a few shots from this morning

I'm still experimenting, this time i used an external flash set at 0 and tried a high iso, however, several of the images had alot of noise so I would not call this morning's experiment a success because I only kept a few shots. Anyway, here are the few keepers.






These will be featured in my Wall Art album under online ordering.

On the bright side, I found my house yesterday! It was buried under a few layers of wrapping paper and dishes but amazingly unharmed. Now I just need to survive thru Logan's paintball slumber party today, tonight, and tomorrow and we should be good till New Years. Four 13 year old boys w/paintball guns for the next 36 hours...pray hard.

Christmas is over...

Crazy how you run around and spend an entire month trying to get everything baked, bought, wrapped, & taken to the right party, and then BAM, it's over. That's an awful lot of preparation for one day...or for most of us 2-3 days by the time you hit the in-laws, the outlaws, and your own family party.

Christmas day we woke up to several inches of snow and opted to not try to drive our rear wheel drive van thru it and instead listened to church online and then all went sledding. Our oldest built a ramp out of a picnic table and they all took turns trying to break their necks...I may have tried just once. In the afternoon, my brother in law came and plowed our drive so off to grandma's house we went for the Sauder Christmas. Then later that night it was back home to make snow ice cream. It was a really nice Christmas!

Yesterday, after church, we turned down yet another dinner invite, we grabbed a few groceries and some very important paintball accessories and then came home and did nothing for a few hours...and it felt great. I think we are partied out....of course that doesn't stop the party from wandering over to our house anyway. A few nieces and my sister showed up to use the hot tub then play some card games and the kinect. That's the big gift this year and it's quite the work out. This game gets you up and moving! I only played a few games on it and I am SORE!!! I'm excited to play for 1/2 hour everyday and get my heart rate up...not that my morning walk w/my 78 year old mom wasn't doing it for me:)

Today I've got a few orders to mail out, and then I've got to start digging thru the wrapping paper and boxes to find my house...it's here somewhere.

Here's where I would normally post all the cute pics of the gift opening, sledding, etc. IF I had taken them....

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas!


May you be blessed in the coming year!

What I did instead of clean my house:

I had to drive Logan to a friend's house Saturday morning and saw that the hoar frost was covering the plants along the sides of the road. I was planning on coming home and getting some cleaning done but I've always wondered what hoar frost looks like close up. So instead I had to grab the macro and try to get a few shots. I'm learning a little more everyday about macro work. It is NOT easy to get these shots. A big part of getting them is timing, and the ability to hold super still while hunching over the plant and trying to block the wind so the plant doesn't move and for ME not be shaking w/cold all at the same time. I won't even get into the technical aspects of it! Too bad it's gotta be so cold for all this beautiful frost to exist!








Every time I post macro work I have at least one person ask about being able to get prints of them so I've created an album on my website. If are interested in ordering prints go to "online ordering" then you can go to "wall art".

My very own room:):)

I officially have my very own room/office.......AND IT'S SO SWEET!

When we were designing our house, my husband claimed a corner of the basement and put some walls up and somehow got his own room....and I didn't. And for 16 years I admit it...I was a little jealous that he had a place to go and just hang out.

For the past few years I've had my home office & equipment crammed in a corner of our bedroom and then down in the basement along w/my oldest son's things he didn't want to take w/him when he moved up to the loft above our garage. For this last year I've had a buck's head above my desk, along w/a stop sign, & a giant "S". Oh, did I mention all of the walls were painted like a Cabela's fish tank...I was surrounded by bass, catfish, even a giant sturgeon. So we finally convinced Caleb to move to the basement bedroom....that led to lots of painting, sorting, etc....I know I've already blogged about all the chaos.

I decided though that my room was not only going to be a functional office space but also a place to get away from the normal everyday chaos of 5 kids...yeah okay I'll just go ahead and say it, an ESCAPE.

It's on the main floor of the house so it's super convenient and also can double as a guest room w/the nifty click clack couch that doubles as a bed or lounger. I've also got my very own tv. For those of you reading this that are here on a weekly basis....just to clarify...you are NOT GUESTS... & I mean that in the nicest possible way:)

Anyway, here are some pics....





I thought I'd have to rip the carpet up but after scrubbing it w/bleach (it's a special kind of carpet so don't try that at home) it actually isn't too bad...considering it was home to a teenage boy's dirty clothes, chips & dip, pizza w/garlic butter, hotdogs w/lots of ketchup, & many many soda spills for the past several years.

I should have taken a before pic but I'm learning that when it comes to my kid's rooms, the best thing for my sanity is just to keep the doors closed....besides, I would rather not remember what it looked like!

It's always nice to get positive feedback:)

Below is a nice email I received from one of my clients:

Hi Rachel,


Just wanted to drop you an email to let you know how BEAUTIFUL the pictures turned out - we got them yesterday, just as expected. We have been spreading the word about you like crazy because everyone is nutty over how great the pictures are. Doing business with you was great and we can't wait to come get Preslee's 1 year pictures taken! Thank you again for everything.
Merry Christmas!
Ali and Robert

I think these guys drove an hour and a half one way to come get their beautiful little girl's pics taken.

