Parental Discretion Advised...

You don't want to miss this....

It's in his blood...

Logan Kennedy...the Scottish piper! His dream was accomplished once the box was opened. He just needs a kilt and a bobby hat now!

Regina!

I just got back from a really great week off. Logan and I were able to go to Regina for a week! Logan's brothers and sister-in-law live there, so we went for a vistit! We really enjoyed our time there and the week went by way too fast! We flew out of GP at 7 am on Logan's birthday (Nov. 7) and the trip started off great. Really funny anyways!! We got to the airport and we both had fairly heavy carry-ons, so we thought it would be a good idea to put the straps of our carryons over the pulley handle on our checked baggage. We were already laughing and giggling, and then when Logan went to lift up his bag with the pully handle, the handle snapped right off and his luggage fell to the ground! I laughed for a long time while he walked dramatically away! I had to get a picture of it! Our flights there were pretty quick, but we had to stop in Edmonton and Calgary, so that was a hassle. Once we arrived in the Calgary airport it was about 10 o'clock and we still hadn't had breakfast. One of Logan's favorite restaurants is Swiss Chalet, and the Calgary airport had a Swiss Chalet express, so we went to go find it for a delicious "brunch." Well worth leaving security for!Another thing with Logan, he almost never gives me a normal face for pictures!!We spent a lot of time relaxing over the week, and Logan even got me hooked on Halo! We played together when Davis was at work and Jared and Liana were busy! I got pretty good if I do say so myself! Brothers and quality bonding time: Playing Halo Reach. This time I conceded defeat!Davis was eating a sucker and his tongue got stuck in a hole! Couldn't pass that up haha!Sweet little Vienna! We had so much fun with her! What a little chub eh?This was our last day there! Getting one last snuggle in with Vienna!This was one of many attempts to get a picture of me where it wasn't a picture of my neck or eyeball. Along with not making a normal face, Logan does not take normal pictures :P
The week was altogether very relaxing and uneventful! We did a lot of job hunting there to see what we could find. Then in the off time, we went Christmas shopping with Liana, Laser tagging with Jared and Davis, and then one night we all went curling at the same rink Oscar and Emma from Corner Gas went curling in! Thankfully we were all terrible curlers, so nobody was embarrassed haha :) The week went by way too fast and I'm definitely looking forward to the day we eithe move there, or go back for a visit!!

So spoiled...:)

I have been getting spoiled with roses :) The best thing is I never know when they are coming and they ALWAYS make my day so much better! Logan shows up to work with a rose every now and then and surprises me and everytime they are just gorgeous! Love him and love them!This is the first rose. Unfortunately the petals stuck to the plactic wrapping and fell off when I opened it :( Still beautiful anyways!This second rose my roomate loved so much she took pictures of so she could draw it in the future!
Then he really surprised me one day and brought me three! one of each color :) What a sweetie!

I currently have one more that I haven't been able to take a picture of and it's sitting over on my side table! I'm such a lucky woman!

Down South...in Alberta

At the end of August my family went down to Medicine hat for a camping trip! My brother and his girlfriend headed to Abbotsford for the weekend to visit Leah's family, so they weren't able to join us, but we still had fun! Logan and I left here and met up with my parents at their place, then we loaded up the motorhome and headed down south the next day! It was really nice to travel in the motorhome. Nothing like sleeping on a bed on a six hour drive! Once we arrived, we headed out to Elkwater National (?) park and camped there! It was a really nice relaxing camping trip and we had a great time! Logan and Terry's guitar playing attracted a few drunk ladies from the next campsite over, so that was pretty interesting, but funny nonetheless! Close up of Logan while we went up top of the hill to Horseshoe CanyonLogan's attempt to take a picture of me without waking me up. Nice close up! :P

The view from Horseshoe canyon!

Catch up on all the happenings!

