In Our 'Backyard"........

Jan & John and Jeff and I had a wonderful Wednesday. We were surrounded by beauty that most people have to travel miles and miles to see and appreciate, but that we are so blessed to have right in our own backyards....well almost. Just a short drive up American Fork canyon one can see such amazing beauty. We took Jan & John on our RZRs and admired the beauty, crawled over rocks and boulders, forded streams, took photos, ate a picnic lunch and most of all, enjoyed each others company. Below are some of the many, many, many, many varieties of wildflowers we saw.

Phriday Phun

CELEBRATE, CELEBRATE, DANCE TO THE MUSIC!!!

Here in Utah we enjoy fireworks for most of the month of July. First, of course, is July 4 with huge firework displays everywhere. Then throughout the month most towns have their own celebration, (i.e. Strawberry Days, Steel Days, etc.), which usually includes parades, carnivals, rodeos, and fireworks. Then Utah celebrates again on July 24 which we call Pioneer Day, the day the Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. It is a state holiday, and once again there are parades, carnivals, fireworks, etc. Here are some photos I took at John & Jan's house for Draper Days celebration. I usually fail miserably at shooting fireworks, but this year I had some success.
For those of you interested: camera on a tripod, wide angle lens, aperture on bulb setting and remote trigger. Aperture around f/8 or f/11, I experimented, and on bulb setting you can hold the shutter open as long as you like. I had it open between 1 and 5 seconds. This is why you see the firework trails. Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend!

Love N' Lavender

So I was driving home from Yuba lake last Saturday, (Jeff & I had taken the boat and jet skis for Tyler and 25 of his friends who were having a B-day party), and I spotted the Young Family Farm lavender fields off the side of the freeway. They were in full bloom. I had my camera with me so I took the next exit and went back to take a few photos. After I had taken my pictures I got back in the car and noticed a group of people several fields away. As I drove past I saw a bride and groom and their photographer taking pictures. I stopped the car, rolled down my window, snapped on my telephoto and took the above shot. The sun was down, it was overcast and as you can see, produced a very dull looking shot. We'll call this the 'before' shot. Now for the magic of the computer and Photoshop. I decided to play around and create a painterly, artsy type image. Scroll down to see the 'after' rendition.

LOVE 'N' LAVENDER

DALIN & EMILY are ENGAGED!!!!

DALIN & EMILY CAME OVER FOR DINNER SUNDAY NIGHT AND MADE THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!! WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!! WE LOVE EMILY. SHE IS AS BEAUTIFUL ON THE INSIDE AS SHE IS ON THE OUTSIDE AND SHE WILL FIT PERFECTLY INTO OUR FAMILY. WE CAN'T IMAGINE WHAT DALIN HAD TO DO TO CONVINCE HER TO SAY "YES", BUT WE ARE SO GLAD SHE DID. AND, WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT DALIN WAS WAITING UNTIL HE FOUND THE VERY BEST, AND HE CERTAINLY DID! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT HE'D FIND THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS IN DRAPER. HER FAMILY LIVES JUST A FEW MILES FROM OUR OLD HOUSE. THE NEXT SURPRISE IS THAT DALIN & EMILY BELIEVE IN HAVING A VERY SHORT ENGAGEMENT......SO MARK YOUR CALENDARS. THEY WILL BE MARRIED IN THE SALT LAKE TEMPLE ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2009....YES, THAT'S JUST 6 WEEKS AWAY. SO, LOOK FOR AN INVITATION IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, AND WE HOPE TO SEE MANY OF YOU SOON! (P.S. More photos to come)

Phriday Phun Answer.....

Hare Krishna Temple

Spanish Fork, Utah

Sarah knew what this was but didn't have the correct name. Cari had the correct name but the wrong location. Amber and Jan had a great guess with Salt Aire. Years ago I had an adoptive family who lived in Salem, and numerous times I would drive through Spanish Fork to Salem, where they lived. The Hare Krishna Temple is in Spanish Fork near the border of Salem, and sits on the main highway. There are usually llamas in the surrounding fields. The Mormons helped build their temple and welcomed them into the 'neighborhood'. They have numerous festivals and activities where the public are invited to learn about their religion, their culture and their llamas.

Phriday Phun

WHERE IN THE WORLD, (or in UTAH), IS THIS BUILDING & WHAT IS IT???

When I posted my photo of the Bingham Copper Mine, I mentioned I was going to try and photograph some interesting places close to home. For those of you who live in Utah, (or have lived in Utah in the past), who knows what this building is and where is it located????? Obviously this is just a peek at the top of this building. I'll post a full photo and information in a day or two.

Chase Larsen Kimball - One Year Portrait

I am positive I have the cutest grandkids on the planet!!!

