The Big 30!

Yesterday was the big three zero for me! It's hard to believe I'm no longer in my twenties, but I really don't mind birthdays at all. Some people get all weirded out about them and bemoan the fact they are getting older - but it sure beats the alternative! :-) Why not live to the fullest and celebrate each year you have.

I had a really good day. It started out with my wonderful co-workers. When I arrived at work on Friday morning, this beautiful bouquet of flowers greeted me on my desk. I was so surprised! So thank you, "all of us" - that was so kind! And then Mr. Hooker had bagels brought in from the best place of all, Panera Bread, and made sure I had my favorite - cinnamon toast crunch! Yum!

I met Aaron for lunch at Vernon Manor. He had never been to their buffet and since he now works so close there it was perfect. We were chatting with our server and she asked if we were in town for an event or if we lived here. I told her we actually lived here in Cincy and had met for lunch to celebrate my birthday. When she learned that she brought out this HUGE piece of chocolate cake with fudge layers drizzled with chocolate. It was amazing!

Then... we met Aaron parents and Cameron for supper in Batesville, Indiana (kind of the half-way point for both of us) at the Sherman House. I love going to new restaurants and since I get to choose the place on my birthday I always choose a place no one has ever been before. This was definitely different, but very tasty. My favorite was the fried dill pickles we had for an appetizer. I love dill pickles of course, but didn't know how they would taste fried. I was very impressed and want to try making them at home. In fact we all loved them - they really were that good!

So, not only was it a good day, but it was also a very good eating day!

birthday flowers at work

fried dill pickle chips

at the Sherman House

...and they brought me an apple dumpling with ice cream complete with a candle!

opening my birthday present afterwards - a really cute maternity shirt and skirt

An '09 Senior

Stephen Lum stopped by from Pennsylvania last week to have his senior pictures done. I love making senior pictures "personal" and was so glad when he requested some piano shots. He was great to work with

Suddenly Happier

Just like Charlotte, I am still greatly enjoying The Grocery Game. This week was especially good with some great deals at both Meijer and Kroger. Even though it's just Aaron and me, I have saved a ton on our grocery bill. And just to prove it, I've been tracking my savings. I joined The Grocery Game in January. For these last 6 months, my total savings adds up to $750.63 (this includes my coupons and store savings like sale items)! I am so glad I've been keeping track - this certainly adds up and makes me realize how much you can save if you look for deals and plan your menu around sale items.

My favorite deal from this week...

Aaron and I absolutely love Suddenly Salad, but I don't buy it very often because it's a little pricey at $2.39 per box. Well, this week Kroger has Suddenly Salad on sale for $1.00 per box (10 for $10). This in itself is a good buy; however, I found a coupon at bettycrocker.com to get 40 cents off a box. Even though it says "do not double" they nearly always double these at the store and this was no exception. Therefore, I ended up paying only 20 cents per box for these Suddenly Salads making me suddenly happier!

We had a great time in Michigan this weekend at the wedding of Jennifer Hartkopf and Wesley Gray! They were such an incredible couple to photograph - very easy going and flexible and did anything we asked them. And the wedding was absolutely beautiful! Here's one of the happy couple (I'll post more later).


We also enjoyed traveling with Ron and Jennee. They showed us the ropes of Michigan since Ron is a native - he got us everywhere we needed to go. We stopped by the mall and Jennee and I got some great deals at Bath & Body works and our other favorite place - the candy store! These carmel apples looked so good - I could have probably eaten them all!


The highlight of the weekend for Aaron was our very cool car - a 2008 Cadillac STS. Too bad it was only a rental - we reluctantly gave it up after we returned to Cincinnati (but I'm sure I wouldn't want the car payments).

Family Time

I've been on a major "family picture high" recently - and I'm loving it! If there's one thing I would love to be able to accomplish, it would be to convince families how important it is to have a family picture taken. I cringe when I hear, "The last picture we had was at our wedding - and now we have 4 kids!" I know everyone is busy and it does take effort to get everyone together, but I promise it's worth it. (I am now stepping down from my soap box. :-) )

I took pictures of the Fourman family (all 17 of them) last week and enjoyed doing all the different groupings.

Here's a few . . .

Castle Images

Last week Aaron and I headed to Shelbyville, IN for a photo shoot with the Castle family - all 16 of them! Martha told me this was the first time they had all been together in over 3 years, so I was so happy that they made the effort to get family pictures.

We had so much fun with all of them - and the kids were great! Here's a few favorites from the evening.

It was great to meet Troy & Martha's newest addition - Silas.

I just love this one!

Lilly kept peeking out from behind the box - she was so cute!

Yep - they sure are brothers!

