Well, That Was Quick

As noted in our last post, our old Kodak EasyShare DX7440 camera died a few days ago. Fortunately, we had a fairly good idea of what we wanted our next camera to be. Earlier this year, once we learned what our tax return would be, Ben proposed the idea of getting Liz the mega zoom camera she'd been wanting for quite some time. He proposed buying the Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD with 15x optical zoom. It had the features Liz was looking for: lots of zoom, custom white balance option, and image stabilization. It also had the option of a remote shutter release (with a remote that is sold separately), which Ben wanted so he could do more stop-motion animation, and also take family photos without setting a timer on the camera.

However, when Liz started looking online for cameras, she was pulled towards wanting a DSLR camera. A DSLR would allow her to have better image quality, particularly in low-light. However, a downside to DSLRs is the high price for extra lenses to get the amount of zoom capability she was looking for.

Finally, we found two cameras: the Olympus SP-800UZ and the Fujifilm FinePix HS10, both with 30x optical zoom. The HS10 was advertised to do better than the other in low light situations. Plus, it was priced equal to a low-end DSLR and had way more zoom capability than any other camera we'd looked at.

Alas, we never got around to buying another camera, because we decided to buy a house instead (which used up all of the tax refund, and more). After a while, we found that reviews of the HS10 indicated it had a slow processing speed after taking a picture. So, we decided to wait until a sequel arrived to fix the bugs in the camera.

With the Kodak breaking down sooner than expected, we were forced to decide more quickly than we had originally planned. So, since we couldn't justify buying the HS10, we reverted to the original plan of buying the Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD. We purchased it new from a seller on amazon.com on the evening 28th. It was shipped out on the 29th. Since we didn't pay more for expedited shipping, we figured it would be a week or two before the camera arrived. So imagine our surprise when the camera showed up on our doorstep shortly after noon today! We've had a lot of fun playing with it since then.

To show off the camera, Ben and Liz would like to show you what they look like taking pictures of themselves in the mirror.



To give you an idea of what 15x optical zoom means, check out this photo:



What is most impressive about the picture above is that below is the un-zoomed version of the same scene:

R.I.P.

To misquote Don McLean's "American Pie" song, today is the "day the music camera died."

Back when Liz and Ben were living in Logan, Utah, the day came for Liz to graduate from Utah State University. Her parents were generous enough to purchase a digital camera for the poor college students (probably foreseeing the day these two would have a blog to share pictures of their children with their grandparents). After looking at what the local Best Buy of Logan, Utah had to offer, the young couple was pleased to receive the gift of a Kodak EasyShare DX7440. However, over five years later, the LCD screen has gone dark as the camera refuses to turn on.



The camera served its purposes well, providing numerous pictures for this blog, Liz's scrapbooking, and the filming of the famous stop-motion animation film, The Story of Ammon.

Someday (hopefully soon) its work on Ben's next film project will see the light of day - he is currently being delayed in his project by two actors who think they're too busy moving across the country to record their parts (hint, hint).

Perhaps the untimely passing of the camera will make the future video a hit on YouTube when it is released. In the meantime, we are in the process of procuring a mega zoom camera (something with more than 10x optical zoom) for Liz. She is hoping to be better able to sneak pictures of the kids if she is far away and they don't notice her. Until that happens, Liz and Ben will likely be antsy as they notice multiple missed opportunities for photos of their children doing cute things.

However, until we get our new camera, it seems this blog may feature less photos. We appreciate your mourning with us at this time of great sorrow and hope you'll join us in the future when we celebrate the addition of a new camera to our family.

Fun with Tools

This morning Ben and David went to Lowe's to participate in one of their FREE Build and Grow clinics for kids.

Ben and David had a great time building a UFO (or a space ship, as David called it). David loved using a hammer (with his Daddy's help). He also loved putting the stickers in place. And all day long he's enjoyed pushing the button to activate the blinking light on top!



In case you're interested, you can also buy various Build and Grow projects here. But why pay when you can sign up to attend a clinic for FREE?!

The First Fruits

We have finally harvested the first produce from our home garden: two zucchinis (which turned out to be delicious when we ate them tonight). We've got blooms on most of our zucchini and squash plants, as well as our cucumber plants, green pepper plants, watermelon plant, bean plants, and tomato plants. It should be a great summer.

End of Summer Story Time

David has enjoyed his spending his Tuesday mornings at the local library's story time program. Alas, the program is over for the summer, so the library hosted a pizza party for all participants and showed Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove. We had a good time there and David and Analeigh both won prizes (a bag of sandbox toys for each of them).

David and Analeigh also got rub-on tattoos and necklaces. They had a little trouble sitting through the whole movie though. Once they realized they could stand in front of the projector and cast a shadow on the wall it was hard to keep them seated.

Anyway, here are pictures of David's fly tattoo and Analeigh's frog tattoo:

Ellsworth County Fair

We drove out to the Ellsworth County Recreation Center Complex this afternoon to check out the Ellsworth County Fair/4H Fair. It goes to show the smallness of the town we live in that there were no carnival rides available - just animals and craft exhibits.

