Betty's Blog

New Blog

2010-05-04T09:56:00.002-04:00

I have been wanting to change my personal blog for quite a while now and have finally done it. I will now be posting to a Wordpress site. Join me over at www.C2drvryf.wordpress.com for the latest on our family. I started it off right with a picture of Lexie :-) I haven't done much with it to personalize it but hopefully I will have time to work on it in the next couple of months.

Busy May

2010-05-02T19:43:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was May 1st. It is the beginning of a busy month for me as far as my photography work is concerned. I am hoping the rest of my weddings go better than yesterdays! Everything went well except for the formal pictures. It doesn't matter how much I stress both in my initial meetings with bride and grooms but also every other time that I think of it, how important it is to be on time, I very rarely get lucky and have my bride and/or grooms ready for their formal pictures. So, we wind up pushing them through between the ceremony and reception and not having time for anything creative or fun. It really is sad that the most important part (the part that will last forever) gets pushed into the background. Once again we lost light fast and I am sure the pictures will have suffered. I was rushed and wasn't able to put up supplemental lighting so the pictures will not be near what they could have been if I had had the proper amount of time. But, I am planning on sending out an email one more time to my up and coming brides requesting that they seriously consider being on time! After yesterday, I am really looking forward to next weekend at the beach. We are going down there on Thursday the 6th and staying until Sunday morning. The kids are coming with friends and I am looking forward to spending time with the family. Until then, here is a picture taken last night during lighting checks for the wedding. I love working with Savanna, she is fun to work with and does exactly what I ask her to do without her own agenda. She also has a very good eye for catching those special "moments". I love this girl!

Jack is one already!

2010-04-27T22:32:00.006-04:00

I cannot believe that little Jack Hackett is one year old. (To see him a year ago you can go here or if you want to see him celebrate his first Christmas - this is where you want to go) We celebrated his first year on Saturday. He is such a delight! I know I say that all the time, but it is so true! Here's a few pictures from the celebration.

Jack's Nonnie made Jack his Birthday plate

Cupcakes!

Pirate Jack, cutest pirate around!

Jack and his Papa

Jack and his Nonnie

Jack's BFF, Pirate Mason

Auntie CeCe and Jack

Question

2010-04-21T14:00:00.002-04:00

Truly, what more could you want?

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-04-21T08:05:00.002-04:00

What a weekend!

2010-04-11T20:52:00.006-04:00

Thursday night, my friend LeeAnn texted me and asked if we wanted a free weekend away this weekend. Well, thankfully I didn't have any sittings this weekend and I checked with Brad and he said "SWEET" so that meant we were headed to North Carolina. Lee has a friend at work that has been offering her cottage for quite some time now and Lee decided to take her up on the offer. And, she included us! It was a beautiful house in Corolla which isn't where we normally stay. It is further up the barrier islands. We had been in that area years ago, in fact the kids and I had been with the Lowmans up there in '99 when Brad was on cruise. At that time we actually saw some of the wild horses. We didn't see any horses this time, although we looked and hoped! I decided to pack light this trip and only brought Brad's little point and shoot. I was so upset when we got to Dave and Lee's and Lee told me that her daughter, Gina was coming! A weekend with Jack and I didn't have my camera - UGH!! I was not happy! I knew I would regret not bringing it, I just didn't know I would regret it so quickly! So, we got there pretty late on Friday evening after stopping at the Coinjock Marina for a yummy seafood dinner. We found the house and it was gorgeous, huge and roomy. We stayed up and talked a bit and then headed to bed. We got up on Saturday and Gina, Lee and I went to Food Lion and picked up some breakfast and lunch stuff. We went back and cooked breakfast and then took a walk on the beach. The beach was beautiful, lots of shells and of course it wasn't crowded in the least. We then just hung around the house and Jack entertained us the rest of the day. He is SUCH a good little boy! Saturday evening we ate at a seafood place and it was amazing! After dinner Dave drove us up to the upper end of Corolla and we drove on the beach. On Sunday we got up and cooked breakfast and then Gina and her family left, they live near Richmond so it is a bit further for them to drive and they had things to do at home this afternoon too. We hated to see them go, it was great having them join us. Dave and Brad went to the gym and worked out while Lee and I packed everything up and straightened up the house. When the guys got back and showered we went to a little deli that Dave knew of and got sandwiches to go. We drove back to the beach that we had driven on Saturday night and had a picnic lunch. The weather was incredible, perfect, and so beautiful. We then went back to the house and loaded the car and headed home. It was a perfect weekend spent with some wonderful friends!

Jack - ready for the beach

Guess what LeeAnn is taking a picture of!

Jack loved the duck!

riding on the beach

looking out the windshield from the back seat driving on the beach

picnic on the beach

LeeAnn and Dave

Betty and Brad

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-04-07T07:55:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T20:39:00.005-04:00

We had a really nice day today. We went to church this morning and it was a great service. Matthew went to his church in Chesapeake, but the rest of us went together at Nansemond River. We don't have little kids so there was no Easter egg hunt, or dyeing of eggs but we still had a good time being together. I wanted us to eat outside and since our table is right in the sun I decided to have it ready more towards the evening when the sun isn't so hot. Brad made his incredible ribs and I made the side dishes and dessert. Ryan took me for a quick ride in his new car and it was a lot of fun although he did scare me a little bit :-) Ryan's roommates, Ben and Aaron, joined us and it was nice having them here with us. I had bought each of the kids a big Dove chocolate egg and I made the mistake of giving them to the kids before dinner. Well, Ben ate his egg and also a bunch of spinach dip and then couldn't finish his plate of food. What was so funny is that I have never seen Ben get bested by food. He can always eat more - he blamed it on me and said I shouldn't have given him the egg before dinner - I know now, Ben!!

Aaron trying to scare me into not taking his picture - yeah, not that easy Aaron!

HOTT-IE! :-)

Ryan and Ben - waiting for dinner

Roxie and Lexie

Matt - needing a haircut

Roxie can't breathe, 'Nana!

Savanna and Ryan - fighting over the spinach dip

After dinner activity

Before/After Blog Hop

2010-04-01T15:48:00.004-04:00

I have never done anything like this before and I don't even know if I will be able to link up but I'm going to give it a shot. I've been reading a great blog called Pixel Perfect . Every week she does a Before/After Blog hop where you show an image straight out of the camera (SOOC) and then show your edited version. It is fun to look at everyone else's edits which really shows their "style". I decided to play along - here goes - this is one of my favorite shots that I took when we were visiting Washington DC back in November.

SOOC

After editing in Photoshop CS3

Cropped, a little brightening and a little bit of the patch tool to remove that little white speck under the moon. I think I also did a bit of cloning to get rid of the orange cones too. And some sharpening.

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-03-31T09:08:00.002-04:00

one more

2010-03-24T16:02:00.002-04:00

just in case there is someone missing the dogs...

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-03-24T15:14:00.002-04:00

Ryan's Excitement

2010-03-18T08:48:00.005-04:00

Ryan has talked about Toyota Supras since he was 12 years old. I met him and Aaron for lunch yesterday (they treated me!!) and he mentioned that his stomach was all a flutter but he didn't tell me why and I didn't think too much about it. Then later I was trying to call Brad with my new phone and accidentally dialed Ben (Ryan's other roommate), I quickly hit "end" and tried again. Well, after not getting Brad, Ben called and asked if I had tried to call. I told him what I had done and asked him how his day was going. He said "Well, I'm working, while Ryan is out buying his dream car", I said "What did you say?", and he realized that I didn't know. So, I quickly hung up from him and called Ryan. He didn't tell me anything but said he was coming over in about 20 minutes. So, about an hour and a half later he pulls in with a 1994 RED Toyota Supra. He was so excited and I was so excited for him. He had bought the car exactly the way his daddy would have. Every question I asked had the right answer. Right down to the fact that he and Chris (his resident Supra expert) had pulled up the carpet to check for water damage from the targa (sp?) top. These pictures were taken with my camera phone and I have to say I am quite impressed, they look pretty darn good! Actually Aaron took two of them cause I couldn't figure out my new phone - still working on that!!

