Windmills

Tonight I drove out towards Bone to photograph the windmills East of Idaho falls. I had to race to make the light, but I am very happy with the images I got. The light was beautiful! There were clouds that I had to work around as there were thunderstorms to the northwest. I even took up my 4x5 press camera. Just as I got it set up, the battery in my digital died on me (I don't have a light meter, and I use my digital for metering), well I was able coas the battery to work just enough to get one metering (shake it!). So I bracketed several (like 6) exposures. It will be a while before I can develop them, I hope that one turns out. On the down side, when I got back home I could not find my lens cap and UV filter for my Canon. I can't remember exactly what I did with it, but I worry that I set it on the roof of the car and then drove off. DANG! I hope it will turn up somewhere in the car in the daylight.

Kevin called today and asked if we would like to go with them to Jackson and Grand Teton Park for a day hike tomarow. So in the morning we are heading up that direction. Maybe I'll have a chance to make a few photos there...I will have all three kids and Jess with me...so that is a huge Maybe.

Weekend relaxation

I got off work a little early on Friday, and went up to Blacktail with my in-laws to cool off and take the boat for a shake-down run. We water ski-ed, tube-ed and swam-ed. The water was great (as long as my bony body was in a wet suit)! I find it hard to get pictures of me on the water like this one of Sam, first off I can't take a picture of myself and second, I can's ski anywhere near this good! I can't even get off 2 skis! But I do enjoy taking pictures of those that can ski well. Jess was able to get up on slalom (one ski) on her second attempt. She was doubtful, what with the receint baby. I was very happy for her as well as proud. We were very tired after coming back from that short trip.

Darren came down on Friday and we built about 12 or 13 picture frames for him. That was fun. It always amazes me how working with wood is therapeutic, it was also good to see him and catch up with him.

Tonight we made plaster casts of the kids' feet for our family night. We want to have a cast of TJ's foot (to see how it grows and changes), and thought we'd do Toph & Cree's feet too. It is a mess and a pain (TJ really didn't like it). We will see how they turn out tomarow. Bakc to the grind for the week.

Beard Styles?

Sorry if that last post was a bit weird…but I had to share my groovy experience with everyone. And I must say that I am NOT a druggie!

On to the next thought. So I shaved off the goatee Monday night, and thought I’d experiment with it and try out some other looks. What do you think and what “look" should I go for next?

My standard goatee

The Adolf

Soul Patch

Thin Goatee

Pedophile

N2O

Fading in and out of consciousness is but only the tip of the iceberg…an iceberg drifting from left to right…on the right I see a man with a blue mask looking down on me, he does not see me notice for his eyes are fixed elsewhere…I close my eyes and breathe deep…inhale…exhale…inhale…there is a grinding…my throat is filling with saliva, I don’t mind…the music…I can see the music! Purple. Red. Crimson. My eyes open. There is a light directly in front of me, still. I go back to the music, Jefferson Airplane…or is it Starship? Zeppelin…Hendrix…Dr. Hook…Wonderful…My body is within and without. Within when I open my eyes, I am somewhere. Instantly without when I close them and breathe, I am nowhere…Nowhere Man is the next song…I can see him. “Is the Nitrous working?” the man asks, I nod and grunt the affirmative. Nitrous Oxide, classic rock, jaw blocks, and mouth dams are wonderful things to have when you are getting a crown! Just lay back, let the dentist do his work and slip away for an hour. Next time you are asked if would you like nitrous oxide…oh baby take it! And a bag of Cheetos for the road.

Climbing At Ross Park

Saturday afternoon, we met up with Kevin & Tammie in Pocatello to do some climbing at Ross Park. It has been a long time sense I climbed at Ross Park...ok so I haven't climbed at all in a long time. I sure was feeling it today and Sunday. We had some ropes set up and let the kids climb a little, they got a kick out of it.


For those of you who are not familiar with ross park, it isn't too high only about 20' or so on the shady side. For the most part the routes are just 'high-ball' boulder problems. I was going up one line and feeling pretty good, then about 3 moves from the top, I lost my zen and didn't think I could finish so I downclimbed it. I later tied in and did the route, right at about the same spot I had a hard time working out the moves again, glad I was tied in.

Here's Kevin...he's much better than I.



It was great to get out and climb again. It felt good, painfull but good. I finally got my own guidebook for the City of Rocks and flipped through the pages and really want to get down there and climb...soon! Hope I can make the time in a few weeks. We'll have to see.

