whatever

blue lily is my fave.

hello.

our last day of GoPro we had a session of discussing business plans & ideas, a flash seminar, camera cleaning, personalized critiques (that's a good thing) and two more shoots.

some of our group went up on the gondola and hiked around.
but i could barely walk around the house and up the stairs so i wasn't up for a hike.
i stayed at the house and we practiced on each other and did headshots.  :)






 


i am thinking my editing looks funny on all of these....hmmm.
it's hard to learn something new!


there was a fox that was all around the house during our stay.
he was wild but seemed to really not care that we were there.
we were all very close and he ignored us.
weird.
and cool. 

i promised the girls that if he attacked i would be sure to take lots of pictures of that.
and then of course i would try to help save them. 

 

we had our group photo very impromptu... with some taxidermy.

                                         

coolest group photo ever taken....NO OFFENSE.

 

we went out in the evening to practice some harsh lighting shots.
wendy and tyler had us turn our backs and then when we turned around this is what we saw!


how crazy cute are those masks?!!
so so funny.
these are their kids...not wendy and tyler in the masks.  :)

(ps...their kids are so lovely...i want to squeeze them.)




they said the masks were ordered from amazon.


not as cute on a grown up....

my new friends.  :)

we went on to our last photo shoot of the weekend.
i was so excited.
i was going to be one of the models!!


everyone was helping wendy set up.
it's looking cool already....

well....i don't have many pictures yet since i was IN the shoot....but it ended like this.



that's my kind of modeling job.
 
we had a big paint war!!!

6 of us threw paint on each other while the other 16 people photographed it.
it was washable craft paint mixed with water to make it fly faster. 

it was SO MUCH FUN!!!

and you can see our photo shoot last year with colored powder here.

i can't say which one i liked better....they were both AWESOME. 

you can read about it here on the Blue Lily blog and see when the next GoPro workshop is.

if you are considering going to a workshop....DO IT.
you will learn so much.
you will be encouraged.
you will meet people who love what you love and have great ideas.
you will be SO glad you took the leap and tried something BIG.

and check their travel schedule....they take pictures ALL OVER THE WORLD.
get signed up for a photo session with them near you! 

you will be so happy you did it.

thank you AGAIN wendy & tyler.  
i loved my time with you.

 

day two.

i am still here at the goPro reunion in colorado.

there are over 20 laptops and cords and phones and cameras laying ALL over the place in this house.
it's completely awesome. 
it's a happy mess that this group "gets" and enjoys and appreciates. 

we enjoyed an awesome skype session about marketing with amy fraughton of photo business tools.
she was encouraging and inspiring.



wendy & tyler are wonderful instructors...patient...understanding and kind.
the enviornment at GoPro is so relaxed and noncompetive.
it's so refreshing to not feel like you have a dumb question or out of your league.
they are so good at making everyone feel empowered!
what a gift they have and i am SO grateful that they share it so openly.






there was lots of time for questions and answers.



yummy lunch for 20+.


and later in the evening we headed out for a family shoot to practice.
i get such a kick out of watching a workshop shoot....all those cameras.



the two familes were ridiculously gorgeous.

                                   












steamy....right??  crazy amounts of beautiful at this shoot.
and the kids all behaved like angels.
it was basically a dream shoot for any photographer. 

and it made me miss shooting families.
i kinda wish i had 10 more hours in a day so i could still do it...and run craft weekend...and raise my family....and create....and sew...and clean the house....well, maybe not clean the house. :)
i do miss interacting through photography.  
maybe someday i can come back to it.
i hope so. 

after our shoot was lots and lots more talking about photography and everything else.
and then the traditional wild and rowdy game of spoons.
wendy won.
i think it was possibly rigged....

loving it all so much here at goPro.
i hope your day is going great too.
i hear it's raining in kansas - YAY!!!
i am sad to miss it.

 

god is awesome.

i hunt for sunflowers.
every summer.
i am a sunflower addict.

i mean really....just try to tell me what is happier than that?!!
nothing.
it is the best site to see.


every detail amazes me.
LOOK at that!
it's about 8 inches across and hasn't even opened yet....it is  B E A U T I F U L !!!


sean held annie up to see a bug inside that one.
they had a blast running around this old farm.





this brings me joy.



{{{{ sigh }}}}

three of my favorite people in one of my favorite places....it's enough to make me cry.





GRASSHOPPER!!!

i didn't see that in my lens....or when it uploaded....i noticed it when put it on the blog.
i absolutely LOVE that picture! 

only about half of the flowers were open when we came by.
which made me giddy just thinking about coming back.




my kids asked if we could build a house right here so we could see the flowers and climb that tree.




talby took this picture of the lady bug!
amazing.

i am not prejudiced....i love dead sunflowers too!


one of the things i love about sunflowers is that they are solid and study.
they have big leaves....they have layers and layers of seeds and petals.
God creates each one so intricitly.
His creation is so detailed.

she found her twinsie in size.
:)

thank you Lord for reminding me of how detailed You are in the world.
every seed.
every petal.
Thank you God for caring about every hair on my head....every tear...every hurt....every joy in my life.

and for showing me that in a field of sunflowers.

