Tuesday and Wednesday

Updates from yesterday and today:

Yesterday we went to Breckenridge and ice skated again. The boys decided they really wanted to do that again and since its "super fun" we did. We also decided that we didn't want to go rock climbing so we skipped that; we hadn’t called ahead to make a reservation anyway. Afterward we went to Virgin Island Ski Rental and rented...skis. :)

For dinner we went to a nice, not too expensive, Italian restaurant in downtown Frisco, about ten minutes away. We waited about an hour and a half to be sat and finally get the meals, but it was worth it. I enjoyed my seafood on squash ravioli with a butter sauce. I still have leftovers to enjoy tomorrow. Logan had spaghetti and both Shaun and Shane had the lasagna. Shane loved it, much more than Shaun did. He didn't like the chunks of veggies and Shane somehow didn't seem to notice them.

Today we went skiing! I was amazed all day that the boots I'd rented actually fit and I was able to ski with my husband and kids. It was exhilarating, especially after last year's experience. We took all-day private lessons at Breckenridge from a wonderful instructor, Mahnaz. She was wonderful with both boys and very tolerant of my leg pain (caused on and off by the boots) and Shaun's leg cramps. Are we getting old? Overall we did very well and the boys are excited to do it again, which probably won't happen again until next winter. We plan to call Mahnaz next time we're in the area during ski season. She really was great and made the day fun for all of us.

At the end of the ski lessons the boys and Shaun each got to be driven to the bottom of the mountain on a snow mobile, a first for them all, and Mahnaz led the way for me to ski down. I think I could have done that a few more times! I loved being able to ski down, even though I'm not great at it. I did just fine and felt proud of myself. I can't wait to take more lessons and ski on our own next year. We were all very proud of the boys too. They did super! I can't wait to see them learn more and have even more fun. They'll be great at it! They loved the speed and the confidence they both gained from doing something new and exciting.

Here are yesterday and today's photos and videos to share:


Logan learning to skate backward. He did pretty good!



At the rink.



A mountain. I don't remember which one, but most likely Buffalo Mountain.



During ski lessons. Shaun was behind the camera in all of the day's pictures.


Video during lessons, captured by Mahnaz from behind us.

Tonight we watch Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, the last of our Indiana Jones series, and then, if we're still awake, we watch the ball drop. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tomorrow we are going on a late afternoon sleigh ride and seeing a movie.

Ice Ice Baby

I had a long note on here, but the Internet connection is flaky so I just lost it. Instead, I'll just entertain you with the photos and the video that I had started to upload previously. I might add more of an explanation later, but it's getting late and I don't want to elaborate all over again. :)


The boys and I doing a circle on the large rink, before the boys took off on their own. They had tried the "walkers" prior to this.


Proof that Shaun was skating, and not always holding onto the wall.


Logan hanging out by the hockey box.


Me!


Shane skating on his own across the rink. I don't know why this isn't the right direction as I'd set it previously.


Breckenridge-view from the road leading to Peak 8.


Lake Dillon. I love the clouds in these pictures! I didn't edit them at all.


Lake Dillon. Again, check out the clouds! Shaun's camera did a great job in capturing the color and the movement of nature.


Red skies at night... It was a beautiful evening with a gorgeous sunset.

We ended the day with a pricey dinner at the Mint, a cook-your-own-steak place. It was great! We then came home and watched the third Indiana Jones movie. Tomorrow- more ice skating because Logan determined it was "super fun" and some indoor rock climbing at the Breckenridge Recreation Center.

Yesterday's News

I was too tired last night to blog so here's yesterday's!

We found out that we are expecting guests. This means that our family vacation, of just us for the first time on an actual vacation and not with other people or visiting family, will be very short lived. Shaun is more upset about this than I am. He was glad to have some family time, as where we all. My father-in-law offered for a couple guys who are moving a family here from Manhattan to stay for a week. He felt like he did it to be nice and "dc the right thing." So, for better or worse we'll have roommates for the next few day, until we leave on Saturday. One of the guys will be leaving Wednesday and the other a few days after us to move into the home that he's renting nearby. We know them and one of them did our flooring for our house, so we're ok with this. Besides, we are here to have fun and spend time together so we can do that at home and out around Summitt County.

