25 years

Almost exactly one year ago, my inlaws celebrated 25 years of marriage. Circumstances were such that they didn't have a formal wedding, much less like what weddings have become today! They did have a small reception and had a cake. To my knowledge, she has just one snapshot from that event in which they are cutting the cake. So, when 25 years came around, they decided to do a vow renewal ceremony and make it like the wedding she would have liked to have all those years ago.

To be honest, the frugal-practical side of me thought this was a little silly (to make it just like a wedding). Having gone through, and spent the funds on, a 'real' wedding (that was NOTHING in comparison to wedding budgets these days, just a few years later!)... well, we now advise anyone who asks our opinion to skip the whole formal ceremony and reception thing and spend that money on the honeymoon! It's so crazy and hectic and expensive -- and you don't even REMEMBER it!!! I am NOT uber sentimental. So I guess that is partly why I feel that way. All that to say, I had to tell myself that if I hadn't ever had a wedding, I'd probably feel the way same and want to do the same things.

And of course, she asked if I would take the photos. I really didn't want to! First, this wasn't something I'd ever done before, nor was I really that interested in. I knew the location and I knew the light would be horrible -- everything I know is natural light. I don't even own a flash. I knew I didn't have the proper equipment to do this job. Second, I had a 13 month old and a 2.5 year old to take care of while being there, and all my normal 'childcare' is family that was heavily involved in the event. Third, I was family for this event. So being in charge of the photos meant I didn't get to really attend it. But, as much as I promote boundaries in your life, I didn't really feel like I could say no. I made it very clear that I could guarantee NOTHING as far as results.

When it was all over? As I expected, I was tremendously disappointed in the images. The lighting situation was just as I anticipated. With my prime lens, there was limited zooming to what I could do with my feet. I just plain did a poor job. I wasn't surprised, but I was still very upset. And when I feel like the images I took stink... well, I have a REALLY hard time working up the motivation to edit those....

I ran a quick batch edit on all the images and gave them to her. I asked that she let me know which ones she liked and I would custom edit those. (I have found adults to be WAY way WAY more picky about themselves than about kids, and I do not have time to waste editing images that the adult doesn't even like!). She never did anything with them. And I put it behind me.... until....

Shawn asked me if we could make an album to give them for their anniversary this year to commemorate the event. At first I'm sure I gave my "are you SERIOUS?" question. Boy, that would be a ton of work... and the images are horrible... and it's just gonna be yucky.... and waa waa WAAA!

But after some thought, I realized that my standards of photography have been a little warped. Although these would most certainly win NO prizes and would be scoffed at by most pros, they would be priceless to my mother in law. So, I was off.

Turns out, I am SO glad I did! First, this was a very neat thing for me to see, professionally, for lack of a better word. I've grown! I did these 1 year ago, and I could see so very clearly as I worked through those images all my mistakes and how I would have done it differently today. That was just way cool. It was a big boost to see that I AM making progress -- it just isn't something you can see from day to day, just as I don't feel my kids growing, but oh they ARE!

Second, it was way cool to see it all as a finished work. The images by themselves are really nothing spectacular. But when put all together like this in an album to tell the story... I LOVE it. I really do. It was beyond cool to feel this album in my hands and see my work. Imperfect, but mine. And to say she was happy (and surprised!) with it, is an understatement.

So here's my little project that I can finally share about. I went back and forth on sharing it all here, because that's a lot of images to load. So sorry... I omitted the one really cool collage spread that included images of all the individual reception attendees... since I don't have their permission to post them on the web. But other than that, here's the book in its imperfect entirety.

mint heaven

June is a crazy month for us. There is our anniversary. Then my birthday. Then Shawn's birthday. Then Father's Day (which is sometimes ON Shawn's birthday). Then Cora's birthday. Craziness. And Poor Nathan! With all this birthday talk, he just KEEPS asking about HIS birthday.

Is it my birthday? what happens after my birthday? Is Daddy going to share his cake? Is Cora going to share her cake? Will there be balloons? Will we sing "Happy Birthday"? Do we blow out the candles? Can I blow them out too? when is it my birthday? is there going to be a party?

And on and on. whew. His isn't for four more months. That's gonna be a LONG time...

I love to cook, and I actually love to bake as well. Though I have really not done either of those the last 3.5 years since we entered the land of childrendom. That is partly due to the fact that these kids just do NOT agree with following our plan of having children who eat crazy wild things like we do! And partly because with a lot of things I like to cook and bake that are involved, you can't just stop them and go change a dirty diaper.... or break up a fight.... or pull Cora off the top of the piano... So I've had to just NOT do them... and our diet has SUFFERED, I tell you. SUFFERED.

Can I just say that I am stinking TIRED of cooking phenomenal food only to have their noses turned up at it?? It would be one thing if I cooked nasty, dry, tough, unpalatable delights. But I cook GOOD food. Ug. [Vent over.]

