This Blog is a Little our of Practice

Since I last wrote, we moved to a whole new town. I have gone back to school and subsequently ended my 10 year stint as a stay-at-home Mom. I have also taken a hiatus from photography...sorta.

Most of my fellow photogs know that winter is a slow time for business anyway, but with moving and everything, I also didn't promote my business. It's hard to explain but something just wasn't jiving. So I took some time and now I am feeling refreshed and ready to start the new season.

What better place to start then with my own family. I took these yesterday. Caide is at the wonderful stage of hating sitting still, which makes pictures oh so much fun!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Our oldest son has been a soccer kid since he was born, he's played spring and fall every year since he was old enough to play in a league. (4 I think).

This year though he decided he wanted to give football a try. I was excited for him, Mason is not usually adventurous. He doesn't like change at all, so we were absolutely thrilled that he was stepping out of his box.

He's doing well. His soccer skills have benefited him and he's not only a guard but a kicker. He really enjoys kicking and isn't to bad at it either.

To be honest, I think he will go back to soccer, but at least he tried at that is the biggest battle in this life sometimes isn't it?

Oregon Part 4

There are 1000 places you should see before you die, at least according to Patricia Schultz.

Crater Lake is one of them on that list. After having been there twice now, I absolutely agree with her. This is one of the most BREATHTAKING places I have ever been.

Crater Lake did not come about because Mount Mazama blew it's top, which is widely believed, it collapsed in on itself. As this enormous volume of magma (54-63 km3, or 13-15 mi3) was rapidly removed from the chamber (about 5 km, or 3 mi below Earth's surface) to feed the climactic eruption, it created a huge void underneath the mountain. Leaving no support for this massive dome, the roof of the magma chamber collapsed, forming the bowl-shape depression known as a caldera.

Crater Lake is 1,943 feet (592 meters) makes it the deepest lake in the United States, and the seventh deepest in the world. Its fresh water is some of the clearest found anywhere in the world.

There are numerous trails for hiking and biking. Trails vary greatly in difficulty and length, but for healthy adults and kids you can definitely find a trail to suit your adventure level.

When we went we hiked Garfield trail, which is about 3.5 miles long and about a 1000ft vertical climb. We took out time and enjoyed the multitude of sites from that elevation. The kids did great, and while we did have to watch our step in a few places it was perfectly doable with our whole family

We even stopped to have a snowball fight, with an average snowfall every year of 522 inches, spots of snow can still be seen all year round. What a treat for our kids to get to play in it in July when snow hasn't been seen around here in months.

If your going to Oregon you MUST go here. For 10 dollars you get a week long pass into the park and endless adventures for your entire family.

You can see all the activities, from a boat ride to Wizard Island to Junior Ranger Programs on the Crater Lake National Park website.

As a note, none of these were photoshopped to improve the color of the water it truly is THAT blue. It's absolutely spectacular!

My Family Needed New Pictures

As I looked at my walls, I realized that I've been so busy taking pictures of other families that mine were out of date.

The ones I have up, Caide isn't even 6 months old, and even though it's been less than a year the kids have grown so much since I took those.

I suppose you don't have to guess to hard about where this is going.

These two are my favorites.

Happy 1st Birthday Caide.

A year? A whole year? Really? When, How?

It seems like just yesterday I was hiding the fact that I was in labor from Mike because I wanted to go to our special restaurant one more time before Caide was here. I knew it was early in the laboring process, but I also knew if he had the slightest clue that there was NO way I was getting steak and onion rings. So I kept my little secret close until we left and I got hit with a pretty good contraction. Then the cat was out of the bag.

He was so mad, "YOU KNEW, and you didn't tell me?!" (add in there a slight panic in his voice)

With that response I knew I had made the right decision and mmm that steak was good.

Little did I know that I still had 24 hours more of laboring ahead of me. Although thinking back that was probably a good thing, the steak needed to settle.

Then at 10:20 on June 7, 2008 we welcomed a beautiful, albeit gray as a ghost, 7lb 4oz baby in to this world. The gray was due to him having tied a perfect knot in his cord. Thankfully he was ok, and is as perfect today as he was that warm June night.

First birthdays at our house are big. I've always felt like that first year was the hardest, so not only am I celebrating a birthday, I am celebrating the fact that I survived it all!

This first birthday was no different. We had a cookout, family, friends, and CAKE!!




Happy first birthday Caide, I didn't know I was missing anything in my life until you came in and filled that void.


"The Beginning"




"The middle"


"The end - Drunk on cake"




"all cleaned up and enjoying one of his birthday presents."

Day 168, Easter and Stellan Day 13

Stellan's post for Day 13. Stellan spent Easter with us, here are the eggs he found.



Easter with our kids...



Did I mention that it's Caide's first Easter?

Stellan Post Day 9

I almost forgot this picture from the other day! We were out taking pictures and I sent our oldest to take a picture with Stellan and the bridge we were photographing.

Stellan Post Day 8

Another location sign. My kids are loving this and having so much fun "taking" Stellan with us wherever we go.

Stellan updates here.

Day 161 My Assignment

As I've written before I'm taking some classes to improve my photography skills.

Here are my assignment photo's from this week. The subject this week was "panning-implying motion". This is actually far more difficult that one would think.



*My instructors review of the above shot.. LOVE this! Merry go rounds are a dying breed- they just aren't around as much as they used to be. I love this and know how you were feeling- been there for sure! LOL! This is really nice and a perfect picture!

Bryan*

The other topic was "freezing action" which was MUCH easier.

Stellan Post Day 6

Another Stellan post.

Our poor little guy has been back in SVT for a good portion of the last day, pray louder!

Stellan updates here!

Today we've got Stellan with my oldest two kids!

I Heart Faces - Friends and I

This week at I Heart Faces the topic is "Friends and I."

My kids entry I am going to appropriately title "Boys will be Boys, or Girls?" While over at a friends house one night the girls "attacked" the boys and put make-up on them. The "attack" portion only lasted seconds before I think the boys kind of got into it. :)



This picture comes with a very touching story. Our family is a blended family. When "my" children first met Mike and spent the day with him, my youngest son (at the time), Blayre, exclaimed, "Mike, your my bestest friend EVER!" Both Mike and I were so touched. This is the picture that represents that to us.

This was taken the first week that Mike met Blayre.

Stellan Day 5

We're back again with another Stellan post, he's still in the hospital so we're still plugging along taking him with us where ever we go!

Stellan has had a bit of a rough weekend flipping back into SVT, keep praying!

As always you can find Stellan's story and updates here.

Here is an idea of Stellan's location today we stopped to grab this by a road sign.

Day 149 More Spring Break

I took these at my Mom's house the kids love playing over there. We went over originally to help pick up sticks, but then spent a little extra time being kids.

Someone PLEASE make him stop growing. This past week I've just felt like his "babiness" is so close to being over, and it's making my heart ache. He'll be 10 months old in just over a week. *sigh* Where has 10 months gone??









Mason doing what boys do, climbing trees.



My Mom's dog Cayman, the kids love to go over and play with him.