I am a terrible blogger. Even when I try!!!!
I wrote a post here about my personal family photos. Then when I previewed it I realized I had sized every picture in the larger sizes. So I copied the entire post to my photography blog instead :)
To read/see the post that really was suppose to be here, click HERE!!! :)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Friday, December 30, 2011
{ Balance.}
HELLO!!!
Is anyone still out here?
It's been a while since I've posted. A long while. In fact I've never went so long without a post. To be honest I wasn't entirely sure I'd post on this blog anymore. Not only do I never seem to find the time but as my girls {Kinzley age 8 especially} are getting older, they don't want 'the whole entire world' {cause THAT many people do read my blog! ;) } to know all the silly things they doing. I also feel like I spend so much time trying to capture everything they do with my camera that I am not as 'present' as I'd like to be. While it's great having all the pictures and memories to look on, I'd hate to look back and remember how busy I was taking the photos that I missed that moment with my family.
Speaking of photos.....If you remember I have been offering my photography services to others for the past couple years. This past year my business really took off. So much so in fact I had to do major juggling to balance everything. Between being a wife and mom, doing photo shoots, editing photos, doing daycare for 4 under 4, and cleaning up from a 'little storm' in July, my blogging was not only put on the back burner but it caught on fire and disappeared. 2 weeks ago we got the gutters replaced on our house, marking the end of the repair work from the storm. 5 months it took us to get everything back to normal, {actually far better than it was}but I can say with certainty God threw us a curve ball this summer that took a lot of our time.
I am so grateful for each person who sent me a message asking if I was ok!!! It's a goal of mine to write on here at least once every 6 months {HA!! Kidding!} so hopefully I'll be around more from now on. But I did want to post a quick update letting everyone know everything is fine. Great in fact!
Who knows maybe I'll even get our Christmas blogged about yet!
Is anyone still out here?
It's been a while since I've posted. A long while. In fact I've never went so long without a post. To be honest I wasn't entirely sure I'd post on this blog anymore. Not only do I never seem to find the time but as my girls {Kinzley age 8 especially} are getting older, they don't want 'the whole entire world' {cause THAT many people do read my blog! ;) } to know all the silly things they doing. I also feel like I spend so much time trying to capture everything they do with my camera that I am not as 'present' as I'd like to be. While it's great having all the pictures and memories to look on, I'd hate to look back and remember how busy I was taking the photos that I missed that moment with my family.
Speaking of photos.....If you remember I have been offering my photography services to others for the past couple years. This past year my business really took off. So much so in fact I had to do major juggling to balance everything. Between being a wife and mom, doing photo shoots, editing photos, doing daycare for 4 under 4, and cleaning up from a 'little storm' in July, my blogging was not only put on the back burner but it caught on fire and disappeared. 2 weeks ago we got the gutters replaced on our house, marking the end of the repair work from the storm. 5 months it took us to get everything back to normal, {actually far better than it was}but I can say with certainty God threw us a curve ball this summer that took a lot of our time.
I am so grateful for each person who sent me a message asking if I was ok!!! It's a goal of mine to write on here at least once every 6 months {HA!! Kidding!} so hopefully I'll be around more from now on. But I did want to post a quick update letting everyone know everything is fine. Great in fact!
Who knows maybe I'll even get our Christmas blogged about yet!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
{ 1st day of school x2. 2011. }
Last Thursday Kinzley woke up bright and early. { seriously 5 o'clock AM early.} I felt a little tap tap tap on my shoulder and felt her breathe in my ear and heard the words, "Pssst Mom?!? I just heard a roaster. I think it's time for me to get up and go to school."
My response back? "It's a rooster and it is not time. Climb into my bed... We have an hour and a half yet to sleep."
Sleep. Right. She bounced, she kicked, she wiggled. Finally I gave in, only to hear her screech in my ear that finally it was time!
It didn't take long to get her dressed and outside waiting for the bus.
