5.28.2009

Busy as a Bee...

The past week or so has been full of weddings (yes, plural), graduations, photo sessions, and much more. Saturday evening my sister Joanna will be coming home from Bible College in Sweden. I haven't seen her in nine months!

Elizabeth & Evangeline tested for their Tiny Tot Advanced White belt in karate on Tuesday, and we find out tonight after class if they passed! I think they are possibly more excited about the prospect of an ice cream cone (their promised reward for passing their test) than they are about the new belt level!

In other news, I have been busily at work creating card designs and post processing photo sessions like crazy! It is such a fun and rewarding task, though - one I enjoy! As I head back into my day and the myriad of things still to be accomplished before it is done, I leave you with a couple of images from a huge shoot I did for a friend for her dress designs and music. I haven't finished the entire collection but couldn't resist playing around with some fun edges on these music images. :) Enjoy!


~len

5.19.2009

2190 Days

It all started 6 years ago... about noon on May 3rd, 2003. The day I gave my heart away, to the man that blew all my dreams out of the water! I am so blessed to call him my husband, through thick and thin. Yes, there have been times when the road has not been a bed of roses, but he has always been there, faithful and with his whole heart. That simple but huge fact has been such a blessing to me!


When I witness and hear of so many marriages stumbling through the abyss of faithlessness both inwardly or outwardly, I turn my face upward again and again in gratitude for the steady and complete heart of my man!




Every year we have tried to celebrate our day in some form or another... we have gotten away for weekend trips to Napa, Mendocino, Tahoe, and other places. A few times we have opted for a quiet dinner out locally - every one a special day in it's own right.


This year we didn't have any place in particular until only a few days before. Having a need to head up to Redding for something unrelated, we decided to do our little errand that weekend and then head up to Burney Falls, a place I have had on my To See list since I was young!





As you can see, we took William with us, being too young to leave with Grandma & Grandpa for two days... but we had so much fun spending time with just our little boy, that I am glad he came along!




After hiking down to the foot of the beautiful falls, we decided to continue down the path along the river... looking at this photo, you can see how we couldn't resist following it!



(Can you find the clever little guy in the photo above?)


The trail followed the river down to this beautiful footbridge, and climbed up the steep slope opposite, to the other side of the falls.







Below is the next bridge up, above the falls, back near the end of the trail. We have so many of these fun footsie shots from over the years, I am thinking I should go through and put them into a collage!


After a day at the Falls, and a night spent in "Green Gables Inn", a spotlessly clean time warp from the 1950's, we slowly made our way back down the state.


Stopping a few times here and there, whenever something caught our fancy. I pointed out this cool old abandoned building with the fun star, and Scott had me jump out for a few fun shots...


William was a wonderful traveling buddy, and here I am below, sporting my lovely necklace from a charming antique shop in Red Bluff, an anniversary gift from my man. A good portion of my jewelry collection is from various trips away with him! I love the memories that accompany the pieces every time I put them on... it makes them that much sweeter!




On the long drive home you can see we (or 'I', I s'pose would be more accurate) got a little bored... the flat farmland was pretty, until an hour or so of the same thing... so I turned the camera inside the car. :)

Here's to another 6 years, and many more after that!! :)

~len

5.14.2009

Girlie Vacation & Conrad

I'm packing my scrapbooking stash, my laptop full of photos waiting to be processed, tanning oil, and snack foods... I am going out of town on a girlie vacation!!!

Some of my girlfriends from church planned a little mini vacation (we are renting a beautiful and quiet[!] house in Tahoe) and invited me to join them. Scott, being the most amazing husband in the world, was the first to say yes and calm my worries about leaving ALL 3 kids[!] with him for two and a half days! Can you tell by all the asterisks that I am hopping up and down inside with glee?! :) Two whole days of adult, girlie conversations sounds amazing to me.

I thought I'd leave you with something to bring a smile to your face today, to match the grin on mine. When I was in Tennessee a few weeks ago, I was introduced to this little munchkin, the son of an old friend of mine. Conrad is 9 months here... he and William are only 6 days apart. It was so hilarious to watch this little guy chomp that banana like it was going out of style! Isn't he just the sweetest thing?! :)





~len

5.11.2009

James & Shoshanna's Family

I have so many different photo shoots to share that Shoshanna had lined up for me a few weeks ago and hope anyone doesn't get bored with all the photos - I certainly haven't tired of looking at all the fun! James & Shoshanna wanted to get some fun, creative family portraits done with their awesome son, Jeremiah... so fun and creative we got! :)

Shoshanna inherited a genuine antique Louis Vuitton trunk from her grandmother, and wanted to incorporate that into their session. Using the trunk as the inspiration, we kind of went with a 1950's vibe. This amazing girl also designs dresses, including the adorable two you see in this session and the dress she wore for her photos with James in my last post! Enjoy!












~len

5.06.2009

James & Shoshanna

Their eyes sparkle and smile at each other, speaking silent words of mutual love and happiness. James cares and provides for Shoshanna's every need, while she in turn lavishly pours on the praise and devotion openly and with great pride. Witnessing the two of them interact and seeing one of my best friends happily live out her life with the man of her dreams makes me so happy! :)

I count myself blessed to have witnessed their wedding 5 years ago next month, and to see them today, more happy than ever!

We only had about 5 minutes or less while waiting for some friends when I asked Shoshanna & James to grace the lens of my camera for some sweet lovey dovey photos. I think they are happy they did! The dogwoods blooming in the background are so lovely here, the perfect fairytale touch on such a great love story, don't you think?!

(To learn more about James and Shoshanna's herb business, click here.)












~len