Senior Pictures For Amber

Amber was set on having her senior pictures taken in Bowler Wisconsin.  Colleen showed us a great place at the Bowler Ranger Station.  Boy, I sure wished I could take that place home.  What a beautiful place!  Of course it was delightful to work with my own daughter.  With this being a new place we had to try out all the wonderful spots we’d come across.  She was enjoying it and of course so was I.   So we ended up getting more than enough pictures.  She went through and narrowed it down to these that I’m posting.  Thanks Amber!

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Boys & Water Equals Fun!

Some boys just know how to have fun!  Our family was in Bowler Wisconsin visiting family.  While we were there we spent a wonderful afternoon at the Bowler Ranger Station.  A wonderful location for a photographer.  Auntie Colleen showed us the beautiful park.  She brought along her two sweet grandkids.  Brianna helped Amber and I capture senior portraits of Amber.  Of course I couldn’t resist taking pictures of the two boys.  They sure had fun playing in that stream while waiting on me.

Whirlwind

It’s almost September!  I can’t believe it….where did my summer go?  This reminds me of those little mini whirlwinds that comes up on those hot summer days.  They come in instantly, blow hard and fast, and then just as suddenly they are gone.  This is how my summer seems to have gone.  Yet I enjoyed the ride for the most part.

In fact there are a number of photographs that I’d like to share so I guess I’ll be doing that here in the future.

One of the big photograph events I covered was at the BHBFTA Show that was held in Thermopolis Wyoming a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve been busy sorting all of those Big Horn Basin Foxtrotter Show pictures to make it easier for the customers to look at.  They will be sorted by rider numbers/names so it will be much easier to look at.  Hopefully in the next few days I will have it done and get them posted onto my site.   This show was a new challenge for me because it was held at an indoor arena.  So I got to try my skills for indoor photography.  Overall I’m pleased with the way they turned out considering everything.

One of the other events I love to cover is the Moonrock event held in Worland Wyoming.  It’s taken place this very weekend but sadly I’m not able to make it this year.  It’s one I love to cover because there are some awesome riders there!  Hopefully next year!

Right after the BHBFTA show our family took off for a trip to see family out in Bowler Wisconsin.  My daughter wanted her senior pictures taken there in Bowler.  My Auntie Colleen showed us an awesome spot and of course we had fun with it.  My auntie said it was like I had walked into a “Candy shop” because of all my ‘ahhhs and wows and we’ve gotta try this”!  I’ll be posting those after Amber selects her top favorites.

On the way there we stopped in to see my husband cousin Chris and his little family in Minnesota (outside of Alexandria).  It was a great place to stop in for about an hour or so for a break since we were driving straight through.  Of course as a photographer you can’t miss opportunities of capturing pictures of cute kids and family.  So naturally I took some quick pictures (my family didn’t think it was too quick-hee hee) of this cute family.  So today I’ll share them.  There weren’t so many to choose from so it was fast to choose from, edit, and post.  So enjoy.

Using the collection of my favorite pictures I created this postcard using all of my digital scrapbook design skills to create this cute card.  Some of these digital papers and elements will be offered for sale at my scrapbook site in the future.

Here is the pictures posted separately.

Amber Prom Pictures

Last weekend Amber went to help her friend decorate for the LDS Prom night held in Cody.  The theme was “the Wizard of Oz”.  When she got home later that day she had Bri (her sister-in-law) come over and help her fix her hair.  So we got a picture of the two of them together.

She used a dress that I wore to my high school Prom many moons ago.  It was a dress my mother made for me.  So I thought it was pretty awesome that she wanted to wear it.

Anyhow I had work all day, so I hurried home from my last job so I could take some quick pictures of her before she left to go to the Prom.  Amber wanted a picture with us together.  So you’ll see a picture of us together as well.  Of course…she’s all dolled up to go to the Prom and here is her mother just back from work.

Oh My Goodness “Meine Gute!”

Had to add in a bit of German there.  It fits!  The last number of weeks seem like a BIG whirlwind with so much going on, that I had to make decisions.  Those decisions included putting a number of things on hold while focusing on the most important thing in my life which is family.  Family will always come first.  Christmas season is normally a busy time anyhow, but throw in a son’s wedding, one can only image what that can do.

