Fall Photos

Quickly, I wanted to post a couple of fall photos.  With Thanksgiving arriving today, there are many things we have to give thanks for.  Two of those are my two girls.  I guess this time next year, the family photos will included 33% more people!

It’s That Time of Year!

Christmas is right around the corner.  Yes, I know Thanksgiving isn’t here yet, but Christmas is in the air!  We’ve gotten our trees up and most of the lights on the house.  Haley is loving the Christmas trees.  She’s doing pretty good about not taking the lights off the trees.

We have got more trees than we know what to do with.  We’ve got one in our room, one in Haley’s room, one in the sun room and one in the living room.  All the trees are pretty small, except for the living room.  I guess they have to be or we wouldn’t be able to move around.

We’re also loving the fire place.  It burns gas logs or REAL wood.  We’ve opted for the wood.  There’s nothing like hearing a real fire crackle.

We’re also getting into photography more.  We’re taking pictures mostly of friends.  We’re not making much money off of it, but that’s not really the goal.  It is just fun to take them.  We’ve got a website set up so that people can purchase the prints.  You can check it out if you’re interested at SimonsProPhoto.com.  Other than that, we’re just enjoying spending time together.  I’ve got the St. Jude Half Marathon coming up in a few weeks and I’ve “sortof” been training for that.  By training, I mean going on one decent length run every week.  I hope I finish!

Of course, no post would be complete without at least one picture, so here’s two.  First one is what I found when I went in to wake Haley up from her nap today.  For some reason, she decided to put her sock on her hand.  Second one is just to make Grandpa Gary proud.

Costa Rica

Well, we made it.  To Costa Rica and back.  Safe and sound.  For those that didn’t know, I recently went on a trip with Hope Presbyterian Church to Costa Rica.  Our purpose there was twofold.  First, it was a fact finding mission.  Our group of 6 was the first group from Hope to go to Costa Rica.  We were also the first group to ever go on a trip with a new group Hope is partnering with, Footsteps Missions.  So a lot of what we did was figuring out the “do’s” and “don’t’s” of Costa Rica as well as identifying other opportunities where Hope might want to send future groups.

The second part of our trip was helping to set up a bakery for a local place, Adinfa, that feeds about 75 kids lunch each day.  The bakery will most likely be used by some of the women that live around there initially.  Hopefully, over time, the women will be able to start a small business of baking and selling food.  Even if they don’t start the business, though, they’ll learn a skill that will help get jobs.  And, they’ll have fun while they learn!

While in Costa Rica, we stayed at a church.  The pastor of the church, Jose, is a very well respected man in the community.  We heard stories about how pastors come from over an hour away to talk to him and get his input on issues that their churches are going through.  One even came to talk to him while we were there.  He and his wife, Roxana, were the perfect hosts.  Roxana cooked breakfast and lunch for us each day.  I honestly don’t think we had the same thing twice.  It was phenomenal.

Pastor Jose’s son, Mauricio, cut his finger pretty badly at work right before we arrived.  Because of this, he was off work the entire time we were there.  It was a treat to have him driving us around all over town.  The roads were unmarked, full of potholes and they were extremely hilly (we were in the mountains).  On top of that, there were no lines and the drivers were CRAZY!  There’s no way we could have done that on our own.

In addition to being a good driver, Mauricio was a great addition to the team.  He always had a smile on his face.  It was also nice meeting his family, Tracie, Sammy, Marco and Hemana.

The kids that came to lunch at Adinfa were precious.  Laughing and smiling, they were genuinely happy.  One day while we were there, we cooked them pasta with cheese and meatsauce.  We cooked them cakes for dessert.  Some of them were a little picky at first, but they all ended up enjoying it.  Well, all except a couple!

Of all the time we spent in Costa Rica, most was spent at Adinfa or shopping for Adinfa.  Part of what we did was to pay off an oven for Adinfa.  We had to run all over town to get them pans for the oven.  We also hired in a baker to give a cooking class for the local women.  The class was a huge success and word travelled around the neighborhood quickly.  There were even more women who showed up the next day asking when the next class was going to be.  We plan to have the baker back to host a six week class for the local women.

Not all of the trip was work.  We did manage to have a little fun.  We had two “excursions.”  On one, we went on a canopy tour in the rainforest.  This is basically a zip line.  There were about 9 zip lines in all.  You’d zip from one platform to another in the treetops.

