Christmas 2009

Well, it is the last day of 2009 and the holidays sure were great! We spent the Christmas week down at my sister's place in Medicine Hat and just had a lot of fun together. We got there on the 21 and spent the next day or so doing Christmas baking and playing lots of games of course! We made a batch of lefse this year and it sure didn't last long! It's one of my family's Christmas traditions and we don't fancy skipping out on it often. In case you don't know what it is, it's a thin potato pancake thing and you put butter and sugar on it and roll it up! So delicious, although a lot of people don't really like it. It might be an acquired taste ;). The next morning we went and did some last minute shopping for food and stuff for boxing day and whatnot. That proved to be a busy one because of all the last minute Christmas shoppers! Superstore and Costco were a nightmare!! But we got out of there without a bruise, so all was well! The next night we went to Terry's mom and dad's place and visited with them on Christmas Eve. We went to the Christmas Eve candelight service at their church first and then went over to their place afterwards. Then on Christmas morning, we woke up around 9 and began opening presents, and boy did we all get spoiled this year!! It was really fun to watch Evan "open" presents this year, although he was definitely more interested in the wrapping paper than he was in the presents! So Marlys just opened his presents and gave him the wrapping paper to play with haha. Christmas day, Terry's mom and dad were having the Christmas dinner at their place and they invited all of us over so we spent another day at their place feasting and playing games, and again, hot tubbing. We went home pretty late and all just crashed from the hot tubbing I think. The next day, my dad, Terry and I went snowboarding out at Hidden Valley ski hill in the Cypress hills! It was so much fun, but I hadn't done it in probably 2 seasons so I was pretty sore for awhile afer, and I actually still have a sore ligament in my hip that I pulled pretty bad near the end of the day! But it was still worth the pain. When we went back home, Mom and Marlys had gotten a early Birthday fondue party going to me! It was so fun. We did meat and veggies in oil, and then of course the fruit and chocolate. My birthday "cake" was half an apple with sparklers in it, but I loved it :) Then the next day, we had to say goodbye and we headed home. Now we're looking at just a quiet evening at home tonight playing games and welcoming in the new year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a safe and Happy New Year!!!!Mom, Marlys, Evan and I on the couch (just Evans head haha)

Dad and Evan playing under the table. Too funny!

Evan "opening" Gifts

His Christmas Loot!

Mom and Dad bought Kyle a used Guitar for Christmas! He loved it.

My Birthday "Cake"

Birthday Fondue!!

The big 9 month old boy!

So funny! I was playing with Evan, and halfway through, Marlys comes and my mom says
"oh look there's mommy!" and he turns and looks at my sister and just holllers at her. Too good!

German Pretzels

We have some friends in Sexsmith who moved from Germany around 3 years ago. They come and visit us in Edmonton fairly frequently and Hanna just loves to go to the German bakery in downtown Edmonton. One time, she wanted us to try German pretzels, so she bought some and brought them over for breakfast the next morning and boy were they good! They were fairly thin pretzels actually and had a doughy center but a chewy brown crust, and you ate them with butter. They were so good, that I actually found myself craving them for the past couple of days. Not being able to put up with it for too much longer (and not wanting to drive to Edmonton to buy some) I decided to find a recipe to make them myself, and they actually turned out just fantastic!! They were so delicious, that I wrote them down in my recipe book immediately! It's quite a process actually. You have to let the yeast sit in the flour for 15 minutes, then you have to leave the dough (once it's all mixed) for a half hour to rise, then once you have the pretzels formed, they sit in the fridge uncovered for an hour, and then once that is over, you boil each pretzel in baking soda water for 10 seconds on each side, and then bake them. It's a 3 hour process, but really not that difficult, and besides, it's so rewarding when it's all finished :) Take a look!And actually, both my parents and I think this recipe is better than the one they used at the German bakery. These were a little bit more doughy and less tough, which makes them much more delicious ;)
If you're interested in the recipe, here's the link
*Side Note* If you do ever decided to make these, make sure you sprinkle on a light amount of salt, the pretzels are already salty from the baking soda water, so to add too much (like I did) makes it just a tad too salty.

Last project of the semester

Just finished it, and it took me FOREVER! I think I put more effort into this project than the rest of the projects from the semester. But I'm very pleased with how it turned out! We pretty much had free reign on what we wanted to do, so I decided to turn myself into a cartoon and then make my hand look as if it is disappearing into a cloud of swirls and flowers. Looks really cool! Check it out...

School Blog

Our school program started it's own blog and posts events and photos regularly. It's pretty neat to see the talent all my classmates and the first years have! Take a look!

Too cute not to post!

My sister sent my mom some recent pictures of Evan. He's 8 months old now! Haven't seen him for 2 months, so I'm excited to see anything of him! Here he is...

Falling asleep after a good meal...
Trying to feed himself that good meal!
And my absolute favorite. Evan in his cute chicken hat! Marlys saw that hat in a baby clothing store before he was born and just had to get it! Cutest thing ever.

