Beginning Digital Photography

Tonight I took my first photography class.  It was at East High School (yes, where they filmed High School Musical ;)  and it seems like just what I was looking for.  A beginning class focused on the basics of picture taking and basic operation of the camera AND we also will be learning some basic photo editing techniques, which is a special treat since my photo editing class was cancelled. 

My assignment this week is to take pictures of relationships.  I am excited!  I'll be posting some pictures soon...although they will probably look a lot like all my other pictures until I learn some more about photo editing and composition and light variations and all that fancy picture-taking stuff.  I am excited to learn it all though! :D 

Wish me luck!

Stray cat anyone?

This is our stray cat (and when I say "our" I mean the whole apartment complex's...since he doesn't STAY with anyone in particular.)  I named him Sylvester.  I call him Sly for short.  I feed him cheese and give him water sometimes.  I would probably do more but fortunately the neighbors next door are taking care of him too...sorta.  They leave out water and food sometimes and they got him a bed, though he doesn't really use it.  We really can't have a cat right now.  We can't afford the pet deposit + the additional pet fee each month + the vet care, not to mention we really don't have anywhere to put a litter box and it would stink up our shoe box of an apartment real good AND we are not home much to potty train him or spend time with him. :( 

SO. if anyone needs an adorable, shy, sick kitten to love and nurse back to health, I've got one for you!!!!!! :D otherwise I'll just keep him as my own little stray.

Getting to know me...getting to know all about me

Took this from CRISSY!


Getting to know me:

1. Waffles, pancakes or french toast?  FRENCH TOAST!


2. Dream home...What would it look like? Don't really know...big but not too big, architecturally pleasing to the eye, colorful and full of kiddos! :)


3. Favorite sport to watch during the Winter Olympics? Um...oh! That one where the people jump off that thing with skis on and flip and stuff...that one's cool


4. The first word that comes to mind when describing yourself? average


5. Dresses, pants (jeans, leggings, etc.) or skirts? dresses!!!


6. What is your favorite time of day?  5:00pm


7. Beach or Mountains..which do you prefer? I think beach...maybe...

8.Will you watch the Super Bowl? Not unless all my friends are around to talk to during the football part :D

he's GROOOOOOWING....

Crumb is getting .SO big! Our best guest is that he is 6 or 7 months old! In a few more months we will have to get him a bigger terrarium. (that is an aquarium for terrs...Chase made me type that.)

Here is a couple of pictures for comparison...

little Crumb

big Crumb

little Crumb head

big Crumb head

he is getting VERY spikey!

I thought it was SO cute, he just crawled up on Laurie, snuggled down by her collar and fell asleep

this is the Crumb ninja kick!

This is Crumbs VICIOUSLY INTIMIDATING beardie beard!

(really though, it's kind of scary looking) He is puffing it out more and more lately. It's a good thing!

I loooooove my apartment

So, my friend Crissy (who is one of my favorite bloggers ever) recently posted this post about what two things she likes best in her house and I thought "that looks like fun. I like things in my apartment." So I decided to do it too!!! Even though she didn't ask me to or tag me or anything.  There are no rules in the world of blog right?

Hm...I like a lot about my apartment.  It's the first place I've lived besides my parents house AND the first place I've lived with my husband! So, it's kinda special to me. SINCE I like so much AND there are no rules in the world of blog, I am uping the number to 5 things I like about my apartment!!! :D (I feel so free)

Here goes...

5 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY APARTMENT:

1) The accented walls!   I know it's kinda silly but I think the fact that we could accent the walls kinda pushed this apartment complex over the top for me.  I just like a nice looking place and the more you make it your own and make it feel like home, the easier it is to stay there for a few years, which is our plan.

2) The BIG windows!!  I have been living in basements for QUITE a while! My bedroom at my parents house, then Chase had a ground floor apartment then he was in a basement at the townhouse...so I was spending a lot of time in the dark and then we got this lovely apartment and we're on the SECOND floor and we have these BIG windows that let in A TON of light! And we don't even look out onto the street or anything! It's just wooded area and we saw 4 deer there the other day! It's magical. :)  (it's not a very sunny day in this pic)

3) Our new bookshelf and how it holds all my photo albums AAAANNNNDDDD Crumb's living appartus!

