em

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T09:04:02Z

Merry Christmas! This was our nonconventional Christmas card this year. Suming up the craziness as a movie poster. And it was very last minute too. Almost didn't happen.

Destroying Daddy's raked leaves

2009-12-22T01:14:37Z

We officially started shopping for Christmas TODAY. Have never waited this long to get started before, now we can say we have. We got all the kids done today while the girls were watched by our new Bishops wife. They are both so sweet. She had to twist my arm to make me leave the girls so I could get things done. She even made us dinner for tonight. We're getting closer. Jonathan's taking off the rest of this week since he has accumulated a million vacation days and since nothing is booked this week. Yay! It won't be an 80 hour work week!

emilywhite @ 2009-09-15T00:11:00

2009-09-15T07:27:43Z

This is the John Madden Viewing Lounge

This is why I didn't see my husband all week. He was putting together The John Madden Viewing Lounge, or Mad"Den". Center Projection Screen was 12 feet by 9 feet. The 9 Plasmas were 63 inch screens. It was an insane project, but it turned out pretty cool. Me, mom and the kids went Sunday morning to hang out with Jonathan at "work" for part of the morning. I'm not into football, so I was there for the catered breakfast. Waffles and made to order omletts. I was also busy keeping Annaliese from running crazy around the room. Couldn't have her bothering John or the EA Sports executives, or my mom for that matter. She was there to watch the game(s).

Me and Madelyn.

Annaliese looking cute before our walk.

White on white on white - The White Family

2009-05-22T05:53:04Z

We did a family shoot at the stage after a clorox shoot.

Madelyn in her blessing gown that Nanny made for her.

Jonathan talked me into unsealing my wedding dress for the white on white photoshoot. I don't recommend putting on your wedding dress 6 weeks after having a baby.

emilywhite @ 2009-04-20T17:37:00

2009-04-21T00:44:45Z

fujifilm f50

My apologies to those still dealing with the cold and snow. It broke 90 here today.
Hey, anyone know where my camera charger is, or my pc laptop charger for that matter? Both are dead and useless until I find the chargers. I'm sure in some random camera bag somewhere. That's what happens when you hardly use things. Angst! Anyone want to come over and search for them while I eat bon bons and watch TV? That'd be great thanks.

emilywhite @ 2009-04-19T23:12:00

2009-04-20T06:14:03Z

Nanny and Madelyn.

This kid sleeps anywhere. She is in Annaliese's mini papazan chair. It took some convincing to let her stay there. Annaliese is pretty hip on whose is whose and what is hers and what used to be hers that technically should still be hers.

emilywhite @ 2009-04-07T20:32:00

2009-04-08T15:29:55Z

Madelyn at 17 days old, with Mom and Annaliese. Apparently you rub Madelyns head for good luck.

The baby at 10 days. I am far to stressed to get in a good photoshoot of my own child. I can do other peoples kids, but I pull the plug on the project at about 20 minutes of shooting when it's my own.

Annaliese loves to cuddle up to Madelyn. Here Madelyn looks a lot like Tom Tom's baby photos. She has a very Tom Tom look from time to time. (Ben & Siri's youngest.)

emilywhite @ 2009-03-27T10:57:00

2009-03-27T17:57:34Z

There she is all 8lbs 8oz. She has a face and dark hair like mommy.

Long days and longer nights. You sleep when you can.

Most clients always ask what to do with their hands in photos. Madelyn doesn't have that problem.

Here she is mixing it up again. The under the chin, pondering life look.

First bath. This was the most disturbing to Annaliese, she doesn't like to hear the baby cry. She'll run upstairs and crying and say, "I don't like that sound." She's nervous about the baby.

