Super Heidi

My children are free spirits, always have been and I truely hope they always will be.

RJ's pants are always on backwards and Heidi wouldn't be Heidi if she wasn't wearing something out of the ordinary like rain boots on sunny days and stocking caps in the summer.

Yesterday and today she decided she wanted to be "Super Heidi" and had Rick attach a cape to her shirt. She's been wearing the same shirt for 2 days. Today, I took her out for some pictures, before we have to remove it for sanitary reasons.

I LOVE the picture of her running. I don't want her to grow up. I hope she never changes.

Fun at the Fair

We took RJ and Heidi to the Jasper County Fair Monday night so RJ could be in the pedal tractor pull (He came in 4th).

Afterwards we let them ride the rides, play a game, and get a slushy.

They had so much fun, but the fair is SO EXPENSIVE that we had to tell them it was for 1 night only.

Do me a favor, don't tell them any different if you see them.

Here are some highlights from the evening.......

Mini Vacation

So, we headed off Friday evening and returned on Sunday for a quick trip to the Cincinnati area. Here are some bits and pieces from our trip.

First off I'll start with introducing "Wodney Wat", (he's from a children's book, that we have. I got a little plush one at a bookstore). Anyway, I thought it would be fun to start something when my kids were young and force them to do it their whole lives. (That's just the kind of mother I am....) Anyway, he is our family mascot and we photograph him with us wherever we go on vacation. Our goal is get him photographed in all 50 states. (Let me know if you are going to Alaska!).

So, here are Wodney and the kids in Petersburg KY.

We traveled to go to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, (which may as well be in Cincinnati). I would reccommend this museum to ANYONE! It was fantastic!!!! So informative and well laid out. It's only about 4 hours from Newton, check it out. http://www.creationmuseum.org/

Then we drove about 15 mintues to Newport, KY to the Newport aquarium, where RJ loved seeing alligators, piranhis, and got to pet a shark. It was really worth seeing. The whole family enjoyed it.

Some strange man took our picture. While it looks like RJ is scowling, he is actually saying "ARGH", cause he's a pirate. Looking back, we probably shouldn't have told him to say that cause it didn't photograph very well.

I also had a little experiment where I bought some disposable camaras that any of the 4 of us could at any moment grab and take a picture of something. Then we took them to Walgreen's 1 hour photo to have them developed while we ate on Saturday night.

Let me just start by saying that Jennifer at the Walgreens in Kentucky was the worst employee on earth. She overcharged me, didn't give me my doubles, refused to give me picture CDs cause "she just couldn't", and didn't give me my negatives for one batch. This was shortly after making me wait over 2 hours for one hour pictures and screaming at a crowd of people that the should just go home and upload the pics themselves from their own homes. Really, I was in awe. While the kids got some great pics of each other and some things that made me laugh, the also got to see me be REALLY REALLY MEAN to Jennifer, so I don't know that it was worth it. If I ever go into a Walgreens and anyone named Jennifer is working, I think I'll just turn back around.

All in All though, we had a fantastic trip. Now, back to work.

:)

-a

my ShootSac

Disclaimer: I did not take the following photograph, it can be found on http://www.shootsac.com/

Once a year at the photography industry tradeshows, vendors unveil new products that keep us drooling until their release. This year was no different. I have had my eye on this particular lens bag since the buzz began, but it's almost here, almost in my reach. FedEx says it's in Champaign, calling out to me. I should have it tomorrow. YeeeeeHaaaaaaaw!

The greatest thing about this bag is that it has about 20 different covers that you can purchase for it to spice your life up. I ordered 2, a very conservative brown for weddings, and a funky polka dot yellow for every other day of the week!

Here is a picture of the yellow. Now keep in mind that while this particular human backside is not mine, I do believe I will look just as cool sporting it. Albeit, the bag will probably look smaller compared to my backside though. hmmmmm. :)

I am SO gonna be stalking FedEx tomorrow!

-a

Joe & Michelle May 26, 2007

Joe and Michelle were married over Memorial Day weekend. They are both lovely people that I met through my friend Amanda, who was a bridesmaid in the wedding.

It was a beautiful day up until shortly after the ceremony when we were supposed to finish formals outdoors in a beautiful area with a gazeebo. Then it decided to rain. :(

Joe and Michelle were great sports though and after finishing up indoors, we took a little time out to go run in the rain.

Congratulations Joe and Michelle, we wish you nothing but the best!

-a

Jared & Kristen May 19, 2007

I had the distinct honor of photographing one of Newton's finest on the force and his wife. Jared and Kristen are friends of ours and I truly enjoyed capturing their day.

The Schackmann family is just so nice and I've done work for them before. It was a pleasure meeting Kristen's family as well.

I just think that the newlyweds looked SO in love all day long. I have found that as a wedding photographer, one of my most fulfilling moments is when I am editing the couple's first dance. I feel like I can tell so much about how much they want to be there and how much they love each other just by seeing how they look at each other during their first dance. Jared couldn't take his eyes off her and she absolutely lit up the room with happiness. I remember thinking "WOW".

Congratulations Jared and Kristen, I have no doubt that you were made for each other.

-a

Sweets

So, while this may seem like this has become a "hey, look at my kids" personal blog, I assure you I am behind the scences editing about 6 weddings that will all be posted soon.

On the blog and on the website, so bear with me for just a little while longer. :)

But for now, here are more of my kids.......with their huge lollipops.

I bought a ton of these for the studio so hopefully other people think that they are as cute as I do.

-a