Edible Easter Critters

Today Spring sprang, err sprung, no, springged  . . .  anyway, Spring came today.  We could tell by the sunshine, the bluebird and robin sighting, and the happy seedlings in the green house. 
But we knew for sure when the adorable Missy brought us these adorable Edible Easter Critters.




They're cake pops!  Thanks Amy and bakerettes.

Grey and Gloomy day? Pshawww

As Snoopy wrote, “It was a dark and stormy night . . .”  Saturday was a grey and gloomy day.  But when Ashlyn and Cierra came for a visit we made good use of such a day.
 
We glued pink popcorn on apple tree prunings to bring Spring.  We glued split green peas on paper/masking tape balls just for the sheer pleasure of working with something green.   We were the  Princesses of Frugal Fun. 



And THEN! . . .  An unplanned photo shoot.
Photography tip:  Cloudy days are the Perfect days for outdoor portrait photography.  It’s like nature provides you with a gigantic flash diffuser.  You do need to turn your subject so that all that soft, natural light falls fully on their face and lights up them there eyes.

Cierra and Ashlyn: Roomates, cousins, and friends

Photoshop is the other half of the fun of digital photography.  We came back inside and chose two images to saturate, burn, dodge, grain, etc. etc.
 




Grey and gloomy?  I think not.

Significant Look

Admittedly, every adorable, sloppy mouth, goobery look an adorable, sloppy mouthed, goobery boy offers is significant.  THIS one, however, was the first direct, back-atcha look I captured with my camera since Casen’s beanie was surgically manipulated.  No more sidelong, flitting glances, or shifty, vague focusing.
Today’s  gratitude:  A look from a childs eyes - long, direct, deep, recognizing, focused, full of curiosity, humor, interest, and love.  Certainly a case where the little things are BIG after all.


March 19, 2011



Something SWEET  about SUGAR:  Inside Casen’s little beanie was placed some hardware made from sugar.   Hard enough to be trusted to hold, yet able to dissolve away quietly and without fanfare when the job is done.  Yay for sugar!  I must eat some with the twins to celebrate this Unsung Hero.   But not in the form of screws and plates.  I like my sugar SKITTLE -style. (Classic Grape, Cherry, Orange, Lime and Lemon, please.)

February 16, 2011

Fast Recovery

 

What a difference a month makes in the life of a 6-7 month old feller.  Our little guy is not much baby, but a whole lot of boy. 

A Temple Portrait

The temple has gone through me, like thread through a needle

Everything I do is stitched with its color.

Anonymous

This is Jay’s photography on a trip we took to St. George, Utah.

To learn about LDS temples go here.

Sky High

A visit from some Kenningtons made our day today.  They brought their beautiful kites.  But would they fly?

Yes!  They only came down when we made them.

Why does it make Bronwyn, and all of us, feel so good and successful to get a kite up in the sky and have it stay there?

I don’t know, but there are some things Anna and I have never outgrown.  And the joy of flying a kite is one of them – it just makes you feel  SKY HIGH.

Something my Mother Gave Me

This is the picture I grew up gazing at and wish, wish, wishing I would look like my mother.  I remember her expressing out loud that she would like to be called “Mother”.  At the time, it seemed too hard to switch  from “Mom”.  But now . . .

Aunt Lanea and Mother

I don’t look like her (dang it!) but I find myself looking a little like her on the inside.  We both thrill at a bluebird sighting, and so many other similarities come to mind.   But surely a biggie is her love for WORDS.  She gave me and all my 9 brothers and sisters that.  Thanks Mom, err, Mother!  Tonight she is going to a Relief Society Meeting.  They’ve been asked to bring “You In a Bag” (is it just me, or does that sound a little startling?). They are to put three things into a bag that will tell the other sisters about themselves.  She told me she is including this poem as one of those items.

He ate and drank the precious words,    
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.
He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book — what liberty
A loosened spirit brings!

Emily Dickinson

“ Dance along the Dingy Days”!  Such words.  Sheer poetry.

I’m committing this one to    

 

Mark and Mykele’s Ma-widge

Being the secondary photographer has its perks, and they all center around being stress free   Any portrait photographer cringes to think of getting great images in a cultural hall.  Cultural halls have to be about the worst place for beautiful, natural, ambient lighting – a must have for portraits.  So after accomplishing the only required task (the GROUP picture) and taking note that the wedding couple has already been captured in dazzling photography previously, my ever-hungry creative soul decided to see what kind of images I could get the rest of the evening.  I was on the prowl – stress free.

Happily, I discovered a ‘new’ look with the darkened room.  I think it has the feel of a Rembrandt painting.  Here are some of the faces I love . . .

Karren, here’s a sampling of your rowdy crew

Genna – so soft and glowy.  Rembrandt would have loved painting you.

Shimmery Shayla

Karren and Mikell

Newly baptized Sydnee.  You are too cute for words - only a picture will do.

Aw.  I think some couples LOOK like they’re supposed to be a couple right from the start.  Like these two.  Snapshots can be so interesting – lot’s of emotion and life.  Look at Reed on one side, Gaylene keeping the smiles going on the other.  Families are so great.

Count the tiny girls – FOUR.

Reed, Stacie and Payton


Suzanne and Josh

I think they’re in love.

A Jessie Sandwich.

Kayla and Sydnee sisters

The Queen Mother – MY Mother







Caitlyn is Sleeping Beauty

 


We have a movie star in the family.  At least I think Garyn looks like one here in b&w.




Wedding receptions are  glorious and . . . long.

Finally – a smile!  I chased Caitlyn around quite a while before she rewarded me with this.  I think she loves her Brance daddy.

Had it!  At the end of his rope.  Won’t do it no mo.  Whew!  Last child beautifully hitched.  Way to go my favorite Kirk.  Do I detect a single tear slipping down your cheek.  No?  My mistake.
Hey what was in that glass?

Kayla, you’re like a warm, glowing, living china doll. So pretty.

Texture, layers, colors, pattern, darling baby – this image has it all, albeit a bit on the busy side.

Heaven-sent Kimberly Nicole

Abandoned!

Everything was so perfect.  Sigh.
What a great beginning for our 2011 Thanksgiving Slide show, eh?