Sometimes I get the chance to take pictures of family.  It tends to make me nervous.  I worry I am going to completely screw it all up.  But I still remember what I am doing and it all works out.  This was no exception.  I shot these way back in June.  And I am finally getting them blogged.  It is about time I get caught up on life.

First my adorable niece.  She is 9 and growing up way too quickly.  I remember when she was the screaming infant who made me question my decision to step into the world of motherhood.  

And my nephew.  He’s 7, can you tell?  He was so excited to find a number 7.  Smart kid.This girl is almost 5.  She didn’t used to love me.  But something changed that day.  She decided I wasn’t too bad.  And now, I am the bestest Aunt ever.  At least I think I am.  :)  She has become my buddy.
And the baby girl.  I am so excited to finally get to know her.  She’s so sweet and happy.  Thanks for being so darn cute!

In High School I did FFA.  Quit laughing.  I still have my fancy FFA jacket, and the black Wranglers I wore with them.  They still fit.  Good thing I wore them baggy back then.  Oh wait.. where was I going.  I wasn’t going to talk about Wranglers.  I was going to talk about cows.  I fell in love with cows in High School.  Every year for fair I showed a steer.  Well not every year for ever, just from my Sophomore year on, when we moved to Pomeroy.  (Smallest town known to man)  I am sure you are wondering why I am blogging about cows.  Heck so am I.  But it popped into my little brain, and it stuck.

A few weeks ago we were at my friend Angie’s house and she had a new baby calf.  I fell in love with her.  I even got to help give her a bottle.  It’s the simple things with me.  And I dreamed of living the farm life again.  I even tried to live next door to Angie so I could pretend I was on a farm and play with cows all day.  Then I remembered I am allergy girl and I really belong in a bubble.  Anyway.. back to the point of this blog.  I remembered how much I loved cows.  And I wanted my kids to get a glimpse of what I did as a kid.. and the things I love.

Meet Bubbles.  She’s not mine.  But I like to pretend she is.  Just for a few minutes.  Especially with those gorgeous Jersey eyes.

I’m a little bit country.  Bet you didn’t know that.

I am so behind on my blogging.  I am working at being better.  But between being Mom, Wife, Photographer and house hunting crazy lady, I have gotten behind.  At least I am working to catch up now.  And I am grateful I am getting these up before their wedding in just a few weeks.

Steve and Jana are one of the sweetest couples.  They are so down to earth and head over heels in love with each other.  I loved working with them.  And I cannot wait for their wedding.  These two are so fun to photograph.   Jana had told me she was worried they wouldn’t look relaxed and natural in their pictures.  I think they did a great job of relaxing in front of the camera and just being themselves.

This was my first shot I took.  Totally relaxed and super cute.Jana has the most amazing eyes.  I am totally jealous. Steve and Jana both checking each other out.This wall is one of my favorite walls.  I love the squares.  And the two of them are so happy, it makes me love it even more.
More ice cream in a shoot of mine.  You have to love ice cream.  It is my favorite food ever.I love the light in this shot. I had to stop at this great pear orchard. We were racing the light at this point but it was worth the stop.
We made it up to the windmills where they got engaged just in time.  I may or may not have been going 80 to get there before the sun went down.  But it was worth it go push my minivan a little faster.  (Have I never mentioned I drive a minivan?  Because I totally do.  It’s awesome.)
When I picked up Steve and Jana I saw his guitar and told him we needed it for the shoot.  He is super talented and plays the guitar so well.  I loved watching him in his element as he played and Jana snuggled up to him.  It was such a perfect moment to capture them as they are.  And this shot is one of my favorite from the session.
And the final shot of the night.  The sun was almost down and we nailed it.Thanks Jana and Steve for letting me catch a glimpse into your life.

I realize that I am not the best person to blog and tell all my readers.  Okay, all 5 of you about me.  I am trying to do better.  I am making a goal to be a better blogger.  I used to rock at it.  Or at least I thought I did.  But somehow life got busy and blogging got pushed back and my life has continued at mach speed.

