A Glimpse into the Maurer World

11 Random Facts

2012-03-07T16:15:00.004-06:00

I got tagged by Jessie to complete the 11 Random Facts challenge. It came at a perfect time, because a.) I thought it was a cute idea and enjoyed reading her facts and answers. I saw it on the blog marital-bless as well and enjoyed reading hers.... and b.) I needed a new post and I had nothin' up my blogger sleeve..... Hooray for blog challenges!!

So, I also get to tag people to participate in this challenge. The lucky ladies I have decided to tag are: Kelsey, Jarrin and Erin. If you decide to participate, have fun ladies!!

The Rules

1.) Post these rules
2.) You must post 11 random things about yourself
3.) Answer the questions set for you in the post you were tagged in
4.) Create 11 new questions for your tagees to answer
5.) Tag them on Twitter, Facebook or your blog

11 Random Facts

1.) I bite my nails without even realizing I do it. I had fake nails once, and I tried biting them off....it didn't work out so well.

2.) After being preggo and having Mr. Ryder, my stomach is like jell-o. It used to be one solid piece of fat, but now it molds and takes shape where ever it wants. I call it "the blob."

3.) Pizza is my favorite food. I could eat it every single day. That's not an exaggeration.....

4.) I like to gamble on slot machines.

5.) I want another tattoo....a green tattoo. I like the color green for tattos. :) I want my boys incorporated with it somehow.

6.) I used to hate tacos/mexican food, but now it runs a close 2nd as my favorite food. Yum!

7.) I use a lot of hairspray on my hair, the reason being I wear my hair in a ponytail every day. I already get up at a sickening 5am...and I refuse to get up any earlier to style my hair differently. You may think the answer is to cut my longer hair so it's easier to style, but, my hair is still thick. Even when it's short it takes awhile to do....

8.) I have to take my showers in the morning, otherwise I don't feel right all day. I can't take my showers at night, because then in the morning my hair is a thick, unmanageable furball that can't even be tamed in a ponytail. So, we can't have that.

9.) I am addicted to Pampered Chef and Scentsy products. Good cookin' stuff, and good smellin' stuff.

10.) I don't like to wear a lot of makeup. I don't like the way heavy make-up feels on my face. One thing I hardly go without is mascara. It's my fave....

11.) I have so many different things going on at once, I am surprised I remember it all most days. But, I love the craziness and wouldn't trade it for anything! :)

11 Questions from Jessie:

1. What is your favorite fast food chain?
Right now, it is Arby's. I could seriously devour a medium roast beef sammy right now...

2. Do you like to work-out?
If I am motivated, yes. I enjoy the feeling after a good work out.

3. What kind of sports do you like to watch?
Pro football, preferably the Bears. That's it. I'm not too into sports.

4. Who is your favorite band/musical artist?
I like a lot of different music, so it's hard for me to pick a favorite. A few of my favorites are Journey, Michael Jackson and Huey Lewis and the News...oh, and of course hair bands. :)

5. What's your favorite movie/why?
HA! I can't pick just one favorite. It's literally impossible for me. I'm getting a brain hemmorhage just thinking about....Ah! I need to get away from this question. See this old blog post for a look into some of my faves...

6. What's your dream vacation?
Rome, Italy. 'Nuff said.

7. If you didn't live in where you live, where would you go?
I'm not too sure. Of course, there would be many potential places I could go... :)

8. How many kids, if any, would you have?
2. It's a nice even numero.

9. Is there a celebrity that gets on your nerves? Why?
A lot of them do for a lot of different reasons. Let's just leave it at that.

10. Whose blog do you stalk religiously? Why?
I stalk a lot of people's blogs. However, one I go to constantly is The Pioneer Woman. Ree is hilarious, and I love reading all of her posts. Plus, her recipes are really yummy, and all of the sections on her site are awesome!

11. Do you have a suggestion on a blog? Why?
The ones I follow are all on the side of my page...check em' out!! I think they're pretty darn dandy myself! :)

My 11 Questions for Those Tagged

1.) Do you have a blogging idol? If so, who is it?
2.) What's one thing you can't live without?
3.) Do you have a hobby that you love?
4.) What's your favorite movie?
5.) What's your favorite food to cook?
6.) Do you have a favorite vacation location?
7.) Which season is your favorite?
8.) What's the last thing you ate?
9.) What's the last book you read?
10.) Are you a go-out and have fun type of person, or a stay-at-home fun type of person?
11.) Have any pet peeves?

Exciting Things are-a Comin'

2012-03-01T11:45:00.003-06:00

This post was originally going to be about movies I am SO PUMPED for that are coming up, but then I realized there are more things/events coming up than just freakishly-awesome movies that I am excited about. But, I'm still going to talk about the movies along with the other stuff...c'mon, it's me we're talking about here! :)

The Hunger Games

I am so dang excited to see this movie, I can hardly contain myself. The book was intense and wonderful. But, even though I am overly excited, I am a little hesitant. It's very rare that a movie based off of a book is as good as the book, so I really don't want to be disappointed with it. Based on the trailers I've seen, including the one above, I think I'll be more than happy with the movie. :)

The Avengers

Seriously, what could be cooler than having a bunch of super-heros work together for safety of humanity? Nothing! If you are a fan of Marvel flicks and/or characters, this is a trailer you want to watch so you can get pumped for the movie. It comes out in April! YAY!!!

The Hobbit-Part 1

It's no secret that I am a sci-fi/fantasy dork. I love it all. These things make me happy. So, it's definitely no shocker that I am excited for The Hobbit-Part 1 coming out this year. I am a big LOTR (Lord of the Rings) fan, so I can't wait to see these flicks. YAY again!!

In other exciting things amongst us, Darren and I have been given an incredible opportunity to buy a different house. I will talk about it more in the very near future, but, I am excited to say that we are going to be putting our current house up for sale. It's not on the market yet, but will be very soon. I wanted to go ahead and get the word out so it could spread a bit. We are very excited/anxious/nervous about this, and really, I can't wait to explain all of this in more detail. :)

My mother-in-law Lisa just got engaged! Congrats Lisa and Kevin!!! I am so happy for you two, and I am so excited to celebrate this special day with you all!! (P.S.--I get to be the photographer of the day at the wedding/reception; how special and cool is that?!)

I start a new class next week. I still can't believe my first class will be done on Tuesday. It's craziness I tell you! It's gone very well, and I can't wait to start the next one!

We have some fun photo sessions coming up this weekend and in the coming weeks. I'm excited for these so I can share them with you all! :)

I think I'm on excitement overload folks. Have a good day, and thanks for reading!

February Favorites

2012-02-29T11:50:00.000-06:00

Can I just say, again, how proud I am of myself? I am shocked that I keep remembering to post a little favorites list at the end of each month. Most days, I'm surprised I remember to get dressed, get my kid ready, and head to work. Things are so extremely busy lately that my mind really starts to wander and I start to think of everything at once and I can't remember the small stuff....

This morning was rather tragic. I packed my lunch, but forgot to put in my ice packs to keep it cool. Oh, but don't worry, because since I am seriously extremely resourceful in almost any situation [insert hyterical laughing here] I remembered I have a bag of disposable cups at my desk. I decided to fill one with ice since we have an ice/water machine at work, and to stick my container of ranch in said cup to keep it cool. It worked surprisingly well...and I've patted myself on the back multiple times today. I'm floored that I came up with this solution. And, instead of going to Arby's like I normally do when this happens (which is more than I'd like to admit) I ate the lunch I brought....and thought of Arby's.

Anyway, on to the favorites!! :)

UGG Ansley Slippers

I have an addiction, you can call it an "ugg-session." My heart flutters and goes pitter patter for UGG boots and slippers. These slippers in particular are fantastic. I wear them every day as soon as I get home from work until I go to bed. I even wore them out and about on Sunday. They are the most comfy slippers that have ever had the privelage to grace my feet and tootsies.

Catching Fire and Mockingjay: the second and third books from The Hunger Games trilogy

If you are looking for a good book/series to read, pick up these books. I couldn't put my Kindle down!! These books have a really great story line; it isn't corny or weird. It's very raw and packed full of emotion and action. I want to re-read all of them, but another book series has my interest at the moment. I'm sure this new series will make an apperance on my March favorites list. :)

Jimmy Dean D-lights Breakfast Sandwiches

I always have something small to eat for breakfast each morning. It really helps get me going. I used to eat yogurt every morning, but after doing it for months straight, I needed something new. These little sandwiches are just the ticket. They are low in calories, and they are pretty tasty. Each kind I've had has been good. I highly recommend these little b-fast sammies.

Coca-Cola Zero

Where has this stuff been my whole life?! I am a pop-drinker. I always have been. I am partial to the diet pop selections for the simple fact they have zero calories. Diet Coke is ok, but I missed the flavor of Coca-Cola itself. I had completely forgotten about this stuff. I love it. It makes me feel complete.

There you have it, folks. Have a great day, and as always, thanks for reading! :)

Sunday Funday

2012-02-26T16:50:00.000-06:00

This weekend has been a pretty busy one!!

Friday, Darren met me down in Bloomington after work so we could head out to Wapella for one of our friend's birthday parties. It was a great time!! It was nice hanging out with our friends and having fun with all of them. :) Saturday I went shopping with Kinzey down in Tuscola, then had an assignment to complete for my class. There was a party we were invited to on Saturday, but we couldn't go because of our previous plans. :( I wish there was enough time in the day to do it all!! After some quick grocery shopping, we finally settled in the house about 6:30pm after being gone all day. Today we've taken it pretty easy. I always forget things when I go grocery shopping, so we had to go to Wal Mart for a few things....but that was a quick trip, thankfully. The rest of the day has been consumed with laundry and laziness....the way I like my Sundays! :)

So, this week for class we had to portray depth of field using the four methods, five if your lens has the capability. Since I am not supposed to edit my assignments, I find myself going through the pictures I've taken, finding one with some possibility, or one that sticks out to me....and then I edit it a bit for my own enjoyment/amusement. Here are three that I took for the class this week, and did a little bit of editing to.

I'm digging how they turned out. I may have one of them printed to hang...but we'll see. :)

While I was out working on an assignment a few days ago, I snapped this picture of the sun and the clouds getting close to sunset time. I really like it, so I wanted to share it with you all!

I dig it.

