Susan and I are having a baby! We went for an ultrasound on Friday and got some beautiful images. Today Susan recorded the baby’s heartbeat using an app on her iPhone (yep, there is an app for that).

If you’d like, you can see the ultrasound photos and hear the heartbeat.

According to my dad, his new computer is so fast that the slowest part of opening Firefox is double clicking. When he found out how to add the shortcut to the single clicking quicklaunch menu, he exclaimed that the time to get on the Internet just dropped in half!

The highlights of their order includes:

• Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core Processor
• 8GB DDR3 RAM
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition
• OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD

I’m curious to give it a try and see how Windows 7 performs and if using a solid state drive is really as great as the reviews seem to indicate. The thing that intrigues me the most is the idea that a solid state drive can’t crash because it doesn’t have any moving parts.

My parents said that as fast as the computer is, the boot time could be faster. Their non-scientific time trial indicates that a cold boot takes about 45 seconds.

My younger sister, Jackie, recently attended her 10 year high school reunion. I decided to take some time and visit with her and her kids in Medicine Hat and put together a few family clips of her boys putting in some serious effort at having a good time.

These are the direct links:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3729257257/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3730075676/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3729315741/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3729368267/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3730395752/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3730027243/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3730923933/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3732638388/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmilner/3732710438/

My cousin Amie and her husband Matt got up early this morning to attend one of Barack Obama’s rallies, this one just a few miles from their house. They got some great photos of the future president!

It’s a civic holiday this Monday, so I’m away for the long weekend visiting family in Medicine Hat. My sister and her kids are going to be there—hopefully I’ll get some nice action shots of the boys jumping off the couch.

Speaking of my sister, check out her new Photography blog.

Posting has been sparse lately so it’s probably not particularly surprising when I say I may not be adding a whole lot while I’m gone.

Every five years my dad’s side of the family holds a “Milner” family reunion. I’ll be up in the mountains this week to celebrate. Here are some historic Milner photos that were recently scanned by my uncle that I posted for this weekend.

These are interesting as just a collection of old photographs, aside from the obvious groove that I get from the fact that I’m related to these folks.

I’m off to Drayton Valley to visit my sister and her family. She’s got three of the cutest kids imaginable:

In the meantime, posting may be sporadic, but I’ll be back soon.

On the morning of Monday, May 12th, my sister and her husband Glen added a third baby to the family—another boy. I am very excited for them as are the rest of my family. Jackie and Glen named him Vaughn Patrick Hutchinson. He was a little over 10lbs and his low blood sugar levels meant he needed to be on I.V. for a day or so until things stabilized. They are both healthy and happy to be back at home.

Meanwhile, in some less happy news, on Monday my Mom’s brother Rodger, went into the hospital as well and was put on I.V. because he was unable to eat. It was only a few months ago he was diagnosed with cancer, and though we all realized his time was short, it is still very hard. He died this morning at around 7am in his home.

Three years ago my brother moved down under to live a year on a work/travel visa in Australia. He got some great photos at many famous Ozzie locations including this one at Uluru (Ayres Rock) that he’s selling on iStock photo:

He messaged me yesterday to let me know he found out it’s being used in a political ad created by Paul Andersen and Adrian Elton, This is what we Australi-Are. The video is the winning entry in a contest to create television ads that promote a better, fairer, more progressive Australia. A friend of his from London recognized him.

Update: I guess the photo is no longer for sale. The Aussie government now requires a release for photos of Uluru.

My brother Gary is down in Argentina this month taking photos and visiting old friends. Today a couple of hooligans, about 15 or 16 years old, tried to rob him. He punched one of them in the face and then made a run for it when they pulled a knife.

Read his story.

Yesterday my uncle Judd passed away. He was 90 years old.

Almost every year, for as long as I can remember, our family gets together on the first of July to watch the Canada Day parade. Afterward, it was our tradition to enjoy a delicious potluck meal at my aunt Lois’ and uncle Judd’s place.

Despite Judd getting on in years, he kept his wits about him right to the end, and I always enjoyed chatting with him. He will be missed by many.

Ahoy, it’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day and that swashbuckling sister of mine has posted a photo of her adorable little pirate—I’d deserve to walk the plank if I didn’t mention it.

Arrgh, check out the jolly catchlights.

Sometime in the early hours of the morning, my sister phoned my mom to let her know the new baby is on the way. Still no word if it’s a girl or a boy but we’re all very excited. I’m off to Edmonton to meet the newest member of the family.

Update: It’s a boy! Eric Robert was born Sunday, June 4th, 2006 weighing in at 9lbs 9oz and measured 22 inches tall. I’m so excited for their family.

Here he is, about 6 and a half hours old. He was pretty quiet and very tired. He did wake up for awhile and check out the people around him.

Seeing as he was such a big baby, I’m sure Jackie is glad she didn’t have to wait a day longer. I can’t wait until he gets older, it will be so cute when he is big enough to play with Ryker.

My sister, Jackie Hutchinson, is a photographer in Drayton Valley.

This is a screen capture of the new website I put together for her. It’s a work in progress as she develops her portfolio, but so far she already has some really nice shots online.

Update: Here’s a screenshot of the newest iteration of her site (as of September 2009). I’m blown away by how great of a photographer she’s become.

Check out jackiehutch.com to see more of her amazing photography.

Jackie and family have moved to Okotoks, Alberta.

My nephew Ryker has some good news and some bad news…

The news is…