{Raegan's Sr. Pics}

Raegan and I got together this past Saturday, along with her best friend, Kate and Kate's mom, Brenda.  Raegan's mom has to work on the weekends so she wasn't able to be there for the shoot.  Brenda did a great job taking care of Raegan in her place.  Good to know teenagers can be that close with their best friend's parent!  Raegan attends high school in Lawrence, Ks.  She plans to attend Johnson County Community College for her pre recs, then to go to Baker for a degree in nursing! She loves her Jewelry class in school and was the wrestling manager for two years.  She tunes into rap for music.

All day I watched the weather praying that we would get to do our shoot before it rained!  As I checked the radar before I left to head to Edgerton, I noticed it was starting to rain in a nearby town!  Ahhh, we've got to get this shoot in, is all I could think.  We started at this quaint tire shop just outside of Edgerton on Old 56 HWY.  It looks like it was build in the 30's or 40's, but still does business today.  We had a blast there.  It was really fun watching Raegan climb the flattened tires!  Spider's anyone??

As we left here it started to drizzle just a little, so we scooted to our next location...an abandoned property on the corner of old 56 and 151st.  I'd always wanted to shoot on this old farm, and it just so happened that Raegan wanted a farm for part of her shoot.  This place is probably on the historical site.  It was creepy in a fun way!!

Raegan spent most of her time inside the barn, at least she wasn't getting wet!  As we headed to the Bottoms in KC it started to poor down rain.  I just kept thinking we weren't going to get her shoot finished!  As we arrived into the city is stopped raining!!  Thank you Lord!  I just love shooting in the bottoms there is always so much to work with.  Here high boots and short skirt made for a very fun, sassy, edgy shoot in the city.  Plus, Raegan has that wonderful hair that looks super good wet or dry!  I'm so jealous.

I really loved all of Raegan's locations and can't wait for her, friends, and family to see the rest.  Thanks to Raegan for a fun day of shooting, Kate for being her best friend and for holding the video camera, and to Brenda to taking her to all her locations!

{Testing...testing}

What makes a sport?  A team, fans, determination?  Well today Ethan, our oldest son, tested for his High Blue Belt in Tae Kwon Do.  Determination, concentration, focus, and peace make up this sport.  Ethan has been involved since he was four years old.  This wonderful, old practice gives Ethan confidence like you wouldn't believe.  Ethan was very nervous for his testing today.  He didn't feel like he knew his form very well and was also a little under the weather, but he did great!  Plus at the ripe old age of 6 Ethan can lead a class of 50+ kids through warm ups, which entails the 12 step kicks and hand movements.  He also can count to 10 in Korean and instruct other kids to do so too.  

This first group of pics is Ethan warming up and waiting his turn to do his testing.  He was the only blue belt that tested today so he had to do it by himself.  I love the expression on his master's face.  You can just see how much he loves teaching the kids and how proud he is of his students!

These next ones are of Ethan's form.  One of the most involved forms he's had. 19 steps involving different combinations of hand and feet placements.  Some of them are several steps and punches before you even get to say 1,2,3...13 etc.  And to do it by himself was amazing!

At the end of each group that tests the parents get to come hold a board for the kids to break.  They are instructed what punch or kick they will do to break their board.  They continue to preform the task until the board is broken.  Ethan took two tries today!  Way to go buddy.

Three hours later we get to be rewarded with some lunch and a demo put on by the judges and younger instructors in the studio.  Here are a few of the amazing high jumps and stunts we saw this morning!

Look at the dust this board has produced after the powerful kick that broke it....

Mister Ireal jumped over 3 and 4 grown men placed in a row to then brake the board at the end!

Ethan is well on his way to a black belt!!

{happy Heart day}

I know it's a little late, but I thought I would wish everyone a special Valentines day.  Brent and I don't really do a lot for Valentines.  We think it's a silly holiday.  We do special things for the kids though and make it fun for them, but there is no cards or flowers or candy for each other.  This year though Brent surprised me by taking a photo and putting up on facebook!  Ahhh, how sweet.