Have a good rest of the weekend; what's left of it anyway. Thanks for reading! :)

Zero Topics=Random Babbling Post

2012-02-22T13:57:00.002-06:00

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Everytime I think to do so, I realize I really don't have anything interesting to babble on about. So, I figured, why not ramble on about whatever for a few minutes. It should be a fun, and completely harmless, and if not completely harmless, then only mildly harmful... :)

**My class is almost finished. It feels like I just started. Oh, but don't you fret, because the day after this one ends, my next one begins. This first class was about the principles of digital photography. It spans a lot on getting to know your camera, getting comfortable with all of the features, etc. It may sound easy, but seriously, there are features I use now that I would've NEVER thought to use before. We are required to shoot in the "manual" mode for this class, which is fine, I prefer to take pictures in manual. Plus, I think I mentioned before, we are not allowed to edit anything. It's cool by me. It's pretty easy for submitting assignments...at least I don't have to doctor anything up. :) I've learned a ton so far, and can't wait to see what these next classes bring!

**I still have my wisdom teeth. All of them. I have three that are partially through the gums. The other hasn't made its ragged appearance yet. I bring this up because lately, my bottom right hand wisdom tooth has been singing its sweet, sweet song...OF PAIN! It's a problem because I have very little room for them due to having braces years back, and its a pretty tight squeeze for all of my precious chompers. It's causing a full on war in my mouth. The hubby reminded me that if I just got them removed, the pain would go away. But, he easily forgets that I took care of him when he got his little "wizzy's" taken out, and I got to see what the pain and haze of it all would be like. No. Way. I may be acting silly about it, but I don't care. I am terrified to get these removed. I know I'll eventually drag myself to the oral surgeon dude and have them taken care of, but until that day, the battle between good and evil in my mouth will continue.

**I've learned that Ryder is a stubborn lil' dude (NO idea where he gets this from, hehe) and he only does things when he wants. If we ask him to say something, he won't do it. If we ask him to do something, he won't do it. If we tell him 'no', he doesn't listen. It's fun......

**When Ryder 'talks', it's too darn adorable. He currently says: hi, bye, yeah, mama, dada, ba-ba (for bottle), pawpaw (for grandpa), huh, and poop. He's trying to say: kitty, woof, good, and various other words that I can't remember right now. He also has his own toddler language that only he understand. Like, for example, when he's hungry and wants food, he says 'ga' over and over again. All you hear is ga-slight pause-ga-slight pause-ga-slight pause-ga.....you get the idea. I think this 'language' is common among toddlers. Have you ever noticed that they talk in their own code? And then they respond to one another like they understand? Kind of like Star Trek and the Klingon language. It's their own little world of words.

**Our dog needs groomed. Bad. We have a morkie (maltese and yorkie mix) and he doesn't have fur. He has hair; and it grows, and grows, and grows, and never sheds. It's kind of funny watching him run in the yard; his long flowing hair blowing in the breeze. Haha.

That's all I'll bore you with on this particular day. Have a good 'hump' day, and thanks for reading! :)

My Boys

2012-02-17T21:40:00.001-06:00

These two?

They are my world....they are my boys.

Aren't they just adorable?!

There's nothing I wouldn't do for them.

I love them more than I could ever explain!

Seriously, he just melts my heart!

I can't say it enough: I love my boys!! <3

To my boys:

I love you both so much! You are my world, and make me unbelievably happy each and every day. <3

Thanks for reading everyone! :) Take care, and have a wonderful night!

Our Lil' Dude

2012-02-16T18:48:00.002-06:00

I realized today that I really haven't put any new pictures of our lil' dude on here recently. Actually, I haven't posted much of Darren either. Sorry about that. I had my camera out tonight working on some other things, so I decided to snap a few pictures of the stinker and the hubby.

**The pictures are a bit dark....sorry about that. I'll try to take more pictures of my boys this weekend out in the sunshine. :)**

Hello hubby! :) <3

Awww, he just melts my heart!

He talks up a storm now. He doesn't really say anything, mostly just gibberish still. But, he's learning more and more each day.

He loves it when Darren helps him "fly"

Did I mention he also loves looking at the TV and not me?

It was snack time in these pictures. He gets a little annoyed with my camera obsession. :)

That's all for now ladies and gents. Thanks for reading! :)

New Experience

2012-02-12T13:42:00.002-06:00

This Saturday, we had our very first newborn session with an adorable baby boy... only 8 days old! I wasn't real sure what to expect since I had never done a newborn session before. It was a lot of fun, and being around this sweet little guy made it that much more amazing. So, I thought I would share some of the sneak peeks I posted for his parents. Enjoy! :)

How adorable is he?! He was so alert for the first few pictures....something I really wasn't expecting. It's not every day you see newborn pics with eyes open! But, we captured it and I am so glad. As soon as we swaddled him up in the different wraps we had, he relaxed and snoozed a little bit. It was so much fun, and I can't wait for our next newborn session.

The rest of the weekend has been consumed with homework for my class. We had to creatively portray depth of field and motion. Here are a few I took for the class...

The first two show a pretty small depth of field, meaning the background is blurred and only the subject in focus. The second two show different shutter speeds, with the flag very clear while being in motion, and the water being in focus but the background blurred due to the shutter speed. It was pretty fun!

Well, that's about all for now I guess. Have a great Sunday, and thanks for reading! :)

Fun with Landscapes/Outdoor Pics

2012-02-07T19:38:00.003-06:00

For class this last week, our assignment was to take 36 landscape pictures. It was harder than what it sounds. I took the required landscape pictures, then a few other ones for fun to edit. We aren't allowed to edit anything for this class, and all images have to be submitted as-is. So, I thought I would share three that I decided to take and edit a little bit for my own pleasure. Enjoy! :)

The class is really great, and I couldn't be happier with how it's all going! I will share more with you all as the class continues.

Sorry for the short post, but I have a nasty cold, and bed sounds like bliss right now.

Have a good night, and thanks for reading! :)

I Don't Do This Very Often....

2012-02-02T11:37:00.002-06:00

I don’t start drama; I avoid it. I don’t complain; I embrace most anything. I am my own person, content in my own skin, for the most part. However, I admit, I am not perfect. Not even close. I have said and done things I wish I could take back, but the truth of the matter is, I can’t. And you know what? I apologize for the wrong I’ve said and done. It’s not who I want to be. I know that this is common with EVERYONE. No one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. It’s how we deal with those mistakes that makes us who we really are, and who we ultimately want to be.

But, I don’t understand people sometimes….as much and as hard as I try, I just don’t. I don’t understand how they can post such horrible things, or just plain rude things, as a status update on Facebook. I don’t understand why we can’t all just help one another by being supportive. I’ve noticed all of this a lot more since we’ve started our photography journey and business. I don’t understand that if/when there is a problem that someone has with someone else, they don’t discuss it privately. What is the dang point of posting it as a status update for everyone to see, even if names aren’t mentioned?! Or, how people can “dish it out,” but ignore someone when confronted. It’s very, VERY frustrating to me. It’s immature.

Like I said in a previous post, if people have the same ideas as one another, it’s interpreted as copying…not being original. It’s so hard in the photography industry. It really is. Instead of judging each other and blaming one another for “copying,” we should be embracing one another; bouncing ideas of one another; and just be supportive. This is definitely not the case. I wish it was, but we all know it’s not.

There are pages that I have “liked” on my Facebook, and I’m SO happy that I’ve done so. They are pages where photographers (pro, hobbyist, amateur, etc) congregate, support each other, give ideas and opinions, and just discuss their love for photography. It’s SO GREAT! I wish it could always be like this, especially with those of us doing the same thing locally.

It would make a world of difference…..but I don’t think it’ll ever happen. And that’s so unfortunate. Like I said before, I can just do what I do, and be proud and happy about it.

Thanks for listening to my vent session….I appreciate all of you readers, and all of you that support the decision I’ve made to pursue photography. It means so much, and I couldn’t ask for better group of people in my life!

January Favorites...and a little Disappointment

2012-01-31T15:00:00.000-06:00

Yay! I remembered to post a favorites list for the month! I am pretty proud of myself. So, I give you, my favorites for January:

"The Hunger Games"

This is the first book in a trilogy, and I've gotta' say, this is one of the best books I've read in a LONG time. It had me hooked from the first page, and not a lot of books have done that to me. One of my friends recommended it to me before they announced they were making a movie, but I just now got around to reading it. Since I've read it, I am really excited to see the movie in March. Let's hope they don't botch the movie like they do with a lot of movies based off of books......

"One Tree Hill"

I have been completely addicted to "One Tree Hill" lately. We have Netflix streaming through our XBox, and this is what I've been watcing for the past month. I used to hate this show...probably because I never really gave it a chance. Now, it's one of my favorites.

"The Wonder Years"

Imagine my disappointment when I learned that this show is not available on DVD or Blu-Ray. I LOVE THIS SHOW! I always used to watch it on Nick at Nite. I've searched and searched for this show to buy, but have been unsuccessful with each search. So, what is reason #12645 why I love Netflix?? They have "The Wonder Years" on their instant streaming list!!! This is another show that has completely taken up my TV time lately. :)

Arby's Medium Roast Beef Sandwich

Lately, I have been craving Arby's medium roast beef sandwiches. And no, I'm not pregnant. I get like this sometimes with certain fast food places. I crave their food for awhile, and then I don't want it again for a long time. January seems like it is my Arby's month. Next month will probably be Wendy's.....who knows....

Now, onto the disappointment portion of the post.

I have some Easter mini-sessions booked and I have some really cute ideas. Of course, Ryder is one of the kids having their mini-session, and I have had this adorable idea in my head for him for awhile. Today, I saw that another kind-of-local photographer did the same idea that I had planned on doing for Ryder's session. I know in this day and age, it's near impossible to be original, especially with child portraits and those kinds of sessions. But still, I was a little bummed about it. Plus, I don't want people to think I am copying their ideas. I know most people wouldn't think anything of it, but, there are those few who get upset and mad. Oh well I guess. I can't help what other people think. I can just do what I do and be happy and proud of it. :)

That's it for the ramblings today, folks. Have a good rest of the day, and thanks for reading!

Good Day

2012-01-30T21:07:00.002-06:00

Today has been a good day! I started my first online photography class today, and, even though it is only day one, I can tell this is the best route for me to be on. I am so happy that I finally decided to take the plunge and go back to school. It's going to be a lot of hard work, but, I know I'll have fun along the way, and I know it will pay off in the end.

After work, I met Darren at the car dealership to pick up our brand new vehicle!!! We went perusing for vehicles this past Saturday, and found one we are absolutely in love with. So, what did we end up getting? It is a 2012 GMC Acadia! I LOVE IT!! I can't wait to drive it more tomorrow.

So, all in all, today has been a good day. Let's hope tomorrow is just as good! :)

Have a good night, and thanks for reading!

The Anticipation Comes to an End....and So Does the Flu

2012-01-26T18:31:00.002-06:00

The flu bug has been running rampid throughout our house this week. Last Saturday, Ryder got sick twice, but then was completely fine. Darren and I were fine all weekend. Monday night I woke up suddenly just not feeling right. I tossed and turned the rest of the night, and, well, it didn't end so pretty. Then, Darren wound up feeling crummy too. Our house was definitely NOT the place to be Tuesday and Wednesday. Luckily, we are back to our healthy selves.....but I'll tell ya', it had been awhile since I had gotten the flu. I forgot what it was like. Yuck.

