Gifts fit for a king...

This morning while I was getting ready, Jace came into the bathroom with a handful of toys. He said to me, "Mommy, let's pretend like you are baby Jesus and I am a wise man coming to give you gifts." Smiling to myself (while making baby sounds), I held out my hands and this is what I got- a broken-wheeled Lightning McQueen, a mini-Lightning, Buzz Lightyear's arrow, a scary robot dude and a booger plunger(lol). At first glance, these are definitely not the most appropriate gifts for 'baby Jesus', but Jace giving up some of his most prized possessions (even if just for a few minutes) is something I am sure He will accept! This was just one of those sweet moments that reminded me of how special little kids are. And I am glad that I took a minute to stop what I was doing and record this.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Be sure to check the bus. blog for a cute Christmas photo of the kids!

Counting down

some psychedelic fun with the cam...

The countdown to Christmas has officially begun at our house. We are drinking lots of hot cocoa (it is quite disgusting how many cans of hot cocoa mix we have gone through this month!), making paper snowflakes, listening to Christmas music and watching It's a Wonderful Life for the third time. I can't believe that in exactly one week from today, it will be Christmas night and I will be feeling a little depressed because Christmas is over and I have eaten too much. How did it come so fast? Every year I seem to ask myself this question a million times the week before Christmas. But I am trying very hard to be positive and not think about how sad it will be when it is all over. Most of me is just really excited! I just love the ambiance of our home around Christmas, all the decor, the Christmas lights and the fire blazing. And aside from the Bop-it that I really wanted to get Jace (which, by the way, is no longer sold in stores so I have to get it from EBay- and me and EBay are a bad combo- I always put items on my 'watch' list, but forget to go back to check them so the auctions always end before I can bid- it's maddening!), our Christmas lists have been made and checked twice.

Last weekend we took a trip to the DC temple to see the festival of lights they have up there. It was so pretty! What a great way to get into the Christmas spirit! Jace absolutely loved it. Here are some of our snaps from that trip- some taken by me, some taken by Tim. And even a shot of me and the kids in there- a rarity indeed! I definitely belong BEHIND the camera!

I hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit! I will try to post again before Christmas- Tim is heading out to Utah without me this weekend, so I will have lots of time on my hands (if the kids don't drive me too crazy:P But until then, happy holidays everyone!

Farewell...

Below: "What's that?" LOL

Ethan looking out at Jace's bike, saying: "In a few short months, that bike will be MINE!"

Measuring cups- his favorite toy! We are thinking of getting him a set for Christmas...







I am dedicating this post to two things. First, to my sweet little Ethan who, at 11 months, is on the verge of walking. Sigh... I am so sad. I can't believe he is already 11 months. Tim has been rooting for Ethan to start walking for the last few months (he started crawling just before 7 months, so we thought he might walk early), but me- well part of me wishes he could just crawl forever! I just LOVE the stage he is at right now. The crawling around-sitting-smiling-toe sucking stage is probably one of my favorite ages. And to be honest, I am a little terrified of when this boy starts walking. They get so busy once they start walking and I am not looking forward to telling Ethan to stop climbing on top of the refrigerator. But most of all part of me just does not want him to grow up! It is so sad how fast time flies! I can just see myself in 18 years watching Ethan graduate from high school and looking back to this time with vivid detail wondering how on earth time passed so quickly! So, so sad! Part of me (a very small part of me!) wishes I could just have babies forever... So,(raise glass) to cute little Ethan, the adorable baby (soon to be terror!)!

I also want to dedicate this post to another baby of mine (here we go again... roll eyes)- my trusty little D70s. These very well may be among the last photos I take with it. Just a few hours after I took these shots, my 'new' baby arrived on my doorstep. And after my first 'official' shoot with the D300 yesterday, little D70s is officially the backup/take to the beach/toy for Tim and Jace camera. I just have to sing the praises of Nikon and the D300 one more time! I totally ROCKED my session yesterday with it! (check the business blog to see some shots from it soon.) My main hope for the D300 was better high ISO performance (which the verdict is still out on), but the 51 focus points alone make this camera TOTALLY worth its cost! I have always been such a focus recomposer and since I generally shoot pretty wide open, my focus sometimes gets lost when I recompose. But these focus points are so precise and easy to navigate that I will never have to recompose again and can still get great composition in my camera! Especially for newborns, this is HUGE!! Seriously, I hope I don't sound conceited, but I always hear other photogs talking about those occasional sessions where everything just works out and they leave feeling like they nailed it and I totally felt this way after my session yesterday! And this is honestly the FIRST time I have felt like this(at least to this extent!)- usually I leave my shoots somewhat disappointed in myself (my expectations of myself are always WAY too high!) It was so refreshing to feel this way- it totally made me realize how much I love my job and gave me so much motivation to push myself even further (creatively and business wise) this next year! And I really feel like most of that is the camera- my creativity is no longer limited by my equipment! SO glad I upgraded!!!

