Photography Class 101

I am taking a photography class for 12 weeks to learn how to run my camera. It really does a lot and I want to get the best pictures possible so I thought this would be a really great place to start.

I learned about Aperture or f/stop! The f/stop numbers refer to how open or closed the aperture on the lens is.... simple right? It means the wider the opening of the lens, the greater the amount of light that enters your camera at one time~ which means that when your aperture is wide open your focus will be shallower and fewer things in your photo will be in focus. So if you want your subject to be in focus and your background blurry with is the way to do it. How cool right? I got home and tried it out indoors (which isn't the best) and this is the shot I took on the kitchen table with no flash on, the only light was the kitchen light above the photo, when indoors the photo will be a little grainy but I outdoors it should be crystal clear. I will try that this afternoon..


I will post more pictures when I get a chance, you be the judge if I am getting better with my camera ok?

Lucy & Moe Lester

We had a great time at the 2nd annual "Redneck Party". We love to dress up and this is like our Halloween, thanks to Pete & Angel for hosting this party each year. Even the police decided to come and check out how much fun we were having:) He couldnt keep a straight face when he came to the conclusion that we are "TRYING" to be Rednecks!! LOL he was very nice about telling us to keep the music down while he was trying to control the laughter from bursting out. It's not a true Redneck party until the Po Po shows.......

Happy Halloween to all of you,

Love Lucy and Moe!

Zach's 4 pointer

Zach shot his first buck on October 10, 2009 in a tree stand out by Grandpa Rogers land. It was during the "Youth Hunt" so he could use a gun, Todd filmed him during the hunt and got the whole thing on video. Such memories for a father and son to share, I am so glad that they spend these years together because before we know it he will be grown and gone. Way to go Zach we are proud of you!

"Munson Bridge Winery"

What a wonderful Pre Mother's Day, our wonderful husbands took us to the
Munson Bridge Winery
It is absolutely beautiful and a must see in our neck of the woods. If you like wine you have to go and check out their events for the year, you wont be disappointed.
The owners are wonderful and have put their heart and soul into this great winery. They had Jazz music and a wonderful table of cheese and snacks for us to enjoy. The loft of the barn is so rustic but so beautiful all rolled into one. The weather didn't want to corporate with us so we were just a little chilly but with a few glasses of wine I didn't notice the chill in the air any more.

Even the little beagles running around out there are laid back and so friendly. We had a great time and will go back to visit again.


Ladies we sure are lucky to have such "WONDERFUL HUBBIES"

Real Maple Syrup

What a good year for Maple Syrup!
Zach & Todd spent a lot of time this Spring at the Emmerich log cabin making real maple syrup along with Kenny, Tyler, Sydney, Al and Cory.
From tapping the tree's to hanging bags to collecting and pumping the sap up to the cabin, it is a lot of hard work but Zach loves doing it. Here he is skimming the foam off the sap as it is being cooked down to syrup, it is a very long process to make syrup you can cook sap for 8 to 10 hours and it still isnt true maple syrup just yet. After it is drawn off the cooker it is put into tanks and then brought back to Grandpa Rogers house for him to do the final cooking and canning of the syrup.

FYI
You have to cook down 40 gallons of sap to get 1 gallon of true maple syrup,
and when it was all said and done they ended up with 80 gallons of maple syrup.
You can do the math on how much sap had to be collected to get that many gallons.
Ok I will help you out
3,200 gallons of sap was collected to make 80 gallons of pure maple syrup

It wasnt all hard work as you can see here!
Todd enjoying a little down time with a Captain and Coke


Tyler is even smiling while cooking the sap


Zach being silly with Uncle Kenny


Zach enjoying a group photo with Sydney and Uncle Al
What a nice picture of My Guys!



Next time you enjoy TRUE maple syrup think of the process that goes into making just one gallon

Treasured Memories

How Innocent is this picture?
I love the fact that I have a child that does his own thing and could care less what other people think. I love the fact that he finds his own fun (partly because he is like an only child) and is happy doing it. I have so many picture of Zach being a care free little boy and only wish my mom took pictures like this when my brothers and I were little and carefree. To have those moments caught in time would be so cool to look back on. Maybe that's why I spent hours and hours on scrapbooks that I will pass on to my boys once they are old enough to want to look back at their childhood. I make sure to journal each page on what I was feeling or what they said in hopes that someday it will spark a memory for them to hold onto forever. I moved around a lot as a child and the only real memories I have are of my summers spent in Wisconsin with my cousins. Picking an apple off a tree and wiping it on my dirty shirt and taking that first sour bite of the summer was the best! Or harvesting vegetables from a garden that we all helped plant earlier had to be the best thing ever to a city girl like myself. Yes I spent the whole summer up North and loved every minute. When mom and dad would come to pick us up to return to city it was heart breaking to leave our country living behind. So you can see why this picture of Zach means a lot to me, Innocent and carefree! What more can you ask for as a parent?

I hope you all enjoy the spring weather that SHOULD be showing up soon, and may you capture moments like these that you will cherish for a life time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I hope you all have a Happy St. Patrick's Day! This is a very special holiday in my family, As far back as I can remember my parents have had St. Patties day parties with lots of family and friends over wearing silly hats and a lot of green beer was involved!

Remember When?

Remembering the crazy Day Care Provider Spring Reception Themes
All eight of us didnt make the 50's/60's theme reception but here are six of us that had a great time dressed as Fonzie! Left to right is
Donna Siedel, Dawn Clausnitzer, Emily Bellendorf, Amanda Perrin, myself, Shelly Paul

We won first prize for best costume as a group




HAWAIIAN ANYONE??

Here we are in our Hawaiian Theme Party Clothes!


We had such a GREAT time in this get up, YES we won first prize!

Left to right
Emily, Donna, Me, Amanda, Jenn Ching, Dawn Clausnitzer.

We laughed so hard when we were handing out the coconut bra's, some are larger than others and we had to find the perfect fit for everyone. Sorry Dawn you are blessed more than others.

It was Shawn's birthday and he had to work at Home Depot that night so after the reception and a few cocktails we decided to go find him and all six of us sang Happy Birthday to him right in the middle of Home Depot, Yes we were still in our Hawaiian costumes. He was a good sport about it and thanked us for stopping in, Even if he didnt hug his crazy mom back I still think he liked it....

Holdiay Pictures

What a wonderful Christmas and New Years we had with family. I just wanted to share a few pictures.
This is Christmas Eve at Cher and Frankies house, it was my mom's birthday on the 23rd and I always get a picture of her and the boys together. Man Zach is getting so tall.


Here are the party animal GIRLS! We were back at Frankie and Cher's house for a New Years Eve party. We sure had a great time playing pool and foosball . Michelle Weinke is on my right, she is a very dear friend of mine. Cher to my left and Maria (my sister in law) is on the end next to Cher. We all get along so well and love getting together. We partied until 4:00 am, I have to admit I am getting too old to be doing that.


Todd and Frankie had to get a shot in before the night was over. I guess I cant get a holiday picture without CAMO in it!


Craig and Maria still in LOVE! Zach looking on in the back.


Michelle and I ringing in the new year


Zach looked so cute in his Irish hat

I hope all of you had a wondeful Holiday with your family, I know I enjoyed my time off with mine