Friday, July 29, 2011

Slow Shutters

We went to Falls Park the other night and I snapped some pictures of the falls. I took my first one on "auto" mode and the color wasn't so great. I then decided to put it on the manual setting and adjust everything myself - ISO, white balance, F-stop, shutter speed, etc. And then I remembered that you can make the falls themselves look dreamy when you keep the shutter open longer. I went ahead and tried it and I came out with some great results! These pictures were taken about 9:15 PM without much light, so I really should have had a tripod. But I just worked with what I had.

For those of you who don't know what a shutter speed is - its how long the shutter is open and how much light is let in. You know when sometimes your pictures are blurry if you don't use a flash? What most likely happened is the shutter was open longer, and you moved, therefore making your pictures blurry. I always use a rule of thumb speed of 1/60 to prevent blurred pictures if you aren't using a tripod. If its anything slower than that, they will blur. I lowered my shutter down soooooo slow to make the falls look blurred.

The reason this works is, since the water is moving, it blurs the falls. Since everything else is still, it doesn't blur that part (unless you move the camera). It turns out for some neat pictures for sure. Like I said, I didn't have a tripod so mine aren't perfect, but you get the idea!
Auto setting - not so good!

Manual setting - slow shutter speed

Blurred water, clear rocks!

Relay for Life

My sister was in charge of the team for Sanford hospital - the Sanford "Tumornators." Clever name! We went to the relay and had fun walking around and looking at vendors. We especially had fun seeing cousin Caden again! Macyn loves her cousin Caden and gets super excited when you ask her if she wants to see him. Here are some of the snapshots we took of those two!

Also at the event they had those giant bouncy castles. There weren't any kids in them so I thought that would be the perfect time for Macyn to jump. I signed the waiver and in she went. She was having a great time until the generator ran out of gas and the entire castle deflated while she was still in it. Poor thing was screaming when all the walls were caving in! I felt so bad! We got her out safely by holding up the collapsing walls and pulling her out through the top. I guess that's what waivers are for, huh?!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Sunday Best

Today for church Macyn wore her pink sun dress complete with sequins and white wedge shoes. However, her feet have grown quite a bit and the wedges are a little too small. I guess this will mean shopping for some more church shoes!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Bridal Shower

I am honored to be part of my friend, Amber's, wedding and I had a fun filled day full of wedding activities! First was the shower, where I got to participate in the "dress your bridesmaid" game. They had to create some bridal attire out of crepe paper. People told me I looked good in green. I'm pretty sure I would have won, but I had a little of a wardrobe malfunction which ruined my chances. Oh well, it was still fun!
4 out of 5 bridesmaids with the beautiful bride to be!
After the shower I had my bridesmaid dress altered and got ready for a cowgirl bachelorette party! I don't own a lot of plaid, but I did find a cute plaid tank top with some flowy floral accents. I love the combination of different prints! We took the Shenanigans shuttle and enjoyed some bubbly on the way  to Bracco. I got the fish and chips meal and their fish was delicious! I also bought a cherry limeade martini that was super yummy. Unfortuately, I didn't stay out all night. I was having a great time, but I knew I had other responsibilites besides partying all night. So I rode back earlier with the bride's mom. I had a great time with the bride and bridesmaids and can't wait for the wedding in a few weeks!


Thursday, July 14, 2011

21 Months

Our big girl is 21 months! She is starting to get more and more like a little person all the time. I even measured her this morning by putting a mark on the wall. Not sure how accurate my measurements are, but she was 35" tall! Almost 3 feet already!

This past month she has really taken a liking to her babies. She wraps them up, pushes them in the stroller, gives them her paci, feeds them at the table, puts them to bed, burps them, pushes them in the swings, and hugs & kisses them. She seriously is a little mommy already. Its so cute to see how much she cares for her dollies. I asked her what her baby's name is, and she says, "Baby!" so that's what we go with. She literally will spend and hour or two just wrapping them up and pushing them around the house.

Her vocabulary continues to improve. I think she tries to say some phrases too:
• "eeee you go" (here you go)
• "Ba Buuu eee" (bad Buddy, shame on you DH!)
• "tank ooo" (thank you)
Here are some other words she has learned too:
• "muck" (milk)
• "bob bob" (spongebob, once again, thanks DH!)
• Boo!
• "nigh nigh" (going to bed)
• "MOM!"
• "Daaa-eee!"
• "my Mom or my Daa ee!"
• "why?"
• "ba pa" (bomb pop)
She also makes animal sounds "baaa" for sheep, "ooof ooof" for puppy, "uck uck" for ducks, "meow" for kitties, and "moo" for cows. In fact, she calls all cows "moo."

She is also getting more skills as she can easily put her Melissa & Doug puzzle together. She dumps out all the pieces and puts them all back into the right spots, often saying the animal noises as she goes. The picture is the puzzle we have, but we took out the batteries. The animal noises were a bit much! She also likes to finish the song Old Mc Donald by chiming in, "eee-o eee-o yo."

She also continues to use her potty when we ask her to. She gets excited and claps and says, "YAY!!!!" when she goes. Then we let her flush the toilet. I do have a funny story though. She had to go #2 so we put her on the potty. She sits down, grunts, and a little toot comes out. She stands up, all ready to clap  and then she looks in and sees nothing is there. The confused look on her face was priceless!

Macyn also has some skills that I would have prefered her to learn a little later in life - like unlocking doors. Not sure if it was a fluke, but she unlocked the front door the other day and proceeded to opening it. This makes us have second thoughts on whether to let her sleep in her toddler bed! We don't need her wandering out into the night! Before bedtime she also likes to have her toenails painted and will often throw a fit if you don't paint them. Take last night, for example. The kid was laying on the floor throwing a fit and all a sudden starts screaming more. I looked down and she had gotten her head wedged between our two couches and couldn't get it out. I had to move the entire couch to let her go free!

Besides all of her milestones she has learned this past month, she LOVES to swim and spend time outside. She has also developed quite the personality. Its always a guessing game when we take her anywhere! We are so happy to have such an entertaining little girl!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Sioux County Fair

I have never been to the local fair my entire life - until we had a kid. So this makes our second trip. I don't really remember my first trip except for the fact that they have AWESOME strawberry smoothies. I will make the trip just for that! Its always fun to walk around and look at all the animals & projects. Better yet, it was free!

The had a petting zoo this year and this one was a little more successful as far as Macyn not being scared of the animals.
Moos! (Macyn's word for cow)
Keee- eees!
Horses. She doesn't have a name for those!
They had miniature bull riding the night we went, but you had to pay to get in. We decided to get our fair snacks - my strawberry smoothie and DH's funnel cake. Delish!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Parade!

After working at my company for 5 years now, I finally volunteered for the first time to participate in our Summerfest parade. Since I work at a candy company, they call it the best candy parade in the midwest (or USA, or world). Macyn and I rode in the train with some other kids. DH was a mascot! It was a fun time. We were also celebrating that we will be matching donations up to $250,000 for the new pool! I think the community was really excited!
Macyn was perfect all day at the parade! We left home about 10:45 AM for the media press conference and returned around 3:00. She waved continually for the first two blocks of the parade and I think her little arm wore out!
This is the picture of DH as the mascot. He didn't have to do much - just stand, wave, and sweat!
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