Our Trip to the Holler

I guess I've been missing in action in the blogosphere for a while now. I don't usually go this long without posting but life has been crazy for several weeks and blogging got knocked down a few rungs on the priority ladder. The kids and I recently got to make a much anticipated trip to Kentucky to visit my parents, my brother, Aaron and my Sister-in-law, Sandra. I can't even put into words how much fun we had. It was great to spend time with my family and the whole week was packed full of non-stop fun activities. We went to the Kentucky State Fair, spent a day on the river, went to a park, had our own fireworks show, and built a HUUUGE bonfire to roast marshmallows. We shot guns, searched for an Indian burial ground on my brother's property, caught fireflies, spent lots of time on a rope swing and even ate squirrel. Okay, I didn't eat squirrel, but the kids did. Kentucky was beautiful. I've never seen that much green in my entire life. As you can imagine, my camera was pretty much glued to my hands. I snapped pictures of everything I saw and that's not an exaggeration. Don't worry, I won't make you look at all 415 of them. Only 410 (just kidding). I've set my pictures up in a few different galleries that I will be posting over the next few days.

To view my first gallery, click HERE. Be sure to click on the play button to see the slideshow. These are just some general pictures from the trip. I will soon post pictures of my parents and our river day. Hope you enjoy them.

Love It

Last week was awesome. I began my training as a photographer for Lifetouch and loved every minute of it. It was challenging and at times a bit overwhelming but I loved it. I am amazed when I think about how much I learned in only one week! I can now set up a studio, lighting equipment and all, all by myself. I am extremely proud of this because I am not a mechanically inclined person. If something needs to be put together I usually give it to Aaron or Austin and run the other way. We learned camera and computer operation, how to pose people, lighting techniques, how to properly interact both children and school authorities and much more more. Tuesday we begin photographing our first school and I can't wait to put all I've learned into action.

My New Hairdo

My Dream Come True!

Today I was hired by Lifetouch Studios as a school portrait photographer! I am still so shocked I can hardly believe it. Everything about the job sounds absolutely perfect. I will be completely trained as a photographer (lighting, posing, camera operation, studio setup, people skills) and actually get paid to do it! Another huge plus is that I will get home around the same time as the kids get home from school and I will have all evenings, weekends, holidays and Christmas/summer vacations off to spend with my family. What more could I ask for??? I guess dreams really do come true!

A Blip In His Luck...

My brother Aaron has always been a daredevil. He climbs cliffs, jumps off bridges, rides motorcycles standing up, laying down and in every position in between. I think the only fear he's ever felt might be the fear of missing out on a thrilling experience. It has always amazed me that with as many crazy things as he's done, he's always remained injury free. That is, until last week when he was out for a motorcycle ride with some friends and he suddenly went down. Ironically, he wasn't doing anything particularly dangerous at the time except riding without an ounce of protective gear on (shame, shame on you!). Considering what the outcome could have possibly been, I think he came out pretty well. At least skin grows back!
OUCH!!!

Adorable!

Today we went to Hesperia to visit Constance, Brad and baby Jake. As you can see, we were AAALLL over the little fella.
But how could we help it when he has a face like this???
I have to admit, the little guy makes me feel a tad bit baby hungry.

Constance and Brad seem to be doing well with parenthood, but then Jake seems to be making it pretty easy on them. He's so easy going they've yet to hear him actually cry and Constance has to wake him up to feed him during the night or he'll sleep right through. It doesn't get much better than that!

The Jakester is Here!

My nephew Jake finally arrived Wednesday evening after being evicted from his cozy existence inside his mother's womb. He really had no interest at all in joining us all on the outside. It took about 16 hours of Pitocin to convince him to finally make his exit. Every inch of him was perfect, from his curly blond hair to his tiny purple feet. Unfortunately, due to hospital rules I was unable to witness his actual birth but I was able to spend time with Constance during her labor and come in soon after the birth. It was an honor to be a part of it.

Now I have to admit, with lots of embarrassment that no, I do not have any pictures to post of little Jake. My camera was sitting in the car because I hadn't wanted to lug it around all day and I thought I still had time to run out and get it before he appeared. We were quite surprised when Constance went from a dilation of "6" to pushing within an hour! Stay tuned though because this weekend we will be visiting Jake (and his parents) and I'm sure there will be some mad picture taking going on!