Our first family photo. This was yesterday. This was the first time that Annaliese decided that she was okay with holding the baby. She hadn't showed any interest for the last week, but was carefully talked into it. This is also the first photo where she has faked a smile. She used to just not smile, now she knows how to fake a cheesy smile.

emilywhite @ 2009-03-25T20:29:00

2009-03-26T03:35:36Z

It's been six days since the baby was born, I figure it's time to post a photo already. (This one's for you Josh.) More later, I'm really tired and still feel like I was hit by a truck, so I'm going to bed.
(Madelyn Bernice. 3-19-09 8lbs 8oz...yeah..ouch!)

emilywhite @ 2009-02-02T12:52:00

2009-02-02T20:58:03Z

"I made papa!" -Annaliese 28 months old
This one about made me pee my pants laughing. Again, followed by me making a mad dash to the diaper bag to grab the point and shoot yelling, "Don't Erase It!! Don't Erase It!! Don't Erase It!!"
She's not toilet trained and can't dress herself, but she can do a dead on artist rendering of papa.

emilywhite @ 2009-01-29T15:03:00

2009-01-29T23:11:44Z

The budding artist. She does her best work outdoors.

SF with Nommy and Papa. Ya think she smiled in the pictures with mom and dad at the pier in front of Alcatraz. That's a big fat NO. There were 8 shots with mom and dad....no smiles. 6 shots with Nommy and Papa...ALL smiles! That's okay, mommy didn't look that great anyway.

7 more weeks to go! And hopefully she'll be early like Annaliese!

emilywhite @ 2009-01-14T10:54:00

2009-01-14T19:02:51Z

Annaliese and her portraits at 28 months. This one isn't papa cause there is no beard. But it's definitely someone in the family with a pointy head. Maybe Jason, Josh, not sure? It insults her to ask. It should be obivious.
Not a fancy shot, but I had to get it fast with the point and before she erased it. I was running upstairs to grab the point and shoot yelling, "Don't erase it!! Don't erase it!! Don't erase it! Don't erase it!" Then it was a miracle she even stood there long enough for the shot. She loves her new art set from Andi.

This was when I first discovered she could draw faces. We were at Jonathan's work and I looked down at what I thought were her normal scribbles and I was shocked to see a head, eyes, nose, smile and body!! I freaked out! I think it looks like Wall-e.

emilywhite @ 2008-12-21T09:42:00

2008-12-21T18:09:08Z

Nikon D3
Photos by Josh

My card design this year.
Then I had them printed on Metallic paper. They turned out really cool. I didn't send many out this year, but then again, I just started my Christmas shopping this weekend and haven't wrapped a single thing. I'm usually done by now, but I'm a little behind with everything. (Anyway, don't ask about the hair, it's a sensitive issue.)

emilywhite @ 2008-12-20T09:30:00

2008-12-21T17:37:05Z

Nikon D2X, Nikon D3
Photos by Emily, Josh, Ben and Siri and possibly Mikey.

Okay, I'm going to post the cards I designed this year. This one is moms. It's the concept I came up with when we realized not all of us would be getting together for a group photo. We just had to have photos submitted by twos (except for Nana, we let her in our shot, cause we like her.) The idea originally was to be wearing brightly colored winter hats and scarves, but as you can see I was shot down with that one. We got some participation there, but it was a tough sell, so we said, "do whatever." Any level of participation is a good thing in my family. You take what you can get and I actually like how this one turned out. (I also tried to sell it being printed metallic paper, maybe next year.) It would have been cool.

emilywhite @ 2008-12-19T15:41:00

2008-12-19T23:41:38Z

Nikon D2X
Nikkor 35-70 2.8
ISO 100
1/10 sec, F 2.8

We took Nana to Disneyland. This is why I have not started Christmas Shopping yet. That and I had an insane project for a client this week. Holy Cow, glad that one is done! Now it's time to start shopping. Place your order here.

The train pulling into Main Street Station.

She loved the characters! I couldn't believe she went up to them and gave them hugs.

Riding the "tiny horse".

We scored with the Tea Cups. She loved them.

This is how crowded it was Friday night. This was as close as we could get into Main Street to view the fireworks that night. We're back by the Christmas tree. Too many people! Curse those locals and their annual passes!!

