Jordana's Wedding

My niece, Jordana, got married on Father’s Day. It was going to be a quick little courtroom marriage while Tyler was on a 3-4 week leave from the Coast Guards, but my sister-in-law and brother-in-law talked them into getting married at their home. They invited 20 of Jordana and Tyler’s closest friends and family for the wedding. They rented tables and converted their living room/dining room into a beautiful dining hall. A friend made Jordana’s dress. She’s a tiny little thing…hard to find a size O at the last minute! My sister-in-law, Denise, made the cake and wedding bouquet. She basically put the entire wedding together in 2 short weeks, complete with a sit down steak and prawn dinner. She’s a pretty decent stepmom, don’t ya think???? My brother-in-law, Dan, is quite a gardener, so they got married under his grape arbor. We were all a little nervous when it started to thunder and lightening 2 hours before the wedding, but the sun made an appearance and it stayed away until much later that evening. It was a privilege to be a part of their special day.

Denise asked me if I would mind taking a few pictures. I was nervous at first but I actually got kind of excited about it. Why not? They weren’t expecting anything more than a few people taking snapshots. I know my photography skills aren’t even close to normal wedding standards, but they were thrilled with some of the moments I captured. I took over 300 photos and I’m as slow as a slug editing, but here are a few of my favorites. I have been trying to learn Photoshop, so I'm played around with converting some images to black and white an even tried my hand at a vintage look with some hand tinting….kinda fun! I still have to learn how to clone some distracting pots and whatnot out of a few photos but I’m taking it slow and learning as I go. Most of these images aren’t ready to be printed yet, but it will probably be forever before I’m satisfied with them, so I thought I'd share some of them as is.

P.S. Doesn’t my brother-in-law, Dan, look a lot like Mike???

One of my all time favorite pictures. Denise was trying to pull those little hanger staps down Jordana's dress. Love the way she's getting her from all angles!

Jordana's place setting

getting ready!

They converted their living room/dining room into this seating area for dinner. They rented the tables, placesettings and tableclothes. Nice Job, eh?

Dessert dishes all ready for the wedding cake.

Dan bought Jordana a peal necklace. I wish I would have used a lower fstop ...I wanted Dan to be somewhat out of focus, but this just makes him look blurry. Not quite the effect I was going for, but I still like the moment!

Denise makes beautiful (and delicious) cakes. Best butter cream frosting EVER! It's always been one of her specialties and it must have meant so much to Jordana that she made it for her!

Sweet moment between father and daughter :)

Tried a vintage edit with hand tinting on this photo

...and this one!

This was right before she went downstairs to see Tyler for the first time

Tyler's first glance at his new bride!

Doesn't she look happy?

Stupid pot....but my cloning skill suck at the moment, so it is what it is until I get it right!

Congratulations Jordana and Tyler!!!!!!!!!!!

Kauai, Our New Favorite Hawaiian Island

I’m sorry Maui, but you’ve slipped a notch. Kauai is our new favorite island!!!

We made a brief trip in 1997 while island hopping, but it rained 3 out of the 5 days we were there. Our memories include pouring rain and slipping and sliding on the one and only hike we decided to brave.

We were really struggling with where to go for our 25th wedding anniversary. It had to be someplace special (and tropical). We checked into Jamaica, The Bahamas, and even Mexico, but kept coming back to Hawaii. It has a special place in our hearts. Maybe it’s because we had our honeymoon there (and promised to return on our 10th Anniversary …but had to wait until our lucky 13th due to children and finances). We’ve been fortunate enough to go several times since then and we’ve never had a bad experience yet! Maui has always been our favorite island but we have a family trip planned in November (we promised Libby while in ICU) so we wanted to go someplace different.

So, after much discussion we decided to give Kauai another shot. This time we would stay 16 days…to allow for some rainy days on The Garden Island. IT NEVER RAINED ONCE!!! It spritzed one afternoon (the day before we came home) but we were hot and ready to come in from the beach anyway. By the time we walked back to our condo it was over. Other than that, nada!!!!!

