The "H" Family

I am such a horrible blogger!!! I started out this year pretty strong with my 365 Project, posting to my blog nearly every day. That didn't last long... I thought to myself, a picture a day, sure I can do that! But, for me, it was more than just a random picture... On a daily basis, I was looking for something to take a photo of that had meaning... something I could write up some great blog post about. I totally lost sight of what I had originally challenged myself to do, taking a photo a day for an entire year. And now, the year is almost over, and I don't have a whole lot to show for it... At least, not on my blog.

Not only have I been neglecting my 365 Project, but I've also been neglecting my clients and posting their sessions. :( I hope to find some time over the next couple months to go back and do some catching up on my blogging. Here's a little start... :)



Meet the "H" family! I met them last year when I shot a family session and engagement session for them. Their girls are absolutely adorable and we had a great time! I was so excited when they contacted me this year about doing another family session!

47|365 Beautiful Morning

Good morning! I hope everyone in Seattle is enjoying this beautiful day as much as I am! The sun is shining and there is not a cloud in the sky (at least over my house).

We woke up Sunday morning to a day just as gorgeous as today and took Jax for a ride on his bike. While walking around, I noticed some of the early signs of Spring all around me.

There are so many things I enjoy about Spring. Longer days (it's no longer dark at 4:00pm), new life, more sunshine, flowers in bloom, etc... But, the best part about Spring is the amazing cherry blossoms in bloom. I was so excited when I found blossoms on some of the trees in our neighborhood. It won't be long before Spring is officially here and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom!

45|365 L.O.V.E

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my family, friends, and fans. Thank you for all of your love and support. To my amazing husband and son, I LOVE YOU!!!

44|365 STUD

Jackson got his first bike for Christmas from his grandparents and this was the first opportunity Jason and I had to take him OUTSIDE to ride it. It's a balance bike, so there are no pedals and no training wheels. He did so well his first time out!!! It took him a little while to get the hang of steering the bike, but he had a lot of fun.

I'm so excited for better weather so we can get out and he can learn to balance on it!

I love this picture of my little guy... He looks so focussed and determined.

42|365 K-Cups... Oh how I miss you...

Our coffee maker is not working. I'm pretty sure it just needs to be de-scaled and it should work fine. I just haven't had much time (or any non-diluted white vinegar on hand) to do so. Lucky for me, I live in Seattle where there is a Starbucks within a half-mile radius to where ever I am when I find myself needing coffee!

I love my Keurig Single-Cup Brewer!

41|365 A Day At The Zoo

The sun finally decided to come out and play this week and I could not be happier! To celebrate, I decided to take Jackson to the Woodland Park Zoo, one of our favorite sunny day activities! He was so excited to find out Papa Fred would be joining us.
The funny thing about taking an almost two year old to the zoo is each time we go, he has a different favorite animal. Last time it was the penguins... This time it was the orangutans. He was scared of the snakes, but I may be to blame for that. When we saw them, I made a comment somewhat along the lines of, "Icky, Mommy doesn't like the snakes." After that, he became upset whenever we would see another one and tell me, "I don't like snakes, I'm scared." (Note to self: Remember to turn the mommy filter ON and not discuss what is scary to me around Jackson. He is such a tough boy and I don't want to compromise that because I'm afraid of snakes and arachnids.)

Normally when we go, the lions are sleeping (usually in a place where it's hard to see them). But today, they were out roaming around and even walked right up to the windows in the viewing area. I thought Jackson would be SUPER excited to see the lions up close and personal, but he seemed to be perfectly happy drawing in the dirt with a couple of sticks he found just after we saw the elephants.

Jen & Scott Are Expecting!

I spent yesterday afternoon with an old friend from work, Jennifer, and her husband, Scott. They are expecting their first baby VERY soon and I cannot be more happier for them. Here's a little sneak peek from their session.

34|365 Build Sumptin!

Jackson recently got his first set of Mega Blocks and has become obsessed with them! His favorite thing to do is have "mama build sumptin" or "daddy build sumptin." He wants you to use every single block and build something really tall. Once we're done building, Jackson yells, "I knock over!" and the blocks go flying everywhere!

This masterpiece belongs to Jason... It stood long enough for me to take a picture of it and then it was demolished by (an almost) two year old!

