CAUTION: Contents Hot!!

Don't blame me if these are too hot to handle--this couple is smokin'!

Thanks for the great times Kim and Eddy!! You were such a blast to hang out with and the car is fabulous!! Made for a wonderful Tuesday evening. I hope you enjoy these...there are more to come next week!

FYI-I'll be out of town for the weekend--will be back in civilization next Tuesday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

It is my wonderful husband's birthday today!! I am so thankful for all the love and support he gives me. He is so encouraging and understanding. I'm so thankful that he is my husband--I wouldn't trade him for the world. We are best friends and for that I am truly grateful!



Love ya honey--hapy birthday!

Here is Brandon last fall with a big salmon at the Nooksack River.

And here he is when our puppy was pretty small...they were hunting birds together.

Hot Rod + Diamonds = HEAVEN!

How could this be any hotter?! I have nothing more to say except keep your eyes peeled for more pictures from this steamy engagement session in the days to come!

Thanks Kim and Eddy--I had so much fun with you two! Can't wait to show you the rest...

The BRIGHT and the beautiful!

Here are few quick snap shots from the yard this summer. I love the bright, cheerful color that plants bring!

CORN! So pretty and elegant--who knew?!

Look at those beautiful, plump tomatoes peaking through--YUM!

Heavenly, delicate wild lupine--understated beauty!

Plant update-the tomatoes have since rotted from all the rain we've had here and the corn tassled out at three feet high, with only three tiny ears of corn hanging on for future appetizers! The flower has since been trampled by our puppy--but the good news is that I have plenty more of those!



I'm off to shoot a second set of engagement photos for Kim and Ed--with a hot rod! Updates on those photos to come! Have a great summer evening!

More Engagement Photos!

Here are few more from Kim and Ed's engagement session--enjoy! As with the last couple of posts, the vintage coloring in the photos was the desired effect.

Choices, choices!

This is a post just for Kim--ok, you can sneak a peak too! And I'll even let you vote! Kim is looking for a vintage feel for some of her photos to go along with her wedding theme. I've done for different post processing techniques on one photo below. You can vote for your favorite style in the comments box below to give me some feedback on future projects. Kim--please email or post a comment and let me know which you like best.

By the way: Picture "SOOTC" is straight out of the camera-ish (a few basic corrections have been made) for comparison. "A-E" are the vintage-styles (I'm sorry the pictures are so small...but hopefully you can get a sense for the overall tone of the picture).

Thanks for voting! I appreciate your feedback!

P.S. Don't worry--there are more pictures to be posted from this session! Keep checking back!

Sneak Peak

Monday night I had the pleasure of photographing some engagement shots for Kim and Ed. What fun we had! Thank you so much for the great time and I can't wait for the hot rod/Dukes of Hazzard shoot coming up!

Kim is having a vintage theme for her wedding. I've been working on on some post processing techniques to correspond with the theme. We're getting closer! Here's a sneak peak of a clean, simple portrait. Keep your eyes out for more pictures in the next couple of days!

A stunning bride-to-be and handsome almost-groom!

I'm off to the PRCA rodeo tonight...have a great weekend!

Three Families, Three Times the FUN!

Here is a continuation of the family pictures from Saturday. What wonderful, kind people! I loved to watch them interact with each other and see how deeply they cared not only for their spouses and children, but also for their nephews, niece, in-laws and siblings. What a wonderful group of people! Thank you for letting me share your Saturday with you, it was a blast!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Saturday I had the pleasure of photographing three wonderful families. They were a blast to work with and their children were adorable! Here is a quick peak of the kids! More to come later this evening!

I asked Megan and David what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Megan wants to be an actress--and what a great one she will be! She's already a gorgeous model!

David wants to be a superhero! With a face like this he won't have move a finger to get the villains--he's irrestible!

We're not certain what Jackson wants to be...but I have sneaking hunch he might be a marathon runner!

I hope all of your dreams come true!

Wednesday!

Yesterday I headed to the Stearns History Museum. I wondered through the displays and watched two educational videos--one on the granite industry and one on the gardens I visited earlier this week. It was really insightful to hear the history regarding the gardens. The formal gardens were actively supported by a family (Clemens) who lived across the street. The wife had MS and didn't leave home. Her husband wanted her to have something beautiful to look at since she could not travel. So he paid for roses, flowers, fountains and other structures in the garden in order for her to have beautiful views from their home. She died in the late 1990's but the gardens continue to grow and are named after her. What a beautiful and touching story!

The museum has many acres of wildlife preserves as well. I walked the paths hoping to find a deer or a bear...but what I found was bugs! Millions of grasshopper-type bugs! I also found some ducks and little birds...no bears though.

In the evening we went to dinner at a cozy log restaurant called Anton's with a Park Industries sales person named Matt. This fabulous place was nestled along the Sauk River and had FABULOUS food! Every meal comes with a giant popover and honeybutter--so yummy! We all had steak and I finished with a chocolate lava cake! Matt was a great dinner companion--we enjoyed hearing about his Minnesota life. He told me where I can find the Amish people on Friday selling their crafts so hopefully I can head there tomorrow before we come home!

We went back to the hotel, got our car and tried to go to a local park which is made from over 30 granite quarries. The park was almost closing so we decided not to pay the fee and saved the excursion for tonight. We then drove out into the countryside looking for wildlife...Brandon found three white tail deer and I found two giant wild emu-type birds. I have no idea what they were but they were kinda scary! I wish I wasn't driving so I could have gotten picture!

Well I've been LAZY today...but I'm off to find some adventure. Have a great afternoon!

Tuesday...