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-03-17T09:57:00.001-04:00

Bell Buckle Walk

2010-03-12T14:41:00.005-05:00

I walked downtown by myself and took some pictures around sunset our last evening there. The lighting was beautiful and it was nice to just wander around by myself. There are also two pictures of Miller's Grocery too - that is in Christiana.

Bell Buckle First Baptist Church - the church where Brad and I got married

Home again,

2010-03-12T14:27:00.004-05:00

Well, I am back home and now have oodles of photographs to go through and edit. I also have Marianna's engagement pictures to edit - some teaser photos can be found by clicking here. I am going to upload just a few more family pictures today and then I probably will put the rest in my Shutterfly album. I have a wedding this weekend and then several portrait sittings so I will be plumb busy with work. Here are a few more though and then I have to get to work!

Kate discovered that small piece of sucker on her bib (that orange blob on her bib) after a little bit and was so excited that she had more sucker! It was so funny!

Claire had just won a game of Crazy 8s from Lance and Savanna

Sam and Roxie

Granny and her first "great"

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-03-10T12:12:00.002-05:00

Nashville

2010-03-09T23:19:00.005-05:00

Jennifer, Lance, Savanna and I drove down to Nashville this morning and spent the day being tourists. We started out at the Ryman Auditorium and walked down Broadway looking in a few of the shops and stopping briefly at Tootsies to hear some live music. We also stopped briefly at the Country Music Hall of Fame and checked out Printer's Alley. We then went to the Opryland Hotel and walked around their atriums. The weather was supposed to be rainy but we only got rained on a little and then we actually had some blue skies. It was another good, but tiring day.

Sculpture of Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl crafted by Russ Faxon an artist that lives in Bell Buckle. It sits in the main lobby of the Ryman.

Tootsies

Printer's Alley

Opryland Hotel

Rutledge Falls

2010-03-09T22:28:00.005-05:00

Monday was a beautiful day, we decided to hike down to Rutledge Falls. Granny took care of Kate at home and Jennifer, Sam and Claire came with us. We had a great time and got to do much more hiking than normal because the water was low. I was a little worried about Sam and Claire with the climbing around on the rocks. I shouldn't have worried about Claire at all, she did great on the rocks and in fact led the way in some areas. Sam isn't quite as adventurous as his sister but I believe he had a good time. While we were climbing around Claire looked at me and said "this is more fun than I thought it would be" Too cute!

Saturday Night Family Dinner

2010-03-09T08:29:00.005-05:00

Little Kate

Claire braiding Marianna's hair

sweet!

Uncle Doug and Dale

Jeannetta and DyxieKay

The girls braiding

Larry and Kate

Buster

Larry and Roxie

Aunt Char and Uncle Doug

Dale and Linda

DyxieKay

Lance playing Battleship with Claire, Presttyn and Sam

Enjoying Bell Buckle

2010-03-09T00:18:00.005-05:00

We arrived late Friday night after a very good trip from Suffolk. We spent Saturday morning just kind of hanging around the house and then we walked down to the downtown area to have lunch at the cafe. There was a band playing there, so that was kind of neat and they were "On the Air" on a local radio station. After lunch Savanna and Lance walked to the park and Jennifer and the kids and I rode in the van to the park. The kids had a great time on the equipment and Lance and Savanna played some football with Sam and Claire. More pics coming tomorrow of our family dinner on Saturday night.

Sweet Kate

Band playing at the cafe

Lance "rushing" Sam

Kate warming up to Lance

Huh?

2010-03-06T23:46:00.002-05:00

Why are you looking at me like I have noodles on my head??

Ready

2010-03-04T21:24:00.008-05:00

We are heading to Tennessee tomorrow and I am soooo ready! Well, I actually haven't packed a stitch yet - but my list is written! What I mean by "ready' is my soul and being is ready - ready to see my mom - I don't care how old you are - you always need your mommy! Ready to reconnect with Claire and Sam and most of all Kate! Now, I don't mean to sound partial but from what I see from pictures, Kate has changed very dramatically since I last saw her. I haven't seen her since her first birthday last July. This is how big she was (click here) and this is how big she is now (click here) Now, that just ain't right! Ready for some Steak - n - Shake!! Ready for some Miller's Grocery - Ready for some of Bonnie Rucker's home cooking - Weight Watchers is bound to suffer for the next week! HAHA - Ready to be surrounded by multitudes of family, but most of all, you know what I am mostly ready for??? Bloggin about something besides the dogs!

Wordless Wednesdays

2010-03-03T13:48:00.002-05:00

Roxie the music lover

2010-03-01T11:21:00.003-05:00

Lance was over last night with his guitar. Savanna was "studying" for a Biology test and he was just quietly strumming his guitar. I looked over and saw Roxie with her head laying on Savanna's knee just gazing at him like she was listening to him play - it was so sweet. Well, I knew by the time I got my camera the moment would be over but I decided to try anyway. Sure enough by the time I got downstairs she had gotten down so we kind of faked it and put her back up there and she gradually started listening again. So cute!

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-15T19:32:00.002-05:00

Savanna and Lance had a very special Valentines Date at the Melting Pot. I took a couple of pictures before they left.

Her new outfit

with her first love

and her current love :-)

More Snow Pictures

2010-02-02T08:40:00.004-05:00

Savanna and the "girls" came out into the snow and played for a little while. Unfortunately the dogs aren't near as much fun as you might think :-) They had a very hard time walking and they just don't know anything about snowball fights! But, they were cute - what more could you ask?

Roxie tried to run in the snow with Savanna but it was just too deep in most areas

She really wanted to play!

Okay, time to go in!

AAAH, now THIS is nice!

Snowy Suffolk

2010-01-31T12:02:00.003-05:00

Gazebo down near the clubhouse area

looking up our street from the steps of the clubhouse

down by the resident pier

in the woods near the resident pier

Maybe later today I can actually get people and dogs in the snow photos :-)

And, one more...

2010-01-30T19:56:00.003-05:00

Lance is currently out at sea for the next couple of weeks. Email is quite crucial to Savanna's coping.
This is a shot of Savanna reading her email from Lance - such a sweet look on her face :-)

Stuck in a Snowdrift Trauma

2010-01-30T19:51:00.003-05:00

Roxie got stuck in a snowdrift and Savanna had to go out and rescue her. She was a bit traumatized and was quite subdued for a very long time. Savanna wrapped her up in a towel and held her. Poor baby! I hope she doesn't refuse to go out after this.

Snow in Suffolk

2010-01-30T19:42:00.004-05:00

Well, it wasn't as big as predicted but we did get some significant snow today. We were supposed to get 10-12 inches but I'm thinking it looks more like 3-4. It is drifting though so it is really hard to tell. I got a few pictures today - from the comfort of the doorway - but tomorrow I am planning on going out and getting more. It snowed all day and the wind was really blowing so I really didn't want to go out today. Here's a couple...

Lexie does not want to cooperate

Roxie was the good one for a change

She finally got away and ran for the door

Lexie getting a completely undeserved treat

That's okay though, Roxie stole part of it anyway

Nothin' special

2010-01-25T16:55:00.002-05:00

Just playing around with some pictures that I took last month. Of course they are the dogs...