We were amazed at the beauty of the island. The North Shore is even more lush than where we were staying (we opted to stay on the South shore where it is drier). We went on several hikes: along cliffs, to secret waterfalls, along the valley ridges, and to lookout points in Waimea Canyon. Spectacular hiking areas! We went to the botanical gardens. We rented a kayak and paddled down the Wailua River. We snorkeled at several beaches (our favorite was called Hideaways). It was a steep climb to the beach but very secluded (maybe a dozen people max) and the snorkeling was fantastic. The water was crystal clear and the reefs were overflowing with coral and fish in every color imaginable! There are so many beaches on the island of Kauai, there’s no way we could have seen them all! We probably only visited 7 or 8 beaches during our stay, but we simply ran out of time. Sometimes we planned on seeing 2-3 beaches in a day but we always ended up enjoying the first beach too much and we never wanted to leave! I guess we’ll just have to come back one day!

We know we’ll have to prepare ourselves for rain the next time we visit Kauai , but as it stands, were giving it a BIG thumbs up!!!!

This is a hike along Kuilau Ridge Trail. The ridge was completely covered in ferns.

It reminded me of some sort of fairy tale...like a fantasy land


We hiked along these cliffs. Saw hundreds of turtles swimming below.

We were at a lookout point and heard this funny noise. I turned around and there was a young guy running with this little pig chasing him and crying while trying to keep up with him. He's his pet pig. His name is concho. He said he'll get to be 150-200 lbs. If he makes it that long. ...kinda sad but very common on the island.

View of the Princeville resort on the North Shore.

hiking along the cliffs.

The Hilton Resort. Beautiful grounds. For the Rich and Famous (not the Schnabel's)

I loved the way the sun was shining on the cliff. A lot of our pictures were taken while hiking along those cliffs.

Resting. Actually he's waiting for me to catch up. I tend to get sidetracked taking pictures!

Beautiful birds. I can't remember the name of this guy....

We were hiking all by ourselves when suddenly three women on horseback appeared. They asked if I would take a picture of them, then offered to take a picture of us. ummm, sure. I'm in my bathing suit and Mike has no shirt on...but ok. I'm glad she did. It's like the only pic of the two of us from the entire trip.

Secret Beach. Shhhhhh!

Is this red sand not incredible????? Such contrast between colors on this island!!!

Ok, this is where I dropped my lens cap and it fell in some rocks below. Mike to the rescue!

I have to proect my lens at all cost. It could get scratched or something....

More red sand!

Waimea Canyon

Waimea Canyon

A picture of Jill with Palms growing out of her head. I like to think of them as wings!

We went to one viewpoint and it was completely covered by the clouds. We went back a few days later before going on a nearby hike. I'm glad we went back. The view was amazing.

It looked kinda cool with the cloud cover though.....

Taro Fields

Are these cattle aware of the beauty that surrounds them?? I was quite envious of these critters until I inhaled an Angus Burger.

View from our condo. Pretty huh? It was like being in the middle of rain forest (sans rain). There were birds every where. I loved listening to them in the early morning.

Shave Ice with mac nut icecream on the bottom. Quite refreshing after a day of snorkeling :)

The viewpoint at one of our hikes.

Same hike. I called it the Puffer Hike. Mike called it the Ball Buster hike! Elevation gain of 1700 ft in 3 miles. Why did I gain wt on this trip? Guess it was the mai tais!!!!!

I actually got quite good at paddling. And NO, we did not run into that bank!

We beached our kayak and hiked to the falls. Quite beautiful!

Mike's duties included making slushy mai tais as soon as returning from a hard day of snorkeling, hiking, or lazing around on the beach. He's quite a dandy bartender.

This really is our first drink of the day... although it looks like he may have already had a few at this point!!!!

So, why is it that Mike's photo with the point and shoot comes out clearer than my pictures with the fancy dancy Digital SLR???? Must have been a fluke.

I love me some sunsets. I must admit that Kauai didn't measure up to Maui's sunsets. I guess every island has it's flaws...if you want to call this a flaw.

ok, so this is a typical Mike and Jill moment. I set up the camera with the remote control (see it hiding in Mike's hand???) I thought it would be cute to hold up a "2" and a "5" (25 year anniversary...get it???) I told Mike to hold up a 5 and he said, "no. You hold up the 5 and I hold up the 2. I never argued. In 25 years he's never been wrong. Why would he be wrong now?????

That's OK. Just ask Mike...sometimes it feels like we've been married 52 years!!!!!!

I have about 235,890 more photos but I'll spare you.....

My Girl

I've been feeling a little bit uneasy about Jessica lately. Wondering if she somehow feels pushed aside. I've always been accused of being overly sensitive but I can't ignore my feelings. All of my attention has been focused on Libby these past 8+ months, and although she hasn't said anything, I can't help but wonder.

