bloopers...

so, i was making my new title picture (above)...

do you like it?

Lest you look at that picture and think they are all such angels, consider what i had to go through in order to get that "lovely" shot:

whew... i kept threatening but the more i did, the more they would 'mix it up'... the older ones know me too well.

And then they give me a shot like this:

Cole is still being goofy but this shot fits their personality so much. I just wish Matt was in it.

This is a picture of Erick & his daughter Ericka, part of one of our favorite families! We went to the movies last year after Christmas Eve service at church and I was able to catch this beautiful shot in the Anaheim Hills Multi-plex... go figure. Could Ericka look any more lovely??

i love beautiful photographs of family and friends... don't you?

Eek... I feel OLD.

So last Saturday night Tom & I went out to dinner with a couple that we are just beginning to know-


He is Tom's golfing buddy, She is his long time girlfriend.


First off, I'm EXHAUSTED before we even leave for dinner... I've been working all day. all I want to do by 6:30 is get in my jammies and cuddle on the couch where it's warm. oh well.


We went to Las Brisas in Laguna Beach (it's FREEZING there!) and then they say they have tickets for the show at House of Blues in Downtown Disney.


omg. It's 10 o'clock.


I'm so tired I can't even think straight.


We GO to H.O.B. and it's the wildest 80's Hair Band... see picture above.


2 songs was all we got to hear. Then their set was done (darn it! ;o) and we went home!!!! Yeah!


of course I'm (sort of) kidding... I love going out on dates with my wonderful husband... but sometimes I just want to STAY HOME.


I sound SO old saying that though, don't I??

Tonight we were meeting the Ronks at the District to see "Enchanted" (very funny, cute movie) and here comes that old fart thing... I just wanted to stay home! Tom kept calling me a "pooper" though and got me out of my cranky mood- we went- it was very nice.


As nice as snuggling on a warm couch though??? Not sure... :o)

Here are some more of the "Pastors & Elders" Photo Assignment shots... I like these. They're so fun and not at all like the traditional ones on the web site. I just hope they are what Tammy is looking for. Below is Chris Gniffke, our 5th & 6th grade pastor (the pastor for my Matt & Jon)



Josh Simpson & Nikki Smalley (below) ... they're awesome!
(secret: these are actually "staged" shots... I didn't want to interrupt the Jr. High group Wednesday night so they agreed to pretend for me after it was done. They Rock)




BIG week coming... starting Sunday we have rehearsal or a show every night until the following Sunday. This is going to be an amazing musical.
Click here for more info.

My Photography

So, when I was 12 and a budding photographer, my father asked me to help him with his part-time wedding photograpy business.

I would travel with him all over, being his extra camera, his 'shot arranger', etc.

At 13 I got my first job at Briar Photography in the circle, developing and printing black & white photos & film. We also built a darkroom in our basement where we could process all of our own stuff.

I also started taking lots of portraits of my friends.

I then worked at Albert & James Photography for years, in their black & white lab making custom b&w prints. It has always been such a passion of mine but you know how it gets... you get married, have a ton of kids and all of your interests get pushed aside.

It's been really fun getting back in to photography lately, especially learning how to do things digitally to a photograph which, previously, had taken YEARS to perfect in a darkroom! (All that time dodging and burning and color tinting... now it's a few clicks...wow. I'm bummed and amazed all at the same time!)

Anyway, I love what photography DOES... it captures a moment and holds it there. It's like listening to Ella Fitzgerald sing, or seeing "Birth of a Nation", it's like you get to grab hold of time and show something about it; something you and others can remember later when it's gone.

But I digress... ON to the point of all this:

I've been asked to take on different photo assignments over this past few months and thought I should have a Flickr site showing my work.

HERE is that link.

amen.

You Are 44% Open Minded

You aren't exactly open minded, but you have been known to occasionally change your mind.You're tolerant enough to get along with others who are very different...But you may be quietly judgmental of things you think are wrong.You take your own values pretty seriously, and it would take a lot to change them.

this was an on-line quiz i took. i felt the bend was, of course, to praise those who's minds are like flapping shutters, swaying and blowing open whenever the winds of society say they should...
there are SOME things, SOME points on which you should not bend.

how would our country have started without men who's minds were made up?

why is it ok to be "open-minded" now as opposed to then and

where will this take us?

pastors & elders assignment

Don't you just love Jeff?? He's an unbelieveable treasure at our church.

Hmmm... two plates?? jk victor ;o)

Matt & his lovely Marilee

Eric & Matt

I get the distinct priveldge of taking the new photos of the pastors and elders at our church, to be used in the web site. the photos above aren't really the ones for my assignment but I thoguht they were fun!

below is another assignment I recieved- taking the photos of the people involved in the christmas play - to be used in the program. another fun thing to do :o)

it really is going to be a great play - you should come!!

friends :o)

at the District with the boys - seeing Bee Movie

what IS IT about being somewhere totally mundane, like a grocery store - but when your friends are with you, suddenly it's a party! :o)

Below, at Jude's house... just playing

Mike & Matt, at rehearsal being silly

it's all fun and games...

lots of fun going on around here lately... above is Oct 31st, early morning- Jon's 11th birthday, we went to Ruby's for b-fast before school...

Cole at "Light The Night on Halloween Night, knocking a kid off his "perch"

the boys with Jon's friend, Grant, before going trick-or-treating in the neighborhood... we had a whole big group come join us - that always makes it more fun!!

