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.

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.

Warm Weather…

means photography opportunities!  Call for your appointment today.  The 10th caller will get a spring discount of 35% .  Looking forward to serving you.

One Year Anniversary

Well it’s not really the kind of anniversary one likes to mention.  So why do I, especially here on my photo blog?  Well because it has been a huge part of our family lives for the last year.  It’s something that can’t be ignored or forgotten about.  Of course it’s not pleasant to experience either!

TODAY….is our One year Anniversary of Steve’s (my husband) layoff from work.  Yep we are part of the unemployment stats in the USA.

Here is the summary of the year:

• Lots of promises of jobs/work that’s fallen through
• Steve has applied to so many jobs
• Steve Worked hard on his own company (ParseTree) trying to get contracts/building clients (not easy in this economy)
• He’s managed to get some contracts throughout the 2009 year (yet not enough to support a family on as of yet)
• Had a son get married out of State in Dec
• Benefited from some very generous friends
• Learned that some people has tons of advise
• Felt blessed for the families general good health
• Grateful to understanding kids
• Yuk to 7 days a week work for me but feeling extremely grateful to have it
• Feel grateful for being able to make it this far in one year…so far we haven’t fallen behind on bills
• What an emotional roller coaster ride the year has given us with extreme highs and extreme lows, that can change very quickly.
• To bad the federal government hasn’t adjusted its budget like we have been forced to.  We certainly couldn’t act like them and get away with it.
• Forced to prioritize important from unimportant expenses.
• Has been blessed by a higher power and know of the reality of it.

Just to clarify some questions I’ve been asked over the last several months:  Yes I still do pictures and photo sessions!!  Fortunately my schedule does allow for the flexibility to do the thing I love most!  So please feel free to contact me if you need a photo session done.  This is the work I love the best and would like more of!

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!

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.

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.

A Brave Family

It’s Christmas season!  The orders are coming in and so I’ve gotten a behind on posting to the blog.  In fact I need to post some of the pictures I’ve taken recently…sometime.

For now I’m going to show the most recent family pictures.  I have to say they were Brave.  Why?  Well because it was cold out.  The wind came up which made it feel colder.  So we ended up taking the pictures inside a barn.

I love these kids…they are so cute and got personalities that match it.  They did great considering all the circumstances of the session.  The parents are awesome too.  They showed alot of patience with the kids and of course me.  hee hee.

Family Pictures

Tanya was so amazing!  The decision to get family pictures was made at the last minute.   Of course, we were loosing light quickly as it was getting to be dusk.  She was able to get everyone moving, changed, and ready in such a short time.  To top it off she she even had matching shirts on hand.  Fortunately they cooperated so well and moved so quickly that we were able to get several different family poses in!  Way to go Kevin and Tanya!

In these samples I thought it would be fun to show you different borders and how they can look with a photograph!  The right borders can really add to the photograph!  The same goes with a digital scapbook layout.