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We celebrated 10 wonderful years of marriage last week by hoppin' on an alaskan cruise for a week. One long glorious week! I haven't uploaded my pics from my canon yet so these iPhone ones will have to do for now. :)
More pics soon!
Xo,
Pamelalala
More pics soon!
Xo,
Pamelalala
Thought I'd try out blogging from my phone real quick. I normally don't post on Sundays but I just had to show you this picture of our family made out if popsicle sticks that the girls made at church today (and how cool is it that I'm actually able to do this from a phone?!?).
Kaaren talked to all the kiddos in primary about the importance of families and then had them make their own family. Such a stinkin' cute idea. I love how she weaves art into everything she does.
Yes, I think these cute little creations now have a permanent home on our fireplace mantle. :)
Happy Sunday!
Xo,
Pamela, a gal who's very grateful for her very own family
P.s. check out my instagram acct to see some fun family photos of me with my siblings and Pops! Such a wonderful weekend this has been! :)
Okay, so, I'm totally eating my words over here. Remember when I said I didn't want an iphone because I didn't want the constant distraction of having the internet wherever I go?
Well, I got one last week. And I'm loving it. But mostly for the pictures. The whole portable internet concern? Still a concern, and one that I'm going to have to practice some self control over. Why? Because I don't want to be one of those moms who constantly has her eyes glued to her phone all throughout the day. In fact, just last night when I was at the park with the girls and I'd say 85% of the parents there had their phones out. Ahhhhh! I can't stand that! Where's the interaction with the children? Where's the living in the present? Sure, maybe one of them was checking an email to see how their Great Aunt Bertha was doing after breaking her leg earlier that day, but all of them? Highly doubt it.
And I can totally see how easy it is to get sucked into that trap. But that's not the way I want to be.
But man, that iphone camera... I'm in love with it. And I'm looking forward to using it instead of always having to lug my big ol' camera around. The iphone will also help speed up the process of updating my facebook page compared to having to go through the process of uploading the pictures from my Canon camera to my laptop and then editing and uploading the images in photoshop and saving it to my computer and then uploading to facebook or the blog. Whew! See, it takes a while to do! Which of course I'll still do for special photos, but I'll be updating more often now that I have an easier way.
And since I have an iphone, I set up an instagram account! My user name is @pamelalalasusan. (pamelasusan was already taken, of course!) You'll find fun little snapshots of my day, which takes only seconds to do on my end--so fun.
Which, speaking of instagram, do you notice some changes on this blog? I cleaned up a bunch of buttons from the side of the blog and my hubby helped me make some social media icons right up there on the top right corner under my photo. Now you can access my facebook, pinterest, and instagram in a jiffy. :)
Now, on a completely different note, I meant to add the below photo to yesterday's post. Perhaps I should still add it there, but here it is for now. And how I love it!
I had Aaron take this photo of Joy and me with our Ketti handbags for Ketti!
(Such happy girls we are with our bags, aren't we?)
How I love my Ketti bag!
Ketti--thank you for designing such high quality, cute bags for us photographers! I love everything about mine, especially the new adjustable dividers inside. You are awesome.
Okay, I best be off. I'm taking the girlies for a little walk down the road to burn their extra energy off before going to bed. And though I won't be checking the phone for updates, I'm sure I'll be snapping a photo or two. :)
xo,
Pamela
What a fun post this is going to be for me to write!
Last week my family and I had the honor of having family portraits taken by Joy Prouty of Wildflowers Photography while she and her family were here in Oregon. Her name serves her right because she really is such a joy to be around! (That probably sounded totally corny but it's so true!) For someone as well known as she is in the photography world, I was beyond impressed with how down to earth and how friendly both she and her hubby were. Such a delightful time spent with them!
Here she is snapping a picture of me...
while I'm snapping a picture of her. :) (poor aaron had the camera around his neck but i got behind it real quick--hence why he's right behind me. hehe)
And here I've got to highlight their trailer. For those of you that follow me on facebook, you already know how thrilled I was to be in the presence of Joy's incredible trailer. Those gorgeous flowers painted on it are the original artwork of Katie Daisy! I mean come on now, how cool is that?! Very.
And as if there wasn't enough about Joy for me to be in love with already, check out this quilt she made for her daughter. Isn't it gorgeous?! Yes, we're both lovers of Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts. I love how she added the blue scalloped edge. I need to figure out how she did that.
