be yourself

in , ,

wanted to wish all the moms out there a belated happy mother's day! i wasn't feeling well on mother's day, so i've been playing a little catch-up with things, including this post.  better late than never, right?! sharing this most awesome painting of me, which i received from kiele, for mother's day. i love how she incorporated the beads in my dreads, the special necklace the kids made me for my birthday and a be yourself t-shirt because she thought i would like that.  i more than like it, i love it!! and it will soon be framed as one of my most precious pieces of art, on a wall in my home. :-)

and this photo, taken on mother's day, of the little ones goofing around in my bed.

san diego summer portrait sessions

in ,

i've had some recent san diego inquiries and am thrilled to share that i'll be returning to san diego the weekend of june 4th and 5th and july 17th and 18th, for child and family portrait sessions.  i still have a couple sessions available.  if interested in reserving a session, please email me. so very excited!!

here's a few images from my last fabulous san diego visit

busy as a bee

in , , , , ,

yep, busy as a bee... i've been photographing and designing books for my little ones' classes (preschool and first grade) the past couple weeks.  along with paying taxes, book keeping, calling accountant, working on workshop, ordering and shipping prints, working on a new website, etc...i've been crazy busy.  i absolutely love giving this gift to the teachers and parents every year!!

this year for sky's class, i took photos at the beginning of first grade and then the end of the year. it was rather mind-blowing how much some of the kids changed in one year.

for their book, i used both sets of pictures and the kids drew and wrote what they wanted to be when they grow up. reading their writings was one of the cutest things ever. here's a few of my favorites...

I wont to be a farmer becuaes I wont to help peaple eat hulfee.

I wont to be a vet to help animals. And I wont to be a fotogerfer to take beautiful pickshers.

When I grow up I will be a Dr. and a hair stilitst because I'd help pepl and kids. I will be a hair stilitst because I cut hair and do dipheret hair stils.

I what to be a army man becus my Dad was in Irack. I think it is a good job to help the world.

Wen I grow up I want to be a vetcherereen becuse I want to help anamals.

I want to be a arme man becas it is cool. and I like camaflog. I like to get trained.

and this is the preschool book layout (they also drew what they wanted to be when they grow up and then i asked them some questions)...

and speaking of busy, gotta run...having a friend over for dinner and need to grocery shop and clean.  i'll have to make sure i buy something hulfee :-)

my WI friends

in ,

oh my freaky friends. i miss them so. already. their laughter is infectious and i try hard to still hear it. i want it engrained in my brain, so i can trigger it at will. a little shake of the head, flick of the fingers, whatever...i just never want to forget the joy. it was the most extraordinary weekend.  a weekend full of of craziness-- a whipping (not that kind of whipping) gettin' high (not that kind of high) trespassing a piercing (and a couple others that were almosts) gettin' naked (by accident) shooting lots of super yummy food and so much more. sounds fun, right? trust me...we had a blast!!

we laughed all weekend. and the energy was magical because they are magical. so full light, love and beauty.

i can't wait till the next time, which i am already trying to coordinate.

here's a few pics of these two fabulous women, from our shooting afternoon.

seriously love these two.  and a glimpse of what i so miss...

p.s. they're really not freaky at all but it was part of our weekend laughs.

can we slow things down a bit...

in , , , ,

...please?  because kiele is THIRTEEN! can you believe it? me neither. officially a teenager...and still as wonderful, sweet and good as ever.

i was looking at old photos of kiele and as i looked through the photos, memories and stories of kiele flooded my mind (that's what photos are supposed to do, right?!). in celebration of kiele's birthday, i thought i'd share a few photos and thoughts here...

sweet, sweet kiele --

you have this ability to touch people like no other. people meet you and always seem to fall in love with the person you are. i hear it time and time again...how incredibly special you are. there has been plenty of times, especially at your schools, where strangers will stop me in the hallway to tell me what a great kid you are. my heart beams and tears flood my eyes knowing you have this gift and it comes so naturally.  needless to say, i'm one proud momma and feel so very blessed!

