City Photography Class #1

Here are some of our favorite shots from our first night of shooting (last Tuesday) at our City Photography Class. Our "homework" for the week is to go through our photos and print out 15 - 20 of them that we'd like to share with the class. Last night (the second class) we all looked over each other's photos and gave our thoughts.

Even though Makena was a bit nervous about standing up in front and explaining her pictures, I think she really enjoyed getting feed back from everyone. It's a good learning experience.

We don't start shooting until around 8pm, so the sky is just getting dark and makes things a bit more interesting.

The first set of some of Makena's pictures:

Our class is just across the street from OMSI.

Makena loves birds. We had to climb down under a bridge (a not-so-smelling-good area) to find these ones.

A cigarette butt

Water fountain

I made Makena take off her shoes so that we could take some pictures.

The next set of pictures are mine:

This is the first time that I've shot & edited in RAW imaging. It's going to be a new learning experience for me as well.

City Photography

Makena & I are taking a City Photography class from PCC on Tuesday nights. Our first class was last Tuesday.

This is how I found her when we went out on our first field trip - phone in one hand, iPod in the other and a camera around her neck.

She may not be listening to the instructor, but at least she's good with technology I suppose.

Plus, she's 13. What else can I say?

We'll be sharing our "city" pictures soon. Off to edit...

Lots of things to do in one beautiful, Oregon day

My Aunt Tami and Uncle Kent came for a visit to their Rockaway home on the Oregon Coast. Gram had just gotten home from her trip to Seattle as well, and my Aunt Kim was also in for a visit. Jamie, Carol and I decided to drive down the the Coast to see spend the day with them.

We stopped by Mom & Rudy's and then headed over to Tami's. Gram and Kim were already there - we visited with everyone for a couple of hours. The skies were a bit gray in Rockaway, but the sun came out a time or two.

Then we headed back to Garibaldi to Mom & Rudy's. We had Rudy's Father's Day gift - a Jack Daniels hummingbird feeder. He's now the envy of the neighborhood!

Moxie spent time playing with Packer while we headed over to Gram's for another quick visit.

Back to Mom & Rudy's for our goodbyes and then headed home. I love that they are all just an 1hr and a half away.

Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2010 - Part 2

We begin the Relay For Life of Hillsboro at 10:00am with an Opening Ceremony, raising of the Flag and the National Anthem.


Then the teams are announced in order. Here are Tami's CUREageous Sprites & Youth Sprites walking their first laps.


The Survivor Lap begins at noon.


We gather our Survivors for a group photo.


And then they begin their Lap - being led by a bag piper again this year.

Grandma Neena & Carol

Then there is a Survivor Luncheon for our Survivors. This year they were also given Birthday cake - The American Cancer Society is now the Official Sponsor of Birthdays!


The campsite of Tami's CUREageous Sprites was always full. The Youth team sold the track-your-lap necklaces again as well as held a book sale. Those two fundraisers earned them over $200 for their team!

I finally did it - joined the $1000 Club!

And everyone took their turn walking laps.

TeaLee, Makena, Logan, Kylah & Hailee

Dawn, Dylona & Kallie

Momma & Lee

Lee, Rudy & Mom

Rudy made sure to get his track-your-lap beads!

Jamie playing Whack-a-PEEP

That little blue thing is a PEEP and you see how

far you can hit it with a golf club.

Jamie took the kids to see the fire truck.

Living Luminaria

the sweetest thing - ever.

We were able to put our Luminaria by our campsite again this year.

Momma made this for Tami - so beautiful

The Luminaria Ceremony begins at 10pm.

The Closing Ceremony begins around 9am. Most of us have stayed up all night walking or doing activities. There are a few that sleep or try to catch naps throughout the night.

By midnight of our event, we had raised $121,335.47 in the fight against cancer! This is the most that the Hillsboro Relay has raised by the event so far. A lot of hard work and determination!

And a very tired Committee...

Then the teams walk their final laps of the year.

Most of us still have our campsites to break down and the event space to clean up.

And other of us are trying to sneak in more naps. Poor Makena had allergies so bad that she was just miserable. And Hailee stayed up all night without her.

You can read about the Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2009 and the Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2008.

Thanks again everyone - see you next year!