this could take all day

coming soon: watermarks

I just got the disk back from our photo shoot last weekend and I can't wait to share all the wonderful pictures with you. And while I now own the photos (thanks to a Photographer who releases photo rights), I'm just not so sure about putting them here for anyone out there in the WWW to nab. I kinda don't like the idea of my own favorite photos being nabbed either and one day finding my kid's face in a place I didn't authorize.

So enter the watermark.

Just a little text over the photo that shouldn't interfere in any way with your viewing pleasure, but should keep any would-be thief from that whole right-click copy mischief.

If you would like a copy (or even a print, especially in the case of the professional ones I'll be sharing this week) of any of my photos, just shoot me an email and I can email you right back. Or send you a disk. Or a print. For my family and friends, I want to share.

I'm just not so into sharing with strangers, that's all.

Dakota's big day

On Sunday (Mother's Day), after the wedding and some delicious breakfast with family, we made the trip from Leavenworth to Ellensburg. We were going to stop and play in Leavenworth, but Daisy fell asleep in the car and we weren't about to disturb that. So instead we showed up in Ellensburg early and hung out with "Aunt Ta" in her apartment.

We made the trip to the fair town of Ellensburg in order to support Darin's beautiful sister performing her senior vocal recital. And since a bunch of people were coming into town, Dakota planned a little BBQ celebration beforehand.

Here's Uncle Doctor Sky and our new nephew Caleb.

 

Dakota and Cousin Summer, practicing some new "awkward hugs".

 

Daisy with Darin and Gran playing in what appeared to be some sort of old-school sand table.

 

Daisy thought it was a boat, and kept singing "ro ro ro yo boat"

 

The "cool kids" table. Mmmm..notice who's not sitting here. Also missing from this picture is my daughter who is great at mooching food from friendly-looking people.

 

Food was eaten, volleyball was played, naps were taken...and then it came time for the big performance.

 

Isn't she just beautiful?

 

I've never been to this type of recital before so I was glad Dakota explained it to me ahead of time. Her recital lasted an hour, with about 45 minutes of performance. She had about 5 sections with 3-5 songs in each section. We weren't to clap between songs, but between sections. And between sections Dakota would also leave the stage for a few moments.

And every time she'd come back on stage she had a huge grin on her face.

 

 

And would take a lovely little curtsy.

 

The program included translations of the songs and I really enjoyed listening to her perform each one. I was very impressed by how hard she worked on this one performance and was so thankful to get to be there. (Thanks, Gran, for paying for the babysitter, who watched Daisy in the lobby for us!)

 

Our mezzo diva with all her flowers.

 

Let the picture taking begin!

Dakota and her cute honey Madison.

 

The Gemmer 5. I love seeing them all like this, they really are siblings.

 

And here with their beautiful mama.

 

 

Time to add in some spouses and kids. I told Madison he'd have to be sticking around since he was now in the picture.

 

Uncle Skylar tucked Nemo into Daisy's back as a cape and we all cheered on "Super Daisy". She loved it, for about 15 seconds.

 

 

 

Whoops. Not done with the photos. Here's one more attempt at a family shot, this one including the 'rents.

 

Sisters. Dakota with her nephew Caleb.

Sierra, who is quite the vocalist herself, was inspired by the perfomance and wanted to do some singing too. So before we left the sisters busted their version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for us. One last song for the road.

 

 

the reception

Daisy was very excited after the ceremony when we told her we were heading to the "party" now. She practically ran to the lodge ahead of us. We enjoyed some hors d'ouevres while getting to know our table-mates, and then decided to let Daisy run around outside a little while the buffet line died down.

Darin shot a couple cute pics of Daisy in her "petty dess".

 

Oops, there's that "say cheese" smile.

 

Later in the evening I took a few minutes to shoot the beautiful flowers...

 

And the cake. The cute couple snuck away to cut it by themselves, but it was mighty delicious.

 

 

I really needed a tripod to shoot these last ones, but I did what I could. Here's a first dance shot.

 

And there's my Uncle Brett dancing with his daughter.

 

Interestingly enough, this is the only picture of me from the wedding that we came home with. But there's my new dress. (The one I also plan to wear at Darin's reunion next month.)

 

After dinner and special dances, the live band began to play. I knew Mom & Dad would be jealous as they were a great country cover band (the kind I still dream of joining someday). Daisy took to the dance floor right away, first with her Papa.

