Christmas Tree at Stoneyridge

Friday was a very busy day! After my husband went out into the craziness at 4am to get the Santa present, I had a photo shoot (that I will post pics of later) and then we headed out to StoneyRidge to get the tree. This is the earliest we have ever gotten our tree before and I am a little worried it may dry out too soon, but how wonderful it will be to have everything ready for Christmas so early! The kids decorated last night and I tested out the video capability of my camera (yes it shoots video too!) and I will post that later! But here are a few of our day. We were so lucky that it was nice out!

Thanksgiving

I will keep it short and sweet with a few pictures! So thankful that we had a wonderful dinner with my family! Preparing dinner wasn't stressful at all, pre made and pre chopped stuff the night before and popped the turkey in the oven and done! I am very full now, but contemplating having another piece of pumpkin pie. Steve and my mother will be getting up leaving at 415 to do some shopping. I think they are crazy so am more than willing to stay home with the kids. But grateful that the husband will be getting a good deal on a Santa gift for the kids!

Thats Dane before the all the food got on the table, he was VERY ready for some turkey and jello

I heart Michael Buble

This post is for Amara. This is Michael. One day I will be so famous that he will want me to take his picture. I am sure of it. Its one of my long term goals. :)

Wanna watch his video...go here... http://www.michaelbuble.com/

A break in the rain

Yesterday was cold, but at least it was not raining, so we didn't have to reschedule, yeah! Another beautiful family I got to spend the morning with down in Fairhaven. Check it out...

Christmas and stuff

I have big plans for Christmas this year! I want to be DONE Christmas shopping by the end of November. I have to say I am over half done! Getting a little at a time is really going to be nice on the pocketbook. I want the entire month of December to be free and clear of any shopping, or working so I can spend some serious quality time with the kids. I want to bake, make crafts and just enjoy everything about December! Even the snow (blech!). At least if I have everything done, I wont have to drive anywhere in the snow! I decided on Christmas day that not only would we do the "traditional" Christmas morning with presents and Santa gifts, but we would also have a birthday party to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We will just have a nice big birthday cake after dinner and sing happy birthday! This will help the little one understand why we are celebrating. Little Miss Maia is in the church play and has been practicing for the last month. She has some speaking lines and she has a solo she is singing! So proud of that little girl for being brave enough to sing and talk in front of ALL those people! Maybe she has no idea just how many people will be out there in the audience! Gage and Maia both have started basketball too. Both are very excited to be playing and I am very excited that it is indoor! Ahhh the warmth! Dane will be starting his first year in basketball as well, but not until January. He is very excited to be like his siblings finally! I am so happy my kids are active kids and love to play sports. I really enjoy watching them, even practices, its fun to go through each season and see how they progress with which ever sport we happen to be playing at the time!

Weather

This weather is really putting a damper on my photo shoots! Yesterdays session was cancelled but I think our reschedule place is going to be more fun anyway! I am going to go shadow them while they go get their Christmas tree. I love the more photo journalistic shots, so I am excited and kind of glad we picked a different day. In case you didn't read, I am opening up the workshop to ALL women no matter what your age. If I get the max number of students (15) I will be giving away a really cool product to one lucky person! This is going to be an awesome class so if you want to learn the basics of your camera and learn to take some awesome shots, sign up! I have already loaned out both my backup camera's so you will have to have a DSLR to go to this class! And of course a post is never a post without a picture.

My own kids for once....

I went out to take a few senior pictures today at a friends house today and dragged the munchkins along with me. Decided I better get a few of them today too since who knows when the weather will be nice again! My heart bursts with love every time I look at these pictures. How truley blessed I am to have these beautiful, healthy, well behaved kids. How did I get so lucky!?

Books...

I bought a new book the other day called Visual Poetry. Love it. It is a very inspiring book about photography that makes you think about pictures that are more than just pictures. A little snip it...

"A great photograph has the potential to transcend verbal and written language. But how do you create these photographs? It's not the how that's important, but the who and the what. Who you are as a person has a direct impact on what you capture as a photographer."

I love that last part. Great book, if you love photography, its a good one to have in the collection.

