Christmas

One of my favorites from Christmas

Temple Weddings

I took a few pictures at the temple for my friends Jessie and Josh who were married December 18.  These are my favorites:

Congratulations Jessie & Josh!

Opportunity

There are 10 cake mixes, 30 eggs, 3 cups of oil, 4 cups of water, 2 pounds of raspberry filling and 18 cups of buttercream frosting in that wedding cake. And about two full dowel rods.

How do I know?

I made it.  

I am that crazy.

(Special thanks to Ryan for being a capable pastry assistant and for constructing the base.)

Congratulations Jessie & Josh!

Photography Assitant

To earn some money for her ballet recital costume, I "hired" Rachael as my photography assistant and we are taking family pictures of some friends. We arrived a little early at the park to check the lighting conditions (good) and the fall color (pretty much over). I took this of Rachael skipping down the bridge:

This was my favorite family picture.  There are a couple where the youngest one looks more cheerful, but I loved the color in the background in this one.

And sometimes, you are just in the right place at the right time for the right picture of a stubborn four-year-old:

Love it!

Still crazy after all these years...

Some pictures I did for my friends the Christensens. The second is my favorite!

Colorado Trip

A few favorites from our trip out West...

 Gateway Arch in St Louis, MO

Fall color at the AFA

The Denver Colorado Temple

Rachael making a snow angel at the top of Pike's Peak

My nephew (#79) playing football.
(He broke his arm the previous week, hence the huge cast).

Ryan and I were his paparazzi section.

Twirling

Took some pictures of a sweet friend's daughter.  Lots of cute close-ups, but this was my favorite spontaneous moment.

Fun with Photoshop

Original photo - a Peace Rose in my yard

Watercolor effect

Underpainting effect

Kelley Farm

A couple of pictures from our visit to Kelley Farm.

Smoky Mountains

Battle of Richmond

Kindergarten Pictures

Trying my hand at a few Kindergarten pictures...
This first one is my favorite:

This one is a close second:

And this one just gets her whole sassy personality:

Love my kindergartener!

Grandma

While we were in Utah, I tried to get a nice picture of Rachael with each of her grandparents.  Somehow I forgot to take one with Grandma... so we snapped a good one while they were here for a visit.

Rachael has the four best grandparents in the world!

The Heart Mender

I received a free copy in the mail of 'The Heart Mender' by Andy Andrews; for which I was asked to publish a review on my blog.  I actually finished reading the book a couple of weeks ago, but as usual I have been busy.

Overall I enjoyed this book.  From the artifacts recovered in the backyard to the improbable romance of a war widow and a German submariner, the story is compelling and the characters are well defined.  Although the outcome is predictable, the story takes several twists and turns that make truth stranger than fiction. The romance was lovely.  I learned that U-boats spent quite a bit of time in the Gulf of Mexico - something I did not know much about before I read this book.

Although I like the illustration of the principle of forgiveness, I felt the book was a little preachy on the topic.  I would have enjoyed it more had the author not tried quite so hard to hit me over the head with it. 

Let me know if you would like to borrow the book!

Swimming Girl

New Book!

A couple of days ago I received the following email: 

Hi Kristin,

 

I love the quote from The Noticer in your blog bio! (http://todayiamthankfulfor.blogspot.com/) Thank you for mentioning The Noticer on your blog! I work with Thomas Nelson, and we would love to follow your blog and hear what your readers think of this book. I also want to let you know that Andy Andrews’s latest release The Heart Mender is now available (*revised and updated version of Island of Saints).

 

Please contact me with your mailing address if you are interested in receiving a complimentary copy of The Heart Mender for review on your site at your convenience.

 

Thanks!

 

Jodi Hughes
Marketing Coordinator
Non-Fiction Trade Marketing

Of course I responded that I would like a copy of the book - who wouldn't want a free book to read? And by an author whom you have already read something?  So awesome.

Today it arrived at the front porch - via UPS no less - and I am excited to read and review it.

Drop me a comment if you would like to borrow the book when I'm finished.

Grandparents

Took the xTi to Utah to get some pictures.

I love this one with Rachael and her grandpa. Fantastic.

Best one with Grandma & Grandpa.

(Kicking myself that we didn't get a good one with just Grandma.  It's on the list for the next time we see them!)

Another favorite with the other Grandpa. This is easily one of the best pictures I have ever taken. Look how happy they are!

Always cute pictures with Nana!

Great grandparents are awesome!

(Now we need one with Great Gram Wells).

On our recent trip to Utah, we got to drive by the Idaho Falls Temple, the Logan Temple, and the Salt Lake City Temple.  (No pictures of SLC.  I was driving at the time.)

Nightime Visitor

Ryan was sitting at the kitchen table before he went to bed and noticed what he thought was a hummingbird outside.  Turns out it was a butterfly (or very large moth) - beautiful!  It's about five inches across and six inches long.

Strawberries

Fresh from the garden!

Rainbows

I have been trying to use my Canon xTi for pictures for this blog this year, but when we saw this double rainbow all I had was my phone.  By the time we got home, the rainbow was gone.  Thank goodness for the camera on the phone.

Anticipation

Derby Cookies

I completely forgot I had pictures of these tasty sugar cookies we made for the Derby two weeks ago.  (I really should pull the pictures off my DSLR more often).

They were fun to make!  The ones where we frosted the entire top look a lot more like a hat, but it was so much easier to frost each piece separately and then combine them that a lot of the cookies got finished that way.  (Had I been having a party, I might have made more effort.)

Still want to find a way to make ribbons... maybe next year.

Corvette Museum

I'm not much of an architectural photographer, but the Corvette Museum has this neat red steeple that can be seen from outside the museum for miles. This was a chance to show the inside and outside.

Outside, from the parking lot

Inside (this is a merge of two pictures)

Through the celing