Hold on for the ride...

This picture has nothing to do with this entry, really, except for it conveys the way I feel sometimes when I am going a little out of my comfort zone with this photography stuff. Shooting weddings is definitely not in my comfort zone, but I really enjoy doing it. I so enjoyed getting to be a part of Maquel's big day back in June and was very relieved when things went very smoothly and the pictures turned out good. Everyone was happy - it was ideal. Last week, I had the awesome opportunity to shoot with my cousin-in-law, Eric. He is really naturally gifted at photography and does amazing work. You can see some of his pictures at his website http://www.izlas.com/ (hope you don't mind the publicity Eric (o: ) So of course, I was thrilled for an opportunity to take pictures with him for a wedding here in Portland. Eric really put a lot of trust in me, bless his heart. I was doubly nervous - a wedding, an awesome photographer's reputation on the line. Yikes.

The first night went something like this - Eric came and we talked about his camera equipment, how he does some of his pictures, etc. I could just pick his brain for hours. The bride and groom were to meet us at my house at 6:00 and we were going to head to Cannon beach for a pre-wedding shoot. At 6:45 they arrived, but without any wedding apparel. They didn't realize we were planning to do the pictures in the dress and formalwear. Oops. Things got a little crazy as they scrambled to get everything together, but by then it was too late to make sunset at the beach. After a lot of debating, gnashing of teeth - okay, not really, but there was some tension - we ended up at Pittock Mansion. It actually ended up being a cool place to take pictures - great view of the city, beautiful landscaping and architecture. By this time, we were still running out of light fast. The bride, with my help, changed into her dress right in the parking lot. Did you know a full-skirt wedding dress can double as a changing room? It's true - it was all modestly done and a funny memory for both of us I'm sure! So we finally get to start taking some pictures and it's fun, we're doing good - the good moment lasts for about 7 and a half minutes before some guy informs us that we need to be off the grounds in 10 minutes. We just had one obstacle after another! Even so, I think Eric was able to get some amazing shots - low light and all. I'm excited to see them. The night ended with some insane driving through the Portland streets at night - led by the least likely, directionally challenged person in the group - yep, ME. I think we were all grateful to survive my driving. We attempted to find a spot to get a cityscape shot with the bride and groom, but ended up calling it a night. In my defense, I had several counts against me - little experience driving downtown, it was dark, and we were on the infamously annoying road called Burnside which has signs on almost every road that say "NO TURN". Portland streets are so dumb. I love Portland, but man, the roads don't make any sense even after 8 years here.

The next day was fun. The wedding was at the Portland LDS temple - so we met up there in the morning. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I sincerely hope the pictures turned out good because I did most of the photography that day with Eric's camera. He did the videography and most of the posing and managing people - which made things easier for me. He also had a second shooter who drove down from Washington and did tons of candid shots with his telephoto. I think that would be the most fun and least stressful - just be a fly on the wall and get great shots from a distance. The reception that night was busy and fun. I really enjoy getting to know the people in the family and also ran into a few people I know and, of course, took their pictures. (o: It didn't all go perfect, but I learned a lot. There is one lesson that I never will forget, but I won't go into details. I had one of those REALLY big hit-yourself-on-the-head "Duh" moments. I am very anxious to see how things turned out. Thanks for the memories Eric - I learned a lot.

Top 10 Most Memorable Moments so far this summer...

10. Seeing Sarah and Natalie overcome their fear of water and playing in the pool with the whole family.
9. Our backyard makeover including the new "playground" and garden area. I love walking out to the garden and checking on it's progress. The girls LOVE the play structure.
8. A quick, but fun visit with my grandparents and Aunt Ann in June.
7. Getting the YW president calling - and our first activity doing karaoke will always be a fun memory.
6. Playing outside as a family - tonight we played hide and seek in the front. I love those moments together in the nice, warm weather.
5. Reaching 3.5 miles on the treadmill.
4. Angela's pooping incident outside during potty training. (I said memorable - not necessarily favorite) See "Potty Training Woes"
3. Taking pictures at Maquel's wedding - my first complete wedding photography "job". Very nerve-wracking, but also very fun.
2. Taking pictures with my cousin-in-law Eric at a wedding last week. More on that later... I'll just say it was a lot of fun learning and hanging out with Eric - (probably not as fun for him) - one of the most patient guys in the world. I keep thinking to myself, "these experiences shall be for your good" I'll just leave that as an inside joke. The two days of shooting were some of my most memorable.
1. Nearly getting blown away off the beach with my awesome in-laws and my girls screaming as we braved the hurricane force winds! (o:

That's our summer in a nutshell.

Birthday Girl

My baby is officially three! Some of her presents from the day included some darling clothes from her grandparents, new beautiful princess-y underwear, a soccer mom and Swan Princess Barbie (Angela can't get enough of Barbie's and princesses), Barbie Swan Lake (a movie), the Enchanted soundtrack, a very sparkly and pink purse, a "magic" baby bottle for her dollies and some awesome Sponge Bob pajamas! (o:

For Angela's birthday celebration we went to her favorite restaraunt - IHOP - followed by bowling. It was a fun night, but Angela didn't like the fact that she had to wait for four other people to bowl before her next turn. (O: The funniest part is that she actually beat all the rest of us - That's right, she scored 118 and left the rest of us in the dust - mostly scoring in the 80's. Pretty pathetic - and we had the bumpers up!

