Merry Christmas...

May you have a wonderful and Happy New Year!

No more photos please...

The other evening I did a mini photo session for my dear friend, Heather, and her sister, Dez. 

Consider me officially inducted into the hall of patience!  :-)  Mr. Blake is a VERY busy 3 year old and it was sooooo challenging to get him to sit still long enough to snap a photo or two. 

Here are a couple of snippets of Blake...soooooo cute!

 

What I learned from this mini-session is to plan a little differently when working with a 3 year old.

I need a little higher level of energy to keep up with this little guy...not to mention a MUCH faster shutter speed!

Some cutie patooties...

Wow, it seems like f.o.r.e.v.e.r. since I've posted anything so I thought I'd put together a quickie post.  Life has been quite busy lately.  I helped out my friend Robin at her shop by providing some pet photography over the weekend and it proved to be both fun yet challenging. 

First off, let me say, I. AM. NOT. CESAR. MILLAN.  Ok, I got that off my chest. 

Robin only had about 4 people show up for what was to be a mini session.  For the most part, it went quite well with one exception...

The last lady brought two dogs, Shih-tzu's.  One that would not look at the camera no matter what we did and the other that was down right uncooperative!  I end up snapping about 50 photos that were useless all in an attempt to snap what I hoped was ONE or TWO good photos...I did this on purpose. 

(Did I mention that I. AM. NOT. CESAR. MILLAN??)

When a dog (or child or adult, or bird, or bumble bee, you get the idea) is constantly moving and won't stay still, it makes it impossible to obtain GREAT results...which I'm sure you can appreciate.  So after what felt like an hour of snapping photos, I offered to show the owner a preview on the computer (MISTAKE #1).

She immediately HATED every single one of the pictures.  No joke, she hated them all.  In fact, she proceeded to berate me about my photography skills and asked why I would take such terrible photos!  No joke again, this continued on for a couple of minutes, all the while I'm getting more and more annoyed! 

 (Did I mention that I. AM. NOT. CESAR. MILLAN??)

FINALLY, in as nice of a voice that I could muster up, I calmly but firmly explained the facts of the situation to her.

• That SHE couldn't even control her dogs how in the world did she expect me to do it?
• In photography when you're working with challenging subjects, you take photos in bursts...one shot right after the other as fast as the camera will fire IN HOPES that you capture a few good shots.
• And that if she wasn't happy with any of the photos, I wasn't going to waste my time editing any of them for her, she'd have to go somewhere else.

Whew! My blood pressure is starting to rise just typing this story...

In the end, she said to send her 3 or 4 photos.  Eeek!  

I haven't even begun to look at those photos but I do have a couple photos from the other pupper dogs that did cooperate...

 

 

I took away a few very valuable lessons from this experience and will definitely change up a couple of things next year as I do photography on the side as a little side business.  I am very thankful for all the people who have helped me hone my skills along the way.  I am looking forward to 2013 to see what photography projects come my way.

There are always lessons in life...it's a matter of being able to see them for what they are OR have them slam you over the head like a sledge hammer. 

I prefer to see them the easy way and hope to avoid the sledge hammers out there!  :-)

Pom-Pom Girl...

This little gal lives two doors down and makes the occasional appearance at our back slider. If Quincy isn't outside, she'll stand at the door and just bark and bark and bark...until we let Q out.

We don't know her name so we call her Miss Pom-Pom or Pom-Pom Girl (real creative, huh?). She's really cute but a little shy.  It took her forever to get this close to Q.  Of course, he just wants to play like crazy but I think she's more interested in teasing him than anything else.

Once Q is outside, they play for a few minutes and then she dashes away just as quickly as she appears.

Today, I grabbed my camera just in time to snap a couple of shots before she disappeared!

Love those little elves...

Yesterday, some elves arrived and helped decorate around our house...thank goodness for those little guys!! Ok, well maybe it was one big elf named Bob!

Here's a snippet of some of what they he did...

