Hawaii 2013

Whelp, it's about that time for another blog post.  We have been in one of those crazy parts of life where it seems like the only constant thing, is that everything is changing :)  But I am grateful for these times in life, because the chaos usually means that new opportunities and experiences are being born.  What are we here for if not to change and grow into more well-rounded individuals?

Enough philosophy by Natalie.  We were lucky enough to get to go to Hawaii this year with Daniel's family.  We stayed on Oahu, by Waikiki beach for a good, long ten days.  The weather was beautifully humid and warm, and only drizzled for minutes at a time.  I've always been rain's number one fan, so I cherished those few moments of island rain.  While out there we celebrated Daniel's 25th birthday, our belated 2 year anniversary, and just life in general.

Since it is tricky getting a whole family together once everyone grows up, we figured a family photo shoot was in order.  I was to be the photographer...  wahoo! Ok, on to the photos!  As always, I would love some constructive criticism to help me improve!

So after pictures at the Laie LDS Temple we went to Daniel's parent's friend's house, which was on the beach.  They had a ton of palm trees in their yard with coconuts in them!  Daniel is always up for an adventure (which is one of my favorite things about him) so he decided to climb the tree to get some coconuts for me.  I have wanted to try fresh coconut for most of my life now, and what better a place to have a fresh coconut than from Hawaii!  I have to best husband ever!

The next day after pictures, of course we (we meaning mostly Daniel) HAD to crack open the coconut!  It was one of the funniest experiences of my life.  No joke you guys, I was crying from laughing so hard.  Daniel, who was feeling the thrill of a 'Bear Grylls lifestyle' had a tribal chant going on while smashing the coconut against the railing of our hotel balcony.  Bear Grylls totally has access to those in the middle of the rainforest right?!  Most of my pictures turned out blurry because I was laughing so hard haha, oh well.  But here are a few pictures of the adventures of the coconut cracking!

The remnants of the outside of the coconut... pretty impressive stuff!

Trying to get the excess husk(?) off of the outside.  

Notice the juice flying off of his left hand!  It surely was a Dirty Job.

I was very impressed and excited!  Not only did our coconut have a ton of meat, but there was also a whole cereal-bowl-amount of coconut water in it as well!  Good pick Hun, good pick!  Sad to say, these (the picture day and the coconut cracking day) were the only two days I took my camera out.  I am so protective of my camera it is kind of sad.  I just like to take good care of my things... thats not a bad thing is it?!  But seriously, sand+sea+sunscreen=unhappy camera.

In other news, we have moved in to our new townhome in Traverse Mountain (don't worry, we are just renting... come on guys, student loans are ridiculous)  and we love it!  It is so nice to have space and not have to worry about upstairs and downstairs neighbors and all of that.  Plus, we have a two car garage which is my new favorite thing ever.  Not to mention the new outlet mall is a five minute walk... I could definitely get into trouble with that!

So, that's that!  Daniel started his dual MBA and PharmD program at Rosemann University of Health Sciences and he is rocking it!  Three tests, one paper, and two group projects down in under four weeks!  Accelerated program is right :)  But he loves it, and has made some good friends already.  And me?  Just working at the Dermatology Clinic to pay some of the bills.  You may call me Sugar Momma for the next three years! haha

Until next time bloggers...

5.24.13

***WARNING... PICTURE OVERLOAD!***

Yesterday after work I really wanted to go take some pictures so that I could get some practice using my camera.  Since we have no kids, no pets, and no natural modeling skills I was kind of putting off really using my camera.  Plus I didn't want to use it just to find out that I am a stinky photographer.

All that being said we went out anyway.  I learned a LOT of things from my mistakes, but I also learned that if I just kept tweaking things, I could actually take a decent picture now and again.  Don't get me wrong, by no means are these anywhere close to professional pictures... but I thought they turned out pretty good for my first real try and portraits.  (Especially considering the fact that the ones of us are taken with a tripod and remote!)

Any tips from you photographers out there would be greatly appreciated, so I can grow up to be as awesome as you :)

***The main thing I learned was NEVER FORGET YOUR REFLECTOR WHEN TRYING TO SHOOT INTO THE SUN :/  big oops hahah.  Oh well, better luck next time!

1.  I learned that we went out a little too early because the lighting was definitely better towards the end of the photoshoot... or maybe my husband is just a better photographer than me.  Thats ok, I guess I'll get to be in all the pictures with the future kids :)

This face............................ is what brought on the next face..........

Cutest husband award... over here!!!!

2.  Cue the tripod and remote.... In some of the pictures you can see the remote.  I learned that you should be discrete with the remote so you don't have to practice interesting cropping hahah.

(The remote was in my hand behind his  neck hahha OOPS)

3.  I learned that sometimes the auto-focus doesn't find you face super well...

4. Location, Location, Location.... this location was a lot better, and allowed for different poses.

 

5.  Try to teach your awesome hubby how to focus the camera haha  I can tease because I already complimented him all night the he is a better photographer than me.

***Also, try not to pose in such a way that makes you look super preggers. YOWZA!!!

Like I said... No natural modeling abilities here.

These were the coolest reeds ever.. they were so fluffy and awesome!

 6.  Sometimes you just gotta let loose!

SOOO out of focus, but I love how you can still see our silly expressions. 

Yeah I didn't take this picture... I was messing around with settings and he snapped it of himself.  Notice the remote in the right hand :)

Breakfast Club pose.  Again, out of focus, but still pretty cool.  This photoshoot deserved a fist pump in my opinion. 

Welp, that's all folks... I warned you that it was picture overload!