This bright new year is given me To live each day with zest . . . To daily grow and try to be My highest and my best! ~William Arthur Ward

Our family enjoyed great Christmas and New Year celebrations. Click on the image above to see a few [...]]]>

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
~William Arthur Ward

Our family enjoyed great Christmas and New Year celebrations. Click on the image above to see a few photos from the surprises of Christmas morning.

2011 was a great year overall. Like every year there were ups an downs. It was hard to say goodbye to Gerrie Tadd and Gae Beckstrom. We will miss them very much. But our little family is learning and growing and happy. We had a great time going to Southern Utah and Sun Valley on vacation. The kids did very well in their studies at school. They are so smart! They take after their mom who is also brilliant and graduated with her master’s degree from SUU. Work was good to Kellie and I and even Christopher found a good job. We enjoyed many blessings so there’s plenty to be happy about.

2012 will bring with it many anticipated changes. Christopher will be graduating from Copper Hills High School. Wow! We look forward to college and/or an LDS mission by the end of the new year. Courtney is already learning how to drive and will be entering High School. Nathan will start his last year of Elementary School. I’m sure there will be many surprises along the way but I look forward to the fun and all the challenges. I won’t spell out all my resolutions here but will share a few thoughts. As a parent I’m going to need to learn to let go a little more this year, especially as Christopher moves on to the next stages of life. I also want to have a more positive outlook and dig into new opportunities and challenges that come along. This will be a good year to stretch myself. Of course reading, exercise and healthy eating are on the list. I’d like to do more running like I started last year. I also want to develop better personal relationships.

Given this blog is a photo journal I’ll add that I look forward to learning and improving my photography skills. I read a suggestion somewhere that rather than buying a lot of gear we might choose to go somewhere fun and use the gear we’ve got. I’d like to take that approach this year. I’ll be working on lighting, composition, post processing and just having fun.

I hope your 2012 is happy and successful!

Copper Hills 4th Ward 2011 Christmas Party

Nikon D7000 18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens @ 42 mm 1/200 sec @ f/4.8, ISO 800

You better watch out You better not cry Better not pout I’m telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town

I recently [...]]]>

Copper Hills 4th Ward 2011 Christmas Party

Nikon D7000
18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens @ 42 mm
1/200 sec @ f/4.8, ISO 800

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

I recently had the fun opportunity to take photos of Santa and the children at our annual 4th Ward Christmas party. Mr. and Mrs. Claus were great. The kids (young and old)  really enjoyed themselves. I picked a few photos to post as this week’s photo gallery.  Just click on the image above to see them.

Spring Commencement 2011, Southern Utah University

Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine. ~ Thomas Jefferson

This is my wife, Kellie (right) and her good friend Gae [...]]]>

Spring Commencement 2011, Southern Utah University

Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life,
and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.
~ Thomas Jefferson

This is my wife, Kellie (right) and her good friend Gae in May of this year. Gae lost her battle with cancer on November 10. We will miss her.

Alaura

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing ~Duke Ellington

We spent Saturday morning up at the family cabin pouring a concrete patio outside the downstairs entry. My niece, Alaura, was having a great time swinging with her cousins while the adults worked [...]]]>

Alaura

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing
~Duke Ellington

We spent Saturday morning up at the family cabin pouring a concrete patio outside the downstairs entry. My niece, Alaura, was having a great time swinging with her cousins while the adults worked on the concrete pad. She was too cute for me to pass up the opportunity for a quick photo. I used a fill flash to brighten her face a little and put a sparkle in her eyes.

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Trina and Jordan Taylor.  What a great family!  Trina is a friend and co-worker of Kellie’s at Monte Vista Elementary School where they both teach kindergarten.  I think little Jordan was a bit overwhelmed by the guy who kept pointing a camera in his [...]]]>

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Trina and Jordan Taylor.  What a great family!  Trina is a friend and co-worker of Kellie’s at Monte Vista Elementary School where they both teach kindergarten.  I think little Jordan was a bit overwhelmed by the guy who kept pointing a camera in his face.  He took everything pretty seriously but every now and then his cute smile would come out.  We lucked out because two or three hours after taking the photos our backyard was covered in four inches of snow.  That’s November in Utah I guess.

Thank you Trina and Jordan for a fun Saturday morning!

The air show at Hill Air Force Base was a lot of fun again this year.  We met up with the Furnells, my brother David and his family, and the Setterbergs.  The aerial acrobatics were amazing as usual and the crowd was a lot [...]]]>

The air show at Hill Air Force Base was a lot of fun again this year.  We met up with the Furnells, my brother David and his family, and the Setterbergs.  The aerial acrobatics were amazing as usual and the crowd was a lot of fun to watch.