Weston's first steps!

Weston took his first "independent" step on Tuesday, Sept 13th. Every single day he gets more confident and seems to try to do more.  Here's a few seconds of him on tape this morning. :)

The Worm

While I knew having a second child would be fun, I wasn't prepared for how excited I would be for every "first" even though I've already experienced them with Harper.  It still amazes me that Weston is so different from Harper, even at this young age.  Weston is just itching to crawl, and while he's not there yet, he's figured out his own mode of transportation which we have decided to call "The Worm."  He's getting pretty quick, as you can see in the video. :)  Now, if I could only get him to his "first" sleeping through the night for more than one random night in a row....

Kelly's Worst Nightmare / One of the Best Days of My Life!!!

It's true folks, the Hunt family now owns a chainsaw.  Behold, the Stihl MS 250!!! 

After having a large tree in our front yard split across our driveway and road with the snow late last month, we (meaning I, but to some degree, Kelly) decided that it would be good to have a chainsaw in case one of the many large trees in our yard decided to fall across the driveway again, or the car/house.  This is quite the upgrade from the pruning saws I've been using the last year or so.  Not that you can't get a lot done with these little saws, but the level of effort spent cutting up a tree with them leaves, at least me, with an odd feeling of wanting to vomit and pass out at the same time (which I unfortunately experienced a lot last Summer clearing our front yard). 

Anyway, unfortunately the joy that I have over the chainsaw purchase is offset by Kelly's (understandable) fear of her husband using it.  Because of her fear, and the owner's manual, I've decided to name the saw "Warning" because, well, just look at a very typical page from the manual...

I feel like handguns don't come with this many warnings in the owner's manual.  After browsing through, there really aren't any instructions in the manual, but rather just a series of warnings strung together to produce a 75 page volume.  Interestingly enough, one section that doesn't get a warning label on it is in the page copied below...

Take a look at the figure in the upper-right hand corner of the page...I have a hard time taking an instruction manual seriously when one of the two "recommended" starting options involves putting the saw between your legs and pulling the starter.  I think this section was accidentally taken from instructions for "how to punch yourself in the junk."

If EVER there was reason to put a warning in a manual, it's for the old "crotch start."  Want to know what's not such a great idea - putting a CHAINSAW between your legs, and then pulling a cord upwards.  Yikes!!!  Maybe the MS in MS 250 stood for some type of ladies model that I accidentally purchased, but for the fellas, this just isn't an option.

Once the snow melts, Warning will make his first yard appearance, and will thankfully be started while firmly planted on the ground. 

Top 10 Funny and/or Cute Things Harper Says Right Now

1. "Turkey Pants" (for khaki pants)
2. "It happens, no big whoop" (which is what we told her to say when babies cry)
3. "Good baby" (whenever Weston stops crying)
4. "Good morning brother!" (every time she comes into Weston's room)
5. "Maggots" (magnets)
6. "Soooooo.....guys....." whenever she is "talking" on her play phone (usually followed by a fake laugh)
7.  "HA HA" which is her version of "Ah ha" when she finds something.
8.  "Munch" - for lunch
9.  She calls me (Kelly) "honey" -- "munch honey," "fish honey," "diaper change honey"
10. "Eskins" for Redskins, and then she usually follows it up with TOUCHDOWN!

Favorite Pictures of 2010

I guess it shouldn't be that surprising that with one small child (and a second in December), a yard that needed a lot of work, and no national park visits (save for a day or two to Shenandoah), that this year's crop of photos was a bit  more sparse than years gone past.  So, without further ado...my nine favorite pictures of 2010!!!

This is one of my favorite Harper pics, and one of my favorite lighting conditions to shoot...lots of light.  I'm a big fan of over-exposing a lot of the frame to highlight detail in the other half.  There was a lot of sun coming through the window, so metering on Harper's darker hair really blew the lighter end of the frame way out.  I love the detail on her hands in this one.