And then with her Mama. Can you tell she's having a great time? This kid LOVED the music and the chance to dance. She was squeeling so excitedly that the band, who was having a little feedback trouble, commented that they couldn't tell whether it was feedback or that cute little girl. They told us we should call her "feedback" and we figure we'll add that to the list of camp name possibilities we'll be gathering over the years!

(Video note: How funny is it that I remember feeling really good this night. Cute shoes, new dress, good hair & makeup. And today I look at this video and all I see is fat and pregnant. Perception...)

The party was a lot of fun, especially for our little girl who made friends with everyone who was there. In fact, when it came time to throw the bouquet we were trying to make our exit, but my Aunt Kate's friends started a "Daisy" chant and so we had to let her try to catch some flowers first. We were both glad she didn't come close to getting them!

Fun times for sure.

Megan's Wedding

Megan is my cousin on my Mom's side. She is actually kind of a step-cousin as my uncle (Mom's brother) is her step-dad, but Megan has been in my life as long as I have memories. In fact, I have lots of great memories that include her: especially camping adventures at our annual family reunions and Christmas Eve pajama concerts in her living room.

I was excited to be invited to her wedding two weeks ago to be held in beautiful Leavenworth, WA. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

Some stories and pictures below.

Here's our cutie with a new friend. Daisy made lots of friends at the wedding as she was the only kid in attendance. (There was a young junior-bridesmaid too.)

 

My cousin Kraig walking his Mom (Megan's too) down the aisle. Aunt Kate is a school administrator and she joked with me the next day that she couldn't share any wedding pictures with her students as her dress was a clear dress-code violation! :)

 

Here's that sweet junior bridesmaid. Daisy fell in love with her at the reception and wouldn't leave the pretty white dress alone.

 

Megan came down the aisle with her Dad and her Daddy Brett.  

I was holding Daisy in my arms as we watched and was whispering to her about how pretty Megan looked. Next thing I know my sweet kiddo was waving wildly and shouting "Hello" to the bride. Everyone laughed and sweet Megan even managed a little wave back.

 

Wait a minute! Who's car is that? (Oh yeah...) And who said those bikers could be there? Photoshop to the rescue!

 

At the chairs, Megan kissed her Dads and took the arm of her Grandfather, Boppa. This man's reception toast left not a dry eye in the house. It is a wonderful relationship he has with his granddaughter.

 

Ken greeting his bride. He looks pretty happy, eh?

 

You've seen this one before. But golly, what a gorgeous location!

 

Megan's other brother Brian reading some scripture.

I loved that Megan's brothers stood on her side, along with her sister (maid-of-honor) and Ken's brothers stood on his side. I love it when people aren't all caught up in the gotta-be-even tradition of it all.

And I loved the brown tuxes. With the green and orange touches they looked awesome.

 

Ken and Megan also read some scripture that was meaningful to them.

 

Oh, sweet cousin. Crying her way through Ken's vows.

 

 

And through her own as well.

 

I'm not used to sitting in the back for a wedding! I like to shoot pictures, and so we usually arrive early enough to get a close seat. But not this time. An almost-two-year-old under your charge does not lend to front-row seating!

 

Although Daisy didn't last long on my lap. Here's how she and Darin enjoyed most of the ceremony.

Mr & Mrs!

 

Happily Ever After

 

softened

 

even more

 

or black and white

 

or how about sepia

or some vintage

 

Either way...definitely Happily Ever After.

postscript

Like most parents, we check on our little one before turning in for the night ourselves. Last night, as Darin was pulling up the quilt over Daisy's shoulders he turned to me and whispered: "I've always wanted to do that."

well then

Daisy has been using her potty chair almost nightly for a while now. So when Darin had to work the first Saturday in May I made plans for a big "Potty Training" day. I had read and re-read the one-day method book that my mother-in-law had given me that had also been endorsed by several MOPs friends. I had the dolly that wets, I had the potty chair, I had the special drinks and treats and, of course, the big girl underwear. I was prepared and I was optimistic.

And I failed miserably. After several hours in the morning following every suggestion in the book, Miss Daisy was having none of it. She would cry and cry when we would "practice" and when we were done "practicing" she would immediately wet her pants and we'd have to "practice" again. It was going nothing like the perfect example boy in the book, and frankly, I was in no emotional state to keep going. So I threw in the towel, put on the diaper, and both of us had a much lovelier afternoon.