and i can honestly say, this goodness about you started as a baby. momma carmen watched you from six weeks old until age four. while you started as simply one of the day care children, you quickly became part of their family. and well, you thought of them as family too -- calling them momma carmen and daddy jim. while many mommas might have worried about that, i didn't; i adored it.  thanks to you, we will forever be family with one another.

after your daddy and i got a divorce, i know things were tough for you. but you were always so strong. i adored how you slept with your daddy's photograph every night for years and years. eventually it came out of the frame and was laminated (easier to sleep with that way).  over the years, it had fallen apart and was taped together multiple times (by you). one day, i tried to scan it and replace it with a new one, but you wouldn't have anything to do with it and made me give you back the old one -- the one that was falling apart, perfect and not to be messed with.  that photograph is now back in a frame and graces your nightstand, right next to your bed.

here's the oh-so-loved-perfectly-taped-together picture of kiele's dad, scanned a couple years ago.

and baby marston, who was named that from the very beginning. you loved him so much (yes, he was a him). it breaks my heart that he's now packed away in the back of your closet. i took this series of fictional photographs when you were eight. now this day is a reality and i sit here with a lump in my throat, wishing i could stop time for a bit or at least slow it down. (larger version here)

you are the best big sister ever.  even though there is a six-year spread between you and sky, you've always played with the little ones often and so well.  you've now started to really enjoy your private space and time, yet you still let the little ones in to share with you (most of the time).  they adore you beyond words. and you have set and continue to set such an amazing example for them.

i found the three of you like this in the backyard, so many times. each time, i would look in awe...cherishing how well you played together.

i will never forget the day your cochlear implant was turned on and you could hear...i mean really hear, for the first time!  you were so brave during the surgery and the recovery.  the moment you heard water run in the bathroom for the first time and you came running to tell me was magical.  you have never used your disability as a crutch and my guess is that you never will. i love how you don't hide your cochlear implant and how you are proud of who you are and what you've overcome and accomplished.

being a military family, i always worry about you when we move every couple years -- a new school, making new friends, etc. but i shouldn't, as you seem to do amazingly well each and every time. you seem to always find a very special friend wherever we go.  and after we move, even at a young age, you worked hard to keep that friendship going despite the many miles between the two of you. you haven't been with nat since 2006 and your friendship is still a strong and cherished one.

i truly cannot believe you are thirteen and i thank you for thirteen incredible years. you have taught me more than anyone and your goodness is inspirational to all. you have a special something and i truly believe you're going to make your mark in this world (and it will be one great mark, for sure). you see the world so wonderful; i often joke that you see the world as nothing but rainbows and roses (and maybe some horses). when i describe you to others, i usually start with, she's rather angelic. and i really mean that!!

you are obsessed with horses and want to be a large animal veterinarian when you grow up. you even have $800 already saved up to buy your first horse after college. you dream to one day live on a ranch and own lots of horses. hmmm...maybe you'll even be the next big horse whisperer. that wouldn't surprise me one bit!

i wish you the happiest 13th birthday and hope that all your wishes come true -- this and every year. i love you sweet kiele. more than you'll probably ever realize!

thank you for being you...and for being so absolutely amazing! photo above, of kiele and i, taken by untamed heart photography

and while this post is already really long (deservingly so), i close with a poem that kiele wrote the other day:

my own secret forest is filled with dreams.  everyday, after school, it calls my name.  the wind whispers kind words and the flowers wave hello.  the clear bubbling brook, with silver fish, is inviting.  the birds chirp cheery songs, with glee.  i follow the stepping stones down to the brook.  then i jump onto the fallen tree...and walk across.  the long green grass, with colorful wild flowers, tickle my feet.  along the brook's sand bank, i skip some stones.  then is see some deer and follow them, deeper inside the forest.  trees with blooming flowers float in the breeze.  i pull some weeds out and feed them to the deer.  i hear the squirrels chatter and watch the butterflies flutter.  the sunset comes beaming through the forest, with it's beautiful colors.  lightning bugs begin to show themselves with their bright lights.  i catch a few and dance around.  the moon arrives and glances at the brook.  i know it's time.  i let the lightning bugs fly away and say my good-byes.  my time has come to leave.  but my smile remains, for i know i will be back soon -- very soon, to play in my secret forest once again.

