We Did It!!!!

We had our first snow ball fight of the season! It may not be much to you, but aside from summer, snow is the next best thing! I'm fairly certain I won the snow ball fight...as I landed the most direct hits. However, Brandon did get in two good shots to the head (I tried to tell him that was against the rules) and one good snow tackle. Diesel enjoyed the snow too, he ate plenty of it!



Since it was dark, I didn't take any pictures of the snow. By this morning it had mostly disappeared and the only time I had to play outside was when it was still dark out. So, to avoid a boring post, I thought I would share some pictures from our snow storm last November, which was certainly larger and longer than this one! The pictures are from my little point and shoot camera and some are from inside the house, so please excuse the lack of clarity. Enjoy!

This was the view from inside Brandon's truck as were driving down Bender Rd. Some lovely drifts landed right on the road and were plowed through giving us this lovely path. Where we live, the snow doesn't seem to fall flat--that northeast wind sure makes a mess of it!




This is the view from inside the house, while our lovely neighbor Larry came with his big tractor and plowed our driveway. You can see how the wind cleared the snow off of the grass but left a three foot high drift behind my truck in the carport (you can't really see the carport or my truck but it is just to the left of the photo).

Please excuse the blurriness--this is also from inside the house. I loved how the setting sun made the snow glow!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I've got to be honest. Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday. It's not because I'm not a thankful person. It's because...well, I'm a picky eater and the food has never been my favorite. If steak and potatoes were the tradition, Thanksgiving just might get bumped to the top of my favorite holidays list. In the mean time, I will stuff myself on mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie (at least there are a few yummy things on the menu!) and be thankful for the fact that I have the opportunity to celebrate the holiday and eat what whatever I want.

There are other things I am thankful for this year--here is a little glimpse at my list of things I am thankful for. By no means is this all inclusive or in any particular order.



I am thankful for:
1. My new horse Rascal--isn't he a colorful boy! What a blessing it is to have a wonderful horse with a great temperament. We will be having lots of fun together for years to come. Thank you for being a gentle giant I can trust.
2. My fabulous husband Brandon (who is not a fan of having his picture taken, so this is just a little snapshot). I could not ask for a more loving, caring, kind, strong, understanding person to share my life with. Brandon is a gift from God and I am thankful for him each and every day.
3. The wonderful men and women who serve this country day and night so that I can enjoy the freedom that I have. How strong and brave are these people who risk everything for our country and citizens. May you be blessed for your service.
4. My darling new niece! How could you not be thankful for this precious little one! I am so thankful for her safe delivery and healthy first eight months. I can't wait to see her grow into the wonderful woman she will become. Baby T, you make my heart melt every time I see you. Thank you for reminding me how lovely baby giggles can be!
5. The amazing canvas around us that we so often take for granted. I'm so thankful that I have the opportunity to soak in God's creation everyday...may I remember to do so.
6. Loving friends and family. Without you life would be so boring and lonely. Thank you for your support, advice, laughs and tears over this last year. You make my memories special--thank you!
7. Miss Daisy May. This sweet little kitty who great me every morning with a meow and some lovin.' How I look forward to those greetings! Thanks for reminding me to enjoy those early morning minutes, when I can't quite open my eyes all the way.
8. Mr. Diesel. How fun it has been to have a puppy in our lives this year! A sweet little bundle of joy from morning to night. Thank you for reminding me what fun it can be to run, dance and play like no one is watching...

And last but certainly not least--thank you to all of you that have let me capture you special moments this year. What a joy it has been to work with all of you! May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Baby T and Family

Here are a few more pictures from our photo shoot on Sunday. I am having such a hard time picking my favorites!! Adorable baby, fabulous parents and great location means you'll be seeing quite a few more pictures in the next few days!























Thanks again for so much fun!

Baby T

I just can't stop looking at the images of this adorable little girl! We had such fun on Sunday taking pictures of Baby T in her zebra costume and her winter clothes around her Papa's property.

Thanks Jenn and Paul for letting me shoot your Christmas photos this Sunday. There will be plenty more photos to post later this week as I continue to sort through them.

Baby Announcements

So while I was off work this week, I took some time to make some new templates for cards and announcements. Here's a quick peak at one of the birth annoucements I made. Feel free to contact me for a newborn session--I have a variety of birth announcements to choose from and I can always customize them to your liking.

1 doctor, 4 x-rays

I went to the doctor this morning to have my leg checked out. Everything seems to be progressing well so that is great news! Hopefully the "rainbow" on my leg will go away soon!

I'm off my crutches, but I'm not brave enough to try this yet! Don't you just love how Koby's orange shirt matches Clayton's orange crocs! I tried on those orange crocs and they fit me perfectly--maybe next summer I can borrow them! Ahh, I'm missing summer again.

Weekend Update!

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend.

This weekend I had an accident which involved getting crushed under 500+ pounds of steel while trying to put up the stall fronts in my horse barn. The good news is that I miraculously didn't break any bones. The bad news is that I am incredibly sore and have a periosteum bleed in my right femur. I can't walk without crutches nor can I drive. I hope to back on my own two feet soon though.

This weekend I also attended a photography conference in Seattle with my Dad. We had a great time and learned a lot. I'm very excited to be introducing some of the things I learned in my upcoming photoshoots and product line. You'll be seeing more posts regarding some of the specific techniques I've been introduced to.

And because a post without pictures is a bit boring, here is a random image for your enjoyment. This is Diesel next to the BIG pile of leaves I raked up a couple weeks ago. Doesn't he look handsome!

Benefit Dinner and Auction

Join the community in supporting Shalyn Fairbank with your prayers, auction items or attendance at her benefit dinner and auction. Shay is a 23 year old resident of Ferndale, WA and is a self employed beautician in Bellingham. She was seriously injured in a horse related accident on October 20th 2007 while competing with her horse in Lynden, WA. She is currently hospitalized at St. Joseph's Hospital. All proceeds from the evening will go towards Shay's medical expenses.