Interestingly, I found out that Summitt County in total, without tourists and part-time vacationers, has a population of only around 30,000. Silverthorne alone has about 10,000. This seems crazy right now because we're in ski season and it's very busy EVERYWHERE!

So, yesterday we skipped church (I know, I know! We had planned to go.) to spend more time together at the house. We watched two Indiana Jones movies, the first two, and sledded in the next door snow dump. Here are a couple pictures from today:





Today we're off to ice skate and check out the Breckenridge ski and ride school. We need to make reservations for Wednesday's lessons and see if I can find boots to fit (sore topic from last year). If not, we found out that snowboarding uses a different type of boot, so I might learn to snowboard instead. We'll see!

Itinerary for the Week

This morning while the boys and Shaun were sledding at the snow dump in our circle, I was able to make a bunch of phone calls. I called all over the place trying to find fun activities that we could afford (dogsledding and the snowcoach-large SUV/tank looking thing- were quickly ruled out). Since we are mainly here to relax and get away for a while we also didn't want to keep too busy. We decided on one purposeful outing a day. We are also eating all of our dinners out, thanks to my generous father-in-law.

Here's the final plan we all agreed on:

Today- Shopping (great outlet malls)
Sunday- Church
Monday- Ice skating on the indoor rinks at Breckenridge (Shaun wanted a wall to hang on so outdoor skating may not happen at this point. We may go ice skating again a couple times during the week since we're nearby and it's cheap and the tiny Manhattan rink was torn down to rebuild a bigger and better rink and pavilion. Manhattan now has a small "pond" in the park that may or may not freeze over well enough for skating again.)
Tuesday- Indoor rock climbing at the Breckenridge Recreation Center. Again, another cheap activity that if we aren't too sore we may decide to do again while we're here.
Wednesday- Breckenridge Ski and Ride School (lessons for the entire family)- another gift from my father-in-law (he wants the boys to learn to ski).
Thursday- Afternoon Hot Chocolate (triple delight) Sleigh Ride-- I think this may be what we are most looking forward to, and our biggest expense. Dinner rates were out of the question! We will probably see a movie Thursday evening also.
Friday- Country Boy Mines tour. This is a one-hour tour of a Breckenridge area gold mine. Shaun may be the most excited about this. I knew he'd like my idea to do this and the boys are interested at this point but don't really know what to expect. They just hope to find some gold!
Saturday- Drive home.
Sunday- Rest. Or drive home if we need to due to weather on Saturday.
Monday- Back to work and school!

We do plan to do nothing most of the day everday! We also have the Indiana Jones movies to watch. Shaun got them all from Santa! Oh, and not to mention the two games we brought to play. So yeah, we'll stay busy but enjoy a lot of time together.

Since I didn't take any pictures today while shopping, I stole the SD card from Shaun's new camera which I talked him into buying yesterday. It's much smaller than mine and we can easily bring it to the ski hills with us. It's also really good quality for the price-- Gotta love the after Christmas sales!

Here's a couple of the pictures he shot today...




Me doing something online (no wireless means I sit directly in front of the TV so that I can plug into the modem) and a partial view of our circle and our mountain view.

Oh, by the way, if you click on any of my pictures you will see a much larger picture.

Time to hit the sack so I can keep up with the boys tomorrow! I also hope to read a lot, just for fun, and we'll be watching the first Indiana Jones movie tomorrow evening. Lots of fun in store!

