The perfect snow

Sunday was one of those perfect days where the snow fell straight down all day long, light and fluffy without a breath of wind.

Fortunately for me, Sunday was also the day I'd scheduled to take some more photos of Edith and her two Bassets - Royal and Court. We met at 2 p.m. at a place just outside town, and spent an hour wrangling dogs for what we hoped would end up to be some great portrait shots.

I don't have final edits of any of the outdoor photos ready yet, but I was working on some of these from the barn loft earlier this morning. Because there was no wind we were able to open the south door of the loft to let in a flood of natural light, and it was perfect.

Whenever I get back from a shoot and review my photos, I'm very hard on them, and there are always things I would do better or differently, and I always learn something new to try next time. In this case, I was fortunate to have a second chance at the same location with almost the same subjects - the old dog Hank stayed home this time. I put my previous experience to work, and as a result I do love this second round much more than the first.

If I had a third chance, I would do more shots like the ones above, with Edith interacting with her dogs, rather than everybody smiling for the camera. The whole point of these photos is that these are dogs she's had for years, and she has a special relationship with them, so I like the more casual shots.

I've used my new actions a little bit on these photos, but I'm still becoming familiar with them, and most of them are a little much for the style I'm going for with this setting.

I also used my new 50 mm lens a little bit with this shoot, and I really liked how it did. The one thing I learned, though, was that I needed to set my aperture a little higher, because the area of focus was a little narrow for three subjects - it would focus perfectly on Edith's face, but the dogs would be blurry, for example.

Just when I start to figure out how to make aperture work for me, I got on a rabbit trail of photo blogs this morning, with very technical tutorials, and realized how much more I have to learn....

In addition to learning the new lens and actions, I will also add packaging to my photography in the near future. I'd like to have an extra touch when I deliver prints or CDs of my photos, and simple but classy packaging is just what I need. I am also going to look into designing logo stickers and either printing them myself, if I can find the labels I want, or having a printing website do them for me.

A brown paper package tied up with rustic ribbon and sealed with a C} Images label would be just the ticket, don't you think?

New photo actions!

It was quite some time ago that I downloaded my first Photoshop actions - the two free sets that Pioneer Woman has available on her website.

Since then I've used them heavily, and gradually learned that actions are best applied like makeup - you want them to subtly enhance a photo, without being too gaudy and overdone. Also, they're best used in combination at varying levels.

After gaining a thorough understanding of PW's actions, I got the itch to add a few more to my collection. I tried downloading some free ones from random sites, but they just didn't cut it and I ended up deleting almost all of them.

So when I saw that My Four Hens Photography was offering a sale on her action collections, I decided to go for it - after all, I have some money in the bank from recent portrait sessions, so I decided to reinvest.

The photo at the top of this post is straight out of the camera, one of many from our Valentine's Day shoot. The photos below are just a few with actions applied - the set came with about 24 different ones.

Although the original photo is technically correct, and would have been good to go with a little lightening and a few tweaks, I like that added drama that actions add to a portrait.

I suppose the next step will be to learn to make my own actions, but for now I'm delighted to have a whole new set to work with, and to use in conjunction with PW's.

Right now a popular style of portraits is to be a little 'vintagey,' and that's what most of these actions do, and I'm ok with going along with the fad. I like it. :-)

I made this pillow for Levi from scrap fabric in my sewing room, and stuffed it with old t-shirts. Now that I made one for him, I might have to make one for each kid on their first Valentine's, and repeat the portrait sessions each year with individuals as well as the whole group of them. I think that would make for pretty cute Valentine's. :-)

I tell you what though, Levi is a willing model, at least so far. At this point he's not quite crawling yet, so I better get my portrait practice in before he starts moving, because we all have the feeling that once he starts moving he won't stop.

All the actions are just applied at 100 percent across the board on these photos, which I normally wouldn't do, but I ran them all at full strength just so I could see what they could do.

I'm excited to keep using them - I have another portrait session scheduled this Sunday, so it'll be a prime opportunity to use both my new camera lens and my new Photoshop actions.

Keeping track...

If I were Foxy, all I'd have to worry about is bounding through the grass on a sunny winter's day.

But I'm not. :-)

As usual, we're keeping busy with the many details of life. My birthday was over the weekend, and Scott and friend Jamie planned a very nice surprise party for me at Jamie's house. I also finished a sewing project, did some cleaning around the house and took a nap on the couch with Levi on Saturday morning.

It's obvious I don't take much time to relax when Scott asks me if I'm feeling ok when I lay on the couch. :-)

Aside from that, the paper continues to be a full workload, as we're into the weeks of more pages because of increased advertising for the customary spring bull sales.

And, Scott and I have a meeting set up with FSA today to put things in motion for financing for the purchase of either land or livestock. In addition to FSA, we're putting ourselves in position for further education on ranch financing and management, so there are several courses throughout 2012 that will keep us busy with continuing education.

I figure that I bought the house and got married in 2010, had Levi in 2011, so we had to do something red-letter for 2012, right?