29|365 Random Sightings

You'll have to cut me a little slack on this one... It's not the greatest picture. It was taken from the passenger seat in my car. We were driving home from the marina and turned the corner to find that someone had set off a smoke bomb (at least, I think that's what this is) on the side of the road. Pretty sure this guy burned himself right after I took this picture. It smelled awful and left an orange cloud of smoke in Des Moines for quite some time. We could still see it almost two miles down the road.

27|365 I cheated!

So, I didn't take this picture today. In fact, I didn't take any pictures today. (No, that's not true... I took one with my phone to send to my friend, Jen. She taught me how to make these adorable cloth flowers and I think I've made 100 of them in the past few days! I had to show her...) Anyway, I took this picture at sunset two days ago. Jackson was feeling a little better, so we went for a walk down at the marina. It was freezing, so we didn't stay out long. But, we did get to watch a gorgeous sunset. I cannot wait for warmer weather. This winter has been a little rough on me. I hate being cold and I don't like to keep Jax out in the cold for too long, either. I am SO looking forward to our daily walks at the marina and trips to the park.

26|365 Icky Sicky

I know I am extremely behind on my 365 project. Things have been a little crazy around my household in the last couple weeks. I have all of my images uploaded, just have to sort through them and pick the ones that are blog worthy. It may take me a week or two to get caught up, but IT WILL HAPPEN!!!

On top of my full time (24/7/365) job of being a wife and a mother, I have also been playing nurse for the past two weeks. My hubby threw his back out (old injury re-injured) and spent an entire week (except for the time he was at work) laying flat in bed. Almost as soon as his back started feeling better, he came down with the flu and spent another couple days in bed with a high fever. Of course, my kiddo ended up with it as well. He's starting to feel much better, but he's still not feeling great. Monday morning he woke up with some coughing and by noon, he was running a fever. It spiked at 2:00 Tuesday morning at 103.1. He was on FIRE! I feel so helpless when my little guy is hurt or sick. I know he is miserable and there is very little I can do to make it any better or make it go away. I've said it before and I will say it again, but being there for him is the most important thing I can do. All he wanted to do last night was cuddle with me on the couch, and I was more than happy to do so.

I was doing some experimenting earlier today with automatic exposure bracketing when Jackson came over to check out what I was doing. I turned the camera to him and was able to snap this one before he wrecked my little project (he tried to pick up one of my hand blown glass ornaments so he could throw it... YIKES!). You can still see the sicky in his eyes...

25|365

Jackson woke up at 2 this morning with a fever of 103.1... I felt so bad for him. Jason decided to stay up with him and let me get some sleep (we all know I need it!), but it was a rough night for all of us. Jackson ended up taking an early morning nap and woke up feeling a little better. He still had a fever, but had a little more energy. All he wanted to do when he woke up was color with his new crayons and watch "R.J" (Over The Hedge).

I could not get him to peel his eyes away from his movie when trying to take a picture of him...


(I had fun with this edit... A little grungy, a little faded...)

24|365 Trip to the Pharmacy

My family is sick... Jason came down with the flu on Saturday, and Jackson came down with it today. It's only a matter of days before I, myself, am sick with the flu. :(

We traveled to Eastern Washington over the weekend for a fun family getaway. Our plans were changed when Jason woke up Saturday morning not feeling well. I ventured out to the pharmacy and picked up some cold and flu medication and a thermometer for him. Sure enough, he was running a fever and spent the rest of the weekend cooped up in the hotel room with our dog, Molly.

I didn't think it was a very good idea to keep Jackson there out of fear that we would both catch whatever Jason had, so we went and stayed with my grandmother who lived nearby. Monday morning, Jackson woke up and was not feeling well. He was coughing and started running a fever. Back to the pharmacy for some children's Tylenol and Motrin (and some other goodies).

15|365 Seeing Double

My husband is the biggest Dead Head I know! While he was deployed in Iraq, he'd sign off his emails to me with lyrics from Grateful Dead songs. Sometimes it was one of his favorite songs, other times maybe just something from a song that fit his current mood. But they were almost always Dead songs. I can't even begin to tell you how many albums he owns.
While we were pregnant, we used to play music for Jackson. I had read somewhere that playing classical music to the baby while in the womb has led to higher IQ's, so naturally, I had to stick headphones around my belly and play music for Jackson. Most of the time we played Bach or Mozart, but every now and then Jax got to listen to some of our favorites. My pick, country... Jason's pick, what else, The Dead!
Now, I can't say that I enjoy their music too much. Don't get me wrong... There are quite a few songs that I actually do enjoy. I've just never really gotten into it. However, I know how much Jason loves them (obviously... he has a Steal Your Face tattoo on his right shoulder!). So, when I was at Target last summer and saw this Steal Your Face t-shirt, I had to get it for Jackson. And actually, since I knew how much Jason would love it, I picked up two different sizes!

