Resolutions

I normally don't do resolutions at the New Year... they're made to be broken, yada yada yada... like my cookbook resolution (the last one I made... and broke).

For whatever reason I've decided on a few resolutions (goals) for this upcoming year...

1. I'd like to waste less food.  When I was doing my cookbook resolution, I was doing an AWESOME job with meal planning - it was flexible, well thought out, and utilized the small kitchen space we had in our old house.  When we discovered Avery's food allergies, the meal plan went out the window, and so did my resolution.  Now, almost three years later I'm just barely getting back to a meal plan (it's really spotty) - but I feel like if I can plan it out better, I won't find food spoiling before I get to it.  I just feel so wasteful when I throw out perfectly good food.

2.  Blog more - I'm sure my family agrees...  If you look at the 'blog archive' on the right side of the page, you can see how my blogging has dwindled...

3.  Read more - I have always loved reading, but as any parent knows, it's not always easy to find QUIET time to read other than the books I read to the kids - I need to make a conscious effort to read for myself!

4.  I want to spend more time working on my OWN pictures.  I feel like such a picture hoard.  Friends and family think it's great that I take so many pictures, but they NEVER see any of them because they get lost in the abyss that is my time warp... and I always feel like my pictures have to be edited and 'perfect' before I show them to anyone.  So, I either need to suck it up and not worry about them being 'perfect' when I send them out, or I need to do a better job of allocating time to edit them.  (I chose the latter)

Here is an example:  I took this picture of Evan in February 2012...  I hadn't even looked at it until last week...

5.  Print my stinkin' pictures and put them in any kind of album... I was so good at that before the girls were born... and then they were born.  Avery and I were looking through Evan's photo album from his 1st year and she kept asking which picture was of her... when my answer continued to be that's not you, that's Evan, she started to cry.  Then I started to cry.  I need to print some stinkin' pictures of the girls and put them in any kind of album.  (see #4, these work hand-in-hand)

still alive... still no 10on2sday

So... I could probably make this into a 10on2sday post, but I'm a bit tired and don't feel like it.  But I do want to share some of my favorite pictures from the last few days... I have a bajillion (yes, that is now a word...) to go through so maybe I'll get around to posting more... (hopefully)  I wouldn't hold your breath, though, since I still have Hawaii pictures I haven't touched...

But, really - we had such a great time this past weekend... as my Aunt put it... the kind that fills your heart and keeps it full for quite some time!

Hey!  (for the Arizona crew...)

Mom, I have to admit I'm glad we got the kids in this picture...

VEGAS, baby!

Dan and I took a little weekend trip to Vegas, and here is a little peek into how we spent our time...

See... Vegas... except it looks TOTALLY boring during the day time (and from way up high):

waaaay more fun-looking...


mmm... Mimosa...

We ate at a place called Hash House a Go-Go...  the tagline to their restaurant is "where you go to over-eat" (or something similar to that)... the portion sizes are seriously ridiculous, but OH sooo good... just don't plan to finish your meal or you might go into cardiac arrest...

This was Dan's... mine looked far less 'pretty'

When we first drove to the strip it was so weird to see everything look so small, yet it was so ginormous.

There were plenty of interesting characters walking the streets... at all times of the day...

Case-in-point...

who let this guy in here????  ;)

As an after-thought, Dan was a little concerned about what else might have been placed in that hand at one time...

The strangest part of this trip was just how many small children were there.  I never would have imagined Vegas as a family vacation destination.  Not only did we see lots of small kids, but they were out late at night on the strip...

Now... when we left this show, we both commented that Evan would have loved to see it...

There were so many pretty things if you looked up...

This was my attempt at getting a nice shot of the Bellagio fountain... which I have to say, is a pretty amazing sight to see and hear... 

I had a chance to get a little girl time in...

I still haven't written my matron of honor speech... eeeek!!!

And spend some time with my favorite man...

(funny story about this picture... we took it standing in front of the mirror in our hotel room, and the first shot we took, we were looking at ourselves, not the camera.  Duh.  Ok, so that doesn't sound as funny after I just took the time to write it out, but oh well...)

lazy on a 2sday

I'm not sure why, but I tend to feel guilty if a Tuesday comes and goes without posting a 10 on 2sday...  but here it is, 9:30pm and I don't really have the patience energy gumption to work my list and all the pictures...

So instead of a long list, and a bunch of pictures... just one...