Here he is!

Here's the new munchkin! It was too funny during this whole picture taking ordeal. He's extremely shy so we're trying to break him of that habit. He was shaking and his eyes were tearing up the whole time!! So funny! Here he is.

Beamer

Kacey has a buddy!

Yep! We have a new dog to keep Kacey company! His name is Beamer and he's a little chihuahua mix. He's white and light brown and super cute! He just arrived about an hour ago and now him and Kacey are buddies! They've been tearing around in the yard for a little while so I think he'll settle in just fine! I don't have any pictures of him yet, apparently he's camera shy though! I'll try to sneak a few to show you!

I'm pretty sure I haven't put any pictures of Kacey up here, so here's one I took awhile ago. She's crazy!

Should Probably pay attention....

In photo shop class our teacher always gives us a sheet going step by step what we're going to go through, and today's was really easy, so I kinda went ahead and did it making my own changes. This was the result...
There was supposed to be the writing, and then one red jet above the writing...I thought that was too boring. :) Click on it to make it bigger! Then you can see the little details!

Photoshop fun!

We got a Photoshop assignment to do that's due tomorrow where we have to take a picture of someone and make them look really glammed up and then take that same picture and make them look really bad... here's mine. My cousin Ashley was kind enough to let me use a photo I took of her :)

Original:

Glam:

Anti-Glam:

Dream house...I mean...Castle

Yeah for cheap!!!! It's SOO gorgeous but it's in London Ontario. It's a 9,500 square foot castle (Manor) for sale. It was built in 1893, and is absolutely stunning!! And get this...it's only $475,000 CDN!! Here's the write up on it....

"Historic Woodholme Manor, comprising an impressive approx. 9,500 sq. ft. located on a 1.26 acre lot. Built in 1893 by Richard Shaw-Wood, it sits high atop the former Lawson Estate grounds. Archtecturally significant due to its countless distinctive features and attributes including its castle architectural dominance, impressive vaulted stairway, immense ballroom leading to a wood crafted fireplace and French doors leading to its oversized spacious grounds. This magnificent home will include a fully fenced lot as well as entry pillars and fencing reconstructed with material from the original entrance in the same majestic style. Recreate Woodholme Manor into a masterpiece your family will be proud of to call home for another 100 years. Full municipal services available. Home is being sold as is. It will be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act when it is transferred."

There's obviously some upgrading and renovations to be done to it of course, but think of the amazing place it will be when it's all done. It's selling for cheap, but the renovations won't be cheap haha.

Since it's going to be a heritage house, there will be limitations on what you can do to it...but who cares! It's an incredible place! Here are the photos.

Here's the link to the actual MLS page

Work Experience week and lots of fun!

This past week I was able to go to GP to do a week long work experience with a professional photographer. I had a great time with her learning how her business works, how she organizes everything and I even got to help her out at a president's ball last Saturday night! It was a really formal event and she had a booth set up in the corner where people could come and get their photos taken. The theme was "New York, New York" so she had a new york landscape painted to hang in the background with a street sign and a new york park bench! She was going to have a yellow taxi cab brought it, but I guess there were some problems, so she was a little disappointed, as was I because that would have been so neat! Then throughout the week she just showed me around her office and her studio. It was really great! We also had a girls day at Brent & Chantelle's house on Friday with Janessa, Jillaine, and Maryn. The power was out when they first came over because it snowed a foot in 2 days, but when the power came on Chantelle and I did the girls hair and makeup and we had a photoshoot! I had brought up some lights for the week because I needed Logan and Davis to pose for two projects I had to do, so we used the lights and had a photoshoot with the girls! I don't have any of the girls photos finished yet. I was only able to finish Logan and Davis' because I'm actually home sick from school. My immune system has been out of whack for quite awhile and was just starting to get better, but while in GP I was in contact with a lot of sick people with who knows what they had. So that was great...as for now I'm planning on relaxing today and getting in some much needed rest! I have a few photos to post from Davis and Logan's shoots, and actually, one of the photos of Logan I think is my most favorite photo I've ever taken in my career so far! Lighting turned out great, I love the composition, his expression is good for the mood of the photo, I just like it. I'll show it to you now :)

Here are some of the other ones from the boys'

This one we laughed at because with the washing machines in the back, it looks like he's sad that his vest shrunk hahah.
*Note* November 9 - I showed my teacher that shot of Logan because I wanted to use it for a high key portrait for class and I wanted to make sure it was high key enough (which it was) Then he asked me "Did you take that photo with Lori? (The lady I shadowed under) And I said I took it when I had my free time, and he said, I quote, "Holy Crap Girl!" He was so impressed! Woo hoo! :D

Yay!

Phew! Huge relief! Due to my awesome instructor making sure everything worked out for me for this work experience week, I will be going home! I leave Saturday morning because she has a president's ball photobooth at the Crystal Center, so I get to help her with that on Saturday evening! So happy everything worked out! :D

Another disappointing day...