We had another great day on Tuesday! I started the day going to the to Munsinger and Clemens Gardens on the Mississippi River. That is 14 acres of informal gardens and 7 acres of formal gardens, including 1,100+ rose bushes! It was beautiful--I'm so glad I went! I have tons of pictures, but since mine are still on my camera you should check out their website. I enjoyed trying to track down the squirrels and chipmunks but they were very quick!

After that I headed to Barnes and Noble and checked out their vast selection of books! I didn't find anything I couldn't live without though...

When Brandon got back we made our pilgrimage to CABELAS about 45 minutes away. We checked out the hundreds of animal mounts, played their shooting games (Quite fun! You shoot at different targets and things happen--for example if you shoot the guitar music plays, if you shoot the bear it comes at you...I'm thinking about installing such a game in our house!), checked out the aquarium with live fish in it, did some shopping, bought some fudge and elk meat (YUM!!!) and finally trudged back to the car over 2 hours later.

Last we hit up T.G.I. Fridays for some chicken and shrimp dinners and went to bed.

Well, I'm off to find some souvenirs...have a great evening!

Monday in Minnesota

Here's an outline of my first full day in Minnesota:
1. Wake up and go get the rental car. It's a red chevy Cobalt and turns on a dime!
2. Shopping at a scrapbook store and the mall. I missed Diesel so much I almost bought a cockapoo puppy at the pet store! I'm glad I came to my senses and kept $600 off the credit card!
3. Checked out the five hotel pools, vast amount of arcade games, two volleyball courts and basketball court. There is a lot to do here!
4. Brandon came back from training.
5. We checked out the two sporting good stores in the city...took lots of pictures!
6. Ate a fabulous dinner at Timber Lodge, yummy steak and potatoes!
7. Brandon tried to show me where he has been getting training at...about an hour later we finally found it--and a whole lot of the surrounding area!
8. Meanwhile we were listening to the tornado and severe storm warnings on the radio.

By the time we found ParkIndustries there was so much lightening all around the sky never went dark--it was constantly lit by lightening. There was also turrential rainfall. When we decided we probably shouldn't be the only car driving around...we were a little lost. The pouring down rain didn't help us find our way very well. However, eventually we found our way back to the hotel--safe and sound and totally drenched running from the car to the hotel!

Brandon wanted to check out all the hotel amenties I had found earlier in the day. We played one arcade game before we noticed that throughout the area the hotel roof was leaking...not a little drip, drip, drip...more like pouring rain coming from the roof! It was then that that the hotel staff started running around unplugging games and setting up buckets! We headed to the vending machines, satisfied our (my) chocolate craving and went to bed to watch a crazy TV show documenting the weddings of people who spent $60,000+ on their weddings!

It was a great day! We were a little bummed that we didn't actually get to see a tornado. We were prepared to heed the radio warnings and jump into the nearest ditch when it approached. However, since we never saw a ditch it was probably best we didn't encounter a tornado!

Today has been wonderful so far too. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, I'm off to Barnes and Noble before Brandon gets back!

Howdy from Minnesota!

Just wanted to say hi! We've made it to Minnesota and I'm excited to say I saw the first (and only) deer so far on the trip! Brandon is in training and I've been at the mall...but I'm off to hit the pool. I should say, one of the pools. There are FIVE!

Sorry I won't have any pictures to post this week, but there will be lots next week!

Have a great day!

Busy August

Thank you so much for reading my blog! We've had over 90 readers in three weeks! That is awesome and I hope it continues to grow. This month we're super busy and we'll be out of town from time to time so I just wanted to give you a heads up! August 12-17th we'll be in Minnesota. Brandon is going to receive some training on a new CNC machine for his work. I'm tagging along for a little R&R and my first vacation from my day job in over two years. If you need to reach me then email will be best.

It will be a busy month of photoshoots, family get togethers, vacations, a rodeo, bbqs etc. I'm looking forward to it and I hope you enjoy the upcoming photos from all my adventures!

Here are a few views from around our property. God is an amazing artist!

It's ALMOST HERE

And we're almost going to miss it! Next week is the Northwest Washington Fair! The fair has always been the highlight of my summer. I loved showing horses and rabbits at the fair while I was growing up. Now I mostly enjoy the food! However, this August Brandon and I will be in Minnesota for all but one day of the fair. That leaves me one day to eat all the fair food I love--which will either be a painful selection process or a painful overeating process. I haven't decided which method I am going to choose yet! Last year at the Fair we had a great time watching the demolition derby and a Terri Clark concert. I've included some pictures below. This year we will make it back in time for a Clay Walker and George Canyon concert! Keep an eye out for pictures of that to come!

Hey Mom...

is this what you were looking for? My mom was dropping some serious hints the other day about wanting a nice portrait of her Thoroughbred mare Allie. Well luckily she's got quite a diva of horse--check out this fabulous supermodel ("super mare"?) pose!

Doesn't she look lovely?

This is my favorite picture of my Mom. Just where she likes to be...near her horses. The horse on the left is her mare Allie and the other is a gelding my sister was training, Billy Bob.

Horse Camp Portraits

Here a couple of the girls from the JH Training Horse Camp in July. Beautiful young ladies and beautiful bay horses!

Here's MacKenzie and her lovely mare Breeze.

This is Kayla and her lovely mare Tia.

All the girls at the camp were wonderful to work with and pleasure to photograph! Thanks for making it so fun ladies! More photos to come...

Happy Early Anniversary!

Congrats Jenn and Paul! It's almost been one year since you tied the knot! There have been many changes in the last year but one thing is the same--your love for each other! Here a few pictures from the wedding last August.