Making homemade pasta is one of my favorite things to teach people.
Nothing beats homegrown tomatoes, except the recipes you make with them.
Keeping with the Italian theme, we had to make some meatballs to go with the pasta.
And who doesn't love some chocolate cookies for dessert! (Please don't judge my imitation vanilla, I must have been low on food budget money at the time. I prefer pure vanilla extract!) The reason I chose these cookies to make was because I wanted to teach the girls simple recipes that would be easy to follow and create some food that is quite tasty. These are cake mix cookies and can be whipped up in no time when you have a craving for chocolate and only take the ingredients that you see in that bowl! (and any additional mix-ins you want to add--we went for reese's pieces)
We then had the rest of the women's group over to sample all of our hard work and all mouths were happy! The girls were so proud of what they made and were so excited to share the information that they learned.
I had the honor of being the photographer for two beautiful women as they took their first vows of profession for the Franciscan Sisters of the Third Order Regular.
Yes, to having all of your needs taken care of. They have a roof over their head, clothes on their back and food on their plate. They may not have a savings account full of cash, but they have everything they need to be sustained and do not concern themselves with the prestige of gaining material things. They live a simple life as to be able to devote their time towards what God is calling them to.
And a nice one of Grandma with her son and grandson!
Then taking one of the three of them...was amusing! Jacob would get all excited to hold them both and give them a big bear hug, and then drops them like hotcakes after about 3 seconds....he pushes them away and backs outta there! So, as you can see Grant and Luke were not too thrilled after about 4 attempts! They were catching on to his tactics! We all had a good laugh and so will they some day!
Brian and I went to the funeral for little Logan this past weekend and I cried with them feeling just a sliver of their pain. I couldn't wait to get home and hold my boys...and I cried more knowing that Jennifer will longingly wait to hold her son in Heaven.
So, Erin and Jennifer I count you as blessings...it was your sons and my daughter that brought us together...and as we know we would do anything to bring those children back to our arms on this earth, we rejoice in the hope that God gives us that we will see and hold them again and thank God for bringing good out of all situations. It brings me joy to think that they are all playing together in heaven as Chase, Landon and Jacob play together here.
Last week I finished reading a book called “Fast Track Photographer” by Dane Sanders, and the ironic thing is that it took me 2 years to finish the book! I wouldn’t say I am a slow reader, just life happened…. We had a baby, I left my job, we moved to Indiana, we lived with friends for 10 months, we bought a house, we had another baby and here we are 2 years later!
The book was great and I highly recommend it to aspiring photographers. One of the things I liked about it was it gave some great questions to help think about what kind of business you want to have and what kind of clients you want to serve.
Here is an opportunity for you to get to know a little more about me. These are some of the questions I used for brainstorming.
These Things best gels with my personality:
I desire to market myself to the average person. I believe that everyone deserves to have professional quality images of their wedding that capture the essence of the day so that the story of the day is retold just by looking at the images, so they can tell that story over and over again for generations to come, even after they are gone. I believe that wedding photography should be affordable, and understood as an investment in more than just the wedding day. A wedding dress is worn once, the food is eaten while it is hot, flowers are the most beautiful when they are fresh….your photographs will allow you to re-live all the details your day for years to come, especially the emotions.
There is also no question that I have the ability to multi-task and would rather do that most moments of my life. Life is too short sometimes to just do one thing at a time! Perfect example…my old housemates used to tease me, because I could never just sit down and watch TV, I always had to be doing something while I was catching up on the latest sitcoms. Scrapbooking, editing photos, writing thank you notes, framing pictures, folding laundry….the tasks go on and on. Even as I set and write this, I am drinking tea, eating a light snack, and well I decided to finally turn off the TV because it was distracting my thinking. I will admit, after playing with 2 small children all day, while cooking dinner, cleaning up toys, editing photos, and doing laundry, now when I sit down to watch TV at night after the kids are in bed…I often just watch TV.
The other day I was chatting with a children’s portrait photographer and I told
her that I was a primarily a wedding photographer and she got this crazy look on her face. She said life was too short for her to ever consider doing wedding photography. I on the other hand, love them! And I realized how my passion and my multi-tasking really comes in handy for shooting weddings. You have to be passionate about weddings in order to give up your Saturdays to take part in someone else’s wedding day. You have to be passionate to enjoy experiencing all of those special moments over and over again with a new couple and a new family every time. You have to be able to multi-task as the non-stop schedule of the day keeps you on your toes! Taking pictures of the flowers while making sure you are listening to the conversation of the bride saying she is ready to put her dress on and watching the clock to make sure she is at the end of the aisle when needed to meet her groom at the top. I thrive off these kind of fast-paced days! Good thing I am a mom of two little ones!
