I Heart Canon

After spending Christmas in Seattle and playing with Jeff’s camera for the week, Trey and I decided we needed a new camera to document Vivi’s first year and beyond. After looking into the benefits of a Nikon and a Canon, and checking out different sales we decided to get a Canon Rebel XSi, and I LOVE IT! I spent the entire weekend reading the instruction manual and checking out the The Pioneer Woman, which has a photography section with tutorials on how to use digital SLR cameras. I learned all about aperture, exposure, ISOs, and composition. I have already learned so much just by playing with it and have discovered I really like to take close ups with a wide aperture. I love how you can get a crisp image up close and have a background details blurry. The pictures I have started taking of Vivi are much better quality than the ones I had been taking with my point and shoot camera. Keep checking in to see some of my shots of my Vivi Girl!

New Year's at the Ranch

For the second year in a row, Trey and I have welcomed the New Year at the ranch with Blake and Toni. This year was a little different then the last since we now have our precious Vivi but it was still memorable. The night before New Year’s Eve, Lawton and the surrounding areas received 6 inches of snow. It was so beautiful pulling into the Ranch House driveway and seeing the barn, trees, and pastures coated in a blanket of white. It also made for some pretty slippery roads between the highway and the Spring House. Fortunately, we made it in one piece.

New Year’s Eve was a fairly tame night. We enjoyed making fajitas on the grill, in the below freezing weather, and spent the night drinking good wine and having good conversation. We didn’t stay up very long past midnight, we were all too tired. Oh how times have changed! Vivi did not make it until midnight, and instead was a good little sleeper. We bought a Pack’nPlay for Vivi to sleep in, which she loves! It was so convenient to use it as a bed, and roll it out into the living room during the day for her to play in. It also kept her out of reach of the 4 dogs we had out there!!

We spent the rest of the weekend bundled up by the fire watching the college football bowl games. It was so relaxing and a great way to welcome in 2010. On Saturday we bundled Vivi up in her snow suit, plopped her in the Baby Bjorn and attempted to go on a walk in the pasture behind the Spring House. We only made it about 100 yards before turning around and heading to the car! It was way too cold outside, not to mention very muddy from all the snow that was still on the ground. So, instead, we cranked up the heat and took her on a tour of the windmill road and looked for wildlife. Needless to say we didn’t see a thing, and Vivi slept the entire drive.

It was a wonderful weekend, and the first time Vivi had been to the ranch, and the first time I had been since New Year's 2009. We decided we need to spend much more time at the ranch this year, and as much time at the Spring House as we can before Vivi become mobile!