Melynda's family

Right after Brendan's family photos (the previous post), I stayed at the park to get shots of Melynda's family. Of course we started them off jumping!

Spend 5 minutes with Melynda's family and you will see how much she adores them, especially her husband. Watching how they were together was like watching teenagers in love.

Brendan's Family

Brendan is a coworker of mine. He and his wife brought her sisters and family to the park for a shoot on a Sunday morning in erly october. We had an awfully rainy day the Saturday before and had to reschedule. They ended up with a perfectly overcast day, beautiful fall colors and only a slight mist.




This is his sister-inlaw with her family. Aren't they cute together?

33

Although I don't mind the fact that I just turned 33 a few days ago, I am really missing wonderfully warm summer sunsets. The seasonal affective disorder is really getting to me.

Eleven

So, New Year's Day was Tye's eleventh birthday. I now have a "tween". Scary. When did I get this old? (And who the hell keeps coming in my room and coloring a few strands of hair gray each night? Who ever you are, please stop. I do not appreciate it.)
Anyway...
We had a small get-together with family on his birthday.

But then he decided he wanted a party with friends, too. He made a guest list and came up with activities. He even made his own invitations. He decided the kids would go sledding and bowling.

The boys are hoping the Four Man Stacked Sled event will be added to the 2018 Winter Games.


Even though we were exhausted when we got home, I think he had a great time. He smiled the entire time. I even captured one.


John is still gone ice fishing for the long weekend. Tye has safety patrol this week and has to be at school early tomorrow. And I don't do mornings well. So, it's off to bed for me. Or I'll end up with eye bags to coordinate with my gray hairs.

Christmas 2009 Review

The few weeks leading up to Christmas were so busy for me. I was spending day and night editing photos from fall sessions. I was so behind because of computer crashes in October and November. Needless to say, I didn't get any holiday decorating done. The tree was brought up from the basement, but not one ornament actually was placed on it. Thank goodness we spent Christmas Eve and Day at my in-laws, or it might have been dreary.

We did however have a great Christmas! My mom came over to spend the night. James has a wonderful girlfriend, who has two kids about the same ages as my boys. The kids all get along fabulously, and decided to spend Christmas Eve together, camped out on the bedroom floor so the could all sleep together awaiting the excitement of Christmas morning. Of course they woke up pretty early and the unwrapping began.

Tye big gift was his laptop (which I found a great deal on). He started to jump up with excitement before I could snap the photo.

Bodie's big gift was a JLX Overdrive RC car. It was outrageously expensive for a toy car, but he really hadn't asked for much.

Opening it made him loopy!

Miss A. got a new Ipod and cozied up with her dog, Lenny.

And L. got a ton of Spy gear. Check out those cool spy glasses!

Bodie suited up to test out the new car, but it was sleeting outside and was not the best weather for racing around.

Tye spent most of the day in his new fedora and Toy Story Snuggie, with his new computer in his lap.

When Bodie came in, he had a new headlamp and and spent most of the day with crazy hair like this...

A few days later, my dad, stepmom, Lisa, and sister, Kelcie all came to visit. Kelcie has been in Australia for almost a year working with YWAM and had about a month to come home and visit. She is very devoted to the program though and likes working with youth. I'm glad to see she has discovered her passion at such and early age. She returned to Australia this week.

I really wish she lived close, or at least would stay in the U.S. longer next time so we could spend more time together.

These were taken in my grandparents' driveway while it was snowing.

The main reason for the visit was to see my grandpa who has terminal cancer. I fear we will all be back together too soon for a funeral. But in the meantime it is really nice to get to see some of my family at Christmastime and I appreciate every minute of it.

On a side note, I'm still working on getting Christmas cards sent out. I think I'm still behind and don't know when I will be caught up. I will try to get them sent before Valentine's Day.

Hi!

I promise I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I just haven't been online very much. I'm taking a little break from the computer to get some stuff finished that I had put off all fall, and spending some time with family and friends. This weekend my friends took me for an early birthday trip to the cities for a comedy show and dineer. Tonight The boys and John got to go see WWE Live! and got back late. I will try to post more tomorrow about what we've been up to!