God is awesome.

 

still life.

first things first.


drop off and pick up and drop up and pick up at swimteam.

our first tomatoes.


the art table.


The Daily Message (by Eugene Peterson)

watering our garden....coming along decently.


breakfast.


soon to be cucumbers.

turquoise bird dish from my great aunt.


everyday.


annie's softball game in 100 degrees.
she poured water on herself....and also she hit the ball hard!

weeds in the sunset.






so....this summer has been redonk.
i have yet to have one day where i felt like i was truly "enjoying summer" 
i have felt like i just go from one thing to the next.
pick up from a practice.
drop off.
pick up.
go here.
run there.
we never even made a summer list because there has not been TIME!!!
that is the opposite of the meaning of the summer list. 

i am ready for july.
i want to be past all these camps, sports and activities and just RELAX with my kids.
make crafts.  try new recipes.  turn off the the darn TV!!! 

july is going to be for relaxing.
slowing down.
enjoying my time with my kids.
and i am going to try to become a morning person and run earrrrrly.

YAY july.
maybe we'll make a july list.

:)

only 7 more days...

 

***********************************

my kids are off of school next thursday!
how did this sneak up so quickly??
i am ready for a change but not quite ready to give up my quiet days....but i guess i will survive.

june is FULL of camps and swim team and softball so i am pretty sure we'll stay busy enough. 

 

so last night while my little girls played croquet and i drank my coffee, 
i picked up my camera and shot this jar of daisies i had cut at the craft house on sunday.




then i zoomed in.....and got a little carried away with detailed pictures.

enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         "Don't you think that daisies are the friendliest flower?"  
                                                 
                                                                 - Kathleen Kelly

 

 









and then i went to play croquet.  
 
:)

 

i am out the door to run with my iPod, the wheat fields and the sunshine.

who's ridiculous idea was this 10K anyways???

oh yeah....mine.

hmmm.

its only 17 days away.... ugh.

 

happy tuesday to ya!

 

p.s.  i used my only lens....24-70 at f/3.5.  

 

thinking....

the winner of the Alexander Creative Family Rules poster is.....

Love this! Thanks for the opportunity!!

Posted by: sharon y. | April 20, 2012 at 02:17 PM

send me your info sharon y. and i will hook you up with Ryan Alexander!

now if you didn't win....go get your own!! 

{ poppyandpinecone }

so i said yesterday i was missing pam and dreaming about going back to africa.
it's on my mind everyday.
i feel like.... i am in some kind of pull between what i know is right and what i do anyway....like shopping among many other things.
i know that spending money on "things" that mean nothing is not right.
meaning: it's worthless. 
but i like those things....cute clothes....shoes....new jewelry.
but it means NOTHING to God.
and shouldn't i care about what God cares about?
shouldn't i want what HE wants for me?

i know that He does not want my time and thoughts and money to be spent on clothes and nothingness.
even if i do look super cute...i can't take it with me when i die.
going to africa to visit pam doesn't mean i can't go shopping...it's not that.
it means i feel messy in my heart and mind and can't make sense of it yet.
God is the only one who can resolve this issue in me.
and He will keep working on me i am sure of that. 

then i got these books....and i'm done for.
i am on chapter ONE of katie's book and i canNOT stop the tears.
the entire time....every word....crying.
have you read this book?  after only chapter one i would say YOU SHOULD.
and her blog?
it will wreck you. 

and i am scared to read seven.
very scared.

pam and i email each other quite a bit.  
her emails are so special to me.  
i read them over and over.
once i read them out loud over dinner because she and i were coresponding back and forth right then.
i wanted my family to be amazed at what God is doing through them and for them.

her son wrote a book and it's on kindle!  
he is so talented.
we downloaded it on sean's kindle and he loved it!  
sean said "that is so cool that jake wrote it AND it's on kindle!"  
it inspired him.
it's called The War Horn....you can download it here for $2.99
he's using the funds to help raise money for a trip back to the US to go to a writing camp....awesome. 

way to go jake.
i am so proud of you!   

 

and now....on a completely DIFFERENT subject

i am going to take the year off from taking family photos.
i just can't get it all done.
it makes me sad but coming to that decision has been a relief.
there are things i want to do but haven't because the photo season loomed over my head.
thinking "i won't have time once pictures start up again"

i did do one session.
love them.
levi and griffin are just plain cute in every way.
and tickling works for smiles when the chickens were too distratcing behind me. 

:)

thank jess and joel for being my only clients this year.  

ha!

i have a lot of you ask about my lens and camera.
i use a Canon 50D and i only own one lens....canon 24-70 f/2.8
so every picture on this blog for two years now has been with that lens.
unless they are my phone pictures.

 

tom petty was really good.
his voice sounds exactly the same as it ever has...it was pretty incredible.
he was so gracious "thank you so much!" after every song and sounding like he deeply meant it.
it is so crazy to sit at a concert & look at the performer that wrote a song that i have been singing my whole life.
to watch them sing it!?
it's surreal.
i LOVE that about live music.
he didn't play wildflowers though....my most favorite....bummer.
but it was a great show. 

and i liked being there with mr. duerksen.
he's my my real most favorite.