Picasa

My new favorite computer program is Picasa you can download for free. I've known about it for years, but didn't understand all the amazing things you can do with it.

If you haven't heard about Picasa or you use it occasionally, keep using it!

This week I discovered it's head matching capabilities. Simply tag a few people's heads and it will automatically catagorize every picture on your computer into all the pictures with that person. It's pretty accurate. The problem you will have the most is with siblings (b/c they have very similar features). For example, Picasa thinks I look most like my sister Jessica, my brother Christopher & Donny looks like two of his brothers.

It also makes looking at all your pictures really easy. Instead of browsing through each picture folder on Windows Explorer, Picasa allows you to effortlessly scroll up or down through many albums practically effortlessly. It will also catagorize your pictures with your videos as well.

In your video screen, you can capture picture images directly from the video as a still image. We love to use this on kayaking videos.

You can also edit your pictures directly from Picasa. No need to upload your pictures individually into picnik, you can find the picnik link to the left of each picture. Makes it really handy!

Picasa will automatically sort your pictures by date picture was taken OR date uploaded (if date is not stored under picture properties).

You can also make collages with it too!

I stopped using Picasa b/c I got it confused with Picasa Web Albums. It's totally separate. The reason I stopped using Picasa is b/c I ran out of free space. Downloading the Picasa program, however, has no limit on the amount of pictures you can use. The actual program doesn't take much space on your harddrive.

I would still organize and label my pictures in Windows Explorer, but for everything else, I would just go directly into Picasa.

I'm still learning even more tools with it. It's awesome! Now I'm a believer!

How do you use Picasa?

Lots of new posts!

I just posted a bunch of new posts (2 pages worth w/lots of pictures). Go all the way back to "What is Love" to see all of them.

Can you please vote on your favorite wedding picture too? That's the post I really want a comment on. Thanks!

Train Ride

We got to see ALOT in Colorado, but one of my favorite things was the way we got home.

Did you know instead of flying or driving that you can catch the train to go to your destination? I had no idea, but my brother-in-law does it all the time. It's cheaper than driving or flying. We ordered our tickets on amtrack.com a week before and also went on a Wedneday or Thursday, so the rate was cheaper. It was only $59/each for a ticket from Denver to home. And this route is by far the most pretty in the U.S.

A reservoir in Colorado right outside Denver.

The nice thing about riding the train is you get to see new territory that you can't see with a car on a highway. And you go through ALOT of tunnels.
and the best places to put train tracks are usually next to a river because it's smooth ground and cuts through canyons. I always love seeing rivers. This route actually goes next to the headwaters of the Colorado River and you follow the Colorado River for hundreds of miles.

This section was super pretty:

Getting into Utah:

Jan. 18th

Some tips to riding the train:

1. It goes alot slower than driving. We left at 8 am and didn't get home until after dark.

2. Bring your own food (train food is expensive). We brought a haul of food and you could just see people staring at us the entire way wanting our food.

3. There are alot of interesting people on trains. Lots of different cultural backgrounds (the train you don't need a passport and only 1 person in your party needs an ID card). There are alot of seniors too.

4. The train goes 1 pace. You will see the constant changing of acceleration when driving makes driving more interesting.

5. Sit in the dining car so you can have full windows so you can enjoy the view! These seats are taken fast, so save your spot right when you get on the train.

6. You can bring a lot of luggage if you so desire.

7. Bring books/magazines to read. Card games are nice too.

8. If you smoke, smoke stops are few and far between.

I think everyone should try this once in their life. Super pretty and interesting way to travel!

Denver Zoo

The day before we left Boulder, we decided to go check out the Denver Zoo. I haven't been to a zoo in a really long time and Cambria had season passes and could bring guests in with it, so we went. I took TONS of pictures, but these were the most interesting animals:

I think this is called a Tebor (from Africa). It's nose was incredible the way it moved!We caught the snake at the perfect time. Gross!

So colorful:

Interesting fish:

Can you see the tiger's eyes glowing???

One thing I realized as I went to this zoo, is that I've seen alot of wild animals in the course of my travels/hiking/rafting in their natural environment. I've seen 100's of bald eagles, golden eagles, all sorts of fish, birds making mating calls, 2 bears NOT in a national park or fenced in. I'd must prefer to see some animals behind fenses--that's for sure. ; )

Jan 17th

Rocky Mtn. National Park

On Jan. 16th, we drove to another National Park. It was a long drive, but very spectacular. There were alot of people visiting the park that day too. The drive there was equally beautiful.


Entering the Park:Hiking around a ice covered lake:



We started driving home and then it became a blizzard. It was scary! At one point along a river, we saw a car that slid off the road in the direction of the river. It's front wheels were not on the ground, but over the river.

We were happy to arrive at home safely.

Dinner with Andrew

On Sunday, Jan. 15th, we went to Ty & Cambria's ward. After church the van wouldn't start, so Ty figure out he could connect a wire to two places on the van's starter and it would start the van. So he has been virtually hot wiring the van for days. Even after church he had to crawl under the van and hot wire it in his suit.

I have some outdoorsy friends that live near Denver and I wanted them to meet Ty and Cambria so they could do somethings together with their kids. So we invited them to dinner after church. It was super fun talking and catching up with them.

Here's a picture of me and the kids watching Jesus movies on the internet. You can watch them from this link. I was watching them by myself and one by one the kids came to watch too!

Buffalo Bills

On Jan. 14th, we went for a drive to the surrounding area. It was beautiful and just like I imagined Colorado to be. One the drive, we saw a turnoff for Buffalo Bill's gravesite. It's on a hill overlooking Denver. I don't know about you, but I guess I didn't believe Buffalo really exsisted until seeing his gravesite.

There was incredible views of the city of Denver from there.

We also drove along the river.

Jan. 14th