So next week I was planning on going to GP for work experience for the whole week and I was REALLY looking forward to it, but then I got an email from my instructor this morning telling me that the person I was going to do work experience with is going into back surgery this coming week so I won't be able to do work experience with her. This means I most likely won't be going to GP next week at all unless I can find someone today or tomorrow to take me on. *sigh* Whatever the circumstances, I hope she has a safe and successful back surgery.

Funny funny!

There's this website called www.yearbookyourself.com. Marlys and Terry showed it to me. You put your picture in and it takes yearbook photos from from over the years and puts your face into them, SO hilarious! Here are a few of myself!


I almost look exactly like my mom in this one hahah!

And here's my favorite of Marlys:And of Terry:

1st wedding ever!

Yesterday I figured out that if I get booked to photograph weddings every saturday for a month, I'm giong to be exhausted for an entire month. I had the priveledge of helping out a classmate yesterday shoot a wedding he had booked quite awhile back. His regular second shooter accidentaly double booked himself and was unable to help out this weekend, so my classmate asked me to help. I was a little wary at first, but I realized that I really need to start getting the experience if I'm ever going to do weddings for a living so I figured it would be better to do one now while working with someone experienced rather than try to figure it out on my own. It was actually really really fun! It was stressful of course because you have to make sure you catch all the key shots because they won't happen again. Anyways, I'll have to upload a few of my shots to show you guys. I think some of them turned out really well, especially for it being my first wedding ever. He actually asked if I would be interested in helping him out with future weddings, even after I move back to GP, and he'd pay the travel. Pretty sweet deal! I'm also going to get the chance to do work experience for a week with a lady in GP at the end of October. I'm looking forward to that. She actually graduated from NAIT awhile back, so it'll be interesting to shadow underneath her for awhile.

Family Pictures

We went down to Medicine Hat this past weekend for both Terry's 25th birthday party and Evan's baby dedication. While we were down there Mar wanted me to take their family pictures for them. Here are a few!Needless to say, Terry is a huge Oiler's fan :) Mom also wanted me to get a new picture of Kyle for the wall. The most recent picture of him was from when he was in grade 11, 6 years ago. Kyle is a goof, and hates posing for photos, so this is my favorite from the whole session...

It's official!

I now have a logo for my business when it begins! Thanks to Mr. Kennedy for the name idea. I love it :)

Too Cute

I found some pictures on my camera's memory card of Evan that I forgot to put on my computer. This was back in July. He's got some big smiles! The quality didn't turn out the way they actually are, but you get the idea, he's pretty cute no matter what the quality of picture haha.


LOVE the happy smiling eyes!

This last one is definitely my fave!

Gotta love Wal-mart Curtains

So I bought some curtains at Wal-mart only planning on using them for a photoshoot then returning them when I was finished. Too bad I really like them haha. I played around with some lights I took out from school for the weekend and used the curtains as a background. This is the result:

Family Reunion = Lots of fun!

On the September long weekend we had a family reunion on my mom's side of the family. It was a great time and my mom put a lot of work into organizing the whole thing. She rented this really nice campground along Lac St. Anne just outside of Edmonton with Cabins and everything. Some people brought their trailers and some stayed in the cabins. We had a big open space where my sister organized bocce tournaments and there was a beach volleyball court where Marlys organized beach volleyball tournaments too. We also had a talent show on saturday night and then later on there was a really big storm, so we squished into the main cabin where my cousin Allison and I played guitar for everyone to sing along to. My Grandparents just love hymns, so we did that for them. It was just a great weekend full of family and fun. We were only missing 5 members of the whole side. Talk about a turn out! anyways, here are some pictures of the great weekend.Carmen, Christine and Jeanine singing "Sisters" for us at the Talent show. Be aware...these glasses made multiple appearances throughout the weekend.Carmen organized games for the kids...and the adults!Including spousal wheel barrow races :)Cousins and teammates in the three legged racesome of the men taking a break from the riveting horseshoe tourney. From left: Kyle, James, Uncle Mur, and Trevor. Kyle and Trevor are the tallest of the whole family with Trevor only beating Kyle by an inch at 6'4. Just a tidbit of trivia :)Grandma absolutely loved all of her great-grand babies. This one was the newest I believe.some good mother-in law/son-in-law bonding, talking about make-up and whatnot!Sisters...Can you tell them apart?And of course Evan (left) and Andon had to get in on it too.And the two that started it all. From these two came 6 kids, 20 grandchildren (not including spouses, only 6 of us aren't married) And 17 great granchildren, and still many more great grandchildren to come! Without them and God's hand in their lives, I know my family most likely would not be where they are today. My dad's side of the family became christians because they saw the difference in my dad after he became a christian shortly after marrying my mom. Amazing what two lives completely given over to God can do. Needless to say it was a wonderful and great weekend! So much fun, and so wonderful to see each other again.

Until next time! Kisses!