Trip Day One

We are in Silverthorne, Colorado now! We arrived today and will leave Saturday, January 3rd. A full week in Colorado, and our first actual family vacation on our own, has been very exciting. I'm hoping to blog daily, but it may depend on what we do that day and everything else I need to do. I hope to send out Christmas cards (albeit after the fact), read at least one book, do fun activities daily with my family, and do half of an online intersession course. No, I don't know how to do one thing at a time. I seem to thrive on stress and multitasking. I don't know why. I guess it just helps my sanity to stay busy.

So, here are today's photographed adventures explained. It started out a beautiful day and we had great traveling weather until about half way between Denver and Silverthorne, which about an hour apart, when we hit the snow and a little traffic. While in Denver we went to Casa Bonita, a wonderful Mexican restaurant with all the entertainment you can imagine in a restaurant. Click the link for more information. This was a place that I'd been to once or twice as a teen and heard lots about since. Shaun and I were very excited to bring the kids there today, and luckily it wasn't too far off our planned drive and we had purposely planned to be in the Denver area for lunch. We both just happened to remember about Casa Bonita after we'd done some quick shopping. While there the boys also had caricatures done. They loved that!








The Eisenhower Tunnel--




Home Sweet Home, kinda.


Up to at least three foot of snow on the balcony.




We're not sure what's in store for the rest of the week and hope to plan some activities and meals tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Chistmas Highlights

A few pictures from our Christmas. Below is a partial layout of the book club cookie exchange's cookie table at Lorraine's home. Next, are a few of Christmas morning at our house. I think this is the only picture I took of the tree! Unfortunately it was after we had opened the presents. I didn't think to take the before picture.






Logan has been asking for this for months!





Of course both boys had asked for the Ultimate Lightsabers.





I received a really nice watch and toe socks from Santa! The toe socks aren't as warm as I had imagined...







A little excited?





I hope everyone's holidays have been as blessed as ours!

Weeeeee!

Shane, Logan, and I went sledding this afternoon. I sledded a little last year in Colorado, but I had never (that I remember) sledded on Cico hill here in Manhattan. Since this is "the best" sled hill in Manhattan we decided to try it out. The boys had gone there last year with my sister Betsy and loved it.

This hill must have been built for sledding because it's a big hill in the middle of a park. It's always looked out of place to me. It didn't even seem that big until I was at the top of it. All sides of the hill have great places to sled down. At the bottom, in at least three places, the city has strategically placed pads, the type that you'd use for gymnastic mats. They are definately needed! The height and slope of the hill are pretty good and you really gain speed. I'm wondering if anyone has ever been severly hurt. It wouldn't surprise me. We decided to stay on a smaller part of the hill that landed you into the parking lot. They have this part of the large parking lot blocked off and it has not been cleared of the snow and ice.

Oh yeah, the best thing about Kansas winters is that the snow either falls and doesn't stick, sticks and then melts a day or two later, or sticks and stays. Nothing different than other places right? Well, a few days ago we had a few inches (3-5) of snow fall in Manhattan. Not only was it cold enough to stick, but it's lasted and will probably last until our next snow fall early this week. The best part is that the sun warms it just enough to melt a little on the top and firm the snow. This has created a thin ice layer on the snow that's still here. The sled hill was full of this! Just enough snow with just enough ice. No fluffy stuff to trudge though, and no pathways to dig.

That was our problem last year in Colorado. The snow was fluffy and at least two feet deep when we got there. It continued to snow while we were there and the snow dump next to our house was piled high. Normally in Kansas it would have been a great hill but there was just too much fluffy snow. Eventually the boys and some neighbors were able to pack down enough snow to make a great sled pathway with a big ramp and path through the snow dump. It was successful. We look forward to doing it again this year. This time Shaun and I will be able to enjoy it more because we won't have to clean the house for a full day. The rental management company will take care of that!

That bring me to our Colorado plans. Yes, we are going. It's official now. Shaun, Shane, Logan, and I are going. Shaun's parents are staying in Manhattan and will look after our dogs and house and gather the mail and such. It's nice that they live across the street and we don't need to find house/pet sitters. If it weren't the holidays that would be easy to do though. I've had lots of volunteers.