The Birthday Flowers...

I finally 'bit the bullet' and bought a seamless backdrop to play around with, partly for the girls' 2-year pictures (that I attempted already, but failed miserably at... so try, try again!)

Anyway, I found a subject that would hold still for me...



Thanks Mom & Dad, I love them!  They are perfectly bright & cheery for the drab, cold days of January!

Epiphany

Since the girls' birthday is coming up, and it will be here before I know it, I've started writing their "letters" so I don't get to the day and start scrambling and writing in a hurry (which I do far too often,... hello, 10on2sday posts...)

Anyway, as I was writing notes on all the little things that make my girls who they are, I had an epiphany.

This is why I stay at home.

When we lived in St. Louis and I worked full time, Evan spent the majority of his waking hours in the care of someone else.  I had the commute to work, so Dan did the majority of the dropping off and picking up from daycare.

One of the few times I was at the daycare, one of the gals who watched him during the day asked me a question about his routine. 

And I was silent.

I had no idea.  I don't even remember how I responded to her, but I remember full well the thought that was going through my mind... You know his routine better than I do.

In fact, we just followed the same routine that the daycare did.  Naps, feeding, whatever. 

I cried inside.

And I wanted to be home with my child. 

It wasn't feasible at the time, but it never left me. 

As a college student dreaming of having a career, it never once occurred to me that I would want to be a stay-at-home-mom.  I always knew I'd have kids, but it was never even a thought in my mind how I would take care of them, or who would take care of them.

So the desire to stay at home, even though I enjoyed my job, my career, was a very strange feeling. 

And then we found out we were having twins.

Dan and I are both pretty logical people (hello, logistics majors) so we did the math.  Daycare is expensive.

And God knew the desires of my heart.

So, to the point of my epiphany.

Sometimes I take this time with my children for granted.

I have lots of days that I think about going back to work, and it's really strange how the tables have turned.  Although, I will admit, it's usually the days where my children all need something at the exact same time and they express their desires rather LOUDLY, and often... and most likely when I'm in the bathroom.

And I needed the reminder of why I wanted to stay at home in the first place. 

I don't ever want someone else to know more about my children than I do.

And this is a decision for our family that I will never, ever, regret.



[I hope this does not come across as a guilt trip for working Mom's, believe me! I've been there and done that and felt the guilt, and I have the utmost regard and respect for women who do.  I often times wonder if I would have stayed home had we not had twins... and I really couldn't say.]

10 on 2sday

1.  Nap times are going a little smoother these days... a lot of times I only make one (and even none) trips into the girls' room to get them to quiet down... although...

2.  Brynn still goes to sleep behind the door.  And it really bothers me.  I think there have only been 2 times she hasn't fallen asleep behind the door - once she actually stayed in her bed (or Dan moved her and I didn't realize it), and the other time she slept in Avery's bed.  I don't know what to do about it.  I'm not sure if she doesn't like her bed?  Or is scared of her bed?  Anyone out in cyber-land ever dealt with something like this?

3.  I've realized that I have not linked to my photography 'sneak peek' blog in a while, and I have done a few photo shoots in the cold months... so here you go, a link... :)

4.  I spent about 2 weeks going through all my pictures from 2010 (personal ones, not my business ones) and deleted THOUSANDS of HORRIBLE pictures.  But the neatest thing was seeing the improvement over the past year.  I took lots and lots and lots of really bad pictures... but as the year progressed, I was deleting far fewer of the blurry, out of focus, and poorly exposed pictures that I started the year taking.  I still have a LOOOONG way to go, and a LOT to learn, but it's been a pretty darn fun process!  (Disclaimer: I have a really hard time deleting pictures... crappy, or not... but I managed to delete about 6GB worth of true crap, and probably could have deleted another 6... it was hard.)

5.  A random developmental tid-bit... I just noticed yesterday that Brynn's 1st 2-year molar broke through... as much as she has been trying to eat things that aren't edible lately... it wasn't a surprise.

6.  Speaking of 2-year... it's coming up... the girls'. 2nd. birthday.  (I just let out a big sigh)  This is the exact age that Evan was when I felt ready for another child.  (I just let out a little chuckle... a child)  There is no more baby left at 2 years old.  When we moved the changing table out of Avery & Brynn's room, I was really sad.  A changing table is very "baby," and I wasn't ready to let it go yet, but I had no choice.  Now that Avery & Brynn are so close to 2... I'm excited for our family to grow...

