Just the Five of us.....

No traveling this year.... just celebrating Jesus at home. We made a batch of cookies, had a turkey dinner on Christmas Eve and a crab leg dinner on Christmas day. It was wonderful. Gift giving was very easy this year!!! Both of the kids wanted (and well, actually need for school) their own laptop. We all received mostly money from family in Minnesota with the exception of a few small gifts from my dad and step-mom.

I actually got a picture of the kids together!! They are at the age where they don't like to get to close to one another! :)


But before we could open gifts, Lady started pawing at everyone's gifts so we had to let her open hers first. She clearly doesn't forget what Christmas is about!! :)


And then it was Michael and Grace's turns!




And I got my music note Pandora charm!!!

And as if Lady didn't have enough opening her gift, she had to help Jeff! I caught the tail-end on video.

Book Report: Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

This beauty took me over three weeks to read, and it wasn’t because I didn’t want to read and read and read! With work, school and life, it’s taking me longer than normal to read books lately. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah was one I’ve had my list of books to read for a long time. It was not, however, one that I had at the top of my list because someone had told me it was “just okay”. Then, my sweet friend Pam read it in a day! She absolutely LOVED and adored this book so I knew I had to read it right away as we have very similar tastes in what we read.

Firefly Lane is a book about two friends and everything they go through in life together… and apart. The story expands over three decades and so much happens. This is a sweet, special story about love and hope and forgiveness. Kate and Tully were two characters that I could really relate with. I have a BFF… My Lynn will forever and always be my BFF. We met in 7th grade and became friends the moment we met…. And have been ever since. Kate and Tully were the same way. And although my Lynn still lives in Minnesota and I live in Michigan, and we don’t see each other or talk as much as we’d like, she’ll always be my BFF and I know that her and I have a love that will last forever just like Kate and Tully! I really loved this book…. Probably one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Kristin Hannah is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors… Right up there with Diane Chamberlain and Jodi Picoult.

(My BFF Lynn and I in High School.)
Lesson learned: A book that someone else thinks is “just okay” may just be one that I think is amazing. Read it myself (and sooner) to find out! Now, I completely understand that not everyone will think this book is amazing… you might even think it’s “just okay”, but you’ll never know if you don’t read it so hurry and do so!

SPOILER (kinda) ALERT: Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know too much about the story, but following is some great information. I think this book would make a fabulous Lifetime-type movie (ooo.... maybe Lynn and I can play Kate and Tully!). Not only because of the dynamics of Kate and Tully’s friendship but because the author covers a very important topic – inflammatory breast cancer. Obviously you can guess that one of the characters ends up with this horrible disease. But the thing that really tugged at me was that I had never heard of this! We all know about self-examinations, mammograms and breast lumps in the typical breast cancer, but I was ignorant to the fact that redness, tenderness, swelling and skin-puckering can be an indicator of breast cancer as well, just a different kind. I don’t believe the awareness is as high for this type of breast cancer which is unfortunate because it’s just as life-threatening and can be misdiagnosed as a breast infection which can lead to deadly consequences. I think it’s important that the awareness is raised for inflammatory breast cancer so I wanted to share a great informational article that the Mayo Clinic has published. Please take the time to read this and share it with women you love.

Photo Shoot: Shantel & Adrien

I am super excited... my little sister moved from Minnesota here to Michigan for college. This has been a dream of hers since she was a little girl... and her dream has finally come true. Even though it is her dream and she absolutely loves Michigan, it was a little tough... Adrien, her boyfriend of two years, is still back in Minnesota. They miss each other but Shantel is having the time of her life at college and is truly happy. Shantel and I have always been extremely close, so her moving here is a dream come true for me as well. I love that I get to see her every few weeks... time with her is precious. Adrien came with Shantel to move her into her dorm, so I offered to do a photo shoot of them the week before she moved in. While Adrien wasn't too keen on the whole thing (or the city), I did get some great shots! :)

My favorite....

And the rest....

Photo Shoot: Sheena & Ella

When we were in Minnesota over Memorial weekend, I also did a little photoshoot of Sheena and Ella! As you can tell by the slideshow below, Ella was totally loving having the spotlight on her! :) Probably two of my favorite images of her....

