Family Pictures

We spent our entire Christmas vacation visiting family in the Motherland of Northern California.  It was stressful and exhausting in many ways, but also so fun and rewarding!  

Here's some family pics we took in my grandma's backyard while my brother and his family were down from Eureka.  We had less than two days together, so we decided to do our family pictures while we were visiting my grandma.  She has a picture friendly backyard anyway, and I love being able to kill two birds with one stone.  

Thanks Annie for teaching me this trick to get a fun picture of all the kids together.  Afterwards, Brayden said, "Why does everyone have to tickle me?" I promised him that next time, I'll ask everyone to tickle Ben instead.

I'm so excited to be an aunt again... and we didn't know it yet when we did the pictures, but Adam and Delia are having a GIRL!  That's going to pose a real challenge for the woman whose favorite color is black.  I don't know how much self restraint my mother will be able to exhibit.  I wasn't a big fan of pink when I had Megan, and neither is Delia.  Poor mom!

This picture was a chore to get.  Brayden was not in the mood to cooperate.  And you can see how forced most of their smiles are.  I can almost guarantee Taylor was muttering something under his breath like, "just smile, so we can get this over with."  

 I don't think Grandma expected to be put into our family pictures that day in her backyard, but she should have known better.  Of course, she was dressed pretty cute, so maybe she suspected, and decided to be prepared!

This picture was too cute not to include.  My aunt and uncle were at my grandma's house the day we did our pictures, so they became our photographers.... and my Aunt Karen, just had to sneak into this one.  Love it!  

Four generations of girls... and another girl on the way!

I love this picture... the last year has been a rough one for my grandma with her health, and quite by accident I caught her and my mom having this private moment.  I wish I knew what she said to my mom... it was obviously funny!

Cousins

Now I know why I've slacked off so badly on the blog.  Now that I shoot photos in RAW format, it's so much more work to make them blog ready.  (But it's worth the effort...)

Here's some shots from a photo shoot we did just for fun in my hometown with Taylor and my niece, Ashlyn.  They are three days apart and super close.... despite the 800 miles of interstate separating them.  (Thank goodness for cell phones and Facebook, right?)

Ashlyn hasn't had any senior photos done yet, so we went Downtown and had some fun taking pictures of her and both of them together.  These are some of my favorites!

Next fall, Taylor will be who knows where serving a church mission, and Ashlyn will be going to college somewhere in Utah... if not BYU Provo, then I think Weber State is choice #2... then Utah State... can't wait to see where she ends up!  She's one talented and beautiful girl.  I'm so thankful we have her in our family.  

             

                  

 

A New Year

One of my four goals for the year is to blog at least once a week.  I figure Sunday will most likely be my mandatory blogging day, so I'm starting off easy with posting some pictures we had taken over Thanksgiving weekend.  Annie Critchfield came to visit her family for the holiday, so I quickly booked some of her time.  As you can see, she did a fabulous job!  Thanks, Annie!  (She is currently living in Provo, UT, but comes to Phoenix to visit her family here a couple times a year.)  Check out her blog (linked on her name) or her Facebook page.  She is awesome!

Growing Up

Have you heard of garage lighting?  It's a new fad in the photography world... and yesterday I tried my hand at it.  I'm officially in LOVE with this technique.  All you need is a garage (minus the car) and a big sheet.  I used clamps to hang it from the back of the garage.  The idea behind it is that if you time it just right... you can used a shaded garage for a studio and get amazing light.  To get the amazing light, you have to open the garage door when the sun is shining on the driveway.  The light from the driveway will bounce into the garage and give your subject amazing, soft, balanced light.  All it took was the shade white balance setting to give these portraits a warm glow that I love!

After we did the garage experiment, we went outside and did these shots in the front yard just after the sun had gone behind the house across the street.  I can't believe my luck.  It's rare that I get a cooperative child, and even rarer that I get this many good photos to show off at school.  And yes, I did show them off today!

This last one isn't as focused as I would like, but it shows off his new toothless grin.  It makes me sad to see my baby growing up... and losing those baby teeth  is a painful reminder that it's happening all too fast! 

Fun Family Pics and a Recipe Too...

It only took 11 months for me to meet my newest niece, "M".  Eric's brother and family came for a week long visit during New Year's.  We LOVED having them here.  And M.... she is such a doll!  We all instantly fell in love and I think she liked us too.  She certainly knows how to ham it up for a camera.  It was so fun taking her pictures!

When we have family come into town, I always have fun dreaming up menus of delicious food that feeds a crowd.  Usually things my kids are not super fond of, but most of the normal world loves.  I made my copy cat recipes of the Cafe Rio pork and tomatillo dressing.  My sister-in-law, who is a Provo native and a Cafe Rio expert, was impressed.  She's tried several copy cats and she said mine tasted the best.  (Maybe she was just trying to be nice...)  But here they are anyway, in case you want to try them too.

