Skagit Valley Tulip Festival 2010

Well here they are FINALLY my tulip pics. I wish I could say that I got more, but really I didn't. First day there is was very bright and very hard to get pics of the girls and the second day I barely snapped but a few pics. There were three other photogs clicking away and I knew for sure that they were going to get something great. I plan to post their pics as soon as I have them all edited and ready to post from them. I promise you they are GREAT.

So if you are ever planning a trip to Washington State, I say come in April. The weather is still a little rainy but not as cold and the TULIPS are out. Washington State is the worlds largest producer of tulips, hard to believe. It is amazing to just drive among rolls and rolls of colors so bright and beautiful. The girls just love it.

The tulips are already gone for this year, but there is always next. It will be quite the celebration too, welcoming home Travis too. I can't wait!

This is my very favorite of the pics that I took this year at the tulips. Technically there are somethings wrong but with my mommy goggles on there isn't a thing.



My favorite purple tulips.













Tippy Toeing



Typical Hunter look




Amazing Colors...



I just love this kid.



Possibly my second fav this year of mine.



I decided to play around with some presets in Lightroom and like the effect that I gave this pic.



Well I am told that these pink tulips smell like cotton candy and the orange ones smell like peanut butter.



Gracie said this is her favorite.

Don't do that...oh...wait it is okay!

So our first part of spring break was spent trying to do things around the Seattle area that we haven't done yet. We are running out of time with Travis deploying for his long term and then when he returns, we will be moving, at least I hope so.

We decided to head on down to Pike Place Market and find the Bubble Gum wall. I had heard about it and recently seen pictures but it didn't prepare me for the hypochondriacs worse nightmare. Imagine if you will wall covered by other peoples CHEWED up gum. Yep you read that right ABC gum. Remember when your mom used to tell you not to spit it out on the ground or stick it places, well that "mom rule" doesn't apply here, no way!

We started by stopping off and clearing the shelves at Bartell of all their gum. Then heading down to the market. I have to say Pike Place Market is one of my very favorite places in Seattle. There is so many things to see and do. I have been several times now and still haven't seen everything. We do have our favorites; we always stop at the flying fish market, Beechers Cheese, and Seattle Best. Of course there is Seattle's Best all over Seattle but this one is a ton of fun with diner style seats that are available to sit on.

So with a gallon of hand sanitizer in hand we found our way under the market to this rainbow ABC world...the gum wall...

Molly's serious face cracks me up and I love her hands on the girls head.



Yes, I made her drink bleach after this.



Ewe...



Making a pretty design.



Even JuJu gets into it.



Molly putting on her 1 millionth piece of gum.



Yep, leave it to Hunter...



DON'T YOU DARE!







Little Runny making her mark.



This is the before shot.



Having fun. I love them.



Uh oh...Gracie' s bubble popped!



We had a lot of fun as you can tell. This is a must see if you are ever in the area.

Finally Editing and just the beginning...

So now that I have finished my workshop and spring break is over. I am editing pictures like crazy. I am trying to learn my way around two different editing programs. It is hard, but I am finding that technology has its benefits. I have Clickinmom tutorials and so many website to read to help me find my way. Of course there are always all of my photog buddies too. I am pretty sure they are tired of all of my questions.

Okay so to get you guys all caught up I am going to have several post over the next few days. The newest and most exciting for me is my new logo and watermark. I will have to eventually get around to using all of them on my photo blog too. But for now I want to update the family blog, especially with Travis currently deployed. I know it lifts his spirits to see pics of the family, even if he was here when I took them!!

These pics I took while doing my workshop and while I didn't use the for my workshop, they were too cute to not include and show off!

Sweet Molls...

I just love that little smile!

My little runny.

Baby Grace

Possibly one of my most fav pics of JuJu

Look at those Baby BLUES!

Always something to say.

Another one of my favs of Molly.

Gracie is the only child left who will willingly smile for me.

Another blog or two tomorrow. My goal is to be completely caught up before this weekend. We are off to find vampires and werewolves in La Push and Forks!!!

ClickinMoms Workshop Week 4

Well this is the final week of the workshop, well actually a week ago was, but we can all pretend right? This week is about composition, watching the crop, and chopping of body parts. So this week we had to put everything we learned into our pics and only submit ONE picture.

This week was also spring break, good, but the weather was bad all but one day. That day we decided to head to the tulip fields, great idea and I got some great shots. I think that next time we won't go at noon though, the light is just to bright at that time for pics and makes it hard to get the girls in good light too. It is possible, but just difficult.

So here is the pic that I selected for the final week. Remember these are jpegs and straight from the camera. This week we were aloud to crop and straighten for composition. I straightened the horizon on my pic.

My settings are ISO 200 ss 1/60 f/20



The top five pics from this week were to be posted on the CM Blog!

Well guess what? I was one of the top five!! Remember these are all SOOC and amazing work by some really great ladies!

Check out the blog:
http://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/?p=199

I have learned so much from this workshop and I am so glad that at the very last moment I signed up to take it. If you remember in my first post, I was like oh yeah, I know this stuff, just a refresher. Whatever, I had no idea what I was doing! This class was the best thing that I have done for myself in a while. And I am already standing in line for the second one and can't wait!