7.  ...not in numbers... but as little people...  Evan and Brynn and Avery are such great little people, and I'm feeling pretty lucky that I get to have them as part of my family.

8.  Speaking of little people... as much as I love them, it's sometimes nice to go places without them!  And we lucked out and had Grandpa & Grandma K watch all the grandkids on New Year's Eve so we could go out and have fun!!  For the first time in many years, I actually stayed awake all the way up to and through midnight!  (I usually fall asleep on the couch and Dan wakes me up at midnight to say Happy New Year's, and then I go to bed... exciting, isn't it?



 9.  My parents moved away from Omaha last weekend.  Farther away.  From me.  It's the right move for them, but I'm bummed that I won't be making trips to Omaha anymore.  (well, hopefully not never, but certainly a lot less)

10.  Speaking of missing people... I miss my running partner... it's been too cold/windy/snowy/icy/you-name-it to run outside.  And it's been at least 2 months since we've ran together.  So I guess what I'm saying is it can warm up ANY TIME NOW and that would be alright by me!


PS ~ Sorry, Mom, for the lack of grandkid pictures... I know you are probably disappointed to only see me and Dan... I'll get right on it...  :)

Sluggish...

I've definitely been a little slow to blog these days... I had a reflections and resolutions post like last year started... didn't finish.  I had a 10on2sday post started... didn't finish.  I've been having a hard time focusing these days, so it's no surprise (to me) that I haven't been posting much.

Anyway, I thought maybe to end the week I'd at least share a couple of my favorite pics from the week ~ and one from Christmas...





I have no idea how she knows to make a boy and a girl doll kiss... but it's only these two...



We made a quick visit to Ames this week to meet up with my parents and some great friends, and one of the favorite "toys" by far were these beads... girls and jewelry, I tell ya...

I had a moment

A few years ago when Evan was a baby, there was a weekend that we were with my Aunt & Uncle.  As we were saying our goodbyes, my Uncle Gary turned to me and Dan and asked if he could pray for us in any way.  Dan's response was yes, please pray for patience.

My Uncle told us that he normally doesn't pray for that type of thing, but ok, and he prayed with us.

Fast forward over 4 years later and God has answered that prayer in many ways, and many times over... in fact, I can count three very distinct ways right off the top of my head...

...but not even close to the way I thought he would.

You see, God doesn't give you patience, he gives you opportunities to learn patience.

Fast forward a little more, to this morning.

I had a dentist appointment this morning ~ the dreadful kind, that left me with a sore mouth that I could barely speak out of.

I was sitting with the girls on the kitchen floor, and I had a moment...

One of those moments where I was overcome with gratefulness for what I have in my life, I had kissed both girls on the head (one of my favorite things to do), and I could barely feel it on my lips.  And I was grateful.  Grateful for the times that I can feel it.


Because so often, when something is gone, that's when we realize how thankful we are.

And I said a little prayer.

I've had so many opportunities lately to learn patience, my prayer revolved around asking God just to GIVE me patience, I was tired of trying learn it.

And I had another one of those moments where I felt this wave of hopefullness that God was actually going to give me some of the patience I so desperately need right now.

So leaned over to give Brynn another kiss...



...and she spit her apple juice in my face.




I guess I got my answer...

Understanding Loss

This morning I prepared to send a card out to my cousin with the following verse:

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  
Psalm 73:26

After writing today's date down I had to do a double take.

Has it really been 5 years?

I remember vividly how emotional this time was for me 5 years ago.  I had just started a new job in a new town, found out I was pregnant shortly thereafter, my brother was preparing to be deployed to Iraq, and my Grandfather's health was failing rapidly. 

And 5 years ago today I experienced my first loss of a close family member.

I remember feeling fortunate that it took 25 years before I ever had to experience a loss like that, but also having no idea how to process those emotions because it was a situation I had no experience with.  And goodness, I was already emotional as it was.

So I dug around this morning and found the flier from my Grandpa's Memorial Service and I want to share a part of it that is sticking with me this morning:

The Lord has blessed us with so many good things in our lives that we might think He has abandoned us when sorrow comes along.  In our sorrow we may not feel His Presence but that doesn't change His promises to be with us... and we may not understand, but He doesn't ask us to.  All He asks is that we trust Him. 