Since John and Marlene are staying home, John invited our neighbors to join us. Our friends- Chad, Pam, Morgan, Austin, and Darlene (Pam's mom) will be coming with us. Normally anyone besides us would have to pay the rental costs but since we'll be there John's waiving the fees this time. They are excited to go as they've heard a lot about the house and the area from us. I don't know what we'll do while were there but we'll probably be there from December 26th to January 3rd or 4th. I like that we'll be there so long as it will feel like a real vacation this time.

Travel safely!

Sleep

Update: It's now 10:18. They're both asleep! Shane didn't read because he planned to sleep in Logan's room so that Logan would sleep in his own room. He fell asleep about 9:30. Logan came into my room at 10:10 and was asleep by 10:15. Figures!

Bedtime

It's a few minutes after 8 here and I am dreading bedtime. Yep, that's right. I dread it. My kids should be very tired and ready for bed but this is not usually the case.

Shane likes to stay up too late reading. I like that he likes to read but his light never gets turned off and he stays up late reading almost every night. I normally fall asleep before him, and sometimes before his lights out time.

Logan's another story. He's impossible! Let's think back to about six and a half years ago. As a baby Logan moved into his own room at about 5 1/2 months old to sleep there every night. He was super easy to put to bed. I'd simply lay him down and he'd either go right to sleep or talk to himself a little and then go to sleep. Either way he didn't cry and he fell asleep very easily. However, about three years ago, Logan stopped being so easy at bedtime. Now he whines, screams, cries, everything and anything to not sleep in his own room. IF I let him fall asleep in my room, whether he'll be moved to his own bed later or not, he goes right to sleep. IF he is allowed to fall asleep downstairs near Shaun, he'll usually go right to sleep. However, if he is forced to sleep in his room he all of a sudden gets separation anxiety. He refuses to "sleep alone." He says he as to "sleep with somebody." His words.

A few times, to solve this issue, I've repeatedly stayed in his room until he falls asleep, normally 30 minutes or so. I'll continue this for a couple weeks or longer but it never lasts. It takes too long to get him to sleep. It also doesn't matter how many times I do this, he still wants to sleep near Shaun or I. Recently he's given in and slept in Shane's room or let Shane to sleep in his room near him a couple times. Unfortunately he will still not, at almost seven years old, sleep in his own room by himself all night. In fact, most nights that he is moved to his own room he'll find his way back to my bed. It doesn't seem to matter what I do!

Any ideas? Should I even worry about this? Because I've grown so accustomed to having Logan in my bed frequently I do feel secure knowing he's beside me but I'd really rather him be in his own room so that both he and I could get used to it again. I don't like him sleeping in my bed and I never have. He kicks, turns all around in the bed during the night, and has recently started to talk a little in his sleep.

What do I do? On one hand I just want to sleep and I want him to get a good night's sleep. For now it seems that he does this best in my bed. I even put a pillow between us so that he can't roll into me or me into him. It helps a bit with his tossing and turning. On the other hand, I want him to "grow up" and sleep in his own room every night, without being put there once he's asleep. He NEEDS to fall asleep on his own in his own bed. Doesn't he?

This is were picking my battles with my kids gets confusing. This is a battle that I've chosen to fight for so long. I'm tired of fighting it. I wish he'd just decided to sleep in his own room and make this easy on me! Maybe I should let Logan win this one. It's not about winning, just about sleep.

Since I've dealt with this for three years, I'm giving up. I want advice. I don't know that it will help but just hearing other's opinions on this may calm my fears about my almost seven year old. Will he still be ok if he continues to sleep in my room until he decides otherwise?

Here's another picture of my bedtime avoiders!

