Lots of lights...

We are trying to see if we can set up an infinite white background for pictures and videos. We will see if it works.

Touchdown!

I have been able to stream a lot of the BYU, USU, and U of U football games these past couple of weeks.  Andrew has been my football buddy.  This week instead of watching he joined in with his father with chants of , "Defense!"  "Offense" and the celebratory "touchdown!"

He knows just what to do when our team scores.

A few of my in-laws joined in watching football with me and Andrew.  Karoline and Kevin have watched the last few BYU and the last Utah games with me.  Yesterday, before the Utah game started I received a text from Kevin asking if I was going to watch the game. I celebrated! There may have been successful in converting an Ashton into a sports fan!

Wendy disabused me of that notion fairly quickly.  She suspected that the interest was driven by Karoline.  Suspicion confirmed once Kevin worked on his laptop during the entire game.  I felt slightly disappointed. On the plus side, at least Kevin married a sports fan so I have someone interested in sports to watch football with.

My dreams of photoshop...

I have always been fascinated by composite pictures created by Photoshop.  I love the composite pictures in which children are placed into fantastical or wondrous environments.

As part of my tuition for the University of Utah I have access to the entire creative cloud from Adobe including light room and Photoshop. I have mainly been using Lightroom to organize and tag our photos. Recently I have been trying to learn more about Photoshop and how to use it.

Wendy was able to get discounted access to a stock photo distribution website. I felt that with access to stock photos and access to Photoshop, maybe,  I should make an attempt at creating a fantastical composite of my own. This is my first amateurish attempt.

Come explore with me!

My kids like to share...diseases.

I am proud of my two kids for being good "sharers." Next is teaching them to NOT share diseases such as hand/foot/mouth disease. Especially to their daddy.

As a special FYI, it appears the sores can develop on the uvula.

Quiet Time Activities

It was a sad day when we realized that Andrew no longer needed his two hour afternoon naps. This was especially distressing for Wendy who often takes her own afternoon nap.

In an effort to maintain Wendy's naps we still have "quiet time" for Andrew. That means Andrew no longer needed to get into bed and sleep; however, he did need to stay in his room until quiet time was over. Playing with toys, reading books, building with blocks, and running train tracks - all approved activities.

This worked swimmingly for a couple of months. Recently, a new wrinkle appeared in the process. Daddy, is gone for school and work in the afternoon. There is no one awake and in the house to enforce the "staying in room for quiet time" rule. Wendy, due to being deaf in one ear and sleeping on her good ear, does not hear much when she is asleep.

I am sure you can tell where I'm going with this. What does a 3 year old do in the middle of the afternoon while the parent on the house is knocked out?

You climb into bed next to her with a favorite book...and take a nap.

You dump your Cranium board game cards/pieces and a bucket of blocks into the bed next to her...and take a nap.

I suppose that there are worse things that Andrew could do while Wendy naps.

August Family Pictures

Last year we accidently ended up taking family pictures on our anniversary. We liked it so much we went ahead and did again this year. I found a few pictures to fill in some of the gaps. It's funny to see how much we've changed in the last five years.

2010

  

One and One (Eharmony - August 17th)

We did not have a family picture in 2010, but we do have two pictures that are important in our family history; our eharmony profiles. We were first matched on August 17th. Ben took his profile picture in his townhouse with a self-timer and a tripod.  Wendy's profile was taken at a the Living Planet Aquarium while on an excursion with siblings. 

Ben's Eharmony profile picture

Wendy's Eharmony profile picture

2011

Two (Married! August 1st)

This might be the most plentiful year for our "family pictures." Between the multiple engagement shoots, the wedding shots, and the reception shots we have many nice pictures of the two of us. 

At the Salt Lake City Temple

2012

Three (Andrew's Blessing - September 2nd)

Andrew joined us 11 months after the wedding. Unlike the previous year we did not take many family pictures during August.  We have a metric ton pictures of Andrew, a lot of pictures of Wendy, and a fair number of pictures of myself.  Few pictures contain all three of us.  This picture is from Andrew's blessing. 

With Andrew right after his blessing at the Brookshire Ward

2013

Three (August 17th)

Surprisingly, 2013 was even worse than 2012 for family pictures. The only full family picture in August was a random picture taken outside of my work. Yes, that is me with scrubs and an earpiece in our family picture. Less than ideal.

Work pictures are so...flattering

2014

Four (Accidental photo - August 1st)

Cameron  joined in the family picture fun this year. On a whim we visited the site of our reception (there are only so many places you can take a two month old!). Thanks to lot of trial and error using a tripod and a 10 second timer, for the first time in three years of marriage, we finally had a formalized family picture.

2015

Four ("Stuart Photography" - August 1st)

For 2015 we decided to forgo the self-timer and have someone else behind the camera. The Stuart parents and Debbie accompanied us up to Jordanelle. We tried bribing my father by paying for a hamburger joint; instead he payed for us. I am not proficient at bribing. We spent the night before giving all of the boys in the family a matching buzz cut. It was Cameron's first real haircut. I hardly recognized the little boy as my Cameron he looked so different sans curls.

Bonus timer picture

2016

Four will be Five

We plan to continue the tradition of taking our pictures at Jordanelle Reservoir next year.  Excitingly, another member of the family will join us for that photo shoot. The storks pictured below are two months into their nine month flight to bring us our new little one.

Estimated Date of Arrival: March 18, 2016

While the grandparents are away...the children play

The boys and I decided to crash at the Stuart Grandparents house (or in Andrew's words, "Amber's house." while they were away visiting other relatives.  Grandma's...or Amber's...house has a lot of toys that the boys do not get to play with often.  This led to both boys happily playing for an extended period of time without requiring parent interaction or prompting.

In response to this, I did what any parent would do when the kids were happily playing with or around each other. I took a couple hundred pictures. I have this dream of being a good photographer so I am trying to find more opportunities to practice.

I have included a "few" of the resulting pictures from the session.

Choosing a puzzle

Baby, playing with babies

I loved playing with these trucks

The balance of a 3 year old

Playing with photoshop