4) Our new pully thing for the shower! :D (I'm including the maintenance on this one because we asked for a new pully thing and we got one the very next day!!!) it's annoying to take a shower when you have to spend an extra 10 minutes pulling up the thingy for the shower.  After that, my fingers hurt too much to take a shower!

5) The stray cat that hangs out next door.  I named him Sylvester and the people next door got him a bed (although he never lays in it) and they put out food and water for him!  I put out cheese for him sometimes too. He is a really mangy-looking cat but he is SOOOOO cute. (Don't have a picture of him. He's very sneaky)

The KnitWits

Hello all!  Stuff is happening in my life so I am going to blog about it now.

Last night I went to my first knitting class with my friend Laurie.  We got there a few minutes late and the class was so big that we didn't get to sit together which was kind of a bummer BUT we sat on either sides of this nice girl named Brooke. :)  She was already great at knitting so we flanked her and bombarded her with questions haha!

The teacher is really nice and earthy.  (Sounds like a weird description but earthy is the word that kept coming to mind when I thought of her...*shrug*) She has been knitting for 17 years and she started when she was a vendor at the farmers market 17 years ago.  She made homemade paper and catnip potpourri from her garden (see what I mean?  earthy.)  Anywho, while she was there she met these nice ladies that were selling their knit wears and they taught her how. :) nice story. She's kinda funny too! 

She told us we were learning continental knitting as opposed to...throwing? I think that's what she called it.  The history behind it is that back in the 1800's wealthy women, who had never knit before, wanted to learn to knit for something to do (and she said to help with the war effort...someone explain that to me) but they needed a way to distinguish themselves from the women who knit for money (of course!) so they started up this 'throwing' way of knitting and we are learning the continental way.  The way the women who got paid to knit would have knit. :)

ANYway, I was getting very frustrated and discouraged at first (as I tend to feel when I'm not good at something right away. silly.) because I really was NOT getting it.  She had us look over her shoulder while she knit a few stiches then she had us start to work on our own and she came over to each of us to see how we were doing.  When she came to me she had to actually put her arms around me and basically force my fingers to do it.  After much sitting and staring at others, bothering Brooke, bothering Laurie and completely destroying my line of stiches (dunno if this is the right lingo...I'm still a beginner) I had her restart it for me and THEN I finally started to kind of understand what goes where and which twists around whos whatsit.  I felt like, at first, she wasn't really explaining it as if we were beginners.  BUT I think she was probably feeling overwhelmed since her average class size is 4-5 and there were...oh...12-15 in this class!  She told us she has a Tuesday night class so some of the girls will move over there next week. 

When I got home I was feeling frustrated again because I had pretty much forgotten everything I had figured out.  AND she didn't teach us to 'cast on' because she says when she teaches people that skill right at the beginning they often forget rather quickly so she said she will teach us after we get the hang of 'knitting' and 'purling'.  Well, Laurie and I were both pretty worried that when we got home we would mess up our stiches and not know how to start over and then just not be able to practice anymore.  Well. That's exactly what happened.  So I hopped on youtube and watched a video about how to 'cast on' and I figured that out and now I can start over and over and over!  :)

By the end of the 4 weeks we are supposed to have a scarf knitted. :D we'll see how that goes...haha!

Holding Out Help

hello my blog buddies!


I wanted to tell you all about this totally awesome organization that I have just recently become aware of. (I think they've only been around for a year or so...) It is called Holding Out Help (or 'HELP' for short...go figure).  This organization's purpose is to assist those that are have been living in a polygamist community and wish to leave. They provide a place for them to stay, food, friends, clothes, medical/dental attention, legal counsel and pretty much anything else they might need.  Here is the link to their website: http://www.holdingouthelp.org/  this could explain it all better than I ever could.


it's a really great organization.  What little I've heard from the women HELP has helped, they are told they are going to hell for leaving and that everyone outside their compound is evil so you can imagine how terrified they must be to leave and how bad their living conditions must have been for them to take the risk AND what amazing relief they must feel when a stranger that is supposedly "evil" (these are their words not mine) shows them love, not because they have to at all, just because they choose to.  I feel really blessed to be given the opportunity to be a part of this organization any way I can.  Last weekend we spent most of Saturday rennovating a couple of houses that will be used as "safe houses" for anyone leaving polygamy until they can find a more permanent place to live.  It just feels good to help.

That's all, go to link and take a look. :)

TAG!