Here's a picture that Joy snapped on her phone of the girls. This picture makes my heart happy.
But back to the trailer real quick. It is currently Joy's home as she and her family are traveling the country for the next year. They sold their California house a couple months ago, along with the majority of their belongings, in effort to simplify their lives. How courageous! You can read more of their beautiful story on their blog. It is worth the read, I promise. (Even though the majority of us might not be ready to sale our house and personal belongings, I am sure we can all find ways to simplify our lives of distractions.)
She was kind enough to let me snap a few pictures of the trailer--what a beauty! (and yes, i took my shoes off before entering. :) )
One reason I love Joy's story is that she is so real and honest about their journey and experiences. Yes, they have a beautiful life full of amazing experiences, but she's also very honest about the challenges of living in a 150 sq. foot home with her 4 children. But boy, didn't she make this home a lovely one?
Her choice of prints and colors are perfect.
More quilts! They only kept the ones that were most special to their family. Each of her children have one of their own.
And here's her sweet daughter enjoying one of Kaaren's books that I gave to their children.
So, Joy, if you happen to read this someday, thank you for such a wonderful morning! It is one that I will treasure. I look forward to seeing the beautiful images that you are creating for my family. (And I apologize for the girls being little stinkers for the beginning of the session!) Thank you for your openness and kindness; you are a beautiful person with a beautiful soul. I'm so grateful our paths crossed. I'll see you again at one of your workshops next year!
xo,
Pamela, a grateful gal who is feeling ever so inspired in the photography department right now. and quilting. and painting. and just plain old living life! :)
Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans out there! What a beautiful day it is here in Portland, Oregon! It's been a nice and lazy day. No parades for us, though we did attend a yummy pancake breakfast at Aaron's parents' church this morning.
And to tell you the truth, I had no intention of picking up my camera today, but then I heard Jane playing in her bedroom and after seeing this, I couldn't resist.
How my baby loves My Little Ponies! I love capturing moments like this, when the kids are completely unaware of my presence. These are the most beautiful pictures to me. Unplanned, unposed and perfect.
Unfortunatley soon after I snapped this shot she noticed me and hid under a blanket. But that's okay because it was pretty cute, too. I'd show you a picture of her under the said blanket but my computer has decided to show me some attitude and I can't access it. Sigh.
These will have to do for now...
But our day has consisted more than just ponies and toys. Blueberry picking kept the girls busy for quite some time.
And I love how excited the girls were to put up our flag for the big day!
And on days like today, when the sun is toasty and warm, a good old water gun fight seems like the perfect thing to do!
Blueberry, anyone?!
Except Jane didn't want any part of it!
So I had her help me make a Fourth of July bouquet. I can't remember what these red flowers are called but don't they remind you of fireworkds exploding in the sky??
And I'd say Avery's chalkart just about sums up our feelings about today. :)
Yes, may God bless America!
Happy Fourth!
xo,
Pamela
Summer is here and we are staying busy! Perhaps you already guessed that though with the lack of posts lately. It's been so nice having the kids home. Actually, yesterday was really our first lazy summer day since their last day of school two weeks ago. The first week Miss A had soccer camp from 9-3 (crazy long, huh?!). But she loved it. And then all last week we were at Black Butte, Oregon for Aaron's family reunion. It was my first time visiting there and we had a grand time!
I loved reconnecting with his siblings and their families. What wonderful people they are. I was even lucky enough to capture some shots of our darling niece for her senior pictures. What a ray of sunshine she is!
Such a happy soul.
Actually, you might remember when I blogged about her sister, Kelsi, here and here. Well, I'm so very happy to report that Kelsi is now cancer free for months! Such a miracle Kelsi is. And what an amazing family she has--so fun of strength and gratitude.
Here's Kelsi with her special, special family.
They are some of the the sweetest, most kind-hearted people I know. Now only if they'd move from Tennessee to Oregon I'd be a happy little clam.
And here's her big brother, Bryce, who will be leaving in a couple months for a 2 year mission for our church in Argentina! We are so proud of him.
I tell you, after taking pictures of these wonderful people in such gorgeous country makes me want to start up my own photography business. It was so much fun! I know I still have a lot to learn about photography but one of these days, I'm going to do it! :)
Hope all of you are well!
xo,
Pamela