She just LOVES her Justice backpack. {Does anyone else think Justice is ridiculous expensive? Even when you use the 40% off. So expensive in fact that I made her pitch in part of her own money since she HAD to have this one :)}
Oh look who woke up!
Waiting for the bus...
Her face when she sees the bus, just makes me laugh!
Before Kinzley gets on the bus, she looks back towards the house and runs back. My heart melts a little thinking she needs one last hug from her Momma. Instead she runs right past me and grabs her cat for one last hug!
Nice.
Finally. Finally. She's off.
Kinzley had two half days of school before my Kenna girl got to join her in school as a Kindergartener!!!
Kenna has been waiting and waiting for this day.
Her Mom on the other hand isn't quite as ready. I love the summers when I am able to spend my entire days with my girls. I love having them home, hearing their voices, seeing them run across the yard, having one on one time late at night with them. School is just so bittersweet.They thrive in social situations. They love to learn. But I MISS THEM!!
Ok I digress, back their big days {sniff sniff :) } Much to their dismay I made them skip the bus ride and drove them to school for Kenna's first day. It didn't take long for Kinzley's friends to take Kenna under their wing and take her clear across the playground to play. But not before I snagged her back for a few quick photos.
And when Kenna's best friend showed up any 'twince' {to quote Kinz :) } evaporated. Can they smile any bigger?
When it was time to line up confident Kenna followed in her sister's footsteps... 1st in line :) {well until a friend started crying and got moved to the front ;) }
My other leader with her birthday cookie for the class.
Within just a few minutes Kenna walked into the school to begin her 1st year of school.
And then I cried just a little.
It's such an honor to watch my girls grow. Even if it is a bit hard on the heart at times. :)I am so glad God chose me to be their Momma!
ps... I totally made Kenna's owl outfit for her first day of school! It was a personal goal of mine for the summer to make it. Finished it up Sunday afternoon at 4:00 ;)
My response back? "It's a rooster and it is not time. Climb into my bed... We have an hour and a half yet to sleep."
Sleep. Right. She bounced, she kicked, she wiggled. Finally I gave in, only to hear her screech in my ear that finally it was time!
It didn't take long to get her dressed and outside waiting for the bus.
She just LOVES her Justice backpack. {Does anyone else think Justice is ridiculous expensive? Even when you use the 40% off. So expensive in fact that I made her pitch in part of her own money since she HAD to have this one :)}
Oh look who woke up!
Waiting for the bus...
Her face when she sees the bus, just makes me laugh!
Before Kinzley gets on the bus, she looks back towards the house and runs back. My heart melts a little thinking she needs one last hug from her Momma. Instead she runs right past me and grabs her cat for one last hug!
Nice.
Finally. Finally. She's off.
Kinzley had two half days of school before my Kenna girl got to join her in school as a Kindergartener!!!
Kenna has been waiting and waiting for this day.
Her Mom on the other hand isn't quite as ready. I love the summers when I am able to spend my entire days with my girls. I love having them home, hearing their voices, seeing them run across the yard, having one on one time late at night with them. School is just so bittersweet.They thrive in social situations. They love to learn. But I MISS THEM!!
Ok I digress, back their big days {sniff sniff :) } Much to their dismay I made them skip the bus ride and drove them to school for Kenna's first day. It didn't take long for Kinzley's friends to take Kenna under their wing and take her clear across the playground to play. But not before I snagged her back for a few quick photos.
And when Kenna's best friend showed up any 'twince' {to quote Kinz :) } evaporated. Can they smile any bigger?
When it was time to line up confident Kenna followed in her sister's footsteps... 1st in line :) {well until a friend started crying and got moved to the front ;) }
My other leader with her birthday cookie for the class.
Within just a few minutes Kenna walked into the school to begin her 1st year of school.
And then I cried just a little.