But I was convinced she was ready and that with some husbandly support we could make it happen. So we drug the supplies out Sunday and Darin and I tackled the potty-training day together. Once again we went down in flames and tears.

Game over. I'm done. Maybe Gran or Gram can potty train her for me.

So when it came time to start thinking about the "big girl bed" I was understandably gun-shy. Forget this all-in-one-day approach. We were going to take things slow and simple. Introduce the bed. Make a special trip to the store for a special new blanket. Try sleeping on the mattress on the floor a few nights before actually in the bed. Perhaps nap in the crib still for a while. Takin' it easy.

The bed is technically Daisy's birthday present. We purchased it on Craigslist (well, technically Gran got it for us since we found the perfect bed in Arlington which is a lot closer to her than to us) and picked it up this weekend. Daisy was playing outside when we were unloading last night so I thought we'd bring out the bed and show her. Man, was she ever excited about it climbing right in and pretending to go to sleep (although she did "wake up" long enough to ask for her Nemo blanket).

After coming inside for dinner we told Daisy it was time to get ready for bed. And she started freaking out. She ran to the window and kept asking for her "big girl bed" (it was still sitting on the lawn until we could figure out a place for it). Why not? I thought. If she won't stay in it, we'll just put her in the crib. So I got Daisy ready for bed while Darin tightened skrews and moved furniture around so we could get the new bed in Daisy's room.

We put her old crib mattress in the bed and since her new sheets haven't arrived yet, we just placed her quilt right on the bed. And we don't have a pillow for her yet either, but since she is used to sleeping without one we didn't worry.

Daisy curled up with Darin for some stories. (Here she is making a funny face like the princess in the book.)

 

As Darin was tucking her in I realized we had left her musical turtle at my sister's (where she had spent the weekend.) This turtle has sung her to sleep almost daily and nightly since we brought her home. Was this going to hurt our chances at sleeping in the new bed?

"Oh well," Darin said. "Big girls don't need turtles."

So he tucked away, sang to her, prayed with her, turned off the light and walked away. And other than hearing her talk to herself a bit later, we heard nothing from her the rest of the night. No sneaking out of bed to play. No falling out of bed thumps. Not even jumping.

We went to bed wondering what time she'd be banging on her door to get us up in the morning. Turns out, we didn't need to worry about that either. Little Miss stayed in her bed until Darin came to get her about 7:15.

And naptime? Yup, she slept in her bed then too. I checked on her twice before she eventually fell asleep around 2:00. Once she had snagged a book off the top of her end table (whoops, should have put that out of reach) and once she was talking to herself about the designs on her quilt.

Eventually, though, fast asleep. (Blurry pictures, I know. But I certainly wasn't going to turn on the light and wake her up!)

 

 

And at 4:00. Still sound asleep.

 

Well then...that was sure a lot easier!

(Can we still count the bed as a birthday gift if her birthday is still two weeks away?)

playing in the grass

We took a liesurly drive over the mountains to Leavenworth last Saturday and still arrived a couple hours early. Luckily for us there was lots of sun and green grass and places for us to hang out and play. (Mountain Springs Lodge is amazing!)

Look! A belly.

 

One of my favorite things in life is walking barefoot is soft grass. So I promptly slid off my sandals and took a stroll.

 

We found a soccer ball in the grass to kick around. And throw. And watch Daisy sit on top of.

 

And fall off backwards.

 

 

Then it was time to get Mama.

 

 

Of course, Mama will let her get away with most anything for a kiss.

 

I like this image a lot. I photoshopped it just a tad to make the colors pop. Can you tell?

 

And then she drug me up for a little spinning.

 

 

Then it was off to the lodge for a snack and getting on our "pretty dresses" for the wedding. That's next...

follow up

So this post not too long ago sparked some controversy in the comments. I sure didn't see that coming!

And, of course, today I find the site I was looking for. It's called edivvy.com and it allows folks to chip in for gifts. They can even use their credit cards for payment. And all chipper-inners are included for the recipient to thank.

I knew such a concept existed! And they even have a stroller section!

So there you have it next time you need it.

weekend preview

We had a whirlwind weekend to attend my cousin's wedding in Leavenworth on Saturday, and Dakota's (Darin's sister) senior vocal recital in Ellensburg on Sunday.