Animal Kingdom

2010-01-16T23:04:00.004-05:00

We got a bonus day in Orlando. Since Saturday was so cold and rainy and we weren't able to really do much except go to the marathon, we decided to stay an extra day. Brad was the only one that had to be back to work on Tuesday so he called and got the "okay" to extend his leave. It was quite cold at first but warmed up pretty quickly. It was really fun, probably the highlight of this park for me was the safari. We were disappointed that the Mt Everest ride was closed for repairs but we had a great time anyway. After Animal Kingdom we headed back up the interstate for home going half way and the rest of the way on Tuesday. It was an awesome trip and thanks to military discounts and sharing the condo it wasn't a very expensive one either. More pics in the facebook albumhttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=133597&id=701749222&l=fe2e93e2c4

The day started out in the 30s

Finally got my ice cream!

Magic Kingdom

2010-01-11T22:39:00.004-05:00

I had never been to Disney World until this week. We came to Orlando in '07 for dance nationals but we went to Universal Studios - not Disney. We have really enjoyed the parks, but I'm thinking once is enough. We saw and did everything that we wanted to do and yes it was freezing cold for most of it but we still had a good time. We always have a good time with Dave and Lee though. Here's a few pictures from the Magic Kingdom. More tomorrow from Animal Kingdom.

Disney Half Marathon

2010-01-09T19:59:00.004-05:00

Today was the half marathon. I have to say Disney doesn't do too well with marathons. There were certain areas set aside for spectator viewing but they had the roads closed off to where you couldn't get to the parking area of Epcot in order to view. We finally found a spot to view at the 4 mile marker but we missed seeing Deb. We stood in the cold (30 degree) wind and rain until the last of the runners came by. We then decided to go get coffee/hot chocolate and then meet her at the finish line. By the end they had opened up the roads and we were able to get to the marathon area. Deb ran the marathon in record time - it was really incredible - we were all so excited for her.

Deb with her medal

Deb and her favorite fan

Epcot Center

2010-01-09T19:42:00.004-05:00

Dinosaurs

Seagulls at Nemo

"Honey, I shrunk the audience"

Italy

Broken reading glasses

Epcot ball

Fountain in front of Deb's condo

Orlando in January - not much different from Suffolk in January

2010-01-09T18:52:00.005-05:00

We knew it was going to be chillier than normal in Orlando this weekend but the weathermen did NOT prepare us for the reality. We (well Dave) drove part of the way down on Wednesday after work. Lee and I spent the whole trip in the back of their Tahoe watching Dexter - Season 2. stopped somewhere in South Carolina overnight and then headed the rest of the way on Thursday. We made a stop at the Daytona Harley dealer (have to stop at the Harley dealer with these guys) then finished our trip down to Orlando. Once again, Dave did a great job of booking our condo, it is beautiful and quite cozy.

Lee and I toughing it out in the back seat - haha

Daytona Harley Davidson

Yes, we had to wipe the drool off their faces

A day without ice cream is like a day without sunshine :-)

2010-01-03T16:20:00.002-05:00

Color Me Mine and Game Night - the sequel

2010-01-03T16:04:00.002-05:00

The ladies went to Color Me Mine yesterday afternoon and painted pottery. For those who don't have any idea what I am talking about - it is a place where you choose a piece of unfinished pottery and you paint it (some people get really extravagant with their designs) and then it is glazed and fired and then you pick up your new piece a few days after you paint it. Lee and I (Nan and Jenna have gone too) have been there a couple of times and while Jennifer was here and Brooke was home from William and Mary, we decided it would be a fun thing for us all to do. So, we went and we had a great time. I actually painted two things which for me is saying quite a lot because my stuff usually looks pretty bad after it is fired, and who knows it may be no different this time too. When we were done there we decided to meet up with all the guys at California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. Well, they didn't take reservations and it was REALLY cold so Lee suggested we all go back to their house and order in pizza and play games. We had a great time! We played a coin game called Left, Right, Center, and we played Taboo. But the game of the evening was a new one that Lance taught us called "Farkle". Well, there were a few there who just couldn't get past the name so it took Lance quite a while to be able to tell us how to play it. I will have to say he is quite patient but he is excitable. I don't know what was more fun, watching him try to teach us Farkle or watching him play Taboo - such a blast! Then we moved into the living room where Lance played the piano for us. Lee and Savanna played a little bit too, and Lee sang - I had no idea she had such a pretty voice! I will try to upload the video of Lance and Savanna playing - lets just say she needs to stick to dancing - :-)

Merry Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-25T10:45:00.004-05:00

Glenn Beck/Bill O'Reilly Bold Fresh Tour tickets for our favorite raging conservatist

Surprise for Matthew!

I smell hamburgers!

Playing Mario Bros

Encore Christmas Party

2009-12-20T06:18:00.003-05:00

The only Christmas party that we went to this year I wound up working. The dance studio has an annual party that is a fund raiser for Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD). Since the first year that I started my photography business I have been donating a sitting and portraits to the auction. This year I offered to have a photo booth and have all the profits go to CHKD as well. I think it went over pretty well, we raised approximately $150, and that is pretty good considering it is a small party. I was happy and will probably do it again next year. Here are a couple of pictures of Savanna, one with Lance and two with her dance BFF, Linda.

Random pictures

2009-12-18T21:58:00.002-05:00

I took these of Savanna and Matthew tonight and I liked them - so I'm blogging them :-)

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2009-12-15T19:04:00.004-05:00

Yeah, our singing is REALLY bad!

Pretending there are candles

Blowing out the Yankee Candle

My baby turned 24 last Sunday. It is so hard to believe that he is that old! I guess I say that every year but I mean it every year too! He met us for lunch after his get-together with his friends got rained out and then came back over to the house for a little while. We had cake before Savanna left for work and then he left to go to dinner with one of his friends. I could not find any birthday candles at the store - I looked where the birthday cake supplies were and they didn't have any - and I was just too tired to stop anywhere else so he didn't get any candles. That is what it is like when your birthday is in December.

Christmas Decorating

2009-12-13T22:14:00.005-05:00

My beautiful daughter

Savanna did a great job!

Um, where's Roxie?

Look at Mama!

Umm, excuse me! She's gone agan!

Finally!

Things sure change when the kids are grown. We used to have an evening set aside when everyone would decorate the tree. We would all go to choose the tree from the local Christmas tree lot and then the next evening Brad would put the tree up and the lights on and then the rest of us would decorate. The kids would typically fight over who got to hang each ornament - Christmas music played and it was a good family time. Fast forward to this year. Brad put up the fake tree on Monday so that Savanna and I could decorate after she got off work on Tuesday. We did play Christmas music - once we were able to get Matt to turn off his game - I hung my special ornament and Savanna did the rest, while I took pictures. After the tree was finished we needed to get the annual Christmas picture of the dogs in front of the Christmas tree. That was a little more challenging than usual because Roxie was in a really frisky mood. But, once Savanna got her calmed down we were able to get a cute picture of the girls.

Jack's First Christmas

2009-12-05T22:22:00.005-05:00

Jack with his daddy - Steve

He loved the toy that Santa gave him

Quick power nap

Nonnie (LeeAnn) with Jack

Santa, Gina and Jack

I went with LeeAnn, Nan, Gina, and Steve and of course Jack to Lake Taylor's Breakfast with Santa this morning. LeeAnn is the Human Resource director at the hospital and her department is in charge of the activities for the employees. They put on a great breakfast with Santa. I was along as Jack's personal photographer - haha! Lee is so sweet to share her little grandson with me, he is absolutely one of the best babies I've ever seen. They say he gets cranky but I've never seen it. He can be passed around by relatives and strangers alike and still smile and be sweet. When he gets tired he pops his thumb in his mouth, takes a quick power nap and he is good to go for another few hours. I saw him at Nick's wedding get passed around like crazy and he never complained - what a trooper. Here are some of the pictures I took - he is a cutie! And much cuter than the dogs which is what you usually get on here! LOL

Beautiful November Sunset

2009-11-29T21:26:00.002-05:00

We set aside this evening to take our Christmas card picture. I'm not REAL happy with the way they turned out but I went ahead and used them and got the cards ordered. I need to get them out early this year since we once again have a new address. Since the sunset was so gorgeous we walked down to the neighborhood fishing pier and took these pictures. Getting the dogs to look at the camera without someone over there talking to them wasn't easy but we did get one fairly good one of all of us. These aren't the pictures I used for the Christmas card although I like them better :-)

Thanksgiving '09

2009-11-26T20:32:00.008-05:00

We have had a good day. Very busy morning and early afternoon and a very quiet late afternoon. The kids had their fourth annual Thanksgiving Paintball game early this morning. I went along to take some pictures and Brad played the first two rounds. Brad and I then had to head back to the house to finish dinner. The kids started strolling back in about 1:30 and we wound up eating about 2:30. Poor Lance had another dinner to go to with some friends so he was probably still pretty full by the time he had to eat again.