I also bought a new 'Nifty Fifty' 50 mm camera lens with my birthday money, so I'm excited to get to know it and get some photos with the new addition. :-)

So that's the quick update. Hope your year is going well so far!

At the Roundup office

We're already finished with the last January 2012 issue... soon we'll be knee-deep in bull sale season, which means a bigger paper with the increased advertising, which means more work for Saige and I to keep it full, so for right now I'm enjoying a few 'normal' weeks, even though we have been running four pages bigger than usual.

Before we know it, Saige will have worked with me on the Roundup's editorial team for a year, and she's accomplished so much already, including an overhaul of our website, and much time devoted to brainstorming new ideas and implementing new sections. Check it out at wylr.net.

She passed her crash course taking care of the paper while I was out on maternity leave with flying colors. So much so that I was compelled to give her a fifth of whiskey and a set of whiskey glasses for her trouble, because in this profession that sort of thing comes in handy every once in a while. :-)

With the new year, she and I sat down and made a list of goals for 2012 for the paper. Most of them are small, and most people probably won't notice them, but they have to do with having a more polished, engaging newspaper. Between the two of us and Tracy, our designer, we tweaked the front page a little, and we've also added article breaks to all of our longer articles, to break up the text and hopefully draw in the 'skimmers,' and we're also doing more of what we call 'pull quotes' and more 'sidebars.' All of this in effort to break up the text and get more people's attention.

Part of what I decide to do with the paper comes from watching Scott look through it. A lot can be learned by watching one of our targeted demographic look through the finished product!

Another goal for 2012 is to renew the partnership with the Northern Ag Network, recording and sharing our Wyoming news for their daily ag broadcasts, which originate in Montana. The first event we'll send them is from tomorrow's Women's Ag Summit, so wish me luck!

Just two days shy

We're just two days shy of Levi's five-month birthday! Five months already? On the other hand, it seems like a whole lot longer than a month ago that we were celebrating Christmas and New Year's.

I fully realize that the focus of my blog has shifted from decorating/house projects/livestock and horses to being extremely Levi-centered, but what can I say? I write about whatever I'm doing at the time, and lately that's been a whole lot of Levi.

But with a face like this to look at almost 24/7 now, I can't say that I can complain. :-)

As each month passes, it's fun to see all the new things he's learning to do. Lately it's been eating cereal, pulling his socks off and watching the dogs and Link. It seems like it will be any day now that he sits up on his own - he's almost there. He can roll from front to back, and has almost figured out how to go from back to front - he prefers to sleep on his left side in his crib.

So that's the latest Levi update! He continues to pack on the pounds, and just yesterday I packed even more clothes away to wait for a little brother or sister to come along. Tomorrow he will spend with Grandma Shirley at our house, since Scott and I are headed to Buffalo and Sheridan - myself for work, and Scott for play. Scott has his Uncle Lee and brother Bob joining us for the trip, and they're going to go to King Saddles in Sheridan while I'm at a Women's Ag Summit all day in Buffalo.

Notice I'm trying to do better with consistency in posting? :-)

He's not just any baby....

....he's LUCY's baby. :-)

The other night Scott was spending some time with baby Levi on the floor, and Lucy came over to be right in the middle of it.

Lucy always has had a pretty strong mothering instinct, and having Levi around really brings it out.

When he starts moving around, we have a feeling that she'll be right with him every step of the way, making sure he gets lots of licks when he falls down.

In other news, 'tummy time' is no longer the 10 minutes of torture that it has been for Levi. He's still not a huge fan, but at least he admits it's not quite so bad.

But he'd really rather read a book instead.

The kind of advice that I like:

Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss

"....when you can buy a decent piece of furniture for roughly the same price as a Venti cup of Starbucks, buy it."

I like the way this blogger thinks. 

"It's advice like this that financial advisors tell you to run from," she says. 

It's advice like this that fills my little house to the brim with great, thrifty furniture finds. 

Updating my blog:

Obviously, being more consistent with blog posts was not one of my New Year's resolutions. :-)

Any of you who are mothers know that, when little babies come, suddenly things like blog posts are not all that important and fall far down on the list of priorities.

That being said, we've been busy this month! Here are just a few photos to demonstrate:

The first two weeks of the month we had company, with my mom arriving from Iowa on Jan. 2 and leaving to go home on the 16th. Mid-way through her stay she was joined by my dad and Grandma Hemken from Iowa, so we kept plenty busy. My mom helped with organizing and sewing projects around my house, which was very welcome, and my dad also did things like install a thermostat in the basement so we can run the furnace to heat the downstairs bedrooms, while using the wood stove upstairs.

If I ever get to it, I will post some photos of all the projects my mom and I accomplished.

The photo above is my mom and Levi playing dress-up once again. :-) The newborn-sized onesie she made at his Iowa baby shower last July, and she managed to stuff him back in it, although the snaps were about at his belly button.

We've also been cutting teeth! My mom found Levi's first one on Jan. 3, and the second one showed up the day after she left on Jan. 17. She gave him this crocheted cap for Christmas, along with a mini library of children's books and a box of clothing for him to grow into.