Because everything is done online now I always miss out on my clients initial reactions when they first see their proofs so it's always nice to get a note from them letting me know that they love them!

Thanks for the note Ali, I really appreciated it...you guys are awesome and Preslee's a doll!

My sister-in-law always puts together a calendar for her mom's christmas gift and it's filled w/pics of the grandkids. This year when she asked me to send pics to her I thought it'd be cool to make a collage of pics of each kid from stuff they did this past year and frame them....pretty soon I think I may run out of walls around here:)

So anyway...here are my cute kids...
the lukemonster:

Lo was all about the fish this year...

Jess turned 16, she's girly but can still play some football w/the boys

Caleb is graduating early, I think he only has a week left in high school...

David is still big into music, the other day I think I saw an oboe in his car, don't know where THAT came from..

So anyway that's our kids and what they've been up to this past year, I know you were all wondering:)

first snow

Had to throw on the macro lens and take a few pics of God's handi-work today...





I'm planning on framing a few of these to put in my new office, along w/some of the frost pics....as soon as I get things put together I'll take a few pics of my office because I know everyone's dying to see it:)

Just finishing up editing last thursday night's sessions and have a couple more evening sessions next week and then I think I'm done as far as Christmas goes. Of course there are last minute orders that will still need to be filled and that will probably keep me busy all the way up till the kids are on break.

And then the real fun starts....all of them home w/me...for like 2 weeks:)

painting, sorting, shooting, painting, & baby JESUS

But first, a few of the sessions from the past week or two....












I know, I'm way behind in blogging these, however, the albums were up right on time so we're good.

I had a bright idea last week...in the middle of my busiest season...I should switch rooms w/my son "Caleb" so my office could be on the main floor, thus being way more convenient when it comes to grabbing another cf card or battery.

Of course this involved lots of painting, sorting, w/a few sittings in the middle, the hauling of beds, an extremely heavy solid walnut desk, and of course lots of computer and camera equipment. Yep all that right in the middle of the Thanksgiving break. I don't know why I do that to myself but once it's all over I'm always glad I just went for it.

I now have a beautiful blue office w/shelves in which to store my rigid mailers, extra lenses, batteries, etc. And it's also great to be able to be editing, cooking dinner, & online christmas shopping all at the same time (I just don't feel like I'm getting enough done unless I can do at least 3 things at once).

I still have a few things to get for my office and have enough paint left over that I've decided to go ahead this week and paint the bathroom next to my office and our upstairs stairwell walls so I'm thinking the chaos will continue thru this week but then by the weekend things can calm down.

I have a few more sessions on Thursday night at the studio and then Friday Jessica suggested we plan on putting up the manger scene. Putting up our manger scene when I was little was one of the best memories I have. I remember being so excited to run up into our freezing cold attic and carry all the pieces down, and just hoping that I'd get to be the one to carry down baby Jesus! When Jessica asked if we could put ours up on Friday it made me smile just to know that she's excited about it...even at 16, it's special to her too. And while we are talking about baby Jesus the other miracle is that I think we are all free that night, at least from 6-8, then Caleb goes off to work but for those 2 hours we'll all be here together, to sing praises to our Savior, the one who gave his life for us. There is no better way to start off the season!

kitten update & first shotgun season over

I know you're all dying to know which kittens are still available. These are the kittens that still need a home, if you know anyone looking for a cute free pet please have them call me.

The first one is a male


This one is a female


This one also is a female


this one is a male


Now as far as shotgun season goes....I'm happy that it does exactly that...goes. I know the guys just have a blast but it's not that much fun for the one that is home cleaning up the messes and dealing w/guns and ammo all over.
Anyway David was happy w/his weekend.

Kittens

So I promised a few people that as soon as our kittens were almost ready to go I'd post a few pics. These guys aren't really old enough to leave their momma yet but should be by Thanksgiving weekend.

This first one is a boy, he has 4 little white mittens and a white spot on his chest.


This is a girl, she actually had a little accident and used up 1 of her 9 lives...we weren't sure if she was going to make it, but w/a little tlc she's doing really well. She also has mittens and a interesting white mark on her nose.

This next one is also a girl and she has her mittens on too. I guess they're dressed for winter:)

This is a all grey tabby kitten w/no white markings, she is also a girl.

This kitten resembles his mom the most with his markings, except she's black instead of tabby. This is a boy.

And this little peanut is the runt. She is a girl and was born tiny and has stayed that way. We actually started giving her kitten replacement milk to help her grow and believe it or not, she has! She's very fiesty and has a huge appetite! When we call them, she's the first to come running.


Just to show you the difference in size....crazy!


Anyway, that's the litter so if you are interested in giving one of these cuties a home give me a call or let me know which one under "comments". I will be updating in the comments which kittens are spoken for.