As promised, I have something exciting to share. To me, it is some pretty darn exciting news. Here we go folks!

Remember awhile back, in this post actually, when I discussed going back to school for a business degree? Well, Darren and I sat down and really talked about it and thought it through. I ultimately decided to put it on the back burner. I was too busy working, doing the mom and wifey thing, working on the insurance designations, and ultimately, learning more about my new passion, which we all know, is photography.

Well, recently, Darren and I talked again about me going back to school, but this time, it was about going back to school for photography. I am happy to report that beginning Monday, I am the newest student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, working to obtain a degree in Portraiture Photography. I AM SO PUMPED AND EXCITED!!!! Once I finish, this will give the title of being a professional photographer! I am so eager and ready to get started!!! That means....

I really get to test my skills, and take pictures and get really awesome critical feedback. Know what else it means??

I get to take pictures for homework.....I get to do something I LOVE for homework!! I am so excited!

I have been waiting and waiting to announce it, but I wanted to wait until it was official. It became official a few days ago, but, I was a little preoccupied with the chummy flu, and didn't the chance to say anything.

That's all I have to report for now, but I feel like I have just gotten a load off of my chest, and I am so happy with that this post is FINALLY out in the open. It all feels more real and solid to me now! :) Have a good night everyone, and thanks for reading!!!

Snow Time "Fun"

2012-01-21T14:04:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday we took Ryder out in the snow for the very first time. We thought he would enjoy it a little more than he did. If we stood him in a spot, he wouldn't move. He wouldn't try to walk to a different spot, or even sit at the spot he was at. He was completely still....and had the same look on his face the entire time. It was funny, but I wish he would've enjoyed it a little more. There's always next time. :)

He stood in this same spot for probably a good two or three minutes. Darren was the one that had to finally move him...haha.

He had this same look on his face for probably about 90% of the time. Oh Ryder......you're too darn cute!

Not much expression change unfortunately.

So we decided to sit him down, and put his mitten in the snow for him.

Kinda' weirded out.

Wait, is that a little half smile? :)

Of course, tasting it was completely necessary.

Then, we saw this truck coming down the street.

Hello, Jeffro!

Ryder, with the same expression as before, staring at Jeffro and his truck.

See you later Jeffro!

Would you look at that? It's Ryder! With the same expression on his face. C'mon kid, change it up a bit! :)

Darren and Ryder

Me and Ryder. This is probably the worst picture I've seen of the two of us together, haha.

He was trying to get up and was having major difficulties completing the task. Poor kid.

That concludes the snow time "fun" picture extravaganza. Hopefully next time there will be less expression-less faces, and more smiles, laughing, and actual snow time fun.

Have a good day everyone! As always, thanks for reading! :)

[insert shameful face here]

2012-01-20T08:51:00.001-06:00

I am a horrible blogger. I really am. I promised to start updating this more, and I haven't kept up on my end of the bargain. I'm sorry. :( I have some really cute pictures to share, but, in all fairness, I've been staying pretty busy lately. I will try to update this tomorrow or Sunday and share the cute pictures. They involve outdoor snow-time "fun." You'll understand the quotes around fun when I share the pics. :)

I have some pretty exciting news that I'm dying to share, but, I'm going to wait until it's official. So, keep your eyes and ears open! :) I'm sorry, I just became one of those people that gets you all hyped up for some news, but then I became the downer that says I can't tell you just yet. Dontcha' hate that? But, don't fret, I should be able to share this VERY soon! Until then, have fun thinking about what it could be, haha. :) And NO, I'm not pregnant!

The weight loss is going awesome! I am losing at a nice healthy pace, and I'm feeling wonderful. I recently bought a pair of skinny jeans, just to test the waters. I wasn't sure how I would look in these nifty little jeans. I needed something sleeker to wear with my Uggs and other boots, so I decided to give them a try. I love them so much, I bought another pair! They are really comfy, and actually, they are pretty flattering jeans. Skinny jeans....who knew they could be so awesome?!

Tonight me, Darren, mom and dad are going to a Rascal Flatts concert. I've seen them in concert once before, and they were amazing. Jessie and I saw them at the Assembly Hall, and it was such a good concert! I can't wait to see them again!

Well, that about wraps up today's blog ramblings. Thanks for reading, and I promise the pictures and fun and exciting news soon! :)

I Love Weekends Like This

2012-01-15T19:42:00.002-06:00

I love weekends busy with photo sessions. :) Here are the sneak peeks I posted on our photography page on Facebook. Enjoy!

The first pictures are from our maternity session with a family expecting their first child.

The next ones are of our session with an adorable 3 month old.

Like I said, I love weekends like these.

Have a good night! Thanks for taking a peek!! :)

The Tale of the Road Raging Man

2012-01-12T16:47:00.000-06:00

Today was not unlike any other day for me. I got up, got myself ready, got Ryder ready, dropped Ryder off at the sitter, and made my normal trek to work.

At the four way stop in Chenoa, I stopped first, and then another car coming from the North stopped....but he didn't want to stop. Since I stopped first, I went ahead through the intersection. This did not make Mr. Honda (this is what I've named this man because, you guessed it, he drove a Honda) very happy. Oh well, learn the rules of road dude.

So, I continue on to take the ramp to get on I-55. There were some slower vehicles ahead of me on the ramp, plus a semi already in the left hand lane letting all of us merge onto the interstate. Once the semi passed us, I then merged into the left lane to pass the slower vehicles. I looked in my rear-view mirror first, and Mr. Honda had the same idea. However, his idea also included following me a little too close...which he had done the entire time we had been on the road together. To say I was a little frustrated is a huge understatement.

This continued as I passed the slower vehicles, and the semi. Once those vehicles were clear, I merged back into the right hand lane, and who do I see speeding up to pass me.... you know who. I glanced over, and I see he's trying to tell me something....with his middle finger.

In my head, I'm thinking:

Oh boy! It's Mr. Honda, and he's showing me some lovely sign language. I love you too, Mr. Honda! I sure do hope you have a great day, because just being on the road with you this fine morning has been a pleasure. Especially since there is blowing/drifting snow...I love being on the road with people who speed and can show us all neat finger tricks. Thank you, Mr. Honda.

I did not see Mr. Honda during the remainder of my commute to Bloomington, but boy oh boy did he leave a lasting impression.

Until we meet again, Mr. Honda...let's hope that never happens.

Day 3....and No Looking Back

2012-01-11T15:31:00.002-06:00

Today is day three of my healthy eating deal-a-rama. It's going really well. I only allow myself a certain number of calories a day (I promise, it's a healthy calorie goal) and then I have a certain number of calories I work to burn off (also a healthy calorie goal.) It's pretty tedius, but I'm going to stick to it. I saw the best results when I was counting calories/following this plan before. When I quit that plan and started Weight Watchers, I still saw some results, but not near at the same calibur as before. I think this is definitely the plan for me.

I will say, my breakfast and lunch items/menu are pretty redundant, but, it's ok. I don't want to stray too much this early on in the game. Once I get better acclamated at the healthy eating again, I will find new things to chow down on. Until then, it's plenty of yogurt and salad. Yippee. Dinner is a bit easier, because I'm actually at home to cook the meal. Sometimes there are leftovers, so that gives my lunch some kick...but then again, leftovers can get pretty redundant, too. Oh well....it all works out in the end. :)

My plan is to start the Couch to 5K Running Plan on Monday the 16th. For some reason, starting a new thing on a Monday usually works best for me...regardless of what it is. I am pretty excited to get started. I remember loving the feeling after a good workout and/or run, and I can't wait to have that feeling again.

Well, that's all for now folks. I know the ol' blog has been lacking some serious picture time lately. Buuuut, I promise, that's all going to change this weekend.

Have a good rest of the day, and thanks for reading my ramblings. :)

"I just felt like running."--Forrest Gump

2012-01-09T14:14:00.001-06:00

I have been looking into different activity avenues for this whole weight loss/healthy lifestyle gig. I think I've found one that I want to try. It's worked for tons of people, so why not give it a try, right? It's called The Couch to 5K Running Plan. I don't have time to visit a gym regularly, so I rely heavily on walking for exercise. This plan combines walking and running as one workout, three times a week. It is an 8 week program that builds up from the previous weeks.

When I was walking a lot a few months ago, I would get the urge to run, but I would constantly stop myself, because I felt I wasn't in good enough shape to do so. With this plan, it builds your momentum each week by adding more running to the workout. By the end of the 8 week program, you should be able to run a 5K, or 30 minutes, depending if you're going by distance or time.

I was on the track team in junior high, but I was a sprinter. I've never been a long distance runner. In high school, I would work out regularly to keep in shape, especially for color guard, but again, I was more of a sprinter. I did a lot of roller blading, bike riding, but not a whole lot of long distance running...just sprinting, since that's what I had always done.

I think with the whole long distance running concept, I am constantly psyching myself out. I mean, come on, the terms "long distance" and "running", when used together, freak me out a little bit. I have to get out of that mindset. I've entered into the world of healthy eating and walking, why not running, too?

I hope to start sometime this week, but if not this week, then next Monday for sure. Wish me luck! I'll be sure to post updates when I can.

Also, I am on the hunt for new healthy recipes for all meal-times. If anyone has any suggestions, please shoot them my way. I think Darren is tired of eating chicken and brown rice everyday. :)

Thanks for reading, and take care! :)

Well...I got nothin'.....

2012-01-04T13:58:00.002-06:00

I really don't have anything to write about today....not a whole lot has been going on. I go back to work tomorrow after my mini-vacation from work. I've been off for 5 days, and this time, it actually felt like 5 days, not just two like it normally does. It's been nice, but I am ready to get back on my normal routine.

I am finally ready to buckle down and get back to eating healthier and working out regularly. NO....this isn't a New Years resolution. I was doing this before the holidays, but I took a little break, because really, I wasn't about to deprive myself of christmas cookies and pie. I always said I was going to start again after the holidays.... So, I bought a new pair of workout/walking/running shoes, and have stocked my fridge with some of my old favorites (chicken, brown rice, lots o' veggies, etc.) It was a nice break, but I definitely need to get back on track with the weight loss and healthy lifestyle.

This past weekend, I decided to cruise the "countryside"...aka...take a ride in the country... and take some random pics of different things. I am mastering the art of shooting in full manual mode, and really, I've learned a lot so far. I love having all of the control and love being able to set everything on my own, which will determine how the picture will end up. So, here are a few pics I took. I really didn't have to do much editing, which makes things a ton easier. Enjoy. :)

I did this one in two colors. In this first one, I left it in color, but brightened it and did some other minor things.