I will remember this Christmas season as a season of miracle; with caring people who opened their hearts in many ways.  This made things fall into place that only a month earlier I was wondering how to pull it all off.  I’m not going to elaborate on the details except to say that I’ve been blessed!  In the end I’ve gained yet another wonderful daughter-in-law!

Then, I’ve been cleaning up after company, Christmas, open house, trip and trying to again become organized if there is ever such a thing and once again get into a regular schedule.  (wink).  But then….who knows what else will come fill the void.  Wait, did I say void?  Never mind, most should understand what I mean.

Here is my son and his wonderful new wife in a scrapbook page I put together of them.  All the photo’s are by me except maybe the upper right hand one.  That one her Dad (also a photographer/artist) may have taken using my camera.  The digital Scrapbook kit is by one of my most favorite designers Jenny Binder.  Her kit “Winter Frost” seemed perfect for this winter wedding.  The colors were perfect; except I did recolor some papers to include purple since it was also part of Bri’s colors for her reception/open house.  Beautiful bride and groom don’t you think?  Ok, I know I’m a bit biased.

I started out with one daughter (right) and now have two more beautiful and wonderful daughters added.  Amber Skye joined our family almost two years ago (left).  Married to Sean.  Brianna is my newest daughter (center).  Married to Ryan.  My boys have done a good job.

Ok here is a picture of my boys!  Yep,  every one of them.  Aren’t they a good looking crew?  I know, I’m very biased, for that is how Mom’s are.

Here is our newest family picture.  It’s the first time we’ve been all together for quite a few years.  So this is my treasure!  My family.

Here is the man I love most.  My dear husband and friend Steve!

Anniversary Day

Yesterday was my Anniversary.  It’s hard to believe that it was 27 years ago that we got married.  Little did we know what we did to our parents when we picked “our day” so close to Christmas.  Well now we are getting paid back.  Would I change it?  No, not at all.

The other day I was visiting with my dear mother-in-law and we were commenting on December weddings.  Why?…because weddings in December seem to be a family tradition that is being carried on.  My in-laws got married right after Christmas.  We got married right before Christmas and now my son is getting married right after Christmas.  We laughed saying “pay backs” will come to them someday.

Would I have my son move the wedding date?  Absolutely not!  It adds a lot to the “to do list” but I’m soooo happy for them and support them fully.  So am I getting everything done on my “to do list”?  Absolutely not, but it’s ok.   As to celebrating “our” anniversary…it was in a small but meaningful way.  We’ll take time to celebrate it later when things slow down some.  We know we have each other and grateful for each day we have together.

Here is a scrapbook page I created for our 25th wedding anniversary.

Here is another page created using the same scrapbook kit featuring our Wedding Day.  I’ve made more but I’ll just show the one.

A Sad Day…

Monday December 21, 2009.  Why?  Well we had to put our loyal dog down.  She was suffering.  She had served our family well for over 13 years.  I found two pictures of her so far.  When I find more I’ll make more scrapbook pages to go with this one that I did up in dedication to her.

The print on this page may be to small for you to read so here is what it says:

She was our watch dog.  She loved watching over the place and warning us of anything that was close by.  She was born April 15, 1996.

We got her when she was about  six weeks old.  We Got her from the Park County Fair from the Kawano’s.  We paid about $50 for her.  The kids picked her out because of the one dark spot over her eye that looked like a patch.

As a Australian Border Collie she had natural instincs that we loved.  Here is a collection of online descriptions for this breed that fits her personality:  Australian border collie shepherds are intelligent active dogs.  It is an intelligent working dog, possessing strong herding and guarding instincts. They have a strong instinctive desire to work closely and intensely with a human handler.  Loyal companions, these dogs are the happiest when having an ability to work all day.

When she was a young pup my cousin was over visiting.  Anyhow his kids and our kids were out jumping on the trampoline.  A snake (bullsnake) came into the yard and started hissing at the kids.  This young pup kept those kids from going up to the snake by growling and barking at the kids.  If they started to go forward she’d growl at them.  I remember being amazed that a young dog would sense danger and also protect the kids from it.

There is only one time that she didn’t stand guard. Again she was a young pup.  There was a mountain lion out back.  She made a run to the house with her tail between her legs…leaving me behind.

