IS A CHRISTMAS LETTER TOO LATE?

Its coming to the end of February.It's frozen outside, with an blue skies and sunshine. We have seen single digits here in the past 2 weeks. Christmas seems like it was so far away, and I never sent out my Christmas cards...(wow. I'm on top of things)

We sure have enjoyed some pleasant sunsets this last week.

 Having 4 kids all at different stages, has put wrinkles on my face and gray hairs in my head. I better give a quick update on each of the kids.

Trey is now 11. We have had our struggles this last couple months. 11 year old boys think they know it all. I hate to see my own children struggle and not tell me why. But then on the plus side,Trey is growing and wants to try new things. He now likes the guitar and has all of a sudden, grown a strong interest in "Harry Potter." He doesn't want to put it down.

Morgan is 7 and is the top of her class.

 Her teachers say she is well above standards. Her best friend is a boy named Paul. But...I know that he is just a friend. She explained it all to me how he is a boy, and her friend...which makes him her "boyfriend." Cute..

 Tonight, I snuck in to the girls room and watched them read a bed time story.

 Morgan read...and Mattie just listened sucking her thumb.

 And then I got caught. (I'm really not that sneeky)

..and Mattie can speak more Spanish than the average American. She lives, breaths, and sleeps Dora the Explorer. She is also my most energetic child who keeps me laughing and shaking my head, all at the same time.

Colton has learned to Crawl and now has 3 TEETH (another 1 popped through today!)

He is such a fun little boy. Always happy and excited. His biggest problem is that he crawls and pulls himself up on things, but doesn't have good balance yet. He tumbles to the floor quite often. It's so sad when he falls.

 For the past 10 days, we have been rooster sitting. He is an indoor rooster, that walks around the house and sleeps in a kennel. He definately has a personality. Duke does not like the rooster much.

 And we are about 80% done with our kitchen remodel. It's looking really nice and I love the counter tops.

Can you believe February is almost over?? Man, where has the time gone.

LIGHTS, PROPS, AND A SUPER PIRATE

Lighting. This week in school was all about lighting. There are different ratios to light a subject...using a bunch of different numbers to get the lighting you intend. This understanding has opened up a new door for me. I now have a better idea of what I want for my studio.

Carson came over on Saturday. He is a baby...THE CUTEST BABY... that I have taken pictures of before and everytime, they turn out amazing. I think he is a very photogenic kid and makes me want to squeeze him everytime. I also got asked to be the photographer at his birthday which the theme is "Pirates." Here is 1 picture just to let you have a little peek into what I'm talking about here.

 You see? Squeeze those little cheeks and pinch those toes.
Lights, props, and a super pirate. Arg......

HOT AND COLD FLASHES

The cold and flu season has hit. Some people get the puking flu, others get the body aches. We have been staying indoors trying to stay warm. Reading this post, you might get hot and cold flashes.

My mom and I had the opportunity to take a flight over Juneau on her last day here. It was amazing to say the least. Blue skys, white mountain tops, and ice fields for miles.

Brrr....heres a nice warm fire to warm you up.

THE ULTIMATE SURPRISE

Has it really been 2 weeks since I have made a post? What can I say about that. 2 weeks goes by fast. The last 2 weeks, there has been alot of activity. I hosted a family in my house that I didn't know, completely cleaned and organized my filing cabinet, completed a couple photo shoots, (that's just the smaller things), and did I stop to smell the roses??...yes I did.

On January 28th, Morgan turned 7 years old. Treys birthday is on February 6th and he will be turning 11. Grandma Lloyd flew up to Alaska as a surprise. I knew about the surprise for some time, but the kids had no idea. They hadn't seen her in almost 2 years. We set it up. Grandma was hiding in Morgans room and when the kids got home from school, Andy acted like Mattie destroyed her room and THEY had to clean it up....

 So, grandma waited in their room next to the closet. (I know she is going to hate this picture, but its so cute. I love the excitement for the surprise)

We could hear them outside, but it took them forever to get inside. Trey walked in and Andy asked where Morgan was. He said she's coming (Morgan is the slowest child. It took her 10 minutes to crawl up the stairs.) They both walked in the door, and Andy gave them that look...the mean look. He said "You better get into Morgans room right now and get it cleaned up!!! Mattie messed it up and you 2 need to get in there right now."
Morgan started to cry stating "I shouldn't have to clean...it's my birthday." Trey gave us that look like life sucks and continued walking. I was in the bedroom too waiting with the video camera. Morgan walked in and went straight to her bed. Trey walked in and looked at me and then he turned....
Shocked and utterly silent, he looked at Grandma Lloyd and ran to her with his arms wide open and the biggest grin on his face. Morgan then saw what was behind her and was like "what's going on?" She then found out Dad was joking and there was really a big surprise hidden in there room.

Grandma Lloyd stayed with us for a whole week. These kids are spoiled.

EVERYDAY LIFE

February. Already? Man, time sure does fly when you start getting old. Doesn't it seem like bed time just isn't long enough? A lady at Treys Elementary school suggested that we all need to "stop and smell the roses" from time to time...I said, that sure would be nice...but that's a luxury.
Im in College again. Advanced Photography. I am learning more than I knew I could learn. I'm learning about colors, light, and editing. This last week, for example, we learned how to turn a photo Black and white 9 different ways. The week before, we learned about all the color spectrums and how they work together (or against). Then, on my own, I had a breakthrough learning a function that existed in my camera. I won't explain it, but basically it's using my sensor screan to perfect a picture. Literally, I can look at the screen on the camera and see what it's going to look like, before I take the picture. I call it "photograpy perfection mode". Too bad you have to have a higher end camera to experience this mode.

So, here are some pictures from this week of excitement. I'm calling it, my Everyday Life in High quality imagery.