In line for Peter Pan. She almost didn't get on because we ruined the fantasyland experience by starting it off with Snow White. Her little lip quivered when it was done and she said, "I don't like Snow White." There is a reason there is never a line for Snow White. Not a good kid ride.

emilywhite @ 2008-12-08T23:11:00

2008-12-09T07:11:43Z

NIkon D3
Nikkor 35-70 2.8
ISo 400
1/200 f4
Photoshop:
action, crop

Tip for the day: Don't let your kids start sleeping in your bed. Nana kicked my butt last night. She has a thing for Barbies all of a sudden, (which is actually an improvement on her last sleep aid: a fist full of mommys hair. Try that one.) She insisted on taking them to bed with her. She had 5 barbies wrapped up in little blankies. When she'd fall asleep I'd move the barbies, because those suckers can take out an eye if you roll over on it the wrong way. Anyway, she kept waking up in the night realizing the barbies were moved and freaked out needing us to gather up all the barbies and load them back up into her hands. (And she knows if one is missing, why did I teach her how to count?) This happened like 3 times. So yeah, no kids in the bed. Getting her out is going to suck but it's gotta happen cause I'm waking up cranky and the day hasn't started.

emilywhite @ 2008-12-06T18:06:00

2008-12-07T02:10:32Z

NIkon D2X
Nikkor 35-70 2.8
ISo 400
1/200 f7.1
Photoshop:
Used an action I created.

A mini photoshoot with the kids to get some pix for moms Christmas card. This isn't part of the card. Elyse just wanted a photo with the dog.

emilywhite @ 2008-12-04T00:12:00

2008-12-04T08:14:08Z

Just testing an animated gif ad I made for someone today.

I made some changes. Turns out the logo image in the first one was too small a file. It was pixelated, so here is one with a logo that is bigger.

emilywhite @ 2008-12-02T13:27:00

2008-12-02T21:29:15Z

We took Annaliese to look at the Christmas lights on Sunday. She couldn't sit still long enough to be in the shot though.

Christmas Card photo for Jonathans family.

emilywhite @ 2008-11-22T18:30:00

2008-11-23T02:33:13Z

(taken with kjersti's f30)

We did the girlie thing and went to Twilight last night with an auditorium full of screaming teenagers. Let me just say, it was an experience. Full Review to come under the cut.

Best quote of the evening, by a random lady sitting next to Andi,
"I pictured Jacob with Blonde hair."
Hello!!?? What part of Native American did you miss in the 2300 pages where they were on and off the Indian Reservation?? That's when you're reading just a little too fast. Let's try for a little bit more information retention.

Before I start, lets just say over all, I really liked this movie, I am beyond happy that they adapted the book into a movie. It was a fun night and I enjoyed myself. So now, let the cut throat reviews begin! First off, I didn't go in with over the top expectations because I didn't want to throw my soda at the screen and scream profanities at the credits when it was over. (And thankfully that didn't even come close to happening.) I made myself let go of the fact that I wasn't the one hired for the casting of characters, (I have no idea why they didn't call me for that !!!!) I let go of the fact there would be no conceivable way that Edward was going to look like Johnny Depp from 16 years ago. (He was my Edward and definitely would have nailed the part, had this been done 16 years ago, when I was actually 17 and more in the demographic for this movie.) Secondly, I knew they were going to have to take creative liberties for the movie adaptation that would make it impossible to include every detail of the book. However annoying it was when the deviations occured, and whenever random new events popped up intermittently and as the details I knew and loved slipped one by one, I still managed to enjoy the adaptation.

Now I still loved the movie, but if I'm being critical, here are the issues I had with the movie. Lets list:

1. Rosalie. Too processed looking and not soft on the eyes. Not the natural beauty she was in the book. Definitely cast wrong. She would have been a better Victoria and Victoria would have been a better Rosalie. But nobody called me and asked my opinion. (But I did like the Victoria choice, she was perfect! So maybe cast a different Rosalie altogether, like a Scarlet Johansan look a like with an attitude.)

