The battle of the bulge!

My favorite red head cousin from Washington came into town for a coed baby shower. Uncle Ted and Aunt Sharon hosted a barbecue for the family to celebrate the upcoming baby Louis. While i was there, we were able to have Laura and Marcie battle it out for who had the bigger baby belly. Laura won, but she was about 8 weeks more pregnant. After a wonderful dinner, Marcie opened up her baby gifts. she was blessed with a hand made quilt from grandma and hand painted art by Kate for the baby room. The rest of the big stuff was mailed to her home near Seattle. After the gifts, the cake was cut and we started catching up, while looking at Marcie's baby pictures, conveniently placed on the coffee table. we had a blast as stayed a while having fun chit chatting. Laura even stayed up late with us and enjoyed every one's company. I has tons of fun talking with everybody.

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A Gift for Brad's mom; family photos!

A while back by buddy Brad called and asked if i could take some family pictures for him. we wanted to put these pics on a digital frame and give it to his mom for her birthday. We set up a day and a time early in the morning for some good light and cooler weather. Erin and got there and we scoped the area out and found a great spot for photos in the back yard under some trees. We started with the basic family photos, then the fun started. Since the pictures were to be in a slide show, Brad suggested it would be cool to each consecutive picture add in the next person added into the family. We would start with the whole family and remove a member one by one in reverse order they were added to the family. We did this so when the order was reversed in the slide show, members were added in order. then the goofy pictures started and with all the creative minds, we got some good ones. The kids had fun playing around and hanging in trees. The guys had fun giving trouble to their mates. The whole Schaefer family had fun and as a result, the pictures turned out wonderful! After all the posing, i brought in the camera and gave them a preliminary slide show of what the pictures looked like and they all liked them and were excited. Erin and i wrapped it up with lunch with brad and mari at bandannas. thanks for the fun time and great pics Brad!

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Camping 2008

Another summer has come , and you know what means; camping! Erin and I ventured to a different camp site, the Bass river resort. We chose that location because we would be able to use rafts on the deeper waters and thus greatly reduce the time we were dragging as compared to canoes. Jeff and I packed up the suburban all day on Friday and when Erin got off at work at three, we jumped in the sub; and left. After a seemingly quick drive, Jeff, Erin and I unpacked and set up our tents.

Then Shortly after, rad and Mari arrived. They (Brad) unloaded and set up. Soon after we started drinking the drink of the trip; lemonade and blue raspberry vodka. It was a great drink. Then Jeff, Brad & I started in on he rum & coke and screwdrivers. Brad quickly reached the goofy drunk stage and the laughter wouldn't stop. We had a good time hanging out around the fire. then late that night, we called it a night.

The next morning, Eric, Kayla and Joe joined us to float. Then we went to float. We used rafts for the first time this year. I thought it was fun, but at some spots we would move and it got a little tedious. We talked and relaxed for the six hour float. we got back to the tents with an appetite and cooked up our dinner of hamburgers and potatoes. They turned out great. We ate up and had a great time. Everyone drank that night but Brad because he was still recovering from the night before. We all crashed early that night. The next morning we went to the front house for breakfast. Afterwards, Eric & I played in the water, making our annual dam. When our dam was complete, we dried off and ate around the fire. Shortly after, Brad and Mari left. Jeff and i decided to make a huge fire and see what was flammable. When our consumables for the fire were out the rest of us packed our the suburban and went on our merry way. We had tons of fun, thanks everyone who attended.

For pics click here.

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My first time with a model

In march, the photography group i belong to in Flicker had a meet up, where we would learn and practice with models. the models were gathered by an ad in Craigslist and would work for the CD of their pictures. But the ace up my sleeve was the fact that i 'hired' and brought my own personal models: Erin and Bradie.

I got there about 15 minutes late and walked into a room full of strangers. But luckily i was met with smiling faces. We dove into the learning discussion. then we started talking about posing and positioning. Then i started taking photos of my super models. I played with the lights a lot to get them just right. And then bang! the awesome pics started. I started with Erin by a window and then moved to a back drop. I moved my models in and around and played with their position.

During my playing with the girls, i realized that the corded method of triggering my flashes sucked with my Canon brand items. They were not made to do such 'tricks'. Then after some frustration, i went to plan 'B': i used the wireless built in flash system in my flashes. This worked soooooo much better. to i set it up this way. i am totally eyeballing some pocket wizards or gadget infinity triggers.