In this one, I applied the sepia color tint. For some reason, for older buildings, I love images in black/white and sepia tones.

This is one of my favorites. Railroad track pictures are so much fun. :)

Well, I wish I had more to share, but I'm not gonna' lie, it's been a lazy couple of days. Take care, and thanks for reading! :)

New Years...100 Posts...Favorites...Whoo Hoo!!

2011-12-31T18:33:00.001-06:00

Wow guys! How perfect did this turn out? I am writing my 100th blog post on the last day of 2011! Really, I have nothing too terribly special planned for this post. It will be my typical ramblings, with something new I've been meaning to post each month for the past few months....so I guess we'll start with that.

I've seen a monthly favorites list on A LOT of blogs I read. I've always wanted to post my own list, but I either a.) forget until approx. the 15th of the following month, b.) can't come up with a list. Lucky for all of you, there are a few things I would be more than happy to share on my December Favorites list.

Bailey Button UGG boots

I bought these recently, and I'm IN LOVE with them! They are super comfy, and keep my tootsies nice and toasty. They are great boots.

Kindle Fire

I bought a Kindle Fire recently as well, and I am totally hooked. I really want to start reading every night before bed like I used to. I really miss reading! I can't wait to use this a lot more. :)

Tastefully Simple Beer Bread Mix

This is one of my favorite winter treats! I love this beer bread mix...I always stock up for the winter. Mmmmm, I could go for some right now actually. Good stuff!

That was fun. I may have to do that more often, if I can remember. haha :)

I really can't believe it's New Years Eve, yeesh, where did this year go? I can't believe how fast the time has gone. We don't have big plans for this New Years, and I'm completely OK with it. I plan on relaxing with Darren and Ryder, eating pizza, and watching some movies. Who knows if I'll even stay up to ring in the new year. Knowing me, I'll be asleep by 9, haha.

2011 has been such a wonderful year. Sure, there have been some ups and downs, but all in all, it was amazing! I got to spend this last year with my baby boy and the rest of my awesome family/friends. It doesn't get better than that! Not to mention, I discovered that I have deep passion/love for photography, and I am so thankful for all of the love and support everyone has given me with it. It's been an amazing journey so far, and I can't wait to see where it takes us.

And no, I don't have resolutions. I never make them. I just feel like what happens, happens, and what doesn't, doesn't. It is what it is, you know? :) Nothing against those that make resolutions; I think it's great that you do! It's just not my thing.

Well, that's all I have for this 100th blog post spectacular. Sorry it wasn't more monumental, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

Everyone have a very safe and happy New Year!!! Thanks for reading these last 100 posts. I look forward to posting many more for all of you! Much love! <3

Christmas Catch-Up

2011-12-29T18:46:00.002-06:00

Sooo, I know I'm way behind.....sorry. This week after work, I kind of put my computer "alone" time on hiatus. I realize this makes me a horrible blogger...again, I'm sorry. However, I have lots of pictures to share, so I'm sure you'll all forgive me by the end of this post. :)

Christmas was amazing! Of course, we were all completely spoiled and received way too much, but really, that's not what Christmas is about. For me, Christmas is about being with family and enjoying the holidays together. We definitely did plenty of that! I was excited for Ryder to open his gifts this year. Since he was only a little over two weeks old last year around Christmas, I was eager to see how he would react. Basically, he would rather play with an old dish towel than open gifts, let alone play with any of his new loot. Now, I'm sure next year we'll be singing a completely different tune.....even though Ryder wasn't really "into" it, I think he still enjoyed himself, and he definitely had a great Christmas.

Here he is Christmas morning, ready to see what Santa brought!

Santa brought Ryder a new Toy Story toy box, loaded with toys, and some new clothes.

Santa also brought Ryder the Little People Zoo.

He actually really likes this "fill and dump" wagon that Darren and I got him. It comes with blocks that you can fill into the back,

As you can see, he'd rather play with Mickey's toys than his own....

After this, we went over to Gridley to Darren's side to eat lunch. Sorry, there are no pictures of that...it seems someone (ahem, me) forgot my camera. Shame shame!

After Gridley, we went over to mom and dad's to finish out the Christmas festivities. It was a nice evening...I was able to put on my comfy clothes and relax. I love laid-back nights/holidays like that.

Mom always has a very pretty tree. She is good at decorating. :)

Ryder got a little bag chair. He seemed to like it!!

Thank you to Uncle Jeffro and auntie Kinzey for his new Pumas! I can't wait till he fits into them! :)

He loves those little chuck trucks! He has a ton of them.

**WARNING: NOW ENTERING THE NERD-ZONE**

In my stocking, I got this neat little Yoda marshmallow lollipop! Mom also got us some Star Wars books!! Yes, I know, I'm a geek. Proud of it! 'Nuff said...

This one is a Storm Trooper marshmallow lollipop that was in Darren's stocking.

**LEAVING THE NERD-ZONE**

This is another gift I always look forward to. I collect snowmen, and mom gets me a new one every year for Christmas!

There were more pictures, more gifts, and much more family fun, but as always, I don't want to bore you with all of that.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and enjoyed spending it with your families/loved ones. That's really what it's all about!!

P.S. I have the best hubby EVER! I am now the proud new owner of a Kindle Fire. I must say, it's pretty awesome. I miss reading, so I can't to load some books on it and jump back into reading every night.

That's all I got, folks. Have a good night, and thanks for reading!

OH--so I lied....I wanted to mention one more thing: S & D Maurer Photography is now booking sessions for 2012; January-May. These sessions can be in our in-home studio, or at a location of your choice. Sessions can be for any occasion: newborn, baby/toddler, couple, family, engagement, maternity, etc. Wedding info can also be provided upon request. Please see our website for more information. You can also check out our Facebook page for more information.

Thanks again for all of your support!! :)

Christmas Time

2011-12-24T20:20:00.000-06:00

Well, it's Christmas time....but it really doesn't feel like it. This is one of the only times of year I wish for that fluffy white stuff on the ground. Instead, we get to look out our windows and look at all of the lovely dead foliage....yay....

Tonight, some of the family (mom, dad, Jeffro, Kinzey, Aunt Lorri and Frank) all came over for our yearly tradition of homemade pizza and first viewing of "A Christmas Story." I love it!!! It's been a WONDERFUL night with family.

On another note, we did some arranging in our in-home photo studio today, and we decided to have a little fun and take pictures of the stinker. He was pretty cooperative, for the most part anyway. :)

I am so excited for Ryder to see his gifts tomorrow! I'll be sure to post pictures of all of the events.

Everyone have a wonderful and safe Christmas! As always, thanks for reading!! :)

"You'll shoot your eye out!"--A Christmas Story

2011-12-21T12:32:00.002-06:00

You all probably thought I had abandoned the movie-related posts for good, huh? Sorry...I had to re-visit the topic, especially since Christmas is so close. I thought I would mention of a few of my favorite Christmas movies! :)

A Christmas Story

This movie is hilarious. It doesn't matter how many times I've seen it, or how many times my family has seen it, every Christmas Eve at 7pm, we crowd around the TV to watch the start of the Christmas Story marathon on TBS. It's a tradition we've done for years....and it includes homemade pizza. YUM-O!

Christmas Vacation

This movie is also hilarious! I just watched it last night with Darren. I love when Chevy Chase goes on his long rant about bringing his boss to his house after he doesn't get a bonus. Hysterical!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

I love Rudolph. But, the movie HAS to be this version, too....by Rankin/Bass. We watch it every year. Christmas doesn't seem complete unless I've watched this at least once!

Home Alone/Home Alone 2

I've grown up with these two movies, and they NEVER get old. I really hope Ryder enjoys them once he gets a little older, so we can watch them together as a family!

Some of these choices may be cliche, but I think I've concocted a pretty legit Christmas movie list. :)

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!

The Christmas Gatherings Begin...

2011-12-19T18:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had Christmas with Darren's mom, brother and grandparents. We had steak, baked potatoes, salad and a bunch of other goodies. It was a great day with family! Here are some pictures I took...

Looking at the tree that was out on the porch

He loved playing with that Cabbage Patch doll...haha

He's so funny

Opening gifts with Grandma Lisa

I love his facial expressions

Surprised about something

What a little doll face :)

Trying to play with Darren's phone

Ryder and Grandma Lisa

He was sitting with Uncle Daniel and clapping for all of us

Ryder with great Grandpa and Grandma Stephens

That's all for now I guess. Have a good night, and thanks for reading! :)

Picture Fun and Cookie Day

2011-12-17T22:24:00.001-06:00

So, the past few days I've been having some fun taking pictures of some of our Christmas decorations around the house. Here are a few examples....

View from the bottom of our big tree, looking straight up

This is the center piece on our dining room table, with our smaller Christmas tree in the background. Love this one!

I blurred the snowman and the center piece and put all emphasis on our small tree and the lights.

Today, me, mom, and Aunt Lorri got together for cookie day!! More family was going to come, but couldn't because she had gotten sick. :( It was still fun!! We had a blast and made a bunch of goodies to share!

I made chili for all of us to eat today

Mmmmm sooo goooooood

Aunt Lorri, me and mom getting ready to start the baking!

This picture jumps ahead about 4 hours after all the baking was done. Kinzey was able to make it over to help finish decorating the sugar cookies we had baked. We had a great time!

Ryder enjoyed the cookies too

We were sugar cookie decorating fools!

Ryder just had to get up close and personal with the decorating action

I think he just wanted more cookie :)

Now begins my journey into food photography....haha....these are the chocolate brownie barkle things we made. Good stuff!

Mmmmm peanut blossoms....

Iced sugar cookies

Non-iced sugar cookies

We also made three different kinds of chocolate covered pretzels, and these things called magic bars. Everything is super good, and I can't wait to enjoy some of it. :)

Tomorrow, we have a family Christmas gathering with Darren's family, so it should be a fun day with family.

Everyone have a great night, and thanks for reading!!

Ryder's 1st Birthday Party!

2011-12-15T17:55:00.001-06:00

As promised, here are some pics from Ryder's birthday party this past Sunday. I'll only post a few...don't want to bore you with 60+ pics. I took some of them, and Frank was kind enough to take more with my camera. :)

Here's the birthday boy :)

Lovin' on his big monkey

Miss Sylvia having fun with a balloon

Monkey/jungle theme for the party

First present to be opened (I did all of the opening....Ryder wanted nothing to do with it, haha)

He was pretty happy during the party

He loved playing with some of his new toys

The piles starting to accumulate

Even more toys.....

I think he's satisfied :)

One of his gifts from me and Darren was the Rock n' Roll Elmo. I love his expression in this pic! I think he was excited about this one. It totally made my day! :)

I still don't know where this is all supposed to go in our house.....

