So here are the photos from Jessica's new camera...pretty nice. I am not too pleased with how it does in low light (indoors/night), but that's what you get with point & shoot I guess. Other than the long delay to take a picture with a flash, it is not too bad. It will take come getting used to...but it isn't for me anyway.
Jess and Creedance sledding on Christmas Eve
Playing in the snow with TJ. It was so much fun to be a kid with mine.
We spent Christmas at my in-law's cabin in Island Park this year. We go up there as much as possible (especially in the winter), but this has been the first time I have been there on Christmas. It was a lot of fun! We went up on Christmas Eve and had a very nice Ham dinner (Thanks Jessica!). Sam & Emily went up a day earlier and cut down a tree, so after dinner, we popped pop-corn and decorated the tree.
Nate & Kim stringing popcorn
Chris read Luke 2, Becky recited "The night before Christmas," and Sam read a poem about a Grandma's first Christmas after passing away...it was very touching as Jessica's grandma passed this year.
Sam & Emily (Jake & Dave too) working on Popcorn too
The kids had so much fun! I think they would live up there year-round if they could...Hey I would too!
Dave and his popcorn string
Today we played outside. Sledding, jumping in the snow and a quick snow-mobille ride. I loved sledding with Toph & Creedance...and TJ even made a few runs. The hill was FAST!!! Toph is getting very brave, and Creedance loved going fast...the snow spray in the face didn't bother her too much....TJ didn't like it too much when he fell face-first into a drift (from sitting)!
Rachel made some sweet ornamants
I had to come home a day early to get to work tomarrow, so after Jess gets home with her (new) camera, I'll have more snapshots to post.
I hated to come home after only one day...but I am thankful for the time I could spend with my family and children...I can't wait for next Christmas!
"Two Chairs" The Wong House--Teton Village, WY
Friday I worked in Jackson, finishing up a couple jobs and measuring a couple more. One job--the Wong house, is really cool. I am very pleased with it and how it turned out. Here is one of the shower doors we did.
Pretty nasty eh?
Who needs a Safari Rack?!
The Sampson Cabin...well chimney, slab, beds and stove.
We found this at the West end of Hebgen Lake...I think it is a crawfish.
Quake Lake.
I got the film from this trip developed today too. I hope to get it scanned in a week or two. I even shot some Holga stuff. The negs look pretty good.
Theo checking his phone reception at Mesa Falls...cool! I caught a little rainbow!
During the noon light we walked around Island Park Scout Camp (where I spent every summer growing up). I was amazed at the transformation the COPE course has made. Not one of the orignal poles of the High course are still there... OK, so stumps of them are there, but that is it. I was very impressed! The lake was really cool too. There was a thin (1/8") sheet of Ice on part of the lake, and when we walked on the docks, you could hear the watter ripple crackle under the ice. The scout camp looks really good! There has been a lot of good things done there in the last few years.
OK so I'm not too far off the ground, and it is a HUGE pole...AND there is not any COPE staff or spotters, waaah!
Just north of the camp there is a chimney and concrete slab that is the remnence of a cabin that burnt down...The owner was/is Ken Sampson, he taught ath IF High School. Anyway, I always thought it was a really cool place, and yet I have never photographed there. I just wanted to show Theo, but I pulled out the view camera and made a few exposures from the top of my car. I hope the negs turn out nice. Theo also shot a little with my 10D. His shots were really cool.
We also went to see the distruction caused by the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake. There are remnence of houses at the West end of Hebgen that fell into that Lake, and a few miles farther West there is a lake that was created by the Earthquake...aptly named Quake Lake. Theo was toatly amazed by Quake Lake. There are dead pine trees still sticking out from the surface of the lake. Stark white against the dark blue water, we had to make as many images as the setting sun would allow.
It was a great chance to get out and photograph. Thanks Theo! Now I just need to go through the Digital images and get around to processing the film. I don't envy Theo...I think he has twice as many sheets of film to run.
OK, so there are a few more images, but for some reason they won't upload...I'll post them soon though.
