Happy Birthday Rachel

Yesterday we celebrated Rachel's 4th birthday. she had a fun day of fun, games, swimming and cake. Life is great when you're 4!

9 Years

Yesterday was our 9 year anniversary! yea for us!!!

We have come a long way and we have gained a few pounds (OK I have gained a few pounds and Des has pretty much stayed the same) as we have seen the years pass. We have lived in different towns and Cities through the years. We have been to the tops of mountains with grand vistas and we have traveled along winding paths in narrow valleys. We have had our differences but have always worked things out...eventually.

I love you Des, And I look forward to spending countless more years with you.

Take me out to the ball game

We registered Ben for T-Ball this year but due to his age he was placed into Minor Baseball! He is doing pretty good considering he has never played organized ball before.

Even though there wasn't play at home plate Ben still chose to slide (either for dramatic effect or just because he's a boy and likes to get dirty, we can't tell).

look at that extension, look at that form... look where your throwing the ball Ben! if there is one thing that we need to help Ben with is throwing straight and actually catching the ball (OK that's two things).

that's our little slugger

Rich has moved out

Rich has moved his photography posts to his Blog (which he has had for some time but has never posted on. If you'd like to continue to read about and see his work head on over.

Water

Thanks Des

This year Des and I decided that it was just easier for each of us to buy our own anniversary presents and pretend it was from the other person (much easier that way). Des got herself some fitness equipment and I bought a... lens (I know big shock).






for those that are interested it is a 50mm f 1.8 lens. at 1.8 it has a really shallow depth of field so you can isolate parts of your subject really well. In addition, it is 4x faster then the "kit" type lenses that come with cameras, meaning it lets more light into the camera. it's not the most expensive lens (actually it's one of the cheapest lens canon sells) but I wasn't prepared to spend 4x the price on the next best one (f 1.4) or 12x on the top of the line one (f 1.2).

Here is a sample shot I took to demonstrate to Des why I bought it:



And again for those interested. Here is how I shot the above image:

I used an old cardboard box, 2 sheets of white paper, 2 sheets of glossy craft paper and some flashes. I cut holes in the sides for the light to shoot through and covered them with the white paper. Then I cut a hole on the top and covered it with one of the glossy pieces of paper in case I need to have light come from above in the future. Than I taped the last glossy page to the back wall and let it curve toward the camera to create a seamless background.





Thanks again Des! How did you ever know this was the lens I never talked about but wanted you to buy?

Ben's place?

Ben and I were driving home yesterday after baseball practice. As we pasted the local bowling alley (which is currently closed and for sale) Ben and I had the following conversation:

- Dad, when is that bowling alley going to open again?
- I don’t know, I think it needs a bunch of things fixed before it can open again
- What needs to be fixed? The thing that sucks the balls up?
- I don’t know, I just heard that there is bunch of things
- How about some of the signs?
- Maybe
- Or the floor where the balls roll down?
- You mean the lanes?
- Ya the lanes, it must be the lanes that are broken!
- That’s possible
- Why don’t you buy it and fix it up so we can go bowling?
- I think there is a lot of stuff to fix and I don’t have enough money to buy a bowling alley and fix it up
- Go to the bank and ask them, they’ll give you money
- How much money do you think I’ll need to ask for?
- Oh I don’t know, maybe $163 dollars, that’s a lot of money
- I’m not sure but I might need more then that buddy

Oh to be young again and to think $163 is a lot of money. Who knows, the bowling alley has been up for sale for a while. Maybe I’ll finance Ben and he can make an offer on the place. He wouldn’t even need to change the sign out front.

I can see it now…
Hey mister, I’ll give you $163.50 cash right now for your property. What do say?