2. Another switcheroo would have been Jasper and James. James would have made a better Jasper and maybe Jasper could have let loose a little as James.

3. Which brings us back to Jasper. What the...? He had an Edward Scissorhands expression throughout the whole movie! Does the actor have another expression in his bag of tricks? I must say it got a little painful for me. He needed to way tone down the "pained tormented thirsting for human blood and resisting", approach he obviously felt the need to spin this character in Ev-ery Sin-gle Scene he was in!! Not working for me. I thought this was the character that controlled others emotions. Should have played it with just a little bit more of a handle on things. A subtle pain would have worked better for me.

4. Bella I think was cast well. She had to get through a lot of dialoge that wasn't easy, but since she had a good rapport with Edward (Pattinson IRL) it wasn't uncomfortable for the audience to watch. Then she basically had to wear an irritated look on her face for two hours and not make the audience grow weary of it. She pulled it off.(Jasper not so successful with this approach.)

5.Edward took an interesting approach to his character. I know he played it as if he were trapped in this teenage purgatory which worked for the most part. He just played it awfully tormented and almost unsure of himself in so many of the scenes. Like the words were even difficult to form in some interactions with Bella. This was the only difficulty I had with his approach to Edward. In my vision of this character, even though he was pained at times, I imagined him always dazzling, charming and confident in their interactions.

6. The sparkling skin. I can't imagine how they could have done this without a slight cheese factor. Maybe making the skin look more like a translucent stone of some sort, but that whole concept is a definite crap shoot putting it on the big screen. I have no complaints really.

7. I'm trying to figure out how they are going to make Jacob bigger in the next movie. He's supposed to grow literally overnight and look like he's 25. That I'd like to see.

8. Alice I thought was cast extremely well. Would have liked to have seen a little more of Alice's character in this first film. She is a favorite. We really didn't get to experience much of her which was unfortunate. And where the heck were the Cullens at the prom? Were they not supposed to be an Abercrombie and Fitch add on the dance floor? That was a let down not seeing them all decked out.

That's all for now. Still enjoyed it immensely and will see it again with Jonathan. They have to gross 150 million before they can roll number 2. I'm confident this thing will have the Titanic effect. Titanic grossed so much because all the teenage girls saw it over and over and over in the theaters. This movie will do the same. 150 million, not even remotely a problem.

emilywhite @ 2008-11-06T21:16:00

2008-11-07T05:50:38Z

I guess it's time for another update. As you can see by the photo, we have decided that it's time to enforce a little discipline on our girl who was born with lots of fire inside. Hmm, not my child. It's amazing what 2 minutes in the naughty corner can accomplish. She still likes to throw things at Nanny's dog, but who doesn't? (Just kidding Nanny, we like the dog.) That's not true, Nana doesn't really like the dog. When she takes a nap or goes to bed and the door is open even a crack, she'll sternly yell at me, "CLOSE THE DOOR! Puppy don't get in!!" Nana has a long memory. Apparently the puppy wronged her and she's not willing to let it go.

Halloween. Nana loves Halloween, and not the cutesy Halloween, she likes the skeletons that talk and all the freaky scary stuff. Again, not my child. Up until Halloween I would make special trips with her to Target so she could see the "Halloween Scary" as she would call it. I'd push the cart to the Halloween section and let her animate all the life size skeletons and grim reapers while she smiled ear to ear. One of the times I took her to let her animate everything in the aisle, and a mother had to quickly usher her freaked out 5 year old child out of the aisle. Yeah, she's a strange kid I know. When we went trick or treating, she wanted to linger at all the houses that had all the intense decorations. I should have known she'd be like this the day we were at Disneyland buying souvenirs and her daddy had given her a box of princess dolls to hold while we strolled her to the check out. We passed by an aisle of Jack Skelington dolls and she spotted it and chucked the princess right to the ground in exchange for Jack. I guess that's what happens when you let your kid watch, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" at 12 months old in the rotation with all the other Disney movies. Not afraid of anything scary.....except for the rain. She doesn't like rain. Go figure.

