Some highlights from Vegas

The top photo is from Zion National Park in Utah. The other three photos are from Valley of Fire - a Nevada State Park. Both parks were beautiful, rugged scenery. Makes one appreciate the hazards that the earliest settlers encountered as they traversed this enormous country...no highways, no resorts, no casinos! Don't quite know how they survived...and realizing that many did not.

More later. Exhausted from a busy schedule.

Vegas, Bridesmaids, and Work.

Not necessarily in that order!

Highlights of the recent activities in our household:

1. Paul is full throttle on a deck remodeling project. The man must always have a project. The more involved that Home Depot must be, the better.
2. I went back to work. It's been 4 yrs. And I'm stepping into a new/old role at St Jude Medical - no, not the Children's Hospital with the infomercials - this is a biomedical device company. My title is "Safety Specialist" and that means I am the Clinical Studies department's go-to person for all adverse events. Now if you stretch your memory a bit, you might recall that I did this before. And yep, same company. Even some of the same people. So far - I am loving it.
3. Right when I am ready to dig in and start contributing on the new job, we are heading south to the hot, hot desert. Off to celebrate Alicia and Brian's wedding in Las Vegas. Even couple of bridesmaids in our house, all set with their strapless tangerine dresses and strappy gold sandals. We are all very excited to get out of town and celebrate the newlywed's special day!
4. Jackson will be terribly depressed as he must go to the....shhhhhh....k e n n e l....don't say it loud enough for him to hear. You will get a snarky look and maybe he'll even walk away in his "talk to the butt" way....
5. And now, I must go remake my bed so that I can fall onto my freshly washed sheets and snore the night away....let's hope that the storms stay away tonight! I don't need anymore bizarre electrical impulses coursing through my body during the night as I await the final flash of a lightning strike death...don't ask. It was weird. And I will never sleep near a window during a storm again. Trust me on that....

Ok. Good night and good luck.

Wait. Let me check...

yep, I am still alive. Bet you were wondering!

The summer baseball season has been crazy busy - but, as always, full of fun! Lakeville's 13AA Panther's are having a great season - now 10-3 in regular, non-tourney play. They have taken 4th and 3rd in their two tournaments so far. Another tournament will fill this next weekend with games once again!

For the girls, summer homework is a factor. Mari will be taking APUSH (AP US History) her sophomore year, which means she needed to write a report and have a photo taken at an historical site during her summer vacation. So Alexa, Mari, my mom and I headed north to spend a few days tooling around Two Harbors, Duluth and other north shore communities.

Here is Mari with the required photograph taken at the historical site she is reporting on for her homework. A good way for the teacher to be sure that they actually visited the site, rather than doing online research only!

For myself - editing photos continues to be a fun hobby. Here is a side by side example of using photoshop's tools to take an okay photo and turn it into a good one.

In this example, the camera made the difference. Both photos received identical post-processing in photoshop. The difference was shutter speed - how long the shutter stays open to allow light into the sensor. You will notice that the water in the slower speed photo looks soft and flowing. I was not able to go any slower on the shutter speed without a tripod to prevent any extra camera vibration from blurring the trees. Also - it was a bright day - and the water can quickly become "blown-out" from too much light entering the camera.

In other news - Paul has been able to travel to Quebec recently, although I'm sure he'd rather be here to watch a baseball game or two!

A fun little exercise in capturing this moment in time coming from Bits & Pieces - Cathy Zielske's blog.

Outside my window... boys are biking in circles around the cul-de-sac.
I am thinking... how funny it is that I am watching a baseball game on TV on my one baseball free evening.
I am thankful for... air conditioning on steamy, hot Minnesota days.
From the kitchen... no cooking going on - it was a B-Dub's night for me and the kids.
I am wearing... my favorite bracelet, as always.
I am creating... my first blog post in eons.
I am going... to take the girls to the tailor tomorrow - no more procrastinating.
I am reading... Angels and Demons. I don't like to see a movie BEFORE I've read the book.

I am hoping... that I can get motivated to get some things done around the house tomorrow.
I am hearing... the Twins announcers on my den speakers. Can't get enough baseball!
Around the house... the sun is shining on the thermostat - it's now reading 87 degrees. That's gotta be tough on the AC.
One of my favorite things... Photoshop.
A few plans for the rest of the week... be back soon with another tournament update and some more photos from the North Shore!

C-ya!

Busy baseball season has begun....

and that means I am once again delinquint with my blog updates....

Ok. I have to be honest here. I have let the blog take a backseat to Facebook and Twitter.

But I promise that I will get back to blogging soon. After all I have been taking numerous photos for Project 365. And baseball photos are always a part of that!

Till I get ambitious enough to do some photo editing (and until I finish the pro bono photoshop work I've been assigned) I'll bid you adios, amigos!

Later.

Cool backwards video.

Stepping back in time

A photo of my dad with his 3 sisters and his parents circa 1946. A precious glimpse into a time gone by in a photo I had never seen before. This reminds me why I take photos: to capture a fragment of life.

Hi Aunt Mary!! Hope you enjoy the photo!

Mexico remembered...

A quick splash of photos from our Mexico trip - Valentine's Day and Feb 15th.

First: Looking along the beach toward the Moon Grand end of Moon Palace.
Second: Looking toward the Sunrise side of the resort.

A very sunburned Alexa, playing her DS and relaxing. She was finally feeling better.

The boys playing on the beach.

A scavenger hunt find by Brady and Logan. They cheated - found it in the gift shop!! But they got the photo they needed!

Sunset over the Golf Club pool.

Another scavenger hunt photo, taken by Brady. This pelican was sitting on the top of the pool bar thatched roof.

Our favorite Nizuc pool spot to play and relax.

Valentine's Day dinner at La Trattoria (Italian restaurant at the Moon Palace Golf Club)

The kids had a great time - most of the restaurants were more than willing to seat the six kids at a table adjacent to ours.

Still have more to post on another day :) Happy Vernal Equinox!