Pre-Game Gifts

This weekend Hubby and I will celebrate our fifth anniversary.  We are celebrating by taking the family to the zoo.  For a while I have been bugging hubby about getting me a new camera.  My camera was a digital point and shoot, and I loved it.  Poor thing, I took more pictures with that camera than most people take in their life time, ok maybe not that many but I seriously but that  thing to work.  When we originally got the camera it was perfect because little man was young and not moving.  A baby that cannot move is a perfect subject for a point and shoot camera...however once they start running and playing and jumping and being kids it gets harder to capture their pictures.  I gave up on the "sit right there, hold on just one picture, say cheese" posed pictures because, let's face it, you cannot get a two year old (or their one year old sister for that matter) to sit still for any length of time.  So I did some research because I was convinced my camera was broke, come to find out it's not broke...I just need a faster shutter.  (*by the way, these are my opinions and I am in no way a professional photographer so do not take my opinions to heart)  I have been reading and reading and finally decided on the Canon Rebel T3, and hubby got it for me for our anny!!! I am in LOVE!

Hubby has been wanting new clubs for a while and I wanted to get him a new set for our anniversary, but I wanted to get him a nice set that he would LOVE.  I know NOTHING about golf clubs.  I looked online and done some reading and decided on Callaway.  I went to Sports Authority to get them and they were out.  I was pretty happy about that because that bought me time to pick hubby's brain some...thank God I did because he does not like Callaway and did not want them.  He told me that he did not even want a new set of clubs, just irons...again THANK GOD I did not buy anything at Sports Authority.  So I got on the phone with the Edwin Watts Golf Pro in Destin and started picking his brain.  He told me there was a new set of Nike's that my hubby would DIE for.  I thought yea and you want me to sell my house to be able to afford them right?!  Long story short, he did not have any in stock but called the local office and they were able to put their last set on hold for me...and they were not that pricey.  So after work I stopped by and picked up his new toys Nike VR-S irons.  And he is IN LOVE!! :) 

You know I could not wait to get home and play with my camera.  I only wish I had more day light after the babies went to bed to play outside.  My favorite picture taking is macro of plants and close ups of people.  I did however snap SEVERAL pictures tonight, of the babies and hubby.  I think my next purchase needs to be photoshop...I am currently using gimp but I am not technical with my editing so I really want photoshop where I can download actions and I don't have to worry about lighting, white balance, blah blah.  I do not have any photography education so everything I know I have taught myself and read online, so I have a lot of learning to do.  That's the fun part right!?

 Again, I am still fighting with blogger so I apologize baby girl's picture is sideways.

 His famous "cheese" face.

 Does she not look like she is up to no good?

 Who woulda thunk it another "cheese" face.

He was worried about his sister, she was not listening to mommy.

 When hubby got home he could not wait to play with my new toy...until I surprised him with his then he didn't care about anything else.  In fact he could not wait to send out a text to his buddies and family telling them what an amazing, wonderful, the bestest wifey ever!!  Actually he was forwarding a picture of his new toys.

 I love taking portraits with this camera...I cannot wait to learn all the features it offers.

Hubby was enjoying posing for me too :)

So there ya have it, our pre-game gifts as I like to call it.  We decided to do them early because, I wanted this week to practice with my camera so I will be able to take good pictures of the zoo and I wanted him to have his early to play with before we left.

Again, I am so excited to finally have this new toy I have dreamed about for a long time...please leave me a comment if you have this camera or any other similar camera that you can offer me some tips or suggestions.