There Are No Favorites

...It's just that watching Lucy is really funny. She is constantly moving...never predictable and usually 1 step away from a disaster.

I don't mean to take more pictures of her...it's just that I am usually having to keep her from doing something completely crazy and I can usually catch it early if I am aiming my lens at her.

She does NOTHING normal...or peacefully!!!

Even when I look at these several days later..I laugh because this captures her 100%!!!

Miss You!!

I Love You Kimberly Powers

I love getting comments on my blog. I look forward to checking comments every morning. A few short mornings ago I got the BEST comment EVER from Kimberly....a long time Coastie Friend from San Diego and Alaska. She asked me a photography question. I was so excited that I beamed for several hours (maybe days??). I wanted to answer some of her questions....just in case any of you get as excited when reading my comments.

#1 The back of all my kids heads is what I am usually able to capture.

#2 Priscilla is THE BEST at not letting me get a picture of her.

#3 I take 1 million shots that you will NEVER see because LOVE the delete feature.
#4 Molly is the most agreeable when it comes to letting me practice. But even she gets bored with it.

#5 So...what you mostly DON'T see on my blog is the 500,000 pictures I take of silly things, like my flip flops on the sand. I practice fooling with my settings on objects that:
#1 Don't get hungry
#2 Won't move or hit the person next to them
#3 Does not need to see every picture the SECOND I am done shooting it.

I have to admit that I am having a lot of fun watching my kids grow up in the pictures that I take. I want to get better and in a few years I hope to achieve that. Until then I will chase the backs of sandy haired babies and coax small boys to smile.

Guess Where I Went This Week?

On Tuesday afternoon the AC stopped working at our little white house.  With Pete still being gone there is only so much I can take...

I told the kids....pack your bags we are going to the beach!!!

I was actually the one packing all the bags.... but it was fun to shout it out anyway.

So the 6 of us headed to P'cola....I took about 600 pictures.  I had to delete about 590 of them because I am such a ROOKIE when it comes to getting good shots.  Who can blame me?  I was so distracted by this small person who left the cottage in a  thong....
Where is this girls mother???
(behind her Nikon)
More to come later...right now I am sitting in my somewhat cool house listening to NOTHING....because it has been exactly 48hrs since I heard this sweet sound!!!

I Was Going To Talk About Homeschooling...But...

It's raining outside.  Pete left this morning.  The pool is still not open. And I feel like talking about something else today.  That's the type of gal I am ..  I change my mind ALL THE TIME!!!

But right now I know what I feel like writing so here I go...

About this time last year I started listening to a podcast called Faith and Family.  One of the shows I heard was about spending time on the computer.  The 3 hosts, all Catholic Moms,  shared what websites they like to play on.  One of the moms mentioned thepioneerwoman.com .  She said she liked her photography and her recipes.  The name of the website stuck in my head and later that day I  went to Pioneer Woman's website. It was love at first sight.  I loved her pictures, her stories and her recipes.  I was inspired!!  I spent a lot of time looking at her pictures and reading anything she wrote about photography.  She explained things clearly and I wanted to learn more.

Up until that moment I was a mom who took lots of pictures on Auto and never knew why all my pictures were AWFUL.  I  was not taking pictures that much anymore because after buying 3 cameras in 2 years not much had changed in my picture taking ability or quality.  It must be the cameras fault and I QUIT!!

Then I read about PW and how she used to be just like me...an awful photographer just 4 years before. And now look at her photos, amazing!!  I had hope.  I read about her first SLR camera a Nikon D80.  She has since upgraded..but that is what got her going.  So as you can imagine I now HAD TO HAVE A NIKON D-80!!

Fast forward a few minutes..we had the fire and we got some insurance money.  All of a sudden I have a chance to own this expensive camera that was a pipe dream just the week before.  It took a little sweet talk to convince Pete that the only way to heal my broken heart over all our burnt pictures and scrapbooks was to allow me a open ended amount in order to purchase this camera that I just knew would put me along side Anne Gedes in just a few short shutter clicks!!!

And Pete, being a guy who likes to mend a broken heart, agreed to this new idea of mine and said yes. I went to the local camera shop, after my photographer friend Jessica suggested it to me, and proudly asked to see the Nikon D-80!!!  Thinking I was pretty cool for be a woman who knows what she wants!!

And quickly feeling silly because the camera sales guy was like, "They don't make D-80's anymore "  I knew that!!!  He then sweetly explained that Nikon released another updated version of the D80 and it is now the.....D-90!!

I said, " Wrap it up!"  I knew nothing about why I was paying that amount of money for something that I really had no idea how to use.  All I knew was Pioneer Woman took nice pictures with her camera and I wanted to take nice pictures with mine.  I took it home, slapped on a fancy lens, put it on auto and began shooting anything that would stand still (not a lot of pictures of Lucy or Priscilla!)

