Four Times The Fun

HELLO?

Anyone out there??? 

Hello???

I'm so mean to leave my bloggie friends with a sad post! I'm sorry. Forgive me. 

I can't wait to show you the lovely people that donated to Andrews trust! We have all given to a family that deserves it more then you know. And to say they are appreciative is an understatement! They feel blessed beyond measure. Thank you to all that donated and also BIG thanks for the love and prayers that went out to the Davis family!

More on that later...

I'm going to do my best to jump back on this blog! And to start this off I'm going to ask your opinion. Which picture do you like better and why? All three are the same, I know. But, I want you to really look at these pictures. What do you think about when you look at this image? Color or Black & White? Does one have more of an emotional impact the another? How about the funky colored one? Tell me what you think...

P.S. Jeramy added pictures to the website! Check it out! Maybe you'll see you!

Friendships and Heartbreak

I've tried to write this blog post for a week now... Still right now, my palms are sweaty, my heart is beating violently against my chest and I feel the tears start to burn my eyes... I will be brave. I will be brave, because they have to and he was...

I went to school with the Davis family... Russ, Heather and Holly. Holly and I were freshmen together. We had band and cheerleading together and hit it off right away.  We'd give Mr. Clay such a hard time!! OH! The memories that flood back when I remember Holly! Before Mr. Clay we had Mr. Sanchez... My goodness! The things we got away with! Somehow, we made our way to the practice rooms daily so we could talk about boys and all the things little 14 year old girls talked about! Read...BOYS! And every so often we play our clarinets so we wouldn't get caught goofing off! We were such goof balls! Holly was ALWAYS there for me. She was always there to listen to me talk about my boy problems! Problems! That makes me giggle!!! I was a mess! 

Holly? How did you and Beth deal with me? I was a complete dork!!!! ;-D And Do you remember how Mr.Clay would roll his eyes at us!!! ;-)

I recently re connected with my Holly through Facebook. To see Holly's face was wonderful. Seeing her and her family was comforting to me. To know that Holly was happy and well, made things somehow feel right in the world. It's hard to explain... It just felt right.

Hearing about Russ, and Heather and their families was icing on the cake. Looking through Holly's photos and seeing her whole family happy and together... seeing that Russ Davis  has a SON made me giggle. Seeing Heather and Holly with their sons made my heart happy. And Mr. and Mrs. Davis looking EXACTLY the same, was heartwarming.

But, things were not all perfect. Holly's son has major medical issues and in hearing her struggles broke my heart for her. I was having a hard time not driving over there and learning all I could about taking care of Matty, so I could stay up with him and let her and her hubby get much needed sleep!

Matty and Holly are the reason I joined The Littlest Heros Project. I needed to somehow make a difference... 

They were my heros.

(Uncle Russ with Matty)

This next part is hard...

On August 13th Russ was badly injured in an accident at work. He was a lineman for PG&E... After serious injuries, difficult surgeries and a strong fight, Russ passed away on August 18th.

My heart breaks for his family. My need to hug Holly becomes so hard at times... Memories of Russ flood my mind and make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Thinking about his families heartbreak gets overwhelming....

I need to do something.

Russ was an organ donor. His life lives on... in his son, in the people who's lives he has touched, and with the gift he has given so many people with the donation of his organs.

I want to help. I need to help.

Heres what we're going to do...

I will be doing 10 sessions at $100 (regular priced sessions are $450) and all proceeds will go into Andrews trust. AND if you have a donor card or that sticker on your drivers license, we will give you 10% off a regular portrait session. I'm not sure what else we will be doing, but getting the word out about organ donation is going to be a big thing. Stay tuned to hear what we come up with...

( Russ with his son Andrew)

You can purchase a session and give it away as a gift... You can purchase a session and save it for Christmas... I'll make you a cute little gift certificate. You can purchase 4 sessions at once at the $100 price, and that would 4 sessions for less then the price of one.

I'm asking you to help. Russ was a thoughtful person with a great big heart... to say the least. I'm asking you to help me give back. 

Please keep the Davis family in your prayers. 

Davis family, if you are reading this...

I am so sorry for your loss. I have always been amazed by your family. You are part of the reason I wanted a big family! Now that I'm a mother I know first hand how challenging raising a family is. And Mr. And Mrs. Davis... you did an amazing job. 

 I can't begin to imagine how difficult this time is... please know my love and prayers are going up for you...