Really??? It's been over a month since I posted!!! Bad, bad blogger!!!!

What have I been up to? LOTS! Beginning of May, I managed to get pretty sick with bronchitis. We went to Minnesota over the Memorial Day weekend for Shantel's high school graduation and grad party.... but a week before we left, I managed to smash my foot and shocked everyone that it wasn't broken, but lots of soft tissue damage (still hurts if I push on it wrong). Then Shantel and Angie followed us back to Michigan and spent over a week here. Then I managed to get poison ivy for the first time in my life which subsequently resulted in a horrible allergic reaction to God knows what. I spent two+ weeks with horrible hives, missed a bunch of work. Then the first week of July... Monica, Dad, Sheena, Ella and Kiara came to visit. Thankfully my hives were sort-of under control by that point. Sheena and I spent two wonderful days in Detroit (our first sister trip ever). The following week, Jeff and I spent three amazing days up north.... two nights on Mackinac Island, spent some time in Traverse City. And the last couple of weeks, I've spent time getting caught up at home and at work, and trying to edit pictures..... I still have over 1000 to look through!

I'm so proud of my little sister! She graduated 3rd in her class. She will be moving to Michigan in just 1 1/2 weeks to attend Central Michigan University in their pre-med program! I absolutely cannot wait to have her here!!!

I'll end this post with a couple of pictures from her graduation. The first one of us siblings... L to R - me, Shantel, Sheena and Shaun. The second one is of Shantel and some of her friends (Shantel was thrilled to have her own sister-photographer for the weekend) before the ceremony. And the last one is of Shantel after the ceremony, walking back down the aisle!

I love you, Shantel.... you make me so proud!

First Family Photoshoot! My brother Shaun & his family!

My brother and his beautiful fiance asked me to take family photos for them while we were in Minnesota over Memorial weekend. I had a blast! I got some great engagement shots as well as tons of others! Shaun and Tonya will be married next summer! I can hardly wait. We are super blessed to have Tonya, her son Austin and daughter Alyssa join our family!

This is my niece Alivia! She was the cutest thing trying to blow dandelions! She got so frustrated with the first one that she popped it's head right off! :)

April's Acres!

My friend, April, lives on the cutest hobby farm!! She has horses and goats and chickens and pigs! I had so much fun photographing the animals! Just thought I'd give you a little sneak peek at April and her super silly horse!

Mother/Son & Father/Daughter Dance

Our dear friends, Rick and Jamie, attended the father/daughter and mother/son dance with their twins, Grant and Allana, this past Friday night, so I offered to snap a few pictures of them. I don't really like how they turned out (I could have been way more creative with posing them) but they are ok for taking some quick snapshots. Thankfully they are a super adorable family, so that totally makes up for the lack of interesting-ness. :)


And Allana wanted a picture with her mommy!

Mother's Day Photo Shoot at Olds Manor (Rowe Hotel) Grand Rapids, MI

So last Sunday was Mother's Day, and I told Michael and Grace that the only thing I wanted was for them to let me take their photos without complaint. Grace really doesn't complain.... in fact, she was great at posing for me. But Michael wasn't all that into it which was completely expected. He's a (nearly) 15-year-old teenager. I've accepted the fact that most pictures of him at this age will not include a smile on his face. It's ok.... really. And they weren't too keen on the idea of having a photograph together! Oh well.

So I knew exactly where I wanted to take them! There is an AMAZINGLY cool old building in downtown Grand Rapids..... this building is urban decay at it's finest (or maybe it's worst??)! Olds Manor has the best architecture! Rusted flag poles, faces sculpted on the sides of the building, broken lights and a touch of graffiti added... wow. I am totally fascinated with this building. The kids and I had a great time peeking in the windows... oh how I'd love to get in there to photograph it! It was built in the late 1800's and first opened as the Rowe Hotel, later turning into an old folks home called Olds Manor. I am not sure when it closed, but this building is now slowing falling apart. It's actually quite sad that it's fate is not yet known. I did get some great shots of the kids, which I am so thankful for. And I got some shots of various parts of the building. I do want to go back and photograph it some more... seriously cool, in a very creepy way!












