Thursday, February 25, 2016

The Frozen Family

Jackie has been trying to schedule these photos for a long time.  With 4 kids it's tough to do, so tonight when it was cold and windy we ventured out anyway.  I was excited for the cloudy skies being my gigantic soft box and the snow being a natural reflector of light.  Mom brings them in colorful shirts and we shoot really fast.  There isn't much time for posing or keeping hair in the right place under these conditions and these kids nailed it and don't even look that frozen. 


The twins are both missing their front teeth so their little smiles are too cute.





Mom even got in a few of them.  This is my favorite from the session.






Twins from birth, friends forever....







Mr Max had to be bribed for a single photo but he came back out of the car took off his coat and hat and smiled as big as he could and as fast as he could.  He was ready to be done and he wanted his treat.  I bet he didn't pick ice cream :)


Thank you Jackie for accepting the challenge and being a great mom, your kids are adorable.  

Monday, February 8, 2016

Lindy is ONE

I've had quite the break from taking pictures, my break was filled with Senior orders so I took advantage of the slow winter days and nights.  But I'm back and from the looks of this little cutie I didn't forget how to take pictures.  


Payton couldn't wait to have her picture taken with her little sister.  






Oh my how could I resist a mirror shot when she's wearing this cute little ONE year old outfit.


And then the smiles stopped........ and the cake became her mission.




Even frosting on her toes



The fist rarely left her mouth


Unless she was trying to get more frosting


Gotta love the cake smash shoots


What a fun shoot to start out 2016.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Snowshoeing Up North

This weekend we could finally go up north to the cottage.  Haven't been there is over a month so we couldn't wait to check things out and relax.  (well John relaxes I take boxes of projects we me so I don't get bored).  Saturday I was craving a cheese burger from one of our favorite places and then a little text to my sister.... and the afternoon was swallowed up with a bit of fun.  

John had thrown in the snowshoes thinking we could check out one of the trails.  Sunday morning I didn't feel like checking out the site so he relaxed and I did projects.  We love it up there it's so peaceful and just beautiful looking out at the northwoods and the river.  The eagles fly by and the birds make the backyard come to life.  When we were packing up to head home it started to snow and it was tempting to call in sick on Monday morning but we all know that I can't do that.  

On the drive home John headed to the closest snowshoe trail which is only a couple miles from us and I got the itch to try it.  I talked him into it by saying we would only go for a bit.  There was a guy that headed out right in front of us with his puppy dog.  


It was a beautiful trail and so well groomed.  It was also 36 degrees, for me that is a perfect temperature for outdoor trail walking.   I started my Fitbit tracker when we left, I hate to waste them steps.... only fitbit users will understand.  :)



He was lagging behind so I had to put up the camera to see what he was doing.


Yep that's exactly what I thought..... taking pictures of my butt (sorry kids)


This first part of the trail was woodsy and so calm and pretty.  



The trees started to get bigger and further apart.



And then hills started..... and lack of trees.


The guy with the dog is right in front of us.  By this time my fitbit had said it was .5 miles.  I asked John if he wanted to turn around and he said to keep going.  



More hills


White birch


By this time my fitbit had said 1.5 miles and we have no idea where we are and how far to get back to the truck.   My walk was much slower than I normally walk but I didn't think it would be very nice to leave John out there by himself and the reason for the walk was to do something together.  So I walked slow...... took everything in me to do it but I did.


Good thing the guy with the dog is in front of us or we might have taken a wrong trail.  


There was a map inside this very worn out shelter so I walked over to it to see if I could figure out where we were and how far to get back.  


Since we had no idea where we started it didn't help us.  Keep walking and by now John is starting to use the F word in simple sentences...... and talking about the wolves eating us.  Good thing he didn't see the name of this shelter..... 


We were up high and all those hills we walked were proof we came from the bottom.




Still continue to go up higher.



I'm just chatting away and John is quiet...... my fitbit says 2 miles and he then says the wolves might be a better option than finding our way back to the truck.  


When we started to see the pine trees again it was a good indication we were getting closer to the truck.  And yep we found our way out.  


I would totally do that again and John said he'd rather have a tooth pulled.   Guess I need to find a new snowshoe walker.

All the while we were wondering if we were on the right path I totally forgot the fitbit was tracking us.... I got "the look" when I pulled this app up.  Looks exactly like the green trail on the map in the shelter.  


The trails weren't marked well at all and thank goodness the guy was in front of us or this little jaunt could have turned into a much longer walk.