Tag Archives: getting personal
From Tween to Teen! We recently celebrated this girl hitting a milestone birthday! Planning a 13th birthday party for girls is so fun, especially with the help of my party planning SIL, Stephanie. She did amazing putting our patio and decor together for the event. Emma had requested a backyard movie party, similar to her sister’s 13th birthday party. We …
We feel very blessed with our life and raising our kids on a cattle ranch. We are able to have a rural lifestyle that allows for lots of time outdoors in the fresh air, running around, doing outside chores, learning responsibility by taking care of animals and the land in our care. Other life lessons that just come naturally with …
This is my favorite season! Not only is it time for pumpkin spice everything, apple cider and fall foliage, it’s fall calving time! Our cattle herd is divided into two breeding groups—the spring cows calve January through March. The fall cows calve August through October. And while anytime a new calf is born is cause for celebration, the fall calves …
I cried all the way home. It was the first time that had happened—not the crying, of course, I am admittedly an emotional girl—but it was the first time I cried after a first-day-of-school drop-off. My youngest started kindergarten that day. I knew the day would come. It’s time. She was ready. I was not. I always drive my kids …
Welcome to the world, little one! “Duke,” nicknamed Lil’ dude by my youngest, made his appearance Jan. 22. He has been a highly talked about and much anticipated addition to our animal family. My oldest purchased and showed his mother, Olive, last year. She was bred in the fall, then after a five month gestation, became a mom! Of course …
A few months ago I put some of the thoughts swirling around in my head on paper in a personal essay. Usually they just remain on the pages of my journal, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone and share it with others. I want to be an encourager, especially of women, as we all need a …
It’s always a team effort to get the cattle fit and looking their best on show day. The Hereford Bull show was going on from the other side of the area. Angus on Parade! Love those fluffy ears! This was the last show for this heifer. The pair had a successful show season, but now it’s time for her to …
I do realize it’s already the 5th of January and many people have popped the New Year’s Eve champagne cork, taken down the Christmas tree and are tackling those new year’s resolutions already. Me. Not so much; at least not yet. At first I thought I was behind, but then a dear friend reminded me we are just on the …
How can it be the end of 2016 already? I’m not sure about you all, but sometimes it seems the days are long, but the years fly by! 2016 was no exception. I am thankful for the clients I captured in front of my camera this year. I purposely took less sessions in order to finish a large project I …
We spent another fun, family weekend on the road at a junior livestock show. It’s a lot of work, but so worth it to see the kids compete, hang out with friends, and have fun. E showed her heifer and two sheep this weekend. She had some tough competition and did a good job. Each time she goes into the …
Usually by April we are seeing more signs of spring around the ranch. The grass has greened up, flowers start blooming and the weather gets warmer. My little miss loves helping water the flowers and I couldn’t help capture her trying to wrangle that big ol’ watering can. She was very determined to get it done by herself. I also love …
I didn’t realize a box of Moon Sand on the clearance aisle of a craft store would provide so many hours of imaginative play for our littlest. One day I could hear her talking, drawers opening and closing, and came to inspect. She had set up her own little baking station. She told me all about the cookies she was …
I realize several of “My View” photos from March are from the same scene. I guess I couldn’t pick just one from our trip to the ocean over spring break. It was the first time my kids and I had been to the Oregon Coast. It wasn’t the best of weather, but that didn’t stop them from playing in the water …
I admit since having an iPhone, I use it to capture every day moments of my kiddos a lot more than I did before I had one. You use what you have and what you have with you. I do love having grabbed quick snapshots with my phone. But I also want to get better at picking up my DSLR and …
It’s been a couple weeks since our county fair and as I go through the photos, the memories come flooding back. The whole week was exciting and exhausting, but well-worth all the hard work and effort. Fair week is the culmination of a whole year of work. This was our oldest’s fourth year and our second daughter’s first year in 4-H. …
I was looking through personal photos the other day and came across these. We were vacationing last summer and I was playing around with a new lens. I have to admit I had certain expectations for myself, even though this was my first time with it out of the box. I wanted to create perfection. When I took them all …
Love this little lavender lady of mine! Had some fun times capturing her little personality after she turned two. She’s growing up so much! I was looking back at photos when she first received her glasses; they were so big on her face! She received her first haircut around her birthday too. She’s just starting to look more and more …
We love the county fair…sure it’s hot, and dirty, and the days are long, but there truly is something so special about the memories we make as a family and with friends as the culmination of a whole year of preparation for the kids comes to a close. I grew up with many wonderful memories showing horses and cattle in …
We spent last week at our local county fair. What a fun, exhausting, memorable week! More photos to come, but this pretty much sums up our week.
“I have looked into your eyes with my eyes. I have put my heart near your heart.” Pope John XXIII Until I had my last baby, I didn’t know the new recommendations that babies have their first eye exam at 6 months old. In fact, my oldest two didn’t have their eyes checked by an optometrist until they were 9 …
Our little J has been asking for a “cow” birthday since right after he turned three and had a “football” birthday. And it’s really only natural that this would be his request because he plays cows, cowboy, horses, ranch, farm, rodeo, etc. pretty much every single day. There are not a lot of Angus cow decorations for a Four year …
I’ve teamed up with a group of photographers to collect shoes (of all shapes, sizes, condition) to donate to Dando Amor National Shoe Drive. Now through March 31, we will be collecting shoes. No catch… just SHOES! Any shoe, any condition… save them from the trash can! Just message me and we can meet to collect them. I’m collecting the …
Happy Anniversary to the best parents in the world!! I know I’m biased, but really these two are very special people. And I realize how blessed I am to have been raised by them. I’m sure there were times when they were raising us kids they wondered if they were doing things right or if we would turn out okay. …
I don’t have a lot of time to read blogs anymore, but I still have a huge blogroll with all the sites I had bookmarked. There are all sorts of blogs–blogs about photography, cooking and crafts. Others are personal blogs of friends and family. (I have to admit, I keep up with most of my friends on Facebook now…) And …