It's such an honor to watch my girls grow. Even if it is a bit hard on the heart at times. :)I am so glad God chose me to be their Momma!
ps... I totally made Kenna's owl outfit for her first day of school! It was a personal goal of mine for the summer to make it. Finished it up Sunday afternoon at 4:00 ;)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
{ Canada 2011. }
It's hard to believe it's only been a week and a half since we returned from Canada. The clean up from a damaging wind storm a day and a half after arriving home definitely makes us long for another vacation!
At least I can look through the photos I took and remember how it felt to look across the lake instead of sitting in my house in Iowa, looking out the window and seeing all the work that still needs to be done in the yard. In all actuality we have made tons of progress. This last week weather has not cooperated with clean up. New records temps in the 100's don't make for a lot of time outdoors.
It's a far cry from the 70-80's {with little humidity} they had 'up north'. We had such a fun laid back vacation, relaxing and visiting with friends and family. I should say some of us relaxed...
{For the first time since I can remember we decided to bring Chewy back to Canada with us. When Tim used to work at the resort, Chewy was the 'camp dog'. Then little things like needing to fit your kids and all their "stuff" in your vehicle, resulted in Chewy staying home. However since he is starting to show his age, we worried next year may be to late to give him another trip. So we squeezed him between the seats and didn't hear a peep out of him the entire ride! }
While Chew was sleeping in the sun, others were having none of that!
Both girls decided they were brave enough to not only jump off the paddle boat dock but go down the big slide and jump off the floating dock too. Although I think Kenna was just waiting for her older sister who was the hold up. It only took her 4 days to decide to do so this year. :)
The cabin we stayed in this year is the one that you can see 1/2 of behind Kinzley in the above photo. One night while sitting outside on the deck, Kenna walked up to us and very non-nonchalantly asked us, "Is this where the dead people in Canada are buried?" HA!
She never fails to crack us up!
I mean just look at her reeling in a little Northern. She should totally go on a fishing show. Her form is killer.
And of course there is Kinzley, lover of chipmunks,
and swimming.
Kinzley who was so excited to finally BE IN CANADA that she got sick the first night. Kinzley who was on the beach by 8am and spent a maximum of 1/2 hour in the cabin each day. Kinzley who we had to drag in from the beach every night. Kinzley who slept with her swimsuit on so she was ready to go every morning. Kinzley who makes more friends in a week than I make in a year.
Speaking of friends.... Two of Tim's very best friends in the world are brothers Chris and Neil. We had brought up some Iowa T-bones and they came over with their families for a BBQ one night.
Another day we made peanut butter cup smores over the campfire
on an island...
We had lots of smiles and hugs...
and even a few fights...
All in all it was a terrific vacation, once again filled with memories we will never forget.
Until next year Arrowhead Camp and Motel....
We will miss you......And the fact that all your trees are standing straight up!
Below is a slideshow I made with all the photos from this vacation. I know there are people who like to see them all. {clearing throat...Mom...}
At least I can look through the photos I took and remember how it felt to look across the lake instead of sitting in my house in Iowa, looking out the window and seeing all the work that still needs to be done in the yard. In all actuality we have made tons of progress. This last week weather has not cooperated with clean up. New records temps in the 100's don't make for a lot of time outdoors.
It's a far cry from the 70-80's {with little humidity} they had 'up north'. We had such a fun laid back vacation, relaxing and visiting with friends and family. I should say some of us relaxed...
{For the first time since I can remember we decided to bring Chewy back to Canada with us. When Tim used to work at the resort, Chewy was the 'camp dog'. Then little things like needing to fit your kids and all their "stuff" in your vehicle, resulted in Chewy staying home. However since he is starting to show his age, we worried next year may be to late to give him another trip. So we squeezed him between the seats and didn't hear a peep out of him the entire ride! }
While Chew was sleeping in the sun, others were having none of that!
