More Photography Fun

Here are some more pictures I took using that string of Christmas lights. I think these turned out pretty cool. Comments?

Photography Fun 1

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my room! I set-up and decorated my small Christmas tree the other day and I set up my snowman collection. In my box of Christmas stuff I found a string of colored lights and I had some fun taking some pictures using those. I was trying to be creative, but I'm not sure if I succeeded. Any feedback? Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?My little tree is decorated with small blue and white balls, and an ever-growing collection of snowman ornaments.

This is the whole collection of ornaments. The heart ornament is hanging somewhere else.

Now for some creative pictures:

Name That Food Item!

During the dinner preparations for Thanksgiving I was having fun taking pictures using the macro setting on my camera. I thought it would be fun to post some of the pictures and see if anyone can guess what the different things are. It's probably not too hard, so try it! :-)

#1: What is it?

#2: Can you tell what it is?

#3: Any ideas?

#4: Not a vegetable, but what is it?

#5: Probably easy, I put this one on here just for Martha. :-)

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving dinner was a success once again this year. While I was terribly sad that my grandparents were unable to join us from California, it was still an enjoyable day with delicious food, conversation and fun. This year our family was joined by my dad's cousin David and his wife Martha, who live in the southern part of the state. I, of course, decided to document the entire day with pictures. So. . .I present to you: Thanksgiving at our house, 2008:

We didn't try to wake up particularly early, but we decided to get started around 7:00am. The first item on the agenda was the pumpkin pie. We have had this pumpkin pie recipe for as long as I can remember, and it is soooo good! My job was to make the filling while my mom made the crust.

Next on the agenda was the pumpkin roll cake. I assembled the cake (with the help of our KitchenAid mixer, as you can see in the picture!) while my mom beat the egg whites, then we folded it all together to make a fluffy pumpkin cake. This was baked and as soon as it came out of the oven we rolled it up in a big towel and it stayed this way in the refrigerator for over an hour. Later we unrolled it and stuffed it with a delicious whipped cream/rum extract/heath bar pieces mixture. Yummy!

The green beans and canned yams sat on the counter for most of the day, waiting to be used, and begging to have their picture taken. The green beans were used in the green bean casserole, which is a new tradition since we moved to Idaho (we used to have brussels sprouts when we lived in California) and I think it's pretty tasty! The yams were for the sweet potato casserole, which is something my mom, being raised in the south, enjoys.

Pretty soon the pumpkin cake was done in the oven and it was time to de-pan it and put it on the towel to roll up. We coated it with powdered sugar before rolling it to help it not stick to the towel. Yum!

We don't like to eat a big lunch on Thanksgiving because there is so much food to be enjoyed for dinner, so we enjoyed some appetizers provided by David and Martha. They brought mini quiches (one had a spinach mixture and the other was ham and eggs) and a fancy cheese which we spread on crackers. My dad had also purchased some herring which everyone else seemed to enjoy, but which I decided to pass on. :-)

My next task was to set the table. This is something that I love doing every year -- I think it is fun to make the table look pretty and to set out the dishes. It is especially fun when we use my mom's good china, but this year we decided to simplify things a little bit. I decided that, in order to properly document the day, it was important to take a picture of the table before and after I set it in order to show the transformation. While I was setting the table I discovered that the Purina Dog Show was on TV, so I enjoyed watching some interesting dogs parade around as I set the table. I was also on the phone at the same time, so setting the table turned into a fun little break from the kitchen -- a dog show, a pretty table, and a phone call. :-)

The one thing I realized after I took the picture of the finished table is that I forgot to put out the cornucopias! My grandmother has a set of cornucopias that we used every Thanksgiving at her house. When my grandparents were coming to visit us for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago I asked her to please bring the cornucopias, because they are something that I have a lot of memories of -- so she did, and since she left them here, we used them this year. Normally we fill them with candy corn, but this year we put nuts and chocolate-covered raisins in them. We used our moose and bear plates, so I alternated between which plate was at which place.

My mom and Martha busily made the dressing. We've used the same recipe for as long as I can remember, and I can't imagine Thanksgiving without it. It's got lots of veggies (celery, onion, watercress, parsley, and yes, even mushrooms), bread, bacon, sausage, and spices. Yum.

Before long it was time for David to carve the turkey (while Reba supervised, of course!). . .

. . .and then we all gathered in the dining room to enjoy the feast!

Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of the cranberry relish or the cranberry sauce, or the creamed corn or the mashed potatoes, or even the Idaho Potato and Cranberry Orange rolls, courtesy of my work. But. . .they were there, and they were all enjoyed.

Thanskgiving was a success, once again!

27 Days of Thanksgiving #27

I now wrap up my 27-day challenge. While I didn't post on-time each and every day, I did manage to end up with 27 posts listing things I am thankful for. Today it is time for my final post in this challenge. Yes, there are so many other things that I am thankful for. . .and I hope that the past 27 days have helped you to see what you are thankful for, as well!