A couple days ago I was going through the files on the computer... you know sorting, deleting, just cleaning house. I came accros a file that made me a little sad "2005_11_10 Last day with the Bus." It was the photos we took the day we sold my VW Bus. It is just about a year ago now that we found another home for my '72 Kombi, another guy that fell in love with her just had to have her. We came to a point in our lives that we needed something better for Jessica to drive. You see days that I went to school I drove her little Prizm, and she was left with the Bus. She didn't mind it too much except for in the winter, when it was colder than a witches teet, and the fine German engineering failed to make it to the heating system. With our third child on the way ( see previous post), we really needed something with a much better heating system that would not make you sick with exhaust fumes. Wait! German engineering...enclosed space...gas fumes...It is all coming together. WWII was over when the Bus was developed, and yet they still held on to those old ways! But I digress. Our 'Type II" was a wonderful vehicle to have. Great for camping trips and just as cool to cruze around town in. We always got the smiles and laughs (mostly at my 'push to operate' and '0-55 in 11 minutes' bumper stickers) as well as the peace signs. I really do miss my ol' girl, but as the winter months are approaching I really do enjoy a heated van (with AWD!) for my family to get around in.
Here's a picture Creedance doing one of their favorate things...just playing in the bus...on the day we sold it. They cried for almost a half an hour after it drove away. One day I will have another VW...I think I'll get a Bug next.
Today after work, I made some photographs of TJ (my youngest kid). I noticed that the light coming in our bedroom window was quite nice. I am not sure about this 'coloring' however. I intended to use a chanel mixer layer to convert to b&w, but forgot about another layer above it and ended up with this subtle color. I like it, but worry that it is a bit cliché. Does it look subtle or colorized? Here's a rough b&w to compare.
Does it seem more in line with my other Children Portraits? Now bear in mind that the portraits on my website were made with a 4x5 view camera and this is with a digital SLR...so the depth of field (among other factors) will be vastly different. Obviously there is a difference because color is introduced, but is it an effective difference or just cute and sappy?
This is just 2 miles from the in-laws' cabin. No, their cabin is not one of these 'modern cabins' advertised by the Sunset Cafe sign. This is at the base of an old ski hill. There are several little one room cabins, a cafe/bar, a shop and the old ski lift. It is all for sale, I thought I heard for $3 million...but that includes the hill!
Another one of my favorate places in IP to photograph. This is the foundation of some building (a little ranch house I would assume, It has been some time sence it had walls and a roof. 
It was a lot of fun. We stayed at a much nicer place this time, they even had a pool, so we went for a swim with TJ, he liked it. He even started falling asleep while we swam. After his check-up we went to the LDS art and history museum...very nice, too bad they are in between exhibits, their perminent displays were still up though. We also looked around at a few stores, then came home Thrusday night.
Bla bla bla….anyway I think I did pretty well. I only did 6 climbs, but flashed each one and finished with 52 points. I think that if the weather was more favorable, and I climbed in a heat by myself I could have gotten closer to 70-80 points. But I don’t go to compete. I mean this is usually the only time I get out and climb in a year. I go for the company and the fact that I can climb whatever I want at Ross Park and don’t have to set up (or take down) a top rope or lead.
Jess and the kids came with me for support and a little get away. We were going to camp, but with the cold weather we opted for Motel 6. Not too bad for $40 a night. We still were able to do a little campfire with Kevin and Tammie.
Toph had some fun climbing, and really amazed us with his bouldering skills. If he can make it to the top of anything at Ross Park next summer, we will enter him in the Pump next year. He’s got skills!
The awards party was fun too. Everyone that enters walks away with something. Everyone’s name is drawn out of a hat, and then you go up and pick your prize. This year there were a lot of good things to pick from…2 ropes, several packs, a sweet sleeping bag…and so much more. The first people drawn have best choice of course, but by the end of the night they start throwing everything else out to the crowd. I walked away with a Gerber multi tool, a shirt and a couple of hats.
I got some sweet photos of Toph bouldering! I will get them on another post...I am having a lot of trouble uploading them right now...so sweet photos to come.