And these next two were taken next to Olds Manor at the post office. Grace loved this ginormous ramp that the postal cars drive on!

Getting a teenage boy.....

.....to take a picture is like finding a needle in a haystack. A very difficult thing to accomplish.... if not, impossible.

But, Michael let me take... oh about five pictures. That's it.

Light of my Life!

This week at Jessica Sprague, we given a creative assignment with the theme of "Light of My Life" and were challenged to use backlighting. Grace is definitely a light of my life! I don't know what I'd do without her.... she's an amazing girl (well, pre-teen). She had just got her hair cut and the sun was shining so beautiful today, it fit perfect with this week's creative challenge!

Sweet, Sweet Walker!

I absolutely adore this kid! Meet Walker.... he is our friends Rick & Jamie's son. He looked so precious eating his blue push-up pop at the ballpark yesterday! I {heart} him!

I can't believe he's almost 15!

Michael actually let me take a picture of him... he does NOT like his picture taken so this is a huge gift! I told him I wanted to practice focusing on his eyes (thus no smile) and he let me! :) I must say... he's turning into a mighty handsome young man!

Oh Shoot! - Shutter Speeds & Another Special Birthday Gift!!!

So I decided to take a Jessica Sprague class to help me understand my camera a bit better! It's an 8-week, instructor lead class taught by an amazing photographer, Candice Stringham. I typically can get a decent picture but to be quite honest, I don't really know how to use all the manual settings to the best of their abilities and I get quite confused by shutter speeds, aperatures, focal length and everything technical like that.

This week's lesson is about shutter speeds. So far, we have learned the difference between various shutter speeds and a technique called panning. I had no clue what it meant to turn my camera to the "S" for shutter speed priority. Essentially, I pick the shutter speed and the camera figures out the rest of the settings for you. Our first assignment for the week is to practice the same shot with different shutter speeds.

Yesterday, I received a belated birthday gift from my sweet friend, Pam! She loves antique stuff and reminiscing about the past as much as I do! So when she saw me post a picture of an extra special Jack in the Box like one I had as a child, it was her mission to buy me one for my birthday! :) And the timing couldn't have been better.... what a perfect prop to practice shutter speeds!

First I have to tell you, in this class we have to post pictures that are "Straight Out of Camera" - no editing allowed, at least not yet. So these photos are off-centered. (I really wanted to crop them!!)

These pictures were taken while Michael turned the crank on my new Jack in the Box. Thankfully I know just when Jack is going to pop up - "Pop Goes the Weasel" - so I started shooting just at the perfect time and got two great shots right away!

This first picture is showing the blur from a slow shutter speed - 1/40 sec. See his little blurry hand? :(The second picture is showing his cute little hand perfectly up in the air as he pops up! :) Clear and no blurring. This was taken with a faster shutter speed of 1/500 sec.
So there you have it, shutter speeds! :)

The BEST present EVER! :)

"Sometimes I get to places just when God's ready to have
somebody click the shutter." - Ansel Adams
I got home from work last Friday to a box waiting at my door!! I knew my birthday and Christmas present was going to arrive soon because Shantel and Dad kept picking on me about it!!! I opened it and found a pink John Deere T-shirt that I have been wanting for SO long! And under it was this amazing antique camera. I thought "HOW COOL"! Shantel knew how much I wanted to start collecting them!!!! And then I found the card and read it.... and immediately started sobbing (and continued to do so for 45 minutes).... this camera was my Grandpa Schraut's!!! Seriously, I couldn't have asked for such a great gift. I was always sad that I never had anything of my late grandparents and now I do! ♥ ♥ I love you Dad and Shantel! And, you are right, this is the perfect start to my collection!

(Click on the above picture to make it larger to read the card.)
So today, my dad shared with me that I was holding the camera incorrectly. He remembered his dad, my grandpa, holding it down near this stomach and looking in the little window on the top (and side) as he took a photo. This proves know much I do not know about vintage cameras... but I still love this picture of me anyways! :) And oh how I love this little thing!! My heart beams with joy! :)