Yellowstone

I worked hard to get those windows done for the Harts this last week so that I could have my weekend to play. After work (around 3 each day) I would go to do the windows for the Harts, and get as much done as I could. So between working at Cherry Glass and for myself, I was working from 7am to 8pm...I was sore and tired all week. But my reward for working hard all week was a trip to Island Park and Yellowstone. It was a lot of fun (when the kids were sleeping), and we got a lot figured out for the reunion in 32 days! The B&B we are staying at looks great! I am very excited for that.

Here's my Buffalo picture. They were holding up the flow of traffic...stupid wildlife.

It rained most of the weekend, kind of off and on, but not too bad. Traffic was not too bad in the park on Saturday. A few stops for Buffalo in the road, and for people who stopped to get pictures of deer on the side of the road (woo hoo). The only thing that bugs me about Yellowstone is that if anyone sees ANY animal on the side of the road, they have to stop and take pictures "OH look! A ground squirell, use a roll of film!" Then if they see a car pulled over taking pictures of the stupid squirell, they have to pull over to take the same pictures. And they always pull over right before of after a pull out. Don't go to Yellowstone to get away from hoards of people and traffic!

This one is for Darren...I think it was a moose. It was 100 yards down wind from old faithful and only 10 feet from the pathway, wonder if he went up to wet his whistle?

We drove in as far as Old Faithful, and thought we would drive the whole loop, but the kids were crazy, TJ was getting sick of his car seat and I was beat. So we headed back. We needed to check one more place in Island Park for tube rentals anyway. I had to have Jess drive home, and by the time we got to Rexburg, TJ was very ready to eat and we all wanted out of the car. We stopped at the BYU-I campus to walk around a little and see what art is on display in the Spori...the Marilyns are up!

It was a very long day! Wonder if I should have just done the windows...no, it was worth it.

Bulletproof

Today at work I had my first experience installing bulletproof glass. It was kinda cool, the most heavy glass I have ever lifted (dense), but cool. OK, so it isn't glass, but rather it is 1 3/8" Polycarbonate (kind of like plastic). We installed it in the Madison County Courthouse.



We are in process of finishing but we got a big chunk of it done today. We even installed a completly clear door (that is freaking heavy!). Yep it is also the 1 3/8'' polycarbonate SOLID. I especially like the system for communicating through the glass, rather than having a little microphone and speaker (that a bullet could easily go through) there is a layering of the polycarbonate with a space in between. The clerks that work there said that it works better than the microphones. Here's a picture of the speaking area

I also finished the job that I was doing on the side. Dad helped me with the large picture windows and a few others. I couldn't have finished it without him, it sure feels good to have that out of the way. With it done, I can do something fun this weekend instead of working. So we will go up to Island Park...whoo-hoo!

Amazing family night

So it has taken me 2 days to finally get around to writing about this, but it is such an amazing experience that I had to get it out there. Anyway so on monday night, we wanted to take the kids to a park for family night, Toph likes Sportsman's park by the river because of the bridges. On our way there we told him we were going to the park with the bridges, but he said he wanted to go to the one by the river with toys...Freeman park. So we ended up there.

While the kids were playing on the toys, they made friends with this other little girl there about Tophs age (they make freinds easily). He brought her over to see TJ "Come see my new little brother!" As they ran off, Jess asked if I noticed the little girl's foot (she was running aroud bare-foot)...It is almost identical to TJ's! Here she was running jumping and playing just fine! I didn't even notice until I looked for it.

So we built up the courage to ask her parents about it and learn what their experience has been. The little girl has the same irregularity that TJ has, but (at this point) TJ has fewer bones. We have the same doctor at Shriners, and they can't speak enough good of him and Shriners.

It is amazing that with as unlikely as this deformity is that there is another family in Idaho Falls with the same thing, and that we would happen to meet up with them at a park on the other side of town.

On another note, I found another tree to photograph and holga-ize. I think I've got the one for the shirts. At this point I probibly could have shot it with the holga and made time to develop and scan the film. But hey, I didn't have much time to make the time, right?
What do you think? Better? Does it look like it came from the Holga?