weekend warriors

in , , ,

how did i get so lucky as to have two of the most incredible weekends, back to back?!! last weekend, i flew to salt lake city, for a photography get-together--just a few of us girls, hanging out and having fun.  to say the weekend was magical is actually an understatement.  we shared. we laughed. we learned. we cried.  i left there a better person...a person that embraced and soaked in as much goodness as possible, from each of these fabulous women.

i was also super stoked to find the most breathtaking resort for our fall workshop location.  the location alone is crazy inspirational!! we're hoping to share all the details and open registration this coming week.  just a few more things to work out before the contract is complete and signed.

i adore this photo so much. i love the way we all seem to be entwined with one another, which is exactly how i feel.  a part of them will forever be entwined in my heart and soul.  i'm going to print this and keep it on my desk, to remind me every day of their light, love, goodness and inspiration. from left to right: wynona, crystalynn, steph, me, mindy and jefra photo set up by jefra. taken with self timer. and edited by mindy.

and this weekend... terri fischer and julie bartel are visiting ME :-) woot! woot!  i thought they were fabulous, knowing them on-line. well, they're even more fabulous in person. we're having a blast. and so much laughter shared!!  they are actually flying with steve right now (he got his private pilot license just the other day), which is why i have the time to blog right now.  this afternoon will be filled with shopping, shooting and hooking up with another new friend. i just love terri and julie and am so very thankful to have them in my life. they, too, make me a better person.

family photos

in , , ,

this past weekend, we had the awesome opportunity to have our family's photos taken by untamed heart photography at the city museum in st louis.  and oh...my heart is so darn happy, i can barely stand it.  i cannot even begin to express how much i appreciate this gift michelle has given us. friday afternoon, we drove to st louis, to visit michelle and her family.  ryder lost his tooth on the drive and we hoped that the tooth fairy would be able to find us.  she did.  :-) our families had such a great time -- sharing, laughing, playing together!!  saturday afternoon was the photo session.  and on sunday, we visited grant's farm and then ventured home.

i truly and deeply treasure each and every image michelle has shared with me.  needless to say, she's wicked talented. here's a few that she has emailed over the past couple days...

thank you michelle, for the magical photos.  for opening your home and your hearts to our family.  for the special memories that will forever be a part of us.  thank you...for everything!!!

+++

and in case you were wondering, this is what the four-hour drive home had in store...

p.s. if you're a photographer, please don't forget to take the time to have your own (family's) photos taken!

fingers and toes

in , ,

yesterday, the little ones and i got our toes done (aka a pedicure). kiele had a choice...and horseback riding won over pretty toes. ryder basically got a fab foot massage. sky ended up getting her toes and fingers done. it's always a big deal for sky, but when she ends up with pretty flowers on pretty toes and fingers, it's a really big deal. but...last night also happened to be bath night. how am i going to take a bath? i'm going to have to keep my feet and hands out.

you see, she does her best to not get those pretty toes and fingers in the water, for fear that the water may cause damage to her polish. it usually results in a mandatory very quick washing of the affected areas.

note: bath time was three hours post-manicure | pedicure.  this will actually continue for the next week or so.

so last night, i peaked in the bathroom and saw this...

+++

and today, we're headed to st louis, to visit this awesome family. can't wait!!

take pride

in ,

from 500 pieces of prudent advice for my daughter. People will repeatedly tell you that to be truly happy, you must find a job that you love. I sincerely hope that you do. But in case you have to take a less-than-ideal position to pay the bills, there are some things you should know. Avoid any job that you find morally objectionable—you can’t reconcile your values with tasks you find repugnant. But you can earn rewards from a job that you find only mildly tolerable. When you are presented with a challenge and use your skills to meet it, you will feel accomplished, regardless of the task. That feeling is universally valid and undeniably admirable; embracing it will make work a more rewarding experience in the day to day, even if it doesn’t feed your soul.

having done my fair share of jobs to simply pay the bills... having had a job (as an RN) that didn't truly make me happy, nor did i love it... and now doing a job that i absolutely love and feeds my soul, beyond what i had ever imagined it would... i adore her advice on taking pride in your work -- no matter what the job happens to be, at the time!

