What a great little family!
Amy called us a week or so ago and said they needed photos of the family and were in kind of a hurry. See, she’s due to deliver her second child in just a couple of weeks and wanted to get some photos of the family as it is now before then. Plus, she really wanted pictures of her daughter posing with her belly. 🙂
Steve and Amy met in Ohio, and fell in love and got married. Shortly thereafter, Kayleen (I’m probably spelling this wrong) came along and they were a little family. Now, over three years later they are expecting another bundle. They don’t know the gender of the baby, and want to be surprised on delivery day.
Below are a couple of images from their sitting…
We hope to be taking pictures of the baby after its born… stay tuned. 🙂
So, I’ve had this little throat issue for the last week or so… hard swallowing, little bit raspy. So I went to the doctor. He looks in my throat, tells me it looks a little red, but not anything to be concerned with.
See, previously Diana looked at it and saw some white spots. Being the cautious ones that we are, we considered the possibility it coule be something viral, which is why I called the doctor.
So, he did a throat culture just to be safe. Involves swabbing the back of my throat (let me tell you how much fun THAT was), and placing the swab into a little single-use device which tells him in about 5-10 minutes whether there is a strep virus present.
He goes out, comes back about five minutes later and is showing me this little gizmo. He says that if the little marker in the window is pink, then it is likely that there is a strep virus present. But mine showed all blue, no pink.
I looked at my good doctor, gave him my best dejected face and asked “does this mean I’m not pregnant?” He and Diana just shook their heads.
The conclusion was that I’m fine and am probably having a reaction to ragweed, very common this time of year.
As many of you know, I am the PA announcer for Jefferson High School’s Varsity football and all softball games, and Diana is the spotter for me at football games(she also reminds me of what to say and keeps my paperwork in order). Well, since the game was rained out on Friday and Saturday, they played it on Monday afternoon.
A dry, cool day with lots of sunshine made for a nice afternoon of football. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people came out to the game. Probably not as many as would if it were a Friday night, but plenty either way.
Unfortunately, the team lost their home opener. Things seemed sluggish and there just wasn’t much going for them. But at least they’ve gotten this loss out of the way and can move on to brighter things.
Please feel free to visit the Jefferson football games. The next home game is September 29, at 7pm. It will be homecoming, so there will be lots of additional festivities.
As previously posted, Zach worked for us for quite awhile. He mostly shot sports, but also was a second shooter at one of my weddings, did a lot of work around the studio, and in general was a good employee to have around.
He got married today. It was the first wedding we’ve been to in quite awhile where we weren’t working or helping out. As I said in the Ernesto post, it was raining most of the day, but nobody really seemed to care.
The ceremony was very nice. Zach’s grandfather, a minister, performed the majority of the ceremony. He did mispronounce Danielle’s name a few times, but nobody seemed to mind… the moment was too precious to worry about whose name was being said a little differently. And, as expected, Zach stumbled over his words a few times. I half-expected him to say “kiss it” when people were laughing at his miscues. But all well well, he behaved, and the ceremony was done.
On to the reception. I like pretty receptions. I like receptions where you know that it’s going to be nice, but you don’t want it to be garish (look it up). This was just that. Simply stated accents, nice attention to details, and a lot of fun. Brandy, also a former employee (why do people keep leaving us?) rode up with us and sat with us at our assigned table, which we shared with some of Zach’s college buddies. We didn’t see a lot of Zach, but he did stop by a few times, and Diana got a nice shot of me, Zach and Brandy (L to R, below).
The highlight of the evening was Zach donning a helmet and rope (spelunking gear) to go after the garter on Danielle’s leg. She was in hysterics the whole time, and the crowd got a big kick out of it. Typical Zach, adding some fun and zest to keep things going.
The dance floor was full most of the time we were there. In fact, we danced the last dance of the evening and gave Zach a last hug as we were leaving. I told him I was proud of him… he’d grown up a lot in the last couple of years. I hope we stay in touch.
Best wishes to Danielle and Zach… they are honeymooning in Antigua.
One of my joys is to meet people who’ve been married a long time. As a wedding junkie, I always like to see the success stories in weddings, because you always hear so much about the failures.
The Carrs came to us to take an anniversary picture. We print these little mintbooks (they look like matchbooks) that have a picture on the outside, a saying on the back and a little Life Savers mint on the inside. It’s cute, and they wanted several for their upcoming anniversary celebration. In talking with them, they have been married for 40 years upcoming and just seemed like the nicest couple to want to get to know.
Below is their anniversary photo.