Tech Talk Tuesday

DOF -Depth of Field

Most of the time when we take a photo we expect everything from foreground to background to be in sharp focus. Cameras, however, are not capable of having everything equally in focus and so we make compromises. Our cameras have little boxes superimposed on the viewing screen that we are supposed to put over the most important part or subject of the photo so the camera knows where to put the sharpest focus. Even though everything won't be equally sharp, the type of camera, the type of lens and the aperture settings you select will give you a lot of leeway in the DOF, or the depth of field in your picture.

If you are shooting a landscape with flowers in the foreground, meadows in the middle, and mountains in the background and you want everything in focus you choose a wide angle lens and you choose a small aperture, (which actually is a large number, like f/22). This will give you the sharpest focus possible throughout the picture.

Sometimes, however, you want a limited DOF. For example, when you are doing portraits, you want the person to be in sharp focus, and the background to be a soft blur so that your subject stands out. (Tomorrow I'll post my photo of Chase for his one year portrait that is a good example of this.) To have a shallow DOF you would choose a telephoto lens and a wide aperture (which is a small number, like f/4). This will put objects in front of your subject and behind your subject in a soft blur, while your focus point or subject will be sharp.

When you want to be creative, you can also use DOF to make an interesting picture that is different than what you would normally see, like the examples below:



The photos I took where everyone was in focus seemed too busy. I didn't know where the subject was. When I blurred the background, this photo became more interesting. You can see the boys playing in the background but leaves it to your imagination to decide what they are doing. Chase is clearly the subject, watching his brothers, and you can just imagine him saying, "I want to be bigger so I can play, too."


The next two pictures are from girl's camp. I have lots of photos of the evening programs showing all the girls watching the performers on the stage. I like this photo because it shows the interaction of a few girls, clearly the focus, as they are enjoying the experience.


We were very lucky to have a special guest speaker/singer one night. This is Jenny Phillips, a very popular singer/fireside speaker who has many contemporary LDS CDs for sale. I believe she is under contract with Deseret Book. Anyway, before her part of the program she was sitting in the audience and the girls all sang her song 'Lightkeeper'. I was sitting on the same row so I leaned forward and focused on her so she would be the main subject, while everyone else was softly faded in the background.

SAWYER JARON LARSEN - One Month Portrait

Here he is in all his handsomeness!

Nothing to Fear!

Two weeks ago I spent the week at beautiful Heber Valley Girl's Camp. It is a spectacular facility, with every amenity, and as close to non-camping as one can get and still claim to be 'camping.' With 11 wards and about 350 girls and leaders, we had our hands full. Luckily I have amazing counselors and amazing camp leaders who planned and carried out every detail. As Stake YW President, I just showed up and enjoyed myself. Yes, there were a few 'incidents', but for the most part, everyone bonded and strengthened relationships, had spiritual experiences, learned to do hard things, and had a fun time.

I was about 10 feet away from this doe. Her 2 fawns were playing nearby. What was amazing is that just behind me there were 20 screaming girls riding a zip line on the challenge course. She was just watching the show! She instinctively knew she had nothing to fear from the humans in this place.

Yesterday's Heros....Tomorrow's Hope

I should have posted this on Memorial Day, but it works well for Independence Day, too. This is a picture of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. It is one of my favorite photos. I wondered if these two young men were there to remember a grandfather or maybe an uncle. This beautiful tribute to so many brave men is a humbling reminder that freedom is not free, and we are indebted to so many brave men and women who make it possible for the rest of us to pursue life, liberty and happiness in the United States of America. Happy July 4th to all! (I've posted this early because we are heading down to Moab again, this time with Dalin & Emily.)

What a SITE, and what a SIGHT!

Last winter was the longest, coldest, hardest to get through for several reasons. I longed for warm (and HOT) weather, blue skies, puffy white clouds, green trees and colorful flowers. Always, when spring/summer does come, it slips by so quickly, and I feel I'm staring winter in the face again. (That's why I can never fully enjoy autumn, because I know that winter is right around the corner.) I promised myself that this summer I was going to make time each day to be outdoors as much as possible. Jeff and I are taking quick over nighters that have been so fun. We are going to wear out our new toys (razor) this first year! Yesterday we were invited by some friends in the ward to go riding in beautiful west canyon and had a great time. We went on a Tuesday (the other two couples are retired), and it really felt like we were playing hooky. It'll take awhile to get used to the idea that we don't have to wait until a holiday or Saturday to take off when we have a whim!!!!) I've rambled off the subject of this post. Anyway, each day I'm trying to see and appreciate what is around me outdoors. The day I took the photos of the Oquirrh Temple I also drove up to the Bingham Copper Mine. I haven't been there for a hundred years. It is an awesome sight/site. Here is a little information: It is the largest copper mine in the world and the largest man made open pit excavation site in the world and can be seen from outer space. It is 2 3/4 miles across and 3/4 mile deep. Those teeny, tiny tonka trucks at the bottom of the photo are HUGE haul trucks with a 320 ton capacity. 300,000 tons of refined copper are mined a year as well as 400,000 ounces of gold and 4 million ounces of silver. (I will be making another trip back with my grandsons.)