Daily Grind

So my days have consisted of work, come home, clean up, play with kids, yardwork, sleep and do it all over again. Yiesh! I haven't photographed much at all, and am just plain tired most of the time. Memorial day weekend was nice though. Crappy weather, but we didn't do much of anything...kinda nice. Saturday I did work on building some more picture frames though. I sould finish them sometime, but I have just too much work to do otherwise. I have windows to put in for a guy on this Saturday, I'm not too excited for that, but it will bring in a little bit more money. So that's the update here. Life needs change.

Sunday

Jessica put TJ in a new outfit for chruch today...ok so most all of his cloths are new--he's only 3 weeks old! She wanted pictures of him in it, and we thought we'd have Toph & Creedance get in for a couple shots too. I've got cute kids!

Creedance 2yrs, Topher 3yrs & Tyler Jr. 3 wks

(he does have a right foot! it's just small and pulled up, I know it looks like he doesn't.)

We went to Pocatello yesterday for a friend's daughter's birthday, she turned 1. We had a lot of fun, but TJ was very sick of being in his car seat. Funny, the trip to Salt Lake didn't seem to bug him at all.

Holga trees

This summer, Jessica and I are responsible for planning our family reunion. So we are taking the families up to Island Park and Yellowstone. We are staying at a B&B and playing in Yellowstone and Island Park. Well, we wanted to have T-shirts for everyone, but to have them be more than just the average 'family reunion' T-shirts. We hope that they would be cool enough that everyone would want to wear them later, and not feel silly wearing them together while walking around Old Faithfull. OK, so if all 37 of us are wearing the same shirt, we will feel silly anyway! But I want the shirt to at least look kind of cool.

So here's my idea. I have wanted to get shirts printed up for myself...I dig T-shirts, and I think that some of my photographs put onto shirts would look cool, and work as advertising for myself...I could even wear them to work at Cherry Glass (conflict of interest?)! So I took this and thought I would make a photograph of a tree, and use that for the reunion shirts...you know like a family tree. So here's what I have so far. I still need to come up with a word or words to put on the front...as far away from "Hopkins Family Reunion" as I can. But for the photo, I wanted a simple image, Holga-ized (or from a Holga, but I don't have time to process the film let alone the scanner to digitize it). This first image is the feel I want, but not quite the photo. It was made with my Holga camera, and so the vinietting is natural.

Now, this next image is one I made a few days ago for the shirt, I kind of like the tree, but I don't think I was as successfull with Holga-izeing it. It seems too forced. I was thinking of having them printed in just white on black shirts so that image just bleeds into the shirt. Let me know what you all think, also if you have ANY ideas of what to put on the front tell me...I'm drawing a blank. There are a few other trees that I have found that may work out well. Thanks for any feedback.

Sweet Ride!

Many of you may know of my obsession with Volkswagens, especially air cooled VW's. In November I decided it was in the best interest of my family to sell our beloved Bus and buy a minivan...this is where you groan. Yes the minivan is not as cool as my Bus was, but it has heat in the winter (without toxic fumes) and air conditioning in the summer--rather than the other way around as it was with the Bus. Well, my sister-in-law is in town visiting her dad and brother, and brought me a gift from them (her, my brother and their kids). Anyway I am told that when Ben, Brittney, and Katelyn saw this remote control VW, they thought that they MUST get it for me. She brought it all the way from Michigan! I was so touched...I mean this thing is HUGE! Just to bring it was amazing. We have had a lot of fun with it. It even has "hydraulics," you can raise and lower the front and back indipendently (notice that it is 'raked' in the picture and it also leans left or right. It also has working lights--it uses turn signals when you turn. I dig it a lot...now I need to figure out how to put a larger battery and motor in it...or not, then it just wouldn't be an honest VW.

All about Tyler Jr.

Outside Shriner's Hospital

Well, we made it to and from Salt Lake safely Tuesday and Wednesday. After we got checked into the Howard Johnson (which I must say was a big 'ghetto') we wanted to find Shriner's so that in the morning we would not be late. It is up on the hill overlooking the Salt Lake valley. It was so beautiful up there! And there are so many cool homes. Not new and prestine like the hillside in Bountifull, but older & well maintained. I couldn't imagine the cost of some of these...I'll bet that the dumpy ones up there are between $200-250K.