Cake time! He didn't want to touch it himself.

We had to dig into it and feed it to him. He's weird about touching things, especially food. Oh well, he liked the cake we fed to him!

Darren and Ryder

Me and Ryder

The party was a lot of fun, and I just want to thank all of our family and friends that came and helped us celebrate our little guy's first birthday!! It was great to see all of you, and I know Ryder had a blast as well!

In other news, Ryder had his 1 year appt. this past Friday. Here are his stats:

Height: 30.25 inches--65th percentile

Weight: 24.5 lbs--70th percentile

He did OK with his shots, but now that he's aware of what's going on, the tantrum afterwards has gotten a lot worse. But, he usually calms down in a few minutes. :)

After his appt. we went to the mall to do a bit of shopping and take Ryder to see Santa. Here is the picture we bought....lol....

Poor little guy was terrified....didn't want anything to do with it.

That's all I have for you all tonight. Have a great evening, and thanks for stopping by!

My Christmas List

2011-12-14T13:34:00.003-06:00

I've seen quite a few other bloggers that have been posting their Christmas lists to their blog. I thought it was a cute idea, so I decided to post a few of my "wants" for Christmas as well...you know, in case anyone really feels like they need to get me a gift...lol. :) Just kidding!

UGG boots

I have a pair of boots now, but I love this style of these boots. They are adorable, and would make my feet and toes very happy. :)

Canon 85mm 1.8 lens

I have a 50mm lens that I use a lot right now, but I wouldn't mind having an 85mm as well. I really want the 85mm 1.2 lens, however, $1800 really isn't a friendly Christmas price range...haha! Knowing how I am, I will probably buy myself the 85mm 1.8 lens, because it's still a pricy item to ask for a gift...in my opinion anyway!

Cook and carry programmable 6 quart crock pot

I love to cook, and recently, my favorite big crock pot broke. I still have a couple of other ones, but they aren't the same as the one that broke. Plus, I think it's a good idea to have one that is easily capable of travel. :) I love crock pots.

Best Buy gift cards

I am always finding things at Best Buy...whether it's an electronic or a new Blu-ray. I love this store!!!

Maurices gift cards

I get a lot of my clothes from Maurices, especially for work. I love their jeans and sweaters, too. Comfy! :)

Well, I think that's about it for my Christmas "wants," or better classified as my "anytime wants." haha

I promise, I will have pictures of Ryder's birthday party posted soon....I'm just a bit behind lately.

Thanks for reading!!!

Weekend Fun

2011-12-11T08:34:00.001-06:00

This weekend, I had the pleasure of taking Izzy's Christmas pictures. I think they turned out super cute, and I really hope her family is happy with them. She was a lot of fun; I love taking her pictures!! Here are a few of the sneak peeks I posted for her family yesterday.

I got to try out a few of my new backdrops and props for this session which was awesome! It definitely makes me want to go out and buy some more new things. I also got to use my new lighting system. I had originally bought a plain umbrella lighting system, but, there was not enough light in the pics. I could've made it work, but I had something else in mind. I then bought a strobe lighting kit from a place called Cowboy Studio off of Amazon. This stuff was JUNK! I was so disappointed. I had a big photo session of a family of about 30 people, and the strobe couldn't keep up with my camera. The kit had come with two strobes and two soft boxes....but both gave me so much grief. Luckily, I was able to return that stupid stuff and get my money back. I now have a new strobe and soft box that I am IN LOVE with!! The new strobe keeps with my camera, even when I'm using high continuous shooting....that really impressed me!

A big thanks to my mom and dad for helping out with the new strobe and soft box! They both kept saying that they think I take great pictures and can see me going far with this new venture. That really made my day! I love you mom and dad, and thanks for being so positive and supportive of this new journey for me and Darren.

Also, if you get the chance, check out these two pages:

Our website--CLICK HERE

"Like" us on Facebook--CLICK HERE

I need to update the site a bit, and you'll need to have a Facebook acct in order to "like" the Facebook page if you decide to take a peek at the two. :)

Again, thank you to everyone for your never-ending love and support during this new adventure for me and Darren. We are really enjoying this, and can't wait to continue and grow with it all!

Have a good day! We have Ryder's birthday party today, so maybe I'll get to post two blogs in one day...you never know!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Wowza!!

2011-12-07T19:09:00.001-06:00

Our baby boy turned one yesterday....

Yep, this little guy is now ONE!

I'm still not really grasping the reality that we now have a one year old. In my mind, Ryder is still that little chunker baby with that amazing baby smell and is still making those adorable little cooing noises. You remember those days, right? When you could leave a room with the baby on the floor on a blanket, and when you'd come back a few seconds, or even a minute later they would still be in the same spot?

But, the reality is, we have a toddler, who constantly keeps us on our toes. He walks, "talks," slobbers, and seems to always have wet little hands and fingers. He is teething, so he currently has that lovely runny nose that is like a leaky faucet. However, we also have the little toddler that loves to play, hug, say ma-ma and da-da, among other "words," and has a smile that can light up a room.

Jeez.....still can't believe it. One?!

The time...it goes by too quick....

They don't stay little forever like you think they will....

They grow, and learn, and make you so proud to be a parent!

Love you little dude....hope you had a great first birthday!

Along these same lines, we did have a small gathering for Ryder on his actual birthday. His real party is on Sunday, but I just couldn't let the day of his birthday pass by without celebrating a little bit. I'll apologize in advance: I didn't take a whole bunch of pictures. Dad had his camera and took some of Ryder opening a few gifts and for the smash cake. I need to load his pics on my computer sometime. So, here are two pictures I decided to load from my camera....

As you can see, he was the birthday boy!!...and a slobbering mess....

One of his gifts from me and Darren was a small Toy Story couch. He already loves bouncing on the dang thing.....

Sooo, we did have a small smash cake for him. He hated it. HATED IT! He bawled, and bawled, and bawled. I'm blaming it on the fact that he was tired and teething.

So, that's it of my pictures. Sorry again. I'll make sure I take quite a few at his party on Sunday. Darren and I got him a gift that we think he's going to LOVE, so I can't wait to see his reaction. I'm hoping he does better with his cake that day, but who knows.

That's it for tonight. Have a good night, and thanks for reading! :)

"A Movement for Rosa"

2011-12-05T20:38:00.001-06:00

Most nights on my drive home from work from Bloomington, I listen to the radio. Other nights, I choose a CD to listen to. Some of you may not know this, but I am a HUGE fan of classical music. Being in band for 7 years will do that to you. It's probably my favorite genre of music.

Tonight on my drive home, I chose to listen to a CD. The CD that happened to be in the changer was one I had dubbed "movie themes" but it was so much more than that. It also included some of my favorite pieces of music that I had played while being in band. What's better than listening to the themes from "Apollo 13," "Batman," "Dragonheart," and "E.T.", followed up with some of my other classical favs? Little did I know how much emotion this CD would bring on my drive home....

On this particular CD is a piece that I played in my 8th grade year during an All-District concert. It is called "A Movement for Rosa." It was a piece of music written for Rosa Parks. It's a pretty moving piece of music. However, it moved me for a different reason tonight.

My parents were always taping my concerts, field shows, jazz shows, and whatever else I was in. They taped this concert, and I remember hearing my Grandma Wells' voice on this tape. Hearing this piece brought out a ton of emotions. My Grandma passed away when I was 16....so over 10 years ago. I still miss her everyday. Every. Single. Day. It reminded me how much she loved everyone in her family, and how much she adored watching her grandchildren play sports, twirl a flag, or play a piece of music at a concert. She was always there, rooting us on. Hearing this piece of music also reminded me she never got to meet Darren...she never got to see us get married....she never got to see Ryder after he was born...she'll never get to meet Ryder....Ryder will never know his great-grandma; he'll only know what we tell him about her.

It's a hard thing...losing a loved one. There's been way too much sadness going around lately. This is supposed to be a happy time of year...instead it's been terribly sad.

I guess the meaning behind this post is, you never know when you're going to be caught off guard with emotion. I certainly didn't expect to have a good cry on my way home tonight. It's the little things that remind me how wonderful Doris Wells was.

I love you Grandma, and miss you so much!

Playing Blogger Catch Up

2011-12-04T21:01:00.001-06:00

I know...it's been forever since an updated post. I'm sorry....again, we've been pretty busy, and I haven't had any extra time to spend on the blog.

So, since it's been a little over a week, and quite a few things have been going on, I thought I'd toss in some pictures from it all. Enjoy! :)

Sooo, on Thanksgiving someone (mom and dad) thought it would be funny to turn the toilet paper roll around so Ryder could have some fun...I'd say he enjoyed himself...haha

Yep, we are the crazy camera family...

Yay, ugly faces on Thanksgiving!!

I love his expression in this one

This is a pic of me taking a pic of Jeff, who is taking a pic of himself. I really wanted to go further with this and have Frank take a pic of Dad taking a pic of Darren taking a pic of me taking a pic of Jeff taking a pic of himself. Get all that? LOL! Yeah, I forgot about it and it just didn't happen. :)

Awww, the kitty Christmas sweater makes another appearance. It hasen't shown up for Thanksgiving for two or three years!

Chewbacca even came to visit!

We installed our kitty/doggy door finally. As you can see it has other uses as well....

Ryder getting ready to go up town for the Christmas parade

We met up with Jessie, Kalyn and Izzy

Oh boy, it's starting!!

Aww, my old High School life, the band!!

Fire truck time, which was a majority of the parade. It was loud and annoying. I was expecting more from the parade.... :(

Old fire truck, which was pretty cool!

I always looked forward to the little cars when I was young watching the parade...too funny!

The Daves kitty cat! You know you live in a small hick town when the up-side to the parade is when the Daves kitty hands out free Daves bags and paper towels! HECK YES!

Beautiful horses

Santa!! :) Ryder did not see Santa that day. There was a very long line, and I didn't feel like waiting in it. The mall Santa will do just fine this coming Friday. :)

We finally got most of our Christmas decorations up this weekend. I'm having a pretty good time taking pics of it all.

I actually really like this one....love that Ryder is blurred in the background.

Too precious!

Love it!...even if it's a little blurry....still LOVE IT!

Here are a couple pics of one of my trees.

I will try to get a picture of our other decorations and our other tree sometime. I love Christmas/winter decorations. I have so many snowmen it looks like frosty threw up in my house....

That's all for now folks. Thanks for reading, and I'm seriously going to try to update the blog more often, I promise!

Have a great rest of the night, and a wonderful Monday tomorrow! :)

SO MUCH FUN!

2011-11-23T22:08:00.002-06:00

So, again, sorry for being a horrible blogger. I have been super duper busy with work, family time, the photography biz, and everything else. Buuuut, I wanted to take a minute and share with you all some adorable pics we took today of baby Gretchen. She is 6 weeks old, and a complete doll!! This was so much fun!!

