OpenPhotoContest.com

For those that are looking for some addicting fun, my friend David Jay and I have been working on the OpenPhotoContest.com for the past few months. Below is a preview of the voting interface:


We finally launched our first official contests and in the first day of open voting we had over 40,000 votes! It's been a fun project and hopefully a great help to the photographic community as it allows for a contest where the masses decide the best photos. It also allows a photographer to submit their photo and then they receive a rating for their photo which is based on feedback from thousands of people so they can get a great sense of what photos capture people and that people like. It also allows photographers to see a wide range of work from other photographers in a quick and fun way. Instead of rating each photo, you just pick the best of four and we do the complicated math behind the scenes that creates the ratings based on the choices of anyone who votes. Happy Voting!

Swiffer

For some reason, Kiefer loves to run the Swiffer Vacuum all around the kitchen. I think the Tigger slippers add the polishing touch.

Zerbert!

uploaded from my iPhone

Kiefer really enjoys giving his bro zerberts, I don't think Cooper
knows what to think yet.

Bathing Brothers

uploaded from my iPhone

Cooper took his first bath in the "big" tub tonight with Kiefer. He screamed at first, then he just enjoyed chillin and splashin while he watched Kiefer play with the bath toys.

Rolled Over

uploaded from my iPhone

For those of you that understand the magnitude of an event like this,
Cooper rolled over just now! This is his proud look at such an
accomplishment.

So Much Snow!

uploaded from my iPhone

It snowed all afternoon yesterday and we woke up this morning with so much white! Here is Elisa and Kiefer in our backyard (as viewed from our bedroom window). And below is the view of white from our window:

And Cooper and me staring up at the sky watching the snow fall, this really looked so cool with the big flakes falling:


Elisa and Kiefer making their way back to the deck:


And warming up after the fun:

McPainting

uploaded from my iPhone

The McWatters (Darin, Shannon, Jack, Hank, Lily, and Will) came through on their way from Phoenix to Boulder City Nevada traveling from family to family and they decided to stop off and spend the night on Thursday night. Darin painted me this awesome series of three canvases for our front room and we love how it came out! He is such a talented guy, from rock star lead singer of Everybody Duck, to writer of all our summer video productions I worked on at Hume, to being the world famous Reverend D Ray Montgomery, painting is just one of his many talents. Here is Cooper and Will:

And Darin with Lily and Will:

Darin is speaking at a winter camp in Williams, so he was going to drop his family off and come back, so I hitched a ride and kept him company for the drive back to Williams from Nevada. We had a great time hanging out on the drive and Darin is really a good friend that I have missed being around since leaving Hume. I stuck around in Williams last night and watched him speak at the camp before coming home. Here he is in front of the packed Junior High crowd. How he kept their attention at 11 PM I have no idea.

Riding

Kiefer gave Cooper this great ride on his shoulders, I think Kiefer was having a lot more fun than Cooper though...

Merry Christmas!

uploaded from my iPhone

Here's a big Christmas hug from Cooper on his first Christmas!

Nativity

uploaded from my iPhone

Elisa's sister Emily has been working on a Nativity set for us for a
year now and it came tonight! It has 25 pieces to be opened a day at
a time from our cool log cabin shown behind them. Aren't they
amazing?! The little drummer boy is Elisa's favorite (mainly for the
Biblical accuracy).

Bek and Boys

uploaded from my iPhone

Cooper is enjoying some time with Becky and her unborn boy, his future
playmate.

The Tree

uploaded from my iPhone

Kiefer really loves the Christmas tree and just can't get enough
looking and touching of the ornaments. It's funny to see him run down
first thing in the morning to turn on the lights, I think he is really
going to love Christmas this year.

Snowboarding

uploaded from my iPhone

There's snow at Snowbowl so Rich and I made an impromptu run to the
slopes this afternoon for a little boarding. We're on the lift and
have been down a few times, so far no one hurt.

More pics from the day:



The peaks from the lift, the one on the left is the back of Humphreys which you can see from our house



Rich showing his mad skills:



then waiting for the slow Todd...



So we accidentally rode one lift all the way to the top and then found out there were only black diamonds from there, so we spent about 15 minutes enjoying the view and deliberating on whether we ride the lift down :)

Ellie

uploaded from my iPhone

The Ferreiras are here visiting from Hume and Ellie is getting so big,
aren't these two toe-heads cute together.

My Rankles

uploaded from my iPhone

Kiefer loves to be held upside down by his ankles but when he asks he
says "my rankles" which really cracks me up.