Attending a Halloween party at the church. They had trick or treating there, and people would move some of the really scary decorations to hide them when Nana came to their station. I'd have to say, "No need, she wants to see it. Pull it back out."

My little Witch. She pulled her costume out last night and asked to go trick or treating again. Sorry bug.

I guess we were too slow for Jason getting back to the car after we went out trick or treating with the kids. He had a much effective method to get the kids back.

emilywhite @ 2008-10-24T14:00:00

2008-10-24T21:05:10Z

Just working on a little inspiration for Kjersti's Photography homework. Try submitting a photo like this Kjer. Does this evoke emotion? It does if your mom. I emailed this photo to mom at work and commented next to it, "you think she looks bad, you should see your furniture and walls." I'm sure mom's really excited right about now that we moved in.

Eating the pen. That gets me mother of the year right there.

emilywhite @ 2008-09-17T16:41:00

2008-09-17T23:44:59Z

Nana found a buddy to play with at Andi's bridal shower. This may be her Disney buddy at our next Disney trip this December! Maybe then she'll actually want to go on some rides.

Wow a Wii!!! Won't Erik be excited!!! Faithy is!!

Peek a boo!!

emilywhite @ 2008-09-07T22:31:00

2008-09-08T06:13:39Z

The following images were taken with one of these:
Nikon D2X, Nikon D70 or Nikon D200

I figure it's time for an update. I have been feeling so crappy in my first trimester that I just haven't been on here much, but that is going to change, and I promise I will be better at getting to my comments. So, it's an update in photos of our most recent family activities. This shot is Annaliese playing a little Bocce Ball in John Madden's backyard. We went to a farewell party for John that kicked off the football season. He basically gets on the big Madden Cruiser and is gone for quite awhile, so his wife decided it would be fun to throw a kick off party. Nana enjoyed a little Bocce (or shall I say picking up the balls from our Bocce game and tossing them around so daddy wouldn't know that mommy was winning.)

Here we are heading out after the party was over and waiting for our car to be brought back by the valet guys. We tried to tell them ours was the porche, but we still ended up with a Saturn. We also told them that our car wasn't trashed with cheerios, crayons, sippy cups, random toys and garbage when we pulled up, but they weren't buying that one either. I think ours was the most disappointing car for them to park. But even more disappointing for us to drop off.

We went to the Chabot Space Museum in Oakland for the day. Nana going where no baby has gone before.

I thought she'd freak out in this thing, but she already knew how to drive it.

We went to Lake Tahoe for the weekend a week ago. Jonathan's dad has an art student that owns a home there, so we were all invited up. This was a very windy day, but I can't get over just how blue the Lake is. It's like you're looking out at the ocean.

This was the day before. No wind, perfect weather. It was shallow for quite a ways, so you could really walk out there.

We had all kinds of things in mind to do on this trip, but the only thing she wanted to do was, "dig". She just wanted to sit on the sand and play in it. We did get her out on the Truckee River Run with us which is an extremely mild river. There are people just floating in tubes down it, with dogs laying on their laps. She stayed glued on my lap the whole way through. She's not a super big fan of boats, but warmed up to it since she could just sit there and be entertained by the gazillion other people that decided to do the same thing that day. There were tons of families with kids, dogs, drunk college stuntents.... everyone was accounted for.

Breakfast back at the cabin. We had to be careful of bears. If we left the house we had to shut all windows, because a neighbor left a bathroom window open a little bit and the bear opened it up the rest of the way, climbed in and trashed the house looking for food. Yikes!

Walking around outside. You know it's tricky to get a shot of my child with a smile on her face. She is the most intent kid I know, always so serious and busy! In fact if you ask her she'll show you her "angry eyes". Hee-Larious!

emilywhite @ 2008-08-21T23:07:00

2008-08-22T06:11:40Z

Nikon D200

Isn't she precious? This is from a shoot I did a few weeks ago of my bestfriend Amy's sweet little baby girl.
And in other news....my D2X is finally back home and fixed!! Just like new!!