Day bed with trundle

I have inherited a twin-sized day bed with a trundle underneath that was orginally Monica's and then Lolly's. We no longer need it and I wanted to pass it along. It has an off white wrought iron frame and is quite pretty. Two twin mattresses come with it. I will be coming to Hurricane this Friday on my milk run and can bring it then - anyone up north who wants it, you could pick it up there.

Cruise for Mom and Dad

I was talking to Mom the other day about cruises. Now that Joseph is finally eating food and soon to be weened, and therefore old enough to leave behind for a few days, Doug and I have booked a cruise for the first week of March. Yeah! When I called Mom to ask her if she and Dad could babysit for us she made the comment that she feels the window closing for her and Dad to be able to go on cruises and enjoy them. I heard a longing in her voice that really hit me. I think she is realizing that Dad isn't going to get stronger, and that the time for her and Dad to be able to travel together is rapidly coming to an end. She is facing what must be a very difficult stage of life as she watches the decline of her beloved husband. Suddenly all of the "somedays" become "it is now or never".

So I have a proposition to make. Doug and I are hoping to travel a lot this year so I will need Mom and Dad to do a lot of babysitting for us. I offered to send Mom and Dad on a cruise as payment and Mom was thrilled with the idea. She has been wanting to go to Hawaii on a 2 week cruise out of Los Angeles. The problem is that it is a bit pricey. I know there are cheaper cruises, but this is the one she has been dreaming about for a long time. It is a perfect cruise for them as it is almost 10 days at sea with a lot of relaxation time--"hotel time" as Mom put it. I don't know exactly how much it will be but probably around $3000-$3500. Doug and I will pay the first $2000 so I am soliciting from all the rest of us to donate as much as possible toward this cruise. Mom wants to go the last half of April, which is half way between their birthdays, and it is also close to Mother's Day and Father's Day. So you can all just donate toward the cruise and I am sure they will be thrilled with it instead of gifts. We would like to be able to get them a balcony room or at least one with a window to help with Dad's claustrophobia. Then there is always money needed for taxes, tips, and excursions. We will probably book the cruise towards the end of March because prices tend to come down closer to the departure date. I have an account at Zions and Wells Fargo that you can put money into, or you can get it to me when we see each other again. As much as you all can contribute will be greatly appreciated--and I know it will be money well spent. The time for us to be able to do this for them is coming to an end. Like Mom said, the window is closing and there isn't going to be another one to open. So what do you all say?

Photography Lesson #3 Shutter speed

Here is number 3. I will be out of town for a while so I am posting this one early. This will give some of you time to catch up! By the way, I posted all of my 8 lesson's on my blog. It's already my most popular post.


Photography lesson #3 Shutter Speed

The Shutter is an opening in the camera that allows light into the camera (rather than a lens opening like aperture) which then exposes the film or digital media. The faster the shutter speed or higher the number (ex. 1/5000 which means 1/5000 of a second), the less time the shutter is open and that means that a less amount of light is allowed to enter. The slower the shutter speed or lower numbers (ex. 1/25), the longer it is open and the more light is allowed into the camera.

Shutter speed affects action or movement. The longer the shutter speed is open, or the lower the number, the more movement your picture will capture. So if you want to capture clear, sharp images of movement, you will want a higher Shutter Speed. If you want to see movement or blur then you would use a lower shutter speed. Tripods are recommended at the lower shutter speeds such as when you see a “ after the number. At this point you are not even in whole numbers. A good example of this is when you see waterfalls that look misty, blurry and soft. They have been taken with a tripod and at a very low shutter speed.

Generally I use around 1/100 for indoor low light shots with not too much movement because I need the camera to let in more light, but outside on a bright day I use much higher shutter speed numbers because there is more available light and I need less time to let it in.

ISO 400, f/4, 1/80

This picture shows a little blur in the hands and feet. What I should have done was up the ISO so that I could use a higher shutter speed to get a sharper, clear action shot. Still it is kind of fun to see a little movement or blur because it implies action.

Assignment 1:

Set your ISO first, and then put your camera on S or Tv which means shutter speed priority. The camera will automatically set the aperture. Start at a low shutter speed like 1/30 and take a picture of a moving subject, record all your settings and then move your shutter speed up a stop and take another picture until you have recorded them all.