Christmas Shopping

Shane and I went shopping yesterday while Shaun and Logan stayed home. It was really fun to hang out with Shane. We started at the mall and shared pizza and soda then had TCBY a little later. Santa bought a couple things at the mall, but not much. The majority of Santa's budget, and ours, was spent at Target. We got there in the middle of the afternoon when the crowd was dwindling. I purposely did not shop to early in the day for this reason. Shane was having a blast "being" santa and choosing the stocking stuffers, socks, toothbrushes and regular things that santa brings us. This was his first year really helping. We spent a couple hours at Target and got almost everything. We then ran a couple other places and got gift cards before going home to unload the gifts from us to other people. Shane insisted the santa gifts stay in the trunk of the car until tonight. He's too worried about Logan finding them. I told him we've always had a good hiding place and not to worry.

This, I think, is really only Shane's second Christmas not believing in Santa. Even the one two years ago we were able to manage. He found out about santa when he lost a tooth and I was too lazy to be the toothfairy. I didn't have any cash or change to put under his pillow and he was pretty sure there wasn't a tooth fairy anyway. I confirmed this and then said, "you know the tooth fairy is like santa." He said "I knew it! I thought you were santa!" He's been in on all of it since and he's loving the magic that he is helping to create for Logan.

All day today Shane has been bugging me about wrapping the "santa gifts." Actually, I think it may have started last night. The shopping must have gotten to him. Shaun and I are really bad about wrapping gifts until right before they are sent, put under the tree (maybe a couple days before Christmas), or the night before Santa comes. So, tonight, starting in a few moments, Shane and I will be locked into my bedroom wrapping gifts and sorting stocking stuffers. It's so very cold outside that I'm not sure I even want to go into the garage to bring in the bags!

I hope you have as much fun shopping and wrapping that I'm having. Enjoy the holidays as they only come two months out of the year! I am now going to my room with my computer so that I may play Christmas music while I get papercuts and frustrated with folding the wrapping paper...Yikes! One day I'll get better at this.

If you haven't done so already, and would like a Christmas card (i.e. family picture of us), please email me your address.

"Yes, Shane we will now go w-r-a-p the presents."

Short Updates

1. I'm ready to go to Ireland! Ok, maybe not quite yet, but I did register and pay. I also received my passport, over Thanksgiving break. I am thrilled about this as I haven't ever needed a passport before now. Previously my short trips to Canada and Mexico, both just over the border while growing up, didn't require a passport. I also now have a passport card which will let me cross the borders without having the passport book. Of course that means getting my kids passports if I ever plan to bring them to Canada while visiting relatives in Minnesota. I'll probably do that at some point, just in case we get the chance.

2. I'll be photographing a wedding in late March! I'm very excited to do another wedding. The bride is a friend from church who has seen my photography over the past few years and knew she wanted me to be the photographer. We talked yesterday and it sounds great! Maybe I'll even get my website up and running before then. That's my goal. I'd like the wedding party and guests (and of course the bride and groom and their families) to have a way to directly order from me online but not have to go through another company's ordering process.

3. I have updated photos on Facebook so if you don't have a Facebook account, or if you're not yet my friend on Facebook, now might be the time to do so.

4. Christmas plans: We are hoping/tentatively planning to go to Colorado the day after Christmas, or possibly even Christmas Eve. You can go here to see more about our place in Colorado. I say "our" loosely as it actually belongs to my father-in-law's painting company.

5. Christmas cards: I hope to get these out on time this year. We'll see how that goes. I have the cards and evelopes and need to compile a list of addresses again. If I don't have your address please feel free to email it to me! If I do have it, you can email it to me too, just so that I have it in my email.

I think that's it for now! Take care and have a great holiday season.

Northern Ireland

I've been hoping to go on the faculty-led study abroad trip to Northern Ireland for a couple years now. I first heard of it during my Core Conflict Resolution course during the Spring of 2006. Since then it hasn't been offered again, until now. Read some information about the conflict in Ireland here. There's a lot of information out there on this!