Both girls decided they were brave enough to not only jump off the paddle boat dock but go down the big slide and jump off the floating dock too. Although I think Kenna was just waiting for her older sister who was the hold up. It only took her 4 days to decide to do so this year. :)
The cabin we stayed in this year is the one that you can see 1/2 of behind Kinzley in the above photo. One night while sitting outside on the deck, Kenna walked up to us and very non-nonchalantly asked us, "Is this where the dead people in Canada are buried?" HA!
She never fails to crack us up!
I mean just look at her reeling in a little Northern. She should totally go on a fishing show. Her form is killer.
And of course there is Kinzley, lover of chipmunks,
and swimming.
Kinzley who was so excited to finally BE IN CANADA that she got sick the first night. Kinzley who was on the beach by 8am and spent a maximum of 1/2 hour in the cabin each day. Kinzley who we had to drag in from the beach every night. Kinzley who slept with her swimsuit on so she was ready to go every morning. Kinzley who makes more friends in a week than I make in a year.
Speaking of friends.... Two of Tim's very best friends in the world are brothers Chris and Neil. We had brought up some Iowa T-bones and they came over with their families for a BBQ one night.
Another day we made peanut butter cup smores over the campfire
on an island...
We had lots of smiles and hugs...
and even a few fights...
All in all it was a terrific vacation, once again filled with memories we will never forget.
Until next year Arrowhead Camp and Motel....
We will miss you......And the fact that all your trees are standing straight up!
Below is a slideshow I made with all the photos from this vacation. I know there are people who like to see them all. {clearing throat...Mom...}
Friday, July 15, 2011
{ pickin' up sticks. again. }
A few weeks ago my brother Josh made the comment that he was really getting tired of coming to my blog in hopes of a new post and instead seeing the same post about our family picking up sticks. The sticks that we picked up for weeks after a huge tree was taken down in our yard. I promised him once I got home from vacation I would start posting again.
I did manage to get in a short single post while I was in Canada but after coming home I started downloaded and edited pictures of our vacation Sunday night in hopes of posting them Monday morning.
Instead I was awaken at 5:00am Monday morning to a thunder storm. One of my favorite things ever is to sleep in a rain storm however this one was producing quite a bit of thunder and lightening so I got up to unplug my laptop and close the curtains in our bedroom in hopes of getting a few more hours of sleep. Less than 10 minutes passed when I hear and felt something {which I assumed was a branch off one of the big pine trees on the side of our house.} A few minutes later Tim and I sat straight up in bed after we felt something hit the corner of our garage which is attached to our bedroom.
After a quick look out our bedroom window we see the entire top of a pine tree laying across the driveway. We quickly woke up the girls and took them into our basement. On the way, a glance out the sliding glass door that leads out to the deck in the backyard shows us the door is blocked by another big tree. Once we were in the basement we felt a breeze and saw the downstairs door wide open covering the floor with rain and leaves.
After an hour in the early morning sitting under our stairs waiting for the storm to pass, we make our way back up and see what looks like a war zone. There were trees down everywhere.
We had healthy tress uprooted, trees cut in half and branches, lots and lots of branches covering the yard.
The big pine tree blocking both our vehicles in the garage.
Unfortunately the rest of the pine tree landed on our garage causing quite a bit of damage.
The girls were a little shocked to see a tree in the garage. {excuse the bed head :) }
The swingset, the pool and the trampoline all took a hit....literally and are beyond repair. Our patio set and BBQ grill will also need replaced as well.
After listening to the weather channel we find out all this damage was caused by straight line winds that were 80-110 miles an hour. The winds traveled hundreds of miles and flattened thousands of acres of corn.
And while we have lots and lots of clean up ahead of us we are so fortunate. My hometown of Vinton {10 miles away} was the worst damaged area in this storm. 75% off the huge old trees in town are gone. Every road we drove on was covered in trees and down power lines. My sister's roof was literally blown off her house with her family still inside. My parents had two windows blow out of their vehicles. I don't think there is a house in town that doesn't have tree damage of some kind. To make matters worse the town is without power and the temps are in the high 80's low 90's with super high humidity.
