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!

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?

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.

148/365 - Day at the Beach

I had grand plans to take my kids to a picnic lunch at the beach. I knew the water would be too cold, but I thought we could check out the lighthouse, and play in the sand.

Well you know the saying about good intentions....

The forecast said it would be breezy... when they say "breezy" I assume it means a slight breeze blowing every once in a while, not 50 MPH gusting winds. 50 MPH plus sand equals ouch. The kids were great and sucked it up. They were happy to play and fend off the sand in their eyes.

Finally I was the party pooper and after an hour and a half I decided I had had enough. So we left, but I did get a few pictures.

The Lighthouse!









Now the kids... This first one is my favorite from the day.

Day 131 Coming home.

These are from Saturday on our way home from Florida.

Mind's Eye - Family

It's another week for Mind's Eye! I just upgraded Mr.Linky so I can have more than one Mr. Linky running at once. My intentions are to run them two weeks and then close the link leaving only those who have participated still linked up.

So onto the fun! This weeks theme is "FAMILY". I thought it would be nice to see the families of those of you that follow my blog.


Don't forget to spread the word!! The more people that participate the more fun this will be!

Lastly, next week's theme is going to be "LOCOMOTION" anything that moves, I want to see your pictures.

I just got back from Florida to visit my husband's grandmother. This is a picture of our two youngest boys, Mike, and his grandmother. We had a GREAT visit.



Now let's see your Family!!

Day 128

We're in Florida visiting family. Here are some pictures from our trip so far.

The lady of the hour.. Grandma Santos.



The first picture I've gotten of Caide and his teeth.



Blayre playing in the pool.



A little of the "wildlife"..