A House of Order

This is how I wish my whole house looked. This closet (I wish I had a before pic) has haunted me forever - it was a black hole. I now know exactly what is inside this closet and often leave the doors open because I like to look at it. (o: Unfortunately, some FHE/church visual aids I was hoping to find were NOT in the black hole. Maybe they actually were sucked into another dimension before I got the closet clean. I am baffled.

Sooo, my kitchen desk and cabinets above may be an eyesore (my next project), dishes may be overflowing from the sink and I might be way behind on laundry - but I have a clean office closet. Let's hope it lasts for more than a few weeks... Thanks to Shannan for taking the girls during the afternoon that I tackled this project.

Messy Messy Messy

Here are a few recent pictures of my messy Angela. The top picture of scribbles all over the counter and her arms were not done with washable markers. She had "tatoo" marks for a couple days and the counter was a joy to clean. The milk mess was when she wanted to be a big girl and pour her own glass. The last picture is after Natalie and Angela licked the bowl with Angela's birthday cake batter. It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but that's just because the color of the batter was close to her skin color.

I love my Angela - messes and all. (o:

Summer in the northwest

This picture was taken yesterday - that's right - July 29th. Natalie decided she wanted to play outside while daddy grilled some shis-kabobs in the rain. I'm not complaining - we've had the longest dry spell this year and my newly planted shrubs that Shannan gave me from her yard need the extra drink! We got a kick out of Natalie's attire to go play.

Jungle

We think that some of our vegetables look like they are from the Jurrasic era. The cabbages front left - are ginormous! The individual leaves are about 18 inches across. I used to be able to walk in between the two gardens, but they are growing across the divide. We've enjoyed a few cucumbers and zuchinni and soon they will be coming out of our ears. I can't wait for the tomatoes!

Sweet Sarah

It's Sarah's turn to be highlighted today. (o: I love the shirt she is wearing in this picture. It is a self-portrait she did at school. My little artist. I have been getting some photos ready to send in and enter the state fair. Sarah has been fascinated with the process and has been a great cheerleader. She tells me how much she loves the pictures and that she thinks I will win. She asked what I would win for a prize and seemed to think that just a ribbon was kind of lame. I tried to explain that it was just fun to try and enter so we can see my pictures when we go to the fair. (If they get picked to even be displayed.) She liked that idea and asked if she could enter sometime too. She has started dreaming about entering pictures, art and crafts - the wheels have started turning. I love that the whole world is open to Sarah - there are so many things to do - talents to develop, contests to enter, occupations to do someday. Today she said she wanted to be a shoe shiner (?), other days she wants to be an inventor, dancer, pianist, mom, teacher, cook, and so on and so on.

Sarah is a very stressed out girl lately. I think all the time being around her sisters is really getting on her nerves. She is constantly huffing and puffing about this or that being so annoying. Life is very difficult according to Sarah. Some days it just feels like to her the glass is half empty and it's everybody else's fault. She is a master at dramatic sighs and eyes rolling up so often I worry they will get stuck. I get in really big trouble when I point out that she sounds JUST like Napoleon Dynamite when she does a loooong drawn out sigh and/or says, "GOSH!" daddy and I sometimes add to her Napoleon-like drama, "Just make yourself a freakin' quesadilla." Word of warning - don't do this to Sarah when she is in a bad mood. Just a tip - from personal experience. Sometimes she laughs along with us, but there is a gray area that we have to tread through cautiously.

Despite Sarah sometimes acting so much like a teenager it's scary, she really is getting to be quite the young lady. I love Sarah's enthusiasm. I posted an update on the swimming lessons last week. Sarah is now in the second swimming lessons with Natalie and she LOVES it. She has learned to "dive" down head first in the water to retrieve pool toys and thinks it is the coolest thing ever. Natalie is not quite there - she'll put her face in the water but diving is terrifying to her. Sarah is trying so hard to show her just how exciting diving can be. You would think from listening to Sarah, that nothing in the whole world could compare to diving in the pool for toys. Hopefully she will convince Natalie someday. (o:

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's last night to celebrate Angela being completely potty trained - WAHOOOO! That has been our theoretical dangling carrot for each of the girls once they master this wonderful skill. I love that Sarah has not outgrown the little rides, games or even slide. And she still gets just as excited to count up the tickets and get some totally lame, cheap prize when we leave. Sarah was especially drawn to the air hockey game and played Jays and I. She is a very competitive girl and LOVES to win. She got ticked when her daddy beat her, but was thrilled when I offered to play. She had this smile like, "Yeah...someone I can cream!" And sure enough she beat me. She isn't very subtle about her excitement when she wins. (o:

Piano lessons are going well. I am so impressed with Sarah's progress. She learned and memorized "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" from Hymns Made Easy after practicing just over one week! She's only been taking lessons for a couple months! This song has up to three notes at a time and the fingering moves around unlike her regular lesson books. She is now working on "As I Have Loved You" with a sharp. This one has the hands moving around quite a bit and it is driving her crazy. She got so mad that she hid the hymnbook in the piano bench because she said she was mad at it. (o: That's my girl. She gets so mad when she can't be perfect the first time - then I push her to keep trying, there are sometimes tears and then she applies herself and she learns it super fast.

I love my sweet Sarah, even when she's not being super sweet. I try to use the method of just giving her a hug when she is having a bad attitude and this almost always works. Sarah is such a fun and smart girl - I thoroughly enjoy our conversations and time together. We are quite a funny pair because we are both a lot alike - perfectionists, sometimes over-stressed about things. It is a first born child complex, I believe. I am so proud of the young lady Sarah is becoming and can't wait to see her accomplish all the things she wants to do in life.