Clara Faye Steiner

Our first child was born today @ 9:33am after Janel was in labor for ~30 hours (ugh). She weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20.5 inches in length. Everyone is in good shape, but tired.

I have some photos posted here with many more to come :).

Kendra and Jim get Married

Our friends Kendra and Jim got married yesterday in Troutdale, OR. Congrats to them! I got to play with my new 35mm Prime Lens :). Here is one as they were walking down the aisle after the wedding was over.



You can see all the photots (just a few) here.

Pig Roast

Last weekend Allen attempted a Pig Roast. A good time was had by all despite the fact that the pig did not cook quite as well as we had hoped.

So, how did this work?

Allen dug a big pit in his backyard. Saturday evening they built up a huge fire in the pit at about 3:00AM. Allen had a ton of wood from cutting down some large trees in his yard. They then threw a bunch of lava rock on top the fire (which were intended to hold the heat). Then, in went the pig (wrapped in a burlap sack and banana leaves). Then went a tarp, followed by filling in the rest of the hole with dirt. The goal is to slow-cook the pig.

Here is the pit around 3:00PM the next day (yes, 12 hours later):


Pulling the pig out.


Uh oh ... looks a bit undercooked.



Luckily the other side (which has rested on the coals/rocks) was in better shape.


The undercooked meat was thrown on the grill. Here is Allen battling it out with the head.


Next time around Allen is going to try and get the pig buried in the hot rocks rather than just resting on it. We will see how round 2 goes.

For more pictures, go here.

Fantasy Football

We are getting our fantasy football league together. This is not a serious league (no money involved), but we are looking for people who will actually try (that means spending ~5-10 minutes every Friday making sure your players that are injured and on bye weeks are subbed out). We do have a live draft (but you are welcome to try your luck with auto draft).

If you are interested in playing, email me.

Google Analytics and Picasaweb

Looks like Picasaweb (where I keep my photos) recently started to support integration into Google Analytics. Analytics is a free tool for monitoring your webpage stats. This is a handy way to watch the popularity of your photos (if you are in to that sort of thing). Instructions can be found here (it is easy).

Last Vacation Before Kids

Janel and I took a 3-day weekend out to the coast for a little break before our daughter arrives. We stayed in a little hotel in Depoe Bay (Inn at the Arch Rock) which was okay. Friday we drove down to the coast and took it easy ... reading, napping, etc. The weather was so-so.

Saturday morning we drove down to Newport and visited the aquarium which we both enjoyed. Definitely a good place to bring the kids in a few years.

Here is a photo of a puffin getting ready to take off with his mouth full.


A jelly fish:


For lunch we ate at "Local Ocean Seafoods". Highly Recommended.

Janel and the bridge in Newport. She is getting pretty big ...


That afternoon the clouds came in so we took it easy. I took advantage of the soft light to take some flower photos.

And a flower shot from outside our hotel room.


You can see all the photos here. Reminder: You can now click on the photos above to see them full screen (this only works so-so for those of you reading in facebook and not on my webpage).

Baby Shower

Anna and Michelle threw Janel a baby shower. Janel's parents were in town, which was nice timing. I was forced to attend this typically all-female event :) and was relegated to photographer. Along with Michelle, Anna, and Janel's parents, we had Kendra, Kim, Katherine, Lynn, and Rachel.

All the photos can be downloaded here.

Note: You can now click on my photos and get a full-screen image instead of getting sent to Picasa.

Janel and her parents playing the "guess how big Janel's waist is" game.


People guessing what kind of "poop" (melted candy bars) is in the diapers.


Me with the clothes that I am rumored to have come home from the hospital in.