Hello...

I can't believe how quickly this last month has flown by and how little I've been keeping updated on my journaling.  I miss my writing.  I miss knowing our memories are being recorded.  I miss my readers (are there any left??).  What I don't miss?  My kids.  My husband.  Spending time with them.  We've been having some good 'ole fun together and FYI, my newly turned 3yo is a pretty fierce competitor at "Hungry, Hungry Hippos". 

My photography business has pleasantly surprised me in that despite my own harsh, critical views of myself and what I think so many of my images are lacking, my phone has been ringing, my inbox enlivened by inquiries and I've kept busier than I would have expected for this time of year.  With my computer time being eaten up with editing images, FB posts and correspondence, I apologize and am saddened I haven't been better about keeping my blog updated and our family memories recorded.  Soon I hope to spring a TON of new posts on you celebrating Miss Em's 3rd birthday, Easter and our daily living.  Until then, know that our family is doing well and have been having a wonderful Spring...well except for these awful allergies the kids and I seem to be suffering.

Just to prove the kids are doing well, here's a picture I took of them last week while dragging them along on a location scouting expedition:

26/52 - Project 52 {Mommy Love}

For those of you who haven't checked it out, you really should take a couple of minutes and click over to my photography blog sometime as I post my weekly Project 52 photos on there as well as sneak peek previews from recent sessions.

I have a couple of sessions I'll be posting in the next couple of days, but I'll share my most recent Project 52 post with you here since it still pertains to my family. :)

Wednesday Wishes...

Feeling a bit sluggish today?  Like this week is  s t r e t c h i n g          
on slowly?

Feeling a little rundown and tired?

Ready for some carefree beauty and joy in your life?

Like an adoring hug from a loved one?

A spontaneous cuddle and smile?

How about your most loved and cherished ones close enough to be held?

Let Me See You Smile

Allergies have got me a bit under the weather this week, but I thought I'd share with you some recent shots that make me SMILE and I hope they bring a SMILE to YOUR face as well:

Always making silly faces:

Daddy's new favorite outfit on you:

Always putting brother's clean underwear on your head:

Can you hear the big "CHEESE!" that is being said?

Yep, this is how we roll.

Happy Wednesday!

A Winning Month

All my life in our family I've heard, "things always come in threes". Good or bad, this has typically turned out to be true. As a believer trusting and knowing that God is in control of ALL things, I have no need for superstition or "luck", and yet this month it seems this statement is again TRUE! I have won 3 blog giveaways this month - THREE! Can you tell how excited I am? This post is just to recognize how grateful I am for my blessings.

The first and second I told you about here, but the third I just won this past Saturday! Angie, a friend of mine (a friend of a friend really who I always enjoying seeing and chatting with) started The Creative Mama earlier this year and it had MUCH success, but sadly (for her readers) she found needed to take a step back from TCM for a bit and devote more time to her beautiful family (she has a couple of boys around my childrens' ages). Fortunately for her readers, this time off was short-lived and The Creative Mama came back full-throttle as a wonderful community of women photographers, organizers, creators, visionaries and writers, ready to share an abundance of inspiration, creativity, and encouragement! This is truly a website you NEED to visit (and be sure to check out Angie's archives for some great reads).

Recently The Creative Mama had a giveaway for a 1-year subscription to Clickin' Moms , an online community of women with a passion for photography. I've been wanting to join for a few months now, but a 1-year subscription is $50 (well worth it I'm sure) and we just don't have that kind of extra money laying around for me to spend when there are lots of FREE photography forums out there for me to join. However I continued to hear amazing things about this community of women and I even wondered to myself, "Can I ask for money towards Clickin' Moms as a Christmas present?"

Fast-forward to Saturday night when I came home from my girls getaway in the City to find an email from Angie letting me know how excited she was that I'd won the Clickin' Moms subscription! I went to TCM and sure enough - I had won!!! I can't tell you how excited I was - all Daddy heard was a bunch of somewhat coherent (I was very tired from the fun trip) jibberish from me and he saw lots of smiles. I drifted off to a very happy night's sleep... thank you The Creative Mama and Clickin' Moms, I can't wait to dig in and really become a part of this cool community of photographers!

And because I haven't posted many pictures lately I thought I'd share a few from our impromptu lunch at the park earlier this week.


Oh I'm sorry...did you want HAPPY pictures??? Okay well I guess I can try to find a few with smiles for you. Please notice the super cute headbands on Miss Em - they're crafted by Kelsey an old classmate and teammate of mine and she sells some adorable hats and booties for children on her website and Etsy store called FuzzyDudz. You won't find the headbands yet (I need to photograph them all first), but I'm sure you'll love her wooly creations.

Newborn News

She's finally here... our newest little cousin, the adorable and sweet natured Ashlee Mae! I was blessed to bring them some meals and photograph this super mellow girl and boy was it fun watching this special family during this difficult and incredibly precious time of transitioning from a family of 3 to a family of 4! Here are just a couple of pictures and I hope to post more soon:

Ashlee Mae born August 12, 2009

Big Sister Hannah - turned 3 just three days before baby Ashlee was born! Happy Birthday Hannah!