The hardest part of my faith has been not understanding why certain things happen ~ why "God allows it."  Losing someone is SO hard for the human brain to comprehend, especially when it doesn't seem like 'their time.'  And as difficult as it will always be for us to understand, God gave us his words to provide comfort, as long as we trust in him.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  
Psalm 73:26

He was an amazing man, is thought of often, and will always be loved and missed...

10 on 2sday

1.  My ears are still ringing

2.  I often times type my name as: Loir, thankfully spell check shows a red squiggly line for me... strange fact I'm sure you wanted to know...

3.  Brynn does not like spaghetti.  It shouldn't surprise me ~ I didn't like spaghetti when I was little either.  Actually, I have a funny spaghetti story... maybe I'll share it some time!

4.  What does surprise me is how sassy a 4-year-old can be.  I had no idea.  Seriously, no idea.

5.  Avery tinkled in the toilet tonight.  Kind of random, although we have put the girls on the potty before, just to see what they would do.  Brynn freaks out, Avery did a little at first, but has been ok with it lately.  But she had never actually peed while up there.  Now she has... and of course, I took a picture of the momentous occasion! (I sure hope she forgives me for this picture...)

 6.  I'm not ready to actually potty train Avery.  If I learned nothing else from my experience with potty training Evan, it was that if I'm not ready... ain't nobody ready...  although, it won't keep us from putting them on the potty.

7.  I scoped out a location over the weekend for an upcoming family photo shoot... doesn't this look fun!?!? 

8.  Avery has been practicing putting clothes on...

9.  When Avery says Brynn's name, it sounds like bin, bun or ben.  And it's adorable.

10.  When Brynn says Avery's name, it sounds like A-E.  It's also adorable.

My thought today...

Our ideas and opinions are limited by our experiences and perspective.

Probably why God instructed us not to judge others.

Prime example:
Before I had children of my own I used to "judge" parents who put those backpack leashes on their children, thinking to myself... "geez, why don't you just watch your kid?" 

Um.

I get it now.

In fact, I just may be in the market for a couple of 'em.

Perspective.

Adventures with Yoshi

Earlier this week, while the kids were down for nap/quiet time, me and Yoshi had a little adventure.

It started with me getting a little annoyed by all the barking I was hearing outside.

It wasn't a normal kind of bark.

So I went to check it out.

And here is what I saw:

So, obviously I had to go run for the camera and hope the frog would still be there when I got back.

Definitely still there.

Poor Yoshi, she just didn't know what to do with this thing.

But she was NOT happy that it invaded her space.

So of course, I got in a little closer...

Until.



This.



Happened...

Beyond Blessed

I went to bed last night with a smile beaming on my face.  I was overflowing with such joy, I was afraid I might not be able to fall asleep.

And the truth is, my day was chaotic, sometimes stressful, and I was frazzled by late afternoon.  The kids were crabby, Brynn didn't nap well ~ which always throws a wrench in my day...

But I was still overjoyed by life.

My cousin, Lynn, posted this as her facebook status yesterday:

"God, I don't understand You at all somtimes.  But I keep coming back to the knowledge that You are trustworthy.  I lift this day up to you."

I can't even describe how true that rings for me.

(one of) my posts on facebook yesterday was:

"I don't believe in coincidences... I believe in God Winks..."

Also ringing true.

I have been so blessed, and so fortunate to have amazing people in my life.

It just seems like everything that has happened in the past 6-ish months has been an incredible God Wink ~ a way of God giving me a little nudge reminding me that he is guiding me along the way.  Even the not-so-good.  God has been there.  For example; my Dad has been in the hospital for the past week (just busted out yesterday).  It was an awful feeling knowing that's where he was, and I couldn't be there to support him.  But he was in the right place at the right time to get the answers he needed - and I am thankful.

Perhaps the next big thing to share is that I officially crossed over ~ not in a weird way.  I received my first print order from one of my senior photo sessions the other day and it just hit me.  Bam.  I'm really doing this - I'm really going into business.  And the questions started... am I ready? can I do this? what if I fail? what if I fail?

Bottom line for me is this, (trying not to get too deep, here) I really don't like to fail.  There.  I said it out loud.  But I read a quote recently that I can't remember who wrote, and I'm going to put it back into my own words because I can't remember it exactly...

Success is going from failure to failure without losing your passion.

{Updated:  "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm" ~ Winston Churchill}  (I was pretty close!!)


