"Yeah I'm free, free fallin'"

We heard this song on the way to skydiving--Nate thought it was quite appropriate.

For Christmas, I thought it would be fun to get Nate a skydiving gift certificate. It is kind of hard for him being in Texas, away from the mountains that he loves, so I thought this would be a fun outdoors activity for him to do. When I told my parents about it, they thought it was a great idea and asked if I wanted to go, too (they would pay!). At first I freaked out saying there is no way, but then I gradually warmed up to the idea. So, we bought two gift certificates for tandem skydiving. Right after Christmas I found out I was pregnant--dang. (But in a good way.) So I couldn't go skydiving, and the gift certificates were only good for 6 months. When Andy found out what I got Nate for Christmas, he thought that would be so fun and would have loved that as a present. So Andy came down from Utah and took my place. We thought it was a good idea two weeks before he goes on his mission--he's got angels with him, right?

The weather the day before the scheduled flight was very stormy, and on Saturday the clouds were still trying to clear out. So we were really nervous that they wouldn't be able to go at all. And then we saw how tiny and old the planes were, and that made us even more nervous. Then I was introduced to the pilot, who looked like he was...older than retirement age, and that made me even more nervous. But honestly, the thought that they wouldn't be able to go was worst of all.
Mackay loved sitting in the planes. The scheduled sky dive was at 11:00, but because of weather, (and a very flirtatious owner to other girls that were SUPPOSED to sky dive after us), they weren't able to go until 2:00. So we had lots of sitting around to do.
I thought this was funny on the plane. I can't imagine that first feeling of looking out of the airplane and the ground far, far below.
Even though I really wasn't too nervous, I got a lot of "last pictures" of Nate and Andy with Mackay--just in case. Unfortunately, Mackay was getting over an ear infection, and wasn't a bundle of joy most of Andy's stay.

I was taking pictures of Andy learning how to jump out of a plane at 10,500 feet when Nate jumped in the way. That's okay, he was excited.
Last of the last pictures.
While we were waiting for them to come back, Mackay loved trying to wear Andy's hat. Unfortunately it was a little big on her, and she soon gave up.

Here is a picture of the inside of the plane. We were surprised at how small the planes were. In all the movies everyone is sitting comfortably on benches lining the plane--but oh no. I'm pretty sure only one person could sit comfortably on the floor behind the pilot's seat, but they crammed 4 grown men. They said that they had to crouch down on their feet because there wasn't room to really sit down. Andy was afraid that he had broken his ankle. When the boys got down they told me that when one of the instructors was trying to stand up he was having trouble, so the pilot jolted the plane really quickly to aid in him standing up. They were afraid to lose the pizza we had just eaten. Luckily everything turned out alright.

First sight of Andy and Nate. My camera is zoomed in as far as it can go.
Andy coming in. I guess they were supposed to jump close to the same time, but Nate was surprised at how difficult it was to actually jump out of the plane because of the speed. So he was a ways behind.
I don't think I've ever seen Andy smile as big as he was after he landed.
Here comes Nate! They were going so fast, that I had to turn my focus onto manual, and it was difficult to get them very clear. Nate insisted on wearing the orange suit, even if it was a little small.
The precision that they land with is incredible. They landed right on Andy's parachute.
Nate's ears hurt and he couldn't hear very well for a while after he got back onto land.
And another thing that is unfortunate: my camera has previously had an ISO setting extremely high for a low light situation. I had my shutter speed at 1/4000, and wondered why it was so high. I didn't realize my error until I got home, so I got a lot of overexposed, grainy pictures. I guess we'll have to do it again.
Nate was surprised at the lack of adrenalin that he experienced while skydiving. And I am surprised at how calm I felt letting them go. They both said that they would do it again, since the second time they would be able to enjoy it more and not be trying to remember everything they were supposed to do. Andy said he forgot to hold his legs up, so they were flopping all around kicking his instructor. So the other guy grabbed his legs and held them really tight in between his. So it's not like they remembered much anyway.

I am planning on going after Baby Boy Barker is born, and my mom casually said she would go with me--so I'm holding her to it.