Catching Up

I can't believe I went a whole weekend without blogging! It was actually kind of a busy weekend, with a 10-mile hike up at Lake Tahoe (just beautiful!) then coming home and seeing my SIL's family on Friday, a surprise 50th birthday party for my cousin Lori on Saturday (actually, only Em & I went to this one, the boys went to another birthday party for one of McGee's best friend's) and then a baby shower for me and vocal workshop for Daddy on Sunday. I was plum tuckered out and boy did my feet hurt after that hike! A very giving and sweet friend watched the kids for us yesterday while we were both out and then I ended up staying over there until 7:30 last night just chatting with her and enjoying last minute grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner (I hope I didn't invite myself for dinner because we stayed so late). It was so relaxing sitting on her back porch watching our older two have a water fight with the hoses - can you guess which one kept dropping the hose and running away? Yep, that was my Mr. Magoo, he was definitely in the drop and run defensive stance, but since he was the one who started it with the first hose, I know he was having fun.

Friday's hike with women from our church was a great opportunity to connect since our Bible studies have been out for summer break. I loved the crisp air and all of the rock formations and bridges along the trail. I also loved the rejuventation of dipping our toes in the icy water despite being attacked by all of the geese (one even bit a gal's toe!). I DID NOT love the few stretches of trail that were very narrow and precarious with LONG drop-offs (and no railing or barrier whatsoever) down to the rocks and water.

Saturday lots of family and friends surprised my cousin Lori with a 50th birthday celebration at her home. A friend had taken her shopping in the "big city" and when she arrived home she had a house and yard full of people that loved her! With her arms full of shopping bags I caught this picture of her joy and surprise:

The food was delicious and the company delightful, but I had a major headache and still felt a little "off" from the hike and high altitude from the day before. On top of this, Miss Em had a MAJOR case of mommyitis and didn't want to go to anyone else. I'm not sure if it was the fact that her big brother, whom she is used to always having around and who is a social butterfly, was not there or because I had left her for 12 hours the day before which was the longest we've been apart since her birth. Either way it was exhausting hauling her around and managing her little "fits" (throwing herself back and forth in your arms). I was glad when we were finally home and I was able to crawl into bed.

Saturday the weather was also a little crazy as all of a sudden it started raining! It was a hot summer rain, but it was not expected and the shade covers that had been put up for the party to protect us from the sun, served well protecting us from the rain. My cousin Joel and his beautiful wife and daughter were at the party and they are expecting another little girl in just a few weeks. After seeing Amy's pregnancy "glow", I asked her if I could take just a few photos of her for fun as I adore the pregnant belly. I wish I would have been feeling better and my mind could have thought of some good poses and shots to take, but I do like some of the snapshots I did get and you can see the unedited, straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOC) shots here. One day soon I'll have a chance to play around with the colors, cropping, lighting etc. Thanks Joel, Amy & Hannah for being my guinea pigs, I can't wait to take many more photos of you soon!

Sunday's baby shower was lots of fun and the gifts included numerous handmade items from a couple of friends. The mommy-to-be was asked and actually selected fabric and various items she wanted made including a giraffe diaper bag (very chic, not a baby print type), Baumshell nursing cover (oh how I LOVE mine!), large, stretchy swaddle blankets, bibs, embroidered burp cloths, onesies, diaper changing pad, super soft taggie blankets and probably other things that I can't think of right now. I am amazed at all of the talent in creating and sewing that there is in my circle of friends. I go crazy when I see all of those beautiful fabrics and prints!

Well I think that about wraps up our weekend. I hope you had as much fun as we did and that your week has started off with a mighty awesome day today!

Captured Moments

I had the pleasure of sneaking a few minutes away yesterday with McGee to go down and play with my niece and nephew today. Of course I wanted to take the opportunity to play with my camera and take lots of pictures! They were incredibly easy to photograph and we had a terrific time with the kids just playing in the backyard and "Auntie" (me) following around with my favorite new passion (my camera). Here are a few of my favorite captured moments and you can see more of my favorites right here.

And because there are just some more serious photos I think should be in black and white...

As you can see I am loving the new lens and I do adore photographing life, please let me know if I can come and capture some of your moments!

It's Here!

No way!

Yes, yes, my new camera lens I've been wanting has finally come! Thank you to all those who contributed toward my lens for my birthday, I was able to buy it straight away yesterday morning and the 2-day shipping actually got it here today (a day early)! I was so excited I quickly attached the new lens, took the kids out front and started shooting away.

Honestly I was a little frustrated and disappointed at first, the shots just didn't look very clear at all. After another go round I realized I hadn't switched it to "auto-focus" and hadn't been manually focusing it my self - duh!!! Once that little problem was taken care of I was thrilled with the results. These next two photos were without the "auto-focus" on and the rest of them were taken once I got my head screwed on straight!

McGee trying to "catch" the tree leaves

Our sweet Miss Em (who was actually quite cranky today and had to stay home and nap with Daddy instead of going to play at the park)

McGee digging in the dirt

He loves to emulate all that Daddy does!

Always examining, always thinking...

I can't wait to shoot LOTS more and play with my new lens, so be prepared for many more posts chalk full of pictures! Happy Tuesday!