We wound up with 8 for dinner, which was fun. We enjoyed using our dining room table. It was refinished back in the spring and we hadn't used it because I didn't have a pad for it. I got a pad this week, so we could use it. We were pretty squeezed around it though. I need to have a couple more leaves made. Anyway, here's some pictures from the Paintball extravaganza. Brad won the final round of paintball. Well, the final round that he played, we had to leave early.

The whole gang

Ryan

Ben

Brad

Ryan being Ryan

Ryan helping out his sister

Savanna looking big and bad

Savanna in action

Ryan in action

Savanna had a paintball to hit her helmet and splash in her hair

Victorious Brad

Savanna and Lance

Brad and Ryan

The dogs love Thanksgiving too

More in the facebook album http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=123376&id=701749222&l=0bcb2de92f

One more from the wedding

2009-11-18T06:56:00.002-05:00

I actually stole this picture off CeCe's facebook. I added my own little touches (like making it black and white and bringing up the exposure). But, I thought it was a good pic of the four of us and wanted to share :-)

Nick and CeCe got married!

2009-11-10T10:32:00.004-05:00

The last stop on our 10 day trip was Simsbury, Connecticut. That part of the trip was actually the only one that had been planned since about September. The DC trip didn't come up until the middle of October and of course we didn't plan on Niagara Falls until the day we left to go up there.

CeCe was a beautiful bride and Nick a handsome groom. Nick is my friend, Lee's oldest son. He met CeCe (her full name is Catherine Cecelia - I don't know if that is spelled right), last fall and they knew pretty quickly that they were THE ONES :-) CeCe is not only beautiful on the outside but on the inside as well, Lee is quite the lucky lady!

The wedding was at The Riverview and it was a beautiful venue. I had a great time just being a guest this time. Although of course I had one of my cameras with me and managed to take a few shots. I tried my best to stay out of the way of the paid photographer, I know how frustrating it is when the guests with cameras are in the way. I didn't get yelled at so I guess I was out of the way enough :-) Here's a few shots from the wedding the rest are in my facebook album http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=119474&id=701749222&l=de3ec6a574

The Kiss!

Dave and Jack

Lee and Dave with Jack

Lee dancing with her handsome son, Nick

Admiring the ring

Lee with her daughter, Gina

Dave and Lee

Niagara Falls

2009-11-06T23:40:00.003-05:00

Brad and I woke up on Thursday, said good bye to Ryan who had to head back home to work, and we had to figure out the rest of our plans. We didn't have to be in Connecticut until Saturday so what to do? Why go to Niagara Falls of course! We had talked briefly about it before the bone marrow thing came up and at that point decided we couldn't do it. After they changed the donation date to the 4th we didn't think much about it then either. So, Thursday morning we realized that it would be the perfect time to go. We drove up on Thursday. It was a beautiful ride, although it probably would have been prettier a couple of weeks ago, we still enjoyed it. Neither of us have ever been to this part of the country before so we are enjoying it. We went to the falls today and they were absolutely stunning! God is so awesome to create such beauty for us! I was disappointed that we couldn't go to the Canadian side. I have always wanted to go into Canada - especially since I was born there - and to be this close and not get to go was a bit disappointing. Neither of us had our passports because we hadn't planned on coming here when we left Virginia. But, we still had a great time and have really enjoyed this little diversion. Tomorrow we head for another beautiful part of our country - Connecticut. Looking forward to Nick and Cece's wedding!

The National Zoo

2009-11-06T23:31:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday we went to the National Zoo. We got off the metro and ate at a cute little Italian trattoria on Connecticut Ave in DC. It was quite a trek up a hill to the zoo but after resting a few times we made it. I mainly wanted to see the giant pandas, and luckily they were near the entrance. We wandered around the giant panda area and I was getting increasingly frustrated because I thought we weren't going to see the pandas. We walked long enough and finally found the indoor exhibit. I loved seeing the pandas, they were so cute!

Arlington National Cemetery

2009-11-06T23:09:00.008-05:00

The first two days we were in Washington DC it was rainy and miserable so we didn't do anything much but hang out in the hotel room. On Sunday we did go to a huge mall in Tysons Corner. We needed to do a little wedding gift shopping and it seemed the perfect time with the weather being so bad.

On Monday we headed out to Arlington National Cemetery. We have been to DC a few times and we had never been to the cemetery. We really loved it. I was beginning to feel a bit fatigued from the shots but they had a trolley so we rode that for most of the visit. The Changing of the Guard ceremony was so impressive and awe inspiring. Those soldiers looked so young! They were just babies! We went there first because that was the most important thing we wanted to see. Other areas of interest were the eternal flame where President John F. Kennedy is buried and the white wooden cross that marks Robert Kennedy is buried.

More photos can be found in my facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117743&id=701749222&l=557ba17bb2

Be the Match

2009-11-03T18:57:00.008-05:00

(I wrote the first part of this the night before I was to donate but our internet connection wasn't very good so I finished it tonight 48 hours after donation) Last July while I was visiting with my mom in Tennessee, I got a phone call from the Bone Marrow Center. I was a match! Wow! That was quite exciting! A match for what you say? Well, my cheek swab showed that I matched a 50 year old man suffering from a form of leukemia who needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life. Wow - again! I cannot imagine my ever having the opportunity to save a person's life - what an honor! How did I get on this registry to be matched to begin with? That happened about 4 years ago when Brad was skipper of VRC-40. He arranged a bone marrow drive in the squadron - giving his sailors special liberty for anyone who signed up on the registry. So, our whole family went in and registered too. It was so easy, the flight surgeon just swabbed my cheek with a cotton swab and I filled out a health questionnaire. That was it - until last July.

Tonight I find myself sitting in Washington DC getting ready to donate bone marrow tomorrow. Most people think that they put you out and put a needle in your hip - not so! Although there are some bone marrow donations that still use that method, the method that is being used with me is called PBSC or peripheral blood circulating cell donation. I started on Saturday the 31st getting a shot of Filgrastim in each arm. I did that for 4 days and on the 5th day (Wednesday, Nov 4th) I got my last two shots and then they hooked me up to an aphresis machine. This machine moved 18 liters of blood out one arm into the machine where it separated the bone marrow cells and also some plasma and then pumped the blood back into my arm. I was very blessed and had very few side effects. The shots can give some pretty miserable side effects but I mainly was very fatigued and a bit of bone pain in my arms, back and sternum but nothing that Extra Strength Tylenol couldn't take care of. The actual donation left me pretty weak but two days after donation I am feeling pretty good with just a bit of fatigue left. It is a very simple process and it didn't cost me anything but time and a little discomfort. I highly recommend getting on the registry. The more that are on it the more people can be saved. Brad insisted on taking a couple of pictures of me during the donation so I will include them but not because I like them - I actually hate the pictures but it shows how easy it was. We watched two movies and it was over! I went back to the hotel room and slept a little while. Brad and Ryan, who had come to spend time with us, went to Arlington Cemetery. That's it. Brad and I did some sightseeing on the days that weren't raining while we were here and those blog entries will follow.