The other excursion was to Cafe Britt, a coffee company.  We got to see how coffee grows, is picked and is roasted.

Even though we only had two excursions, fun was had the whole week.  There was laughing and cutting up the whole time.  And there was hard work.  But the whole time we worked, we had fun.  Every night when my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.  Completely worn out from the day.  But every morning, as soon as the sun was up, I was back out of bed…excited about what that day had in store.

I’m sure everyone that’s been on a mission trip before has had the same thoughts I had as I left.  On the one hand, I was happy to get back to the States.  I missed my family and I missed being able to order a meal without pointing to what I wanted.  On the other hand, I knew I was going to miss it.  Costa Rica, Steve (our translator/guide), the coffee, the food, the nightly hour and a half long devotionals, the peaceful sleep, Pastor Jose, Roxana, Mauricio and his family, the potholes, Adinfa, the kids, the complete disregard for schedules, the humidity, the people that came on the trip with me that I’d grown to love in only a week.  I firmly believe there are two reasons to go on trips like this.  One is to change the lives of those you’re going to help.  The other is to change yourself.  I don’t know how much of an impact I had on the people’s lives in Costa Rica.  I do know that I was changed for the better.

Quick Photo

Wanted to show off a composite I’m getting printed to replace the 24×30 in Haley’s room.  I did a black and white composite for Laura for Mother’s Day right after Haley was born.  This brings it a little more up to date.  I did it while I was doing one for a friend of ours who is giving it for a gift.  I’d show that one, but I’m sworn to secrecy until the gift is given.

What’s Going On?

We don’t have any new pictures to add, but wanted to give an update on what has been going on.  Life has been fairly busy around the Simons home.  Haley’s learning new words all the time.  She knows what she’s trying to say, but still has trouble saying it.  One word she has nailed is “Shoes.”  And she LOVES shoes.  I’m sure she’ll cost daddy a small fortune by the time she’s 21.

We spent the past couple of nights painting another coat on most of the downstairs.  We knocked out the halls, stairwell, living room, dining room, sunroom and kitchen.  We still ’sortof’ need another coat on our bedroom.  Haley’s room and the hall look good.  Once we get our room done, should we so choose to do it, the bulk of the house will be painted!  The remainder (the rooms upstairs and one bathroom downstairs) should be easy enough for Laura to paint while I’m at work.

We’re still in search of a few pieces of furniture to finish out the downstairs.  We’re in no rush to get furniture for the dining room, but we are anxious to get furniture for the sunroom.  I’m probably going to build in seating with room for baskets underneath along one wall in the sunroom, but we still need a couch and a few barstools.  Once we get the furniture, I’m sure we’ll spend the bulk of our time in the sunroom rather than the living room.

The crib is coming along nicely.  I ordered some hardware that should be here on Friday.  The only thing left from a woodworking perspective is cutting and routing the panels for the back.  The rails and styles for the back are done.  I hope to get those cut and finished this weekend.  Maybe install the hardware too.  The kayak is another story.  I’ve managed to bust my shin on it multiple times.  I’m ready for that thing to be done.  The last time I came in bleeding after scraping up my shin, I nearly scrapped it and called it a day.  At this point, I’m not concerned whether it is pretty or not.  I just want to finish it and see if it floats.

I’ve been running a lot and biking some lately to try to get rid of some of the poundage I managed to pick up.  I’m not quite sure what the deal is, but I’m running nearly every day, watching what I eat and I’ve managed to lose a grand total of 1.5 pounds (as of this morning) in the past 23 days.  Seriously, a glass of water could swing me back to even.  Guess my metabolism isn’t what it used to be.

House and Stuff

Well, we think we may have sold our house!  There is a really cool couple that came by to look at the house on Friday.  They loved the house and wanted to put an offer on it.  It kindof caught us offguard because we hadn’t gotten the contract paperwork together yet.  We talked about it, settled on price and asked them to hold off until we could get the contract together.

They came back over today and we signed most of the paperwork.  Offer letter and counter offer letters were signed.  The only thing yet to be signed by them is the purchase and sale agreement.  They’ve got until Tuesday at noon to do that and another 3 days to provide earnest money.  Quite exciting!

We haven’t started the new house hunt yet.  We’re planning to move in with Laura’s parents for a while if we need to.  We want to make sure we take the time to find the exact house we want.

