{crazyjen}

Underwater Photography

underwater play

doggy paddle with noodle

gracie

rolling in a circle. he was so excited. he kept saying, "watch me auntie jen!" then he'd go underwater and flip in a circle.

swimming down to get the ring.

got it!

swimming like a seal!

I love this picture!

dancing around.

grace on her tippy toe trying to stay above water.

grace relaxing with her noodle crossing her legs. she's been crossing her legs like that since she was 1.

Grace took a picture of me doing a handstand.

jack in his goggles. too cute.

A couple things I learned during my first crack at underwater photography. I bought a waterproof camera case for my Canon Powershot. It's good up to about 10 feet.

1. Subject should be closer rather than farther away.
2. Make sure you go under water before the kid does. Easy to prepare for them.
3. Make sure to set camera to underwater setting, then you don't have to mess with the camera. It's best to just be able to click away.
4. Try different things. You underwater while they are above water. Them underwater while you are above water. Half underwater/half above water. Give them the camera. Take a picture of yourself underwater.
5. It's hard to get very quick movement. Better pictures when they aren't moving much.
6. So much fun not to have to worry about getting the camera wet.
7. Hold your breath instead of blow bubbles out of your nose while underwater. Easier to see that way.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Project Life 2012: Week 13

Yeah I finally have Week 13 done! It took me awhile because it was part of my vacation week and there were a ton of pictures to choose from! I mean a ton! I finally came up with a neat way of doing each day. I played with fonts, played with picture sizing and even did a little make a small picture into a big one.

Here's the album so far. Project Life 2012

Week 13

Page 1

I used the 4-6x6 page protectors and split my items in half so I could get more on a page. The top part is the usual Week 13 section then I have my week in review section and on the bottom is a comic I drew for the IT guy at work.

In the top box I did a special section just about my vacation.

Top part in detail. I was looking for an reason to use that cloud paper. Thought it was appropriate and cute too.

The second part of page 1. I added a pictures from our plane with details of our flight and some washi tape with arrows.

The bottom is some pictures of Korby. I got to see him walk for the first time before I left. Too cute. He was pretty happy that he was walking. :)

Detail of the picture of the plane from my seat.

Close up of Korby's pictures.

Page two This is the start of the special sections for each day of my trip. We left Wednesday night, so Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a 2-part section.

So, Thursday we went to DisneyWorld. Part 1 of DisneyWorld is this small 6x8 page protector which has some journalling or a title on the left and a large 4x8 picture cut into two 4x4 sections on the right. Following this will be the baseball page protector section and another 6x8 page protector.

Here's the whole picture.

Page Two: 6x8 on the left and the baseball card page protector on the right.

The journalling is a part of the left-hand side.

Detail of the large picture and journalling.

Page associated with the DisneyWorld journalling.

Page 2 (Friday) of special section.

Page 2-detail

Page 3 (Friday)

detail

detail for page 3

Detail

Page 5 (Saturday)

details.

Up close image of Kim and Thomas getting dipped. I love this icture. Sorry about the bad coloring.

Page 6 - (Saturday)

The bottom picture was originally a 4x4. All I did was crop it to a 4x12 picture. Then crop the whole picture into individual 4x4 sections. Easy peazy lemon squeezy.

So that's it. All of my pages. If there is anything you want detail on just leave me a comment. :)

detail of the reflection picture. that's my dad's sunglasses by the way.

 

Grace underwater

Grace underwater

Jack getting me underwater

Jack getting me underwater

Jack underwater

Jack underwater

Teaser

Here are a couple pics I worked on last night. Thought I'd post them as "teaser" pics. :)

Can you guess where I was when I took this picture?

My favorite Disney character. Also from my favorite Disney movie. A close second is the Sword and the Stone.

30 Things!

The final day is here! Day 30! Here is a link to the 30 Things post with every single question on it with links to my posts with the answers

30 Things

30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for.

These are in no particular order just whatever popped into my head.

1. My generally/usually happy attitude towards life and others.
2. My ability to capture awesome and memorable photographs.
3. My fierce love of family.
4. My willingness to always help out.
5. My creative and crafty talents.
6. My love of sports and being outdoors.
7. My love of travel and experiencing new places.
8. My ability to make tasty food and desserts.
9. My love of books and movies.
10. My child-like enthusasium that I exhibited for life.