 I think I better rearrange those Christmas presents so the tree doesn't look so small in comparison!

THIS is the very first Christmas ornament Bob ever got for me!  He was cute and thoughtful back then too!

This last shot was a whoppin' 4 seconds long for the exposure.

Can you tell how much I still love my new/old camera!!

Get a J.O.B.!

I'm behind on posting so today's a two for one!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to play around with my camera so I invited Quincy to join me in my make-shift studio (our game room).  Yeah, that's right, I've taken over part of the game room...much to Bob's dismay!

Anyway, Quincy was more than willing to take part in my mini-shoot.  I thought it would be mission impossible since I was working solo and Bob wasn't here to help keep Q's attention.

As you can see, he was more than happy to cooperate, at least for a few shots...

A few shots in and this is what I felt like he was telling me...

After another couple of minutes, I guess he got bored to tears because this is all I got...

I think he needs to get a J.O.B.!  :-)

First snow...

I'm a couple of days late in posting this but better late than never, right? It's hard to believe it's THAT time of year again.

 

Just enough snow to be a nuisance.  

 

Before we know it, Christmas will be here...maybe even a white one this year!?

I love how the snow weighted this decorative grass down.  It was almost as if I can see the flakes piling up right in front of my eyes as I snapped this shot.

Can't possibly be Monday already...

Wow, that was a whirlwind of a weekend!

The only consolation in knowing it's Monday already is that I got to meet (and photograph) the newest little Lepley at JUST three days young!

Introducing Reagan Thompson Lepley born on Wednesday at 6:35 am, 8lbs 6oz, 19 inches long...

Happy Monday!

Model for hire...

Today we setup our backdrop stand and had our first official photo shoot!

Well, sort of.

Too bad this guy isn't a paying customer!  :)

Meet Haylee and Mylee...

Saturday I had the opportunity to spend some time outside trying to capture some last minute family photos for my friends Beth and Andy.  If you recall, it was only about 45 degrees out which wasn't the most desirable temps for outdoor family photos.  :-(

Their poor little girls were such great troopers, taking blanket breaks as needed.

Meet Haylee and Mylee...

I'm pretty sure that I prefer the heat of summer compared to these temps!

Beans, beans, beans...

So about a week ago, I ordered this beanbag/ottoman (more photography stuff!)...

I'm happy to report that it arrived today!  Unfortunately, you have to fill it yourself which is no biggie because Walmart sells the beans.  

Bob was unusually bored today - what a perfect task for him, right?  Or so I thought...

Here's a snippet from our conversation about it (which took place over about a 15-20 minute period).

 

Me:  Honey, if you're bored to tears, you could go to Walmart and buy the beans to fill my beanbag.

Bob: How many beans does it take?

Me: I don't know, check the paper that came with the beanbag.

Bob (reading the instructions which rarely happens):  It says it takes 350 liters of beans.  I think we ought to go to Sam's club to buy the beans and by the way, I think we may need a pickup truck to haul the beans home!

Me (only half listening because I was busy working): We don't have a Sam's Club membership, just get them from Walmart!

Bob: We use 50# bags of beans at work and I can tell you that's going to take 3 or 4 of those bags to fill that thing!

Me:  Huh?!

Bob: HOW in the world are you going to lift this thing once it's full??

Me: It's going to be light as a feather, well, practically that light!

Bob: How's it going to be that light with all those beans in it??

Me: It's not going to weigh that much once you put the bean bag fill in it...like the other beanbag we have!

Bob: What kind of beans are YOU putting in it because the ones we use weigh quite a bit!

Me: The poly-styro type of beans, what are YOU talking about?!

Bob: (LIGHTBULB moment) OH, you mean bean bag fill NOT beans in a bag!!  Sorry, I just had a severe blonde moment!!! 

Lesson of the day - be thorough in your explanation so you don't end up with 200 lbs of beans in your bag!

HBD Sista...

