First Annual Family Funtastic & Luau!

The hot sun beat down with oppressive rays, yet Jack Russel Brewing Co. was buzzing with energy as hundreds of people joined together for some fun at the first annual Family Funtastic & Luau last Saturday! With all proceeds benefiting All Star Elite Cheer (and amazingly organized by the fantastic Kelli Griggs), there were carnival rides (complete with a dunking tank and kid car wash to keep everyone cool!), vendor booths, a petting zoo, games, karaoke, and a delicious luau dinner!

I had the pleasure of being the event photographer, and I also had a little tropical photo booth set up where people could have their picture taken and e-mailed to them. I think I should have worn one of those little pedometer things, because my feet were so tired by the end of the day! Running around in flip flops for eight hours will do that, I guess. Ten years ago I would have laughed my today's self, complaining about sore feet... and you know, 18 year old kids sure could make bank if they did a great job at photographing weddings and events. They would never be sore afterward! :)

I had so much fun meeting new people and being a part of such a great event! I'm already looking forward to next year!

I picked out a handful of my favorites to share here, but if you would like to see more of the event, I have the entire gallery online on my gallery website!

It's After 12 and I'm still in my Pajamas

I will spare you the details of all the daily hubbub, phone calls, photo work, and work associated with preparing for a vacation this morning (a mini weekend away, and yet it still is a lot of work!), but since I'm on a roll with confessions... it is after 1 o'clock and I'm still sporting my comfy pajamas. It's quite a luxury to accomplish all my duties and still be decked out in such soft goodness, a fact I'm quite relishing as I ponder the prospects of our upcoming weekend of camping! We are headed up into the mountains to enjoy the cool mountain air, laugh with friends, hike some more mountains, and relax by the clear blue of Lake Tahoe. I'm looking forward to inhaling the intoxicating smell of pine trees, granite earth, and pure mountainness... to take some photographs that will make me smile at my babies' chubby arms and legs in 2o years... to come home smelling like campfire smoke and in dire need of a hot shower... and I'm also looking forward to being unplugged from our fast pace for a few days.

While on the phone for 3 minutes max this morning with my mom (getting our family's all time favorite recipe for pancakes since I misplaced my copy), William decided to take his need for nourishment into his own hands... quite literally. I had a total and genuine "Mom moment", when I told him not to move and ran to get my little point and shoot camera... took a picture and then dealt with him. Look at that guilty look! :)


I hope you have a great weekend too!
~laura

Hello!

Hello, my name is Laura, and you probably don't remember me but I used to write in this corner of the internet.

When I was 8 years old I started a diary... and then switched to a journal when I was 11 because the word "journal" sounded oh so sophisticated and much more mature than "diary" to me, in fact it still does. I filled a few journals through my teen years, but as time has worn on my writing has grown more and more sporadic... now I am proud of myself if I pull the book off the shelf and let my thoughts loose more than twice a year. It's really a sad thing, and I know I will always regret not sitting down for a moment and reliving my current state of affairs on paper. My great grandmothers on both my mom and dad's side suffered from memory loss, so I am pretty sure my time is coming when these journals will help me remember who I am and where I am from. I just hope it's not before I journal some more. Sometimes I turn to journaling when I am sad or frustrated... which doesn't make for some very nice reading later on. Writing the good things, the small things, the blessings are what I will want to read when I am 89 and can't remember if I brushed my teeth yet or not.

So, suffice it to say that I am purposing to journal more, both in my pretty journal with my swirly font and here in my online journal with the boring type that Blogger chose... this is the place I can share photos without having to go to the trouble of sending them to the printer, picking them up, sorting them, and then pasting them into my book (one reason I'm so in love with Polaroids!).

One last thing, and it's sort of a confession... To those of you who have clicked and refreshed my blog so many times to only come upon the same posts, I am sorry! It is not that I haven't had stuff to share, but more the time and diligence to sit down and let my thoughts and photos do some talking! I think a kind of fear has been growing in me for a long while now, in posting online in a public place. I am one of those girls who gets bruises on the inside of her knees from all the knocking when speaking on a platform... piano recitals were especially hard growing up, since you have to use your feet to man the pedals! :) It's intimidating when I think about so many people looking at my photos and reading what I have to say, but in spite of my unfounded fear of people's opinion, I am going to forge ahead and start posting more... promise!

Happy July to all of you! I hope you are relishing your summer days as much as I!

~laura