A Couple of Nuts: November 2011

Friday, November 18, 2011

Posing as a wedding photographer....

Posted by The Smith Family

If you know me, you know I love photography. If you really know me, you know I don't have much of a desire to ever be a wedding photographer. Yet, somehow...I ended up photographing a wedding :) One of my very best friends, Nancy, asked if I would be willing to photograph her son's wedding. Originally my answer was no. Then a couple weeks later, I was talked into it. I know THE ONLY way I could have done this was because they had so much confidence in me. Kip and Gabby were AMAZING to work with and so good to me; always reassuring me and really just bolstering my confidence in myself. I know sometimes it may seem that I think I'm pretty awesome at photography, but the truth is...I really struggle with feeling adequate. I still don't think I've found my own style, and I know I have SO much to learn, and I'm still scared of "real" photographers judging me, but I really appreciate those that encourage me. I always want everyone to feel that they have just what they want in their images, and I know sometimes they are nothing amazing, but sometimes I do ok too. There are times when I'm really proud of my work and other times that I'm not, but I'm also sure that I'm not the only one who feels this way. One day I would like to develop a business and do more with photography, but for now, it's just not a possibility. Sometimes that's really hard for me to say. I would love to spend time taking classes and workshops, mentoring with someone, thinking out the business end of things...but it's just not my season for that. I work a lot to try and be "present" in my own life and for now that means putting some things on hold. I don't want to miss these moments with my kids, and that's what reminds me that it's ok to have dreams and goals, even if they just might take longer to achieve.

Wow...did not mean to unload all of that in this post. I have a feeling I'll be rethinking hitting the publish button before throwing it all out, but I'm working on being the real me and not just who I think everyone wants me to be. Maybe that's a post for another day :)

So...onto the wedding! I photographed their engagements, did their announcements, Gabby's bridals and the temple grounds and reception. Again...they were a dream to work with and that little Gabby is so stinkin photogenic :) Here are some of my favorites....picture overload to follow!{And blogger always screws up the colors and tones of my photos, so hopefully these turn out ok...}


Hands down my favorite picture ever taken....

There are so many more I would love to share, but maybe one day I'll link up an album of all of them or something. One thing I did learn? I took WAY too many kissing pictures LOL Thanks again, Websters for your support and confidence!

Gavinisms

Posted by The Smith Family

Gav: "Mom, remember when I was a baby and had curly hair? Those were some great times. I miss those days."

Oh that kid. He was literally pretending to fake sniffle while he said this.....

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Field Trip

Posted by The Smith Family

Before we went to the Paiute Trail this year, Gavin had his first field trip of the year. It was at Wheeler Farm and I was excited to go because I thought that we would learn a little bit about Wheeler Farm. I've been there many times and know nothing about it. Well, I was very disappointed because we didn't learn a thing. It was just like any other time we've been other than we got to walk around with more people. I think Gavin had fun running around with the other kids at least and I got brave and let him feed the ducks. (If you didn't know I LOATHE birds of all kinds. Ok, basically, they scare the crap out of me.) I did, however, enjoy spending time with Gavin. Sometimes it's fun to just get time with him. I get 2 days a week with just Max while Gavin is at school, so it's nice to feel like Gavin is getting a little extra attention. We also drove with my sweet friend Becky and her daughter. Becky and I have been good friends since before we had kids and now it's nice to enjoy this phase with her.

He thought finding all these feathers was awesome!

I just love his expression :)

Less than thrilled about the wait for the hayride.

I thought this looked like he was kissing the pig :)

Oh he is handsome.....

Becky's daughter...she is so hilarious and LOVED to make up poses!

SOOOOOO cute!

She was hilarious...I have a million with her changing her poses

Becky and Kati

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Everyday life....

Posted by The Smith Family

I think it's safe to say that all I do is whine about how busy I am, so I'm not going to do that now :) Just know I've had good reasons to be a slacker blogger and I'm trying to catch up. I'm really looking forward to picture time slowing down and just being able to get ready and enjoy the holidays. Gavin is SO excited for Christmas! I am SO excited for Thanksgiving, as usual. Of course I'm always excited if it has something to do with food... Here is just a little bit of our day to day happenings lately...

It snowed for the first time and Gavin wanted to make a snowman so badly. There was barely enough snow to throw a snowball but he was satisfied anyway :) He did this all on his own.

Just about everyday the boys pretend they are puppies. This was a day where it was non-stop puppy central.

Ignore the runny nose...I wanted to show the "collar" that Gavin made Max. It has Max's name and his owner's name (Keith) LOL

Haha...are you all wondering why I posted this picture? It's a horrible picture (on so many levels!) but I wanted to show all those people out there who say they love my hair, just what it's really like...This is what happens if I brush it. To tell you the truth I don't actually even OWN a brush, I used a pick. Now people can stop looking at me crazy when I say I never brush my hair....this is why. SCARY! Also, I don't typically wear my husbands ratty old painting shirt, but if you look closely you can see that my hair really needed to be colored and that's what I was about to do. Ok, now I'm just rambling and making excuses because I am feeling ridiculous about this picture....

Oh, and Blue Bear had yet another birthday...this has to be like 246 for him....

Same day as the dog day...This is a picture Gavin drew of him and Max as dogs. Don't get it? They have whiskers...duh! (Do dogs even have whiskers?) He wrote their names all on his own. I was proud he at least knew the letters in Max's name even if they are a bit out of order :) Wasn't so thrilled when he drew whiskers on their actual faces with pen....

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Paiute Trail

Posted by The Smith Family

We finally got to go on a little getaway and headed off to the Paiute Trail in Marysvale! Where's that you say? Yep, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and so perfect! It's a little south of Richfield and basically just this small town where you can camp and go 4 wheeling. You can even ride you wheelers on their roads....what a town! Well, we are a no wheeler family, but luckily my dad generously shares his with us and we get to go on some fun rides while we are there.

We started off with a sighting of none other than.....

MATER! My parents had left earlier in the day and had seen it and told us to look for it. I knew the boys would be excited. How cute are their faces?

The rest of the trip was spent riding, eating, visiting, laughing, eating, playing the movie game, eating, showing our walmart pride (LOL, totally an inside joke), visiting a "boutique" (if you can really call it that!), eating, and going on a geo cache hunt that Clint and Julie set up for everyone. Oh yeah, and probably a little bit more eating. The meals were incredible! I don't think other people eat the amazing food that we do when we go camping. My dad is an incredible cook and over the years has gathered some great camping food ideas. I mean, hello, does anyone else eat pork and fish tacos when they are camping? How about omelets? Smoothies? Deep fried french toast? (That was a new one for me and AMAZING! Probably a little artery clogging, but definitely AMAZING!)

Thanks family for the fun trip! Looking forward to next year!

Grandma Amy brought all sorts of supplies for rock painting and hot rocks! The kids loved it...almost as much as Grandma Amy :)