I could have taken pictures of her all day. It was a blast!

Tonight, we got to take pictures of a family group, which was again, SO MUCH FUN!!! I can't wait to start editing their pics. :)

That's all I really have to share tonight. Thanks for reading, and have a great gobble gobble day tomorrow!!

P.S. We finally created our website from scratch! YAY! Here is the addy, check it out! :)

http://www.sdmaurerphotography.com/

Another Busy Weekend.....

2011-11-15T19:22:00.000-06:00

Hello all! I've been a terrible blogger lately...I apologize. We've been so busy, I really haven't had any time to sit down and spend time with my blog at all.

This past weekend was pretty busy. Saturday we were in Bloomington for a majority of the day, then we ran to Pontiac to finish up our errands. While we were in Bloomington, we had an appt with Laura Kruger to have our family pics/Ryder's 1 year pics done. I can't wait to see them! She did such a great job, and had Ryder giving great smiles and laughs. She was so wonderful with him!!

Sunday we had a photo session with a family for Christmas pics, then we ran back to Pontiac to get a few things we forgot about on Saturday. Between family time, work, and the photography biz, we have been swamped!! :) But, I LOVE IT!

Soooo, I thought I would share some random pics of Ryder this weekend. Nothing fancy, but still cute. :)

He was having so much fun with the glass door...it was hysterical!

He LOVES being outside!

That's all folks! Thanks for reading, and have a great night!

Ryder and Sylvia

2011-11-10T19:10:00.001-06:00

These two together is one of the cutest things....EVER!

I know what he's thinking.....

She's too beautiful NOT to hug!

It melts my heart to see these two interact so well. :) Such a good pair! :) They are the cutest BF/GF....again....EVER!

HOW PRECIOUS!!!!!! I love this picture, even if it is just of them walking away!

Have a good night, and thanks for reading! :)

Busy busy busy!!

2011-11-08T19:01:00.000-06:00

We had four photo sessions this past weekend. I have finished editing three of them, so I thought I would share a few of the pics from the sessions.

First, our session with the Cotners:

Then, we went to our session with the Sutton family:

Sunday, we had a session with the Stork/Studebaker families:

Isn't he just precious?!

We had a session with the Beal/Goembel family that afternoon, but I have yet to edit those pics. I just thought I would share some that I've done recently. Hope you enjoyed them!

P.S. You may have noticed our official photography name is "S & D Maurer Photography." I plan on creating a price sheet and posting it very soon! Please send any inquiries to sdmaurerphotography@gmail.com

Thank you!!!

Darth Ryder

2011-11-02T18:03:00.000-05:00

Hello all! Sorry, I'm a bit behind on posts....things have been crazy busy. But, I'm working on getting everything caught up and squared away.

We decided to take Ryder out for Halloween on Sunday instead of Monday. That way he could spend a little more time at each destination. Poor little guy never got a nap on Sunday, so we couldn't visit everyone because he got way too tired towards the end of his trick or treating adventure.

So, Ryder was Darth Vader this year for his very first Halloween experience!!! :) A very legit nerd costume, if I do say so myself.

The first stop was at Grandma Lisa's house. He got a bunch of goodies :)

It's too bad he didn't want to wear the Darth Vader 'helmet.' He kept taking it off and carrying it instead....

Happy about his baby Goldfish

Then we went off to the Spenard's house :)

They got Ryder one of his favorite snacks...Puffs :)

This is the best picture we could get of the three of them. Ryder ruined the rest by not looking...haha

Then we went to Grandpa and Grandma Potter's house. He loves looking out their sliding glass window.

One of the treats in his goody bag was a toy plane. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the three of them together because Dad and I got caught up talking about cameras and camera equipment, so I just plum forgot. :(

The last stop was at Jeffro and Kinzey's. Ryder got a Halloween bucket

He loves the Sing-a-ma-Jigs :)

Ryder enjoying some more Puff snacks.

There were a couple more places we had planned on stopping, but Ryder got very tired and cranky. We came home, fed him dinner, and he crashed during bottle time. Poor little dude was pooped!

So, on Halloween, we stayed home to hand out candy to all of the adorable little kiddos dressed up. We told Ryder that he could go out and do the same next year since he will be a bit bigger. :)

Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween! Ours was great! Thanks for reading!!!

Busy Bee with S & D Maurer Photography

2011-11-01T19:38:00.001-05:00

The above pictures were random pics I snapped last Friday. There are a few reasons why:

a. I love fall

b. I love watching Ryder walk around at the park and play

c. I love fall

d. The sky was really pretty before/during the sunset

e. I really wanted to lay in a ditch to get some good shots of the sky

f. Yes, I really did lay in a ditch in the country to get some shots of the sky

g. I love fall

I was busy the rest of the weekend too. Here's what was happenin'....

First, I had a session with this cutie pie of a boy. :)

I had a session with mom and dad this weekend as well. It was cloudy day, but it all turned out great.

I also started a Facebook page for S & D Photography, so please feel free to "like" the page, and suggest it to others. Thank you for all of your support.

Also, I started a website: http://sdphotography540.zenfolio.com/

I tried to start it up using a different host, however, it wasn't what I was looking for. This is just a starting point until I can actually create a site from scratch. This site is not finished yet, since I just made it this past weekend. Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions.

Thank you everyone for all of your support with S & D Photography! It's greatly appreciated. :)

Have a good night, and thanks for reading!

Didn't Make the Cut

2011-10-27T19:17:00.001-05:00

A lot goes into editing a picture to make it suitable for printing. Obviously, there are pictures that really aren't worth it....editing wise that is. These pictures, in my opinion, are very entertaining. They make me laugh, and definitely make me smile. These, folks, are the pictures that don't make the cut. Of course, there are tons of these when doing a photography session. I thought I would share some of these from my latest little session with Jeffro and Kinzey.

Darren looks like the creepy stalker in the background....

This one is BRIGHT!!!

OMG Darren....

Jeffro decided it would be fun to not cooperate at this point. Luckily he whipped right back into shape. :)

This spot was entirely too bright for them. They look so uncomfortable...haha

Oh geeze...

And last but certainly not least...a lovely shot of Jeffro and his pretty boxers...haha

Hope you enjoyed a glance into some of the "outtakes." Have a good night, and thanks for reading!

A Wicked Good Time

2011-10-24T20:33:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I had an entire other post written, however, Blogger decided to screw it up when I posted it. Sooo, I thought I would just highlight what I had typed before.

The meaning of my title? Darren and I saw "Wicked" on Friday. It was really good!! I thought it was fantastic actually....I'm not sure how Darren felt about it, haha.

The rest of the weekend I was busy doing some awesome things. Here's a little peak:

Ryder is always ~~willing~~ forced to be my test subject. :)

Saturday I got to spend some time with this sweet little girl....

It was so much fun! She was such a delight to photograph. :)

Sunday afternoon I got to spend time with these two....

No no, these aren't engagement pictures. This was primarily done so we could finally have some nice pictures of these two. :) Plus, it gave me a chance to try a few new things.

I'm loving every minute of this. It's fun to try new things with photography and see it all come together in the end. I LOVE IT!!!

That's about all for tonight. Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll have more to show you soon.

Three Years Ago....

2011-10-18T19:45:00.000-05:00

Three years ago today....

...The date was 10/18/08

...It was a beautiful mid 70 degree Saturday

...I got to spend the entire day/night with some of my favorite people

...I had really long hair (to me anyway)

...I got some radical blisters on my tootsies

...I wore lipstick...not just chapstick....but real lipstick. I was such a lady!

...I wore earrings (I never wear them now...just don't think about it)

...I bawled like a baby with my parents

...I ate some really great food

...Tasted some awesome cake (did not eat any...only tasted what was shoved in my face)

But, above all else....three years ago today....

I married my best friend!

Happy anniversary Darren! I love you!!!

Farewell...So Long...Adios...

2011-10-15T20:24:00.002-05:00

Today, I took my last pictures on this...

Goodbye friend! You suited me well the past few months. We made a great pair, that's for sure. The below pictures are the last I will ever take with this camera.... Nothing fancy, but fun and memorable none the less!

This camera takes great pictures

I've learned a lot from this camera

I'm very sad to see it go.

But, the camera will soon have a fabulous new owner, who will hopefully enjoy the camera as much as I have.

So, why am I no longer going to use the T3? Because, I bought this today....

This camera is the shit. No lies. It is AWESOME!

One of the first pictures taken with the 7D, and I was immediately impressed

Trying out my 50mm lens with the new camera.

They make a lovely pair...

Awww, super cute!

Leaves!!

I couldn't be happier about this purchase! I will miss my T3, however, the 7D is my new bestie.

I will definitely have more pics to share soon!!

Have a good night, and thanks for reading! :)

A Love For Dog Food

2011-10-13T17:58:00.000-05:00

Little stinker!

But, I can't stay mad at him....

With a cute little mug shot like that, how can I?!

A Pinch of Pictures and Edits...A Sprinkling of Birthday Fun...A Dash of Wookiee

2011-10-12T18:53:00.003-05:00

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. It's been a crazy busy couple of days.

Saturday we spent the day in Bloomington running errands and shopping. Then, we decided to go out and about to find different picture spots. Ryder was my test subject. Here are a few of the pics I took and edited. I think they turned out nice. :)

Saturday night we had a birthday party to go to for our cousin's 10th birthday. The party was a weenie roast at Aunt Lorri's house. I took a couple of pictures of course.

Mom and Ryder...and Darren creepin'...

Fire- pit-goodness :)

The birthday boy, Jake. The bike was his big gift! :)

Jeffro....he's definitely photogenic...haha

Ryder and Aunt Donna

Our other cousin, Kerry

Dad and Ryder...and Darren creepin' in the background

Sunday we finished up our "chores" and had visits from Jeffro and Kinzey, Daniel and mom. Since my birthday was coming up, Darren decided to give me my gift early. If you know us, we usually don't buy gifts for eachother on birthdays and Christmas, or even on our anniversary. We buy things for ourselves throughout the year, and don't really see the need to buy eachother things on specific days. We've always been this way. Anyway, Darren begged me to allow a gift for my birthday. Since he was so excited, I agreed. Soooo....what was this gift?

A Chewbacca mask!!! Darren said he was disappointed because it looked much better in the picture on the site he ordered it from. He spent quite a bit on it, so he was expecting more. I. LOVE. IT. It's a legit nerd gift! :)

Sunday afternoon mom and I took Ryder out to the park for his first time on the swing and the other fun stuff at the playground.

Lovin' the swing :)

He wasn't sure what to think of the horse

He discovered the wood chips

I think he enjoyed the slide....I really couldn't tell.

No cries are a good thing...so I'm going to say he moderately enjoyed it.