So it's been a long time since I've updated...whoops! I'm going to try to make it a regular thing, I'll just have to find interesting things to post about :) I have a lot to catch up on so here's post 1 of a few!
This summer was my grandparent's 50th anniversary so we had a family reunion to celebrate! It was a lot of fun and we met at the end of July for a couple of days. We all met in Edmonton at my parents place and had a blast! We played lots of games and had some good visits, made some s'mores. It was so nice! As a 50th anniversary present, my parents and my dad's siblings bought them a trip to Nova Scotia because they've always wanted to go! They went with my mom and dad in September for about 10 days and had a blast! It was a really great way to celebrate and it was great to see everyone again! :)

My Brother and his girlfriend Leah! What a pair :)Everyone gathering in the tent for the cake cuttingGrandma and Grandpa 50 years later!

My Nephew Evan loved squishing his face against the screen door! I have many more pictures like this!

It's official...

We're official! As of August 14th, my long time best friend Logan and I are courting! We've been waiting for this for awhile and here we are :) Pics are by a friend of mine who requested my help in learning some photography basics and this is a practice session for an engagement shoot she did!

Living the life

My parents recently purchased a convertible. Apparently once all the kids move out you can be footloose and fancy free like the good ol' days :P Anyways, it was a secret until my parents could surprise my siblings by showing up at their house in a convertible, so now the secret is out! It's a 1990 Mercedes XL500 I believe? Correct me if I'm wrong, but anyways, here's my dad working on getting "favorite son-in-law" title from my grandpa :)

Old Spice

If you haven't seen any old spice commercials, you should probably immediately youtube them. Tonight my roomate and I found an old spice thing on facebook where you can ask the old spice guy a question and he'll answer it for you. Super hilarious! Check them out : http://www.facebook.com/OldSpice?v=app_130435530325515#!/OldSpice?v=app_130435530325515

Finally, new place photos!

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted anything since May 19th, and then Darla reminded me to get some pictures up of the new place! So here they are! The photos aren't the best because I was just taking them on my iPhone considering the only camera I have takes huge files that I have to edit, and I just wanted something quick to show you all.

The view from the front door

When you come in the front door, there's a closet to the left and then another door beside the closet that opens into a huge storage room that Michelle and I are going to turn into a "scrapbooking/sewing" room

Walking down the hall, the first opening on the right is the bathroom and my roomate's room. This is the view from the hallway.To the right of that small hallway leading to my roomate's room is our little bathroomContinue down the main hallway and you come to our dining/kitchen/living area.

To the left of the dining room is my bedroom, a little messy :POur tiny little one man kitchenMy office/computer space which is in the living room, but behind the main sitting areaI don't know why the wanted to put that hole in the wall between the kitchen and living room haha! It's our "Drive through window" apparently!And our living room looking from the office space!So that's our humble little abode! We quite like it. It's cozy and set up the way we like it. But we still don't have a lot of pictures up because we don't have any nails! Soon enough :)
And for added cuteness, a picture of Marshall eating a muffin:

All Moved in!

i moved back to GP area just over a week ago and am loving it! We ended up getting a nice little place and already have most of my boxes unpacked and am all settled in! It feels really great to be back, but of course, now real life starts! It'll be interesting to see how things unfold. My roomate Michelle and I are getting along great and basically are really unproductive when we are both home! We end up talking for a couple of hours instead of get anything done haha :) It's been really nice, and I'll have to get some picture of the place to show you guys!

Me and My Pal

We're just sitting in our hotel room just vegging for the night now! It's 7:41 here in Maui and 11:41 back home, so we've been kind of turning in early. Anyways, Marlys went to phone Terry so I got to hang out with the little guy! We had some fun.

April 22

"Staring at Chuck Norris for extended periods of time without proper eye protection will cause blindness and possibly foot-sized bruises on the face."

Coming to a close...

I know my countdown clock says 16 days until school is over...but it's actually only 12 days. wow. 2 years looking back sure went by in a hurry, and I can't believe it's over already! Looking back it feels like I've only been gone for a couple of months, but during the 2 years it felt like I was gone FOREVER!! So glad for it all to be coming to an end. I have one more week of class next week, and one final exam the monday after and then I'm finished. But I have about 6 different projects to hand in over the next week! Yikes! I guess it'll be one last super busy stretch until I move home. Wow. Oh, I also got a job :) Praise God! I'm working in a photo studio in GP so it's perfect! So excited that everything out. Just waiting on a potential roomate to see if she wants to live with me and my other roomate, then if she says yes, we have a place lined up too! Pretty neat :)

Lots O' Learning!

