Pumpkin Carving Fun!

We always carve pumkins with all the Haskells. We met in Lee and Maxyne's garage. It was so nice to have it a little warmer this year. We had lots of fun. The kids are getting a little older and are more into the traditions than ever, which makes it even more fun. Peyton had to ride around in the stroller for most of the time. Carving pumpkins was not very interesting to him. Thanks to grandma and grandpa for the stroller pushing. I took lots of pictures and managed to carve a pumpkin too.

We are all making the "W" with our fingers in honor of the only brother not there for the tradition. Uncle Wes who is on a mission in Paraguay.

Aunt Ashlee helped Abby. It is so nice to have aunts, uncles, and grandparents to help out so we can all have fun carving pumpkins, entertain babies, and get pictures too. It is hard to do it all by yourself as the mom.

The finished products.

(Myriah and Mandy, notice that my neice was pinching my nephew's earlobe some of the night and in some pictures. I thought lovingly of you two the whole time.

The whole crew. So proud of our pumpkins.

Our nephew showing us how scary his pumpkin was going to look. I missed the really scary face with the camera, but its still cute.

Stockton has new dentures to match his shirt.

Our dad really gets into the action. And watch out. When the lights go out to test out the pumpkins, guts get flung. I think Lee and Maxyne may be finding seeds and goo for a few months.

Grandma helped with some of the carving.

Peyton in his "ride."

Abby made these cute glasses at preschool. I had to get a picture.

Peyton Is Training Us Well.

Actually he has been crawling for almost 2 weeks now. It only took a couple of days to go from the commando crawl to the hands and knees stuff. He is into everything. I forgot about electrical outlets (luckily most of ours still have the covers from Stockton), garbage cans, and any little crumbs on the floor. He has already bonked his head on the tile, walls,etc. a million times and has learned to pull open the drawers and smashed his fingers several times too. It is a hard life to be a baby.

The kids have had an eye opener too. They can't have a snack or play with toys on the floor without getting climbed on or things stolen. They have started having to play and eat in all kinds of new places.

Even the camera isn't safe!

I also remember now why I took most of the magnets off the fridge. Several new ones have made their way onto the fridge since Abby was crawling. I put them back on the fridge probably about 10 times a day at least. But he can't choke on them and it keeps him busy sometimes when I am trying to do something else. So if you come over and see them all over you will know the story.

I forgot how hard getting diapers on is at this stage. It is a wrestling match every time. He thinks it is so funny to crawl away from me naked (or just without a diaper). It is kind of a game now. I will say "come here Peyton". He just smiles and crawls away as fast as he can. Then he stops and looks at me and we do it all over again until I finally go get him and wrestle him.

But no matter how hard he makes things sometimes, you just see that sweet baby smile and it melts my heart. We are so glad to have him! He just about has us all whipped into shape!

Fun Effects!!!

I am so sad to say that tonight was my last phoshop class. I had so much fun playing and trying new things. Here are a few last pictures and some of the different effects I tried on them.

I did the "rusty cage" effect on this and cloned out a pole behind Stockton's head. The funny thing is I didn't even notice the pole really until I started taking all these classes and saw how much you can improve pictures.

Just trying to make this one of Peyton match the others. I thought about trying to clone out the nice grey blanket behind him. But I don't think I could make it look natural.

This is one of my favorite happy accidents. I love that you can only really see what is going on in the shadow. I love the burned edge. It just adds a soft finished look.

This was the one that most of you liked from last week. I just added some burn around the edge here too.

The Grotto

Andy took some time off for this long weekend. He didn't draw out for a deer tag, so he was just spending time with us. We have had fun just being together. He is so good to play outside with the kids. Abby has even talked him into playing some games as well as little people and dollies. Our house is clean for the first time in months. It has been nice for everyone.

The other evening we decided to take the kids on a hike to the grotto. I haven't been up there for probably a couple of years. It is a nice short hike and the trail has been improved alot to make it pretty easy for anyone. There are several little bridges made out of logs that have been cut flat on one side. So you get to cross the stream four or five times. The kids thought it was really cool. It was pretty and fun as ever, but several other people had the same thought as us and it was a little crowded. So we didn't stay long. I will have to take the kids a few times next summer when it warms back up.

This is a nice shot of me in midsentence. But I wanted to get at least one picture of Peyton. He was so excited. He hasn't been in the carrier for a long time. He was kicking and super happy the whole time we were hiking. He definately loves to be outside.

