surprises

turns out I have tomorrow off work for veterans day. that was a surprise. (its our first year to get it as a holiday) I have no idea what to do on a day off during the middle of the week but Im sure I will come up with something!

Also it turns out Freeland wants to go to IKEA today so later this afternoon (after I finish work) we are headed that way. Surprise!

And also if you have anything to add to the post below - feel free to! Im loving all the ideas/advice/tips so far!!

Oh Snap!

originally uploaded by sarah lasker. (not my lens)

Here is the scoop on our Camera ….. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH SNAP!

One of the most common questions I get asked (just kidding - I was trying to sound like people are just always banging down my door asking me questions like I'm Pioneer Woman or something)

But really. A few of you have asked about the kind of camera we use. (some I probably forgot to answer too.. I'm sorry if that was you. I'm forgetful and unless Freeland reminds me then it often doesn’t get done)

So I thought I would compile all the information for you in one post. Hopefully it helps.

We are a Canon family. When we started dating I had a Canon SLR (it was a FILM camera.. How vintage of me right?) and Freeland had a digital Canon Rebel. (trendy)

That’s how I knew we were meant to be. Just Kidding - it was really when he pretty much let me take his camera and never give it back. That’s when I knew he understood "what's yours is mine" and we were meant to be. Just Kidding again.

And from the beginning (like seriously our 2nd date when he took me to take pictures.) Freeland has encouraged me to take the camera every where and to take as many pictures as possible to try to learn more.

Well a few years later (and a few external hardrives later) and I wouldn’t say that I'm an expert or that I know anything but I do still enjoy taking pictures just as much if not more. I told Freeland when we moved up here that I wanted photography to become more of a serious hobby. Like actually learning what Im doing instead of clicking away. I do toy with the idea of what it would be like to be a photographer. But then I get scared and pretend to forget all about it.

I don’t know why I started telling you the story of our cameras. Sorry. Let me answer the question: what kind of camera do we have?

We have a Canon EOS digital Camera. I highly recommend any of the Canon cameras. The rebel is a great one to start out with. Especially if you are learning. (like me)

The lens we have is the one that came with the camera. Freeland does also have a zoom lens but I barely ever use it because I forget to bring it with me. One day I would love to get more lenses. (freeland says the lens is what makes all the difference) but for the time being it’s the last thing that is "a need"

And if you aren't getting the trend here - Freeland is actually the one who knows more about these things so really he should be writing this.

We do have friends that have Nikon's and love them just as much.

We also have a Sony Cybershot. (this is the one I carry around in my purse) You may remember our devastating camping trip where "someone" put it in an unzipped pocket and it fell into creek & was ruined. But then we remembered that my dad bought a warranty on it (even though Dave Ramsey says not to get the warranty - moments like this make me strongly disagree with him) Because the warranty expired right after our camera was ruined. Seriously we had it for 5 years and just happened to destroy the camera days before it expired. Huge Blessing - yes. So we just took it in (to best buy) and got a brand spankin new camera - for free!

So all the pictures you see on our blog are either taken with a Canon or the Sony Cybershot.

I try not to use my flash. Ever. Of course I do use it at times but I really think the pictures are better without it. It also forces me to learn more about the settings if I don’t use the flash.

(amy to answer your question, if Im being honest, I have my camera on the automatic setting most the time but other times I switch back and forth between AV & TV)

And I also edit pictures when I have time. I do use Photoshop (thankfully Freeland's dad is a photographer and graciously gave us Photoshop a few years ago) or Iphoto or Flickr to edit pictures. It just depends what computer Im sitting at and how much time I have.

I really have no idea what Im doing in photoshop. (it’s a long scary road) But I just keep practicing. Picasa's program (the one you download onto your computer not the one online) was really good too. Unfortunately our MAC is too old so I cant download it otherwise I would also use that because I liked it.

I think that’s it.

Obviously Im no expert. Just here to answer what kind of camera we use. Don’t ask me HOW to use it though. That - I have no idea how to answer.

(thank you amy for the reminder to post this!)

**UPDATED: A few of you have offered some wonderful advice & tips.. if anyone else has something to share feel free to in the comments! I love it & I know everyone else will find it helpful too!! Thanks! Brooke

humbled

remember yesterday when I said our neighbors raked all our leaves for us?

well, I just got home (after a long fun day of making Christmas ornaments w/ friends) and what do you know? They are out there again doing our yard.

And seriously people... I think we have more leaves in our yard than any other house on our street.

Which is ironic because we are one of the only ones that doesn't actually have large trees.

We walked out and thanked them. And the husband said to Freeland "Well you just keep studying"

huge blessing. we're very thankful.

the view outside

this was the view outside our house early one morning the other day. Its not our tree.. its our neighbors. But we get to enjoy it. (since that's actually our driveway and part of our yard all the leaves fall on) And for that Im thankful. Because Im pretty sure I love it.

Last Sunday as we pulled in from church we saw all our neighbors raking leaves outside. I was a little sad because I see no reason to do that since they are so pretty on the ground too. But apparently its not good for the grass so everyone does it. To our surprise our other neighbor and the 2 boys next door had raked all our leaves for us too. (Like they seriously even did our flowerbeds.)

Huge Blessing! We were blown away.

I'll post more pictures of all the tree's around here soon. They're gorgeous!

all the single ladies

LOVIN IT.

I wish I could sing.

I also wish I could put on that beyonce outfit and do the dance. Now that would have been a great Halloween costume!

hopefully our son never sees this

When we were on the phone with my dad telling him that he was going to have a grandson.. I explained how we saw EVERYTHING. And how I was laughing when we saw it. (I was also laughing at the words I was using to explain it to my dad.. I tend to think I can be hilarious at times.. especially using inappropriate words with my father. Don't blame me though - he does the same thing to me. That's where I learned it)

His response "let that be the last time you ever laugh at his stuff.. that's the last thing he will need growing up"

true.

So lets hope our son never knows Im showing the rest of the world his stuff too:



having a hard time reading that? (me too)

Here you go:



Thats the proof. (although watching it during the sonogram I will tell you that you could see a lot more.. :)

And can we all just look at this sweet sweet sweet profile picture:





My heart pretty much melted at that point. (Even though he was snuggling with the placenta and I wanted to some how get him to move because Ive seen a picture of that thing before -on facebook of all places! gross- and I cant imagine its very comfortable to snuggle with!)

Thank you for all your sweet comments (on here & facebook) we're blown away.

Im almost officially at the half way point! I cant believe it!!!

PS - IT MIGHT SNOW TODAY!!!!

ITS A ...

drum roll please...

....

WE ARE SHOCKED! But also SO excited! (to say the least)

Susan, who did the sonogram, said right away "do you want to know what it is?"

We answered yes

She said "there IT is.. its a BOY!"

our jaws dropped. And I couldn't stop laughing. We couldn't believe it. We would have sworn up & down (and all around) that it was a girl!

But there IT was - Clear As Day! Its a boy!!

the next thing out of our mouths..

Freeland: " I am going to have a Son" ... 20 seconds later: "wait, we don't have any boy names"

Yep! All we could ever think of were girl names! (we've always loved the name Charlie since we were dating. And then Piper is the other name we love.)

So now back to the drawing board. I'll keep you posted. :)

Thanks for playing along with us and voting! It was so fun to see what everyone thought it was. We feel so loved by all the phone calls, texts, emails, etc. that we received! Thank you friends!

I guess I need to go buy pee pee teepee's now.