GIMP

I finally found some time tonight to sit down with my photo editing software... GIMP. It is similar to Photoshop but it is free. I imagine that it is missing some of the features the photoshop offers but since I am pretty new at this... it works for me. I have been trying to figure out how to take a color photo, convert is to B&W, and pull certain color portions out. I finally gave up trying and printed out an online tutorial. I have been wanting to try this little trick with Tempest and the blue ribbon. It worked great but the blue ribbon isn't as striking in the black and white. Actually it doesn't even look blue. I compared the two photos and the ribbon is the same. I think my mind is playing tricks on me. Oh well... At least I learned something!

Weekend Accomplishments

Is the weekend really over already? I had a list of things a mile long to get done this weekend. The list is now about a 1/2 mile long. At least I accomplished some items on that list!

I met my sister in Springfield yesterday to go prom dress shopping with her. Next weekend is her senior prom. I can hardly believe it. She will graduate in a month and a half. Then in about 3 months after that, she will head off to Culver Stockton for college. Wow... my 'lil sis is growing up. Kayla did find a dress... it is beautiful. Long, black, and flowing with sequence at the top. She is accenting it with red jewelry, red shoes, and a red sash. She will look STUNNING. Not only did she find a dress but since it is so close to prom... she got one heck of a deal on it. The first dress we found that she liked was $180. Since she didn't want to spend that much, we kept looking and stumbled upon the dress she bought. When she had it on, she knew she really liked it and she hesitantly asked me to look at the price. It was $22! I get excited about good deals... she then found her shoes on sale, and the jewelry on sale. She was having a LUCKY day!

Friday, Chad and I went and bought a grill with our gift cards that we still had from our wedding. Since our last one broke, we were due for a new one. This one is really nice. We couldn't grill on Saturday because I was gone so we grilled steaks and asparagus for lunch today. MMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I wish I ate like that EVERY day. It was delicious. Following that, I started working on photos and Chad baked. YUP! He was Mr. Betty Crocker. He made a batch of cookies. They were the perfect follow-up to a great meal!

My biggest accomplishment this weekend was finishing Heather's pictures. That is one big check mark off of my list. I just HOPE she likes them! Here are a couple more...





Now that I have finished the photos and updated my blog, I am headed to bed. Hopefully when I wake up in the morning it will be warm again. Just when I was getting used to 60 degree weather with mild wind... here comes rain, 50 degree weather with a ridiculus wind chill making it seem like it is in the 30's! SHEESH! And they call this "Spring."

Ahhhh...Mornings

Do you know what my favorite thing in the morning is? It is snuggling up with my two girls and my husband. However, even with the warmer weather, pulling myself out of bed in the early morning hours to come to work isn't all that appealing. Rhyme and Tempest will lay belly up in the morning for a nice belly rub or they will snuggle right up against us so that we don't want to move because we are all so comfortable. Look at them... how can you resist the sweet puppy eyes!!! :)

Is it really spring?

CONGRATULATIONS HEATHER AND TRAVIS!!! The wedding was beautiful and as Chad says... "Heather rocks that white suit" She looked great! Travis did too... of course! :) I am so happy for you guys. Here is a sneak peak at your photos... once I finish them, I will get a CD in the mail.

The wedding was great! With a rainy forecast, I only saw about 2 drops before it let up and the sun came through. The party lasted all night without another drop which was very fortunate for an outdoor reception! All those prayers to hold the rain off for a while longer were answered!

I am glad to finally feel the warm air though. I didn't think we would ever have a consistent week above 50 degrees! AHHHHH... sigh of relief! I love spring. It means that warm weather is in store for us for at least a few months before I start dreading the fall. I actually like fall... I just know that winter is always following a little too closely! Especially when we have winters like this one that is never-ending. Whoever came up with the concept of global warming wasn't theorizing in Illinois!

I don't want to forget to send a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Erik & Bridget, Gio & Genny

An Earthquake in IL?

When Chad and I were getting ready for work this morning, he told me he thought it was storming last night. He woke up at 4 something this morning, sat straight up in bed, and he could have swore it was thundering. He said he thought it shook the house. Then he realized he was dreaming and laid back down. I also assumed he was just dreaming. That was until I got in my car to leave for work. The first thing I heard was that there was an earthquake that was felt from Illinois to Indiana. REALLY??? I called my parents and my grandparents. Both who confirmed that they felt it. My grandma said it about shook them out of bed. She thought a car hit the house. At that point, I called Chad and told him I thought I knew what woke him up. Hmmm... maybe we should go get some earthquake insurance!!!