Oooooohhhhh a sandbox.....

Monday was pretty uneventful. Work. Home. Dinner. Bed.

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday. My co-worker made me brownies and scotcharoos, which made the day awesome! :) Last night, mom, dad, Jeffro and Kinzey came over with a cake and ice cream to top of the birthday madness. There is a tradition between me and Jeffro: we pick out eachothers cakes for our birthdays....and they are always really silly or stupid. Jeffro said he was mad because I would have liked all of the cakes that he had to choose from. So, what did he choose?

It says "Happy Thanksgiving my little star"....he had mom put the wording on the cake. It looks like I'm only turning two based on the candles....so not the case!

Here I am, with my special cake. It was a great birthday! Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes!!!

I think I've made this post long enough. Hope you all have a great night. Thanks for reading!! :)

Before/After....Part 1

2011-10-07T20:38:00.001-05:00

I found this pretty interesting, so I thought I'd share it. I've been testing out different edits on pictures I've taken. Tonight, I really started looking at the before and after and seeing that small things can make a world of difference.

Before

After...all I did was balance out the light/darks

Before

After...again, I just balanced out the lighting, and also did some coloring effects to the sky. Nothing too extreme.

Before

After. I decided to do coloring effects to both the sky and the greenery.

Before

After. I changed the tone to black/white, but also darkened a few objects in the picture to make them stand out a bit more.

Before

After. I was messing around with the color effects with the water/greenery, just seeing how it would with this pic. I think the water looks a little "too blue." Still a cool effect though.

Before

After. Just did a few effects to the coloring again. I think it looks a bit sharper.

I'm not where I'd like to be, but I think I'm improving with each picture. I hope you enjoyed looking into the before/after, even if I was only messing around with it all. :)

Have a good night, and thanks for reading/looking!

A New Camera Lens=A Happy Camper

2011-10-06T20:17:00.003-05:00

Sooo, I finally got the rest of my pictures loaded from this past weekend. I need to work on the layout on here so the pictures load a bit larger. Click on the picture to see them in a little more detail. :)

It was so beautiful by the lake

This little "brook" was right by our cabin. I was testing my shutter speeds...I think this one turned out good!

I think this picture is adorable

The water looked gorgeous

The colors in the sky were breathtaking our last night

Darren was throwing rocks into the water

And skipping them to make the water ripple...like this :)

It was so relaxing.

Here is the fog and mist over the lake the following morning

I thought it looked pretty cool

I was ready to get home, but sad to leave at the same time

With the above pictures, I was testing out the different aperture settings and shutter speeds. I am trying to get the hang of taking pictures in a complete manual mode. It's harder than it sounds!!

That's why I bought a new lens. The aperture setting can go a bit lower than the two lenses I already have. I got the lens today, so of course I had to test it out.

Here is one of the first pictures I took. I wasn't in the aperture priority setting yet, so the blurred background wasn't where I wanted it to be.

MoMo kitty. I really like this picture of her!

Mickey puppy :) I like this picture too

What a little ham!

I think I'm finally getting the hang of the different settings...well, the aperture at least!

He looks innocent....but don't let that fool you.... haha

Finally got a picture of Mala kitty

I decided to go outside and take some pictures up and down our street. I wish the trees were changing a bit more.

The photographer took similar pictures like this at our wedding.

I may light the candles next time to see if that changes the effect much.

The verdict on my lens??? I LOVE IT!!! There is another lens I am looking at as well. I've already talked to Darren about eventually buying a better camera. Ours is perfectly fine, and I really love it, but this other one I found is really calling my name. We'll see how long I can hold out!

We have a birthday party to go to on Saturday, so I'm hoping to get some pictures working on the shutter speed aspect, and then putting the two together and really work on the manual picture taking. Fun fun! :)

I also have a video to share. I don't remember if I mentioned this on here or just on Facebook, but Ryder started walking last week. Not just little steps. He is a walking machine. This video is of Ryder walking...I think he's doing good with it all!

I can't believe we have a walking 10 month old....time has gone by way too fast. Wish us luck!

Well, I think that's all for tonight. I think I am going to relax and watch the new "Grey's Anatomy." Have a good night, and thanks for reading!!

A Weekend with the Family...and Jason Voorhees?

2011-10-04T20:52:00.001-05:00

Sorry it's been awhile for an update. We have been super busy and I haven't had the chance to sit down and blog at all.

On Friday, Darren, Ryder, mom, dad, and myself made the journey to southern Illinois. We stayed at the Egyptian Hills Resort in Creal Springs, which is located right on the Egyptain lake. It was absolutely beautiful. Here are just a few of the pictures the first day/night we were there.

View right out of our chalet

Beautiful sunset

Saturday morning, we stopped at Bob Evans and ate breakfast. I had the BEST pancakes....EVER! They were the cinnamin melt pancakes....OMG. SOOO GOOD!!! It is my new favorite breakfast dish at Bob Evans!!

My Grandpa lives about an hour away from where we were staying, so Saturday we took a drive into the Shawnee National Forest to go visit him. The first two pictures were taken out of the car window on our drive over....

Getting closer to the wilderness

There were tons of windy roads lined with gorgeous trees. So many opportunities for great pictures!

This was Ryder's first encounter with his Great Grandpa

They clicked immediately. :)

One of the views from Grandpa's porch

Enjoying the outdoors a bit

Hummingbirds!!

We headed back over to our chalet later that afternoon/evening....and we had a visitor....

It's Jason Voorhees, and he's come to visit!

Silly Jason, trying to give us a fright

He can hang with the best of 'em....

He's really a great guy...

Plus, he liked Miller Light...which is awesome in my book.

So....yeah....that was totally Darren in a hockey mask (like that wasn't obvious, right?...haha) We kept saying that the Eyptian Lake reminded us of Camp Crystal Lake in the Friday the 13th movies, so, we decided to buy a hockey mask and have a little fun. :)

Sunday we hung out at the resort for the whole day. The Bears game wasn't on TV down in that area, so I couldn't watch that (bummer)....but it was nice to relax a little bit. We grilled out steaks and had baked potatoes and garlic rolls. YUM! It was a great day! I got some awesome pictures of the sunset over the lake....the colors were gorgeous. I haven't had the chance to load those, so I will try to get those posted eventually.

Monday we got home around 3, and around 7:30pm I remembered I had to make cookies for a bake sale we were having for a fundraiser at work...today. Pretty sure I made 4 dozen cookies in 45 minutes. I amazed myself...I didn't know I could bake that fast!

Well, that's all for now. I am just trying to get caught up from being gone all weekend.

I will get more pictures loaded some time this week. Have a good night, and thanks for reading!! :)

Sneak Peek....

2011-10-01T20:49:00.000-05:00

Here is a little peek of what our weekend has been thus far....

More to come later. :)

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend! We definitely are!! Thanks for stopping by my blog. :)

Time Flies....and I Love Potatoes!

2011-09-28T19:39:00.000-05:00

Time goes by too fast.....my sweet **almost** 10 month old has started walking by himself, not holding on to anything for assistance. We got a video of some of his first steps, but I haven't had the chance to upload it yet, so I will share it eventually. Am I ready for this? NO! Not at all. I remember when he couldn't even roll over by himself; now he's on the move. I can't believe how fast the past months have gone. I am excited and ready for the future, but I am sad at how fast the time is going.....

Ok, so, this is sort of out of the blue, but I have an AWESOME recipe to share. I have a new addiction to a website, Pinterest.com. It's a website where members can "pin" different ideas for recipes, photography, decorating, etc... it's a great site. I found this recipe today, and decided to try it for dinner tonight. It was a slam dunk in my opinion.

I did adjust a few things:

**Instead of using 6 tablespoons of butter, I used three. You may not need to use butter at all.

**Also, I melted the butter first, then put the spices and salt/pepper in with the potatoes and mixed it together. The recipe says to just mix the spices in with the potatoes, then put pats of butter throughout the potatoes in the casserole dish. Do whatever you'd like. :)

**The recipe would probably taste just as good with fat free ranch dressing and low fat cheese. I didn't use fat free. I used regular Hidden Valley ranch, and regular colby jack cheese. Again, do whatever you'd like. :)

Cheesy Ranch Potato Bake

Ingredients

4 pounds russet potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 (8 ounce) package shredded colby-Monterey Jack cheese blend
1 (8 ounce) bottle Ranch dressing

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Place the potatoes in the baking dish. Season with chili powder, salt, and pepper. Evenly distribute the butter over the potatoes.
Cover dish with aluminum foil, and bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until potatoes are tender. Remove from oven, and mix in the cheese and Ranch dressing. Continue cooking 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

ENJOY!!!! These potatoes were amazingly good!!

Have a good night, and thanks for reading!

Another One Bites the Dust....

2011-09-25T18:40:00.001-05:00

Really? The weekend is almost over...again? Seriously, they fly by!!

Friday was busy with work and errands. Saturday was busy with more errands. Today was busy with breakfast, laundry, cleaning, and whatever else.

We watched the Bears game today, which was not all that entertaining. They didn't play horrible, but they could've done better as well. Whatever....I'm less than enthusiastic about anything today.

Here are some pictures we took of Ryder today in his Bears attire. I guess the cuteness didn't help the Bears get a win...bummer. :(

He's such a little ham. OH! And, I'm happy to report that Ryder has extended his list of solid foods that he'll eat. He loves all of his pureed baby food, but we are trying to introduce more solid foods to his diet. So, he likes eggs, ham, sausage, pancakes and toast. We went out for breakfast this morning and let him try an array of things. He seemed to like most of it! :)

Let's see...what else.... I was messing around with my editing program today with some pictures I took last weekend. I was trying out different modes on my camera, and these next few were taken out of the car window at speeds of 55+ miles per hour.

I am still trying to figure out the editing program. The first few pictures I just sharpened up the color and didn't do too much. The last picture I decided to change the tone a bit. I like the look of older farm buildings in sepia or black and white.

Also, this is completely off topic....but I've gotten a lot of slack from a picture I posted in this post...this picture to be exact....

Under this picture, I described it as big farm machinery. Ok, so, maybe I didn't know this was a combine. Well, actually, I think I did know...maybe. Darren made fun of me, and so did some of my co-workers. OK, I know I have lived around farmland for all of my life, AND, I work for a company that has a lot of farmers as clients. I'm ashamed I didn't know this was a combine. That's a lie. But, since I got so much slack for this, you all know I had to bring it up, haha.

That's all I have for tonight. I'm going to eat dinner, and watch Lord of the Rings the rest of the evening...YAY! :) Have a good night, and thanks for reading! :)

Totally Nuts?!

2011-09-21T19:01:00.003-05:00

So, I made a pretty important decision today....a decision that I am extremely proud, excited and terrified for....Today, I decided to go back to school!!