It’s midnight.  And I am wide awake.  Want to know why?  I have been burning the candle at both ends for what feels like months.  Getting up early and staying up way too late to get everything I want to do done.  It has been fun.  It has been tiring.  And now I am wide awake because I crashed at 7:00 PM tonight and slept for two hours thanks to my kiddos waking me up.  At least they woke me up for goodnight hugs and kisses.  I love those.  But my two hour nap was a serious power nap.  And it is midnight and the house is totally quiet and I am ready to go.  What gives?  I laid in bed for quiet a while and then I thought I really should blog.  Because that is the right answer in the middle of the night.  Right?

Back to getting to know me.  Hmm..  I have a serious sugar addiction.  I am working on it.  (Keeping that addiction that is.)  Every now and then I get a kick that I should stop it.  I try for like two hours, and then I am back to my red vines.  Seriously don’t have a Costco size tub of those around me, ever.  I will eat them until my tummy hurts and they are gone.  Love them.  I had probably 502 of them today.  Okay, that’s an exaggeration but 52 is still a lot of red vines.  Time to lay off of the sugar.  Just until morning though.  :)  I keep thinking once we get moved into our own home again, instead of living in my parents basement.. (Did I mention that??) then I will get back to my sugar control.  And back to being healthier.

About the whole living in my parents house.  It has been over 4 months.  Jealous?  You should be.  My parents rock.  And my kids love living at Grandma’s house, there is an endless supply of sugar.  Wait.. I like that part too!  Not sure that my jeans are going to like it if I don’t get out of here soon.  We did buy a home however.  And in three weeks we get to move in.  I cannot wait!!  Details will come on that later.  I am super excited because we are buying a home that we are going to put some sweat into.  And for some reason, as if my life isn’t busy enough the whole idea just excites me.  The yard is big, and has HUGE trees, and well I can’t wait to live there.  It is going to be awesome.  I have a vision of a tree house for the kids.  A great hammock to take naps in, but not at 7:00 at night.  A tire swing hanging from a tall branch of one of the trees and endless blissful hours of happy children, and happy me.

And one more random thing.  Lately I decided to sew.  I get in this kick every now and then.  My Mom made all of my clothes for me while I was growing up.  I dreaded shopping as a kid because I would go, find things I liked and wanted.  And we would leave go to the fabric store for like for.ever.  And then my Mom would remake what I liked.  Totally awesome of my Mom now that I think of it.  At the time I was a bratty kid who totally wanted the store bought same as everyone else clothing.  Remember BUM Equipment??  Anyway, my kids think my sewing skills are something fierce.  Silly kids.  They don’t know how lacking I truly am.  But they love anything I make nonetheless.  And recently my Little Miss has been the beneficary of my sewing.  My niece was recently visiting and I ended up making matching dresses for both of the girls.  They are thoroughly cheesy especially since they were made for the 4th of July.  But the girls were in HEAVEN.  And really, what more could I ask for?  I even whipped up a couple of button bracelets to match.  And lastly, because I can’t post without a picture.  Here are the two cute girls in the dresses I made  They decided they are cousin sisters.  Love it.  And my Little Miss was convinced that everyone would think they were twins and no one could tell them apart.  Love that girlAnd with that, I think I will try and go back to bed.

Matt and Andrea were married in June on a beautiful Saturday full of crazy Tri-City weather.  They were married in Matt’s parents back yard and had a beautiful intimate ceremony.  It was small and perfect.  I am so excited for their future.  Those two are so in love and happy I cannot wait to see all that they do.

Andrea had a beautiful dress.  It was beautiful on her and she radiated.
She had her best friend helping her get ready.  I loved being there and seeing the attention to detail.  Good friends like that are hard to find.Andrea had the most GORGEOUS shoes.  I love them!I recommend couples doing a first look before the ceremony.  I love the feelings that they get.  And the quiet moment is perfect to be able to watch and capture the start of their new life together.Andrea was gorgeous as ever.  And you could tell how happy these two were to be starting a life together.Andrea’s daughter Brielle was the most darling flower girl ever.Congratulations Matt and Andrea!  Thank you for letting me part of such a special day!

