Surprise for Mom

These kids are so awesome and would make any mom proud.  And........ we managed to pull off a heck of a surprise for their mom.  I think Jessie and I were about to loose our cool a few times trying to keep this photo session a surprise for their momma!

Josh is being deployed to Afghanistan early in March. I don't know how a mom processes and accepts that her oldest 'baby' (yes you are always mom's baby no matter how old you are) is going to be on the other side of the world in an unsafe place. I admire all families that endure having a loved one so far away.

Josh, Jessie and Justin came over on a Saturday morning, we set up a make shift studio in my kitchen and had a FUN photo shoot.  We managed to get some pretty awesome images of the three of them together to present to their mom at Josh's "Come Home Soon" Party the following week.

For a whole week we had to KEEP A SECRET, from the woman who KNOWS EVERYTHING! And guess what!  We did it!! Great job kids.  It was my honor to be a part of this special gift for Jody!  

So kids - if you really want to do something special for your mom - the most perfect gift would be a few nice photos.  Mom will turn to mush!

Now here's some fun images from our session.

Check out the video at this link: Video

47 Days

It has been 47 days since Christmas. It seems like we've moved on, put away all the holiday decorations and by now the kids probably even forgot what they got for presents or the toys are broken.  

I'm going to get on my soap box for a few moments here!
Where are your Holiday pictures? 
Are they stuck on the memory card in your camera?
 Are they uploaded to the computer?  
ARE THEY PRINTED?

If your pictures are stuck on the memory card in your camera.... you must at least upload those pictures, get them off that memory card! Memory cards fill up.  How absolutely sick to your stomach are you going to be when you delete those images off the memory card?  Once you do that they usually are GONE. Although there are some expensive recovery options that sometimes work, but more often than not don't work.  

If your photos managed to at least be uploaded to the computer it's more than likely that you at least shared them on Facebook and shared with family and friends and that's great. Everyone got to see them, but now they are buried in some album on FB to never be seen again.  Technology is great. Will Facebook be around in 10 years for our kids to look back on this year's holiday festivities and remember the moments?  Maybe, Maybe not. Are you willing to take that chance with your family memories?

Let's face it, computers crash, technology fails!  If you own a computer I'm pretty sure you have experience technical failure at least once if not more.  

Please back up your photos - all your photos to an alternative location. There are several options for backing up your system files. I am by no means a technical expert but there are several EASY options. 
1. Burn them to a CD/DVD.  
2. Transfer images to an external source. An external hard drive or even a USB thumb drive. 
3. Back up online. There are several online storage sites available. I have used a few, and they are all pretty much about the same.  Most online storage sites offer some space for free, the free space is usually enough for personal photos.

Please please PRINT your photos. All the back ups in the world are not the same as having those memories printed and saved for generations to come.  

More information to come sometime soon.  And, I'm off to order prints of my own Christmas pictures. I sure would hate to not be able to share these moments in years to come - or at least use as black mail materials some day.

Fiona's First Saddle.  

The PURE excitement captured perfectly! 

Oh and of course the Chicken Castle. The kids were so proud to race home and secretly put this together to surprise their dad.  "Best present EVER".  Now we get to fill it with chickens. I see a blog post in the future.

Opening presents is SERIOUS business.