My 365 Project

So I recently got a bug for photography, and like everything I do, once I start it sort of becomes an obsession until I get it figured out. I have always been interested in photography, but it all seemed too complicated and overwhelming. It seemed easy to put off, because I was busy doing other things. Finally, after talking to a friend, who is also into photography, I decided it was about time to learn how to use my camera that I have had for almost three years now. I have been experimenting with new techniques I have learned and wanted some place to display them. So I spent today designing a new site for my photos. I have heard of other photographers doing a 365 project and thought this would be fun to try. You are suppose to take one picture a day for a whole year. It is a great way to build a portfolio and improve your picture taking skills. So here it is http://jennhulsphotography.blogspot.com/ I hope you will check it out. I really would like to have a whole group of sites like mine linked to each other, so we can share photo's and ideas and knowledge, kind of like a photo club online. Let me know if your interested!!!

Love this girl!!! This is just one of several pictures featured on my new site.

Fall Craft Show

I've been meaning to post these pictures for awhile. The Mini Bazaar actually started its fall show last week, so we are already into the second week of a 6 week show. I thought I better quit putting off posting these pictures. Here is what has been keeping me busy for the last month.

whoops, I didn't realize until I uploaded this picture that the H had been turned funny. Oh well you get the idea.

I thought these would make good baptism gifts. They are cuter than they look in the picture, they have a glass like overlay on the front, kind of like those cute necklaces you see everywhere.

Same thing with these. They also have that glass like overlay on them.

I took some pictures of the Idaho Falls and Salt Lake City Temples and mounted them with a finish that looks like an oil painting. You can't really see it in these pictures, but they turned out really nice. I think I am going to apply the same affect on my next set of family photos. Not only does it make them look better it also protects them as well.

These have been my big sellers. Only a week and I am almost sold out. I applied the same coating as my temple pictures and they turned out better that I even expected. I did quite a few different sayings but only pictured a few.

These turned out fun. I had a lot of fun working with photoshop on these. It allowed me to do some fun lettering with more detail than I can get with vinyl lettering.

Another version. I've got this one hanging on my mantel.

In addition I also did a bunch of flowers for your hair as well as some cute headbands. I didn't take any pictures. But an example is the one on Nancy's baby Chloe's head. I mostly did them for older kids and grown ups but am working on doing an adjustable headband for babies.

Chloe Jackson

Nancy had her baby a few weeks ago, and when I was in Idaho last weekend, I got to practice my photo taking skills on my new niece. I have been trying to learn how to use the manual settings on my camera. I still haven't got them completely figured out, but it really helped make these pictures turn out a lot better than what I have done in the past. I was able to adjust how much light I let into the camera, so even though the lighting wasn't the best, I was still able to take some pretty good pictures. Normally, I would have had to use the flash and I just hate what the flash does to pictures.

Here is the announcement I made for Nancy, with some of the favorite pictures I took.

Obviously, this was one of my two favorites, since it was featured prominently in the announcement. I was excited to finally take a picture that I didn't have to edit the heck out of to make it look decent.

Here is my other favorite. Again not much editing, just a little in the background. I had to make it darker, because the cloth we used to bundle her in was a little see through.

I just loved the composition on this one.


Here is a fun overlay I tried. The picture was cute without the editing, but I thought this technique turned out kind of cool.

This one I decided to crop and put on a background, because it just wouldn't crop the way I wanted it to otherwise.



This one I put a old paper overlay on. Its kind of hard to see the effect with it so small but if you click on it you can see the detail of the effect.


Here is one more editing technique I was experimenting with. I like it, but I like the original better I think.

Here is just one more, I love her face, so sweet, but the lighting wasn't the best. When I cropped it in close it went a little grainy. So I decided to go with the grainy look, and applied the old paper overlay, to make it look like we did it on purpose.

