newsy

I have quite a newsy post and it would have been more interesting to the common man if I could have uploaded the pictures I wanted to. Instead, blogger blocked me coming and going. It is not feasible for me to spend an hour posting; even for you, my loyal blog readers.

Last week it rained and rained some more. Combined with the snow melt from December, the waters rose and there was a lot of flooding in the PNW. I have pictures, but blogger didn't like them, so just imagine fields covered in water. It was actually pretty to look at, imagining we lived amongst the lakes. I5 being closed and people losing their homes in nearby areas isn't worth it though.

On one of the rainy days, we drove to the big city and went to OMSI (For those who are curious: Oregon Museum of Science and Industry -- a kid friendly science museum in Portland). For Christmas, my parents gave us a year's membership to the Gilbert House, a scientific play house for kids. The membership also gives us free admission to OMSI, so we were quite pleased to go for free! It was a lot of fun for all of us. The girls loved the kids play room complete with water and sand and balls and air and costumes. They played all afternoon and then we headed to Burger King. I turned around to tell them we were at the restaurant and found both girls zonked out, fast asleep. We drove most of the way home before we finally woke them up to eat.

Mandy loved every moment of the trip.

Emma loved the water. I don't think her eco system is taking very good care of the wild life since they are all drowning in the creak.

Last week I also got to see my friend Janelle and Mandy's twin, Adalyne. The girls are still about the same height, but my sweat girl has a little, shall we say, girth compared to Ada.

It was fun to see the girls play. Janelle's husband just took a job that will have them moving south. It is sad when friends move away. I've really enjoyed having Janelle close.

On Saturday I was in Salem celebrating my cousin Lisa's birthday at my sisters with my grandma. After lunch, I went over to the capitol to take pictures of my friend Jenni. She emailed me earlier in the week and said she was looking for an excuse for me to take pictures for her. She's recently lost over 30 pounds, so I called this a "celebrating your skinny self" photo shoot. I really wanted to take pictures anyway and try out some new techniques. I am working on my light balance. It was really fun to take pictures of a confident, happy adult. I wish there was more of a market for this kind of photography. I posted a few more pictures on my photography blog.

The picture below is straight out of the camera. I edited the picture below it with the help of Pioneer Woman. She finally showed us Elements users how to duplicate her actions on Photoshop. You can see for yourself here.

Do you see the differences in the edited photo? The second photo has more contrast and is warmer. I love a simple fix. I also added an edge burn, whitened her teeth a little, and sharpened her eyes. 

We had a fun day in spite of it being a dark, overcast day that at 40 degrees. Man, it was cold. And Mandy, my less than lovely assistant, was being a so horrible. She is starting to throw more fits these days and she was pretty much crying and throwing herself around in anger through the whole shoot. Talk about messing with my creative genius. Next time, she is not invited.

Enough news for now...