Happy New Year!

It is hard for me to believe that 2013 is over. It was right after the New Year last year that Adam was officially offered his job, and we committed to moving to Fairbanks. I soon started to freak out over having a baby, packing a house, packing a classroom, wrapping up loose ends (i.e., IEP's) at work before maternity leave, AND being in Alaska June 1st. Well, lots changed, but we made it! We have some pretty amazing friends who helped us out a lot getting the house packed. That's another story though.

It was beautiful in Fairbanks yesterday! For the first time in a while it was around 20 degrees (for those keeping track, me, that is 60 degrees warmer than a week or two ago.) It was the perfect weather to take the Bug outside (bundled up of course.) He loves outside, but when it's below 20 degrees we limit his time, if any. Today though, we decided to break out the sled! We've tried it a few times, but he usually screamed his head off. Today, he thought it was a grand idea!

I love this one.

I took these photos a little after noon. The lighting is so funny here. It makes everything so pretty. Sort of wish I knew what I was doing with my camera!  I also have a new lens on my wish list.

Happy Little Snowbug!

Don't be jealous of my hot outfit! 

After sled riding we had a post sledding jump in the snow. HE LOVED IT. Since we didn't want him to turn into a popsicle though, it was brief.

For the first time last night the Aurora was really out. It was a crystal clear sky, and beautiful colors. I decided to try out what I had learned in December at the photography class and take some photos. I got everything set up, but Nada. My camera would not register, which means that I had something set wrong. I looked over my notes, over my camera, everything. I gave up and decided to send my teacher an e-mail asking her, for future reference, what I did wrong. She wrote right back and told me to call her. Friends, it was 11pm. She was nice enough to talk me through my camera at 11 pm, AND IT WORKED! (For future freak outs Brooke, MANUAL FOCUS!)

Not great photos because my neighbors house is light up like some sort of compound, so the camera picks up their lights as well. The other problem I have is when I pointed my camera, I can't see anything. I set the camera up on the tripod, point, and shoot (30 second exposure time) and then see what was in the way of the camera.  BUT I got them! I'll keep practicing. The Aurora really is beautiful!

I'll title this one, "Grill in the foreground." 

See the compound lights? 

The photo above and the photo below were taken about 40 seconds apart. The only difference is I bumped the ISO up to 6400 for the last one. CRAZY what a camera picks up!