At any rate, every day with Cora is getting better and easier, so I decided to be brave and tackle an historic favorite dessert of ours for Shawn's birthday. Years ago before the land of childrendom, yet again, I grew herbs.... because I love to cook, remember? One of those herbs was mint. And if you've grown mint, you know what happens. It spreads and you have a lot of it. Any Good Eats fans out there? Oh how I adore Mr. Alton Brown. Up until 3.5 years ago, I KNOW I'd seen every episode. Period. I have his books. And I've lusted over the DVDs... many times. In his tea episode, he discusses simple syrup. And his is infused with mint. So I made some with my abundance of mint. His recipe makes a TON. So THEN I needed a recipe to eat my mint simple syrup on... So I was perusing Food Network, as I used to do.... (oh, fond memories), to find recipes to use my mint in. And that's how I discovered this.

The Dark Chocolate Peppermint Pattie Cake. Heaven.

It is involved, but it is so very good. I LOVE mint and I LOVE this cake. Hard to believe it has to have been at least four year since I've MADE it. Time is flying.

I thought in light of this joy class that I'd document the process of making it. Since Nathan was going to HELP me make it, right? yeah, he was a LOT of help. Lasted for about 0.5 milliseconds and he was happily done. Oh well. But I had fun thinking of how to create the montage of our day and the cake. These are NOT superb, but it is fun to see them all together, isn't it?

I hope this inspires YOU to give this cake a try. If you like mint, you will NOT regret it.

woodland fairy

life took over and I never managed to get these posted before we left for vacation. Rebekah sent me two sets of tutus and wings to photograph, and this was the second set. Although I liked the pink and blue set the best on Cora in person, I liked these Woodland Fairy images the best! That lens just got some amazing sun flare! I hope I can figure out how to create that beautiful colorful light on my new lens!

I am just in love with these. I feel like they capture Woodland Fairy to a tee. And I can't wait for Cora to become old enough to really "get" wearing these.

brother and sister

They are 20 months apart. Nathan was really still a baby when Cora was born. It was hard. Being diagnosed with hypothyroidism four months later only made it harder. I'm very thankful that both the thyroid issues and the baby land is past us now. But the last few weeks have made every ounce of all that struggle worth it. WE are LOVING seeing them interact. How they play. How they LOVE each other. They are such little buddies. They LOVE sharing their excitement with each other.

I hope I never, ever forget the sheer JOY in her voice when she screams, "Youse!!!!! Loooook Crabby's!!!!!" (aka, Nathan! Look at the crabs!) or anything else for that matter. This rocks. I love my kids.

On top of that, I only got my first successful sibling shot in April. To come home with all of these wonderful sibling shots from our vacation is a feeling I can't pin down. I am so happy. I am so proud. It makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere in my photography journey, and my kids are getting somewhere in their photography subject journey!

Their shared in their excitement about everything.

snacktime under the tent. Cora dipped her Fritos scoops in the sand EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

This was Nathan's idea. I about peed my pants in excitement.

Nathan was BEYOND excited to fly a kite at the beach. When Shawn got it up in the air, Nathan couldn't contain himself and had to make SURE Cora saw it too. How sweet is that???

They are playing with the toy of choice (aka fight) for the week -- a killer whale.

nana and pop

I spent a significant part of my childhood with my grandparents. Those memories are special, and were critical to making me who I am today. I am so very thankful for these wonderful grandparents for my own children. I don't remember my grandparents taking me to the beach when we were little guys like my kids are now. But I know they did. And I've seen the pictures. It was neat beyond description for me several times when I thought about how this must have been what it felt like when we were little and Grandma and Granddad took us to the ocean. Experiencing the sand, the salt water, the sea creatures, and the pool. I am excited to think about all the special memories they will build together in the future. Being a grandparent IS a very beautiful thing.

mommy

Let's face it. There just isn't a lot of proof that I was actually present in my children's lives... though I spend nearly 98% of my living hours in their vicinity. I wouldn't really say it's anyone's fault. I do love to take the pictures. I do hate to have my own picture taken. And frankly, a lot of times, I'd rather take the pictures than participate in the activity. *GASP*. I don't love the outdoors. I have largely forgotten how to play. So when they are in the midst of something beyond fun, my preference is to be part of it by preserving the memory forever, rather than being a participant in the water noodle gun fight. Just me being me.

That being said, I have been saddened at the occasional thought that my children themselves may one day be very sad that they don't have any images of them WITH me. We've talked about it. And we've verbally decided that Shawn is going to take the camera more to try to capture me with them. And I've done some teaching to Shawn about what some of the settings and stuff means so he can do some of it. (he's been so good about it and not fussed about it -- he's embraced it and I love that). But old habits... BOTH of ours... die hard. And that really hasn't been the reality. I do plan to do more with the tripod and remote with the kids -- and that will be much easier with my wider angle lens than with the 50mm! But still.

Because of all that, I am so very thankful for these images of ME with my kids. Words don't do it justice. I love them. My only regret is that... they are all with Cora. None with Nathan. That's really largely due to Cora's crazy attachment to me... but I do really regret that we really didn't get ONE with me and Nathan... so that's most certainly an assignment now!!!