We went to Ocean City for vacation, and while I like taking pictures at the beach, the weather is really the driving factor in regards to cool pictures.  One evening a HUGE thunderstorm went through - with a ton of lightening.  I had never taken pictures of lightening, but had always wanted to.  Thankfully the storm lasted long enough to allow me to figure out how the heck to shoot things.  I had the best luck with a five second shutter, and an aperture around f11.  There was a lot of residual light (I was shooting from a condo balcony), and if I was on the beach, I could have reduced the shutter a little bit.  Anyway, the technique wasn't exact...basically waiting for some lightening, tripping the shutter, and then hoping that I got an interesting five seconds.  This was the best of the lot.  While these pictures would have been a lot more interesting if I had been on the beach to add some waves to the foreground, overall, I was was thrilled with this first lightening experience! 

This is sort of like lightening, take two...again at Ocean City this past summer.  Who knew that we could see a pretty sweet fireworks display - also from our balcony.  The technique was the same - five second shutter just before the firework exploded, and then just hope for something good.  This was the best of the bunch.

Huge pile of leaves, a daughter in a good mood, and awesome late afternoon light...what could be better!  Harps really liked getting in the leaves, and happened to find the brightest leaves in the pile...amazing!  Okay, I gave them to her (after ripping them off a tree), but she gazed up at them with an outstretched arm.  Couldn't have posed her any better myself.  If I had been thinking, I would have bumped the ISO a bit (maybe to 400) so I could have increased the depth of field.  More of the leaves need to be in focus.



Classic shot of Harper...not too much happening technique here - just fill flash and auto metering.  I'm a big fan of close up face pictures, and had never seen Harper make a face like this before.

Technically speaking, this picture isn't great.  Shallow depth of field, lots of the frame out of focus, but for pure awesomeness, this is probably the best picture I've taken all year.  There's kind of Jabba the Hut / Princess Leia thing going on here that's pretty cool.  Or sort of a "I'm a drug lord and this is my pet" thing, although I'm not sure who of the two would fill what role in this picture, because all I see is two alpha males!!!

Close up of Harper's hair while we were at the beach.  One of the benefits of having a daughter with curly hair...cool photo opportunities of her hair!  I think I was somewhere around f22 on this one to get as much as I could in focus.  The cloudy day helped with more even lighting.

Just a cool face picture here - Harper getting into the water at the beach.  Makes me think of her saying "oooooooooohhhhhh" while I was taking this.

Great Falls is my default mini-photo trip location whenever I want to spend an hour or so taking semi-serious pictures.  I went around 10:00 this past December, knowing that I wouldn't have great light, or weather (it was totally clear that day, and about 25 degrees), but needing to spend a little time outside.  I took a few neat pictures of some heron, and then set up for some long exposures of the ice-covered rocks along the falls when a kayaker came down the main chute.  I managed to get a few shots of him coming down the channel, and figured that was that.  However, he came back about 15 minutes later, and I was ready with a telephoto lens.  I'm standing just about ten feet directly above him in this picture.  Only thing I would change would be the shadow on his face, but that would have been impossible unless it was about four hours later in the day.  I really really really like this picture, and every time I look at it wonder how effective this guy's wet (or dry) was on a brutally cold day.  

Weston Rolls Over!

Last Friday, January 21, Weston rolled over for the first time (at 6 weeks and 2 days old!).  I finally caught it on video today (thanks to my new Flip camera from my brother!  Thanks Jon!).  Apparently these days rolling over is not really considered as important of a developmental milestone because babies don't spend as much time on their stomachs (and it is easier to roll from stomach to back).  However, I'm still pretty impressed.   Of course, I am his Mom so I'm a bit biased! :)

Current Event Update: The Juice is...not loose

See, you're kind of getting tired of all these updates, now, huh?  Be careful of what you wish for, America!


Kelly and I watched a few parts of an ESPN documentary about OJ Simpson, and the day he took a ride in the white Bronco, and got to thinking, "is OJ in the slammer?"  Answer - yes. 


In September 2007, Simpson was arrested^[3] in Las Vegas, Nevada, and charged with numerous felonies, including armed robbery and kidnapping. In 2008 he was found guilty^[4][5] and sentenced to 33 years imprisonment, with a minimum of 9 years without parole.^[6] He is currently serving his sentence at theLovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada.^[7]

(Not so much)

One of my favorite things to do is to start typing in something to Google, and see if what I'm thinking about comes up as the filled in search.  I had to type in "Is OJ" and the first six options related to him being in the slammer.  Way to go Google users!


