My sister with C & his friend E

First United Methodist Church

Full Moon

I don't care what anyone else says, all the crazies come out the week of the Full Moon!

Columbus Day

We went and visited some friends of ours this weekend and I got some great macro shots and also got some good ones of their horses. Check them out.

Fall Is Here!

It's Fall!!

So Fall is my favorite time of year. I wish the weather was always cool during the day, but not too cool and at night you have to put on a jacket to go outside.

Pumpkin Patch

Well C got sick last week with a nasty stomach bug going around here and a cold that triggered his asthma and made it sound way worse than it was. We had to get an x-ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia again and thank goodness it wasn't. If it was, it would've been the 4th time this year after having the pneumonia shot!! So anyways, by Satuday afternoon he was feeling much better and was acting like a typical 2 year old. So on Sunday we decided to head up to Sinkland Farms & look for Pumpkins! Always a fun trip! So we went with some friends from work and their kids. Here are a few pics.....

Morning Dew

This beautiful spider web was hanging on my butterfly bush this morning when my husband and I left for work. I am glad he pointed it out to me. I have a new macro camera lens I just got and decided to use it. Here are 2 pictures I captured...

Salem vs. Brookville

Here are a few pictures from the Salem vs. Brookville game from Friday night. The local So Salem paper keeps posting my pictures on their website when I send them in. They are supposed to be putting some of them in the paper that they send out every week. Here are a few of the non-action shots

Photography

So I have been trying to build this photography hobby up into an on the side business. I have been doing most people's pictures for free just to get experience and to get my name out there. It seems to be working as more people are calling on me. I did my first paid event last weekend, it my friends Darryl & Taren's wedding. I was so nervous even until today until I got confirmation from Darryl that he liked the pictures. I will post a few of those later after he has had a chance to look at all of them first.

The Matthew Shepard Foundation

I was looking for charities yesterday and happen to come across the Matthew Shepard Foundation. This story really struck me when it first happened and also when I re-read it today. This website is for all hate crimes, whether religous, race, or sexual orientation. This website has hotlines for teens who feel like they want to run away from home and also had a hot line for teens who want to commit suicide because the don't know how to deal with being different. It is a great website and I wanted to put it out there for everyone to see. Please take a look at it and please let anyone you know who is struggling with issues of hate to check it out.

http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageNavigator/Matthews%20Place/Engage/Guest%20Book/Engage__Guest_Book

Sorry all pictures were copyrighted as stated on the website.

Another Charity

Ok, so I have found another charity that I think is very good! It is called Hannah & Friends. Hannah is the daughter of Notre Dame Football Coach Charlie Weis & his wife. She was born with kidney problems which later continued into more problems as she got older. The foundation gives grants to familie in Indiana and Rhode Island who have adults or children living in the home with special needs. They are also planning a charity to build new houses for Adults with special needs. Please check it out!

http://www.hannahandfriends.org/index.html

New fun Stuff

Ok I took this picture just above of the solar cat light and cropped just the light and changed the hue to pink in one picture and left it green in the other. Then I used software and manipulated the light images into the other 2 really cool pictures.

Sorry it's been a while

Well, lots of things have happened since my last post. I had a scare a couple weeks ago when I had shooting pain down my left arm along with nausea and chest pains. I went to the ER and they said it was inflammation since I had already had that a year before. But deep in my gut "I" knew it wasn't that. I felt nothing like the last time I had inflammation. So I am scheduled to have a stress test later this month. Then the next Monday my son got pneumonia for the 3rd time this year. Poor guy was throwing up all night. Luckily he knows to go to the potty to do it now. It was bad when he was younger and would hold onto me and just do it all over my shoulder. Poor little guy. Then, I suddenly developed these unusual whelps on my legs arms stomach and back. I went to the doctor and they of course had no idea what they were. They weren't itchy or sore so that eliminated quite a few things. They tested me for Lyme's Disease and I am still waiting for my test results. We have also had to hold off on the baby making, one because the above mentioned but I am also very irregular now that I took my IUD out. I have nowever started my own website to start selling my photography. I found out about this cool website called Etsy while reading an ABC news report on at home jobs. So please check it out and let me know what you think and please purchase something.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6113591

Backflow valves

Ok, do any of "you" know what a backflow valve is?? I have a general idea, but only because I work in the office I do. It is some kind of valve that goes on irrigation systems and domestic water lines and sprinkler lines to keep poisons and dirt from backing up into the City water. Well the lovely task of letting people know they have to tested annually, yes annually, was left to me. I haven't even sent out a 3rd of the letters, I've sent over 100, and people are calling and cussing me out. I am just writing this to express my anxiety over dealing with this. I understand people don't know what they are, but you don't have to yell at me, I'm just the messenger! Ok, I am calmed down a little more now!