I was thrilled for awhile. And then every now and again I would take my "Magical Camera" with me and I would not get the pictures I was dreaming of....you know the pictures like Pioneer Woman's.  And I began to do what happened after every honeymoon camera phase...I started taking less pictures.  This time it was a little harder for me to give up completely because I like to post pictures on my blog. 

But I just kept shooting on Auto never changing 1 single setting EVER.  Almost 1 year later my world changed  on one sunny Thursday morning when my dear friend Jessica said, "Don't you ever change your settings? You should try to adjust your shutter speed so you won't get all that shadow when you are taking pictures in the direct sun light."  Then the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me (being dramatic for the reader!!)

Jessica showed me how to adjust my shutter speed (luv u Jess!!)

And in that moment my world changed (not being dramatic here...that is the truth)

I began adjusting ALL my SETTINGS!!  I am shooting in Manual.  That means that I control everything that my sweet camera does.  I have not put the thing down in 2 weeks!!  I am not that good...but I am having the best time getting better.  It's all about the light!!

.....and a good friend with a beautiful piece of property that I invite myself to in order to take pictures with her!!  Oh yeah, and I  let he feed me while I am there too!!

Now all I need to do is learn how to take good pictures, buy an apple orchard in Eastern Washington, and keep my kids clean enough so I can take pictures of them!!

p.s i know there are a few more things I need to do...but these 3 are on my immediate to -do list...with the exception of buying an apple orchard....that may have to come later....

Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me!!

Sunday night (I can't believe I am about to tell you all this) I sat down with Pete at about 9:00 at night (his favorite time for these sort of talks) and cried and cried.  I was crying because school was over and now how would I keep all these hungry, ACTIVE, people at bay all day.  I cried because the local pool does not open until the last week of May.  I cried because I missed my mom.  I must also admit I cried because I felt like I had no friends.  I was boo-hoo ING like a 9 yr. old, "Nobody Likes Me!!!"

And in steps the Lord.  I am not kidding.  I am not looking into this more than I should.  Believe me, I like taking time out of my peppy spirit to feel sorry for myself every now and again.  But God was not having it this week.  So let me go over with you how God rushed to my sorry little rescue after a good crying "jag" Sunday night.

#1 Amazing Thing:  First thing Monday morning, well 2nd thing...Lucy threw up 1st thing, my friend Kathy calls me and invites me to her sweet Mobile prairie home to pick berries.  I almost cried after hanging up.  No really, my first thought was, "That's right God, Kathy likes me.  Thanks for the reminder."

#2 Amazing Thing:  Later that same day I was hanging with my little shadows and all of a sudden a phone number pops into my brain that I had been trying to remember for weeks.  It was the phone number of my dear friend and neighbor from Alaska who I have wanted to call for months but I could not remember her the number. And since I never wrote the number down any where because I was sure I would never forget it I was stuck not being able to talk to her for way to long.  After the number literally popped into my brain I grabbed the phone and called her.  Pretty cool huh??  Well I really felt like it was the Holy Spirit because get this,  Lucy was laying on her blanket the whole time we talked basically not making a sound and that NEVER happens to me!!! Now I am beaming because I feel like, "Naomi likes me and so does Lucy!!  SCORE!"

#3 Amazing Thing: While I am on the phone with Naomi the other line beeps. I was not able to get the call and promptly forgot all about it.  Later that night my phone beeped to tell me there was a message.  Not remembering the missed phone call, I checked the message without seeing who called and it was my friend Jane calling to say Happy Mother's Day.  How fun God, "That' right God, Jane likes me too!!"

Just to recap, it's now late Monday afternoon and I am starting to feel less sorry for myself and more grateful for the wonderful people God has put in my life.

#4 Amazing Thing:  And this is the topping on the Cake...Are you ready for this???  The mail man comes and hands Jack our mail.  In the mail is a Mother's Day card from my sister-in-law and she wrote the sweetest things about me.  It was such a touching card and her words were treasured and I immediately thought..."Wow God Lauren likes me!!"  I am always afraid I am the crazy sister-in-law with 5 kids that she has to know because our husbands happen to share parents.  But after reading her card I don't think that is the case...I think she likes me!!  No really...I think she does!!!

All of this before dinner.  God had a productive day with me and I am still humbled by the fact that God wants me to know that people do care about me.  And He has made it clear to me that I have lots of people for whom I am extremely grateful for!!

I think I can hear Christa laughing because as she well knows SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE!!!

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in Hope...that is not the hard part for me.  Rejoicing in anything, but suffering, is easy....

Be Patient in Suffering.  OK, so this is where it gets tough for me.  How much suffering?  And how about a little more patience and a little less suffering???  I didn't think so.  And I started the verse with so much Hope.

Persevere in Prayer.  I am trying....

Romans 12:12 is one of those verses that finds me in different places.  If I randomly pick up a Bible it usually opens to Romans and it is usually very near, if not exactly at Romans 12:12. 
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.

What is your GO TO verse?  What verse speaks to you, or follows you?  What is God saying to you.  Please share...