I also went to the library today to see if they hung my flier. They didn't. The librarian seemed a little put out when i had some business cards to go with the flier. "It's in multiple parts?" she says. I'm thinking, its just some biz cards to tack on. Whats the big deal? I just said "Never mind, here is just the flier, the address is on there." She probably tossed it when I walked out the door. (No Danya, not your mom, I was hoping to talk to her though for some special treatment).

So anyway, I picked up a couple books while I was there. I got Organize Your Life free yourself from clutter and find more personal time. I skimmed through the first chapter and realized I didn't have time to read it and really I just needed to pick up and throw out old crap.

I also got The Dynamic Path access the secrets of champions to achieve greatness through mental toughness, inspired leadership, and personal transformation. I have no idea why, I just happened to be wandering through the aisles looking for the photography section (they moved it) and came upon the feel good section. Looking through the titles I started feelin' good and inspired so I figured I could give it a good skimmin' through. Who knows I might learn something.

This is a big difference from when I usually go to the library. All my friends know and make fun of me because I mostly go straight to the teen section. I am a very busy gal so these are quick, easy reads. And believe me, if you thought they were all G or even PG rated books, they aren't. I was actually surprised that the last one was even allowed in the teen section, not to mention a Lynden library. Anyway, I am sure I will be done with my big girl books soon and back to reading some easy fiction.

I LOVE this picture!

Today was a good day. I was to have 3 photo sessions this weekend, only one was rained out. Thats pretty good considering the torrential rain, hail, lightning, thunder, and wind that was happening this weekend. The dark clouds were hanging around, just teasing me today, but it never did rain. I am really trying to get out of the more "traditional" posing and try to do things a little different. I had an idea in mind before I left the house and it didnt turn out exactly how I saw it in my mind, but pretty close. I have to say though, most things I think of dont actually come out the way I imagined, most of the times it is better.

So I had the parents get close, real close. I wanted them to be very intimate, while the kids just hung around them pretty much. I had the middle boy hanging on to mom to represent how much he still needs her. The oldest boy just kind of chillin' next to dad because he is at the age where he really is admiring his dad and wants to be like him, and of course the baby still in mom's arms. I wanted this photo to show how much Dad is in love with mom with his hand on her shoulder coming in to kiss her like there is nothing else in the world that matter. I threw in one of the boys together too, just because they are so cute!

I know, I know, all that from one photo. But now you know a little bit about what goes on in my head. I am sure most of you will just see a snapshot, but more than anything I want my picture to tell a story.

Jenn's cute little family

Just a quick post, but I love checking out new places, so Jenn took me to WWU for her family pictures today. It was POURING when I left but as soon as we showed up at campus, the sun decided to come out. Thank you God for turning off the water works for awhile!

Beginners Photography Workshops for Girls!

Okay time for some fun stuff! I will be teaching a one day workshop for beginning photography just for high school girls. Cost is $95 and will be held at Homestead Farms in Lynden on December 29th from 9:30-4:00. You must have a DSLR (no point and shoots) and bring with you to class. I do have a couple extra cameras but you must let me know BEFORE you register so I don't lend them to someone else. First half of the day we will go over the basics, ISO, aperture/F-stops, shutter speed, we are going to get you out of point and shoot mode! Second half of the day we will be putting our new skills to work with a photo shoot! We will be practicing on real people! This is going to be such a fun class, so register fast as I am capping the class at 15 students. To register and for more information just go to my website at www.roxseyphotography.com and if you have any other questions, feel free to email me anytime roxseyphotography@yahoo.com

New Things!

Wow, there is so much going on here. I am really excited about so many things right now! I have had a lot of things on my mind this last week about the biz. Some new risks I think I am ready to take on. I really have been struggling with a few things because part of me still wonders if I am ready for what may come. So, I don't really want to say to much about everything quite yet, but just know I am really excited to be able to show you all some cool stuff coming up soon! Oh and I decided to enter a photo contest. I haven't really entered anything except the Lynden Fair where I did get my awesome ribbon. You can go check it out if you like at TopKnots photography contest. Just go to latest entries and you can scroll through all the entries. My name will be at the bottom of the picture for the ones I entered. I decided to go with a series of one of the weddings I did this summer so there are six images. They said there will be a peoples choice award, but at this point there is no where to vote yet. Probably not until the contest closes in December, but I will beg you all for votes then! Here is one of my favorites!