24 Weeks

This time around I decided not to do the self portrait “headless horseman” thing. You can see my face! I still am tired beyond belief, which you can tell in my face and messy hair. Actually my hair is always messy because it is so thick! Oh and my hormones are making me break out like crazy, it’s like high school all over again, fun! From all the weight I am gaining the side view is the least disturbing, no front views for you all (unless of course you see me in person).

Enough about my lack of grace while pregnant. Baby is doing great. Lots of movement during the day. Roo likes to kick at my bladder for some reason :) Next doctors visit I get my RhoGAM shot because I am RH negative and take a glucose test after drinking some “yummy” lab concoction. In the next couple weeks Todd and I will be signing up for a childbirth class. The fun/torture begins!

Wedding Bells

This past weekend we were in the Olympia area celebrating the wedding of Todd’s sister Kali and her husband Seth. The ceremony was small yet beautiful. We wish them the very best!

They had a photographer but I thought I would take a few with my lenses. I used all three and discovered I don’t really like my stock lens much anymore, especially for indoors (800 ISO is terrible) but needed it for wide angle. The other two did well without a flash.

Nooksack Cirque

I borrowed Melissa’s camera and went for a hike to the Nooksack Cirque. Three guys from work and two from church joined me on the adventure. After hiking through the woods and through the glacier stream we reached the cirque with a glacier nested 2000-3000 feet above us on the cliffs which surrounded us on all sides.

Here is a map of the destination. We hiked to the bottom of the bowl in the center.

As I said we hiked through the woods…

and through the river.

You could follow the leader… 
or decide to go your own way.

Sometimes going your own way meant crossing a log…

or pondering how deep, cold, and fast a crossing is…

and then going for it.

Often we stuck together and helped each other out.

Though sometimes it was nice to go off on our own and enjoy God’s creation.

  

I also decided to try and do an HDR image by using  exposure bracketing on Melissa’s camera.

This picture is the normal exposure picture. Notice how we are a little dark and the glacier is a bit washed out. I also look like one big black blob.

This is the underexposed picture. The clouds, sky, and glacier have great detail but we are too dark.

This is the overexposed picture. You can now see our faces and can see that I’m wearing blue shorts and a black shirt, but the sky and clouds are washed out.

This is the HDR photo made using a free program I found called Picturenaut. The idea is that it uses all three to build one that has details in the bright and dark areas. For a first try I was happy with the results.

20 Weeks

I’m half way there! It’s gone by pretty fast, but it has been uncomfortable. I haven’t slept straight through a night in about 3 months and I know it won’t improve after the baby is born :) At least I will be used to a waking every 2-3 hours schedule.