Anyway, on Wednesday morning we got there and were a bit nervous. It didn't help that we ended up waiting for over an hour. but we eventually got in to see a doctor. We have been given Dr Roach. A very nice doctor with a very broken nose. A different doctor looked at TJ first, and could tell immediatly that his foot was not clubbed. He checked his spine, his hips, and asked if we had any history of limb abnormalities in our families. Well everything else seemed fine, no signs of anything other than a short leg and a different little foot. Got a few X-rays of his legs and foot, TJ didn't like the x-rays too much. It was kind of a reminder of when we took Toph in to have his head x-rayed to make sure his scull did not fuse too soon.

Anyway, after reviewing he x-rays, they talked with us about options. This was very difficult for both of us. Sorry, but at right now we are not telling everyone what the recomendations are. We are still trying to research, pray and decide what will be the best for our little Tyler. We want to do what will give him the best life possible.

I have always had this idea that when you are sick, or something is wrong, you go to the doctor, get it fixed, heal and go back to normal. Well, I think that I am going to have to modify this thinking. This is not something that will just go away after a doctor visit or two. This is something that we will learn to be normal for us. This will be one of our hardest decisions to make as parents, I feel.

We go back in about 4 months (I would assume for more x-rays) so they can see how TJ's leg & foot grow, and we will go from there. At this point, we go on. We are getting ready for the Hopkins family reunion in July, and we are very excited for that. Can't wait for you all to meet our newest little family member.

Fun little number things about TJ: Toph's birthday 11/2/02, Creedance's birthday 2/14/04, TJ's birthday 5/22/06, TJ is mom & dad's 22nd grandchild, and he shares his birthday with their 1st grandchild, Jessie. Kinda fun little bits 'eh?

Shriner's

Well, tomorrow we leave for Salt Lake City. Wednesday is TJ's appointment with the doctor(s) at Shriner's. I am excited to see what they would recommend and when we can start helping him. Mostly we are excited to find out what the plan will be, or can be. I hope that we can get started right away, but I also don't want to rush into anything that we may end up having to do over again. I have heard that sometimes they have to repeat a procedure because the leg reverts back. I don't know. There are so many 'what ifs' We are just happy to have our baby boy. He is so wonderful!

High Water

So a few days ago (Wednesday) I was working downtown by the river, and I couldn't believe how high the water level is! The falls are not very high. I can only remember one other time that they were higher. In 1997 we had some floding, and the falls were only a bump. Of course when the Teton dam broke and floded they were MUCH higher, but that was before I was born and so I wouldn't remember that. Well, I thought I would take the opportunity to go photograph the falls and the temple. I have been trying to make a good photograph of the LDS Temple in Idaho Falls for a while now, I am getting closer but not quite there. Anyway so I took Jess and the kids down to the walk around and see the falls. It was really fun. I got to photograph and the kids got out and see the ducks and run around. I taught Toph to chase the ducks...ha ha ha.

Topher & Creedance by the falls.

So after getting home and downloading some of the images, I realized that 2 months ago I made photographs from the same place (almost-where I was standing previously is now under 6 feet of water or so. It is really interesting to compare and see the difference 2 months makes!

2 March 2006 3 May 2006

I also just got my new printer...Ok so I bought a used one off eBay. I got an Epson 2200, I figure I could get a good printer for much cheaper if I get the outdated one. It still gives great results, and ICC profiles are much easier to find for it than the 2400...Plus the 2400 at school was giving me problems, I'm not quite sure if all the bugs have been worked out of that model. So I got the printer on Thursday, and got it hooked up. I turned it on and as it was running through the normal warm-up procedure it made a TERRIBLE banging noise, then all the lights started flashing and it would not work! OH NO! Well, to make a long story short, I took the printer half way apart and discovered the problem was actually quite simple, repaired it, and now it works beautifully! I was so worried that I bought a lemon and I would end up paying out in repairs what I could have paid for a new 2400. Yeay! I am happy now.

And now for the best news!

Jessica called me yesterday while I was at work and told me that we got into Shriner's. In fact we go this coming Wednesday to have Tyler Jr's leg examined and evaluated. I am so relieved! We thought that it would be months before they could even see us, and even longer before any treatments begin. Now we still don't know when treatments begin, they may end up not doing anything until he is 2 or older...we won't know until Wednesday...but it is good to know that we will know then. We will go down Tuesday after work and stay (hopefully) one night.

Please keep Tyler Jr. in your prayers...Thanks

Graduation!

