California in Film

Here are a few images I took with my film camera from our California trip last weekend. Jill posted a bunch of the digital images on Her Blog, so I figured I would post something different here. I've been trying to get the film camera out a little more and really challenge myself to take better pictures and make it count the first time. All of these images were from a single 36 exposure roll of film. We had a great time in Anza and loved spending time with Eric and Karen (as well as all of the family at the party).

Birthday Parties

Yesterday we had two birthday parties to go to. I didn't feel like carting around all of my camera gear, so I grabbed my film camera and a 50mm lens before we left. It's been quite a while since I've shot film, so I figured it would be a fun little experiment.

The first party we went to was Luca's first birthday party. Emma had some of her good friends there so she was well entertained. She was able to take a few swipes at the pinata before we had to take off for home to nap.

In the afternoon, we went to a party that started at a gymnastics studio. This was Emma's first outing to a place like this, so she was a little taken aback at first. She really dug the bouncy floors and had a great time on the trampoline. There was a huge pit full of foam blocks for the gymnasts to practice their flips into and I finally convinced Emma to get in there so I could get a picture. The light was very low in there so I wasn't really able to shoot all that much.

It was fun to shoot film again. It made me think a lot more about the shots I was taking as I only had 36 tries versus the basically unlimited capacity of digital. I was pretty happy with myself that the majority of the images were sharp and usable. I guess I will have to do this more often...

Rainy Morning

We've had a pretty disappointing monsoon season here this month. It only rained twice in the month of August here at our house and both of those times weren't too impressive. This morning we have gotten a little catch-up. It has been raining for most of the morning and I honestly can't remember the last time that it has rained this hard in the valley.

Despite the fact that the rain was coming down sideways, Emma was still determined to go play on her swing. That is, of course, until she stepped out into the rain and realized that she would be soaked in no time. She was content to sit on the patio looking longingly at her swingset for a few minutes before she decided it was too cold (80 degrees is apparently freezing in Arizona) and went back inside.

Iyla Rose Poetter

Here are a few pictures of Iyla from the day after she was born. Jill and I were only able to make it over to Lin and Dave's house for a little while since Emma was at home sick with her cousin watching her. Iyla is a tiny little thing, especially when you compare her to the size of Josh. I'm sure there will be many more pictures to come, but I wanted to get these ones up quick so that everyone had a chance to see my new niece.

Pedicure

As I've posted in the past, Emma is fascinated by makeup. She sits in the bathroom every morning while Jill is getting ready pretending that she's putting makeup on too. For some reason I've been designated as Emma's nail polisher and she's always proud to tell everyone that her daddy painted her toes and fingers. That backfired on me when Emma was showing them off to her doctor at Josh's 6 month checkup and he asked "when are you going to paint your daddy's toes?" So of course since Emma remembers everything, when I came home that night she begged me to paint my toes. I was able to hold her off for a day, but I finally had to give in. I'm still walking around with it on and needless to say I haven't stepped out of the house in flip flops in a few days...

Decorations

It seems like forever since Josh started wearing his helmet already. He is completely used to it now and we finally got some decorations for it so that it isn't quite so plain. You'll also notice that about all the kid wears these days is diapers. We've found that it's the only way to keep him cool enough with the band on. The shape of his head has really changed and it's quite strange to take the band off him now because he looks like a totally different child. It's so amazing that he will be six months old tomorrow. I'll post his official six month pics just as soon as I actually take them.

Playing in the House

These are a few images from last week as Emma was playing around after her nap. I tried to get her to go outside and run around in the sprinkler, but she wasn't really too excited about it. However, she was excited to play around with my headphones and dance around the house with her Barbie dolls.