Before&After

OK- so I'm getting a bit carried away with this. I've decided I'm going to need to start an entirely new website devoted to my photography projects. Check this one out! Here's the Before and After of a table at Shaila's Luncheon:

The Bride!

I know, I keep teasing. I thow out a picture of the temple. I throw out a picture of some of the guests. I even had a lovely picture of the happy couple. STILL! What about the bride?? Isn't she supposed to be the center of all of the photographs? The muse of the entire experience? The groom may look sharp, maybe even shnazzy... but he can never measure up to the BRIDE! And what a bride she was. I played around with photoshop a little bit on this picture too but really the only thing I needed it for was to adjust for my imperfect photography skills- She, on the other hand, looked flawless

The Guests

Here's me, my mom and Zach. I have gotten totally adicted to this photoshop stuff. I liked this picture more for the sentimental side than the picture itself. Some of the colors were washed out and Zack had a good amount of drool running down his chin. I thought it might need some work. I started with fixing the devilish red-eye that we all had. Then I cropped it to get rid of some disttractions off to the side. Then I used the "heal" tool from photoshop to get rid of the drool on Zach's chin. Magic right? It still didn't have much in the way of drama though, not to mention I had gone a little overboard on the sunnless tan so the skin tone difference made me look like I wasn't even related to my mom or Zach even. So, I used the "boost" action from Pioneer Woman to bring out some contrast and then the "soft and faded" action. That's what left this looking like an old photo. I think it just added something different and exciting. (plus- it faded my fake baking) Aren't we cute?

INTRODUCING...

I know you've all been waiting at the edge of your seats... drumroll please. In all thier dreamy, luvvy duvvy, splendiforousness....presenting.... Mr and Mrs Scott Pew!!!!!!

Aren't they just glowing! I love how he's gazing at her, like she is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen and she is just obliviously happy. OK, maybe some of that glow is photoshop but they really are glowing. I just helped out a little bit so the rest of you could see it.

Underbite

Did you know that Jason has an under bite? You probably wouldn't notice it because of his beard but if he was clean shaved and really focusing on something, it might look something like this:



It seems like everyday I see just a little bit more of Jason in my sweet little boy. I love it! The blond hair with the cowlick in just the wrong spot so no amount of styling can tame it. The bright blue eyes and the look of total concentration. And that under bite... I just love that under bite.

Before:

Watercolor a la Photoshop

So, I know- I keep talking about this wedding and whatnot but I have yet to actually show any "Wedding" pictures. Be Patient. I am just getting into this photoshop stuff and I'm working my way up to the beautiful blushing bride shots. This one I just couldn't wait to show though. THIS is a "watercolor a la photoshop". I am really liking this! I played around with colors to bring out the blue sky and the warm tones of the sun on the side of the temple and I'm really quite pleased with it. Again, I'm sure there are still things I could improve on but I am a beginner and I'm excited to share... Ta Da!!!! The Arizona Temple

"The Daves"

August 8th, 2008- Shaila married her very own McDreamy- Scott Pew. My only question is, Who in their RIGHT MIND gets married IN ARIZONA in AUGUST!!!!! This shot was actually taken by good old Uncle Creed just outside the temple. It was hot, and there was no escaping the sun so most of our pictures consisted of squinty faces and teary eyes. THIS however, may actually be my favorite picture of the whole collection. Zach and Grandpa Dave- I call it: "The Daves"- but it must be said in a very low, dramatic, movie theatre style voice. Try it again.... "The Daves" See, much better. (for those of you who don't know, Zach's middle name is Dave-after his grandpa)

This picture also just happens to be my first Photoshop project. A little added saturation to counter the BLARING sun, and some burnt edges and WALA! I dunno, I'm new to photoshop and to be honest, I am completely intimidated by it. So, I'm just starting small. There's still a lot I would like to do with this picture but for now- I kinda like it. :)

Dang that kid is cute- You've got to love the slightly crooked grin.

Mom put this strange orange thing on my head. At first I could just see the tip of it at the top edge of my peripheral vision so I decided to go after it.

Ah Ha! I got it!

Zach learns to feed himself...

Doesn't this GQ pose just make you want to run out and buy whatever baby food I'm selling? I mean... really! How many kids can look THIS suave with oatmeal and squash from head to toe.
So, here's the story. I recently decided that I was way too cool for bottles. They are for babies after all. Why would I need one? In an effort to help me get more to drink, mom has taken on the challenge of teaching me to use a sippy cup. Attempt number one resulted in me finding great joy in gnawing on the tip. Yet, I still refused to suck any of the juice out of it.