30 Things | Day 29

30 things (original post)

29. What do you think people misunderstand about you most?

A lot of things. Most people, when I'm talking to them, assume right away what I'm going to say before I say it. They don't listen to me. So they misunderstand me right off the bat. I can tell because usually they are shaking their head or making a comment while I'm talking. That says to me that they already assume they know what I'm going to say. Wrong! Listen first.

I don't know if that really answers the question or not. I've had a lot of people misunderstand me which could be because I'm not saying something the way they understand it or they aren't really listening. Who knows. It's hard to tell.

People misunderstand my heart. I am very sensitive but I think some people don't think so because of my actions. I do what I can to guard from getting hurt by people. I try and stay strong which sometimes gets looked at as being heartless. I do what I need to in order to get something done or get past something. I don't cry a lot in public. I don't like arguing in public either. So by not doing either of those I can be portrayed as being heartless (not crying or showing emotion) or ignorant/impassive/don't care (not reacting to arguing in public). That isn't the case I just choose to release those emotions in a more private venue where it's more appropriate.

Project Life 2012: Week 12

Week 12 and I'm about a month behind! It's not because I've lacked interest or desire in doing the project it's because I've been on vacation. Then getting back from vacation was catch-up time for everything else that I missed. I had to put this to the middle burner (not the back burner).

So here's my first catch-up post. I'll be working on the others the rest of this week and weekend. Just to give you and idea of how much it's going to be I took around 1900 pictures (give or take) during my weeklong trip. Plus I had two birthday parties as well.

Project Life 2012 - Here's a link to the gallery of all 12 weeks. It's also on the sidebar on my blog.

Page 1

I used this beautiful yellow textured paper because this week was unseasonably warm like summer and it turned everything a beautiful green color. So I decided to go with warm and sunny for the header. The flower and middle are October Afternoon and the numbers are Authentique (one of my favs).

My dog who I just call Dog-ee. This is him after work licking his chops because I usually pet him and talk to him and give him a treat for guarding the house.

This week I just printed off some dates using the Rockwell font and hand-wrote the major items.

Painted piggies. :)

Page 2: I used the bigger 4-6x6 page protector because I didn't have a whole lot for pictures during the week. It was more the excitement of going on vacation the next week. Packing re-packing. that sort of thing.

A quote that resonated with me this week. Heard it on MPR.

I've been doing 30 things on my blog over the past month so I figured I should put one of the posts on here so I picked the pet peeves one. Not sure why. Underneath it is some antiques.

a 2-pager!

30 Things | Day 28

30 things (original post with 27 days of links)

28. What is your love language?

Words of Affirmation – not necessarily “I love you” a lot but unsolicited compliments. Even if I look embarrassed that type of affirmation means the most to me. I don’t read people well so hearing it means more to me than an action. It’s really hard for me to say what is most important for my love language. I should find a test to take. I also need quality time with people with no distractions. Hanging out with people really does it for me. I like one-on-one time and I like group but sometimes one-on-one is easier for me.

Jacob Turns 1!

Jacob turned one yesterday! I would have posted these pics yesterday but I was a bit busy with his party and then softball. So, here are a TON of pictures from his first year. I made centerpieces out of these pictures for the party. 2 for each month...and a couple extra because I couldn't resist how cute they were. :)

That's Grandpa's hands in there.

Sitting on my lap the day after he was born. Too cute and totally Thomas. I brought Thomas a jug of milk and a package of cookies and I brought Kimmie a bologna sandwich. She was famished.

The little peanut. (My nickname for him) He's sitting on Thomas I believe. 1 month old.

A pea in a pod - 6/14 - 2 months old

6/10 - one of Kim's fav outfits. Little Jeans.

6/22 - over 2 months old. Laying on my bed laughing. The first time I saw him smile and giggle. It was cute.

6/26 - His Baby Shower. Baseball-themed of course. :)

7/4/11 - At 4th of July fireworks. He was pretty happy and the fireworks didn't bother him at all. He didn't cry or anything. Smiles all the time.