I practically thrive on weather hype. I’m a big fan of watching the weather report. I have the websites for NOAA, Doppler East, Weather Channel, Weatherbug, and Storm Chasers all in my browser favorites. So suffice it to say that I am aware of the weather forecasts.
When forecasters started talking about the rain we would get from the Ernesto leftovers, most were very generous about the hype of being prepared for the worst. My being prepared included making sure I had enough dog food and a case of drinking water (we’re on a well, so when we lose power we also lose water service).
As the rains started, I kept thinking that it was just the beginning. Oddly, I was right. It rained… and it kept raining all through Friday. And it rained some more on Friday night, and the football game was cancelled. It rained some more on Saturday. More like a light mist of a rain.
When I left for Zach’s wedding, it was still raining. When we got there (Gettysburg), it was still raining… but again the mist sort of thing. After the wedding, it was still raining. When we got to the reception – guess what? Yep, it was still raining.
But when we got out of the reception, it wasn’t raining anymore.
All in all, we got a lot of rain. There was no major flooding here as the rain was steady but not heavy. The river looks more like a river now, instead of a wading pond, and the green junk that was growing on it is washed away.
Further east, nearer the bay, they got a lot more rain and wind,though. I hope everyone there is okay. We’re doing fine here.
I enjoy the work I do for Valley Homes and Style. It gives me an opportunity to be creative without having to worry about hair, eyes and makeup. If that sounds funny, please note that I’m talking about my subject, and not myself. My makeup is rarely a problem.
The upcoming cover is a holiday shot that encompasses to fall season. I enjoyed it specifically because the room was dark and the windows face south and north. The joy comes because I get to mix light and that always provides fresh opportunities to apply priniciples from my teaching days.
Below is the cover shot… don’t tell Margo it’s in my blog. 😐
And remember the cat from the last cover I did? He’s back. He’s actually IN the photo, but behind the chair on the left side. You can see him if you look hard enough. If you can’t see him well enough, here’s another shot of him. He slept through the entire thing.
The magazine is available in most malls and realtor offices. We also usually have about 20 copies of each issue dropped off at the studio, too.
You know… I’ve long been a believer that some youth sports do not promote the kind of friendly, wholesome atmosphere I want my kid exposed to. Not that it matters, because both of them are grown, but I do have a grandson who will be old enough to play competitive sports soon. I hope he has the opportunity to get coaches who encourage and not tear down, fellow teammates who praise and not criticize, and fellow parents who make positive comments, not demeaning ones.
With that said, I move to Upward Soccer. We did team and individual pictures for this league last year in Winchester. The concept is basic enough, in that the kids get to play soccer for an hour, and then are gathered together with their parents for about 15 minutes worth of devotionals and prayer. It’s a great give and take. EVERY child gets an award at the end of the season.
While I hesitate to publish pictures of any one individual (there were over 300 kids), I will show you the fine group of folks who manage the league.
If you are a sports parent, encourage your kids and their teammates. If you can’t say anything nice… then go sit in the car. 🙂
As I’ve previously stated, I don’t do a lot of reviewing or recommending of products or services. But Diana and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine today and I had to share that I haven’t laughed this hard in a movie in years… literally years.
Mind you, this is not a family movie. It’s a movie about a family, and it has some sad points along the way. But it is intelligent humor and you do need to pay attention to what’s going on. But the casting was perfect, the circumstances completely believable, and the performances just amazing.
If you see no other movie this year, see this one. When it comes out on DVD, rent or buy it. You’ll want to watch it again.
We went out for sushi and Habachi afterward… yum!!
Aww… Monica and Joe. What a sweetheart couple!
Married in Inwood, with a reception in Martinsburg, they were really just the perfect pair. I really like these guys. They are so down to earth and fun.
We started at the church, where Monica was getting ready in a room at the back of the sanctuary. Joe was getting ready with the guys downstairs in what amounts to a large room with chairs and a table. The bride always gets the good dressing room. 🙂
The ceremony was preceded in party by a slideshow of images from Joe and Monica’s childhoods, plus some recent photos of them. It was fun to see how they’d grown up. The ceremony went off with nary a hitch and it was on to the reception.
Their first dance was pretty emotional, and I think they were just very happy to finally be together. The dance reflected how well they go together.
But then it was on to the festivity of merriment and celebration. Greg, the usually fun-loving DJ, was in rare form tonight and kept the place hopping with plenty of things to do, including a YMCA presentation by the groomsmen, lots of noisemakers and dances that encompassed the whole ballroom, and lots of other fun events that kept people off their seats and on the dance floor.
Monica and Joe just seem so happy together. We’re looking forward to continued happy times for them.
