It's been a long year and I can honestly say I'm glad it's half over. Who would've predicted what 2020 would look like to the entire world? Not me, for sure! 

Though it looks different than I imagined it, I am grateful for the things I've learned, the patience I've gained and the slowing down of life in general. One thing that really helped me during this time has been photography! I've loved having more time to explore my yard--it was amazing to see my yard transform and come to life this spring! I also found a new love for my telephoto lens!

My telephoto lens is a beast! It's super heavy, but it has the most amazing compression and blurs the background to look like butter! I found that in addition to watching the birds in my changing trees, I could photograph the beautiful flowers and leaves! It was so cathartic for me, and I really enjoyed escaping the new normal for a few minutes and enjoying my view! 

Find more serenity from around the world by continuing through the loop and visiting Jillian Baudry, photographer in the south of France.

It's hard to believe another month has come and gone by! Between quarantine, homeschool, end of school, and trying to keep my kids from getting "too bored" and a torn calf muscle, it went by in a flash. I feel like our May film is fairly similar to our April film...but here it is anyway!

My boys have been handling quarantine rather well. I think the extra screen time and less school work has played a part in that! ;) But I wanted to find out a little more of their thoughts on all things quarantine and coronavirus. So I interviewed them (with bribery, because they didn't want to do it...), and made a little film with a lot of their answers. Right now they are 15, 13, and the twins are 11, so I thought a play on the title would be quite appropriate! 
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I dare you not to crack a smile as you watch! ;)

I love spring! The awakening of the earth after a long winter's nap brings me such joy! I am always in awe as I see the birds coming back from their migration, the daffodils and tulips as they make their way through the hard ground, the blossoms as they burst open on my trees, and the smell of fresh rain that hightens my senses. There's nothing that I can think of that rivals spring!

I love exploring the world each spring time, but this year with COVID and quarantine, it wasn't possible to go on adventures outside as much or as far as I usually do. I was going stir-crazy in not being able to get out, and that's when I decided I needed to do a nature project close to home--so I could find some serenity while never leaving. Of course, my camera and yard had to be part of the project, but I decided to make a couple more parameters to accomplish this task: video and my Lensbaby Edge 50. The Edge 50 easily converts between macro and landscape modes, so I could capture a bit of both. It was the perfect little lens to keep on my camera for this project. Over the course of a week, I went outside and captured the blooms and blossoms of different flowers as they made their appearances.;

Here's a look at my final product of the serenity I found in one week of April in my yard. 

I hope you enjoyed a little slice of serenity in my yard! The Serenity Project is done with some of my photography friends, so continue through the circle to see how they found serenity in their neck of the woods! Up next is: Pam Douglas, Still Life Photographer.

April was mostly spent at home, due to quarantine. As it was colder than normal, we actually spent most of our time inside. We spent time doing homeschool with all 4 boys while Dad worked from home. We celebrated the twin's 11th birthday, and tried to find new toys and things to keep us entertained and off of screens all the time. It was not the April we had planned in January, but we enjoyed the time at home and finding some joy with just us. Here are a few of my favorite images taken at home during the month.

In June of 2018, my family went to Yosemite National Park as part of our family summer vacation. I loved every second of it! Yosemite has always been a dream of mine to visit, and I cannot wait to go again someday!

I took many pictures and video clips while there, but never got around to editing anything. After almost 2 years of saying I'd get it done, I finally did it! It was such a joy to make this film and to relive the fun we had and to see again the beauty we saw! Quarantine has certainly made me nostalgic for getting out and for seeing other people! 

Hope you enjoy a little look at Yosemite as well as Sequoia National Park!
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I know I've mentioned it on my blog before--my family loves to ski! I didn't grow up skiing, but my husband did, and he taught the boys how to ski while I practiced. Well, we're all getting pretty good at it now (proud brag moment..!)
This year, my twins qualified for the Utah and Idaho 5th grade passes, so we explored 2 resorts in ID and 4 in UT, as well as one resort in WY. We had a lot of fun trying new places!
With the help of two cameras, my husband and oldest two boys we got some great video footage of our season! I had a lot of fun putting this little video together, and I dare say it's my favorite film I've made to date! Come join us on the slopes for a little virtual ski time!

It's really amazing how much life has changed in the last month. This time last month, everything was pretty normal for us still. COVID-19 was on the horizon, but we weren't in quarantine yet--school was still in session; everyone was crazy stocking up on toilet paper, water, flour and canned goods; we were still allowed to go to parks and stores.

​But everything is the complete opposite now. School is all online, parks are closed, stores are still open but limiting the number of people inside at one time as well as limiting purchases on sought-after items. I even found mounds of TP and water the last time I braved going in! 

I live in a pretty wide-open area. The country. It's a great place to live right now because I can get out any time I want to! But, we do get kind of bored of not going anywhere else. Luckily, the state parks in Utah are open to residents of that county, and thankfully we have a state park in our county. It's a nice little bay off of the Great Salt Lake, full of fresh water. We decided to open up our trailer and spend the last night of our spring break (at home) going somewhere besides our yard. And boy, was it nice! 

With it being prime bird migration season right now, I had so much fun watching them in their habitat. I also used my long telephoto to get some pretty images of the budding spring foliage, and tried some horizontal panning. 

Boy, was March interesting or what? On March 1st, life was pretty normal, but by March 31st we had been quarantined for 2 weeks, and we were getting pretty used to our new normal. This corona virus has truly turned our world upside down! But life goes on, and I documented the shift between old normal and new normal. Here's a little look at our March, 2020.

Another installment of Hanging Out With the Hamson's is here! February was a lot of fun packed into a shorter month (but one more day than normal with leap year!). I honestly didn't get as many video clips as I'd hoped, but enough to put together a little look at what we did.