At Grandma Sherry's birthday party. 7/26 - over 3 months old. Much more alert now and getting so big and chubby. :)

8/15/11 - 4 months old today! - SCFF - his first fair day! Eating breakfast at teh Aurora Diner in Twins attire with Auntie Jen!

8/17 - Another Fair picture.

8/25 - At Kickball with Auntie Jen. He got some shots today. That's why he's wearing band-aids

8/27 - my birthday party. Jacob is standing in the couch, leaning on Auntie Shelly.

10/1 - 5 months old with Uncle Nick (his godfather)

10/9 - Just taking some baby pictures of him today.

10/9 - One of my all-time favorite pictures of Jacob. Kim and I were giving him a baby bath. He loves baths. Loves to splash and be wet and play with his baby toys.

10/22 - 6 months old

11/8 - Working on moving up the food chain. Eating cereal now.

11/23 - 7 months old - At Cookie decorating at Michelle's house. He wanted to eat pizza and the cookies. Likes to grab for stuff now.

11/25 - Shopping the day after Thanksgiving with Mom, Auntie Jen and Auntie Michelle. He loves being carted around in the backpack. Loved watching everyone and kicking his legs and waving his arms. Pretty good baby that day.

12/1 - Wearing Jayde's hockey hat and doing the military crawl (uses just his arms)

12/7 - with Grandma.

12/18 - 8 months old. Totally getting around and getting into stuff. Loves these bibs because it has that monkey in the pocket he can chew on.

Same date. Put him in his little santa suit and stuck him in front of Grandma Harbal's Christmas tree. He was so cute.

12/24 - Loved being in this box, giving us his little devilish smile. That's totally Thomas. I call Jacob LT (Little Thomas) sometimes but Thomas calls him Little Turd. So then I call Thomas Big Turd. LOL

1/11 - Naked Baby! Well, not really but it's cute.

1/18 - 9 months old - Cookie Monster Baby! He's getting so much bigger. Eating more food now too. Same amoutn of milk but more food.

wearing auntie sheila's winter bear hat.

2/6 - Baby bath time! He loves them. Loves to splash and play with his toys. Loves the rubber ducky.

2/14 - 10 months old - Ate his first baby sugar cookie. He loved it. He tried to get the whole thing in his mouth.

2/16 - Loves the chair at Grandma's house. One of his favorites and go-to toy when he's over. He stands up and bops the chair and makes it sing then he kind of shimmies his butt like he's trying to dance. It's cute.

3/2 - He stands up on the baby gate in "baby jail" and likes to shake his baby booty. LOL He also likes ot yell at you if you are in the kitchen because he wants to watch what you are doing...or get into the cat food.

3/10 - 11 months old (almost) - He loves standing up now. Especially when he stand against the door and look outside. Sticks his tongue out a lot too.

3/11 - Trying to get some pictures for his Cookie Monster birthday card but he was sick and wasn't cooperating.

I'll post pictures of his party soon. I'm a little behind with going on vacation then helping out with his party and other daily life stuff. :)

 

 

 

30 Things | Day 27

30 things (original post)

27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?

My legs…because they are muscular and long and generally look fairly hot.

Cookie monster cake for my

Cookie monster cake for my 1 year old nephew

30 Things | Day 26

30 Things (original post)

26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?

You have to be a slave to your job. No, you don’t. Life is not about living to work it’s working to live. Work as much as you have to but not more than you really have to. Work enough to fulfill that need but leave enough room to have fun and enjoy life. Otherwise what’s the point? When I need to work extra I do but I don't all the time because then you start to get burnt out.

30 Things | Day 25

30 Things (original post)

25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?

My great-great Grandparents on my grandmother’s side. I would ask them why they decided to come over to the U.S. What life was like in Germany/Bohemia. What they wanted their future to be. What they think of our lives now. I would eat their traditional meal from their time.

 

Korben is 1 Today!!!!

My nephew Korben James Harbal is 1 today! I call him Korby though. I picked that nickname up from Dad. LOL So I thought I'd post some pictures of the little guy from birth to now...just because the first year is when they grow so much that it's cool to see a timeline.

Me and Korby.

the Parents.

About a week old. Korby is on the left.

Both the boys. Korben is closest to the camera with the white onesie on.