The bag is the bone marrow cells

I wouldn't look at Brad cause I didn't want my picture taken.

Be the Match! www.marrow.org

First Annuall Pumpkin Carving Contest

2009-10-24T10:14:00.004-04:00

I came up with the idea of having a pumpkin carving contest and Savanna agreed it would be fun. So last night was the best time for everyone to be able to be here. Matt, unfortunately, agreed to go to Busch Gardens, with some friends,at the last minute so he couldn't join us. We invited Dave and Lee to join us and Savanna invited Lance. We started kind of late because Savanna didn't get off work until 6:30 and Ryan didn't leave work until after 7. So, we went ahead and ate and started gutting the pumpkins before Ryan got here. I had made a big pot of chili and we had some queso dip and Lee brought some yummy cornbread. After we finished eating we headed outside and started on the pumpkins. I had forgotten about the yuckiness of the insides and the smell too. It has been quite a while since we have carved pumpkins. Brad cleaned out my pumpkin and Dave cleaned out Lee's - yes,we wimped out. So, then the designing process started. It took a bit before we were all ready to start but we slowly decided on our designs and began. Dave and Savanna used patterns, I think Brad did too but he free handed (knived) his onto his pumpkin. They all turned out pretty neat - mine excepted it was lame! But, I was also taking pictures too, so I carved in between picture taking. Heres a few of the pictures that I took - more can be found on my facebook gallery

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112505&id=701749222&l=6f8a20c831

Lee and Dave

Yuck!

Savanna, Lance and Brad

Roxie getting her some Lee love

Ryan contemplating his design

Dave working hard

Brad and Lance talking bikes while waiting for Savanna to finish her pumpkin

Working on her hard design

Almost done

All seven pumpkins

Savanna's weekend

2009-10-19T21:36:00.003-04:00

Since I have decided to update this blog more often I am searching for things to say :-) Imagine that! Anyway, I haven't taken any family pictures lately but Savanna had a fun weekend and took lots of pictures so I snagged a couple from her Facebook account. She went to Lynchburg, VA with the college group from our church. They went to a thing called "Scaremare" which is a ministry put on by the students at Liberty University. Then on Saturday they went hiking and to an apple festival. So, here are the three pictures she took (she took more, these are just the ones that I snagged). She had a great time and her shenanigans would make her Ward family proud :-)

Savanna and Samantha Hoover. Sam's parents are in our (Brad and me) Sunday School class.

Sam and Savanna

Walleed and Sam. Walleed is close to having his medical degree. We are thinking about inviting him to our pumpkin carving this Friday just so Ryan will have a doctor on standby. He is known for cutting himself when he uses knives. LOL

Neglected

2009-10-15T10:15:00.001-04:00

I think my blog is feeling neglected. I haven't written in a long time. I really haven't been doing too much. Working a lot, which is really nice. I have a few things coming up that I am sure will require blog posts :-) Today's picture is of Ryan. I took it last night at a session I did. He came along to help and we needed it! His payment this time - I'm stocking his fridge :-) Maybe I will try to post at least a picture every other day or so just so the blog doesn't feel so neglected :-) Brad and I are going up to Washington DC next week for almost a week and we are hoping to have time and energy to do some sightseeing so maybe things will get hopping next week! For now, this is all I have...

Happy 19 Savanna!

2009-08-31T10:35:00.005-04:00

My baby is 19!!

Brad and Savanna in front of Amore

lighting the candles

Savanna was afraid they were going to burn themselves

Bad off-key singing

didn't blow them all out

We celebrated Savanna's birthday last week. She actually celebrated with Linda on "the day". After I discussed with all the brothers and daddy when a good time to have her dinner, we decided on Thursday night. Well, come Thursday Ryan didn't get off work until almost 8 o'clock and Matt decided that if Ryan wasn't going he was really tired and didn't feel like going either. Well, fine then, Brad and Savanna and I celebrated by ourselves. Amore is her favorite Italian restaurant so we went to downtown Portsmouth. Our waiter was pretty much drunk which made for an interesting evening as you can imagine... The food was wonderful but the service was terrible, but entertaining nonetheless! Did you know his name was Steve? Well, it was and I think he must have told us 7 times! We decided it was lucky that the boys hadn't been with us because we might have been thrown out of there. We can get pretty rowdy and throw a drunk waiter in there and you're just asking for trouble!!

Anyway, after dinner we went home and had birthday cake. We didn't have any lighters or matches in the house so Brad used a paper towel and the oven element in order to light the candles. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAVANNA!!

Family, family and more family

2009-08-09T10:18:00.003-04:00

We spent Saturday with some more of the Brown "kin". Grandaddy's sister, Jamie and her family were in Corpus Christi spending the weekend so we drove over there to see them. The Blum "kids" and the Brown "kids" spent a lot of their childhood together when the Blums lived in Nashville. We were quite entertained with some of the stories they had to tell about those days. It was a bit bittersweet though because two of those kids, Marty and Amy, were not there to participate in the fun. It was great though because all of the Blums were able to be there and all of the Browns. Jamie made the observation all of the descendents of Elbert and Louise Brown were there. A few of us went to the Texas Aquarium, of which I must mention that Liz's sister, Sue, was the main fundraiser for the aquarium back when it first was being built. It was a fun time. The most fun was the dolphin show and Charlie, Holly's son, was chosen from the audience along with several other children, to go down to the tank and learn a dolphin hand signal. They then learned that the signal was for the dolphin to splash them. They all got pretty wet but we were a bit envious of them because I'm sure it helped cool them off a bit. Shepherd was fun at the aquarium he sat on Ben's shoulders and watched the dolphin show in earnest. He barely took his eyes off, it was so cute! Of course to a family whose previous "baby" is almost 19 years old, the newest baby can yawn and we all think it is adorable :-) Today we will be seeing more family. Jack and his wife Molly are coming out to the lake and I think James's son, Jason is coming out with his family. The Blums are also coming out too so we will be having a good time hearing lots of stories I am sure! Check the facebook link for more pictures.

Brown Ranch - Beeville, Texas

2009-08-07T09:54:00.002-04:00

We spent yesterday at the Brown Ranch. It was a lot of fun and we met family that we had heard about for years but had not met. The family connections are vague but Savanna and I are hoping to pick Grandaddy's brain today and get it straight in our heads. But, from what we figured out Austin Brown 1 was Grandaddy's dad's brother. Then there was Edwin - who wasn't named Austin (obviously - haha) who was a wildlife photographer and was also in World War II's Germany towards the end of the war and took some incredible pictures during that time as well. Then Edwin had a son named Austin 2 (who we met and is now the "patriarch" - although Edwin's wife, Penney, is still alive and we did meet her as well). The youngest family on the ranch is Austin 3's family, his wife Jodie and their two children, Austin 4 (better known as Cuatro) and Addie. Those were two of the sweetest most well-mannered children I think I have ever met. They were a joy to be around and so personable and polite. Cuatro and Addie are homeschooled there on the ranch so Jodie (Austin 3's wife) and I had a lot in common. I think it was encouraging for them to meet three kids who were homeschooled pretty much the entire time and they certainly seem normal - or at least they are able to put on a normal front. HAHA Austin 3 and Jodie, of course, have been bombarded by the usual "oh but what about their socialization?" You know, the usual stuff from "well-meaning" strangers who think they know better what their children need. They all live there on the ranch but in different homes that are scattered throughout. The ranch is 4000 acres which is pretty mind boggling. Right now Texas is going through the third worst drought in recorded history so they are really struggling with taking care of the animals. There are pictures that tell a better story than my blathering on my facebook. Same link as the link in the previous post. Ben and Leah arrived at the lake last night and I hear Shepherd awake - gotta go!