+++

i would love to do a journal of momma's advice, for my kids one day. along with a video of momma's thoughts, love and advice. i guess that that would fulfill numbers 1 and 32 on my bucket list.  not sure what i'm waiting for, but one of these days...i will.

life goals

in , , ,

sky brought this home from school on friday. and my heart melted.  seriously melted.

and i began thinking about what i would write if i was asked to share three life goals. it's not easy to write just three.  hmmm...

1. try to do and be my best in all i do. 2. remember to give. 3. cherish each and every day.

if you could list only three life goals, what would they be??

p.s. this is my 777th post and yesterday, while watching blind side, 777 kept coming up on the closed captioning throughout the movie.  is someone trying to tell me something?

be grateful

in , , ,

let us be grateful to people who make us happy;they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. - marcel proust

a couple days ago, i asked sky if she would do some pictures with me,

just for a little bit...please.

sure, she said. just for a little bit.

we went out, behind our house, for about 15 minutes -- that's all we had until sunset.  but i was grateful for any amount of time, especially since i hadn't shot in a while.

when i photograph sky, she always (almost always) goes with the flow of my ideas.  i don't really have to give her much direction.  she just does.  i just shoot.  we get each other that way.

and when done, i never forget to thank sky and tell her how great she did.  i don't ever want to take that special time she gives me for granted.

when tucking her that night, i asked her if she knew what a great model she is.

i know, she said, with her sweet, sly sky grin.

good, i replied, with a smile on my face.  you should!

and i was so very grateful... for everything.

go do

in , , ,

came across these lyrics today.love...

go sing too loud make your voice break - sing it out go scream do shout make an earthquake...

you wish fire would die and turn colder you wish your love could see you grow older we should always know that we can do anything

go drum do go out make your hands ache - play it out go march through crowds make your day break...

you wish silence released noise in tremors you wish i know it surrender to summer we should always know that we can do everything

go do you´ll know how to just let yourself fall into landslide

go do you´ll know how to just let yourself give into low tide

go do!

tie strings to clouds make your own lake - let it flow throw seeds to sprout make your own break - let them grow

let them grow let them grow

you will survive we´ll never stop wonders you and sunrise will never fall under

you will survive we´ll never stop wonders you and sunrise will never fall under we should always know that we can do anything

go do!

- lyrics from jonsi's go do

yesterday, i did.

the winner is...

in

i'm excited to share that commenter number 10, alicia, was the winner of an 8x10 print, from last week's inspiring giving post.

alicia's print selection was the 'remember who you are' image, which i'll be shipping to her next week.

i learned that alicia and her family live in an RV and well, i'm pretty darn inspired by these awesome RVing families (i follow a few blogs). so i asked alicia if i could ask her a few questions, to share here...

how long have you been RVing? We have owned our RV since November, we will be moving into it full time in early May. So we are actually in the leaping stage.

how old are your children and what do they think about living in an RV? We have four kids -- ages 15, 12, 10 and 3. We just got back from a two week trip to Texas and it was a good trial run to see how things would go and how everyone felt about full timing. Our oldest is a little bit mournful of her friendships here but the great thing is that she can facebook and text with them whenever she wants. We've been homeschooling since our oldest was in 1st grade so we'll just continue that path on the road.

what do you love most about RVing on a full-time basis? I can already tell you what we love most. We love being all together. We have always lived pretty small and find that everyone ends up in the same room in our house. Our kids are the best of friends and the conversation rolls much easier for all of us in the RV. It's more simple. Everything about it screams simplicity. The challenge right now will be getting rid of our belongings and deciding what we need to take. Also the goodbyes will be a bit hard.

how do you decide where to go next? We will be traveling as my husband's job dictates. Most of his jobs will be about 6 weeks, so we head to Northern California first and then will go where his next job is. It looks like right now we will be spending some time in California, and I can't even tell you how happy that makes us all.

what or who inspires you? And really there are so many things and people that inspire us. Anytime we see someone take their dreams and go for it, it encourages us even more. Less than a year ago my husband was diagnosed with cancer and while he is now cancer free, we decided that time was too short and our kids won't be in the nest much longer. If not now when?