I love Seniors!!  And Ami was no exception.  We had so much fun on our shoot.

Ami is a super fun girl.  She is full of so much life and laughter.  I think my cheeks hurt for days from laughing with her.

Check out how cute Ami is!
I love this red door.  LOVE IT!Out on the tracks.Big tractor tires.  I love them!
Check out her eyes, she looks gorgeous!!Leave Ami a comment letting her know how awesome she is!  Thanks for looking.  And thanks Ami for a fabulous shoot!

I have to admit, I am not much of a writer.  I write how I talk.  And when I talk I tend to ramble.  I try to think of interesting things to blog.. but then I move on because it can’t be that interesting.  And it would take forever to type it all out.  I guess that means I am a lazy blogger.  I’ll try to do better.  Really, I will.  I never know what people want to read about on my blog.  For me I always love the pictures on a blog.  So today I decided to include pictures of things I love.

Yesterday we went to the River to play with the kids and our big dogs.  I decided we should have a picnic too, or as much of a picnic you can have with two crazy Labradors running wild and crazy waiting for any morsel of food to drop, and the seagulls hovering over us too.  It was awesome.  Really, it was.

I decided to give up sugar, but only for like 11 days, because anything longer than that would be bad.  I would miss my little girl’s birthday cake.  So for 11 days I am cutting out sugar, meaning desserts.  I need to get off of it, it is my crack.  I think I need to go to Sugar Addicts Anonymous.  Randy brought home some delicious chocolate chip cookies for our picnic and I resisted.  Awesome will power right?  But they were good.  Really good.  See Little Miss, she was LOVING THEM.  Seriously this girl melts my heart.
And Little Man, this shot of him was between bites.  Notice the cookie crumbs.  Love this kid.  This is so him.I have two dogs in my home.  But this is my dog.  This is Sage.  I love her!  She is one of those happy, lazy dogs.  Everyone needs a dog like her.  I do love our other dog, but she isn’t lucky enough to be featured.  Maybe another day when I am feeling more generous.And lastly.  I love my Randy.  Chilling on a warm day in his brother’s backyard.  Love him.  Adore him.  He is always my biggest fan.  How great is that!! And that’s it.  There are several other things I love.  But I didn’t take pictures of all of those things yesterday.  Just these.  Love my life.

First off, I love my job!

Tyson and Victoria were married in the Portland, Oregon, LDS Temple, on May 22nd.  That’s where I was married almost 11 years ago, so I have a spot in my heart for that temple.  I love it!

A quick sneak peek!

I loved how into each other they were.
Isn’t Victoria gorgeous!
I love a good Harley.  Tyson’s Dad was sure to pull out the helmets, I love it!
Congratulations you two!  Thanks for letting me be a part of such a special occasion!

I am a sucker for Patriotic things.  I love my Country.  I love those who protect it, and serve our Country and give their lives for OUR FREEDOM.

Hillcrest Memorial here in Tri-Cities has a great Memorial Day celebration.  They take a moment to honor those who have passed before us.  This was the first year my family has attended.  I am so grateful we did.  I will admit I am not a fan of funeral homes, they wig me out.  Just ask anyone who knows me.  But this was done so perfect I cannot wait to go back next year.

They had tons of yellow balloons that you could write messages on.  I wrote one for my Grandpa.  My kids wrote them for their Grandpa also.  It was such a tender moment.

And then we listened as the Star Spangled Banner was played.  I cannot hear that song without tears trickling down my cheeks.  I love this Country.  How grateful I am for our freedoms, and for those who have sacrificed their lives to protect us.

The balloon release was beautiful.  I had no clue it would be such an emotional thing for me.
It reminded me how important it is to take a moment and remember those who have gone before.

I just went through my pricing and packages, and I am running a fresh faces campaign.  Go to my website and click on specials.  If you want a great deal and are willing to sign a release, book now!  Digital Collections are still the main stay of my business.  I want my clients to have their images forever and ever.  But I am offering Wall Prints on some of the packages.  Make sure you check it out.