I promised myself that I would scrap a love note once a month. Well, it's been years since my last love note, but I hope to get back in the swing of things. I felt the need to let Jessica know how much she means to me. She acts tough on the outside, but deep inside she's just as sensitive as I am.

I showed her this layout and her eyes filled up with tears. I wrote the love note just today, so she hasn't seen it yet, but we talked about our feelings. She needed to know how I felt, and I'm so glad that I followed my heart. This reminds me why I love this hobby. I'll be writing many more love notes in the future because it's important to me that people close to me know how I feel.

...and since I'm taking a picture each day for my 365 project, I thought this would be a perfect way to capture my day yesterday.

I love you, Jess! xox

Self-Portrait Tag

This was so unfair of Sue http://snippetsofsue.blogspot.com/!!!! This is me. No make up, no editing and clearly not enough coffee. I took it about 2 hours ago...just now getting around to posting. I'm not even going to attempt to get a good picture. One Snap...done!

The rules of this tag are:
Take a picture of your self right now, no primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.
Load onto your blog.
Tag 3 people to play...remember if you are tagged on another blog we will all be heading to yours to see if you played along.

I tag Mellie http://www.melodeelangworthy.typepad.com/, Lindsay http://lindsayteague.blogspot.com/ , and Suzelle http://scraphappysuz.blogspot.com/

Our Latest Adventure...

This is my brother's Lake House. Gorgeous, isn't it? It has a stunning view of the Lake and is properly equipped with both winter and summer toys. We were snowmobiling along the lake when I spotted his house nestled above. It was the perfect spot to finally get a decent photo of his place.

I also realized that it would make a PERFECT scrapbook retreat, don't ya think??? :)

Unfortunately it's for sale. He and my sil are in the middle of a divorce. He own more property in Cle Elum though so he definitely plans to build again after this one sells.

This is the site where Mark plans on building his next "cabin". The view is just as stunning as his current site. One advantage is that this road isn't as steep, so that means a vehicle will make it up to the house during the winter. Right now he has to park in his lower lot, climb all the way up to the house, then bring down a snowmobile with sleds to cart up supplies and visitors. It's kind of neat when you're the visitor, but it's also a lot of work for him!

We snowmobiled around the lake. We had so much rain this year that our riding space was limited. We usually have miles and miles of open field, but not this year. I usually hate the thought of going out in the cold, but it really is fun. 15 layers of clothes also seem to help. I look like a beached whale, but hey, I'm warm!

We had so much fun...

until this happened! We came back over to Mark's property and drove around on his lower lot. Mike was going very slow but couldn't stop the sled from sliding into a tree. I laughed SO HARD when I realized what he had done

...Until I realized how much damage was done to Mark's snowmobile. Way to ruin a good time, Mike!!!!!

The weirdest part? I think my brother is secretly delighted. He constantly brings up the fact that he now has something on Mike.

It must be a guy thing because I don't get it!

The Big Reveal....

We added a little spice to our Secret Santa exchange this year. We all made handcrafted items which was such a great idea! I was so excited to be Suzelle's Secret Santa (for the second year in a row!). I made her some biscotti and created an assortment of Christmas tags. I also decorated a Making Memories clock for her. It was so much fun personalizing something just for her!

Well, my Secret Santa was Sue this year. She knows me well!!!! Sue has spent enough time with me to know how much I LOOOOOOOOVE slippers.

I got my package and I instantly recognized her handwriting. Libby was at the house making Christmas cookies with me and I squealed a little. For some reason I just KNEW that they would be comfy socks or slippers. I ripped open my gift and sure enough....

I got these babies right here...

I ask you, aren't they heavenly?????

I instantly discarded my worn out slippers (that's right people, I was wearing slippers at the time) and I replaced them with these bad boys.

Sue said they'd form to my feet. It didn't take long. At all. When I'm home, they're on my feet. I wish I could put a little tread on the bottoms so that I could wear them outside...LOL!

Sue, I love you for knowing me so well. I think of you every time I sink my tootsies into these slippers.

Thanks for being such a great friend.

The Christmas Sweater

Jessica has a thing about themed sweaters....and Walmart. She and her friend Jessica faced their fears together. They went to Goodwill and snatched up some festive attire, then headed to Walmart in search of the perfect Christmas portrait.

To know her is to love her!!!!!