I plugged in my camera this morning to download the 370 pictures we took this weekend. Yikes, it may take a little while to go through them all. Not to mention a couple videos too.

So here's a little preview.

 

(The location was spectacular. The weather was perfect. And, of course, the bride was gorgeous.)

  

(The girl was beautiful. The music was well-picked. The talent was outta this world.)

Daisy and the vacuum blower

It all starts out innocently enough.

 

Look what I can do!

 

Let the fun begin!

 

 

Darin took about 200 photos of this event. I whiddled them down to about 30. Here are some more favorites.

 

 

 

And quite possibly, my favorite:

 

Lastly, I have no idea what she was saying, but this closeup is sure cute.

blogging issues

Wow. I have about 15 blog posts hanging out in my head, lots with great pictures to go alongside. I can't believe I haven't even shared the pictures & stories from our visit with the Braam's a few weeks ago.

Forgive me.

Our computer is on the fritz. Ever since the facebook virus it is dying a slow and painful death. I have to restart it about 5 times a day. And I ususally like to leave blog posts open to add text or pictures to as I move about my day. Unfortunately, any time our computer is still for too long the internet needs to close and I lose it all.

Argh.

So don't give up on me. We'll start saving for a new computer soon.

Oh yeah, and in the last two weeks these things might also have kept me from blogging: an attempt to potty-train, starting a great new book, mother's day cards and gifts, crafting a mini-album of Daisy based on this blog post, finishing a cross-stitch and starting another, babysitting a five-month-old who only likes to catnap during the day, and keeping up with regular life like chores and budgeting and entertaining our toddler. And playing outside whenever the sun comes out.

I'm off for a busy weekend, but hope to be back soon!

best buds

This week Daisy finally got around to asking to hold MJ, and the two of them couldn't be happier about it.

Someday I hope to have happy pictures like this of Daisy and Spud, but for now we love that these two are such good friends. I hope it continues as they grow up "camp kids" together.

 

(I switched my white balance setting here. Not sure which I like better.)

 

duckies!

While out clearing in the paintball course a few weeks ago Darin accidentaly scared off a mother duck protecting her nest. We were all really surprised at a nest in these woods, since it is quite some distance from the lake.

Last Wednesday afternoon we went back to see if any had hatched. Mother duck was gone but had carefully covered up her nest with down.

 

And here's another shot Darin took where you can kinda make out an egg.

 

On Saturday Darin had to get up early for work and just happened to catch the Mama and her 10-12 duckies walking down the path by our house. Amazing! They were just brand new and the Mama knew just the path to take (NOT down the road) to get her babies safely to the lake.

Darin ran for the camera and was able to catch a few shots. Remember, these are taken from inside our dining room.

 

Let's see if we can crop & zoom.

 

And there they go down the path. (If you've been to camp you'll know the path leads through cabins, down to the big field, and by some more camp buildings before finally landing at the lake. Darin was able to catch this crew in the big field later that morning but without the camera in tow.)

 

 

Add this to the reasons its so darn cool to live at camp.

Easter Egg Hunt, take 2

(Time to get around to posting these...)

The first "official" egg hunt for Daisy was held at the Arlington Airport. It was a lot colder that morning than we expected.

But a free cookie made the wait a little easier.

 

 

The 0-3 area was pretty much fenced-off grass with eggs strewn about. We waited about 30 minutes for the hunt to begin and watched as hundreds of people gathered with their babies and toddlers around the fence. We knew the eggs would go fast.

  

 

 

Poor kid looks so cold. We were waiting for the fire engine wail to signal our "go" and finally heard it at about 11:08.

 

We knew the eggs were gonna go quick, and boy did they ever! Luckily, Daisy had a nice little patch she was able to pick up before there were no more to be had.

 

 

 

 

When the hunt had ended, it was time to take stock. We had to open our eggs before we left to make sure none contained a coupon for a special basket. (Honestly, we were pretty glad ours were coupon-free and we could return to the warmth of the car ride home.)

As we were examining our winnings, a sweet lady came by and "dropped" a few more eggs for Daisy to retrieve. We really appreciated her kindness.

 

 

And some quick fun with depth of field before we go.

 

And here's a bunch of clips I shot to give you a good feeling about the chaos we experienced! (And our sweet kiddo, who was just so enthralled watching other kids pick up eggs, she missed getting more of her own.)