I'm going to stop rereading this post... I'm just going to post it! 

Fourth of July FUN!

The party was hoppn' at our house! Red Solo cups as far as the eye could see... ribs...flasks... chicken... macaroni salad... beer... light sabers... wine... and a BAZILLION kids!

WILD!!!

I'm so glad that Jeramy got a burr in his butt regarding our front yard. In one day he did a complete make over! 

( it took a few more then the 4 bags I calculated...)

I finally got a Dahlia! I've been wanting on for SO long! When Brady and I used to go on walks, when it was just me and him, we passed a garden with the MOST amazing Dahlias! Now I have one!

We woke up on the morning of the 4th just super excited for what the day had in store!

The 4th is always a fun holiday! Hanging out with family and friends, eating, listening to great music and watching fireworks to end the night! 

Do you remember doing this with your friends!?? And how much do you love the missing teeth???!!

Waiting for the fireworks...

This might be one of my favorite images of the night!! Ahhh....

And one last picture... because it's not a party at our house without one round of the Cha Cha Slide...

Thank you to all that came over and made the day a super fun day!!

Kimmi ~ Suisun Photographer

I got to shoot Kimmi! Man I love this girl! Honest. Sweet. Respectful. Dependable. Loyal. Smart. Funny. Sassy. AND... she doesn't fall for my tricksters tricks! MAN!! I love Miss Kimmi!

I was so thrilled that Kimmi asked me to do her Senior portraits! I listened to her favorite music in the weeks leading up to the shoot... I looked at all the web sites of her favorite musicians, movies and TV shows. Now... I couldn't re-create much of what I saw ;-) but I did try to make sure that the images I took were so completely Kimmi! I knew without a doubt that the images would reflect my love for this girl, but it was important to me that they were just so HER!

Have I mentioned I love this girl???

Man I love her!

Kimmi, I love and adore you. I could never thank you enough for loving my children the way you do... you are the best and I am so excited to see what this new phase of life brings to you! 

Eva, Charlie, Adam and the rest of Kimmi'sFamily, I don't have to tell you how awesome your Kimmi is. I know you already know that! But, I do want to thank you for shaping her into the woman she is becoming.

Heres a sneak peek...

I have so many more, but I have plans and I want them to be a surprise! You will have to hold your horses!

So, I wasn't going to share this, but I changed my mind...

It was a warm morning and the orchard behind Wooden Valley was calling to me. Rows and rows of trees, pretty sparkly grass and two sweethearts... it was a must! I tuck them by a pretty tree and tell them to just talk while I work out my settings. I squat down, and I'm not liking the angle so I do what any photographer does... I lay down in the grass! I get this shot and I love it right from the start!

I'll finish the rest of the story later...

Here's Tyler! I'm sure Kimmi likes his dreamy blue eyes.... she told me so.

Man! I love this girl!

( I think Tyler does too! Shhh)

This is me and my MAD reflector skillz! I'm so just kidding about the "skillz"!

Kimmi and Disneyland...

I'm sure the chick that walks around the park as Ariel, knows Kimmi! She might even feel stalked by Kimmi. And I'm sure if we were ever to ask Kimmi to be our nanny and come to Disneyland with us... wait! I'm sure if we ever took someone else to Disneyland with us to help with the kids, she would have a major problem, and we would live to regret it... if we lived.

Kimmi loves Disney!

And I LOVE KIMMI!!!

I love Kimmi so much that it was worth the tick I found in my scalp!! 

Yes! A TICK!! Yesterday morning, as I sat down to edit the images, I ran my hand through my hair and felt something on my head! Not thinking... I pulled. And FREAKED out when I saw a live bug between my fingers! I had a melt down! I do not like bugs! The Dr. said it was a Dear Tick and nothing to worry about and he thought it was so cool that I blindly pulled it out and it was alive! What we came up with is that the tick must have been on my sweatshirt and crawled on me when I put it on the next morning. Yuck!

I'll share more of Kimmi's pictures later!

Kimmi! You are going to die!! I have ideas!!!

Super Funny!

I might have to skip "Ten on Tuesday" today. Maybe I'll get to it later tonight. But, I have something so much better to share...

Have you ever "Yearbooked Yourself"? I'm crying! I am killing myself with this! I'm going to do more! I'm going to make a whole class! Just you wait and see! Here are a few in the class!

1984

1952

1960

Are you rolling?? No one is safe! Just watch and see!

I'm just super happy that I was born when I was!

