Archive for the Fun Photos – General Category

Ben and the Bass

Feb 21st, 2010 Posted in Fun Photos - General, Fun Things to Do, Joyful Moments, Music Review | no comment »

Ben had his first live performance with the Laurel Ridge Middle School Jazz Band last night. The event was a high school fundraiser called “Swinging with Spaghetti.” We’re not usually big fans of the spaghetti dinner night, but I’ll have to say that this one was really well done and very well attended.  All of the music was excellent and it was a super festive evening. The kids got lots of grins and applause for playing “The Office” theme song.

Ben is already a stellar guitar player and decided to take on the challenge of learning the electric bass guitar for Jazz Band. I’m very proud at how he powered through the struggles of a new instrument and reading music for the first time. He played great last night and fit right in with the rest of the musicians after just 2 months!

Love the clothes, too. Haven’t seen my boy in a tie since he was 5 at Uncle Chad’s wedding 🙂  Looking and sounding good, kiddo.

Joe’s 5th Grade Concert

Feb 18th, 2010 Posted in Fun Photos - General, Joyful Moments, Music Review | no comment »

Ahhh, remember fifth grade? Girls are kind of cool and kind of scary.  And then, the music teacher makes you perform cheesy songs, play the recorder and hold hands and dance with a GIRL!!!

Joe’s concert tonight was so cute and so funny.  Joe, of course, added the humor. First, he didn’t even want to go. No surprise. Then, when he got there, he hammed it up. Funny expressions, funny gestures and he even went down on his knees and threw his hands up in the air in relief when the dance was done.  Unforgettable as usual. Love that kid.

Great Photos Need Great Composition

Feb 17th, 2010 Posted in eHow Articles, Fun Photos - General | 4 comments »

You know photography has become a passionate hobby when you start fretting over the backgrounds, the angles and overall composition of your photos.  Composition is often what makes the difference between a decent photo and an eye-catching-wow photo.  Luckily, good composition is something that comes naturally to a lot of us if we just take a moment to really size up a photo and think before we click.

Visit my eHow article, How to Take Great Photos – Composition, for a collection of steps for setting up your next shot.

Work is Fun in Biz Town

Feb 5th, 2010 Posted in Fun Photos - General, Fun Things to Do, Sherwood Schools | 6 comments »

I just spent a full day volunteering at Junior Achievement’s Biz Town in Portland. Our Edy Ridge fifth graders prepped for this day for multiple weeks, teachers attended a 3 hour training and about 30 parent volunteers (I’m guessing) attended a 1 1/2 hour training to get ready for this special day. We had over 15 businesses open this morning with kids in the roles for worker bees, CFO’s, CEO’s and even a Mayor. Each business had the goal of repaying the loan they had acquired for payroll and operating expenses.

It was so detailed. The kids had a day full of tasks and also had breaks in which to manage their own accounts and make purchases.  We had TV interviews of various company representatives broadcast to each business, web advertising, phones being hooked up, meters being read, remodeling consultants making plans in various businesses, an extremely busy cafe, an animal shelter, medical check ups provided by employers, lawyers, insurance claims, retail outlets, etc.

Overwhelming at first? Oh yeah. Did we get the hang of it? Pretty much. A few issues here and there. A few grumpy staff faces that should have had more patience. But, boy, the kids had fun. They were jazzed when they came in and jazzed when they left. They worked together in teams and just had fantastic attitudes all day long.

If your school hasn’t done this…check it out. If you aren’t sure you want to volunteer, just do it. Biz Town is well worth your time.

White River Rocks for Snow Shoes and Sleds

Dec 29th, 2009 Posted in Fun Photos - General, Fun Photos - Nature, Fun Things to Do | no comment »

We’ve been going to White River on Mt. Hood for years. It’s a great place to take our sleds and get some really good rides. There’s plenty of room to spread out and many choices of hills for the brave and not-so-brave. You do have to watch out for the occasional goof ball with an inner tube that flies down the hill, out of control and at crazy speeds. Luckily, those people usually wipe out gloriously and leave early in the day!

The boys had a blast on this most recent trip with their new sleds. We also tried out our new snow shoes. Boy, those make the hike up to the slopes so much easier. Brian and I can’t wait to use them again on a more scenic day hike. We’ll probably try Trillium Lake next or maybe a bigger adventure near Bachelor.

As usual, White River made for amazing pictures. Enjoy!

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New BB Guns

Dec 29th, 2009 Posted in Fun Photos - General, Fun Things to Do | 4 comments »

Christmas brought the boys each their own BB gun. Our first day of gun safety lessons and target shooting was very fun 🙂

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Christmas 2009

Dec 26th, 2009 Posted in Fun Photos - General, Joyful Moments | no comment »

Wow. We had such a great Christmas this year. The kids were amazing.  They each, on their own, made gifts for the whole family and asked for special shopping trips to purchase small gifts for each other with their own money. They were so proud of their gifts and really got into the spirt of giving rather than just receiving 🙂 That made Christmas morning extra sweet.

And, then, there was the comedy. After each gift was opened, no matter who it was for or who it was from, Joe gave the receiver a hug and warmly said, “That was my idea.” It got to be really, really funny!

And, the pets had their memorable moments. Otto never let his new toy leave his side, and Smokey never left the tree. He will be so sad when we take it down.

My favorite gift to give this year was snow shoes and poles for the entire family. We’ve been talking about trying it for years, and now we’ll really do it! I think it really surprised Brian…which I absolutely loved 🙂

I’ve posted all of my fun photos from the family Christmas Eve brunch and from Christmas Day on my photo site. Hopefully, I captured a small fraction of the joy we felt this Christmas.

Christmas Card Photo 2009

Dec 20th, 2009 Posted in Fun Photos - General | no comment »

I had a lot of fun creating this year’s Christmas card. I was inspired by an old Norman Rockwell print called “Tired of Waiting.”  I showed the kids the print and they played the part of the sleeping kids beautifully!  Otto, our mini-Schnauzer, got into the shot, too, though he wasn’t good at pretending to sleep 🙂

I upped the ISO to avoid flash and made sure to get plenty of natural light on the boys’ faces from the window. Then, I antiqued the coloring to make it look old.  I love photography.

Christmas Card Photos

Nov 16th, 2009 Posted in eHow Articles, Fun Photos - General | no comment »

I have a lot of fun each year coming up with ideas for Christmas card photos. I like them to be a little different, a little creative.  You can read more at eHow.

Halloween was Ducky this Year!

Nov 1st, 2009 Posted in Fun Photos - General, Fun Things to Do | no comment »

So unless you crawled under rock, you know that the Ducks played USC on Halloween (we won!). While it was hard to tear ourselves alway from the game to trick-or-treat and party with friends, we managed to do it all and had a blast with our Ducks inspired costumes.  We had two groovy Oregon hippies, a Duck Santa Claus and a Duck Witch. C’mon everybody, yell “OOOO”

Ducks on Halloween

Ducks on Halloween