Photo Class

I took a photography class from Nicole Hill this last month and am excited to say I think I learned a thing or two. I have taken two other classes before so this one actually made sense. Anyways, I am far from creative or talented, but here are a few from our lighting demo on Saturday.

He Will Be Sorely Missed

Such a cute man with a tremendous heart. He always seemed such a real and approachable man and had the best sense of humor. We will always be thankful for his conviction and testimony. It will be sad to let him go. Our prayers our with his family.

Mangus R.I.P Sept.22.1997- Jan.25.2008

My sister's dog died tonight. I guess that he got really sick and all of his organs started to fail. Poor little guy. So tonight they had to put him down. So sad. Such a cute little guy with the funniest personality. He will be missed.

It's Been Awhile...

I have been accused of slacking lately, but I really don't have much to report, nor have I been taking pictures lately. I think it is partly due to this fabulous winter we have been having. I am actually quite enjoying it. Good skiing, and it's been snowing most everyday. I much prefer that to bare, cold, and gray.

But just because I'm not doing anything fun, doesn't mean that my family isn't. Half of them have been in New Zealand and Fiji for the last three weeks. Hiking, bungee jumping, jet boating...you name it. They get home tomorrow so I can't wait to hear how it was and I can live vicariously through them.


Maybe I will bust out the camera sometime soon and use some of the skills that I have been learning in my photography class. Until then adios.

Girl Party

For part of one of the many family Christmas parties we took all the granddaughters to Sweet and Sassy in Sandy. They dress the girls up, do hair and make-up and then the walk the catwalk. It was pretty fun, a little beyond Faith, but they all looked cute nonetheless.



Faith was a little nervous to do the catwalk so Nana had to help.


All the Galland girls.

Christmas Action

Now that the Christmas rush is past and I have stopped throwing up for the moment (yes, I have had the stomach flu the past 4 days) I can share some Christmas glee. For Jesse it was all about opening the presents and where is the next one. For Faith, opening was far beneath her, she just wanted to play with what was open and convenient. I guess it worked out for both because Jesse had twice the presents to open and Faith had everything unpackaged handed to her. The favorites--a remote control car, and for Faith--a tea set. Christmas sure is fun with kiddies around. Even though we were the ones creating the magic it still felt fairytaleish--I guess that's the Christmas spirit.

Yet, another milestone

So yesterday, during those last hours of entertainment before dad comes home, in desperation we broke out the crayons and paper. I was concentrating on my own work when Jesse said "Look mom, a monster." And to my amazement, there on his paper, was a big round head, two eyes, and a mouth, not to mention the arms--of course coming out where the ears should be. I was amazed. Awe struck. He advanced from scribbles to lines and circles just earlier this fall. I had never seen anything that resembled anything like a person (or a monster). At first I didn't believe it. I thought that he must have just found the picture in the sketch book. So I told him to draw another one for me and he did. Even with legs this time. I told him to keep practicing so that he could show daddy what a stud he is at drawing when he came home. So when dad came home I gave Jesse a crayon and told him to work his magic. He drew another great monster and this one came with a special upgrade too. In Jesse's words, "and this monster gets a wiener too." Yep, right between the legs--it actually looked like one too. Well perhaps inappropriately Ben and I just laughed, but apparently later that night Ben gave him the "private parts" talk because we were chasing each other and I caught him and started to spank him on the bum and he said, "Mom, don't spank my Cheekies, those are my private parts and you don't touch those." Well to say the least, it was a great day of achievement and learning for our little guy.