Haley’s growing like crazy.  She’s getting even more of a personality every day.  She’s probably a couple of weeks away from standing up.  Maybe a month or two from walking.  She almost stands up now.  Until she realizes she’s standing up.  Then she sits back down.

 We went to the zoo this weekend.  We went on and bought a membership so I guess we’ll be going a pretty good bit over the next year.  Haley seemed to enjoy herself.  Almost as much as I did.  The temperature was nice, but it was pretty overcast.  I still managed to get some pretty good pictures.  It was nice to use my long lens for something besides football.  

When I got them home, I started playing with a feature of Lightroom that I hadn’t used previously.  I made a slideshow that is in PDF format.  You can check it out here.  It is really pretty neat.  I’ve also got an update on pictures on the photos page. 

If this is your first time back in a few weeks, you’ll notice a little redesign took place.  Along with the different theme, I also added a ‘recent photos‘ tab.  Seems to work pretty well.  We’ll see how it goes, though.

Time to Shave!

Fall is in full swing and the colors outside are awesome.  As we passed over the wolf river bridge a week or so back, the leaves and reflection off the water was stunning.  I went back there and to Shelby Farms last Saturday morning to snag a few Fall pictures.  Those are available in the Photography album on the photos page if you’re interested.  They can’t be posted in the November album according to the wifey.  She says those albums are for family and friends only.  “No one wants to see pictures of random birds and stuff.”  Yes, that was in quotes.
No Shave November is finally over.  I know, I know…November is still here.  However, No Shave November ran from 10/16 to 11/16.  It was to benefit St. Jude.  It was the first time I’ve ever grown facial hair.  Laura seemed to like it.  I didn’t figure she would.  She actually had mixed emotions about shaving it.

 All is going pretty well here in Simons land.  We’ve all caught a little bug at some point or another.  I’m the one with it right now.  Nothing major, I just feel under the weather.  Its unfortunate, becuase I need to be out running.  I’m supposed to be running in the St. Jude half marathon in two weeks and my running has been next to nil due to work and darkness.  Its tough to get up in the mornings and usually by the time I get off, the last thing I want to do is run.  Luckily, work looks like it may be slowing down some.  I really just hate the winter.  I love the cold, but I hate the darkness.  I seem to get lethargic when it gets dark early. 

We took some pretty cute pictures of Haley the other day with a pumpkin.  Unfortunately, also due to it getting dark so early, the only time we’ve had to take them lately was during lunch when the light is horrible.  For taking them at noon, though, they turned out okay.

Training and Baptism

In looking at Haley’s baptism pictures, I wasn’t that impressed.  So, this past week we had a photo shoot.  I tried a new technique, which I liked a lot.  The problem is, I shot them at ISO 400, which makes the pictures grainy at large sizes.  I’ll pay more attention to my ISO settings next time.  Regardless, I think the pictures came out okay. 

 I’ve also played with some “painting with light” where you take a really long exposure picture at night and use a flash or flashlights or LED’s or whatever to “paint” what the sensor on the camera records.  I’ve mainly just done some proof of concepts, but I may be trying some cool stuff soon. 

I’ve been training for the MS150 lately.  The one I’m doing goes from Graceland to Tunica.  We do 75 miles on Saturday, stay the night in Tunica, then 75 miles back on Sunday.  Last year was the first year I did it.  It was VERY well organized.  I was quite impressed with the turnout and with the aid stations.

This heat is killer, though.  In order to get in long rides, I have to get started around 6:00 a.m.  I was riding some during the week, but now it is getting light a little later, so I don’t have much time in the mornings.  It is too hot in the afternoons.  What’s a guy to do?  I plan on doing a 75 miler on Saturday.  Maybe a quick 15 or so on Sunday morning before church.  I should be ready in time for the ride in mid-September.

Other than that, not much is going on.  We had a meeting for the Africa mission trip I’m going on towards the end of the year.  It is really exciting!  I’m going to be the team lead now.  Pretty soon I’ll have to send out letters asking for prayers and money.  I’m not excited about that at all.  I absolutely hate to ask people for money.  The church really pushes you to send out the letters, though, whether you really need the money or not.  Part of building your “mission network”.  I understand, and could use the support, but I still don’t like doing it.  Guess that’s all part of it, though.