I've been in Medicine Hat since last Friday shadowing under Rachel Shultz of Madchen Studios (pronounce Maychen which is german for "little girl") and have been learning a ton! I'm FINALLY getting accustomed to Mac computers and might just have to spend the *money* on one! She's been showing me all sorts of tricks and tips to save money on backdrops and reflectors and everything and I'm so excited! She's also been letting me do some of her editing (Brave girl!) and today was allowed to pick out some of my favorite images from the shoot! She also let me design a baby announcement card for one of her customers! She's mainly a children's photographer that does families and weddings too. Today we got to photograph and adorable one year old boy with these HUGE blue eyes and spiky blonde hair. He was such a ham for the camera! It's been so much fun and I'm looking forward to the next week with her!

Houses and Jobs and Stress...Oh my!!

Last Wednesday I was able to go up to Grande Prairie to do some major job searching since I'm 4 weeks away from graduation (yikes!) I dropped off sooooo many resumes and was actually quite disappointed when I left that no one had phoned me before I left town. Feeling a bit defeated, I drove back to Edmonton for a one day school week (and you're asking what I need to be stressed about? haha :) Well it turned out to be a very busy week indeed! In three weeks, I have to hand in a complete business plan for a photographic studio that is run by myself and two classmates. We just started working on this plan yesterday...yikes. Then today, I received an email from a studio in Grande Prairie wanting to do an interview on Thursday (SO good but also yikes!) Which means I needed to get all 4 of my projects that are due this week done and handed in by 4 pm today (I received confirmation of the interview at 1 this aft.) So I quickly got all my stuff together and got to my school by 3:30. Unfortunately the computer lab at school closes at 4, which means I had to book it! I had to hand in two projects (luckily digitally) print another project, and hand in my portfolio all in a half hour. It was quick! BUT I was able to get it done! Then tomorrow I have a demo at a studio in town on doing a glamour portrait, and then I head to GP wednesday Afternoon, stay the night, go to my interview on Thursday, drive back to Edmonton, do Laundry and pack on Friday and drive to Medicine hat on saturday for two weeks! *phew* Anyways, without boring you guys with my future plans, prayer that the job interview goes well. I don't think I could do another year away from GP. I need to get a job!

Decrepit Doors

I posted some more photos on my photo blog that I just love! I'm so happy with how they turned out that I may need to print one for my wall! Check them out :)

Clara's Birthday

We had the pleasure of going back to GP this weekend to attend a family friend's 65th birthday party. It was a really great weekend! She had a music night with many musical acts. The Kennedy's played and she had her family do a few songs and they were all so good! She also called my mom awhile ago and asked if Logan and I would do a song that we did before I moved to Edmonton, so we did! We were unfortunately only able to practice for not even an hour, so we didn't do as good as we could have, but it was still fun! We were both pretty nervous too! Anyways, here's the video so you can see for yourselves. This version of "On Christ the Solid Rock" was arranged by Janna McPhee.

Neat Quote

Quote from my cousin's wife's facebook status:

"All roads lead to God - as judge. Only Christianity leads to God- as saviour" - Mark Dever

Photo Blog

Hey Everyone!
I started a blog specifically for my photography that will include all the goings on of my photography life! I think at this point I have decided to jump into photography with both feet once I'm done school, so I'm kinda panicking! But I figure I'm one of those people that if I don't do it now, I won't do it at all! So here's to being successful! Anyways, the address for my photo blog is www.karilynn-photo.blogspot.com Check it out and let me know :)

March 1

"Chuck Norris sleeps with a pillow under his gun..."

PPOC Image Competition

If you haven't heard of the PPOC it is the Professional Photographers of Canada and it's a great association to get involved with. Anyways, they're having this big symposium conference thing this weekend and as a project at school, we were all required to submit 2 images into their print competition for judging. I decided to enter four since it was the same price to enter two as it was to enter four, so it just seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately for me, only one of my prints was accepted but at least I got one in! So that was nice. It was a long day though. I ended up staying from 9:30 - 4 today to watch them judge all the images, and there were some pretty amazing ones! Anyways, the one image that did get accepted was the one I took of Logan in October! You can see it in this post and it is the very first image to show. It's also one of my most favorite photos to date!