Also, as a quick aside - if you haven't been able to catch a few of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries, you're really missing out.  I've been able to watch about three or four of them, and they've all been excellent.  We're watching "The Two Escobars" right now.

Mantracker!

Just watched a bit of the show "Mantracker" which looks awesome.  Mantracker is basically two dudes on horses trying to catch two people on foot who have a head start.  The folks on foot are trying to get to a location a few miles away before Mantracker catches up with him.  If it sounds lame (which it doesn't), it really is cool and I think is the one show that I would love to be on. 

Also, how great would a show called "Mantracker" be if it were some reality dating show on the Women's Entertainment Network!

(Too Perfect)

Shia Labeouf

Kelly just randomly asked, "what kind of name is Shia Labeouf?"  It's a valid point - especially after finding that he was born on the West Coast...of the US (as opposed to...France).  Shia sounds like a pretty solid dog or cat name, but when your last name is Labeouf, there's just not a lot to work with.  I can't think of a single awesome first name that redeems Labeouf.  Anyway, I had never really said "Shia Labeouf" out loud until today, or even considered analyzing it at all (probably because I think he's a good actor, and I enjoy watching him on screen).  Say "Shia Labeouf" out loud three times in a row and see what happens.  I'm not claiming that you'll see fireworks or anything, but it's a good time. 

(Looks like Shia could go for a Mai-Tai!!!)

New Year's Resolution...Fulfilled!!!

Who keeps New Year's Resolutions...we do.  Case in point...this post!

As many people were partying it up on New Year's Eve - the Hunts were sleeping (9:30 bedtime...and the party just don't stop!!!).  So in honor of the festivities that we slept through, I've decided to post my first ever recipe...for a drink...consumed mostly by women...but it's really good...so just embrace the awesomeness. 

Kelly and I were able to honeymoon in Hawaii - one of the most incredible places I've ever visited.  Mai Tai's are big in Hawaii, and I think I had one with dinner each night - they were amazing!  I've tried to create what I think is a pretty awesome mai-tai (I've looked on line and I think this recipe is slightly unique).  Here we go...

Ingredients:
Ice
6 oz Pineapple Juice
2 oz Rum (I think you could use either white or gold here and can also cut the rum to a single ounce if this is too much for you)
1 oz Coconut Rum
1 oz Triple Sec (we only have Gran Marnier in the house, which is probably unnecessary, but you've got to use what you've got)
1 oz Grenadine
Juice of half an orange
Juice of half a lime

Fill a large drink shaker (or nalgine bottle) about a third full with ice.  Add the ingredients and shake for about 20 seconds.  Strain out into a small glass with ice.  Makes two drinks - for the fellas, for the ladies, either way it is delicious!

(There's a lot going on here in terms of garnishments...I'm counting six things sticking out of this drink!  That's about six too many!)

New Year's Resolution...More Posts!!!

I know what the people want...more Chillin and Illin posts!  So this year's new years resolution is more posts! 

First things first - a comment about Kelly's last awesome post.  It is kind of amazing to see how many people will assume they know a little too much about the baby not growing in their womb.  Unfortunately I had a few run-ins with female co-workers providing a little too much information as Kelly's due date approached.  Here's my top one list (that's right, not top ten, not top three, top one) regarding the big don't when it comes to talking with the fellas about their wife's impending delivery...

1.  Don't go into details about how your lady business reacted when you had your baby.

Yes folks, it's just that simple - leave the lady parts out of ANY conversation with a dude.  Just not cool.  A few weeks ago I had the following conversation:

Co-worker:  I hope your wife is able to deliver vaginally (okay, not that bad yet)
Me:  Me too, we'll see.
Co-worker:  I had to have a c-section because my canal just kept closing up.  I mean, my canal just couldn't open wide enough to handle it.
Me:  (thinking) I'm sorry? 
Co-worker:  You see, that's the thing about the canal...
Me:  (thinking) Thank goodness I just threw up a little in my mouth, because otherwise, I think I would have passed out...

Anyway, she broke the one single rule many times.  If she would have given me a quarter for each time she used the term, "my canal" in the conversation, I would have walked out with a $20 bill in my pocket.  The only canal I want to EVER talk about starts either with Erie, Panama, or Suez.  Ever.