"Yearbook" all your family and link the page here! We all want to see!

I've Been Having so Much FUN!

Site seeing with Michelle and Bronwen! It's been a BLAST!

I really don't have time for this... I have a house to clean and kids to take care of! But, I read Michelle's blog and just couldn't help myself!

Come out Lisa!

I know you are there! Remember the sun was about to go down... the pretty light... Her sparkling eyes? Remember?

Wanna see the color version? You have two choices:

Blog with the rest of the world
or
start commenting on my blog!

Lonely

Summer is a time for relaxing outside with family and friends. Jeramy bought this lovely table and chairs for us to enjoy with family and friends... We went out to do just that. Something someone was missing. We instinctively grabbed the Loon and four wine glasses. But, there were just two of us... we just went inside.

Sad
Melancholy
Morose
Confused
Lost
Lonely
Mournful
I could go on and on....

Where 'o where are you? Why do you neglect us????

For those of you that think I flipped my lid I'm totally kidding! I'm messing with someone. She knows who she is.

Fun at the Park

This morning I met my fellow "Sonoma Rockstar" at the park!

I got some fun images! I can't wait to see what Wendy got of Mags! I saw one of Mary Rose and it was so pretty! Those girls were such great models for us! Jane... not so much for me. This is what she gave me...

and how much do you LOVE this...

I bet if she knew how much I adore this sass, she'd stop. Don't you just want to grab her and kiss all over her chubby sassy face!!!

Then at high noon I decided I needed to get Mary Rose on the swings... High noon, no shade, a white shirt and a moving swing! I like a challenge.

Mixing it up with a little black and white... okay, I had some color issues. I'm actually diggin' it in B&W!

It was a very fun morning! Thanks Wendy for lunch!

And I did get some cute ones of Brady! I'm saving them for tomorrow! He's getting his own post!

OH! If you have a second please go to MeRa's blog! I have a friend that entered the photography contest and is in the five finalists! Yahoo! MeRa's contests are fun! This time she's picking two random voters who will receive a $20 Starbucks card as well as the 400th voter! Very cool. And I'm not telling you who to vote for... Just vote!

AaaCarrieChoo!

Goodness! Bless me... I must have a cold!

Aaa#5choo

Voting ends at midnight! Go vote now so you don't forget!

Guess Who Came Home With 1st Place!

Yahoo! Emma, Brady and Mary Rose!!! This was the first year they entered and they all came home with ribbons! First place ribbons! We all are so proud of them! And now everyone wants to enter!

Brady entered his photo of me and Maggie taken at Old Mill Park

Mary Rose entered her photo of Brady at Old Mill Park

Emma entered two! A sweet one of Sam and one of a very lovely pink flower.

I didn't do too bad either. I did go into this year with less confidence... I was all prepared to not leave with anything this year. There was lots of drama surrounding the pictures I entered. It happens every year... I don't seem to learn my lesson. It's frustrating. Every year I lose track of time, and I forget about having to turn in the pictures till the night before. EVERY YEAR! I rush around and have the pictures printed by different places. And every year I freak out because they don't do a good job. This year I tried a big wherehouse that claims that they print by professional standards. Yeah... not so much! I ended up having a few of the pictures I wanted to enter in my portfolio, and I had to replace ones that I wanted to enter, with different ones that I already had. I was stressed!

But, it all worked out! And to tell you the truth the ones I thought would do well didn't and the ones that I was unsure about did great! Here's the run down:

The picture of Mr.T got 4th and The Black and White of Brady got 1st and a Best of Show.

Mags in her hat got a 2nd

The leaf on the beach got a 2nd and Mary Rose with her "cutie" sticker got 1st

The Cutie with it's sticker got a 3rd

And Garret's Mini got a lovely 1st place ribbon too!

So Fun! I do have to tell everybody that Jeramy did pick out the picture that got Best of Show. I had a whole other picture picked out. Yes, it was one that the photo people messed up. I was so done and just told Jeramy to pick... he picked this one and I'm so happy he did.

So, what's the lesson? Even in things as little as entering pictures in fairs, God has plans. Your plans may change, and change in ways you don't like. It may not feel great at the time, but just watch and wait to see what Gods plans are. I guarentee they are better then yours!

I'm going to put a photo album to the right, with of the pictures from the fair. We had two vans full of people and more waiting for us there! We had fun. In looking at the pictures be sure not to miss Picky's pictures! She did great too!