Friday, Nov. 30th 2007 at the NWWF Expo Building:

• A Spaghetti Dinner will be available by pre-reserved tickets from 5-7pm ($10 for 11 & up or $5 for 10 & under)
• A Silent Auction will be held from 5-7pm
• The Live Auction with auctioneer, Arie VanWeerdhuizen, will begin at 7:00pm

Anyone wishing to donate items for the auction or reserve tickets for the dinner, please call or email one of the following contact people by November 20th.

Kristi Merrill at 410-6963 or k_tjoelker@hotmail.com

Stacey Wood at 961-5238 or swood@ci.everson.wa.us

Jodi Tucker at 815-5153 or jtucker@clearwire.net

Jessica Anderson at 410-0900 or indyturns3@yahoo.com

*An addition, any for photo sessions booked between now and 11/30/2007 I will donate 50% of the session fee to support Shalyn*

Fine Art Gallery - It's Up!

Check out the link above for online ordering--you'll find my fine art gallery which includes some of the landscape and abstract photos I have had on my blog. Take a peak at the online proofing and ordering system in which all future photo shoots will be hosted. There are several great features such slideshows, different picture viewing modes and categorized prints. Payments are accepted online over a secure host--which allows you to use all major credit cards for purchasing.

Fine art prints are available in a variety of sizes. They are mounted to 2mm styrene board which keeps them safe from wrinkles and they are printed on a rich linen texture paper. They make great Christmas presents for those people who have everything!

Here's a peak at one of the images in the gallery.

The Great Firewood Move

We are in the process of building two horse stalls in an existing barn on our property. I thought I'd give you some progress shots of the project so you can see what we've been up to lately.

The barn area where we are building the horse stalls has been the location of all of our firewood. We had to move all of the firewood into our "cat shed." The cat shed is the two car garage-size shed that I keep all of my gardening tools in and it is also the chosen palace of Daisy, our cat. Now we have three 10 foot long fire wood racks in there for her to play on...with several more in the process of being put up. We have a lot of firewood--and I'll be glad when I can stop restacking it!

So here some pictures of the progress...you can see that I had some help from some furry friends along the way.

Just a couple more...

Here are a couple more leaves I found in our yard--I loved their red and yellow colors!

One Pretty Leaf

I'm finally embracing fall...it took me awhile, but I finally am (although, I am secretly wishing we could fast forward to Christmas!).

Here is one little picture of a leaf in our yard in the beautiful evening sunlight.

Howdy Pardner!

Our Halloween was very quiet...we didn't even have a single trick-or-treater despite the huge pile of candy we had waiting. Though that isn't entirely unusual, I'd just been hoping we'd have at least the four who came last year come back!


As I was waiting for someone to come knocking, I decided to make my own trick-or-treater. Brandon and I don't dress up our dog Diesel, so he was little wary of what I was trying to do. He was great with the bandana, ok with the boots and scared of the hat...which equaled one bare headed little cowboy!

So here are a couple shots of Diesel's costume photo shoot--which ended shortly when he decided to dive into the creek (that bandana wasn't looking quite so good after that!). And if you know of anyone who likes Skittles and Three Musketeers--feel free to send them trick-or-treating our way!

P.S. I'm experimenting with some new picture posting techniques to please hang in there and leave comments below if the pictures are too big, too small etc! I'd like your feedback on what size works best!

Yippeee!

I'm back! After quite a long time away from being able to post anything, I'm back and better than ever! We're still not sure what is wrong with our phone jacks, but I now have a fast internet connection instead of dial-up!!! The good news for you--more pictures (b/c it won't take me 1/2 hour to load each one)!! The good news for me--I don't have to read whole book while I wait for my internet to change pages! Thanks Dad for all of your help getting us straightened out--by the way, I want that recipe for your pumpkin cheese cake dessert...SO yummy!

Have a lovely evening--I know I will--I am smiling from ear to ear!

-Steph

P.S. And b/c I can't leave you hanging with no pictures (since I just bragged all about being able to upload more) here are a couple I took LAST WEEK! Can you believe it??? Glads in October...who would have thought. Though they look lovely with my mums and pumpkins, I hope next year they bloom on time with the rest of my glads!

Daisy Belle - Purrrty Kitty

We have four pets--one horse (Rascal), one puppy (Diesel), one kitty (Daisy) and one gold fish (he/she doesn't have a name...he lives in our water trough). Miss Daisy Belle is the first furry pet Brandon and I got as a married couple. We asked the neighbors, who own a dairy farm, to let us know when they had kittens because we were interested in getting one. I had my heart set on getting a little orange kitten so that I could name it "Carrot." But when they showed us the box full of kittens I just couldn't leave without the little calico too. So we went home that night with two kittens--one orange and one calico. The kittens happened to be too young to eat on their own so we had to bottle feed them, which wasn't our plan but I had done it in the past so I figured it would be ok.

Unfortunately little Carrot was too weak without his mommy and passed on to kitten heaven...despite our vast attempts to help him with fluid injections, heating pads and special medicine. So my hopes of owning a little "Carrot" were brought to a tearful end. Thankfully, I had one little kitten left to mend my heart--Miss Daisy.

While Daisy has been a wonderful cat, she also has been an adventurous one. I'm so thankful she has stopped hitch hiking to other towns (I'm not kidding).

Now Daisy spends her days hunting (she loves frog legs and birds), sleeping on her hay bed, and curling up with our puppy Diesel on the back steps. And because Daisy looks just so lovely with all of the fall foliage I just couldn't resist a little fall photo shoot. Enjoy!