June is CRAZY!

Here's a little scoop on my June plans:

1. Get crackin' on the next phase of our remodel=kitchen/dining room demolition! Yippee! I love making a mess!

2. Photograph my sister's amazing new four horse aluminum trailer after she hauls it home from Idaho.

3. Take a long weekend with my sister, niece and mom with corresponding horses to Mazama, WA for a bit of R&R and trail riding.

4. Photograph Michelle and Shane's awesome outdoor wedding in Lynden.

5. Take a long weekend and photograph Kendal and Shaun's fabulous outdoor wedding in Pateros, WA

6. Father's Day--what do you want to do Dad?

7. Turn 24 years old on the 24th of June = my golden birthday!


8. Photograph a few portrait sessions I have lined up.


9. Get prepared for July: I'll be gone for 3 weeks in July to the San Juan Islands for my 'day' job while our remodel is going on and photographing 3 weddings on the weekends. I'm not sure if June or July will be more hectic!

I'm looking forward to all of the excitement! Please note that email responses may be a bit delayed over the weekends as I will not have email access for several weekends in June.

Posts are boring without pictures so here is one of my favorite pictures of our remodel. That is our friend helping us replace our living room's old, yucky, nonopening windows. Now we have bright, fresh, vinyl windows! Thanks Dan!

Rodeo Time

We had a great time at the Methow Valley Rodeo. Check out some of these pictures I snagged from the hillside overlooking the arena. Once again I really wished I had my nice cameras with my big zoom lens...but we made due with our little baby point and shoot camera.

By the way, the proper way to speak cowboy lingo is to drop all "g"s off of the end of words. Ok, I don't know if that is the proper way to talk like a cowboy, but that is the way I'm doin' it!

A little bronc ridin'

A little drill teamin'

A little team ropin'

A little stick horse racin'

A little barrel racin'

A little bull ridin'

A little cowboy flyin' (don't worry, by the time this guy hit the ground he had performed a lovely tuck and roll technique and was not injured!)

A little snorin'

Apparently the rodeo wasn't quite as exciting as last year for Diesel when he was barking at every cow and horse that came near--thank goodness!

Twisp!

Over the long weekend Brandon and I headed over to Twisp to enjoy some much needed R&R. We had an awesome time spotting deer and turkeys, riding 4wheelers, going to the farmer's market, watching the rodeo and swimming the dogs at the lake.

I must admit that my favorite part of heading over the mountains is getting ice cream at Sherri's Sweet Shoppe in Winthrop on our way home--this time I had homemade raspberry ice cream, YUM! In a couple weekends I plan on trying out the homemade lemon custard ice cream, doesn't that sound fabulous!?

Take a peak at some of our adventures taken with my lovely point and shoot camera. I always regret not taking my nice cameras with me on vacations but if I did take them I know I would be constantly paranoid about keeping them safe, so point and shoot it is!

Notice the pass was quite snowing--luckily it did opened just in time for the long weekend! By the way, I was in the passenger seat, not the driver's seat while taking this photo!

Take a peak at Diesel and his girlfriend Nellie. They have so much fun together!

I love the beautiful scenery of Twisp--it is always so cheerful in the spring with fresh (irrigated) green grass, bright blue skies and wildflowers!

More to come, including rodeo pictures!

He's Here!

Well we didn't get a chance to get in a maternity photo session for Katie unfortunately, but little Gavin made his way into this big world last week. What a great time I had meeting this handsome little fella and capturing him in all his tiny perfectness.

Thanks so much Katie and Donnie for letting me come share this special time with you! I can't wait to see little Gavin again!

By the way--Katie gave me some homemade chocolate chip cookies for the drive home and I can't even express to you how delicious they were! Seriously I have never before eaten such soft, tasty, YUMMY chocolate chip cookies! Katie--you better start selling these! You could make a mint (probably off of me alone!)!! Thanks again!!!

In newborn sessions I like to do a bit of formal posed shots as well as some informal "lifestyle" images to capture the family around the home at the this wonderful stage in their lives. Below are some of the more formal shots.

Little Gavin wanted to be a little more modest--I couldn't resist capturing this little pouty face!
Look at ALL that hair!! How adorable!
Katie sure makes a great mom--her love for Gavin just radiates from her.

A special rocking chair for mom and baby--Donnie refinished it just for the nursery.

Doesn't Katie look AMAZING just 7 days out from delivery!? I can only hope to be as blessed some day!
Check out the coordinating shirt and onesy (how does one spell that??)...ADORABLE!

