Mandy's baby shower

Mandy and Jerel were in town this weekend.  It was her baby shower, Mason's birthday, and blessing of Clara.  These are from her baby shower.  This was the first baby shower I had attended.   I was OK with not having been to any prior.  Hopefully this is not a trend.  I'm happy to leave lots of things as girls only.  To name a few: child birth, $150 hair treatments, fake nails?, bikini or any type of waxing/shaving, scrap booking, makeup, crying, sharing feelings, having to look good in a swimsuit.  I know women will say these things are brought on by men or they are a beautiful gift as part of being a women.  I'm not disagreeing I'm just saying lets leave the girls things to the girls.  I believe in my head I have a list of approx 267 reasons I'm glad I'm not a girl.  Not to discount women it's just that the list could also be called 267 things I wouldn't be good at.  -rick

Mason's bowling party

Mason had his birthday party for his friends.  We allready had a family one.  Mandy And Jerel were granted special permission to come to the friends party since they had to drive up from Portland.  Here's some more pics

-rick

Ct scanner

Not our family but interesting. Taking the ct scanner out of the bridgeview building near hospital. Had an appt for copper in same building.

Cooper's new day care

He is now going to be in day care for atleast 2 days a week. Maybe a full week if something opens up later. It is at my college I go to. Its a great program. He is totaly ignoring me as it is while I am watching him.

Mason's the big 8. Accountability here I come.

Mason had his family party for his 8th birthday party. Saturday will be the party with his friends from school.  Are house isn't quite big enough to combine the groups and I think my family likes to have them separate.  8 years olds can be a little crazy.  some more pics

playing around

Me and the boys were playing with the new flash for the camera.  We saw a picture online of a water crown and were trying to make our own.  We came close but not quite.  I know not much going on around here.  We got bored eventually.  A few more attemts.

March 15th snow?

I woke up nice and early to get ready for church.  And because the boys had friends over and they were making lots of noise.  Anyways it was snowing lots.  

update: click here for more pics

Ivy's 5k

Ivy ran her first 5k today.  It was about 40 degrees out and very windy.  She ran it in around 29 minutes.  She would like me to point out that the course was very hilly.  

-rick

Dinner at bucodibeppos

Then going to see movie at imax

Casey's batting cage

We went to the batting cages in Port Orchard.  Asher is signed up for softball.  He didn't go last year so we thought we should practice a little.  Mason didn't want to sign up but he still praticed for fun.  Unfortunately it was about 33 degress out with a nice wind.  It was uncomfortable cold.  even the boys wanted to leave before we had used all of the tokens.  But it was some good practice.  Few more pictures

-Rick

Shoup's

Here's some pictures I took of the Shoup family.   Youve got to practice to get good so here is some of my practice.  Thanks to the Shoup's for being my willing subjects.  Here's the photos

Update: to clarify subjects I mean the subjects of my photos not subjects to my rule.  I've yet to gain any willing subjects to my will.  Norman is the closest and he's deaf now.  

-rick

raw vs jpeg

So awhile back Ivy took this camera class.  She had to have a DSLR.  We got a Nikon D80.  We spent a week figuring out how to change the shutter speed.  then a couple more weeks figuring out why you would even want to do that.  I eventually figured out the basic settings and when to use them.  

Lately I've been trying to figure out photoshop elements.   Since her class I've been using lightroom for basic editing and work flow management.  Lightroom help you do quick fixes and filter through all the photos so you can just work with your good ones.  I've been doing the online lessons at Lynda.com they are excellent it is $25 a month but I've found it very worthwhile.  Also youtube and many other sites have tutorials.  

One thing I always seem to be adjusting is the white balance.  You know how some lights make everyone look blue and some make them look yellow.  White  balance adjustments help correct for different light sources.  I keep reading that for editing shooting in raw is better.  So I'm giving it a try to see if I notice a difference.  Here's my first one.   It sort of looks like my other photos.

-Rick

Mary Kay

This weekend Ivy attended a Mary Kay party at the Schmidt's home.  Maili was the Mary Kay lady.  I was unfortunately unable to attend.  I had some other stuff to do.  Which is often the case when a Mary Kay party is going on.  The boys love going there and Ivy had fun.  Anything to do with makeup and spending money.  Two of her favorite things. These are Ivy's photos and she would have many more details and witty comments to add but she's at school studying again so I figured I'd try to fill in. 

Here's a few more photos

-Rick

Crab cakes take two

This is my second attempt at crab cakes these are dungeness with panko crust. They look good we'll see how they taste.