The picture consists of a made up book that he did and his wedding ring (that doesn't fit since he's lost so much weight!) that casts a heart as a shadow!  The planning and thoughtfulness that went into this picture just means the world to me.  What a sweet hubby I have!  {SMILES}

{my sweet Livie}

This past Saturday,  I woke up physiqued about a baby shoot, but come to find out the gal had to cancel.  While this didn't end up working out for the person intended for, I took the opportunity and called my best friend, Tara, to take pictures of her youngest.  She just told me last week that she wanted to have some new pictures of Olivia done, and since I had drug a ton of photography stuff up already we took advantage of it and had a blast.  Apparently she needed an update on the wall, since her other three kids had recent pictures and the one of Olivia was from when she was 1!  Olivia turns 4 this week so it was great timing.

This pillow was one of my new finds.  I just love how girly it is and the color is so soft!

Olivia is so optimistic and cute, not to mention super tiny for her age! I think she only weighs 25 pounds!!  We spent the shoot trying to get "real"smiles from this girl....I think I managed to capture a few.  But if you look closely you can laugh at the expressions on Olivia's face!  We were cracking up while doing the shoot!!

She enjoyed feeling pretty~except for when we had to take the Cheez-its away because it was time to take more pictures.  Her face lit up though when we put on her dazzling, green dress.  I love little girls at this age when they get to do something extra special!  I bought this coat and dress a LONG time ago, just waiting for Olivia to grow into it!!  The dress is a 5T and super huge on her, while the coat is 24 months, it is big for a 24 month, I can't even imagine putting April in it next year when she would be in that size!

These next ones are my favorite...

Thanks Tara for letting me capture Olivia at 4!  I'm glad it worked out for us to get together!

{Fab Five}

Welcome everyone to the NEW blogging story.  Every so often I will blog about my favorite/fabulous five things at the current time.  A brief highlight is above for those of you who don't want to read in depth.  While it's a very short blog, some of you just like the pictures!

First up this time is this wonderful coffee!  Angela, one of my really great friends in Wichita, bought me this bag of coffee as part of my Christmas this year.  People who know me really well know that I like my coffee!  I got a ton for Christmas, and that's OK with me!  This one stands out though.  While I like to doctor my coffee with cream and sugar, this one doesn't even need the cream.  It's very smooth like a melted caramel in your mouth!  Thanks Ang!!  

Second on the list are these amazing True Life colors by Crayola.  Who doesn't love a Crayola crown or marker!  I love to color with my kids and they love to color too!  These ones are really fun they twist up and down, which is a great feature, and they are tri colored all within the same family of color!  They really look amazing when you color with them!  Remember when you were a kid and opening that brand new box of crayons?  Just the smell brings back the wonderful memory!

Ahhh, Netflix....We have just recently canceled our U-Verse subscription.  It just got way too expensive.  We have now switched to Netflix and Hulu Plus for a fraction of the price.  I love it!!  We have the streaming video over our new t.v. and through our Wii on our other t.v.  plus, all the videos you can watch.  And for a fraction of the cost!  We thought Red Box was awesome, but sometimes we'd forget to take the movie back and end up with 7,8,9 dollars in fees.  I pay that for a month of this and get all that I want!!  

So last spring when my camera and c.d. were stolen out of my car my hubby bought my and iPod Touch for my birthday. (What a wonderful man!) I love, LOVE, LOVE  iTunes!!!  One it's so easy for all the mac users and it's nice to only buy one song off a play list! Thanks Santa for sticking this one in my stocking!

And lastly, those wonderful Girl Scout cookies!  I do love thin mints so much that I think I could eat the whole box in a sitting, but I won't.  My father-in-law showed me the love of them frozen, which makes them like 10 times better!  Well, since this year we started Weight Watchers we only ordered one box!  Yes, you read right, ONE box.  Well, they're still here, I only eat 3 at a time if I feel the need to have them.  3 points for 4 cookies, so I use them for those desperate moments.

Well everyone, I hope you have enjoyed this little series that I'm starting and learned something more about me.  You should try something on it today, and let me know what YOU think!!