PS: Donnie serves in the Navy and is currently stationed in WA. What a blessing for him to be able to be present at the birth of his little boy. A big thank you to all of the service men and women who fight daily to protect the freedoms we have in America--it is because you and the others before you were willing to make such great sacrifices that America is as great as it is. Thank you!

Cody's Senior Pictures Part 2

Here is my favorite image from the day! To see the rest of the session pictures take a look here!

Thanks Cody for being up to anything--you were such a pleasure to work with!!

I'll probably be posting a few more of my favorites in the next week or so along with a newborn session so keep checking back!

Cody's Senior Pictures Post 1

Please note: something crazy is going on with the new way I am posting pictures and they look all fuzzy and pixelated. I'd rather not post pictures at all than see them look like this, but I know Cody's family is expecting these, so please hang in there with me and pretend they are all crystal clear and lovely like normal. Thanks!


On Saturday I had a great time photographing Cody's senior pictures as well as a quick family photo shoot at their home. Cody is such an amazing young man with so many talents--including golf and mock trial (good luck at the National Competition!!). I really enjoyed working with such a respectful, happy, hilarious young man!

For Cody's pictures we hit up several different locations including his home, school and Boulevard Park. All three were fantastic to capture Cody's interests and personality. Tonight is just a quick preview--a little bit later this week I will post my FAVORITE image from the session, which I just love and can't wait to show you! I will also post all of his pictures on my proofing and ordering site for you to check out. For now, take a peak at these!








PS--Thanks again to Cody's parents for grabbing me a hot chocolate from the Woods, that is the sure fire way to my heart and I really appreciated it!

It's Raining Popcorn!

You might remember this stunning picture of me?






Well, if you guessed that I was scraping popcorn texture off of my living room ceiling you were right! I don't have time to dig up a "before" picture at the moment, but imagine our living room with light brown painted paneling on the walls with a dingy white popcorn textured ceiling. Well, we have replaced the two windows and front door. We have also ripped off the paneling and scraped down the popcorn. We had a lovely friend smooth-wall our ceiling, it has now been painted (just finished a couple minutes ago) and tomorrow we are putting up pine tongue and groove on the walls (you might remember the sanding post a couple months ago...that wood is our future walls). Whew. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Add that to finishing my horse barn and several others projects and we've had one busy winter/spring. There will be lots of more pictures of the great remodel project to come. Tonight I leave you with one image of the ceiling after it was scraped--notice how it was still raining popcorn!

WE LIVED!

Ok, maybe that is a little dramatic! On Sunday afternoon we took the horses out for a trail ride. This was Rascal (my horse's) first time on out on the trail. With a young, green (not all the way trained) horse, you just never know what the first trail ride will bring. I'm pleased to say he did quite well, with the exception of crossing running water and going through mud puddles--but the good news is, we made it back alive! So we have a few things to work on, but for the most part he did outstanding--walking quietly on the trail, not spoking or tensing up. YAY! I've got to say trail riding has never been my favorite thing to do on a horse, but if you have a good trail horse it can be quite fun. Hopefully Rascal can become one.

Please note: the following pictures were taken with my point and shoot camera, not profesisonal equipment. There for they lack the clarity and detail of my professional pictures.

Here are a few pictures of Rascal after the trail ride...you can't miss him with all those spots!

Here is one of Rascal and me--thanks Jenn for taking the shot, I might just have to hire you with these great photography skills!

And a couple of my sister's ride, Breeze, (note this is actually Baby T's horse but her mom stole her for the day!)

Last but not least is the biggest horse of them all, Allie, and my mom.

And coming soon--remodel updates! What was I doing when I looked this good? Any guessers?

Baby T and Nana!

Here is a little news update of the technical kind--I currently use Photobucket.com to host my images on the blog so that they can be viewed bigger. However, quite a few places are blocking this website (or anything directed from there, such as my pictures) due to some inappropriate content also hosted on the site. So--I'm going to be posting some smaller pictures for now until I kind find a better solution so that everyone can enjoy the pictures. I hope you don't mind, hopefully it is temporary! Unfortunately, this also appears to be making my images look kinda funny as well as small...I'll be quickly searching for a new solution!

EDIT TO ADD: OK, I found a temporary fix to make the images bigger-yay! Sorry for the picture spacing though...it is a little tricky this way! Who knew I'd learn so much html coding?!

On to the photos--about a month ago (boy does time fly!) we had a little mini session with Baby T and her Nana. I loved capturing some of the adorable things Baby T is up to these days as pretty soon she'll be all grown and have no use for such simple amusement. A special thanks to Nana and Baby T for letting me photograph their fun!

How could you not fall in love with this precious face!?