My Short Weekend...

Brody Lane Lush... so small and so sweet. I went to Val's this weekend and I met Brody. I held him and tried to convince Valerie to just let me take him home. She just wouldn't agree. I can't blame her much... he is absolutely adorable. See for yourself...

I also visited my father while I was home. He is doing pretty darn good for just having an intense surgery. My mom and sister are taking great care of him. I also stopped in to see my Grandma. She is in therapy to help her become stronger and it is working! For 92 years old... she is one good looking Grandma!

We went to dinner with Jon and Nikki on Friday. It was great to hang out with them! We ate at Medici's (or something like that) in "up" town Normal. I really enjoyed the atmosphere in there. The decor is different... there is a tree (fake but neat) standing tall and proud in the middle of the restaurant. Oh yeah... and we finally have our taxes done. April 14th is NOT too late. :) Thanks Laura for doing them for us! We owe you dinner (maybe at Medici's)? haha

Baby Logan

Tonight Laura and I went to visit Angie and Eric. We met the newest addition to their family. He is absolutely adorable and he is still so tiny. 10 tiny toes, 10 tiny fingers, 2 sleepy eyes, and the sweetest expressions... babies bring so many changes to a family and so many blessings. Maybe if I get past the thought of 9 months of your body changing and a laborous delivery... I might consider the thought of adding to our family. But for now... Rhyme and Tempest are our daughters. We might reconsider in 5 years or so... ;) Until then, I will post photos of the other tiny blessings in the world!

Camera time...

I finally have photos to post... the first are just some of the more creative shots I took while playing around with my camera...

The following is from this past weekend. We were at Grandma Kochers and I took a few photos. I found the wear on the barn from the tree to be captivating... and if you look close you will notice that this barn used to be red.

The next two are of my precious girls. Tempest is in our yard that really is more of a mud pitt tonight. She is the one who is always on the go so I had to catch a bit of her personality. I also caught some of Rhyme personality... laying around and soaking up the nice weather and great scenery. She seemed particularly fond of laying in the leaves at Terry and Cheri's this past weekend...

And finally, I gave in agreed to expand our family... and expand our collection of bills. Chads jeep was running kinda funky... chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug it would scream. It was pretty loud and needed quite a bit of work. We decided to deal with the payments but we will save some on gas. We are going from about 14-18 miles a gallon to 23 - 31 miles a gallon. I like the sound of that. So... We (actually Chad did all the work) traded in and traded up. Chad brought home this fancy looking road tripper...

Several Updates…

The past week has been a roller coaster. Unfortunately Chad lost his Grandpa Kocher two nights ago. He has been in and out of the hospital and in quite a bit of pain. Although he was weak, we all had hopes that he would continue to get better. He died in his sleep in the house that he was born in. He is in a better place now and watching over us.

My Dad has been having problems with his shoulder. When they finally did an X-Ray and an MRI, they realized that a pretty intense surgery was needed to fix the problems. His surgery was on April 1st, no joke. The doctors repaired as much as they could but they were not able to fix it 100%. His arm is in a sling and he can not move it at all for the first two weeks. My Mom is taking time off to take care of him. The estimated time for recovery is about a year. After the first two weeks, he should be able to start therapy. Please keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery.

On a much better note, Valerie had her baby! She delivered a beautiful healthy baby boy. They named him Brody Lane. Brody was almost 9 pounds (8 lbs 12 oz - I think). Although this was her 3rd delivery and her biggest baby, the delivery went very smoothly. She called me about an hour and a half after Brody was born. It sounded like she was out for a walk in the park. She sounded fabulous!

I got my camera one week ago today! I haven't had much of a chance to play around with it yet. Once I do, I will get some photos posted. So far, the picture quality is out of this world. I love it. I have taken a bunch of random photos, and deleted most of them. I still have a lot to learn… about the camera and about the digital world. I went to a photography seminar with Bridget on Monday. I learned a lot but left with many questions.

I was also up visiting Julie this past weekend. We had a scrapbooking weekend. We also squeezed in some shopping and we found some great bargains at Banana Republic. While I was up there… Chad flew out to Virginia to watch Jeremy graduate from an FBI program. Congrats to Jeremy! Chad, Shawn, and Jeremy drove back. Sounds like they had an interesting adventure!

That’s all for now… pictures to come soon… I promise!