Cafe Rio Pork
3 lb pork loin or pork roast (boneless)
1-2 cans of coke or pepsi (no diet, you need the sugar to make it work)
1 c. sugar
7 oz can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1 tsp dry ground mustard (I often just squirt in a couple tablespoons of real mustard from the bottle)
1 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp minced garlic

Open the can of chills and remove the chilies, preserving the sauce in the can.  (The chilies are VERY hot, so you only need the sauce from the can to get a kick.  If you like stuff really hot, add 1 chili, but I never do.)  Rinse can of adobo sauce with coke to get all the sauce out, and pour into a blender.  Add remaining ingredients (except meat) and mix in blender until smooth.  Place pork in crock pot and pour sauce over it.  If your meat isn't fully covered by the sauce, plan to flip the meat over half way through cooking.  Cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.  When cooked, remove pork and shred in another bowl. Drain out coke sauce and save in a bowl.  Put shredded meat back into crockpot and mix just enough sauce to your taste.  I like my meat to be almost dry, but some people like it more juicy.

Serve on warm tortillas with cheese lettuce and tomatillo dressing.

Cafe Rio Tomatillo Dressing
3 fresh tomatillos, husked, washed and quartered
1 pkge buttermilk ranch dressing
1 c. mayo
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime
a pinch of cumin
2 drops of green tobasco (opt)
1/4 c. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until no chunks remain.  If possible, let sit in the fridge for at least one hour before serving with the meal.

A Picture of your Dream Job

Two Christmases ago, I got this…

And I couldn’t have been more thrilled.  And then I became overwhelmed.  It took great photos on auto, but I knew they could be even better on manual.  And then there is Photoshop.  Trying to learn how to really use my camera on manual settings and do the basics in Photoshop was about more than I could handle at first.  I’ve learned a lot since then, but I have a lot more to learn.  I love the idea of taking portraits for a side job, but at the same time, it scares me.  I don’t feel like I’m experienced enough to handle it.  More often than not, people want their picture taken for big events, or when they have a group of people together that don’t get to see each other very often.   That’s a lot of pressure, and as I discovered over Thanksgiving break, sometimes when you are under pressure, you blank out.  At least I did!  It was a good learning experience though, which everyone needs, right?  So for the next year, I’m going to go into “portfolio building” mode.  I want to try to do as many portraits as I can of different types… couples, teens, kids, families, babies, etc.  I’m hoping that if I practice enough, I’ll be ready to make some money off this hobby of mine in a year from now.  I’m also planning on signing up for some classes over at the local community college that start in January.  I’ll admit, I’m nervous about that too.  Every time I think about putting myself in a group setting with other photographers, I panic… but I just need to have more confidence in myself!  So, it’s official – if you know me and want me to take your pictures, I will!  Free of charge – as long as I can include any pictures I take of you or your family in my portfolio.  Win, win, right?

A Picture of the Person You Can’t Live Without

This was supposed to be the writing prompt for yesterday.  But I delayed this one because I knew we would be getting pictures taken today.  We had our family pictures taken tonight by Annie, which was so fun.  I handed Taylor my phone while Annie took a picture of Eric and I together and he was smart enough to snap a couple with my phone.  Can’t wait to see the real thing from Annie’s camera!
Next month, Eric and I will celebrate 19 years of marriage.  Pretty soon, I will be married longer than I’ve been single.  Crazy!  But I wouldn’t change my life for anything.  I love Eric.  If I had been asked what my plan was when I graduated from high school, it would not have involved getting married at 19 and having my first baby at 21.  But when you find true love, why wait?  Eric wasn’t the type to wait around while I dithered about getting married so young.  I like to give him grief about how his marriage proposal put my travel plans to France on hold.  I still haven’t been to Europe, but there is still plenty of time for that.  And it will be 10 times more awesome with Eric than it would have been while I was single.  Love this guy!

I Spy

Well, for now, my fight with Windows has been resolved.   Photoshop Elements (also known as PSE) is working again, and I am happy.  But, I told Eric in no uncertain terms that my next computer will be a Mac.  I have wanted a Mac for years, and every time we are computer shopping, our frugal side wins out and we never end up buying a Mac.  I don't care how long I have to wait, my next computer will be a Mac. 

I slept in workout sweats last night so I could do any early morning photo shoot after I dropped off Taylor at school today.  I will have to be up way earlier if I want to attempt any more photos of Sunrise... missed that boat over Spring Break.  I don't care... sleeping in for two weeks was worth the cost.  I wanted to get some photos of the rustic trains at our local Railway Museum, but wouldn't you know it, at 6:30 a.m. the gates were locked.  How rude!  So I headed over to my trusty standby location, a very large park close to our house.  There's tennis courts, a huge play area, cool rocks and plenty of places to take pictures.

I only had a few minutes before I had to be home to get kids ready for school, but I took some pictures of this fence. And then I came home and really gave PSE a good trial run.   See if you can spot the changes I made from the first picture to the second:

Fence Photo #2 from a different angle:  what did I change here?  I will give you a hint - there are two changes.  One of them I am super pleased with.  The other one, I will need to practice, or try a different tool/technique.  It didn't really come out the way I wanted it, but again, I was pressed for time this morning.

We are having one of the best Springs ever in Phoenix this year.  It's been cool and rainy.  Accordingly, allergies are horrific, but I think the blessings of good weather are worth the cost.   It was so cool this morning, I was regretting flip flops and short sleeves.  Next time I bring the camera for an early morning photo shoot, I will definitely have tennis shoes on, and bring a sweater in the car, just in case.