Beautiful Woodland Hills

Just past Spanish Fork and Salem is Woodland Hills (on the east side of the freeway). The foreground flower looks unusually large because I was using a super wide angle lens. I was probably about 2-3 inches away from that flower.

San Diego California Spanish Mission

Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcola
San Diego Mission

The San Diego Mission is the first of 21 Spanish missions scattered up and down the California coast. For the majority of the world, this structure represents the birthplace of Christianity in the 'far west'. These missions are rich with history, which also includes Mormon history. We were gratified to see the plaque below, acknowledging the Mormon Battalion, and the contributions made in building and repairing this mission.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

I was out and about last Thursday when the sky had such incredible clouds from the most recent rain storm. I was on the freeway and happened to glance west, where the clouds were exceptionally beautiful over by the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I had my camera with me, (unusual), and a little bit of spare time so I took the next exit and headed that way. I drove around the temple several times and was really disappointed because I couldn't find a view I liked. The temple is beautiful, of course, but there was so little greenery, and every view seemed to have big white tents, lots of people, houses, highways with cars, etc. Finally I turned down a side road from the highway in front of the temple in order to turn around, and when I did turn around, this was the view. The tall weeds from this vacant lot, hid the highway in front and the tents and people. I trudged through the weeds and took my picture. There's nothing symbolic about those dark clouds behind the temple (haha), but the sky was so beautiful. For those of you who haven't yet seen this newest temple, I hope you enjoy my picture.

My Three Sons

Yesterday Jaron, Dalin and Tyler all arranged their schedules so they could spend the afternoon together playing golf. They've been trying to get together every so often to either play golf or go shooting, or 4-wheeling. Last night at dinner, Jaron kept us laughing with details about the event. Dalin buying expensive golf balls and losing most of them on the first couple holes. Tyler driving the cart through the mud and getting them stuck. All of them trying to make golf carts do stuff they were never meant to do, and all of them unknowingly showing up in color coordinated attire - even if the 'colors' were gray and black. I am so proud of all of them and count as one of my sweetest blessings that my sons care about each other, like each other, and enjoy being with each other.

(What was I thinking!!!! I spend the time making those cute matching outfits, then let Jaron wear those awful socks in the picture!)

A typical Moab scene. We took a trail to Dellenbaugh Tunnel, which will be called Dennenbaugh Arch in a 1,000 years. We were able to squeeze through the tunnel and on the other side we were rewarded by this vista. We parked the truck right at the spire you see in the background, then drove the RZR (Razor) over slickrock and down river washes to the tunnel.

Quick Moab Get-Away

Just a quick overnight trip, but we managed to go on four different ATV trails on our 24 hour adventure. We had a ton of fun! I'm the photographer for the top photo, and Jeff is taking my picture on the bottom one.

Phriday Phun

Isn't it amazing what can be done with a few pieces of fruit!! (This was on one of the breakfast buffet tables on our last cruise.)

From the Sublime (last post), to the Ridiculous (this post)!

Nothing heralds the beginning of summer for some people like a good demolition derby!!! We figured it was time for Emily to really know how classy the Larsens are, so we took her to her first derby. We offered to buy her a delicacy from the concession stand, but she politely refused the 'fried twinkies' or 'fried ding dongs'. (Hmm, go figure!) Hobnobbing with other spectators was especially interesting (see next photo). When all the 'fun' was over, she said the whole experience was awesome. She's either very polite, or else she fits right in!

Welcome Home Sawyer!

HE COMES FROM HEAVEN...... 'TRAILING CLOUDS OF GLORY'!

One Day Old

Yep........he has Michelle's sense of humor!!!!! (Either that or one side of the family is related to Popeye the Sailor Man!)

Meet SAWYER JARON LARSEN

Isn't he HANDSOME!!!!! Sawyer weighs 7 lbs. 10 ozs. , is 19 1/2 inches long, and was born at 9:45 am this morning. After 2 hours and 15 minutes of labor, and 3 minutes of pushing, he was here! His apgar scores were 9 and 10. He is nursing like a pro, and Michelle feels great! (The chocolate bunny is Gavin's favorite stuffed animal, and I suspect he will make his appearance in many family photos.)