We are so thankful we didn't lose power and that the damage we have will be easily repaired.It is going to be hard work but we can clean up trees, fix the broken areas, replace broken toys, and plant new flowers. While it is overwhelming we are just so thankful all the things that need attention can be fixed. Our family is safe. We still have a roof over our heads {literally} and no one was injured.
Even though it looks like I'll be picking up sticks for a while longer.
Sorry Josh.
{I originally started this post earlier this week. For the last 5 days I have done more yard work than I ever dreamed possible. The temps and humidity have been super high. I am so sore I have a hard time sitting down or getting back up. The pictures I posted don't even come close to doing justice to what the yard really looked like. As I continue picking up I can't help but stand in awe at the power of God. He created all this damage and I imagine it's only 1% of what He could do. God is SO much more powerful than we could ever dream.}
I did manage to get in a short single post while I was in Canada but after coming home I started downloaded and edited pictures of our vacation Sunday night in hopes of posting them Monday morning.
Instead I was awaken at 5:00am Monday morning to a thunder storm. One of my favorite things ever is to sleep in a rain storm however this one was producing quite a bit of thunder and lightening so I got up to unplug my laptop and close the curtains in our bedroom in hopes of getting a few more hours of sleep. Less than 10 minutes passed when I hear and felt something {which I assumed was a branch off one of the big pine trees on the side of our house.} A few minutes later Tim and I sat straight up in bed after we felt something hit the corner of our garage which is attached to our bedroom.
After a quick look out our bedroom window we see the entire top of a pine tree laying across the driveway. We quickly woke up the girls and took them into our basement. On the way, a glance out the sliding glass door that leads out to the deck in the backyard shows us the door is blocked by another big tree. Once we were in the basement we felt a breeze and saw the downstairs door wide open covering the floor with rain and leaves.
After an hour in the early morning sitting under our stairs waiting for the storm to pass, we make our way back up and see what looks like a war zone. There were trees down everywhere.
We had healthy tress uprooted, trees cut in half and branches, lots and lots of branches covering the yard.
The big pine tree blocking both our vehicles in the garage.
Unfortunately the rest of the pine tree landed on our garage causing quite a bit of damage.
The girls were a little shocked to see a tree in the garage. {excuse the bed head :) }
The swingset, the pool and the trampoline all took a hit....literally and are beyond repair. Our patio set and BBQ grill will also need replaced as well.
After listening to the weather channel we find out all this damage was caused by straight line winds that were 80-110 miles an hour. The winds traveled hundreds of miles and flattened thousands of acres of corn.
And while we have lots and lots of clean up ahead of us we are so fortunate. My hometown of Vinton {10 miles away} was the worst damaged area in this storm. 75% off the huge old trees in town are gone. Every road we drove on was covered in trees and down power lines. My sister's roof was literally blown off her house with her family still inside. My parents had two windows blow out of their vehicles. I don't think there is a house in town that doesn't have tree damage of some kind. To make matters worse the town is without power and the temps are in the high 80's low 90's with super high humidity.
We are so thankful we didn't lose power and that the damage we have will be easily repaired.It is going to be hard work but we can clean up trees, fix the broken areas, replace broken toys, and plant new flowers. While it is overwhelming we are just so thankful all the things that need attention can be fixed. Our family is safe. We still have a roof over our heads {literally} and no one was injured.
Even though it looks like I'll be picking up sticks for a while longer.
Sorry Josh.
{I originally started this post earlier this week. For the last 5 days I have done more yard work than I ever dreamed possible. The temps and humidity have been super high. I am so sore I have a hard time sitting down or getting back up. The pictures I posted don't even come close to doing justice to what the yard really looked like. As I continue picking up I can't help but stand in awe at the power of God. He created all this damage and I imagine it's only 1% of what He could do. God is SO much more powerful than we could ever dream.}
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