So, goodbye my dear D70s! I am sorry for all my complaints about your noisy photos, poor white balance and tiny LCD screen, but we have shared some great memories together! You really served me well- you were my first 'baby'. I am sorry I had to move on, but I will always hold a special place for you in my heart!

IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I can't believe it!!!! Just as I sat down to get back to work editing, my doorbell rang. No big suprise there- Mr. Brown (UPS) has come by nearly every day this week with client prints and christmas cards. But when I opened the door, it wasn't Mr. Brown! It was some other delivery person. My heart started pounding as I knew there was only one other thing I could think it might be. Sure enough, when I looked at the box, the return address said: Circuit City. I started shaking- literally! I could barely sign my name on that signature thingy! You should have seen me fumbling around for the first few minutes after I got inside: Where should I put it? Should I open it? Should I call Tim? Mel? Ashley? Should I take a picture of it? First I set it oh so carefully down. Then went on a wild goose hunt to find something to open the box with (I was a little flustered!) I am just so excited! At long last, my camera is here!!!!!

Meet my new best friend! The Nikon D300 (in all honesty I truly wish it was the D3, but hey- this is still a great upgrade for me!!!) Just look at that gold box in all it's glory(I associate gold Nikon boxes with happiness!)- I could just kiss it! I am sure many of you are thinking I am crazy to get so excited about this, but I have been carefully planning this upgrade for nearly 6 months!!! And my wait is finally over! Well, not quite- the stinkin' battery takes 4 hours to charge and by then it will be dark. But oh well, tonight I am just going to enjoy holding, caressing and staring at my new baby!!!! (and reading the manual- this thing is DIFFERENT than my little d70!) WOHOOOOO!!!!

B.E.A.

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First snow!!!

Yep, that is right! We had our first snow of the season this week! A whopping 25 snowflakes fell to the ground on Tuesday- it was so exciting! So Jace and I got all bundled up and went out to play in the blanket of snow...

Jace was ready to get to work with his shovel, but quickly found that shoveling a mere 25 flakes is tough! So he decided to eat the snow instead...



YUMMMMMM!!!



Okay, now this is just gives-me-shivers disgusting! But it made me laugh!! Hope you all have a sense of humor for this one... Click to see it closer

And the 25 flakes in his hair after a full five minutes outside...

And this one I just love... isn't he handsome?

I know that this amount of snow is pitiful, especially to you Utah folks, but just the idea that it might snow is exciting out here! Especially this early- last year we didn't get snow until February. Jace was so excited, and kept saying "We should throw snowballs at each other!" We actually tried to make some, but they were the size of tapioca and would melt before we could throw them!

It was flurrying on and off all day, and every time it would start Jace would quickly put his shoes, coat, hat, scarf and gloves on, but by the time he got everything on the snow would stop. And he would cry. Poor kid- he kept asking me to make the snow come back, but there are some things that mom's just can't do!

We are just crossing our fingers that it will snow again before Christmas- maybe we'll get lucky and get 50 flakes next time!!!

Sunrise

Just wanted to post this shot of the sunrise from last week. It was so beautiful! I always feel like my sunrise/sunset pictures never do them justice, but I am not sure why.

I have lots of stuff to update- but I just don't feel like writing right now. Maybe I will post again tomorrow when I am not so cranky and my kids are not crying at my feet!

Until then, enjoy!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving for us out here in Virginia marks the beginning of several months of homesickness for our families in Utah. This time of year we are always thinking about them, and all the celebrations and traditions we miss out on being so far away. I can't help but think about seeing my whole family at Uncle Russ', sitting at our beautiful tables and joking about who has and has not graduated from the children's table. Or making the long, beautiful drive through southern Utah down to Blanding, sitting in mom and dad Carroll's house chatting or playing cards. We love being here in Charlottesville so much, but being this far away from family during the holidays is so hard!!