This time Mom decided to take out the flow control valve in the cup so that I didn't have to really suck, in hopes that I'd figure out what to use the sippy cup for. She knew that this was going to be a pretty messy situation so she put my in my blow up baby pool and got ready to offer the cup. Then she thought she may as well take advantage of this messy opportunity and add to the mix by giving me some control of the spoon and food intake. I'm not sure if anyone has done research on this, but I'm pretty sure that food tastes better if you smear it all over yourself in the process of eating it.

Ta-DA!

So I did it!!! I actually changed my blog. I worked with HTML! I did computer stuff... ALL BY MYSELF! (Oh, this is mom speaking by the way. I realize some of the earlier posts have been written in Zach's voice-not this one. Though we probably have equal computer skills)

I've been thinking about this blog stuff recently. Why am I having a blog? Though I do enjoy bragging about my fantastic child, I wonder if there could be more in this for me. Could this be a venue for my thoughts? A place to vent? A search engine for useful information? I'm not quite sure what direction I want to go with this but I do think it deserves some thought.

Believe it or not, I used to have a knack with the pen (or keyboard I should say). When it comes to technicality, verbs and adverbs and whatnot, I'm not so good. Especially spelling!!! Still, I remember a time when I would sit down at the computer and let go. Poetry, prose, short story, debates- it made me feel alive. Maybe this is my chance.

I'll tell you the truth. This didn't all come to me out of the blue. I recently came across my long lost cousin Heidi's page. I haven't gotten to talk to her in years so I thought I'd catch up on life by reading her blog (An American Scholar in my blog list). It was great! She talked about wedding plans and books to read, falling in love and the big decisions that come with it. Now, I don't have quite as many huge life altering moments to write about right now, nor am I the caliber of author that she is but I'd like to give it a shot. So, Thank you Heidi for inspiring me. Hopefully someone will find my blogging at least somewhat interesting. I think the first topic I will tackle shall be..... PHOTOGRAPHY ..... it's something I've been wanting to get into for some time. Stay tuned!

UNDER CONSTUCTION!!!

So, I've been trying to experiment a bit on this whole blog thing- make it my own and what not. My problem is that I really like this little header picture with "The Gundersen's" written over it by my Oh-so-artsy (lol) husband and nothing seems to match. I finally found something but in the process of trying to add it to my blog I seem to have hit some glitches and there is now a total and complete lack of color and personality on this blog. Dag Nabit!!! Curse the electronics age! Computers hate me!!!

Zoo-aversary

Today was Mom and Dad's 6th anniversary and to celebrate they took me to the zoo. We had a zoo pass and it was a beautiful day so we decided it would be the perfect place for a walk. We started by the giraffes and then we saw the kangaroos. I personally loved to see the "nemo" fish. Then I met this new kid who I thought was just the right size to be my new buddy. Unfortunatley, he just sat there and wouldn't say a thing. As it turned out, he was just a statue! And check this out, I am the same size as a baby gorilla! But I'm much cuter!


I did think this bird was really neat. Dad and I walked right up to it and the bird just fluffed his feathers up. I thought he was pretty darn cool! (The bird AND my dad of course)

Things I can do...

1. I can finally sit up all by myself. Mom doesn't even have to hover anymore. I do get frustrated when I get put in my bouncer and car seat though. I try my hardest to sit up tall but those darn buckles keep me down.
2. I love baby food. Mom started me with peas because they were her least favorite and she wanted to get them out of the way. Then we moved on to green beans, then carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. After I mastered my veggies I got to try applesauce, peaches, prunes, bananas, and pears. The surprise to mom was that even though she thought peas would be my least favorite, I love them! As it turns out, my least favorite food is pears.
3. I have started to say da-da-da-da. I can even carry on an entire conversation with mom. Just don't try to put me on the phone. I would much prefer to push the buttons or slobber on it.
4. I can roll over.... sort of. There is a lot of grunting and whining involved but it can be done!
5. I go to sleep all by myself!!! Mom is pretty excited. She's hoping that it's a step toward sleeping through the night. I do require a static sound in the background and a sheet to cuddle, but it's much better than needing mom (not dad) to rock me to sleep.