At mom's birthday. About 3 months old.

Grandma and the two new nephews. Korby is on the left. No they didn't plan to wear green striped shirts.

Wearing Grandpas glasses. LOL

At Grandma's house. 3.5 months old

9/26/11 - A little over 5 months old. He was spinning himself around with his feet at this point.

At a friend's wedding in the Fall. All decked out in a button-up shirt and some suspenders. Too cute.

During the Fall on a picture-taking adventure that Jimmy and I took.

I call this the fish hook pose.

Looks like Jimmy. Chris calls him the clone of Jimmy. LOL

Xmas Eve! 8 months Look at his chompers!

Korby is on the right.

1/31/12 - 9 months old. Still got the chompers.

Right around Valentine's Day - 10 months

10 months and a week - He loves chomping on water bottles. He's got very long eyelashes.

Play Guitar Hero with Uncle Chris (one of his favorites). Here he really looks like Jimmy. He's getting more hair and it's starting to curl just like Jimmy's did. This is during March so close to 11 weeks old.

At the 4-H Pasta Dinner/Fundraiser weraing the batman shirt I bought him for Valentine's day. He's close to 11 months old.

So Jimmy. Starting to thin out and get taller I think.

Wearing my Easter present the other day. He's a little clone of Jimmy. LOL

At twins game This message

At twins game

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30 Things | Day 24

30 Things (original post. I've got 23 days worth of days done and all days are linked into this original post, so you can go to each of the days I've completed.)

24. Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.

When I was a kid it was basically just mom and us six kids. Dad was working away from home a lot. So the older kids did a lot of cleaning and taking care of the younger kids. We had to share everything, our rooms and one bathroom. So we fought a lot because we were in close quarters. We played a lot together too. All of us would go to each other’s sporting events. We were a close knit family.

Now we are all done with school, married, unmarried and with kids. We get together whenever we can. We hang out together. Play on a family softball team. We go to movies together. Go on vacations together. Have card nights. Have game nights. Stop over at each other’s houses for the heck of it. Watch each other’s kids. We all live in the same county. A couple of us live a couple blocks away from each other. So we are still a close knit family. Sure we still squabble but that's normal.

30 Things | Day 23

30 Things (original post)

23. List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.

Photography – Because I can take beautiful images. Because I document my family for the future. That’s most important.

Scrapbooking – Same as photography. LOL

Reading – Because when I read I am transported to someplace else. I am in the story. I am a different person and that’s so much fun. To be completely taken out of my realm and put into another. I can forget reality for a small time. Nothing’s better than that.

Traveling – I love seeing new places. Experiencing new things and eating food. J

Sports – I love playing sports and watching sports. I like doing sports outside, inside, in electronic games, etc. I like watching sports on TV and in person.

30 Things | Day 22

30 Things (original post...in case you are interested in seeing any of the other questions and my answers)

22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

5 years – Living in a house in Owatonna. Nieces and Nephews coming over to visit. Making dinner for myself and family. Playing bean bags out in the backyard. Scrapping in my "scrapbook" room. Having my big screen in the living room where it belongs flanked by my awesome movie collection.

10 years – Same

15 years - Same

30 Things | Day 21

30 Things (original post)

21. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?

Flying. I would love to fly. I would fly to all of my favorite vacation days whenever I wanted to. That's it.

Fawn the fairy at epcot

Fawn the fairy at epcot flower feste

At epcot

At epcot

Waiting for water taxi back

Waiting for water taxi back to hotel

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Waiting for water taxi back

Waiting for water taxi back to hotel

Kim taking a rest at

Kim taking a rest at harry potter.

Having a butterbeer at the

Having a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks

Honeydukes

Honeydukes

Hogwarts omg!

Hogwarts omg!

Watching the twins beat the

Watching the twins beat the pirates 10-0 bottom of 5th

Twins game! Omg!

Twins game! Omg!