Notice that if your pictures look blown out or too dark, you might need to change the ISO accordingly. Higher ISO’s outside, when you don’t think you will need it, actually gives you more playing room with your shutter speed. Also, a faster moving subject means you will need faster or higher shutter speeds.

Assignment 2:

Shoot a photograph that shows creative motion. Post your favorites to the blog.

Recipes Galore

I would like to tell you all a hobby of mine. I like looking at recipes online and then saying to myself, "oh that looks good! I'm going to make that sometime." And to be totally honest I've actually only done three recipes that I've found online and they've all turned out pretty good.

But I would like to tell you all about Tasty Kitchen. It has a lot of recipes that are delicious and have ratings and some of them even have step by step tutorials. You don't have to sign up, but if you want to submit a recipe then you do have to create a user-name and password. If you do sign up though, you can create your own recipe box and if you see a recipe you like, you can add it to your box. But I really love it, and someday when I have tons of time on my hands, I'm going to make tons of recipes from this site.
Just thought I would share.

Also, the search feature is really nice. Type in potatoes and a bunch of recipes that have potatoes in them pop up!

Missionary Plaques - Let's get em done

Okay everyone,

I found the best and cheapest place to buy the missionary plaques. They will be the same as the younger sibings have which has your picture, a map of your mission you served in, when you served and your favorite mission scripture. All for $25. I need to email everything to the lady who does them, who is in Price. Haylee will be going up there for President's day weekend and can pick them up, which will save us a ton on shipping. That's in 2 weeks and they will need about that much time to work on them. So in the next day or two I would like everyone to get the following info to me ASAP:
-The exact name of your mission
-Your favorite scripture
-The month and year you started your mission and month and year you ended your mission
-Picture (We will insert our own pictures so we're not in rush for this. But I would like everyone to mail me a mission picture so I can put them in)

My email address to email me the info (shelleygoodfellow@hotmail.com) and my address to send me the pictures 186 S. 2460 W. Hurricane, UT 84737

I could probably go off memory and try to guess all the information for everyone, but it might be wrong, so if you want it to have the correct information on your plaque, make sure you email it to me.

Angelyn, I think you may have pictures around the time we all served our missions. So if anyone can't find one, see if Angelyn might have one of you.

Mom's birthday is the first week of March so I think it would be a good birthday present to give her. This is a fairly easy thing to do so NO EXCUSES. I'm waiting...

Also, I forgot to say that you need to send me the money! You can transfer it to my Wells Fargo account, or mail me a check. It will be $26.60 with tax. So get it to me soon, or you will be paying for shipping on top of that.

Shelley

I am here...

So, I have been reading a little of the blog and enjoying everything I see. I have such great sisters! I have been very busy and hardly able to sit down to the computer at all. Do any of you ever had so much going on and so much to do that you begin to have the sensation of drowning and it is all you can do to just keep your head above water or lose your sanity? I have been having those feelings lately but the real problem is that I am just basically computer illiterate. Sara is here now and going over the blog with me to show me how to do stuff with it. She did find that the top tab was not coming up that shows where I can post things of my own, so it isn't all my fault. It is great to have her drop in every now and then for a visit. Anyway, I will do more with this now that I am more familiar with the whole "blog" world.

Monica

Missionary Plaques

If you all have read Crystel's latest letter you'll know that a member she had lunch with, sent our family's information to his friend, who writes for the Church News and mormon times, to perhaps write a story about our family and missionary service. Whether or not this happens, I think we all need to get our own missionary plaque like the ones already on mom's wall. Obviously Sondra, Sara and down already have them. There is a person in St. George that does them and I believe they are $17 each. I think we each need to be in charge of getting our own, just for mom and dad to have on their wall. Everyone needs to find a picture from their mission or around that time and send it to me along with their favorite scripture. Then I will send them all in. To the Sisters in Laws (Heidi and Sara Ann): I know my brothers won't take the initiative to get it done so you guys will have to be in charge, so let me know if you have problems and I will help you get them together. But I think NOW is the time to do it or we'll never get it done. All in favor?