So true.

And really, I don't even know how I would define failure at this point, anyway.  All I know is that I am trusting God, that he is nudging me in the right direction, and regardless of what failure might mean... I'm going for it!

And I will leave you with this; a picture I took on Sunday driving home ~ I was seeing too much beauty on my drive home, and I just had to pull over and snap some pictures.  I was going to enter it into an amateur contest in our area, but I don't think I qualify anymore, and I think I'll take the trade off...

My garden update

I really had high hopes for a nice "garden."

Well, maybe not that high since I started small, and in POTS:

I was so excited to share an update when my "garden" looked like this:

That was around the end of July, and I just never got around to posting the pictures...

Then THIS happened:

That was maybe a week ago or so.  All the rain, nasty heat, and bugs took a major toll on my "garden." 


And it went from this:

to this:

It was almost painful to upload and post these pictures.  I was just so proud of myself when everything was lush and green and growing... pride... just gets in the way...

Either that or maybe I'm just not a gardener...

But I DID get two peppers and 5 tomatoes before the plants took a turn for the worst, and I'm still holding out a little hope that the tomatoes still on the plants will do ok - but the pepper plant is gone.

Better luck next year maybe?

10 on 2sday

So, I'm liking this list of 10 thing, so I think I'll keep it going with all that's going on here...


1.  Evan has graduated from nap time to "quiet time" over the past few weeks...  It's been an interesting transition - he does well with it as far as staying in his room while the girls nap, but there have been a few days I'm not sure he should go without a nap...  he gets a little cranky ~ that and the fact he gets a little bored with me, we've had a rough past few weeks.  I decided to try something new this week - in the mornings I have been asking him what he wants to do instead of me trying to come up with an activity and him not liking it (I know, it sounds so common sense) - but at least with his input the activities have been a bit more enjoyable!

2.  You probably noticed I placed an ad on my blog.  I must admit it feels a little weird.  But hopefully it's not distracting... Basically the story is like this; about a year ago I put my name on a waiting list with BlogHer, not really knowing if anything would ever come of it.  A couple weeks ago I got an email asking if I was still interested in placing an ad on my blog.  So I hemmed, and I hawed (I do that well), and decided to go for it (thanks for your input, by the way)!  They give you a lot of freedom to decide what you do and don't want to allow on your blog, which I really appreciate!

3.  We hosted 2 RAGBRAI teams last weekend...  another thing I hemmed and hawed at... I wasn't sure if I felt comfortable having people we didn't know coming in and out of our house with the kids around - but I've got to say, we had the best two groups imaginable!  They were great with the kids, totally respectful, and quite fun to be around!  I made dinner if anyone wanted to stick around, we had plenty of drinks, and stuff to make smores later ~ it was such a neat experience, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!  Actually, Dan and I have been talking about adding RAGBRAI to our "bucket list" to accomplish some day!

4.  Speaking of accomplishments, I signed up for my 2nd 5K, which is coming up this weekend!  But this time I get to run with Dan!  He might will leave me in the dust, but at least it's something we get to do together!

5.  I just did my 1st senior photo shoot last night!!

6.  Avery & Brynn have been quite a bit more affectionate lately, as you saw in one of my last posts.  It's completely adorable, until one of them doesn't want to be hugged anymore and they start biting... it's still an issue I'm not entirely sure how to address.  Before I really thought the biting had more to do with teething, but now I see it happening more out of aggression.  I guess it's just one of those things I need to be watching more closely for and break it up when I can.

7. We've been attempting time outs with the girls.  It's mostly hilarious, since they know exactly what we are talking about, and exactly where to go ~ since they see Evan there so often...   I'm sort of thinking time outs in the corner probably aren't going to be so effective with Avery & Brynn, but we'll have to see.

8.   I can't believe preschool starts in 3 weeks ~ Evan is SO excited!  I am too ~ really, it gives us a little more structure which the kids I desperately need!!!!!

9.   I get to assist my friend with photographing another wedding this weekend!  I'm finding myself much less nervous, and far more excited about it!!  I still have so much to learn, but that's the best part of photography, is you never get bored!

10.  July was a tough month with a lot of ups and downs for me.  I have really been thinking a lot about what my priorities should be, and trying to get realistic about what that means.  And that's all I have to say about that.

mmmm... yummy!