More Portfolio shots...

Here are the photoshoots from the house that I was talking about a few posts back. This house has endless photo taking opportunities! So here's a few for my portfolio

My sister Marlys

My Bro-in-law Terry

And this is the one I'm going to use for my fashiony shot because it has more of a fashion feel and less of a portrait style to it.

Chuck Norris of the Day...

February 23:
"Chuck Norris eats steak for every single meal. Most time, he forgets to kill the cow."

Yesterdays was kind of funny too, but I wasn't at home to post it.
February 22:
"Chuck Norris can body slam an opponent with just the tippy-top of his pinkie finger."

Drum roll please....

Alright, So I decided and I'm going to stick with it this time! I'm happy with the name and I love the logo. Here it is!
The writing looks black here, but it's actually brown! I really like it. I wanted to work a really nice pink into the logo as well, but it wasn't working out. I might try again some other time, but I really like the Teal!

Kyle

My brother Kyle is visiting here for a couple of days, and I wanted to use him in a photo shoot. I LOVE the new "Star Trek" cover and loved the lighting on Kirk, Spock and Uhura, so I decided to try to duplicate it. I realize the quality isn't that great, but I always downsize my images when I put them on the internet so that if people take them and try to print them, they aren't very good quality! But you get the idea. Anyways, this is the result!Annnnd then we decided to take a nice picture for my mom because she wants a new one of Kyle to put on the wall...and as you all know Kyle does not like serious pictures :) We ended up getting one serious picture that's really nice, but I haven't edited it yet. This is one of the outtakes. Meet Kyle:

Yep, he's a goof :)

*Edit* For those of you who haven't seen the Star Trek Covers, Here's the picture:

Name Ideas...

I'm still having a hard time with the name for my business. I know I shouldn't be so picky about it, but I don't want to be changing my business name very often, otherwise it just confuses clients and can just be such a pain! It's kind of hard having to be rushed to do it as well, as I need to make a website within the next two months and make a facebook page. Anyways, I have a few ideas floating around my head but I'm still unsure about them. Here they are:
1.Kayel Photography - my initials are KL but I figured that would be boring so I decided to make a word out of it. Don't know if that's how I want to spell the word, but you get the idea.
2. KLiK Photography - I like this one too, but I'm worried it'll sound too gimmicky. It uses my initials in it (KLK) which is a bonus, but I'm also going for something more feminine?
3. Karilynn Photography - I like this one, but I've recently discovered 4 other photographers (3 of which are in my class) that are using their middle names in their business name and I'm worried it might not be original enough now? I don't know. Tough decisions!!
Anyways, if anybody out there has some input or ideas, leave a comment below! It would be awesome to hear what anybody else has to say!

*Edit* Due to a unanimous facebook vote, I think it's going to be KLiK Photography!
*Edit #2* Nevermind, even though everyone on facebook likes KLiK, most people have been reading it as K-Lick rather than Click. *sigh* back to the drawing board!!

A Bunch of Oilers fans!

About a week or so ago, my sister and her family came up for the weekend for a visit and wanted me to retake some of their family pictures in the studio. Last time I did there family pictures it was outside and they were wearing their Oiler's jerseys, but the background was really dark, so they wanted some family pictures done with a white background. These are the results:

Evan is 11 months old on March 1 and he's just getting so big! He has four teeth now and is super funny! He's starting to "dance" by wiggling his shoulders :) So cute. Anyways, when Mom and Dad got back from Maui, they brought Evan a little Hawaiin shirt and shorts. We also had a ukelele and my grandma's first guitar (which she bough in Hawaii) so we decided to put them all together and get a cute little shoot!
I've started to get some pictures done for portfolio using the house I'm house sitting. I have a few portraits of Marlys and Terry that I love that I need to post, but they are on my other hard drive. But, I did take this self portrait there (first successful self portrait haha) and might use it for a portfolio shot (don't know if it's fashiony enough though...)

Anyways, those are the latest photos around here! I'm looking to do some more "Star-Trek" inspired shots using either my brother or a classmate...who knows?