Hands Project

I have been working on a project for a Relief Society lesson. (I am not the one that is over-achieving.) This Sunday we are having a special lesson on visiting teaching. Men are taking over primary and nursery, and young men and young women are combined so that all the women can be in attendance. The Relief Society President asked if I could take some pictures of hands that somehow had to do with visiting teaching. I reluctantly agreed, since it is a little out of my comfort zone. But it was a great experience. I learned a little bit more about how big our ward boundaries really are (30 minute plus drive to some people's houses), and I also got to experiment a little more with my new flash (which I love!) I posted a few of them (she requested 12) on one of my other blogs, and wanted to post the link so that you can check them out. I guess you can say I am kind of proud.

kallibarkerphotography.blogspot.com

Oooooklahoma

Nate had Friday off this past week for Good Friday, and we wanted to do something fun. Since I had a couple of photoshoots, we couldn't fly anywhere, but I had the "great" idea of finding a place that Nate could go fly fishing. So Nate found a place in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma just has the sweetest country folk you would ever meet--and their accents just make me giggle inside. But there is one problem with Oklahoma: it cost us $42 to go camping, as well as Nate's fishing license of $23. They don't have a one day fishing license, only a five day. And you can't pay for one or two nights of camping, but a "passport" which is good until December. Also, for paying so much it would have been nice if there was at least a picnic table, or some running water. So it looks like we will definitely be going back, if we like it or not. Where did the idea go that camping was a fun, cheap way to get away? Because we definitely wouldn't have spent that much money staying in Dallas.
Nate took Mackay on a little hike while I was taking a nap in the tent. He had to think of some way to repay me for letting him go fly fishing while I entertained Mackay. She was up in the backpack, which she loves, but her head is higher than Nates. And Nate didn't see the thorny branch that was hanging down. I guess they were pretty tangled up, and Nate had to try to get them free by feeling behind him, not being able to see what was going on. Mackay, of course, was crying. Then Nate asked her if she was okay, and she said, "I'm okay." And didn't cry again. Her new nickname is scarface.
We had s'mores, which Mackay loved. I'm so glad we remembered to bring a bib. Notice the rock has has in her bib. We are discovering that she has pretty good eyes. The rock she was carrying around was actually a fossil of a seashell. And we found "rocks" that she was collecting on top of another big rock, and Nate noticed that they were all pieces of arrow heads. And then when Nate dropped his fly in the gravel by the car, and couldn't find it anywhere, he asked Mackay to help him look for a shiny bead, and she immediately pointed to it. Looks like we'll keep her around.
Here Mackay is multitasking--eating a s'more and roasting a marshmallow.
Nate fly fishing. He caught 5 fish! Mackay even got to pet and kiss one--she loved it. When we said goodbye to Nate before he did some more fly fishing she said, "Bye, love you. Catch more fish." In the rush to get out of the house on Thursday afternoon, I didn't think of packing anything for Mackay and I to do while Nate was in the river. No books, games, nothing. And half of the time it was extremely windy and cold, so Mackay and I were trapped sitting in the car with the heater on--and there is only so much for a two year old to do in there before she got bored. We survived, though. We went on some little nature walks, and when Mackay turned to me and said, "holdyou". I said, "Mackay, you are hiking!" And she didn't want to be held anymore. Hiking is way cooler than just walking.
Our friend the raccoon. The first night we were there it was an incredibly windy day. I was afraid of a tornado, Nate was just afraid of our cheap tent from Wal-mart blowing away. We heard the garbage can rattling around, and in the morning we found this. Nate could kick the can and he wouldn't even budge. For this picture he is tilting the can to get a better look and still nothing. Even the flash from my camera didn't bother him. After Mackay saw the raccoon, we had to look into every stinky garbage can that we saw to see if there were visitors there, too.
River that doubles as a road.
Nate driving over the river.
Nate driving over the river again. I can't tell you how many times we did this--we thought it was pretty cool. Almost worth the $65 (+ food and gas) camping trip.

Catch-Up

Life has been pretty hectic with photography and editing, editing, editing. But I had two cancellations this past week, which means free time for posting a blog! Looking through my files I noticed a lot of pictures that had fallen by the wayside. So here is an eclectic conglomeration.