But being so far away from family has also taught us to be especially thankful for our wonderful friends here. They really are our family away from home, especially during this time of year! We spent this Thanksgiving with our good friends the Burtons and the Dahles. And we had so much fun! Here are some shots of our Thanksgiving...

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These were taken by the LM Marina on our way over to the Burton's (with the new wide angle lens- a fantastic landscape lens!! Please excuse the crooked horizon in #2- batch cropped that one) It had been raining off and on that afternoon which made for a gorgeous sky!

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Here is the cute centerpiece for the kid's table- made by April and the Burton gang. Check out the solid cheese stick-you can't have too much of a good thing! And Packer looking thoroughly entertained!! LOL

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The beautiful table- complete with beautiful china all arranged properly. I really admire anyone who can really 'set' a table. To this day I cannot remember what goes where without asking my mom first or consulting Google. Someday when we have a big enough home to really entertain in, I am going to patent a fridge magnet that shows how to properly set a table. Isn't that a genius idea? Please don't steal it from me- I really think I might be able to make some money off of it.

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The company pre-feast- Nate and Hillory, Craig and Craig's co-worker-friends-from-Isreal-whose-name's-escape-me (I think his name was Gal?)

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The bird: juicy and tasty!!!

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The post-feast chaos party. Here is Jake posing for the camera, while Ellie tries to steal his thunder.

And take a look at this one- can you say future Abercrombie&Fitch model? Watch out, Craig and April! (I hope not Abercrombie&Fitch, though- I detest that store for using NAKED people to advertise. I mean, HELLO, they are a CLOTHING store! Really too bad- because I really did like their jeans and that they ran big so I could wear a smaller size- always makes a girl feel better!)

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And last one of Tim watching Jace on the Bop-it. Jace LOVED this toy and could not put it down all night! I think Santa may be bringing him one of these for Christmas... And I spy paparazzi in the upper right corner (reflection)- Nate and his fancy new Canon 40D (which made me a little envious by the way- that is a nice camera!!)

Phew- that is all folks! I want to thank you again, April and Craig, for inviting us over- it was so fun and the food was great!! And I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Eye candy...

Just some random test shots with the Macro. I am loving this lens- so fun! The first shot was taken in our front yard- our new baby grass had dew drops on it. Tim pointed it out to me on his way out to work one morning. So I headed out there in my PJs, headband, and coat to get this shot, waving at the neighbors as they passed by and wondered why in the heck I was taking pictures of our grass LOL! Just to give you some perspective, this blade of grass was about the width of dental floss- teeny-tiny! Amazing that I can get that close! I only wish that the dew drop was on the other side, but alas, this is the only shot of the 40 or so that I took that was in focus. The rest are just taken of random branches and plants growing in the jungle next to our yard. And Katie, you may recognize this flower! The little bud was about the size of my pinkie nail!

Okay, I am done for today! Ethan is not cooperating too well with Productivity day this afternoon (come on, bud, didn't you get the memo?) But I did get lots done this morning. Hopefully I will stay caught up now!

Until next time!

New Lenses...

I am sure those of you who have talked to me in the last few weeks have already heard about my new lenses, since I talk about them as much as I talk about my kids! Well, those who don't know, I added a Nikkor 60mm 2.8 Macro and a Nikkor 17-55 2.8 wide angle zoom to the Mandy Carroll Photography family. It seems crazy to me that these two lenses together cost more than Tim's car (which I guess isn't saying much!) but they are awesome lenses, definitely worth the investment! I know they will both be very useful for the business, but lately I have had so much fun just playing with them- especially the Macro lens! It is unbelievably sharp and the detail is amazing! It is going to take some practice to master it though- the depth of field is so narrow that if I move even a millimeter it messes up my focus. Hopefully I will get it down though- it will make a great lens for those detail shots on newborns (fingernails, flaky skin...) So here are some fun, around-the-house shots with my lenses... The first taken with the 17-55 at both extremes, and the rest with the Macro. Have to give credit to Tim for the last shot- he took this while playing with the lens at the dinner table. Have you ever seen a more beautiful shot of fruit salad? Makes my mouth water:)

A few more to come...