Texas

2009-08-07T01:00:00.007-04:00

We arrived in Houston right on time on Tuesday afternoon. Ben picked us up and we headed to get something to eat first. After eating we went to Enterprise and picked up our rental van and we drove over to Ben and Leah's house. Leah was working but Ben and the boys went and picked up Shepherd and brought him home. We then just hung out at their house watching Shepherd and then I totally sacked out after dinner. Ben and Leah had to work on Wednesday so we just got up about 8 and headed down to Lake Corpus Chrisit. We got there a little after 1 and it is great to be back at the lake! Again I cannot upload pictures to blogger with my phone connection so I am putting them in an album on Facebook. The link is: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93161&id=701749222&l=d8b23747be

Proud of the hubby!

2009-08-01T08:59:00.003-04:00

Brad pinned on the Captain eagles yesterday. The boys both had to work so it was only Savanna and me that could attend. I had the honor of pinning them on. We've known since spring '08 that he was getting the promotion so it has been a long wait for this day. YAY Brad!!

Jen and Kate's birthdays

2009-07-19T15:58:00.008-04:00

Jennifer had her birthday dinner on Friday night. Mary and Grampa Brewster came and helped celebrate. Then on Saturday was Kate's party. She had a Mickey Mouse theme. We had pizza and chips and then cake and ice cream. The kids had a great time. There was lots to do, swimming, slip-n-slide, a playhouse, swingset, etc... Kate had a great time too, she fell asleep in her swing from all the fun she had. More pics on my facebook, link is at the bottom of the post. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88107&id=701749222&1=36714e2334

Sam Jones

2009-07-19T15:25:00.002-04:00

I finally got a good internet connection and can load up some pictures. I took these of Sam the same day as the girls' pictures. He didn't really want to have his picture taken but when I suggested we take some of him doing something he enjoyed he thought that was a great idea. He is playing football Wii here.

Jones Girls

2009-07-16T23:09:00.004-04:00

I will have a couple of pictures of Sam tomorrow. He wasn't nearly as excited about having his picture made as Claire was. Claire is a little model! Kate isn't quite the model but I'm sure in a couple of years she will be hamming it up too. Aren't my nieces beautiful? Thursday was Kate's first birthday - Happy Birthday Kate!!

DMA - Day 5

2009-07-08T15:10:00.002-04:00

The girls had a pretty easy day yesterday. They slept until noon and went to classes. I stayed in the room and worked. I got a lot done. After they got back from class we went down to a hamburger place called "Elevation". It was quite good. We then walked down to "Titan in the Sand' and took some pictures. The last day of competition is tomorrow so things are wrapping up. They will now only have classes until late on Friday.

DMA - Day 4

2009-07-07T00:19:00.003-04:00

Today was another busy day for the girls. My favorite dance of the year was performed today - "Steppin' to the Bad Side". It is a tap production number which means just about everyone in the company is in the dance. Of course tap is my favorite anyway. They did a beautiful job with it, they got a gold which we thought they deserved better, but what can you do? After awards the girls went to their classes and I went to the pool. I was a little miffed when I got there and there were no lounge chairs available. It wouldn't have bothered me except this is a 3000 room hotel and they only have about 50 chairs at the ONE pool! I just don't think that is enough. I did find a chair and pulled up a side table to put me feet on. I then went upstairs and napped and then worked until the girls came up. They quickly changed clothes and we went downstairs and grabbed a quick bite to eat before the Junior Miss Dance Competition. One of the girls from our dance company is Virginia's Miss Dance and was in competition for the national honor. She did beautifully tonight and we enjoyed the show. Tomorrow will be a very slow day, they only have classes in the afternoon. Looking forward to sleeping in.

DMA - Day 3

2009-07-05T23:02:00.002-04:00

Well, the girls were really busy all day and only one picture was taken. Unfortunately I am in the picture. Linda had her solo this morning (Gold!) and then they did "Hairspray"(High Silver), and Linda, Savanna and Amy did "Foggy Day" (Gold). After the performances the girls had classes and then scholarship classes. I drove out to Sterling to deliver a proof book and stopped and replinished the lunch supplies. After the girls got back they changed and we walked downstairs to go to dinner. When we went out to the parking lot to get my jacket we saw a huge bouquet of heart balloons in the garage. They were just sitting there where someone had abandoned them. We decided that they couldn't get them in their car so they left them. We got them! We were so excited! Tomorrow all of EDC will have a pink heart balloon! After waiting at a mexican restaurant for a little while (after looking at their menu we decided we didn't want to eat there), we walked across the street to a restaurant called "Ketchup". It was pretty good, not great though. We then walked to Ben and Jerrys and got some ice cream and walked down to the waterfront to eat it. We are having wonderful weather right now and the walk along the water was really nice. Tomorrow the girls don't have a crazy schedule so they will be able to relax a little.

DMA - Day 2

2009-07-04T23:13:00.003-04:00

The girls had a fairly busy day today. Savanna performed her solo this morning - she received a gold award. She was very happy with that because her mind went blank on two parts while dancing so she was improvising and making things up as she went so she was VERY happy with the gold! They had a group dance this afternoon - Lion King - which also received a Gold. The judging is pretty harsh here as it usually is at DMA so they are really happy with their Golds. After competition they had a ballet scholarship class for an hour and a half and then they had a Welcome Gala that they attended. I stayed in the room and did some work. And tried to catch a nap since I had gotten up at 5 this morning. Tomorrow is mad busy with several dances in the morning and then workshop classes all afternoon and jazz scholarship classes after that. That will be their busiest day so they will be glad when tomorrow is over. I did get a chance and walked around the property a bit by myself this afternoon and took some pictures. The ones of the girls are from the gala.

DMA - Day 1

2009-07-04T06:20:00.003-04:00

Well, here we are in Washington DC at the Dance Masters of America National Competition. By "we" I mean Savanna, Linda, and me. The rest of our family is sitting out this trip due to the fact that we are all going to TX for a week in August. We will be here for a week. Savanna will have competition in the mornings and workshops and classes all afternoon. I am planning on catching up on some sleep (although so far that hasn't worked out too well since it is 6:23 and I woke up at 5:00 this morning and wasn't able to get back to sleep - GRRRR). I also brought lots of work with me that will keep me busy when I am not at the pool.

Our stay here did not start on a good note. It is unbelieveable how many people are here in the hotel and also in this area. I stood in line for an hour and a half waiting to check in yesterday. There were no carts (we could wait for a bellman but that was another 2 hour wait) so we had to make several trips from the parking garage to our room with all the stuff it requires for 2 girls to dance for a week and 3 females to live for a week. Thankfully Amy and her mom helped us out on our last trip out to the car - we were so grateful for that! Then when it came time for dinner there was a 2 hour wait just to get seated at all the restaurants anywhere within walking distance of the hotel. We finally got seated and it was another hour before we got our food. I was wishing we had stayed in the room and had sandwiches! We can expect it to be like this here until Sunday evening then we are hoping things will lighten up. This morning Savanna will be dancing her solo and there will be a group dance (Lion King) this afternoon. We are hoping to see fireworks tonight but we were hoping for that last night too but we were waiting for our food and could only hear the booms. The picture of the girls is (l to r) Savanna, Jessica Padgett, Linda, Amanda Lowe and Amy Parrish. Charlotte Parrish is the other mom with me. Despite the beginning of our week, we are expecting a fun week ahead!

Father's Day at the Lowmans

2009-06-23T22:31:00.004-04:00

Lee and Dave invited our family over to share the holiday with their family. We had a great time. Brooke and her boyfriend, Jason came and Zach Lowman and his girlfriend, Melissa, were also there. Gina and Steve and baby Jack had come down from the Richmond area on Friday. Zac Allen also came from Newport News. Dave's mom, Eloise was there also, so we had a huge crowd and it was lots of fun. The pool isn't completely done yet but it was good enough for us. It really is beautiful and the only thing it still needs is just cosmetics.

Rainbow!

