My First Wedding

Well, not my first wedding, but my first time photographing a wedding! 


My friend, Lindsey, asked me to be a 2nd shooter at a wedding she was photographing. I met Lindsey when Big Brother was in pre-school with her daughter 3 years ago. Since then, she's photographed our family every year. I was amazed, shocked, scared, nervous, and mostly flattered when she asked me to back her up in photographing this wedding. The big day was this past weekend- and I'm so excited to share my photos.

As you can tell, the bride was beautiful. It was a very God-centered ceremony. The couple is so sweet and in love. It was a great day.

I picked just a few to share. It was an amazing experience. I feel so proud that I took on a challenge, overcame a fear, and ultimately did a good job. I know these aren't perfect and could be picked apart by a trained photographer, but all in all I am proud of my first attempt. I had a blast working with the bride and groom and with Lindsey. Thanks to all for an amazing experience.

Cure for the Summertime Blues

So, it's a few weeks into summertime. My kids are over the "fun" part of being together all the time. I'm over the "fun" part of being together all of the time. I have found that they are irritated with each other and with me and vice versa! (Only being honest here...) In addition, Kevin has been gone 14 of the last 17 days (which is irritating to all of us) and the days are long. 

What's my point?

Well, my point is that I've had grouchy times over the past few weeks. So, when the boys complained that they were so hot playing outside, I went over and turned on the sprinklers for them to run in. You would have thought it was Christmas morning by the joy I saw in their eyes. 

It didn't take much to have a good time and cool off (our tempers and their body temperatures!) and we all felt a little better about our summer so far!

Legoland

Well, finally, the conclusion to our May vacations. We ended our time with a day at Legoland. The boys LOVE Legos. We have them everywhere and so we thought, what a perfect place to go.

And it was a great time, but with the holiday weekend (Memorial Day) we picked a busy time to visit. Unfortunately we didn't get to ride all the rides they wanted to try, but the ones we did ride were a hit. A favorite part of the day was all the replicas of cities across America, made from Legos. There's Washington DC, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and more. Their favorite was the newly opened Star Wars with scenes from the movies redone out of Legos. It's really amazing what a person can do with enough Legos!

Without further ado, the photos from our visit!

At the entrance with the characters

This one's for Grandma Sheryl- we'll get you a copy

My facial expression in the last photo is a bit embarrassing for how small the slide really was. To see it closer just click on the photo! I figure I slightly embarrass everyone else in my family on this blog- so it's my turn!

The Capitol building- with an actual Lego Marching band!

The Star Wars area

After waiting an hour to drive this car, Little Brother cried for the whole 3 minute drive. 

The above are made of sand! Really amazing...

The End!

Beaches and more beaches

The day after big Brother graduated Kindergarten, we headed to the beach. My kids love Marmaduke (the movie) in which they move to the OC. So, when we landed in California, Big Brother asked, "Is this the OC?" Just made us laugh a bit!

Our first few hours there, we headed to Huntington Beach. It was actually cold and very windy, but we had to see the beach after preparing and traveling all day to get there!

After a walk on the boardwalk, we found our favorite restaurant from Hawaii. It's called Duke's. In addition to locations on the different Islands, they have 2 in California. It's fantastic- I love the fish tacos and we all loved the Hula Pie. It was gone so fast, I couldn't even get a photo snapped. Little Brother said it was the best restaurant ever. Here he is above with a mac-n-cheese mustache. 

The next day, Kevin was working. I was on my own with the boys for my first time ever in California and one of my first times driving a rental car. I found my way to a Walmart, picked up buckets, shovels, towels and snacks, and we made our way to the tide pools in Laguna Beach. We saw tons of snails, crabs, and even some lobster that were washed up and eaten by the seagulls. We found a few small fish and when the kids got bored, we headed over to splash in the ocean.

We picked up Kevin after his meetings were done and headed down to San Diego. We stopped in La Jolla to visit the seals and do some sight seeing. The kids really loved it.

The next day we hung out on Coronado Island- one of our most favorite places on earth. It was a beautiful, relaxing day- the beach, our favorite ice cream place and a sweet little town. The only non-relaxing (is that a word?) part was a bicycle ride around the island. The boys hung out in the basket up front, while Kevin and I pedaled them around for an hour. Easier said than done!

Our last beach day was spent at Mission Beach. It was a cold, gray morning, so we walked along the beach, writing messages in the sand. Eventually it warmed up and the kids made more castles, found more shells, and ran through a zillion more waves. We relaxed!

Spent the evening with old friends from our high-school days that live on Mission Beach. Had great pizza and fun at their house afterwards. (No Pictures, though!)

Our last day was spent at Legoland. That's a post in itself...

Book Review!

I need to take a break from Vacation Photos and share something that I've loved! It has been a very long time since I've read a book. Sadly, I read to the boys every night, but find myself wasting hours on the internet or in front of the television! So, with 4 long flights and some time on my hands on vacation, I read three books! 

Let me preface this by saying- I haven't written a book review since high school and even then, I was forced to do it! I know I won't do these justice, but the last one, especially, is definitely worth reading!

First, there is my always favorite, easy to read, author- Nicholas Sparks. I usually read his books as soon as they come out, but this one has been waiting over a year for me. It was true to his style and a good fast read. I always feel like I'm watching a movie while I read his books. It's the story of a woman who is hiding from a past life and struggling to start a new one. It's got love, suspense, romance, and is probably going to me a movie someday (just like his other books!)

Next, came Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua. It is an autobiography of a chinese-american mom who describes her ways of raising her two daughters. Oh My Gosh! If you want to feel a little better about your parenting approach, you should read this! I was really amazed at how much she shared and the struggles they had. Not my favorite book, but pretty good nonetheless.

Lastly, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This is by far the best book I've ever read. It's over 500 pages and I couldn't put it down. I read it in record time and every night I am sad that I'm done with it. It's a story of a young girl who lives in a poor neighborhood in Munich, Germany during the reign of Hitler. She doesn't have much, but her most prized possessions are her books, many stolen, some gifted to her. I've always enjoyed books (fiction and non-fiction) that covered this era in history. I really enjoyed the perspective from which he wrote this book. A fresh look at the struggle of the Jews and the Germans who didn't really buy into Hitler's propoganda. All in all, I was really sad when I finished the book. I know it will be on my "favorites list" for a long time to come.