14/365 Retro Cam

Today, Jackson and I were playing in his room and he had his toys scattered everywhere. It looked like a bomb had gone off in his toy box! Anyway, I was trying to take some pictures of him using the Retro Cam app on my phone, but there wasn't enough light in the room. So, I decided to take some pictures of his toys. Here are a few shots I took using different cameras in the app. I love this app because the camera on my phone isn't that great but that doesn't really matter since the photos are supposed to look old and have poor quality.

12/365 Be Mine

I was hanging out with a friend today and she asked me what I do for Jason for Valentine's Day. I didn't really have a great answer because every year, I do something different. A few years ago, I was travelling with Rite Aid and found myself in North Carolina on Valentine's Day. Since Jason and I couldn't be together, I decided to surprise him with flowers. Yes, I had flowers delivered to my husband at work! Last year, we left Jackson with my parents overnight and drove down to Portland for dinner and a concert. Before heading back to Seattle, we took a photo walk around downtown Portland. Another year, I made him a gift basket.
Two years ago, I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Jackson during Valentine's Day. My doctor had put me on medical leave and I had a ton of free time during the week, so why not make a scrapbook? I ventured out to my favorite scrapbook store and picked out some gorgeous papers. I found this awesome chipboard kit that had the word "LOVE", numbers 1-10, and 10 chipboard pages. It was perfect! I had no idea how hard it was going to be to narrow everything I love about my husband down to just 10!

I'm glad I decided to make this before Jackson came along. I really don't have much free time to scrapbook anymore!

11/365 That Kind Of Day

If you've been following my blog, you probably know that I am a couple days behind on my 365 project. I've been taking my pictures, I just haven't had time to upload and edit them.

I will catch up soon... It shouldn't take too long since I only missed two days. I've just been so busy and so exhausted! Jason and I went to the Seahawks game on Saturday and boy, did that take it out of me! Sunday, we headed down to my parents house where we stayed the night. Jason was there long enough to help me put all of their Christmas decorations in the attic and then went home to do his school work. On Monday, Jason stayed home from work after re-injuring his back so I got to play nurse all day. I drove him to the doctor and then had his prescriptions filled.
I feel so bad for him right now. It's bad enough that he is in so much pain, but he's missing his play time with Jackson. Besides that, Jackson doesn't really understand why Daddy can't pick him up... :( Hopefully it will be better soon!

Anyway, I've been having a hard time sleeping lately. There are many factors contributing to this... One reason is because I've been tired so I've been drinking a lot of caffeinated beverages. I've also had quite a few migraines lately and the medication I take for those has caffeine in it. It seems like a catch-22... I'm not getting enough rest which may be one of the reasons my migraines have been so frequent. I'm having to take migraine medication which keeps me awake, not allowing me to get rest. Without enough rest, I'm facing more migraines. Talk about a vicious cycle! Needless to say, I have been drinking a lot of coffee recently, so it seemed like a picture of my coffee was needed on my blog!

I started collecting Starbucks mugs a few years ago. I picked up this one in New Jersey and it's one of my favorites!

9/365 Good Fortune

{As promised, I am posting my 365 from earlier in the week!}

I'm sure I have probably mentioned before that my husband works full time and is a full time student. When he's home, he dedicates all of his time to Jackson and me, making it difficult to find time to focus on his school work. Luckily, Nana and Papa live close by and LOVE having Jackson and me over for Sunday Night Sleepovers! Every Sunday afternoon, we pack up and head south for dinner with my parents and a slumber party, giving Jason time to focus on his school work (and OCCASIONALLY head down to the golf range to hit a bucket of balls!). Jackson has a pack and play set up in what used to be my bedroom. My bed is still in there, although, I prefer to sleep on their OH-SO-COMFY couch! We all enjoy it... My pops cooks dinner. Jackson gets to play with all of his toys that they keep there for him. We watch Extreme Makeover - Home Edition and then Jackson goes to bed. After Jax is tucked in, my mom and I watch Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. Well, my mom usually makes it through Desperate Housewives. By the time Brothers & Sisters is on, she's usually nodding off in her recliner! (I'm sure she'll kill me for including that little tid-bit!)