See how much I've grown up!!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

We had a great 4th of July. We had a picnic at Greenfield park. Mom and dad had been there before but didn't drive around very much and had no idea it was so big. There were a lot of people there but we found a nice area with only one guy fishing off to the side.

Mom and dad couldn't decide what "picnic food" was so mom went to jimmy johns and dad got a hamburger at Culvers. I had peaches. I don't know what they were thinking. peaches are way better than either of those.

I was so excited to feel the grass between my fingers. It was cool and tickly. I really enjoyed wiggling my fingers and toes in it. Mom had to keep a close eye on me because, as my shirt said "Caution Will Eat Sand"... and pretty much anything else I can get my hands on.


We found a school of tiny fish swimming along the banks of the lake. They were so tiny and it was neat to see them all swimming together like one strange ball creature. When we looked closer we could see they had wiskers so dad thought they must be catfish. I had no idea that catfish swam in swarms like that, or that they started out so tiny. We looked them up on the internet when we got home and dad was right! They were catfish. We also saw a big snail, a funny looking dragon fly and a family of ducks. What a great day!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

When it came time to go to the fireworks, mom and dad drove down to the state fair parking lot and found a spot. Then we walked over to the RV park and found a nice spot of grass to camp out on. It had a perfect view of the show.



I absolutely LOVED the fireworks! Mom kept trying to get me to look at the camera but I had much better things to look at. I just couldn't get enough. I didn't even cry when the loud ones came along.



It may have been way past my bedtime but I was so excited about the fireworks that I stayed awake the whole time. I wasn't cranky at all and mom was quite surprised.



I fell asleep the moment dad turned on the car to go home. I was Pooped!!! Still, there was no way anyone could pry my glow ring away from me. Those glow rings are my most favorite toy these days.

HAIR CUT!!! HOOORAY!!!!

Mom was pretty sad about it. She cried about it more than I did. We did have a photo-shoot before "the event" to imortalize my locks. This is what my hair looks like now. Maybe people will finally quit asking if I'm a girl...

Here is what was left on the bathroom floor when we were all done: Grandma requested a pic of me doing my "classic tounge" out pose. Enjoy!
Expensive toys? Who needs them when you have hangers? Mom was doing laundry when she noticed my facination with these strange new devices.

Zach loves making noise

Look, I figured out how to make a lot of noise!!

Look how big I am getting!

Yes, I am totally safe here, it just "looks" dangerous. Mom almost peed her pants when she saw me sitting here. I waited patiently for her to come around the corner then just started laughing as soon as she saw me. Dad and I srue play great pranks!
Here is my photoshoot to comemorate my loooooonnngg hair


I like to take baths, this new thing mom bought makes it easy to sit up and lean over and splash. Yeah, I need a haircut.

Garage sale day, new toys!!

We went to 2 Garage sales today. Both were right on our own street. We spent under ten dollars and walked away with 2 new outfits, a bathtime chiar, 2 new toys, a couple of books AND my new "big boy chiar". I can sit up tall in this chair and I love wne mom rocks me back and forth really fast.

Food!!!

Mom let me try something new- Solid Food!! Well, everyone calls it solid but really I don't really see how something so liquid can be considered solid. Regardless, I think it is Fantastic!!! The flavors, the little bit of extra texture. We started with rice cereal then added oatmeal. There's nothing like it. Mom said she expected me to reject the cereal at first or at least make some kind of funny face at it. Instead I just got really excited and kept opening my mouth for more.

What a mess! After I took to cereal so well mom started trying the veggies. This is me after trying squash. My favorite is still the first veggie I ever tried, peas. I take after dad that way I guess. Mom doesn't like peas at all.

Mom always laughs when she brings out the bowl and spoon because I always start kicking my feet in excitement. I can really get this bouncer moving! She complains that it makes it hard to get the food actually INTO my mouth.


Here's some videos of me trying out new foods. Mom was trying to catch the infamous icky face-but I love everything!

Zach can fly!!

Zach talking to his toys

Feeding Time!!

Zach's favorite time of the day... FOOD

He takes after his dad that way

Can you fit your entire hand in your mouth?

Zack can! Zack refuses all pacifiers and doesn't suck his thumb. He just takes his hand instead.

Holly and John's wedding

Holly and John Frost got married on the 31st of May. Teryn was one of the bridesmaids.

This is Zach's first time in his bouncer. He is pretty excited about it. He also is very fond of sticking his tounge out when he gets excited... which seems to be most of the time.