Tom & Angela singing "The Gifts of the Magi" around the piano

We have SO much fun in rehearsals!

Jim, the Newport Beach Bum... (now THAT'S one Lucky Bum!! {One of the lines in a song he gets to sing, fyi})

Kerri & Mike are always up for a laugh!

i can't remember WHAT happened here... it's just a funny and cute picture of Kerri

Mike & his musical spoons...

Mike's got a bit of an "Elvis" sneer going on here, huh?

it's a roll of tape, SEE????

Doug & Jesse Brown, celebrating their 10th blender they've recieved as a wedding gift! (jk)

Our Life... in pictures

The "Magi" cast in rehearsals... from left: Angela, Tom, Duke, Mike & Kerri


"Soapy" the lovable bum... (Jim)

Soapy getting kicked out for free-loading

An incredibly animated Duke... I'm glad I caught this on camera!



Paris on Hollywood Blvd, after seeing our movie at the ElCapitan

The organist, playing before the movie. I just can't tell you how much I love that theatre! The architecture is SO incredible...

Having a chocolate malt at the soda fountain next door to the theatre.



BroomBall with the 5 & 6th Grade group (Calvary). The kids had a blast- it was "SuperHero" themed; Kelcey came with us- she won for Best Girl's Costume! She was Bat Girl, Matt was Bat Man, Jon was a surgeon, because those are the best super heroes of all... ;o)

Chris Gniffke... Ninja Turtle Dude.

are we in the clear?

the fires came SO close to our house... literally less than 2 blocks away.

God sure did have us in the palm of His hand because we did not hear until it had past that we were in a mandatory evac zone. THAT's kind of frustrating.

Thank you Lord for taking such good care of us!

Are we done now?

We aren't unpacking the car yet, I'll tell you that. :oD

so sick....

oh my gosh... i am SO sick; i feel like death warmed over.

i don't have time to be sick.

please PLEASE pray for me that i would get better to be able to sing at the women's retreat saturday. i'm supposed to be a soprano and right now i'm more like a bass-baritone... yikes. and if someone could take this elephant off my chest, i'd be much obliged...

"`If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Mark 9:23

In my Bible study this morning I came across this verse- we know the story... we know that when Jesus responded to this father in regard to his demon-possessed son, that He was speaking about more than just healing the man's child... that He was speaking to all of His children.
But am I living my life like I believe it? Are you?

Jesus longs to do great things through us - In fact, he promised he would do even greater things through us than he did himself because he is now at the Father's side helping us! (like it mentions in John 14: 12-14)
WHY am I not living like I believe it???

Saturday I was SO blue... SO down; feeling like a failure in every sense of the word and truly having a ridiculous pity party but it felt real of course. Then, when I finally call out to God to PLEASE help me, my dear friend Judi Singer calls me... she was right there with prayer and comfort and a listening ear.
What an AWESOME GOD we have, huh?? How many things has He put in place for us, his children, so that we are taken care of?
Do we really realize what He can do? Or what He has done for us so that our worship to Him is a sweet fragrance and not the stench that it would be without Him???

So I think it's time I quit talking about what I can't do, and start believing in the One who can do great things. Paul said it best when he said: God can do "more than we can ask or imagine by his power at work in us." (Ephesians 3:20-21)

What scripture has convicted you lately?? :o)

my dog's tongue...

i just caught daisy trying to chew open a bottle of Anbesol; you know the stuff that numbs your tooth when you've got a tooth ache...

this raises questions in my brain:

1. how does a dog feel about having a numb tongue? Do they think about it?

2. how did she get the bottle in the first place?

3. what would have happened to her had i not caught her before she opened it?

oh well... such is my life right now.

it's like the time when the boys were little and i caught them painting the car with yellow paint & paint brushes. how did they get the brushes? where was i?

I think the real question is: How do some people just have very simple, ordered lives and ours is always, always a 3 ring circus... ???

Don't get me wrong- it's a fun 3-ring circus but there's always SO much about our lives that's not "set", you know??

I was in a greeter's meeting for church and Josh was talking about how people always park on the same side at church, always like to walk in the same door, etc. and I was thinking "do they really?? is that what 'normal' people do? because that's not even a thought in my head; to do things the same way all the time like that. why am i not like that? hmmmm... i don't know. i DO like order, i do like logic and a well-thought-out plan, but i don't thrive on doing it the same all of the time.



did you get to see ANTM? the Yale girl was a good choice to go... she didn't want to be there anyway. i almost thought in the beginning that she was going to be an 'undercover' type girl; wanting to infiltrate an industry that she thought was bad and try to make some sort of political statement by screaming out on some live broadcast about "the industry"...

Maybe i'm watching too much t.v....


But I think if Heather can hold it together despite her Asperger's situation, she could go a long way... also Chantal- i think she could win. They seemed to deliberately pick a bad photo of her last night... there had to be something in one of the other shots. weird.
although i like this week's shot of her.
They sure did hit the nail on the head with their assessment of ebony, though... don't you think?

but seriously- if you're a girl, you should go to the women's retreat on the 20th. click here for details... it's going to be FUN, we've got a rockin girl's band! we're called "10"(maybe...). (Bea & I decided that we're all going to wear our hair in cornrows...) jk

WHOLE FOODS AT THE DISTRICT.

Oh My Gosh.

GO THERE. Today.

It's amazing.