One of my fondest childhood memories was picking blackberries near my Grandpa & Grandma's house in Northern California.  We'd pick as many as we could and bring all most some of them home so my Grandma could make a blackberry pie.

So when my father-in-law told me they had a huge area full of blackberries right next to their cabin, I had a flood of wonderful memories filling my brain!

So a few weeks ago we packed our lunch, headed to the cabin, I put the girls down for a nap, and we went blackberry pickin'! 

Such a rush of fantastic memories ~ the only memory I apparently left out was the one where I got poked by all the thorns!

minD OVER Matter

7:30am - arrived at 5K site ~ yay, I get a t-shirt


7:50am - lining up with all the runners ~ holy crap, I can't believe I'm doing this...


8:00am - GO! ~ breath, Lori, breath


1 mile mark - 11-ish minutes ~ suh-weet, I'm doing better than I thought!


half-way point - the rest is supposed to be down-hill from here - feeling the burn, but I'm ok, oh look - a camera-man, I wonder what kind of gear he's got...


2 mile mark - keeping the 11-ish-min/mile pace ~ ok, I'm gonna die where did this hill come from?



10th Street - friend says the race ends on 2nd St - breath, Lori, breath


8th Street - I CAN do this...


5th Street - I WILL do this... ooh, another camera-man and he's got a canon and a kick-ass lens


RR tracks - there's my brother-in-law... Hey!


Finish line in sight - I AM doing this...



34:54 - I just DID this!



Morning after - boy my legs are ti-yurd!

Warp Speed

Time isn't just going fast, it's going in warp speed right now.

I'm sure people I talk to are sick of hearing me say how I "can't believe how fast time is going."

But really.  I can't.

Half of 2010 is gone.  Gone!

And months like June have been no help ~ me and the kids spent the first week and a half visiting my family in Omaha ~ the photography workshop has been consuming my life (ok, maybe that's a little drastic) ~ I have had 3 for real - for practice photo shoots (another sneak peek was posted today) ~ I assisted photographing another wedding ~ Evan and I took a little weekend road trip to St. Louis ~ Evan did a week-long summer camp (a couple hrs each day) ~ plus all the odds and ends and in-betweens ~ and life is just not stopping.

{By-the-way, I have TONS of pictures I want to post from all the above listed events, and much more, I just have been so consumed with all the goings-on that I haven't had a chance...}

Having such busy times in our lives makes me stop and think - am I focusing my time and energy on the right things?  Should life be so busy right now?  Is life ever NOT going to be so busy?

And I really don't know the answer.

I just know that I am extremely grateful that I get to stay home with my kids ~ because I wouldn't have these opportunities to do what I get to do with them, or do what I'm doing for myself. 

The End.

I won, I won, I won!!!!

I can hardly contain myself, can you tell?

I won a contest for an online photography workshop through a photography blog that I read.

You may remember me saying in my big update post that I'm moving in the direction of calling myself a photographer... for real... 

And if you missed it... that might actually have been my goal - because I have been so hesitant about stating my intentions out loud because I'm so afraid of failure and scared to death that I might actually stink at "what I do."  (ie: taking pictures)  Ok, the being scared to death and afraid of failure is a different post completely, and I'll probably never actually get around to writing about it - but long story short, I think that's been my biggest obstacle in starting a photography business. Well, that, and having no idea what the name should be, and maybe a few other things.

But there.  I said it.  That's my goal.  I want to start a photography business.

My heart is racing as I'm typing these thoughts. 

I had a conversation a few months ago with the owner of Photo Pro in Cedar Rapids and he told me the 3 things I should concentrate on are lighting, lenses & education.  And I was in complete agreement with him. 

I made an investment and bought a nice lens and an off-camera flash.

Now I need the "education". 


So I had been eyeballing the workshop.  But the cost was making me hesitate.  And then the workshop filled up completely and I was out of luck until the next one was offered who-knows-when.

But then, I won it. 

Can you say God Wink?  Or maybe God shove?

I also had the complete privilege to assist my friend as she photographed a wedding over the weekend.  (The same friend who photographed my kids last summer, and did Avery & Brynn's 1 year photographs)  I had such a great opportunity to pick her brain and get a chance to photograph parts of a wedding with no pressure but the pressure I put on myself!  And I observed, and I learned, and I tried, and it was fun! 

Do I think I'm ready to run out and start a business now?  No.

But I'm a few steps closer.

And I can hardly contain myself!