is a friendly and desperate cat! She practically threw herself at Larry, I wonder what Panda (our cat) will think of this. Can you see how she jumped into Larry's hand to be sure she got a proper petting?


We took a scenic route home so I could take more photos of the beautiful fall colors. We were driving along and saw this random boot in the middle of the road. Larry and I could come up with stories all day about how it came to be there. I had him pull over so I could take a picture.




It was a great weekend! The photo club is already talking about another trip next year.