Trip to Idaho

I had to set up for my craft show so we went to Idaho this last weekend. I set up for my show most of the day Saturday, (I hope to post some pictures soon). Then on Sunday I took pictures of Nancy's new baby, (I am still in the editing process but will be posting those pictures soon too.) We went to the Eastern Idaho State fair on Monday. We have never gone on Labor day before, now I know why, it was so crowded. You even had to wait in line to go to the bathroom, we managed to have fun anyway.

Before the fair, we went up to Grandma and Grandpa Huls house. The girls had a good time exploring on Grandpa's farm. Here is Kaylee with an egg she found in the hen house. Shaun scrambled them up later and I had a bite out of curiosity, people say fresh eggs taste so much better. My tongue couldn't taste the difference.

Grandpa's pig just had babies about a month ago. The piglet screamed so loud when Grandpa took it out of the pen that Sydnie was a little nervous to pet it. She finally came around.

I just thought this was kind of funny. Lu Lu is so used to being man handled by these girls that she doesn't even try to resist anymore. She just patiently held on to the trike while Kaylee wheeled her around for a good 5 min.

Here are the girls at the fair, one of the horse stalls also had dogs for sale, they were letting people hold them. John and Natalie and boys are in the background. We had fun following each other around the fair. The girls always like spending time with their cousins.

Shaun's Trip to Oregon

Shaun went with his Dad and Brother Josh to the Oregon coast this weekend. They had a great time. They had a great beach house with spectacular views of the ocean. It made me a little jealous I love Oregon too and haven't been for over 5 years, but mostly I was glad Shaun had a great time, and got to have some much deserved time off. He has been having to work way too many hours at work for the last few months and I think a little guy time was just what he needed.

They went salmon fishing at the mouth of the Columbia river. Shaun's dad managed to catch the biggest fish of the day: a Sardine.

Actually the fish he caught really looked a little more like this. I don't know which fish is which but I know they all got a good one.

The next day they went crabbing and had a great time. I don't love seafood but crabbing is so much fun. If you have never been it is really worth the money to rent a little boat and some crab pots and spent the day in a little bay catching crab. They tried a new spot this time and had great luck. Here is Shaun's dad holding up one of the unlucky ones. I guess they hauled in some fairly big ones.

First Day of School

Back at home we had an exciting week as well. I sent my Girls back to school on Wednesday. They were so excited to go they had their outfits picked out and laid out several days early, and the night before we made headbands to match their outfits. They both loved their teachers and had a great first day. It is a little weird to just have me and Sydnie around the house all day. She has had a little bit of a hard time with it. Luckily I organized a little playgroup for her with some really cute little 3 year olds from the neighborhood. We start that in a couple weeks and so she will at least have that to look forward to twice a week.

Kaylee is in 4th grade this year and feeling quite grown up all of a sudden. She really eats up any comments anyone gives her on how grown up she looks. I don't know if I am prepared for this yet.

Brianne is going to first grade this year. It is a little weird having her gone all day. But I know she was excited to be going with all the older kids in the morning to school.

Brianne and Kaylee looking cute with their matching skirts, one of the only things I let them get the same this year. P.S. sorry about the washed out pictures, I have been messing with the manual settings on my camera and I was in such a hurry when I took these pictures I forgot to check what setting I had it on.

As Summer Ends
Even though we start school on Wednesday, we managed to squeeze a few more fun things into our summer. The girls have been saving money from doing chores around the house since spring, so that they could go to Lagoon. They finally saved up enough, and we went last Thursday. I realized when we got home, I have not been for almost 20 years. Lagoon has changed a lot since I last went. We had a great time.


Kaylee and Brianne in the sky ride.


Kaylee loves roller coasters. There wasn't one she didn't want to try, even ones I wouldn't ride, like the Samurai. Shaun finally found one she wouldn't go on, but after some bribing she finally rode the Rocket (pictured above). After the ride she decided it wasn't very scary, but it wasn't very fun either. Her favorite rides were Wicked and Colossus.