I had to nurse her back to health a couple of times.  When she was quite young she got Parvovirus.  I was able to nurse her back to health and save her life.  Another time she had flees so I put a flee collar on.  Bad mistake, she went “crazy”.  It caused her to act real odd and she was attacking weird things.  Then the fall of 2008 she again got very sick.  So I nursed her back to health.

A while ago…I noticed that her neck was larger than normal.  The vet suggested that it could be cancer and we needed to watch it.  Well since about August I noticed that Snip was loosing weight, that she was moving like an old person, and she just seemed weaker.  Recently she would look at me for a long time with those eyes it seemed to say she needed love.  Then she started to throw-up and it had dried blood and blood clots in it.  She became so weak we had to carry her.  So we decided that it would be best to have her put down so she didn’t need to suffer anymore.  She’s been to good to our family.  She was put down on Monday December 21, 2009.  We will certainly miss her presence!

She was in kidney failure and full of what we guess was cancer.

Billings again

Today was the day to go fetch Steve from the Billings airport.  Once again I left my camera at home.  A BAD thing to do because that’s when one will always find those perfect picture moments.

How does one describe in words what a picture can convey?  Well for me pictures can say things far better than I can in words.  Never was gifted at that, but I’ll attempt here in this post.  By the time you’re done reading, if you do, you’ll probably wish I did have the camera too.

Sure enough, I saw quite a few perfect pictures.  One was of the river valley outside of Belfry.  The fog coated all the bushes, trees, etc….next to the river with all its white glory.  Then the river had steam rising up in the cold air.  There were quite a few places that would have composed a GREAT picture.  Alas no camera…so I guess I’ll have to keep the image in my mind till it’s replaced.

Then there was an area that had at least two dozen black ravens all together.  They were feasting on a road kill.  It was quite the site because I don’t think I’ve ever saw more than three together in one area.  Made me appreciate my own method of eating in the comfort of a warm home.  Then I saw numerous hawks perched here and there.

Coming home, I thought I saw a wolf.  So we pulled over to view it.  Of course it knew that wasn’t normal, so it immediately ran off.  We watched it run across the field from a distance and tried to figure out if it was indeed a wolf, maybe a coyote or fox.  Regardless, that would have been fun to try capturing.

When seeing animals while traveling like this, it’s hard to capture those pictures, because by the time you stop, pull out your equipment, etc…the animal is long gone.  So I try to console myself by saying I wouldn’t have been able to get it anyway, but then that is the fun and challenge in trying.

In the end the trip to Billings this week may have been well worth the time, even if I didn’t capture those pictures, because their are some positive possibilities on the horizon for Steve.  Now, that would be the most perfect picture!  Yet I’m not sure if words or pictures can capture the deep feelings involved in that moment when it indeed becomes real.   Just hoping those possibilities don’t die as the others have.

What a Family

Yep, this is one great family!  They know how to have fun with each other.  I love seeing that and capturing it through the camera lens.  These photographs capture that fun.  I’ve known Peggy for a long time and she is one of the most devoted mothers I know.  These pictures were taken the day after Thanksgiving and I’m now just getting them posted.

Billings Trip

With only one working vehicle I ended up taking Steve up to the Billings airport yesterday.  (It was a bit scary because the car doesn’t do well on bad roads.)  A company bought him tickets to come meet with them about a project.  Hopefully this will net him a nice contract job or a job.  We’ll soon find out.

Anyhow it was very cold out.  When I got up that morning (4:30AM) our thermometer said it was seventeen degrees below zero.  It was cold.  As a photographer I normally take my camera everywhere except not on this trip.  There were two reasons why:  1) I just didn’t want it sitting in out in the cold as I shopped.  2) There wasn’t going to really be room for it in a safe place.

Yet I did regret not taking the camera because as we came down off the heights from the airport it was an awesome site to behold.  That cold air was heavy and so dense.  Then there were the warm puffs of air rising from all the various buildings and then the sun trying to peak through all those layers.

Then it would have been nice to have the camera to take a picture of someone stealing a coat from Kolh’s.  I tried getting the plate numbers of the red pickup but it was too small and hard to read.  If I had the camera I could zero in on that spot and maybe read it.  It’s sad that people steals.

I was able to get a few things I needed for Ryan’s wedding yet there is more to go.   It was nice spending the day with my daughter Amber.  It might have been fun getting pictures of her shopping.  I think she enjoyed it.

Well that is the photographer minded person for you where so much of the thinking revolves around picture moments to preserve.