I'm thinking it's all in the genes...

I'd like to say that it's just my kids...

But that would be a lie now wouldn't it?...

A little peek...

Let me give you a little peek into what it's like in our house when friends come to stay with us...we often have friends and family come and stay with us...like at least once a month...and we love it...we often get comments like: 'Didn't you just have people staying with you?'...or...'Do you ever get tired of having people stay so often?'...The answer is always...NO!...I mean, really, how could anyone tire of having someone else for the kids to climb & jump all over? :)

Let me introduce you to our guests:


This is Jeanney & Matt...

Jeanney & I were mission companions in Idaho (yes I did serve my mission for the LDS church on Temple Square in Salt Lake but I was sent to Idaho Pocatello Mission for 3mths as part of that). Jeanney was known in our mission as the 'Deer Slayer' simply because she...well...she ran into a deer...and nearly wrote the car off...so I was known as 'the Deer Slayer's companion'... anyway she loved being companions with an Australian soooo much that she decided to up and MARRY one...which suits me just fine...because that means she visits downunder every couple of years and I get to see her much more often than any of my other comps.


So Jeanney got to know my kids this visit...she left her two daughters with her mother-in-law in Brisbane for a few days...she was missing her kids...so I let mine climb all over her...just so she didn't miss her own too much...you know because I ALWAYS think of others feelings before my own....ALWAYS!


Jeanney even gave her some flying lessons...

My son, being the clown of the family and having the unique ability to make things that are NOT funny, FUNNY, decided this would be his new trick...


and then he thought better of it and decided to use them in a more appropriate manner...


...and he still found it funny...

What??? MY GUESTS throwing snotty tissues at me??? what did I ever do to deserve that????

...well I must say Matt...the snotty tissue was definitely worth it...

Been Busy...

We've had people staying with us the last fortnight...so I've been busy enjoying the company, catching up and taking advantage of having my friends visit...and by that I mean...new subjects to photograph!

So last week my friend from QLD stayed and I caught her boys in action...doing only what boys can do!...

We had fun with Aleigha, her daughter...my camera ADORED her!

My kids get soooo excited when people come to visit...they especially love sleep overs - they tell me where everyone can sleep and who is sleeping in their room etc...sometimes their 'carefully' planned sleeping arrangements aren't always the best plan for actually SLEEPING!!!...so there are often some minor adjustments to their sleeping arrangements!

If it's not one child...it's the other...

Another black eye...and a bit of blood...

this is the damage a Nintendo Wii controller can do when her brother is totally engrossed in his game and she steps just a little too close!

Just because...

...that's what my little girl says at the end of most of her sentences...because....it is or because...that's why...I love it, it makes me laugh...and that has absolutely nothing to do with these photos...which are of my friends little girl...




50mm f1.8, f/1.8, 1/8000, 400iso

I'm just blogging...not because I really have anything to say but because we're getting our ducted air/con in today and I'm hiding out in the study with gyprock falling down ontop of me...so I thought I'd post a few photo's...I have been taking alot for friends lately...(I like to say 'friends'...my husband likes to call them 'clients' because he's a professional you know and I'm just a housewife and all...we like it that way)...



50mm f1.8, f/1.8, 1/6000, 250iso



50mm f1.8, f/1.8, 1/1250, 250iso

She loves...

to paint!!!....

50mm, f5.6, 1/30, ISO 500 .............................................. 50mm, f5.6, 1/30, ISO 500

in fact she loves to do anything that mummy is doing...as long as she can do it all by HERSELF!

.......................................... 50 mm, f5.6, 1/30, ISO 500,

...which is a slight problem if I'm using my sewing machine!

Harmony Day...at Easter time...

Has anybody heard of Harmony day??? Well I hadn't until this year...apparently the 21st March is Harmony day and the colour is orange...harmony day is supposed to be about friendship and forgiveness...which I thought was really great for the kids especially with Easter being earlier than usual this year...since the 21st of March was Good Friday this year J's school celebrated Easter and Harmony Day on Thursday before school let out. As part of this celebration they had to work in teams and complete a project..the teams consisted of all ages/grades at the school and then the teams had to get up and present them in assembly and talk about the friendships they made and what inspired them to do the project they completed...it was a great start to easter...although I admit...I was a little swamped with the fact that we had New Beginnings night for YW's on Thursday and I was still trying to complete everything for that the night before when I realised I hadn't made J's hat for the parade yet!! ...so we combined a bit of easter and a bit of harmony day and made orange chicken hat!


f1.8, 1/2000, ISO 320, 50mm ............................................... f5.6, 1/13, ISO320, 50mm

He was soooooooo excited!


f5.6, 1/60, ISO 320, 50-200mm

...and yes just in case you're wondering...they ARE false eyelashes...the funniest part....with me being completely swamped with things to do I asked my brother-in-law, G. to go and buy them for me...AND HE DID!!!
(thanks Glenda!)