Sydnie and Brianne had fun on the kiddie rides. We talked Brianne into riding the Colossus, she was just tall enough. She didn't cry and said it was fun, but that was the last roller coaster we got her to ride that day. She and Sydnie especially liked this car ride, they rode it several times. Brianne said her very favorite ride that day was the Turn of the Century swings. Sydnie was very daring and happily road any ride we put her on, even ones that most kids her age would have screamed their heads off on.

Sydnie's first Birthday Party

Sydnie had her very first Birthday party last Monday. She has watched her sister go to many parties, and she felt very grown up finally getting to go to one herself. I was a little worried that she wouldn't want to give up the toy I got for her to give. But when the time came, she put her present in a bag without any trouble, and seemed very excited to be giving it away to her friend Bailey.

Brianne learns to ride a bike (finally)

Brianne is so timid around bikes. It may be all the hills in our neighborhood, our street is particularly steep, and can be very intimidating. She has barely even wanted to ride her bike with training wheels. So I was surprised when she requested Shaun teach her how to ride without training wheels. She wants to ride her bike with the other kids to school, so she was bound and determined to learn.

Shaun followed behind her a few times, but it didn't take long for her to take off on her own.

Soon she was riding up and down the only level street in our neighborhood. She has a bit more practicing to do before she is ready to ride to school. She is still a little shaky on her turns and hasn't dared to try downhill yet (a must if she wants to ride to school) but I'm sure with a little more practice, she will be ready to ride to school with the rest of the kids.

Sydnie and Lu Lu

This is an old picture, I have been holding onto for awhile. Sydnie and Lu Lu have had a long road to becoming friends. Sydnie likes to treat Lu Lu like her little doll or stuffed animal, and Lu Lu has had a hard time figuring out how to deal with it. But as she has gotten older she has become much more patient with Sydnie, and almost puts up with anything Synie dishes out. Including being put in doll cribs, and packed around by Sydnie like a stuffed animal. We love our little dog Lu Lu, she has really become a part of the family. We haven't regretted for a minute getting her. I think the secret to our good experience is being prepared by other family members who had recently gotten dogs on what to expect, and just in general being at a stage in our family life where a dog was a fun addition to our family and not an extra burden.

A few more things we did this summer...

Here are a few pictures I have been meaning to post. Shaun has had to work just about every Saturday this summer, so it has been a pretty uneventful summer. We have managed to do a few fun things.

First the Moultons came for a visit from North Carolina. Audrey and her kids came to spend a couple nights at our house. The girls had so much fun playing with their friends again. Audrey and I had fun digital scrapbooking and catching up. We will miss them, Audrey is pregnant so it will probably be a whole year before we get to see them again.

Everyone taking a break from playing. From left to right, Brianne, Sydnie, Isabelle, Micheal, Maddy, Kaylee, and Lu Lu.

Sydnie and Micheal taking a much needed bath. I took this picture to embarrass them with someday.

A few weekends ago, Shaun finally had a Saturday off, so we went up to Strawberry Reservoir to go cray fishing. We had a lot of fun. Their were so many Cray fish you didn't even need a pole, you could just scoop them up in bags and nets. Shaun even managed to help each of the girls catch a fish.

Kaylee and Brianne holding a sample of our catch, the rest are in the cooler.

Sydnie reeling in her fish, she got it to shore but it got away before I could get a picture of it. It was just a little guy.

Brianne holding her catch.

Kaylee reeled in the biggest fish of the day, but not quite big enough to keep. Darn it! My girls love fish, but I hate them, especially trout.

Finally, this weekend Shaun had to work, so I took the girls on an outing to the Salt Lake Temple. I wanted to take some pictures for my craft show. The girls had fun playing in the water fountains while I took pictures. Then we went to the visitor centers. The old tabernacle was open too. I haven't been in there since they reopened it it was cool to see the old organ again.

This is my girls favorite part of the visitors center. Kaylee says its just like walking up to Heaven.

Here are the pictures I took for my next craft show. I am going to develop them and mount them on wood. I think they turned out pretty cool looking, I'm having trouble picking which one to use. Maybe I will do a few of each.