thanks so much for sharing alicia and congratulations -- i hope you love the print!

you can read more about alicia, her family and their travels here.

being military

in ,

believe it or not, i'm now in my 20th year as part of the military system (3 years enlisted in the army reserves as a unitsupply specialist (long story), 10 years as an active duty nurse and 7 years as a military spouse). people often ask, especially during times of deployment, how do you do it?

well, to be honest, i really don't know any different (as an adult). and neither do our kids. we try very hard to always have a positive outlook on being a military family. look at --

all the different places we get to live. all the friends we get to meet, from place to place. all the friends we can potentially go visit, all across the country. all the experiences we get to have.

and now social media has made it so easy to keep up with and stay in touch with our friends.

the thought of having to settle in one place for an extended period of time actually gives me huge anxiety...and therefore, i don't give it too much thought. lucky for us, we have plans to sail around the americas for a year or so, after steve retires -- postponing the need to figure out our long term residence for a while.

a lot of people also ask me about the impact moving every few years has on the kids.  well...i think my kids are going to be just fine. so far...so good. but only time will tell for sure.

here's a shot i found a while back of me, while in the air force as a registered nurse. i'm pretty sure this was taken in 2001. getting out of the military was (and still is) very bittersweet. there's a part of me that absolutely loved it.

and here's steve and i at his EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) graduation, in september 2002.  i got out of the air force in march 2003, when i was seven months pregnant with sky.

these two chairs

in ,

i think i've mentioned it on my blog a time or two before, but...we dream of owning an eichler someday.  so our house, whatever house we're living in at the time, is mostly furnished in a mid-century modern style.  we still  have a ways to go but piece by piece, our house becomes a bit more mid-century modern-ish. while in san diego, we picked up these two beat-up mid-century modern chairs from craigslist.  steve said that the core was good and i trusted him (he's almost always right).  but the cracked brown leather chairs sat in our garage for well over a year, waiting to be reupholstered.  shortly after we arrived to kansas, we located an awesome couple (lawyers turned upholsterers), who reupholster out of their house. and viola -- we had a set of kick-ass green frabric mid-century modern chairs.

we love our chairs. our kids love our chairs. charley loves our chairs.

i think more activity happens on these chairs than anywhere else in our house. it's really quite funny. and i've only captured a tiny fraction (over the past couple months) of what takes place in this one little space -- on these two chairs.

p.s. yes, that's sky filing her toenails, while sitting | balancing on the armrests of the chairs.

p.s.s. leah and i actually met, after i saw photos of her eichler on flickr.  i inquired about her house...a couple months and quite a few conversations later, we were invited over to her house for dinner.  and that's how our friendship began!

photo wall gallery inspiration

in , , ,

i loved this recent post on the creative mama blog, sharing thoughts and ideas on photography wall displays.  whether your wall space is large or small, i think many of these display ideas can be applied (some of them on a smaller scale). moving to a new house every two-to-three years, i go through the wall display decision making process quite often. i'm now excited to take some of these inspirational ideas with me to our tampa house, this july.

also, i wanted to share this not-so-formal wall display idea, from my own house.  we purchased these chalk- and pin-boards years ago from pottery barn kids and they have moved with us to three different houses now.

i just found this tacktile message board and this takboard from CB2, which would also work really well for this type of wall display.

have another photograph display inspiration?  please share, i'd love to hear about it.

updates

in , , ,

portfolio updates, that is. i try really hard to keep my portfolio up-to-date. of course, there's some images that will probably never come off my online portfolio but that's because i believe in them so strongly. i feel that a current portfolio is so important, as i want my clients to know exactly what they're getting when they hire me. additionally, hopefully our work continues to evolve and grow over time and therefore, our portfolio and website should too...right?!

i'm pretty comfortable with the amount of images in my online portfolio and therefore, when i have a new photograph that i feel should go in my portfolio, an existing image must come down. well this time, it was really hard; i struggled with which ones to replace.

i hope that when people visit my portfolio, they see that i put my heart and soul into selecting images that clearly represent who i am as a photographer and what i love to shoot.

here's a few of the newly added portfolio images. you can see more here.

i so love what i do!!!