Just a bit of info...

OK...so over the last few months I have started to get alot of questions in regards to what camera I use etc....and I've had alot of friends ask detailed questions about different photo's...so I'll do my best to give you what info I can as I go along (although I may get lazy at times)...as you will see from my last two posts I have information about what lenses I have used, the aperture, shutter and ISO...

For those who I haven't gotten back to I have a Nikon D200 and at this time I only have Nikkor lenses. I have three lenses:

50mm f1.8 portrait lens...which is by far my favourite...it stays on my camera most of the time and is great in lower lighting situations where you don't want to use a flash....because I NEVER use a flash...I like natural lighting...although I can feel myself gradually thinking about exploring that area to widen my knowledge...

18-55mm zoom (f3.5-5.6) lens...this one I probably use the least...maybe because I have my 50mm - but I do find this one maybe better for landscaping - you get a bit more of depth of field and picture in it!

55-200mm zoom (f4-5.6) lens...I needed some kind of zoom lens so this was the cheapest option at the time...I know it's bad that I'm going for the cheapest lens and putting it on such a great camera body but hey...I'm hoping to upgrade these last two in the next year...this lens is good when trying to get closer to your subject...although I'd prefer a better aperture range on this lens...like I said I wanna upgrade...

I find that the last two lenses are great in some aspects yet...because I'm a perfectionist and already spend enough time on Photoshop I would prefer them to be a little sharper...but I'm hoping in the next 6mths to come to the conclusion that it's just my lack of photography skills so that I can save myself alot of money and NOT have to buy more lenses!

Like I said I am addicted to Photoshop so I use actions and presets...mostly freebies I've found through blog hopping and flickr...

I'm still completely undecided as to what to do with this blog...I'm not sure I can keep up two blogs...that's why it's kinda turned into my photography blog as well...my tech nerd husband is begging me to let him do a website for my photography...but that's always dangerous.....if I let him have control for a moment...well I'm afraid I'll never recover (because I'm a bit of a control freak about that kinda stuff ...that's why we have our own computers..)...so for now this is it...(and he can just keep using his laptop...we have an understanding).

Feel free to ask any questions or to tell me how NOT helpful I am at explaining things...communication has never been one of my strong points...I grew up with my father (who incidently is set to live by himself on a farm in the middle of nowhere and talk to his sheep) what can I say?

55-200mm, f5.6, 1/20, ISO 125

Something must have been REALLY funny...

or not...these two cousins will laugh at just about anything!

50mm f1.8 lens, f5.6, 1/200, ISO 320

Mud fight...

It all started with a quick visit to my sister's place on our way to my dad's farm...

55-200mm lens, f5.6, 1/160, ISO320
Within 15 minutes my son looked like this...it was rainy, cold and....well...dirty! We were inside of course...because thats where adults tend to go when it's rainy, cold and dirty outside...


55-200mm lens, f5.6, 1/125, ISO320 f5.6, 1/200, ISO 320
Personally I would have been screaming at the outrageous idea of a COLD hose down...they were not...

We let her stand here like this for a few minutes...just so it would be etched in her memory...just how cold it really was...


55-200mm lens, f5.6, 1/100, ISO 320
Then we did what any decent parent would do and gave them all a nice warm bath...to make up for the harsh measures taken 10 minutes earlier...

My neice...

I love this girl...she's sassy, she has attitude - her and my little girl are quite similar in that respect...but she totally gets into the posing too...

when I asked her to pose for me this is what she comes up with...totally cracking me up!
...i like to call the last one her 'karate kid' imitation...not that she has ever seen the movie..she's only 4!

Just had to share...

I'm just loving this photo at the moment...

How much fun is she having!! In fact I have a photo something similar to this of all our neighbourhood kids but their expressions a somewhat more 'pained' than B's!...this was from back in December - our neighbours put their water slide out on their front lawn and all of the kids were taking a slide...

After the accident....

He has a black eye....


He fell asleep in the car and daddy was so loving as to carefully get him out of the car to carry him to his bed...but he kinda forgot there was a car door behind him as he swung around....ouch!


We're just hoping there is no permanent damage...

Obsessions...

This is the latest obsession in our household...and no I'm not talking about our son...he LOVES Thomas but I wouldn't really say he is obsessed with it...my husband on the other hand is definitely obsesssed.
We have a date morning every week (since he works afternoon shifts) and guess what we did for our date this past week?...we went to at least 3 different toy stores to find the exact parts that he wanted for J.'s Thomas set! ...he wasn't happy with the choice so he has been bidding on parts on ebay for the last week or so...and me? well I just thought he had been working hard because usually when he's sitting down in the study in front of his laptop..that's what he's doing...but this week...well he has been working hard...working hard on finding all the parts for his Thomas - state of the art technology - railway system!