A couple weeks ago I applied for a passport. I've never had the need for one prior to now so this in itself was exciting for me. Now I'll also be able to go to Canada the next time I visit northern Minnesota. A passport was required about a month after the last time I was up that way, for my cousin's wedding. If I'd had the kids' birth certificates I would have driven them over the boarder just so that could say they'd been out of the country. There's nothing near the border there, but it would have still been fun for them, and for me. :>)

So, passport almost in hand, I've filled out the required application and other forms required to be enrolled in this course and I'm going to be applying for the course after the Thanksgiving break. The first installment of the cost of the trip itself is due December 4th, and that's just around the corner. I'm getting a little anxious as I'm hoping to have my passport by then. If not then hopefully a copy of the application will sufice until I receive the actual application.

On another note, did you realize that you can get a passport card now? It's like the passport book, except that you don't actually need the book to go to drive into Mexico or Canada, or so I'm told by the Post Office passport official. I think I'd still want my book stamped...but that's just me. I'm getting both the card and the book just because I want to. I don't plan to drive out of the country any time soon. If you fly out of the country you'll still need the book. All of this was quite interesting to me. Also, the only way you can get a passport for kids 16 and under is with both parents' signatures (assuming a child has two parents I guess) but only one signature is required if they are 17. Who knew?

I've asked the boys if they want suvoniers from Ireland and they both thought a shirt and hat would be nice. Boys are sooo easy sometimes! Shaun's still not sure he is liking the idea of me being gone for ten days. I hope it grows on him. I suggested that if his work schedule allows for it maybe he can bring the boys to Colorado during Spring break since that's when I'll be out of the country. I doubt that will happen, but it's possible. Anyone want them for 10 days? They're greata kids and VERY easy, I promise! :>P

Hopefully I'll have pictures to post next week from this week's adventure to the Dallas area! I can't wait to be there and I'm definitely looking forward to two days of driving nine hours (nine there, nine back) with my husband and kids. That should NOT be the highlight of our trip, or at least I'm hoping the rest of the time will be more enjoyable. DVDs and game boys here we come!

Autism Group Project

This is something some classmates and I worked on for about six weeks for a Helping Relationships course which I'm in this semester. We presented this in class on Wednesday, November 19th. I compiled the various parts of PowerPoint and the game. For purposes of adding the files to my blog I've made them into a movie and listed the video links below for the videos contained in the presentation. You may want to pause the autism video and follow the links to YouTube when you see the slide for the videos below. If you really want to read the slides pause the video. I've also had to remove one slide from the movie as the animation didn't work correctly and it would have wasted time.

Let me know what you think, if you feel like taking the time to watch it!




Toothpicks 5:23 minutes
Autism Every Day 7:35 minutes
Airplanes 4:56 minutes

All together, the PowerPoint, the movie clips, and part of the game took about 45 minutes. Of course we narrated it with additional information and explanations. The video I've embedded above is 11:40 minutes long.

Weekend Adventures

A few shots from my weekend adventures ----




My two Robin Hoods (costumes purchased at the Ren Fest in late Sept)





A fun family to photograph, aren't they adorable? ----

Melissa for County Commissioner

Ok, not really. But I did get one vote! Shaun voted for me by writing me in. When the current county commissioner stopped by to ask us to sign his petition a couple months ago I joked with him that maybe I'd be on the ballet against him during the next election (we know him). He said that this might be his final term and that he'd probably support me next time, but to please not run this time. So, just to be a butt, Shaun voted for me this time. I am seriously considering running for the spot next time around. We'll see what all life deals me before then! First off my most important short-term goal (besides supporting my family) is to finish my degree.

Halloween

Hi all. Just wanted to post a brief note since I haven't had a chance to recently. Our Halloween festivities begin tonight. We have our annual Fall Festival at church which includes games, food, and a "trunk or treat." Please actually decorate the trunks of their cars and pass out candy. It's cute. This year there is also a chili contest so we're bringing some of Shane's "Killer Chili" with us for that. I'd hoped to make more last night but we ended up running errands and then I was too tired. I hope to get some yummy chili tonight!