2009-06-22T20:46:00.002-04:00

I stepped outside this evening to walk the critters and I looked up and saw a beautiful rainbow. It is the first time in a long time that I have seen a complete rainbow. There was one at the wedding this past weekend but it was only a part of one. The picture doesn't show it but later the really faint part filled in and it was complete. There is also a double one on the left side - pretty cool!!

Sunday afternoon at the Browns

2009-06-17T22:32:00.003-04:00

Ryan came over Sunday afternoon with Aaron, Ben, and Joe and his two children, Aiden and Leah. They had planned on going to the pool, but someone (I won't name names) has lost our key to the pool and they couldn't get in. So, they spent an hour or so hanging out with us. They are such cute kids. It was nice to take pictures of kids rather than dogs for a change. :-)

Luray Caverns

2009-06-10T21:09:00.004-04:00

This was a spectacular wonder! I had never been in caverns like this before. I had been in a mud cave when I was a teenager but never anything like this. It was really beautiful and what a treat for God to create this delight for us. We had a great breakfast this morning and then headed out to Luray Caverns. After touring the caverns and then the Car and Carriage Museum we ate lunch at the Artisan's Grill and then headed down Skyline Drive. It was a bit foggy so we didn't have a great view. But, we did see a bear that crossed the road in front of us and I couldn't get my camera up and ready before he was in the woods on the other side. That was exciting! We then stopped at Skyland and got a room for tonight. We went to eat at the restaurant, we had a table right at the window and while we were there watched a major rainstorm come up the mountain and it really poured! Tomorrow we are taking the Skyline Drive down to Waynesboro where we will get on 64 and head home.

Our Anniversary trip

2009-06-09T21:46:00.003-04:00

Brad and I left Monday morning for our 26th anniversary trip. We headed to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. It was a good trip although it didn't get really nice until we got off of I95. Then we got into the hills/mountains of Virginia and had a great time tooling around with the top down on the Eclipse. We are staying at a bed and breakfast in Luray, Virginia. It is a cute town, a little bigger than Bell Buckle, but reminded us of Bell Buckle because of the art influence here. Last night we ate at Uncle Buck's restaurant which was pretty good, not the best but certainly not the worst we have had. This morning we got up and had breakfast here at the B&B, and then went for a walk down the main street of Luray. We went into some of the antique shops, I saw some antique china that I would have loved to have but I was strong and passed it up. We then went into an art gallery that was in a Warehouse - one person's art is another person's junk right? Anyway, some of it was nice, I loved the stained glass art. We then ate at a little delicatesan and walked back to the B&B. It was pretty hot and humid so I needed a nap. We had planned on going to a local baseball game. I'm not sure what class ball you would call it, it is a team called the Luray Wranglers and they play with the Valley League. I doubt it was triple A, I really don't know. I was really excited about it but we had a terrible thunderstorm that lasted a couple of hours and I guess the field was just too wet cause they postponed the game. I was really disappointed I thought it sounded like so much fun! So, that is about all we did today, tomorrow we are going to the Luray Caverns and then we aren't quite sure what we are doing after that. We are playing it by ear.

My Beautiful Dancer Daughter

2009-06-09T21:01:00.003-04:00

Her last recital as a student is this year. The red sequin with the fringe is her solo costume.

Meet a REAL American Hero

2009-06-02T12:33:00.006-04:00

I went to Annapolis this past Saturday for a very special portrait session. I am putting this on my photography blog, but I really wanted to share on my personal blog as well. Back in March, a couple of weeks after Brad got home, I got a letter from a girl who saw my website and found out about Oplove Reunited through my website. She was sad that she didn't know about it sooner to have pictures of her family before her husband left for Iraq. He had just returned from Iraq and she was asking if I would consider coming up there to do a session and if not, could I recommend someone. Brad and I had been to Annapolis a few years ago for a wedding at the Naval Academy and we loved it so I told her I would definitely think about it, Brad and I are usually up for a road trip. At that point she wrote to me and told me a little bit more about their family and George's time in Iraq. After hearing their family's story there was no way I wasn't going up there to meet this young family and do a session for them as a small token of my appreciation for their military service. And, yes, I said THEIR military service. George spent 15 months in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Infantry, but Carolyn spent 15 months at home with a baby keeping "the home fires burning". Carolyn's desire was to have some nice pictures of their 3-year old son with George in his dress uniform so Zach would know how special his dad is. Even without all the military background this family is super special. I had a great time with them and it was well worth the drive up there. I won't go into details here because I don't think that Carolyn and George would want me to, but just be assured the man is a hero and I really wish our children today were growing up with heroes like him plastered on their walls instead of pictures of sports and entertainment stars. Men like George are the ones who deserve to have their pictures on children's walls! (Click on the picture and you can see a larger version)

Just doodlin'

2009-05-23T17:23:00.002-04:00

I was supposed to have an engagement session tonight down at the beach but we both forgot that it would be crazy crowded tonight with it being a holiday weekend, so we postponed it to later in the week. Which means I was bored and the clouds were gorgeous so I decided to play around with my lighting. The car was the only agreeable poser today - the dogs were too hot - haha. I did get a shot of Roxie panting with her tongue curled up - she's such a cutie! See what I have been brought down to? Pictures of dogs and now cars! I need a grandchild!! Or at least nieces and nephews that live near me!

LeeAnn's Grandbaby

2009-05-18T20:59:00.006-04:00

Most of you know that Brad and I spend a lot of our time with Dave and LeeAnn Lowman. About 3 weeks ago Lee's daughter, Gina, gave birth to Lee's first grandbaby. We were very excited for them all. LeeAnn's mom, Beverly, or "Nan" as we all call her, came in from Atlanta to see her first new GREAT-grandbaby. He is a beautiful little boy, and so good too. LeeAnn, Nan and I drove to the Richmond area on Saturday to see Jack and also to take pictures. These are just a few that first caught my eye. I'm sure you will be seeing more of Jack on my blog!

Happy "Late" Birthday to Matt

2009-05-18T20:30:00.000-04:00

Matt's birthday was on the 4th and we were trying to get everyone together for his birthday dinner and cake. Unfortunately that just wasn't happening and with Brad leaving again for 2 1/2 weeks it was now or never. Savanna was working and came in a little late but everyone else was here. We had dinner and cake and then watched "The Blues Brothers" - good fun!

My sweet posers

2009-05-12T17:22:00.001-04:00

Sweet little Kate feet

2009-04-30T23:05:00.000-04:00

What is it about baby feet that is so sweet?

All the way back to November

2009-04-30T23:02:00.000-04:00

Working on older pictures

2009-04-30T22:09:00.000-04:00

I have had a slow work week so I am going back to some of the pictures that I took this past winter. These were the first ones I saw. Jennifer reminded me though that I can go even further back so let me see what I can find.

Great Weekend!

2009-04-26T18:06:00.000-04:00

Well, I haven't had any internet since Friday night, as you can imagine it drove me crazy!! ANYWAY, the final tally was Savanna danced 7 dances and received 7 Platinums! Unbelievable. Every one of those girls in the company just stepped up and danced their hearts out yesterday. Savanna got her first solo Platinum which was very exciting! The dance that the girls did in February with no music (not on purpose, the music guy goofed up) got the highest score of the entire competition (299.9 out of 300 points). The studio got a big trophy for that one. I was so glad that one did so well, I felt they should have gotten a platinum back in February so it was nice that it was recognized this weekend. Brad and I are on our way to have dinner with Dave and Lee, we haven't seen them this weekend and I know she has lots of grandbaby pictures for me. I'll write more later. BTW, Savanna doesn't usually dress the way she is dressed in the pictures, she was dressed for the next dance - which by the way also got a special judges award.

