Shock and Awwwwwwww. . .

I would like to again re-emphesize that I have had a busy 2 months.  So early last May when Lilly was 4.5 months old....

It's amazing watching this little girl grow up.  For example, she has these overalls that I think she is just adorable in.  They have a pocket on the front, and when I need to move from one place in the house to another, I will stuff a binky in the pocket so I don't loose it.  The other day, I was sitting on the floor doing homework as Lilly tossed around some toys and made a ruckus.  Suddenly things became very quiet.  I look over at my little genius to find that she has pulled the binky out of her pocket and has stuffed it into her mouth correctly.  Since Binky's are basically baby kryptonite, she had fallen asleep pretty much immediately.  So cute.

Memorial Day Shennanigans

All right, I said I've been busy. Here for example, is a post on what we did this last memorial day.

Early in the morning Paige, The munchkin and I got on our bikes and went for a long family ride. It was great, Lilly slept most of the way, and Paige and I did not feel nearly as out of shape as we look. All of this is part of our new initiative to get ourselves down to body sizes that could be considered healthy.

We even stopped at a park and had a picnic.

Here is the route we took.  Our trip ended up being 11.6 miles.  Not bad for people who have not regularly exercised .

Music Monday

I thought I posted this one six months ago.  It was only when this song came up on the radio a couple days ago and Paige asked why I had not posted it yet that I realized I really never got around to it.

We like this song because it's catchy.  We like the video because it is what the 80's would have looked like if they had had todays technology then.

This is LaRoux, the song is Bulletproof.

My Short Film

We just finished first block of summer semester which included the Motion Picture Essentials class. For our final, we split into two groups, wrote and filmed a movie as mini production crews, then each of us produced our own individual edit.

On the production crew I was Director of Photography.

For my edit I also tried motion tracking an animation for the first time (harder than it looks). So here is my version, edited by me, sound designed by me, animated by me, and filmed by me. Nowhere as good as my Sister in law could do, (congratulations on the Peabody award Kristi!), but ok for a beginner.



Click here for the full hd version.

Home Review.

Well, It's about time to show another 2 or so year update on where the house is.  First, here are some old pictures for comparison:

November 2001

May 2008

Now for some current pictures. You should be able to spot some significant improvements. We replaced the light fixtures, and though you probably can't see it, the outlet covers which were broken. Some plants have gotten bigger, others have been removed. There are some new plants too. Lets take a look:

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Oh, did I mention we painted EVERYTHING?  Well, Except the shingles.  And the plants and concrete and dirt, but we painted everything ELSE. Hence the brown is gone title to the last post. Hey, a note to my older brother and his wife, Yes, we totally stole your shutters idea.  But you know what they say, copyright infringement is the sincerest form of flattery.

So the lawn is looking a tad yellow there.  Usually we grow the lawn at 6 inches.  But a dear neighbor boy and his friend mowed it for us the other day.  At 2 inches.  It was in shock within 2 hours.  I've been coaxing it back since.  I'm not going to say anything to the neighbor or his dad.  The friend who helped him is the same poor kid who's car redecorated our fence last October. Last thing he needs is more guilt.  (He just joined the church last November too, funny how that happens.)

We also added a couple of rose trellises.  (Trellisi?)  There is that one there on the back of the garage.

Click for Larger 

There is also this monster one on the south end of the house.  The hope is that this one will help cool the house.

 

Click for Larger

Funny story on that massive ladder. We asked all over the ward looking for a ladder longer than our 16 foot ladder. We found nothing, so we gave up and just went ahead with our shorter one. Painting those roof peaks is treacherous when you still fall about 6 feet short. So here I am painting the last 10 square feet of the tan, when our home teacher and his wife amble past on a walk. He says, "You know, I've got a 24 foot ladder you could borrow..."

The moral, Always ask your Home Teacher first.

The Brown is Gone.

But since I'm feeling like a bit of a brat, I'm not going to explain that statement. Yet. Instead, here are some pictures from Paige's Last Project. (Note the Capital letters there. Paige's Last Project is now officially a proper noun.)