Speaking of the books, also while she was here we bought a bunch from the local Salvation Army, and with the two collections we've been enjoying the library. Either Scott or myself reads to him at least once a day, and usually it's twice because I read to him again at bedtime. He's at a stage where sometimes lala land is more interesting than looking at the books, but other times he does act really interested in the pictures. I plan to continue reading with him, covering five or six books every day at this stage.

And he's also started on solids since my last post. See why I haven't had time to write anything new? The fun never ends around here. :-) He's still at one meal a day, in the evening, but I need to start feeding him in the morning. He has a very healthy appetite, polishing off a bowl of rice cereal in no time, and hanging his mouth open, begging for more. We have some store-bought rice cereal I've been feeding that was given to us, but once that runs out I will begin making our own from brown rice. He's also had pears, peaches and apples, and doesn't seem to agree with banana yogurt - not sure yet if it's the bananas or yogurt that's causing the problem, but it does keep him up all night fussing.

Levi has been thoroughly enjoying the Bumbo seat that the Roundup office staff gave to us - except it's not the Bumbo brand, I always forget what it is. This toy that sticks in the tray is one of his favorites, and when I take it out to feed him I have to hide it otherwise it will distract him when he should be eating.

And in other news, this black Ford truck is no longer in our possession, as of last Saturday.

We now have this green Dodge - a diesel, with a lot more room in the back seat for Levi than the black one had.

So that's just a brief update on all that we've been up to! I could make promises about posting more frequently, but we all know that people shouldn't make promises they can't keep. :-)

Levi: 17 Weeks

Our little guy is 17 weeks and becoming quite the character. He still talks all the time, but sometimes will really get to going, yelling and hollering just to see how loud he can talk. He loves to interact with anybody who will talk to him, and he also loves to laugh when he thinks he's being pretty funny.

He's getting better and better at sitting up, and he likes to stand on his own - all the support he needs is a little balance. He likes to stand on the bathroom counter and talk to his 'friend' in the mirror.

While he's very outgoing, he likes to pretend like he's shy. If women talk to him in the check-out line at the store, he'll smile big at them before burying his face in his hands and my shoulder. As you can see in the above picture, he also likes to pretend to be very sophisticated.

He's doing well with sleeping through the night - usually from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., which works great for our schedule. If I put him to bed at 8 he wakes up at 4, which is not so ideal for my morning schedule. :-) On Thursday we go in for his four-month doctor appointment, and I'm very excited to see how much he weighs and how much he's grown.

He's also really good at grabbing and grasping things, and can pick up toys and bring them to his mouth, and he'll bring his hands together to hold onto larger objects that won't fit in his fist. He rolls around a lot these days, and likes to sleep on his left side. So far we haven't had a complete roll-over, and he still hates time on his tummy. I make him do it every once in a while, but it makes him very cranky.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our 17 weeks with him, and are looking forward to continuing to watch him grow and develop and learn new things. We're really looking forward to next Christmas, when he'll not sleep through opening all the gifts. :-)

Arranged for a Christmas party

Yes, I realize it's been weeks since I've put up a post. Now that Christmas and deadlines are done, I'm able to take a deep breath and maybe actually get back to my blog more consistently and update you on some goings-on.

First of all, on Dec. 16 we had a Christmas party here at the house, with 21 people in attendance. I rearranged the furniture in the front room to make as much open floor space as possible, and set out as many chairs as I could to accomodate everybody. It helped that we didn't have the wood stove going, so up to eight people could sit in that area.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, but all I had time for was two quick photos when everyone was here. I made pineapple chili, while Bob brought his chili and Jamie brought soup. I also made a cracker dip and a veggie/chip dip, and everyone else filled in with more snacks and desserts.

I only had five hours after leaving work early to get ready for the party, which started around 6:30, so I didn't have the chance to take photos before, but these are 'morning after' photos of how I arranged everything.

We had moved the loveseat against the wall for Thanksgiving - something I'd resisted doing since it makes the corner with the bookcase funny, but Scott has always wanted it that way, and I do have to admit that the space is more inviting. I still don't like the corner, but I can live with it.

And look at the cute kid who's hanging out. :-)

The other side of the front room, where Melissa and I moved the bench under the window - also a change that works a lot better than what I had before.

Originally the Christmas tree was pulled out, and the corner was empty. For the party, Scott and I moved it, and that's where it's stayed. It really has made more space in the front room, and I think I'll leave the table pushed up under the window, as Scott likes the extra floor space in the front room, and we can just pull it out when we have company and need the extra seating.

Both of these tables were full of food for the party. And our Christmas tree actually looks good in these photos. :-) It really has a lot of flaws, but it has character.

We put drinks on the desk, and people sat around the pedestal table.

So there you have it. Although I probably didn't actually have time to host a Christmas party here, it was fun and I think a good time was had by all. I think now we'll wait a while for company after having Thanksgiving and then this party here. :-)