Wish I still had the bus...wouldn't make anything easier, but I sure would love to go for a cruse.
Last week was the annual trip to Redfish Lake with the Waddoups family. It was a lot of fun, as it always is. Chris & Becky are so wonderful for putting it together and inviting everyone…I know how much hassle organizing something like this is (and they do it every year!). Jess and the kids went up Tuesday morning and I joined the party Wednesday night after work. We camp, eat food, water ski, hike, play, play and play some more. So much playing has made me very tired this week. 
Thank you Becky for the Float Toys!
Much of the time is spent playing at the beach with the kids. We took a little 1-man boat (the label says “one person or 120 lbs.” you’ve got to be kidding me!), the kids really liked that. We could put Toph, Creedance, Callie & Clark all in the boat and pull thm around the swimming area of the beach. They love to play in the water.
I caught some air...OK, so INCHES but I didn't fall! I just wish I could do one ski or a wakeboard, someday.
We also love to camp. Because of our newborn, we were fortunate enough to have a motel room in Stanley for Jess and TJ. I opted to stay in the tent at the lake however. I had Toph and Creedance one night, and then just Toph (Creedance didn’t like that much, but she had too runny of a nose to stay out in the cold).
Each night after I put Toph to bed, Brant and I went down to the beach to photograph. It was a lot of fun to have a photo partner. The moon was giving some really cool lighting. This was my first (successful) experience with night (low light) photography. I shot with my 10D at first (no cable release so rock and tape trick--thanks for the idea Darren!), then on the last night I even got out the 4x5. I hope those turn out good. I didn’t make very many exposures. By 11:30 or 12 the moon went behind the mountains and our light went away with it. I really enjoyed it. The long exposures gave me time to think and reflect on many things, as well as talk with Brant and get to know him better. It was a really fun experience. 
Redfish Lake in the Setting Moonlight.
About 15 Minutes at f/8
I liked this shot so much that I came back the next night with my view camera.
Redfish Lake Point Beach and Chris' boat.
Our trips to Redfish are always very fun and very memorable. We are just trying to get back into the swing of things. Still not unpacked, it may be a while because this weekend we are going camping again…so why unpack that stuff?! The kids will miss Redfish, they didn’t want to leave (I somewhat felt the same, but was also ready to go home to my bed).
Last weekend (Thursday through Sunday) was our family reunion. This year Jess and I were responsible for organizing it. It was a lot of work, but we had a lot of help from Mom & Dad and well...everyone helped out a lot.
We found a great place that we could all stay at (well almost, Jess and I stayed at her parent's cabin one night) in Island Park. Each family had a room and a bathroom, and there was a lot of common area for the kids to run & play, then to sleep. It was a lot of fun to just visit and catch up.
We floated Big Springs. It was so much fun! If anyone is farmiliar with that section of river, it was very slow, but very appropriate for the younger kids. We had 2 rafts and LOTS of tubes. I got VERY sunburnt! I am still feeling it.
We went to the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone and saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I was suprised to see Brian there! One of the last times we were in West Yellowstone we ran into his family. It was a very good play, and if you have not been to the Playmill, you must go! They are very tallented and funny!
Saturday we spent much of the day in Yellowstone park. As were heading there, however, we had a flat on our van and wore through the sidewall. Dad said that he was thankfull for me making things interisting. Never a dull moment I guess. 
Tim helping me with the flat.
Yellowstone was fun, and we got some family pictures. I think that this has been the first time in a very long time that we all (37 now) have been together. Who knows when it will happen again. T.J. was the popular one of the bunch, everyone simply had to hold him. Here's his cousin Ben holding him, and Creedance peeking out the back of the stroller. Ben will be on his mission next summer (GO BEN GO!!!).
We really had a wonderfull time with everyone and glad that they could come and play. But with all the activities we did I think that the thing I enjoyed the most was when mom & dad gave the little family history presentation. This year they gave us their history from their marriage up to TJ's birth. They told us what it was like making a living, their struggles and joys, their children's accomplishments and their grandchildren's births. It was so wonderfull. I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did. And if you didn't...too bad!