Then the girls, took a quick break. I was then struck by a great bolt of luck. Kendrick walked in the door looking for a photographer. I quickly swept him up and in came the nervousness. While we talked, i learned how much of a nice guy Kendrick was and how fun he is to work with. I put a color filter on the flash to match his clothing and off we went. i tried to incorporate his flair into the pics by using poses that i saw him use while preparing. we had tons of fun. I moved him and tried cool stuff with his accessories. He seemed to like it also, because he complemented me on how i work and my style. we exchanged info and i told him that i would show him the pics after i loaded it onto my computer before i left.

Then we all gathered for our group pic - which took waaaaaay too long. Then i put the pics on my laptop and showed Kendrick. He was ecstatic. he loved them. He was excited because he normally doesn't like pics of himself but this time he liked all of them.

It was a great experience and i will attend the next meeting. I am glad i ran into Kendrick and i will track him down next time i need a model.

for my pics click here.

Ice Skating in the bitter cold

It was a day in the depths of winter, winds are blowing hard, temperature is well below freezing and it was a great day for ice skating. Jeff, Erin and I met with Brad and Mari at the Steinbrink ice rink in Forest Park. We went inside got our skate passes and our skates. During this time of lacing up we shared some important facts:
-Brad used to be a figure skater
-i haven't skated a day in my life
-Erin used to roller speed skate
-Jeff plays ice hockey and has some some very cool skates
-Mari and Brad go skating a couple times a year

Now given these facts, which one is not like the others?

After we were all ready to go, we went outside only to wait for the Zamboni to clear the ice. Then it was go time. A flood of people filled the ice and skated right past me while i held onto the post that was one side of the entrance. I shuffled, squirmed, slipped and slided but seemed not to go any where, then BOOM i fell. I wasn't hurt but it was sad that i fell like 10 feet into my trip around the rink. But i learned from that fall and didn't fall completely again, though i had some close calls. Along my way around i watched as everyone in my group kept passing me. So after one lap for me i was done. I was motivated by the fact that i brought my camera and wanted to take some pictures.

I waddled my way back inside, changed into my shoes and got my camera. I took pictures as the guys were frolicking, Erin was experimenting with the hockey stop and Brad and Mari were holding hands. Then the rest of the group was done. We were all hungry and wanted to go and get food together. Four of us wanted Bread co but Brad did not, enter the pain and agony. We waited for Brad to decide what he wanted so we could find a place that only unconvinced everyone else. So we all agreed on steak and shake. We ate and them parted ways. It was a fun afternoon.

Check these pics out.
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Christmas '07

After last year's five trips on Christmas, Erin & I vowed never to do that again so we could enjoy our holiday. This year we started off at my dad's house for a small gathering that included Greg and Grandma. We opened our respective gifts and conversed for a while. In the discussion i found out that the DVDs that i normally got dad, he never uses, or even opens. They were the DVDs of the movies he would glue himself (and I) to watching them when ever they were on TV when i was little. So i figured he would like to watch the full uncut version. Not so much. So i was able to counter his attack of my 'bad' gifts showing him that i asked for nothing long sleeved and he gave me long sleeved shirts. So needless to say, we had fun reminiscing about Christmas past.

Then it was off to Erin's parents house. We got there about 12:45 for a 1:00-ish immediate family gift opening. But we had to wait until 3:00 for Rachel to arrive from her festivities with James' family. We did a quick cleaning for the rest of the family to show. Once they were there we talked and snacked. Then we passed out the gifts and opened them. Jan gave Dot and Joe a digital picture frame with old pictures of years past. we spent a good while watching the slide show on the TV. Then we served dinner. It was fabulous. the boys started playing dominoes and i joined in. The first game i played was a great game. I may not have won, but it was so much fun watching Jacob drawing 20 dominoes to get a play. After some games of dominoes, it was off to guitar hero. We played that for a while. i stopped to say good byes to the people as they left and then started the whirl wind of activity. Barb left to take her brother back to Florissant while Erin, James, Rachel, Mr Peters and I completely cleaned the house leaving little to nothing for Barb to do when she got back. Then we visited with Barb for a bit longer and we head home and we were ready because it was 1:00 in the morning. It was a wonderful Christmas.

To see pics click here.
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