we love dressing up

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I love the peace the sabbath day brings. I love that Michael is home with us. I love getting the family ready for church. Last Sunday I had Michael take pictures of me for my other blog. Miriam didn't want to be left out so we took her picture too. Simon is too cute to pass up a great photo opportunity, so we took his picture also. At the end we managed to snap a quick family picture. We sure do clean up nicely.

The lighting was a little tricky on these photos. I tried to play around in Photoshop a little bit to fix them. Oh how I wish I had more time to learn more about Photoshop. I am no where near where I would hope to be on my Photoshop skills. One day people, one day.

Side note: Michael serves in the junior nursery in our ward. He has worn the exact same thing to church every week since he got the calling a year ago. He never wants to wear his nice clothes because the kids will just yuck them up. I think he looks good no matter what, but he does have nicer clothes that he wears to work. Now as I am typing this I am sure no one even noticed a thing.

Temples of Utah

One day last week my family made a trip around Utah to see as many temples as we could. I think it is so amazing to be able to see so many temples in just a days drive. We stopped at each one and took pictures, then headed off to the next. We hit 6 temples in a seven hour period. Whew, it was tiring. I am so glad Miriam and Simon could have this experience even if they won't remember much of it. Just exposing them to the importance of the temple was amazing.

BOUNTIFUL

JORDAN RIVER

OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN

DRAPER

MOUNT TIMPANOGOS

PROVO

Hopefully some day we can take our kids to the Manti Temple where we were married almost 4 1/2 years ago. These are experiences I will always cherish.

One day...

... a couple of weeks ago we were bored, so we took some pictures using the wireless remote for the camera. Miriam had a fun time pushing the button. It is so fun to take these pictures because you never know what you are going to get.

Budding Photographer

Here are some more of Miriam's pictures that she has taken with her camera. I tell ya... once she starts it is hard to get her to stop taking pictures. She is even asking for a pink camera for her birthday. It is really cute when she takes pictures of Simon, she makes a clicking sound to get his attention. Then she says "my baby is so cute though". Maybe she will be the family photographer one day.

All of Us

When Miriam is taking pictures with her camera, she always says she wants a picture of all of us. Here are some of our lovely attempts at self portraits.

Experimenting

Today was just one of those days where I had the camera out all day trying to capture some fun moments. I took over 100 pictures of the kids today. I have been reading a lot of photography blogs trying to learn some tips on making the most of my camera. Remember how I got Photoshop for Christmas? Well, I am really trying to learn more about it and so my reading comes in handy there too.

Here are a couple of the sites I like:

Mom*Tog
Mom and Camera
The Coffee Shop Blog
I Heart Faces

Here are some of the pictures I took today. I haven't edited them yet, but I am looking forward to getting to it... someday.

Miriam's View

I got a new phone a couple of weeks ago and Miriam has been wanting to play with it constantly, she mostly wants to take pictures. Yesterday I had the brilliant idea to find our old camera for her to play with. Let's just say she hasn't put it down. Here are a few of her great shots in the past couple of days. In other words, Miriam's view.

Watching Signing Time

Mommy rocking Simon

Simon

Couch (she had about 20 just like this)

Toys

Pantry

Top of dresser

Dad rocking Simon

Setting the table (with new clothes)

Helping make dinner (whoa, check out the butter)

Braswell Family Pictures

One of the greatest parts of having everyone together is taking family pictures. Here are some pictures from our family photo shoot. I chose the best ones of each family.

Dad and Mom

Trevor, Robyn, Carson, Paige, Garrett (and baby girl)

Michael, Vanessa, Miriam, and Simon

Ryan, Natalie, and Carter

Laura

Ashley

Lance

Eric

Devon

Grandma, Grandpa, and all six grandkids


Braswell Family - July 2011

Even though we shot these by ourselves, it was great fun. I think they turned out pretty nice. I know I am not where I want to be yet with my photography skills, but I hope to improve this year. I need to learn more about our camera. Maybe I can take a class...