Me & Theo at the Convocation, waiting to get our diploma covers

Well, I made it. This morning we had Commencement and Convocation. It was really great! The speaches/talks that were given were wonderful, it was also great to see people one more time. Seeing the professors in their cerimonial gowns and hoods made me want to go on and get my masters even more...President Clark's is the coolest I must say. It still hasn't sunk in yet. It seems kind of wierd, and yet not that different. Maybe in a few days I will be able to articulate better how I feel about it.

Just afterward. My dad, wife, mom and son, Tyler Jr.

End of Classes

Wow! Last night was my last class at BYU-I. The scheduled final was at 8-10PM, and I was very tired, and very ready to get back home to bed, but I still wanted to stay a little longer. We each showed our work and talked about it a little, no test. I don't know why I felt that way, I am excited to graduate...But scared and sad at the same time. I don't know exactly what my plans are. I want to work as a photographer, but don't know if I can support my family doing that. I will be taking portfolios into several studios and agencies in the next week. Maybe that will help direct me.

Then there is also the issue of Tyler Jr's foot...For those who don't know, he is perfectly healthy except for a smaller leg and foot that will need to be corrected through surgeries. We don't know what that will end up costing us (just going to and from Salt Lake), and we don't want to get too far away or too tied up with work so that I can help Jess and give all three kids the attention they need.

I will need to take time to reflect on these decisions coming up and discover what is best for my family.

He has a name! (again)

Ok, so we picked a name last night...but it wasn't set in stone. And for those who know me, know how wishy-washy I am. Don't ever try to convince me to change religions...because I will change (ok so not really). Anyway when I got to the hospital, Jess was filling out the forms, and asked if I was sure about the name Nicolas...well I wasn't. I think that Tyler George is more fitting. So we have a Jr.

It is in stone now...or at least on the birth cirtificate and other forms.

He has a name!

Yes, he finally has a name. After much deliberation, Jess & I came to a decision. Nicolas Tyler Hopkins. We like it. Jess wants to call him Cole (as in niCOLas). Kind of like how we have chrisTOPHER. I'm not too convinced as of yet...I do like nick and nicolas though. Anyway. These last two days have been crazy. Running the kids here and there, running on little sleep, and I didn't even birth a child! Jess is such a champ! I don't know how she does it.

So does he look like me? Or is he look like a Waddoups?

Thank you for your comments and ideas...even though the most popular name seemed to be William, we just couldn't get away from the Billy idea (Jess really does not like that nick-name). He seems to be a bit more Hopkins and so we felt he could have been a Tyler Jr...but not quite. So that's what we got.

Anyway, so tomorrow we will be bringing him home...that will be very nice to have them home. I will have to go up to school for a little while tomarrow, and then just get ready for finals on Wednesday and Thursday...then GRADUATION on Saturday...wow! kinda scary.

IT'S A BOY!

So the waiting ended this afternoon. At 3:40 our new little addition came into our family. We are more than excited for him. For those who are obsessed with information, here's what I can think of at this late hour:

-7lbs. 5oz.
-19 1/2 inches
-Smaller head than Christopher, but still kinda big.
-We went into the hospital at 9:30 in the morning. Hard labor began at 3:30, so yes do the math and Jess was only in MAJOR pain for 10 minutes!
-He is healthy and eats well.
-Jessica is recovering very well...She is becoming quite the pro at having babies!

So here's our dilemma, here we have a new baby and we still don't have a name picked out. With Toph & Cree, we had two picked by the time we got to the hospital. When we saw them, we knew what their names should be. Toph definitely looked like a Waddoups...So he got his grandpa's name (Chris became Christopher), Creedance was just Creedance. But with this little one we are at a loss.

Minutes old

Before the delivery, we narrowed it down to Nicholas Asher, William Asher, Tyler George Jr., Derrick. When he was born, I thought to myself, "He looks a bit more like a Hopkins than the others did...Maybe he will be a Jr." But I think Jess has voted that name out. I think we are now down to Nicholas Asher and William Asher. We would like to leave the hospital with a name for the little one, so here's your chance to cast your vote. Give us an idea or cast your vote...The winner gets 25¢ (however you are then required to pay postage..So you will owe us 14¢...HA HA HA!).Anywayya let us know what you think. Does he look like a Hopkins..Or are the Waddoups genes still dominate?

For some reason, Toph thought I wanted him to act silly.

Regardless of his name, we are so happy to have him here, and can't wait to bring him home.