Last Sunday, Jackson and I headed down for our usual sleepover. My pops wasn't feeling very well and my mom had worked all day. Instead of a home-cooked meal, we picked up some take-out from Panda Express.

Here's my fortune... "The only way to have a friend is to be a friend."

The edits on these photos were done in Lightroom 2 using some new presets I picked up from Pretty Presets. I love experimenting with different presets and actions when editing photos, and I really liked the color conversion on this one. You would never guess what colors were in these photos originally... I placed the fortune cookie on a red tray that had clear glasses on it. It's amazing how the click of a button can change the entire look of your photos!

8/365 SEA-HAWKS!

I know this post is now two days late, but it's been a very busy weekend for me!

 On Saturday, my husband and I had the opportunity to attend one of the BEST football games of the year!  I'm sure just about everyone reading this blog either was at the game, watched the game, or has seen highlights from the game so I won't go into details with scores and total yards and everything else. All I can say about the game is it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  And Seattle has the best fans in the nation!  Jason and I both lost our voices from all of the cheering and shouting.  By the time we got home, I was exhausted.   I feel like I'm still recovering from all of the excitement today. 

This photo was taken before the game while we were tailgating. YES, it is an old ambulance complete with flashing lights and sirens.

7/365 Good Golly Miss Molly

This is my sweet, sweet puppy dog, Miss Molly. She's coming up on her 5th birthday this month! I can't believe she's already 5 years old. I still remember the day we went to go look at her...

My husband (well, we were still engaged at the time) and I had decided we wanted to get a dog. I wanted a smaller breed while my husband wanted a larger one. We had compromised and decided on getting a female beagle and she was to be named Zoey. We were looking for a local breeder when we came across a litter of Weimaraners located in Yakima. While a larger breed wasn't my first choice, Jason had a couple weimaraners several years ago and absolutely loved them and always wanted to get another one. So, I sent an email to the breeder to find out if they still had any pups available. They had one female left... the runt of the litter. We decided to hop in the Jeep after work and head to Yakima to "look" at the puppy. Yakima, for those of you who are not from Washington, is three hours away!!! Did I really think that we were going to drive all the way to Yakima to "look" at a puppy and NOT bring her home?

We arrived at the home of the breeder and they invited us in. The puppy (they were calling her Birdie or something along those lines) was sitting at the end of the hallway and I immediately fell in love with her! I actually had tears in my eyes... She was the most adorable puppy! After spending a little time with her, we told the breeder we'd like to take her home that day. Thinking back, I'm not sure if we decided Molly was a better name for her before or after we saw her for the first time, but it suits her perfectly!

She has been such an amazing part of our family! I can't imagine life without her. She travels with us almost everywhere we go. If we can't bring her along, she usually stays with my parents. We've been fortunate enough to only have her in the kennel for one weekend. She always has her nose to the ground, so walks can be interesting.

Not too long before we found out we were expecting Jackson, she started acting really strange around me. Instead of staying under the covers snuggled up to Jason's feet, she would get up with me in the morning and follow me into the bathroom, leaning on me while I was getting ready for work. She was constantly by my side and whining quite a bit. We had noticed she was acting different around me, but couldn't figure out why. Then one day Jason sent me a text while I was at work saying, "Maybe Molly knows you're pregnant." Could it be? My dog knew before I did?

Sure enough, we were going to have a baby! Through out my entire pregnancy, she was very close to me and VERY protective around other dogs and other people. We weren't sure how she was going to adjust to not being the "only child" once Jackson was born, but she has been a good girl. She's very gentle with Jackson when they are playing with her tug toys or her balls. She is always right at his heels when he is eating his snacks, knowing that he'll either drop something or hand it to her. Sometimes, he invades her personal space on her bed... Most of the time, she'll just lay there with Jackson climbing all over her. Other times, she'll simply get up and walk away.

Jackson picked out these rings for her for Christmas and she LOVES them! You can probably see all the love she's given them in just a couple weeks!