Tomorrow night I have site council at the boys' school. Have I mentioned I'm the site council president? Then I have book club. I'm hoping to make it to both.

Friday we'll be trick or treating in the neighborhood (the boys, not me). Shane says he doesn't want to this year. He's feeling too old. I told him it's probably the last year he can so he should take advantage of it. He'd rather hang out a home with a couple friends and pass out candy to the few kids we get. Maybe I'll let them have a little Halloween party.

The boys and Shane's friend Connor all bought matching Robin Hood outfits (just the hat and vest). They'll be wearing these together both Wednesday and Friday evenings. Austin, Shane's best friend and our neighbor, will also be joining us both evenings. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take a few pictures to share!

We also hope to get our pumpkins carved either tonight or tomorrow! We're a bit behind because we've been so busy lately. At least this way no one will steal them before Friday. They've been hiding in the garage for a couple weeks. We'll probably just do something very simple with each of them this year. Shaun mainly wants to eat the seeds. :)

My Weekend and Upcoming Week

Not too much fun to tell about, but I did spend two days in Lawrence at a mediation training on Thursday and Friday. It was about domestic violence and mediation. Many people will say that you can't mediate a case that involves DV but the group that sponsored the trainings did a good job of proving otherwise. The sponsoring group was the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence. Read their webpage for more information. They do A LOT of good stuff. These trainings really opened my eyes to the helping relationships and resources available to victims. I hope to never need to mediate such a case, but I feel that given the right training and tools, which I received last week, I could probably do so in the right situation. Obviously not every case can be mediated.

I got to see a couple friends Thurday and Friday, too. I stayed the night with Heather and Jeff on Thursday night after Heather and I enjoyed some yummy bbq ribs at a local bbq joint we'd never heard of but another friend had recommended to me. I'll definately have to go there again! Now I'm back to my normal life, if it can be called normal. :)

Saturday I was asked to take pictures of an extended family. Group pictures seem to be my specialty lately. I'm not sure how that happened. Below is one picture of some VERY cute little guys who happen to be my friend Mandi's little (or not so little) family. She couldn't be there because she was in Utah with her mom for General Conference (big church meeting that is broadcast worldwide twice a year) and a college reunion but I enjoyed catching up with her husband, Gene, and meeting his side of the family. *I'll have the CD to you soon! I'm ordering it tonight if my internet wants to cooperate.*



I have a family portrait session coming up in two weeks and another extended family session either Nov 1, Dec 5, or Dec 12 (depending on which weekend they can all be together). I also have a couple more families looking at dates in the next month or two. I absolutely love getting paid to do something I enjoy so much! The fact that they are willing to pay me makes it even more fun than me doing it just for fun.

Speaking of portraits, my friend Rik, who also does a lot of photography and has started his own side business as well (much more than I do) took pictures of us in August. Go here to see a few of those. I plan to order some soon. We are very happy with the results. It was a fun session and not even Shaun complained!

Well, I'm supposed to be doing homework and studying. Guess I should get back to that. Take care!

RenFest

We went to the KC Renaissance Festival last weekend. I thought I'd better share a few photos!

Me at Braiden Maidens

Shane's friend, Connor, on stage pretending to eat fire! He's NOT a shy kid, in fact, he snuck up there when we were at a nearby vendor looking at shawls for his mom.


Heather, Shannon, Shane, and Connor watching the rest of the fire eater's show. We couldn't get away at that point because he was picking on the passersby. :)
Logan watching the show while sitting beside me on the front row.
Logan shooting with bow and arrow at the target range. All three boys really enjoyed this.

I get to take pictures today at a family reunion. I'll be heading there soon. I love getting paid for having fun!

Storm Photos

Click each picture to see larger.












Shaun and I really enjoy Kansas storms and often take pictures when the time of day and weather allow. These pictures were taken May 25, 2008, in the early evening. It was the beginning of another beautiful Kansas storm!

(All photos copyrighted. May be reproduced with my written permission.)