Patience patience, I have none

I am really interested in taking some cool shots, like of ducks taking off from the pond and lightening and shots in dim light, kids in action.  But, I am frustrated trying to learn about my camera, Nikon D3100.  I am supposed to be able to control apeture and shutter speed manually, but I must be doing something wrong because half the time it will not let me take the shot when I think I've got it right.  I am going to have to take a class.  They are offering one at the Sawtooth Center and I will start it in a few weeks.  In the meantime, I've started a few photo books, one for my nephew and one for my neighbor.  I used the costco photo website to start with, but mid book for my nephew I found the Mixbook website, which is really nice and has lots more items to create with.  I like it.  Thus far I've got about 9 to 10 hours into my neighbor Mary Ann's, I'll post a link once I finish it, but I'm loving this so far.  So much fun and I love putting this together for her.  You can change backgrounds, add stickers and just about any border, reasonably priced as well.   That's all for now, hope to post the "Mary Ann" Book soon!