DEA in Richmond Day/Night 1

2009-04-25T00:09:00.000-04:00

Wow! That is about all I can say! We got up to Richmond about 7:00 and got all settled. Savanna and Linda got ready for their dances. The first one is a lyrical and it was scheduled for 10:31 but they wound up going early. It looked beautiful to me but then I always think they look beautiful. About 15 minutes later they danced a tap number "Steppin to the bad side" (my personal favorite). I thought that one looked great too. Well when the awards came it turned out the judges thought they looked beautiful too cause they got platinums for both dances and the lyrical got a special judges award for best "heart and soul" dance. Too Cool! The junior team also got a platinum for one of their dances too so it was quite an exciting evening. It was the first competitive platinum for several of the girls and the two "post" seniors were hoping for a platinum at some point this year so they could "retire with a platinum". They are on top of the world tonight and it is a great place to be! Tomorrow are the solos and the rest of the dances - hopefully tomorrow will go as well as tonight. G'night.

Happy Birthday Brad

2009-04-11T12:19:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Brad's birthday while we were in Texas with his family last Saturday and last night we celebrated with the kids. I can't remember the last time we were all together so it was nice. We met Ryan's girlfriend Jaime too, she is very nice and fit right in with the rest of us. She puts up with Ryan's antics so she is all right with us! :-) We went to the Melting Pot in Newport News. We had a great time and the food was awesome! My favorite of course was the dessert. They gave Brad some helium balloons for his birthday and Ryan took one and was taking in the air and talking funny, he is a kook! And, NO, I hadn't been drinking although I look like I am drunk in that picture.

My favorite

2009-04-10T10:23:00.001-04:00

This is my favorite picture that I took of Shepherd this weekend.

Time in Texas

2009-04-10T10:17:00.000-04:00

Ryan was over badgering me last night about wanting more pictures of Shepherd so since I really should be cleaning house I decided to take just a few minutes and get these put up. On Saturday we went "Bluebonnet hunting" and we found many fields covered in bluebonnets. They are really beautiful but it seemed everyone else had the same idea so we found a field with just a few people and took pictures. I have many more but these are just the ones that caught my eye this morning.

My favorite of Ben's pictures

2009-04-07T20:05:00.001-04:00

This was actually taken by Jenna with Ben's camera outside of the church after the service - it made me cry when I first saw it.

Shepherd's Baptism

2009-04-07T19:49:00.000-04:00

I have many, many pictures that I took this past weekend but it will probably be several days before I am able to edit them. I have two different work projects that have to be completed first before I do my "fun" stuff. But, Ben gave me the pictures that were taken with his camera and I am posting the baptism pictures. The baptism was a really sweet service. As Godparents, Brad and I had the honor of standing there along with Ben and Leah and receiving the instructions that we were to be sure that Shepherd is brought up in the church and encourage him in the Christian faith - what a great honor and responsibility! The pastor that baptized Shepherd had been with Ben and Leah throughout the long and emotional process of dealing with infertility and the horrible treatments and then the emotional roller coaster of adoption, so he is quite special to their family. After he baptized Shepherd he walked up and down the church aisle carrying Shepherd telling the rest of the church that they too were responsible for encouraging Shepherd in the Christian faith. We heard from several of the church people later that Shepherd was smiling at everyone as he was being carried up the aisle. What a sweetie! I will have more pictures to come and Mom I will get the house pictures up ASAP as well! :-)

The move to Suffolk

2009-03-16T07:45:00.000-04:00

We are now living in Suffolk and so far we haven't seen the sun since we got here. It is nasty wet, cold rain. Walking dogs in the rain has never been my favorite thing and it is becoming something I truly hate, especially when a certain two year old Schnoodle won't do her business in a timely manner!

We all love the new house, we will have to get used to being further away from everything but I think everyone pretty much agrees that it is worth the drive. It is so quiet out here. Even though it was rainy Savanna and Erik took a walk last night and found the two fishing piers in the neighborhood. Savanna said one was a swamp - no fishing going on there but the other one is really nice. Ryan and Ben came over last night and while Erik was here we put all the boys to work (Matt was working) and hung the big tv on the wall. I must admit it scares me a bit to see that big 'ole thing hanging there, I keep thinking it is going to fall off. It was lucky that all the boys were here because we needed everyone of them to help. That was quite a job getting that tv hung. Of course Savanna and I just sat on the couch cringing thinking something was going to fall.

We have most of our stuff in our new house, we will be finishing up cleaning out the old place today. The movers didn't pack up any of the bathrooms so that is the main thing that has to be done, besides some things in the garage. The important stuff is unpacked here at the new place - the kitchen. Hopefully I will have a picture or two in the next week or so. Cross your fingers for the rain to GO AWAY!!

The Moms

2009-03-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

My mom has been visiting with my brother Reid and his wife, Debbie for the past week and a half. Reid and Debbie live in south Texas in the winter. Brad's mom and dad also live in south Texas so Reid and Debbie drove Mom up to Sandia so the mom's could visit. Over 27 years ago it was "the Moms" who played matchmaker and made sure that Brad and I met. They were quite good at being matchmakers! Debbie sent this picture to me of my two favorite ladies - enjoy!

Kate - a - roo!

2009-03-01T14:18:00.001-05:00

Jennifer put this picture of Kate on her blog and I absolutely love it so I am stealing it and putting it on mine too! Isn't she a cutie?? I am so jealous of their snow. It has been years and years (well over 20) since I have seen snow like that!

Dance Masters

2009-02-14T23:04:00.001-05:00

This weekend was the Dance Masters competition. This is the competition that we usually spend the weekend in Ocean City, Maryland. This year they held it down in Virginia Beach. It was a fairly normal competition except for one thing that happened which is the reason I am blogging tonight. First of all Savanna did great with her solo, she got a gold which is the first time she has gotten a gold at this particular competition. It is the toughest of the year. She was in the running for Miss Dance Virginia and although she did not win, we are proud of her for competing and extremely proud of her for her graciousness. The other girls who did not win were not so gracious, one even crying on the stage. ANYWAY, what I am blogging about is something completely different. From the time the girls started practicing their dances for this year's competition I have heard from Savanna how tough "Foggy Day" is and how they really stink up the place with it. It is a trio and all three girls are beautiful dancers but for some reason they have never danced that dance to any of their satisfaction. Trios are very difficult to dance in complete unison so they are tough anyway. So, the girls go out there and the music starts and about 16 counts into the song the music stops, the girls just continued dancing without the music and wound up dancing the complete dance with no music - in perfect unison!! It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. They got a standing ovation from the judges and the crowd. Savanna said it was one of the coolest moments of her life. Later one of the board members of the DMA came up to the girls and told them that she had been teaching for (?? - Savanna couldn't remember how many years the lady said) and that she had never seen anything like it. They got a gold from the judges and they also got a special judges award for professionalism. What was funny though was after they came off the stage, the music guy asked them if they wanted to run it again with the music and the girls looked at Diane (their teacher) and Diane said "It's up to you, but you may mess it all up" so they looked at each other and looked at the guy and said "Nope, we're good!" Too funny! As a parent of one of those girls I couldn't have been prouder!

And even more

2009-02-05T20:45:00.001-05:00

And some more

2009-02-04T21:41:00.000-05:00

More Pics

2009-02-04T20:42:00.001-05:00

Yep, I'm playing again

2009-02-04T18:02:00.001-05:00

These are pictures that I took while Jen and the girls were here and I am just now getting to play with them. Jen, I'm working on the files and will get the disc to you soon! More to come!

Uncle Brad and Shep

2009-01-26T23:30:00.000-05:00

When Brad flew back to Japan on December 31st he had a 3 hour layover in Houston. Ben and Leah live in Houston and Buz and Liz were visiting them at the time so they all met Brad at the airport and had some visiting time. It was the first time that he met Shepherd. It was awesome that they had that special time. Ben and Leah sent me this picture that was taken. I love it!

Playing around

2009-01-08T16:59:00.000-05:00

When I should be working!