Twins spring training camp fort

Twins spring training camp fort meyers fl

Danny's All American Diner Tampa

Danny's All American Diner Tampa FL

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Filled with mr potato head

Filled with mr potato head parts lol

Sweet This message was sent

Sweet

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Chewbacca mr potato head chipbacca

Chewbacca mr potato head chipbacca

Disney world

Disney world

30 Things | Day 19

30 Things (original post)

19. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

1. Staying at my Grandmother's. I practically lived out there for awhile. I'd ride the bus with my cousin out to her house (out in the country) and stay overnight during the week and the weekends. I always had so much fun there. During the summer we'd play outside and ride our bikes a couple miles to the little General store down the road. We go down to the crick (creek) and play in the water and try to catch minnows. We'd explore around all the old farm buildings. Drinking from the old rusty well. Mowing the ditches (they were huge!) I loved her so much and I have such good memories from there. Her homemade chicken noodle soup. Buttermilk pancakes made in the cast iron skillet with lard, yes lard, not butter, not margarine, not extra virgin olive oil. The real deal.
2. Staying at my Aunt's house. Once my aunt got married to a farmer I stayed at her house a lot! I would help milk the cows twice a day, bail hay, paint the corn crib, pitch shit, drive tractor, harvest ear corn for feed, birth calves, etc. I did a lot of hard work out there but I loved it. I really did. Some of my fondest memories are of being out there.
3. Living with 5 brothers and sisters. I am one of 6 kids. I have both my parents. We had one bathroom growing up. I shared a room with my sister my whole life. We fought a lot. We are loud. We had to take turns playing Mario Brothers when we got our first nintendo. I had to share. A LOT! We could play a game of softball together. I was never wont for a companion. Sometimes I wanted to escape, it was just too much. Overall, one of the best experiences ever. I wish other people could have experienced this. They'd learn how to share better.

 

30 Things | Day 19

30 Things

19. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

This is tough for me. I love to travel so there are several places I would want to live if I could. (I am going to prefice my answer with this: I love Minnesota and most of my family is here so I would never leave but if I had no family this is where I would go.)

I need somewhere that has seasons and not super warm weather. I can't stand 90+ weather all the time. Although Minnesota does have a lot of 80-90 days with nasty humidity which is almost worse than just plain heat. I need snow, because it's fun and I need a beautiful Falls and luscious spring days. I like greenery not sand and cactus's.

I like older places with character not new-fangled big cities. So...I think I would probably pick the east coast. Somewhere in the vicinity of Boston. One of the older villages on the coast like Salem, Gloucester, Rockport, something like that.

I've always loved the East coast (I've been to every major state on the eastern seaboard). I love the ocean, the older houses, the character and the people. Usually. Snobby socialites and rich people generally annoy me because they tend to be pretentious and arrogant but generally speaking I love it up there. It's expensive so I'm just going to say my choice doesn't involve money.

30 Things | Day 18

Original post 30 Things (tells all about the idea and has links to my other posts answering questions)

18. What is the most difficult thing you've had to forgive?

Wow...I don't know. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything. Usually when I read a question something pops into my head but not this time. I'm going to really have to search my memory on this one.

I can't divulge what difficult thing it was because it wouldn't be fair to the person who did it. This is a public blog and I don't have permission nor do I want to disclose it.

Let's just say a very dear and close friend of mine did something to me that hurt me very deeply. I cried and was extremely hurt. One of those hurts that doesn't ever really go away and changes you forever. Something that makes you question what you believe about mankind and how life is. (dramatic I know. I couldn't think of a better way to put it).

I forgave this person which was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Being betrayed and discarded (that's what it felt like) was hard to overcome but I decided holding grudges doesn't make me a better person. It just brings me down. So I don't think about what happened and just concentrate on the future.

30 Things | Day 17

30 Things (original post)

17. What is the thing you most wish you were greatest at?

I wish I could read people. I am not very good at reading people. Mostly I go with my instincts but they are usually not quite right. I just can't seem to read people. I am naive I guess so that's probably part of it. I tend to believe what people tell me because I want to believe that people are inherently good and always tell the truth. I don't want to not believe someone, eventhough my instincts tell me differently, and have them be mad or hurt because I didn't believe them. I would rather be fooled than hurt someone. Which isn't good either way. If someone dupps me then I feel like a fool and an idiot but if I hurt someone I feel seriously horribly and irreparably bad. I can't ever take it back.

The older I get the more I question what people tell me which can be hurtful or make me seem judgmental or insensitive. It's a double-edged sword. I can never win.