Sam Nelson

My good friend Dion and his wife Marcie gave birth to their third son two weeks ago. This is the first time we saw them since the birth and I of course had to get some photos. :) They named him Samuel, or Sam, for short. I think the name is so cute and just perfect. In a day when people are naming their kids some really bizarre stuff it is nice to see a normal name. 

This is little Sam. I have shot a number of new born babies and they always sleep. But not Sam. He was almost wide awake the entire time. This was one of the few photos where he was actually sleeping.

I told you! He was wide awake and very conscious of everything going around him. Super cute isn't he? 

Here is one of all Dion's little ones. Bracken, Landon (or little Dion), and Sam. Super cute boys and so much fun to photograph. Landon is a kid with a thousand different looks and he loves to show all of them. 

Congratulations Dion and Marcie!

iPhone

I got my issue of Wired magazine today and there was a vey good article on the advent of the iPhone and the impact it has had on the wireless handset industry. No longer are we required to put up with crappy products just to use a wireless networks service. It is a great article and makes me even more proud to be an iPhone user.

This post has a two part reason for posting. The first reason I am posting is to see how Blogger works via my iPhone and to see if I can actually post from it. I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to, but you never really know how it will work until you try. The second part is to give my two cents on how awesome the iPhone really is.

I got my iPhone the first day they became available and have never looked back. Is the iPhone perfect? No. But then perfection is most assuredly in the eye of the beholder. Amazing it most definately is. I won't go into all of the specifics. That is what the creative people in Cupertino, California get paid to do. Check out Apple's website for great little videos and all. What I truly love about this thing is the ease of use. It doesn't even ship with an owners manual! My blender has more of an owners manual than this does. Just think about this post for a second. Here I am sitting on my bosses couch (while I should be working) and am posting to my blog from my phone! I don't know about you, but I think that is pretty amazing. But that is only part of it. The keyboard rocks and I love that it is smarter than I am and fixes my spelling for me. Perhaps there are other phones out there that do this also, but I guarantee that they don't do it as well.

I gave my girlfriend my Treo 650 when I got this. One day she wanted me to send someone a text from her phone. It was the most annoying experience. The buttons have to be pressed HARD and there is no such thing as spell check. I was so glad it was no longer my phone. :) I made up for it though and bought her one. We actually bought one for my mom too as a welcome home gift. That is how much I like it. I would buy you all one, but I had better talk to my boss about a raise first!

Visual Voicemail is another one of this fantastic little additions that you wonder how you ever did without. You don't know what Visual Voicemail is? Imagine your voicemail looking like tracks on your iPod. You select the one you want to listen to and that is it. No more listening to multiple voicemails trying to get to the one that has something in it that you want. Awesome! Did you also know that if you tap the spacebar twice at the end of a sentence it will automatically add a period and a space? I find pleasure in the little things.

With the recent February update you are now able to customize you home screen with the buttons you want or make your own from bookmarks on the web. I have already filled my main screen with my favorite links.

If you have been thinking of switching over to the iPhone I would highly recommend it. It is beyond amazing. You won't regret it.

Salt Lake City in Black and White

I am constantly going downtown and taking pictures of buildings, people, signs, etc. After going to the Gallery Stroll on Friday I decided to go back down there and wander around there for a while. This is the west side of downtown and many of the buildings are old and dilapidated. But a block away you have The Gateway, which has some of the newest architecture and commerce in the city. 

As I was walking around I saw many things that I thought would look good in black and white. Plus, the day was overcast and gloomy. Black and white just seemed right.

Click here to see some of the photos.

Galley Show

A friend of mine, ex-coworker, and fellow graphic artist was in a gallery show last night. He has begun painting again and was showing some of his paintings in the gallery of the design firm that he works for, Modern 8. It was fun to see him and especially to see what he has been up to since moving to Modern 8. 

Speaking of Modern 8. When you walk up to the building you would have no idea what is in it, especially not some modern design firm. But you walk through the door and automatically you know where you are. Clean lines, bright white walls, brick accented walls, wood floors, and just a touch of chrome. I was really excited to see it. They had this Farr Ice Cream on the wall right when you walked in the door. Awesome, isn't it?

Russ had done a series of paintings from his trip to Peru a few years ago and a couple paintings from his trips to London. I was really impressed with his paintings. My favorite was the one he painted for his dad of their London trip this last summer. They went on a river cruise and this is where the painting came from. I really liked it.

Great job Russ!

Homecoming

My parents had their homecoming today in Logan from their mission in Bulgaria. As it was in Logan, where we all grew up, it was fun and exciting to see a lot of the families that we grew up with. But the best part was, of course, having our parents home. Their homecoming talks were fantastic and so heartfelt. I am so lucky to have such wonderful parents. This is a photo I took of them during dinner this evening. 

I am so happy to have them home and look forward to spending more time with them. It is always nice to get the family together and to spend time with them. It is funny how we always end up in the library telling stories from the past, laughing at each other, and just being together. 

Ashlyn looked absolutely gorgeous and I got a few photos of her. I really need to plan something when I can get her to model for me. She has beautiful eyes and is beyond darling. I really liked this photo as it makes her eyes just shine. 

Greg Norman

We spent Thanksgiving in Boise and while there we looked for some new and interesting wine. In Utah you take every chance you can get to look for wine not normally available here. You got to love Utah liquor laws! While there I found a Merlot by Greg Norman. I am a huge golf fan and have always known of Greg Norman, so it was pretty cool to actually see some of his wine. 

Well we finally got around to opening one of the bottles. (Ya, we bought a few!) I don't know what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was delicious. Don't worry, I am not a wine snob. We had it with pizza. So if you get the chance I highly recommend it. It goes perfect with pizza! :)