Memorial Day (especially for Camen)

We had a great time at Jeff and Vicki's house for Memorial Day, complete with great food such as grilled steak, shrimp (don't worry - I refrained since I'm allergic to shrimp), corn on the cob, homemade cookies, etc.

Poor Camen had quite an experience that day. I was playing the board game, Life, with Kaley and Caleb, and Camen was trying to "help" us play in every way.
I realized he was a little too quiet for a moment and looked up to see him sticking the tiny boy and girl game pieces up his nose! Remember those tiny, tiny pieces you put in your car for a boy/girl when you land on spaces that say you have children. Of course I immediately took action and thought we got the piece out, especially since he had a piece in each hand. He wouldn't let me check his nose very thoroughly, so I took him downstairs to his mom so she could make sure. All was well (we thought).

For the next few hours, Aaron and Jeff said that Camen would whimper a little bit and touch his nose. They thought he had simply scratched the inside with the pieces and it was just sore. However, we were in the basement later on and Camen started sneezing. Since he was sneezing repeatedly (at least 6 or 7 times), Kaley and I were laughing. All of a sudden a little girl game piece from the Life game came flying out of his nose!! I was so shocked! No wonder the poor boy was whimpering! After that sneeze, he had the biggest grin on his face and was the happiest child around.

Camen and Kaley are best buds!

Camen loves being outside and cried and cried when we had to go in.

It's a . . .

BOY!

We found out last week that we will be having a boy! Hooray!!
New due date: October 10.

Why I haven't had a chance to blog . . .

Whew! It's Friday and I'm so glad! I've been running from one activity to another - so this post will be a "catch up" of what I've been up to.

I recently spoke for the Women of Worth (May Meeting). It was nerve wracking as I had never done something like this before, but it actually went pretty well (thankfully!). I showed a PowerPoint on 5 Steps to Better Photography and then ways to be a portrait of Christ.

A group picture for the website . . .

. . . and a a small display I set up so the ladies could see some of my work.

Linda Davison always does such a good job with the decorations. Since May is national scrap booking month and we were talking about photography, she used negatives and tape strips for the table decorations.

The next night was Concert on the Lawn at GBS. I was so happy to be able to attend this year (instead of being sick).

Kristin, Jennee, and I - it was actually pretty chilly that night. Several people had blankets.

Camp Meeting at GBS was in here somewhere. We heard some incredible messages this year.

A local preschool asked me to photograph their graduates. This was so much fun! I had to make myself be serious and not just laugh at them on several occasions. It's hilarious to see how 4 year old kids act when they get the cap and gown on. Some didn't like it at all and others couldn't wait to put it on for the pictures and were not happy when they had to take it off. :- ) I really enjoyed doing this and from all indications, the parents love the pictures!


I photographed a Mother/Daughter Tea for the ladies at Christian Nation Church. It was so cute to see the little girls all dressed up for "tea" with their mother, trying to act elegant.

Kianna (Deanna Kennedy's girl) is so adorable! She was sitting at the table after the pictures and I couldn't resist getting this picture of her!


So, I have been having a good time, but that's why I haven't been blogging. :-)

Finalized!

Although I finished my class work in December, actually having the graduation made it all FINAL in my head!

We had a great time at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia last weekend. It was really nice that so many family members were able to attend!

The weather was beautiful for the entire weekend. This was at the rehearsal on Friday afternoon.

After rehearsal they had a very nice reception for the distance learning students.

I loved how the student center was designed. There were all kinds of sitting/lounge areas that were decorated in really neat ways for a collegiate setting.

I liked this checkerboard area where none of the seats even matched.

The graduation ceremony was held outdoors at Williams Stadium.

I thought for sure I was near the back of the line of graduates until I turned around and saw this mass that still had to exit the soccer field where we lined up on Saturday morning. There were 4,800 graduates, so you can imagine the line of people.

It was so funny to watch all the graduates on cell phones, waving, standing on chairs, and doing all sorts of actions to try to find their family members in the stands. This was quite a feat with about 20,000 people in attendance.

This is my friend, Lynette. She is a really sweet girl. She was in the distance learning program too, but lived much closer - only 2 1/2 hours away from campus.

I'm sure this would have been a fun professor to have in class! He had 2 cans of silly string and was spraying his students during the faculty processional!

He obviously wasn't the only one that did this as you can see from the field.

Yeah - Aaron's probably just as glad that I'm done as I am myself!

Unfortunately, my mother was sick and had to leave partway through the ceremony, so she's not pictured here (and we missed you too, Jana/Mark and KKKK).

Camen looks very interested in Kendall's map of campus.

And finally, the LU mountain - very cool!