Yay I got tagged! I got tagged! HUZZAAAAHHHH! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! BEING TAGGED ROCKS!!  (thanks Crissy...I hope I have properly conveyed how much this means to me ;) 


Okay, I will now type down 7 things about me.  And I'll try to make them interesting.
(I must REALLY like to talk about myself because this sounds like fun)


1-- I prefer texting or emailing (or facebooking) to talking on the phone.  I'm not trying to be impersonal, talking in person is my favorite way to communicate, but people always sound angry to me on the phone and it just seems to get awkward a lot of times (I may be making it awkward because in my head it's already akward...).  Oh yeah, AND I talk on the phone 8 hours a day 5 days a week!  So...maybe that has something to do with it.

2-- I REALLY don't like roller coasters. Really.

3-- I love anything to do with PICTURES! I like taking them, editing them, developing them, scrapbooking them, framing them...everything!

4-- For now, I am basically obsessed with Law & Order: Criminal Intent.  I will pretty much watch any crime drama though

5-- I am a very jealous person but I'm working on it

6-- According to some husbands, I chew my flaming hot cheetos much louder than the average person

7-- I sing to my lizard.  YES, that's right, (I'm really opening up to you people) when no one is around I will sing and dance with Crumb. There! happy?

Now, who to tag...hm...well, since there are only 3 or 4 of you who read this I choose ALL OF YOU!!!!  Megan, Breana, Amy, Angie, Eric, Chase, Blair, Keri, Heather (wedding style).

TAG!!!

New Years Resolutions

I realized I didn't include my resolutions in my "welcome 2010" post so I'll give them their very own post!

Rachel's Resolutions:

-- STOP worrying about every little thing
-- Do something active every day (even if it's just 10 jumping jacks)
-- STUDY God's word (don't only read it. STUDY it.)
-- Only let laundry get to one basket load
-- Take a photography class
-- Take a photo editing class
-- Run a 5k
-- Play my guitar



These are all things that don't always come easily to me necessarily but they are all things that I am much happier if I'm doing them/have done them.




I'm already getting started on one of these actually... 
I have registered to take a digital photography class!  It is through Salt Lake Community Education.  It is Tuesday nights from 6:30-8:30PM and it starts January 20th and goes through March! :D I am really excited. (I was also going to sign up for a photo editing class but they had to cancel it :(  So maybe I'll take it in the spring!) I am really excited, REALLY I am...but...I would really like to find a film photography class where you get to develop the pictures yourself too! I like that. And then it's like the picture is ALL yours. :) If anyone hears of one...let me know...:)

HELLO 2010!

So...I just typed all about my new years but it seems to have...evaporated?  ANYway, my new years went a little something like this:

-get off work early

-go home & relax

-get dressed up

-go to dinner with friends at yummy restaurant

-head back to friends' house

-play games

-celebrate the new year with kisses & sparkling grape juice

-go to read, and fall asleep in the process, with Laurie in her room while the

 boys stay up late playing video games

Here are some pictures. I really really wanted some pictures of us in our finery but it didn't happen! oh well.

Oh yeah, we hung out in our PJ's

                                       

Also, I dunno if it was the new year or what but I got sick of my long hair finally so I CHOPPED IT ALL OFF!

                                         

                                                                           BEFORE

.........................................................................................................................................................................

                                      

                                          

                                 
                                                           AFTER

It's a big change but that's exactly what I wanted and I LOVE IT! :D


ps there was so much hair I got to donate it to locks of love!

more family memories

So we decided to get some family pictures as a gift to Karen LAST YEAR (2008)!  The Nortons had not had pictures taken in quite a few years and they have aquired 2 new daughters AND a granddaughter so we figured it would be fun to get some pictures taken of all of us.  It took us even longer to schedule these pictures than the Gregory family pictures! We originally wanted Megan to take these ones too but, as I mentioned in my previous blog, she is taking a break from the photography game.  So, we found a nice photographer on craigslist instead.  She's no Megan Kunz but she did a pretty fine job.   It was one of Olivia's first big outings so we weren't sure how she would be feeling but she slept up until the last 10 or so minutes when she woke up to get some pictures taken and get fed. We took them at the provo library and it was a bunch of fun. :)

here we are trying something a little bit different

(I think Karen & Bart look like perfume models or something)

She was trying to get us to be serious here...as you can see in the pictures before and after this one we are cracking up!!! We're not the 'serious' types I don't think haha!