Alright, so I made them hold hands for this one. I thought it would be so cute of them holding hands down this beautiful trial. It was like pulling teeth. The just wanted to run and go, go, go. They did do what I asked for long enough for me to take one picture. I guess that was enough.

The grotto waterfall. So pretty.

The kids had so much fun. I didn't think they were old enough to do much hiking, but they really seemed to enjoy it. I love to hike. So if anyone knows of any short/easy hikes in the area, I would love to hear.

Pickin' Punkins

We had so much fun picking pumpkins for family night this week. Last year we went to The Red Barn in Santaquin and did the wagon ride to pick our own pumpkins. The kids loved it and it made a fun tradition. This year we decided to let them pick their own again, but we tried the "Jakers" patch. It is part of Harward Farms in Springville. I totally recommend them for anyone who hasn't got their pumkins yet.

They had a cool old truck sitting there with a bunch of already picked pumpkins. There was some hay piled up there next to it. It made the perfect place to snap a pic. I love the cute rosy fall cheeks and noses.

Peyton is excited for pickin out his pumkin.
You get to park right there by the field and just walk over and pick your pumpkin. They have different areas with different sizes and prices.
Stockton was on the lookout for the perfect pumpkin. He found several good ones. He had fun cutting the stem, but didn't want to carry it back.

Abby was looking for a baby pumpkin. She just wanted a small one. We found some smaller ones, but none as small and cute as the one she found last year. She was still happy with what she got.

They also had a little hay maze set up for little kids. It wasn't much and looked like it had seen better days, but my kids had fun walking through it and thought it was really cool. They especially liked the part where you went under some hay. Very fun!

More Doctored Pics

I had more fun at our photoshop class. I got our most recent family pic and some from Mandy's wedding to try effects on. I like both versions of this family pic. So feel free to comment on which version you all like the best.

This is just a border that softens the edges.

This one gives it a more antique look.

I just added a vignette border to this one.

This is supposed to look like an old time b&w.


These two look almost like paintings. It works really well with the outdoor background.


This one just has the vingette border.

It is hard to tell here. But it is all B&W, and then I went back in and made Mandy's eyes blue again.
I thought this lent itself well to B&W. Adding the border finishes it off.

I love this burned edge border. It is probably my favorite effect. It just makes things look finished and nice.

Did I Mention How Fun Photoshop Is?

My good friend Kelly and I have been taking this photoshop class for the last few weeks. We have had so much fun and learned a ton. It is amazing to see everything you can do to a picture. I have realized that you can be a pretty bad picture taker and still get awesome pictures just by adjusting things in photoshop. It is super fun and addicting to sit and try things on your pics. These are a few I played with in the last class.

On this one I took out a post behind Abby's head. I couldn't get the picture without that post in it, but I used the clone stamp to cover it with grass.

This one I used some effects called actions. One of my favorite is called the "burned edge". It just makes the edges a little darker and softer. I used another effect on it too to make the color a little richer. I can't wait until next class. I have all my old pics on a flash drive to take and doctor up! So fun!

Just Practicing

After two rainy days (i'm not complaining), the evening last night was nice. We took the kids to play outside after watching tv for the last two days. There is something about being outside at sunset that is just special. I have learned from my photography class that it may just be good lighting, but everything has this nice glow. I am still learning how to use the manual controls on my camera for shutter speed and lens size (or f stop). I was practicing different settings. I thought I had pretty much figured it out, but then some things happened that confused me. So its good there are a few more classes so I can ask my teacher.

I was trying to use a faster shutter speed to capture the kids jumping on the tramp without being blurry. It worked pretty well. The sunset makes the backgroud almost look fake.

We love our view. I had to get a shot of the valley with fresh snow on timp.

Here is Stock showing off his moves on the tramp.

This is the neighbor's cat. Abby loves them so much. She wants to get a kitty really bad. Every night when the neighbors get home and let the cats out she will go and coax or kidnap at least one to play with. We are working in teaching her and Stockton how to hold them right. But they still have a hard time. The funny thing is as much as they mall the cats, they will sit and meow at our door when the kids go in for the night. Why get cats when we can play with the ones that the neighbors feed and house?

My two cute guys. When I change my lens size it makes the background blur and just focuses on the subject. A fun effect I need to practice working with.