Happy Halloween!

We went to a Trunk-or-Treat at my church last night and had fun. David went as Superman and Jared was a pirate. I didn't get pictures of the boys, but will tonight. Larry and I dressed up too, can you guess who we're suppose to be?





Here's my shameless project showoff. I finally figured out what to do with a blank wall in my house. I am not the clever designer so I copy other people :) A friend posted a picture of what she did to her wall and I pretty much copied it exactly - I know my frames are different and so are the sizes, but other than that.... I'm a copycat.

Brothers

Last night we were in town and the boys got a balloon. David LOVES balloons and was so excited about his. We got home and as we were walking to the front door, David's balloon caught on something and he lost his grip on the string. Larry chased after it because it was still low to the ground, but a gust of wind took the balloon up too high. The balloon flew away. David's little chin quivered, he had the most devastating look on his face... like he'd just lost a best friend. I offered him cookies in place of the balloon and he accepted the lesser substitute. As he ate his cookie, he watched Jared and his balloon with a look of envy on his little face. This morning, David woke up and found a balloon on his bed. Jared had given him his balloon. He was so excited, it was like Christmas morning.

When I think of good brothers, I think of my boys. They don't always get along, in fact, they can be downright mean to one another at times. But I can tell they love each other and they do things for one another that just makes my heart melt. I'm so lucky to have them.









I took these photos this last weekend, there was a canola field near my mom and dad's house. The boys enjoyed being the center of attention and of course, I loved taking photos of them.

My latest angel, JaXxon

I met JaXxon yesterday, a nurse at the hospital called to request my service. He was born early in the morning and was on life support when I met him. I only took a couple of photos and offered to come back when the tubes were out. I would make better images that way, sweeter memories for the family. So a few hours later, I was called to come back in. The mother told me she could feel that this session was a form of therapy for her. That made me feel good. My mom came along and assisted me with my equipment so I could get the best shots. Here are his precious feet. I have more on my photo blog in black and white.



For those who don't know, I am a volunteer photographer with an organization called 'Now I lay me down to sleep.'

Tagged!

I was tagged by this gorgeous hawt mamma!


7 random things about me....

1. When I eat Skittles, I try to eat my least favorite colors first and save the best for last - the green and red ones.
2. I sometimes take my camera with me on mundane errands, who knows when the opportunity to take a compelling image will present itself. I never forgot the time I had my camera packed too far in the trunk on a road trip and we drove by a large field on fire, a crop duster flew through the smoke and over the road to dump fire retardant onto the fire. I kicked myself for not having my camera more available.
3. I have to have the lights on in the house while I'm locking up at night.... just to make sure I'm not locking myself in with the boogie man.
4. Jeans are the hardest piece of clothing for me to shop for. Seriously, I will try on more than 20 pairs of jeans before finding that perfect fit. And when I do, I usually buy two or three pairs.
5. I once dyed my hair black thinking it would look natural with my black eye brows. Well it didn't. The hair dye also claimed it would come out in 40 washes, it didn't.
6. I just finished reading "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis yesterday. It was amazing.
7. I bite the inside of my cheek as a nervous habit.

I'm tagging Linsey, Katie, Brad, Michelle, Debbie S., Jan, and Annie.

This made my day!

It's a ninja cat, it moves without being seen and the music goes perfectly with the little clip. Seriously, I keep watching this one, it's hilarious!

10 Years

Jared Benjamin High
September 23, 1985 - September 29, 1998

Here are some of my favorite pictures of my sweet brother.....

September 23, 1995

My brother, Jared, was born 23 years ago. So today I might make some dirt cake (his favorite) for us to enjoy.

Taken by my dad


One of my favorite memories of my brother.......
One day while beginning to drive home from church, Jared, who was about two years old, got out of his car seat and moved behind the back seat of our van. This van had two vertical doors and he opened one of them. The door swung open with Jared hanging and swinging on to the door, having a good ol’ time. As we drove down the road at about 30 miles per hour, we began hearing horns honking and people were pointing with terrorized faces. This gave us a hint that something wasn't right. We stopped slowly and mom ran to the back of the van to investigate ... and there Jared was, hanging on to the door, smiling. Jared was having a great time but mom and dad were "freaked". This boy was destined to be a stunt man for the movies, we just knew it. It didn't take long for us all to be laughing about this incident. - partially copied from www.jaredstory.com with a few of my additions.

Our Getaway

We flew to Toronto last Tuesday for a 1-week getaway, just Larry and I. The boys spent the week with their grandma, but we called them every day. Jared started asking us how many days we had left on Wednesday - only one day into the vacation. We sure missed them too and are happy to finally be home with them. They forgave us immediately for leaving, we brought them some souvenirs as a bribe, I love that we can buy them off so easily :)

While in Toronto, we went north, south, east and west to explore the beautiful area. It's so beautiful and green, lots of lush trees and some that were on the brink of turning all shades of fall colors. We went to Niagara Falls, Palmyra NY, and some little towns within an hour of Toronto. I loved the little towns with their old rock houses and turn-of-the-century architecture. Larry loved the helicopter ride, he was as giddy as a school girl. I took about 200 pictures, but will post a few of my favorites here.





Taken from the helicopter....


When we were here with the boys last summer, they saw this "pirate" ship off the side of the road on Lake Ontario. So this time we stopped to take a picture


This butterfly has decided that Larry needs a little decorating :)


One of the highlights of our trip was touring the church history sites, here is one of the Sacred Grove. Beautiful is all I can say to describe this, it was a perfect day and the light came down just right for me.


Taken from Hill Cumorah - I just loved the puffy clouds!





From the entertainment district at Niagara Falls - I was playing with the low shutter speed.

A funeral and a wedding

Yesterday we said our final goodbye to Uncle Leanard who was buried in a local cemetery. There were many there to mourn with the family and show support. It was good to see family members whom we have not seen in awhile. The Honor Guard was there to send Uncle Leanard off with military style - it was nice of them to do that. The service was beautiful and some lovely things were said.

In the early afternoon, I headed off to photograph a wedding. There was joy and everyone celebrated the union of a very happy couple. What a difference in atmosphere from funeral to wedding! I'm very excited at how my raw 'straight out of camera' photos turned out, but it will be awhile before I can post any - I have so much to do.

Here are a couple of photos I took at the cemetery.

First day of Kindergarten

David was so excited for school today, he ran right to the bus and didn't even look back to wave at me. When I met them at the bus stop up the street, he ran to tell me how much he loved school. His enthusiasm was way over the top!


And both of my cookie monsters...