I had an engagement photoshoot a few weeks back at the Stockyards in Fort Worth. Since it is a pretty crazy drive, when I have this location Nate and Mackay come with me and do some sight seeing while I am photographing. I met up with them afterwards, and Mackay had no intentions of leaving any time soon. We went into this shop, and saw the cutest little cowboy hats. Mackay is wearing three sizes up from the smallest size--so imagine a cute newborn picture with a cowboy hat on! We put the hats on, and I told Mackay to do a thumbs up. Notice her fingers: this is what she does whenever we tell her to do something with her fingers--she just squeezes them together really tight. We're working on "2" though. Also notice Mooch in the background--he goes with us everywhere!
Happy Easter! We should have gotten more pictures than we did, but oh well. Mackay and I both got new Easter dresses (thanks Nate!), but forgot to take our picture before church. Whenever we are doing anything remotely messy we take Mackay's clothes off-it is less stressful that way. Here is her chocolate egg that she got from the Easter Bunny.
Here we are dying eggs. Mackay had a lot of fun (despite this picture), and this morning when she woke up she said she wanted to color more eggs. Sorry, there is such thing as too many hard boiled eggs.
Nate and I have each heard that you aren't a true Texan unless you have gotten your pictures taken in the blue bells. They grow in open fields with no shade--awful for pictures. We have seen on multiple occasions on the side of the freeway families pulled off to the side of the road with their kids sitting in these little plots of grass with blue bells. That's a little bit much for me, but we did find a location really close to our house that had a plethora of the flowers--way better than the side of the freeway. I thought I would try to get Mackay's 2 year pictures done.
Think again. It is a possibility that I have a camera in her face too much and she might be growing sick of it. She refused to look at the camera, she refused to smile, and as soon as I sat her down she would get up and start walking towards me for me to "holdjew". It was pretty hectic with me running backwards trying to get a shot, and Mackay crying towards me. I think I am going to have to pay someone else to deal with this child. Though my last photoshoot involved a 2 year old, and I'm convinced it is the worst age for trying to get a good shot. Oh, and story about these pictures: I got my stuff out of the car as soon as I could, because everyone knows that with toddlers, time is of the essence. I threw my keys down into the weeds next to my bag, thinking that it probably wasn't a good idea and that I should move them. Well, I forgot. After a very frustrating photoshoot, I got Mackay into the car, threw all my stuff in, and then couldn't find my keys. It would have been fine if I had picked up my keys before picking up my camera bag. So I was frantically looking through the weeds and flowers for my keys. It took about 20 minutes, but I eventually found them. Hurray! I was so mad at myself, but luckily we didn't have to wait an hour for Nate to wrap up at work and come and get us.
This picture was taken when Mackay was only a few months old--not even sitting up yet. Nate propped her up in the corner of her crib to make it look like she was a stuffed animal.
And here is Mackay now with all her stuffed animals. She has more hair, more teeth, and definitely more stuffed animals! Oh, and I love my camera. Notice the difference in color between these two unedited photos.
We found a hiking place only about 30 minutes from our house and checked it out a few weekends back. Mackay insisted on wearing her hat (which she has always hated), and she and Mooch even did a little hiking themselves.
We walk around like this everywhere. Mackay insists that Mooch is part of the family.
Mackay's first experience with Capri Sun--of course she loved it!

Mackay found the tape one day, and kept wanting pieces. I had this great idea, and she let me do it.
From Mackay's Utah cousins she got a bubble blower and a boat with toys. She loves her toys. The day we got them we took them outside and filled the boat with water. It turned into a waterfight--Nate throwing water on Mackay and Mackay throwing water on Mackay. They had a great time.
Bubble blower
Mackay has hopefully just past threw a phase of spilling her juice at least once a day. It's always on accident, but it always happens. This day we had just gotten home from somewhere and Mackay needed a drink. I gave her a glass of juice and told her that when she was done she needed to set it down on a chair, because I needed to run to the bathroom. I heard a squeal and came running in. She had tried to put her glass on top of her high chair, which is way too high, and tipped the juice all over her head.
I got a few clothes for Baby Boy Barker, and Mackay insists on wearing them. It's not worth the fight, so I have let her a few times. She wore this bib around for most of the day, refusing to let me take it off her. I finally took it off when she was trying to put a glass of milk into the fridge on the top shelf--and poured it all over herself. Notice that it is the same day as the above picture.
More of Mackay wearing 0-3 month boy clothes. She kept asking to put the shorts on. They are not shorts, they are just really small pants.
Playing with playdough. Mackay wanted a blanket, pillow, and binkie. I made them for her all out of playdough. This idea came from making bedding for a playdough turtle. She layed him down on the pillow and started saying his prayers, "Heavenly Father, Jesus, Heavenly Father, Jesus, Turtle." We are teaching her well that she needs to say her prayers before she goes to bed--and so does turtle.
She needed her camera to take pictures of the blanket she layed out on the ground.
Mackay was calling for me, and this is how I found her. Madeleine's hair is blue in places because of the wonderful automatic red-eye touch-up from Photoshop elements.

Videos

Mackay's birthday cake. Notice that she sings the last part of "Happy Birthday". Tori is the little girl sitting behind her--she loves them so much! And this is the only look at the birthday cake that you are going to see. I didn't even think to get pictures. I worked really hard on the frosting, and then used fondant to make the flowers. It was just like playing with playdough like Diane said! Though I didn't know how to get the flowers to stick to the cake, so I just sat them on there... I was getting pretty tired.


There are no words to describe what Mackay has been doing recently, so just watch:

Mackay has started to randomly tense up her body and scream as hard as she can while at the dinner table. I have no idea where she got this idea from, but we think it is pretty funny. She always looks at Nate to make sure he is laughing. We were at the library yesterday, and she looked and me and said, "Mom, one...., two...." And my heart immediately started to race and I said, "No! No! No!" I'm not ready for embarrassing moments with my child yet.