Yep. Them there are oak stair treads. Sweet. We have these going up to the bedrooms AND down to the Library. Paige did all this. Well, I ripped up the old treads. And I cut and placed the new ones. And I puttyed the new ones. And I sealed the new ones. And I put the new faces on the risers.

But other than that, Paige did all this. Okay, Paige ripped up half the carpet and painted the white parts, and this may have actually been my project that she helped with. Anyway, here is a wide angle of the stairs going up.

Here are some pictures of the way the stairs WERE for comparison.

Petite, right?

Girls are supposed to be petite.
We get laughed at if we are too tall or too big.
Lilly is small.

New mom = worrier, so is she getting enough food/am I feeding her right has been a frequent refrain.

Official verdict: normal

Current Stats:
15 lbs 1 oz
26.25 inches

Updates

It is my hope that for the next 2 months I will have more free time to spare for all kinds of projects. Things like, updating the blog, updating my temple photo gallery, responding to emails and phone calls, maybe a little game design, stuff like that.

Consequently, here are some updates to the blog layout. You may have noticed that 3 weeks ago I changed over to our new summer layout. that is, if you don't use a reader or post subscriber. What you didn't notice is that 4 months ago we changed the way we post. It now tells you who made the post, Paige or Myself. I failed to actually mention it at the time, so since then alot of our comments have praised me for funny words or cute pictures when in fact, Paige made the post. Give credit where credit is do, I say. All others must pay cash. On a related note, anything older than about February will incorrectly say I made the post. That's Blogger for you.

Some of you may know that Last year I killed my Photography Business. This was as much for a lack of buisness as it was to get the state tax commission to quit insisting that I could not possibly be bringing in that little amount of money and I must owe them some vast sum of cash. (Here is your nickel, now go away.) In conjunction with that, the Black Hat Photography half of my website is now gone. Going to Photogent.com will instead take you straight to my Temple Photography, un- updated as THAT may be.

Lastly, I removed the blogrolls on the side bar. Thanks to Google analytics, I know for a fact only one person ever used them in the last year. (You know who you are.) Instead, you will now find links to online projects I am working on. Probably.

Music Monday

I have got to say that in my opinion the "artist" (term loosely applied) calling herself Lady GaGa epitomizes most of what is wrong with humanity as a whole. I have however found that many artists actually write songs that have musical merit, especially when performed by some one else.

Such is the case with this song. I first heard the cover and really liked it. Then I went to watch the video for the original version. DON'T WATCH IT.

***WARNING***

this is not a sarcastic attempt to get you to actually watch it. I watched 30 seconds of the video that was titled "clean version" and it quite possibly rated NC-17. It was horrid. I would say I am dismayed by the kind of stuff MTV will play, but we all know MTV has nothing to do with music anymore.

Anyway. THIS is not the Lady GaGa version of the song. This is a group called Pomplamoose, which is apparently french for Grapefruit, performing a song called Telephone

Daddy's Little Pell Grant

Tsk. What's a Pell Grant?

Wait...you only love me for deductions?!

But, I'm so cute.

Say Hello to my Little Friend

Lilly's Newest Friend

Tigre the Tiger

She really went crazy for it. Brian is already planning the interactive game custom made for Lilly.

Look, Mom. No hands!

Lilly has been concerned that she is not keeping her job skills competitive in this hard economy. In an effort to improve herself, she has asked us to work on...sitting. She is up to about 2 minutes on a "good" one.

Look, ma. No hands.

Balance. Poise. And a huge diaper that provides an extra stable platform.

Stand in the place where you live.

The score so far...

"Wait, you want me to eat what?"

For those of you who weren't keeping score at home, especially since we weren't giving it, here are Lilly's food reviews for her first month of food eating.

Peaches -2
Peas -1
Pears -1
Apple Sauce -1
Green Beans +2
Carrots +2
Bananas ++2
Sweet Potatoes ++4
Squash ++4

The best part of eating, as anyone who has ever made cookies or anything equally tasty knows, is licking the spoon.

Oh, and Apparently she Might be teething after all. Hence the "I'm not licking the spoon, I'm chewing on it" look.