Happy, happy birthday to my big sis! 

Much love to you on this day from me, Bob and Q!

Enjoy your day!

Powy's Curve...

Last Saturday morning (one week ago) as I was driving north on route 15, I stopped to take a picture of the fog nestled between the mountains.  I think just about every valley I passed had some fog hugging the mountains.

It was too pretty to just keep driving so I finally pulled off the road just south of Powy's curve.

I wish I would've stopped a few other times on the way...something I'll do next time because the beautiful colors of fall have already disappeared just one short of a week later!

Bob's "other" love...

For years, we've wanted to capture some fall photos of Bob with his "other" love!

I'm happy to say that last week, we finally took time out and did just that before all the beautiful colors of fall disappear into the doldrums of winter...

After all, this is a fair-weather vehicle!

 

Wordless Wednesday...

More photo fun...

Last week I had the opportunity to take photos of my photog pal, Kristi, of Forever Photography.

Kristi and I share a passion for photography and it was a real honor to take photos of Kristi, her husband Calton, and their two kiddos Camden and Brielle!  What a beautiful family!

 

I had a ton of fun, thanks guys!!

It's all a blur...

I'm not even sure where last week went!  It just seems like a blur thinking back on it now!

I did have some fun taking pictures of our little neighbor, Gianna and her mom on Saturday.  G is such a natural and LOVES having her picture taken.  She has definitely spoiled me because she's such a natural in front of the camera (gets it from her mom)!

 

I hate to see fall disappear into winter! 

I'll guess I'll have to take on the new challenge of indoor lighting! 

Sounds scary but necessary.

Autumn Glory...

I continue to be amazed at all God's glory every time autumn rolls around!  The painted mountains and fall skies are simply beautiful!

 

I love this image of the old shack with the painted backdrop of the beautiful mountain.

This mountain-side where I'm standing to take the photo used to be owned by my grandparents but unfortunately, was sold during some tough times.  :-(

Simple beauty.

Painted skies.

Colorful trees.

All God's glory!

Better than bakery rolls...

A couple of weeks ago my dear friends, Laurie and Michelle, from HS visited and Laurie brought homemade oatmeal rolls that were so delicious that I've tagged them as "better than bakery rolls" because well, they're hands-down, better than bakery rolls!

They are SUPER simple to make AND the best part is you can use your handy dandy bread machine (which, in MY case, is a hand-me-down from my sis...LOVE IT, thanks Tammy)!  We made a batch on Friday that lasted about a minute.  Ok, well maybe a couple of minutes!

Can I just say I've never had such delicious rolls e.v.e.r.!

Oh wait, I think I've already said that!  :-)

Sorry, I repeat myself.

Proofing...

 Fresh out of the oven...

 Smeared with lots of butter to keep them soft on the outside...

Getting ready for the big taste-test...

This batch was a total success compared to last weekend's batch which was...slightly dense.  POSSIBLE DIFFERENCES: We I used the bread machine AND King Arthur flour...(Sorry Bob, gotta give props to the bread machine!).

And now for the big reveal...

Oatmeal Rolls (Better than bakery)

1 1/4 cups luke-warm water
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup rolled oats (quick or old fashioned)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt

First, place the warm water in the bread machine pan, then cut up butter and add it to the water which softens and starts to melt butter. Next, add the oatmeal and brown sugar to the buttered water. Then add the flour and yeast and place the salt in one corner on top of flour.

Once all the ingredients are in the bread machine, select the dough cycle on your machine.  When complete, divide dough into 12 equal parts, butter your hands, form dough into rolls and place in greased (lightly buttered) 9 X 13 pan.  Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise until doubled in size, 10-20 minutes, possibly longer depending on temperature in the room.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Immediately slide out of pan, coat the tops and sides with butter to keep soft and let cool on wire rack.  Once completely cool, store in an air tight bag or container.

Thank you Laurie (VanVliet) Webb for sharing this deliciousness!