Sanfilippo Syndrome (MPS III)

Ok, I have come across another disease that I feel I should pass along awareness to others. It is called Sanfilippo Syndrome (MPS III). I was reading ABC News again and came across a story about a little girl named Caitlin. She has this disease and her parents have been told she will most likely not live past the age of 12. It affect 1 in 25,000 children and there is not treatment and cannot be slowed down by any means either. These children are missing a special enzyme that breaks down a complex body sugar called heparin sulfate. Caitlin is a 3 year old girl who has this disease that will eventually lead to hyperactivity, sleep disorders, mental retardation, dementia & then death. The website I am about to post tells her story. Her mother has quit her job to be her caregiver and her father continues to work. The family is however planning several different vacations and trips to show Caitlin a good time before she loses her memory and ability to do anything. Please take a minute to read her story.

http://caitlinsdream.com/

Vacation Time with my Buddy

Well my parents & MawMaw went out of town this week, so I didn't have a sitter for little man. I didn't want to ask Chris to keep him all week and I was kind of excited to have some time to take off with him. I wish I had more money to do more things with him, but we made due with what we had. We got up every morning and took a shower and ate breakfast & then went and watered MawMaw's flowers and fed my parents cats & took a nap. In between we went to the Duck Pond and chased ducks around, we went to the park, & to the Salem Fair one night with Daddy. And then on Wednesday daddy took a half a day off work and we all went to see the movie Kung Fu Panda with some gift cards my brother gave me for my birthday. It was really nice to get to spend some time with Daddy, he's been very busy with work. This was Carson's first experience in a movie theatre. To tell you the truth I was really dreading it because I didn't think he could sit still or be quiet long enough for an 1 & a half movie. He ended up doing really good though! Here are some of my favorite pictures I got from my vacation with little C.

4th of July

Happy week after July 4th! Well I haven't been very good at keeping this thing updated. I have been on vacation with C. We went to Great Grandparents Mammaw Joice & Pawpaw Frank's house at Smith Mountain Lake and then came back home and watched fireworks at Green Hill Park! Here are a few pictures from our 4th of July weekend!

Crocks

Ok, so I am not a fan of these shoes at all, however, they are very easy for C's to put on and take off by himself, which makes things a lot easier on me these days. They are also great for photos. They are so colorful they look great if you just take a picture of a child's feet in them! Here is a picture of C's new crocks!

Blood: Water Mission

I was just doing some searching for different photography ideas and I came across this website about a guy in the Virginia Beach area who put together this benefit concert to raise money and awareness for people in Africa who need clean blood & drinking water......so I just thought I would spread it along as well, please take a look at the website! Thanks


http://hamptonroads.com/node/271401

Birthday!!

Yesterday was my 27th birthday! I can't believe I am almost 30. Its seems like I turned 21 not too long ago. I turned 21 right after I started dating my husband.......geez!

Here Kitty Kitty....

There is a stray cat that wonders through my In-Laws yard sometimes. I love cats and wonder over to them every time I see one. This one is very loving and will rub all over you if you just sit there and let it. I yelled for Carson to come outside and take a look at him and here was the result. Every time the cat would walk away he waved wave and say bye bye to it and then he would chase it. In one of the pictures you can see that the cat rubbed up against Carson's face and he thought it felt a little weird! Then at one point a butterfly flew past and Carson stood there and told the cat to go catch it. When the cat didn't move, Carson looked at him again and said very sternly.....Go catch it!! Still the cat never moved and they just continued to play.....

Learning to Swim

Well we took Carson up to the pool the other day and he is finally starting to get the hang of swimming. We haven't been able to teach him very much especially when he was younger because every time we would put him in the pool he would get an ear infection. Well we put tubes in his ears back at New Years and his ears have been great ever since. We have to put wax in his ears with tap water, but we were told chlorine water was ok without it. My mom got some floaties for him and the first time I tried to put them on him a month ago he freaked out and didn't want anything to do with them. We joined Stonegate this year and when we took him up there the other day he voluntarily gave me the floaties to put on his arms. **I think he saw some other kids with them on and that made him feel better about them.** My dad had been teaching him how to dig and kick a couple of nights before, so when we got in the big pool with the floaties this time he was ready to go. My Mother-in-Law got in with him and let him push off her legs to a ladder, while Pa showed him how to keep his chin up and pucker his lips so he didn't swallow any water. He did so good and I can't believe he didn't freak out while in the water unattached to a human being. Here are some pictures from this memorable day.....

Pool Fun

We had a cookout with my parents last night at their pool. We had hot dogs, cheeseburgers, & green beans, & banana pudding. It was so much fun. Here are a few pictures....(that's my brother going off the diving board)

Birthday party

Well we went to Blake's birthday party this weekend. He turned 3 years old! It seems like just last year we were there for his 2nd birthday! Every year we go over they have a new blow up toy! This year they have a blow up slide that sprayed water on you when you went down it. Carson was of course scared to death of it. I put him on it once kicking and screaming and he threw a fit and said he was mad at me. :-) Here are a few pictures...