We still had a fun time walking around to look at the exhibits, but nothing really stood out to take pictures of. However, we did get a good idea of what sort of competition we'd be up against if Liz were to decide to submit any of her sewing projects in the future. Ben is convinced she'll dominate the field and earn herself a Grand Champion ribbon (or whatever the highest award is called). Ben still needs to think of a talent he could put on display.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that we got a lot of rain yesterday. On our way in and out of the complex, we noticed that the county's basketball court fills up with about an inch of water when it rains hard, and apparently is capable of holding it in for at least a day, if not longer.

Jerry Ivey Park

Liz has been taking the kids to Salina on most Wednesdays to participate in the "Brown Bag Lunch" group with other women from church. The idea is to meet at various parks in Salina and socialize while the kids get to play. Today they got stood up at Jerry Ivey Park, but David and Analeigh still had a great time playing in the water park area of the park.

Finger Painting

Liz decided the kids need to have more experiences in life, so she introduced them to the ancient art of finger painting. She learned during her most recent blog browsing that finger paint can be made with pudding and food coloring.



Analeigh had a wonderful time making her messy artwork.



Interestingly enough it took almost a full 15 minutes before David figured out that the "paint" was actually edible. He told his Mom that he was a monster because he was eating goo.

Garden Update

Since last we wrote about our garden, we've had extraordinary growth, as well as some sorrowful deaths (of plants that is).

First off, we recently determined that our efforts at growing cabbage were a total loss. We planted an entire row of cabbage and not one plant popped up from the ground. So we dug it up to provide more space for our two watermelon plants.

Which brings us to our second death: Did you know that watermelon plants can't survive being ripped out of the earth by four-year-olds? David recently found that out when he did just that and set it out in the road. Liz tried replanting it, but it was too late. So it looks like we'll just have to put our trust in the one remaining plant to produce the needed watermelon quota of deliciousness.

In the mean time, here is a picture of how things have grown up to now:

Eating Cardboard

We went to the Smith's again after church today to eat lunch. Once again David and Analeigh welcomed themselves to Sister Smith's treat drawer (which she encouraged them to do multiple times). The last thing David decided to get out of the drawer was a box of lime Jell-O.

We couldn't very well make it there, so we told him we would make it at home. In the mean time he could carry the box on his lap during the drive home. Anyway, while sitting in the back seat, he started eating the box. We salvaged the bag the Jell-O was in, but David continued to chomp at the cardboard box, even after we got home and were making the Jell-O.



Just to reassure those of you concerned about David's dietary habits, you may be pleased to know that he did find the Jell-O equally delicious (if not more so) when we served it after dinner.

Sewing Again

Liz has been busy sewing lately. Most recently she made a couple of key fobs, as well as something she calls a "gathered clutch."



Ben wouldn't know what a gathered clutch is, because he's a man and doesn't use such things. He's been on a bit of a manly kick since watching the recently posted Old Spice Guy's video responses to random people on YouTube. Below are two examples:

Making Waffles

In the original Shrek movie, the character known as Donkey is famous for saying "We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning... I'm making waffles!"

Analeigh's version may go more like this: "I'm going to wake up early on Saturday, look adorable, and in the morning... you can make me waffles!"

On the plus side, she was at least willing to help her mommy make the waffles.

Our Little Princess

This past Christmas, Analeigh aunt, Tessa, bought her a very cute princess dress. Since it didn't quite fit, we put it in storage for the day Analeigh would grow into it. While Liz was going through the storage bins today, Analeigh found the dress and ran downstairs with it. She insisted on having it put on her, even while she was fully dressed. Since the dress is still a tad long, she would occasionally hike it up with her hands and walk around the house quite daintily.

Happy Fatty Fourth!

Recently Ben heard news of a delicious new hamburger at a restaurant called Friendly's. The hamburger is called the Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt, and is pictured below.



Since it looked so tasty, Ben visited Friendly's website and searched their locations to find the nearest one. It was in Ohio. Since driving 800+ miles for a burger seemed a little over-the-top, Ben decided that he wanted to celebrate the Fourth of July by making this burger. Because, when you think about, aren't ridiculously fatty burgers what make this country great?!

Our homemade sliced bread dwarfed the hamburger patties, but they were still delicious. You should try it sometime.

Watering the Garden

Watering the garden this evening turned into a contest between David and Analeigh as to who could get the wettest. The rules were that you had to stay on the outside boundaries of the garden - which they both did a decent job of. The winner: David!

Apricot Harvest

We're very excited to see the apricots ripening on the tree outside of our garage. Since the kids have taken to picking the fruit and throwing it, Liz has had to get busy on the harvesting process so that we don't lose all the fruit.



We've still got a lot to harvest, but so far we're doing a good job of getting most of the fruit from the tree into baggies for the freezer. We've got to buy a lot more baggies!