27: I am thankful for everyone who has helped to shape me into who I am. I am thankful for my parents who have spent the past 21 years teaching me and raising me. I (like to think that I) have become more independent as the years have gone by, but they are always there for me, always helping me out if I need it. I'm thankful for my Awana leaders (especially Mrs. Gemellaro, my favorite Awana leader) and Sunday School teachers (especially Mrs. Harmeling, my favorite Sunday School teacher, back in 3rd & 4th grade) throughout the years who spent so much time sharing their time with me and helping me to better understand God's Word. I am thankful for the girls in my Awana group when I was a leader -- yes, even they have helped me become who I am today. I am thankful for my teachers -- some more than others, but all of them at least a little! Some of them have taught me patience, some of them have taught me that a teacher can be a great friend, and some of them were just plain awesome and have impacted me in some small way that I may not even be aware of yet! I am thankful for Laura Brandt, Sarah Mount, Sara Wilson, Raina Witt, Jenna Martin and all the other girls who led and were a part of small group discussions for the Saturday Night Bible Study that I attended when I lived in California. Each of those girls impacted me more than they will probably ever know. I am thankful for Mr. & Mrs. Stueckle, Mr. & Mrs. Helgeson and now John & Charity Cook, who have faithfully led the college group at my church. It's challenging at times, I'm sure, but it's been good for me. I'm thankful for Michelle, Sarah, Val and Kristy for being part of our weekly Girl's Group where we share what's going on in our lives and have a time of Bible Study and prayer. And I'm thankful for Andrea S. for starting the Girl's Group. Our group time has really helped me to learn and grow and I sure hope it continues for a loooong time! I'm thankful for my friends, especially Michelle, Val, Sarah, Kristy, Sherre, Mary, Katie H. and Devin. . .you guys ('scuse me. . .girls and guy) mean more to me than you will ever know, and I am oh-so-thankful for each of you, and you have all impacted my life in some way and through your friendship you have helped me to become who I am today. I'm thankful for my grandparents. They have all encouraged me as I've grown up and helped to guide me as I made decisions in life. I'm thankful for my brother. We don't always get along, but it's getting better all the time and I am thankful that we are siblings. And yes, I am thankful that we moved to Idaho. I shouldn't say this (because my parents read my blog and I am not supposed to ever admit this to them, lol). . .but anyway. . .the people I have met and the experiences that I have had are pretty great. Yes, I am thankful for the 16-years I spent growing up in California with some pretty awesome experiences, and I wish we hadn't moved at the time that we did, but I am thankful for the people and the experiences that living in Idaho has given to me. And there is so much more that has impacted my life, but to list each person and incident could take hours.

But I thought I should end this list and 27-day challenge with the most important thing of all: I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has changed my life more than anyone or anything else ever could.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Movie Reviews: Fireproof

Fireproof

There are some movies that fall into the "okay" category, some that fall into the "worth watching again" category, still others that fall into the "worth owning" category, and some movies are movies that "should be seen by everyone at least once." I think that Fireproof falls into the last category. All I could say, as I wiped away tears, at the end of the movie was "wow, that was a good movie." I am willing to put it pretty near the top of my list of favorite movies, and I just might buy it once it comes out on DVD.

If you saw Facing the Giants a year or so ago you might recognize some of the actors because Fireproof was, indeed, put out by the same church in Georgia that put on Facing the Giants. This time, though, instead of just using church members, they also brought in Kirk Cameron, of Left Behind fame, to play Caleb Holt, a firefighter whose marriage is failing. Caleb believes it is his wife, Catherine (played by Erin Bethea)'s fault, and she believes it is Caleb's fault.

While Catherine is working on divorce papers, Caleb's father sends him a handwritten journal of sorts entitled The Love Dare which encourages him to spend the next 40-days trying to win back his wife. Each day has a different task, which Caleb tries to do, but Catherine does not seem to care or be responding. Caleb is discouraged, but with encouragement from his dad he continues to try the love dare. How does it end? You'll have to watch the movie to find out, but let's just say that it had four girls sitting in the theater crying.

For a lower-budget production, Fireproof is excellent. The movie is almost as good of quality as most Hollywood movies nowadays, and if the small church in Georgia keeps it up, they will soon be having movies right up there with the top movies from Hollywood.

I would highly recommend Fireproof to everyone. Go see it. If you are married, see if it changes your life and marriage at all, and for the rest of us, those who want to get married someday, see if it gives you something to think about that might help your marriage someday.

Now. . .go see Fireproof -- Now!!

For a review from PluggedIn Online, click here.

Movie Reviews: Bolt

I didn't watch a whole lot of movies when I was growing up (I'm realizing this more and more every time my friends or co-workers ask if I've seen certain movies, and my answer is almost always "no." *grin*). . .but I have seen several over the past few years since we moved to Idaho. Just this past weekend I saw two movies, and I would recommend both, but one of them in particular.

Bolt
The first movie I saw this weekend was Bolt, which is a new Disney animated movie. It was done without Pixar, and it was very entertaining. I saw it with a friend and we were laughing all throughout the entire movie. John Travolta is the voice of Bolt, a dog who believes he is a super-dog, and my friend conveniently "forgot" to mention until we were seated in the theater that Miley Cyrus is the voice of Penny, Bolt's owner -- but she did a great job as that character. Bolt is the super-dog on a TV show, rescuing Penny from all sorts of danger. However, there is a catch: he doesn't realize it is a TV show, and he thinks Penny really is in grave danger. He gets out of his trailer one night and ends up in New York. The movie is basically about Bolt's journey to get back to Penny, and it is full of funny moments and some great lines. It's a great family movie, but adults would love it too. :-)

Read a review from PluggedIn Online here.

My next review deserves a post of its own, so this post is TBC (To Be Continued). . .