Can't Help Myself

I have dishes to do and floors to mop and clothes to fold and put away, but after I uploaded the pictures from Anya and Eric's birthday shoot today, I couldn't help but post just a couple. We had a blast at the "broken down castle" and the pictures turned out great! So, here's one of Anya (who just turned 4) and one of Eric (who is about to turn one), just because I can't wait, and I'll post some more later. Brad comes home this week (hurray!) and so I need to get everything spiffy for when he gets back. You have good stuff to look forward to, Cristine!

Hatch Family {Sneak Peak}

Garth and Alissa -- thanks for letting me come shoot at your house, I had a blast! Your kids are beautiful and with all that energy they are lot of fun. I think the pictures turned out wonderful! It was a great idea to finish out in the yellow fields; I am glad we found one that hadn't turned green yet. Enjoy your sneak peek!

Mom.

My Mom really is a fantastic photographer and for most of my life, she has been the one behind the lens. Growing up I felt annoyed at times as my Mom pushed us for "just one more picture." But now I am grateful to have wonderful pictures of all the fun things we have done as a family and to have some good pictures of myself as well. (Those can be hard to come by!) My sister and I love to look back through all of our old pictures; the memories of a happy childhood come flooding back. 

It was watching my Mom take pictures that sparked my interest in photography and she taught me all of the basics, and helped me figure out where to go and what to do so that I could keep learning more. Even now she is my best critic and is always the first one to look at my photos and help me figure out what I can do better and how I can improve. We challenge each other to think creatively, to work hard, and to keep improving. 

Since my Mom's visit fell over both her birthday and mother's day, and since she has been the one taking pictures for so long, we decided that it was time for a role reversal and we headed out into the German countryside to take some pictures of my beautiful mother. I am not kidding when I say that she gets better looking all the time, and I can't even count the number of times that we have been mistaken for sisters. No, I am not kidding, this is my Mom (not my friend or my sister) and I sure hope that I got her genes for good looks.

Thanks for visiting Mom, it has meant the world to Annika and I. We couldn't ask for a better Mom and Oma. 

A Break from the Rain

I am sitting at my computer now while the rain pours down outside. We spent the last two days in Rothenburg where it rained, and we drove home in the pouring rain, and it is still coming down. Don't get me wrong, I  do kind of enjoy the rain, and we had a great time in Rothenburg, but I am really feeling the need for some sunshine. So,  I am posting some sunny photos. 

On Saturday Annika hung out with her Oma all day while I competed in Baumholder's Iron Spouse Challenge. We had a great time, enjoyed a little bit of sunshine, and took second place! After the awards ceremony I decided Annika needed some time to play in the sun too, and so we stopped by a park for a little bit. Despite the bad weather, it is spring, and dandelions are everywhere. Annika loves picking flowers, and she loves trying to blow the dandelion seeds and watching them float away. She also tried to eat an entire dandelion head of seeds, but she didn't enjoy it very much. In fact, she choked and gagged on it and I had to try to fish them all out of her mouth. 

Still, she's getting the hang of it and as we watched all the seeds blow into the sun, it felt like summer might be on its way. 

Baby in Bruges

It's been a long time, I know. But, I've been busy and I'll be posting a lot soon to make up for it.

My Mom flew in last Tuesday for a much-appreciated visit and she brought with her our new Canon 5D Mark II. My Mom is also a photographer and we have been having lots of fun playing with the new camera and trying to take pictures of a very uncooperative Annika. Oh, but when we do get a picture, it is good!

We took a trip to Bruges where we started a very cool photo project I will post about later. We also ate lots of chocolate and waffles, took a boat ride, walked lots and lots, and played with Annika in the parks. I love Bruges and could go back again and again.

I haven't had much editing time, and so these pictures haven't even been opened in photoshop. They've been proofed in Camera RAW, but other than that, these are pretty much straight out of the camera (and a good example of of my awesome new 5D!) Also, since I didn't open them in photoshop, I didn't resize them right, so they are a little smaller than usual. Better small than nothing, right?