Week 36 - Nate

Vacation! Nila and I met Jordan and Molly in California for a trip through wine country. This is from Pride Mountain Vineyards, an absolutely gorgeous vineyard on the top of a mountain straddling the county line of Napa and Sonoma.

You can see the rest of my pictures from the trip here.

Canon 7D w/ 17-55 f/2.8 IS
Taken at 28mm, f/3.2, 1/1000s, ISO 100

Week 36 - Jordan

Last night was the annual Make-A-Wish "One Enchanted Evening" Gala. It's a pretty big fundraiser for the local Make-A-Wish chapter and it gives me a way to volunteer my time.

Canon 7D with Sigma 30mm f/1.4 @ 30mm 1/40s f/1.4 ISO 320.

Week 35 - Nate

We tried to take 3mo pictures of Grace this week. Unfortunately she wasn’t too happy with that plan and refused to smile or hold still. I think she’s letting me know what she thought of me taking pictures here… by squishing my head (something Nila has been known to try as well). Oh well, we’ll get you next time, Grace.

Canon 7D w/ 17-55 f/2.8 IS
Taken at 55mm, f/5, 1/500s, ISO 200

Week 35 - Jordan

As always seems to happen when you have something going on outdoors, it's been raining a fair bit here recently. This wall of rain was just south of us. Even though it missed us, the rest didn't. There's enough standing water out there now to allow some nice little mosquitoes to breed, which should be great, too!

Canon 7D with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm 1/100s f/8 ISO 100.

Week 34 - Jordan

You may remember that previously we discussed my ability (or lack thereof) to grow grass in our backyard. Well, as you can see below, the backyard has filled in quite a bit. Thanks to a generous donation of time and effort from my father-in-law, we managed to landscape a small portion of it as well. Various birds (not pictured because I'm super-scary) seem to enjoy this little area and eat most all of the seed I put out for them within a day or so.

Canon 7D with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm 1/15s f/11 ISO 100.

Week 34 - Nate

An annual tradition at the Holmquist’s neighborhood is the “doggie dive” where they allow everyone to bring their dogs for a dip in the pool before draining it for the year. Maggie wasn’t a fan of getting wet but her cousin, Riley, was all over it. He is also somewhat neurotic about his ball… look at his eyes, even through the shake, they do not leave that ball.

Canon 7D w/ 70-200 f/2.8 IS
Taken at 130mm, f/2.8, 1/640s, ISO 160

Week 33 - Jordan

Like I mentioned last week, it was my birthday. My wonderful wife surprised me with a new fancy thing to attach to the camera - namely Sigma's 30mm lens. It's pretty neat. Naturally, I had to test it out. I used it a little last weekend at the baseball game, but this week I actually got Roxy to sit still for me.

This also made me finally make the effort to rework my photo site (hosted by the awesome folks at SmugMug) so that when I hand people neat Moo cards, they don't think it was a trick. There's a few things I need to fix, but I mostly like how it turned out.

Canon 7D with 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM @ 30mm 1/400s f/1.4 ISO 100.

Week 33 – Nate

Nila went on a baking kick this week (thanks, I think, to watching Cake Boss) and made the most delicious cupcakes I’ve ever had. White wedding cake, raspberry tart filling with a raspberry buttercream frosting (and, of course a raspberry on top to make them “healthy”). Simply amazing.

Canon 7D w/ 50mm f/1.8 
Taken at 50mm, f/1.8, 1/80s, ISO 500

Week 32 - Jordan

While Nate was enjoying himself in the comforts of an air-conditioned home, I was outside sweating in the same city. When we made it to Kauffman Stadium for the Yankees at Royals games, the temperature outside was a brisk 108. Yeah, that felt pretty warm coming from the 70-80 degrees that Fargo was having at the time. For those keeping track, we drove to Nebraska last weekend and Kansas City this weekend. It was also my birthday (and my brother's, and my dad's) so there's that.

Kansas City was nice to visit and it was doubly nice that my great aunt and uncle let us stay with them. I wish we had had a chance to stop by and see Nate and Nila, but the schedule just didn't quite work out. Good thing we get to see them in a few weeks!

Canon 7D with 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM @ 30mm f/2.8 ISO 100. 9 shots, HDR with Photomatix, stitched with Microsoft ICE.

Week 32 – Nate

The weather this week in KC has been what can only be described as “unbearably hot.” No,the thermometer isn’t broken. This clock is on our back deck (which faces south-west) so the afternoon/evening sun hits it with full force. Click through for a close up of the temperature gauge.

Canon 7D w/ 70-200 f/2.8 IS
Taken at 78mm, f/9, 1/400s, ISO 100