After I got my Associates, I got busy with work, planning our wedding, getting married, got busier with work, and had a baby...so I didn't go back to get my Bachelors completed. All of those are excuses....I should have gone back sooner than this. In a way, I feel like a failure. I mean, I know I've done successful things, and I have done very well for myself at my job. I've made wonderful friends and contacts, but I know I can do more. I want to make my family, friends, and course, myself proud.

I know it's going to be difficult, but I know I can do it. I have confidence in myself and in my capabilities, and I am excited to start this journey!! What makes this even better is Darren's never-ending love and support. We sat down tonight and talked this through quite a bit. He thinks it's a great idea and he supports me 100%! I know he'll be there for me through all of the highs and lows and will keep rooting for me and pushing me to succeed. I couldn't ask for a better husband!!

So, I will be completing my bachelors degree through an online accredited college. They also have a campus, but it's out of state, plus, online works better for me anyway. I've always excelled with online courses, so I'm not too worried about that aspect of this. I've already talked to an advisor about everything, and I will be starting in a few months.  I would start sooner, but I want to finish my insurance designation course at work first. One school project at a time! :)

I will be pursuing my Bachelors in Public Relations and Marketing with a specialization in Project Management. I really like the marketing aspect in business. I've taken a couple of courses about marketing before and LOVED it!! Plus, I was able to choose the specialization of project management. I've done a few projects at work and loved doing it. I am super excited for all of this to start!  This program will also give me 9 credit hours towards a Master degree, which is icing on the cake in my opinion.

So, that's my big news for today! OH!  One more thing....I GOT MY PURSE TODAY!!! I will take a picture and post it later. It's beautiful, and I LOVE IT!!

Today was a good day! :) Thanks for reading!!

Another Weekend Comes to a Close

2011-09-18T18:30:00.002-05:00

The weekend is almost over...again. Is it just me, or do the weekends go by much quicker than those days during the week? Ugh.

Anyway, a continuation of our day/night yesterday. Since I had serious camera withdrawals all week, I kind of went a little nuts yesterday.

Here's the stinker, standing by himself

He's such a little stud

He loves walking around with that toy. Probably one of the best purchases we have made. He's loved it since we bought it months ago!

Awww, even though he's not smiling, I still love this one. sidenote: please pay no attention to my lack of landscaping. That is our on-going project. We've come to realize that when you have a child, a lot of projects don't get finished right away.....or started when they need to be started...

Saturday night we went over to Cullom to Slingshots for pizza. It was pretty tasty, and it was nice to get our of the house for awhile.

Jeffro and Ryder bonding time

Lovely picture Jeffro

Much better :)

Darren is tired....

So am I....getting up at 5am will do this to you. Thanks again for that early wake up call, Ryder! :)

Ryder enjoying himself at Slingshots

Aunt Lorri and Frank

Me and Darren

Mom and dad

Today, Ryder and I went up to Lost in Time for Sam's baby shower. Due to a battery issue, I became the last minute photographer of the event, and if you know me at all, you know that I loved every minute of it. I will share just a few of these pictures, because I think I took 50+ at the shower.

Here is the mommy-to-be with my little stinker

Ryder got to meet Kristin's little boy Brynner today. Brynner loved Ryder, and Ryder wasn't sure what to think :)

She looks beautiful!

Sarah spending some time with Ryder

The next few are of Sam opening some of her gifts

When we got home, I watched what was left the Bears game, and they lost.

Ryder was less than thrilled with the Bears performance today

Aww, finally, a cute picture of the two of us :)

My blue-eyed monster

Darren and Ryder

Well, that's all for now.....I plan on eating dinner, and attempting to relax the rest of the night.

Have a good night, and thanks for reading.

P.S. I have yet to watch "Thor." I am NOT HAPPY!!!! :(

Pumpkins and Gourds Galore

2011-09-17T21:42:00.001-05:00

Today has been a pretty busy day. I really hate it when we have little to no plans over a weekend, but we still end up being extremely busy....grrr.

Anyway, we went to Pontiac this morning for a few things, then came home and started our weekend "chores." Then, me, mom and Kinzey went out to Maley's farm to get pumpkins and gourds. We took Ryder along for this spectacular journey, and I really don't think he was too impressed...

Here we are at the start of the pumpkin/gourd journey, wagon completely empty except for little man

We found a "Ryder-sized-pumpkin"

Lots to choose from!

Ryder was keeping the gourds company

Lots o' gourds and pumpkins

Mom was doing most of the heavy lifting.

Not too excited

I think he was ready for a nap

Touching one of the weird gourds

Out of his wagon prison and walking around a bit

Weird gourds....I like them though :)

Old lookin' pumpkin

Kinzey and Ryder in front of the big farm machinery

More weird gourds...which we bought for decorating :)

When we got home, Ryder took an amazing 3 hour nap, in which time I was able to catch up on "Beverly Hills 90210." It was AH-mazing! Then, Darren decided to test his culinary skills....

You may think this is a Big Mac from McDonalds....but it isn't....

Darren found a recipe on how to make your own Big Macs at home.

I must say, these were spot on, and completely delicious. Darren did such a great job!! I was very surprised at how much these resembled and actually tasted like a real Big Mac. I really couldn't tell a huge difference between these and the real ones. Good jon Dar!!

I took more pictures after these, but I have yet to upload them. That will be something to share another day. :) We had more "adventures" after this as well, but those go with the pictures I took....oh the suspense, right? haha

I think I am going to retire upstairs and finally watch "Thor!" How excited am I? VERY!

Have a good night everyone, and thanks for reading!!

I Was Longing For.....

2011-09-16T21:00:00.002-05:00

My camera. I missed my camera. I haden't looked at it, or held it for probably about a week. Tonight, I glanced over at my camera bag, jumped up excitedly, dug out my camera, and took a few pictures. I had nothing special to capture with pictures tonight, but I really just wanted to get my camera out again. Enjoy the randomness! :)

He drools SOOOO much!

Being such a big boy!! I can't believe he can stand all by himself.....

Sitting up and playing would have been too much work

Lovely face....

Since he still has a jumperoo restriction from his surgery, I guess he wanted to play under it

Darren forgot to button Ryder's bibs around the diaper area, so you can see his white onesie...haha

This little photo shoot did not satisfy my picture taking craving. We'll see if I have time to get out and about for some photo exploration time this weekend....who knows.

So, I have hit a little plateau with my weight loss journey. However, I'm not really discouraged. We've had a lot going on, so, to say it's been a little difficult to stay on track is a bit of an understatement. I really haven't gained anything back; I'm just stuck at the same weight. Blah....But now, I am more than ready to get back on track!! Wish me luck!

That's all folks. Have a good night, and thanks for reading! :)

I'm So Excited....and I Just Can't Hide It!

2011-09-14T18:54:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I am excited for a couple of reasons.

1.) This weather is awesome. I love it. Minus the nasty cold rain, I love the coolness and briskness in the air. I think I also noticed some trees today with the leaves changing. Woo hoo!!

2.) We are heading down to southern Illinois in a few weeks for a little "vacation." We are staying close to the Shawnee National Forest on a lake in a chalet. It looks gorgeous down there, and I can't wait to get away for a few days. Plus, we get to see my grandpa while we're down there, which is a big plus. :)

3.) I decided I'm going to buy myself a birthday gift. I haven't bought a purse in awhile, mostly because the purses I pick out aren't the cheapest. I'm lucky if I find one for under $100 most of the time. So, because my birthday is coming up, I'm going to buy this purse I found, and Darren has no say. None. At all. Because I love this purse. And I want it. With all of my being. And desire. Yep. :)

4.) Lastly, I went and bought something very special over my lunch today. This is the best purchase I've made in weeks....I can't put the purse into this category because I haven't bought it yet. But, anyways, this purchase is so wonderful, I might cry. Seriously. I think I feel a tear. Ok, I'm lying. Buuuut, I am super excited about this. I've been waiting for a few months for this to come out. Today, I bought.....

"THOR" ON BLU-RAY!!!! And yes, I totally took a picture of my own copy, because I am that proud. The cover says it so right, this movie was "Spectacular"!

Ok, enough on the "Thor" gushing. Ok, just a little more.... I actually forgot it came out on Tuesday, and happened to remember today right before I left to go to Meijer at lunch for a few other things we needed. I'm so glad I remembered. Too bad I won't have time to watch it until the weekend....poo.

That's all I will bore you with tonight...wait, who am I kidding? This post was fantastic because of the awesomeness that is "Thor"!!! Totally kidding...maybe.

Have a good night, and thanks for taking in my rambling. :)

Love is in the Air

2011-09-13T18:53:00.003-05:00

Well, I should say love is almost in the air. Fall is upon us, and I can. not. wait! Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. I've seen a few articles lately about fall and what makes it great, , and it made me starting thinking about some of my favorite things that will be coming up shortly. I think I've recently seen mention of the greatness of fall in Jessie's blog and in Kendra's blog, too. It sounds like we're all pumped for it!

1.) The colors.....I LOVE the colors in fall. The changing leaves consisting of red, orange and brown...I love it! And, I can't wait to see Ryder play in the leaves. I can see the picture possibilities now..yay!!

2.) The food....seriously, I love the food associated with fall. Chili, taco soup, hot dogs over a bonfire or firepit, smores, yummy!! Not to mention, Weight Watchers has a ton of recipes for soups and other fall treats that I am dying to try, but I am waiting ~~patiently~~ impatiently for the weather to get a little cooler.

3.) Thanksgiving....Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love being able to cook the big meal, and just be with friends and family. This year is a little extra special, since it will be Ryder's first Thanksgiving. I remember Thanksgiving last year, being almost 39 weeks preggo, ready to meet the little fella'. I can't wait for all of us to be together this year! There's nothing sweeter than that, folks!

4.) The clothes....my comfy clothes will be making their appearance in the next few weeks (I'm hoping anyway) which consist of hoodies, jeans, and cute sweaters.

5.) October....I love October for three reasons. a.) My birthday is in October. Even though I'm going to be...sigh...26 this year, I still like to enjoy my birthday a bit. b.) Mine and Darren's anniversary is in October, along with my parent's anniversary. c.) Halloween. I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween for myself, but, I love seeing the little kiddos dressed up, and this year we get to dress Ryder up, so therefore, I'm excited for Halloween this year.

6.) Football....I used to not be the biggest fan of football. I thought it was boring...a real snooze-fest. A few years back I started playing in a football pool at work, and really got into the game. I cheer, I yell, I get very angry; I guess I sound like a football fan! :) There is really only one team I am an avid watcher of, and that's the Chicago Bears. I rarely miss a game. Good times! Am I the biggest football fan ever? No. But, I still enjoy the game none the less.

And last, but not least, I love Fall because it leads into my other favorite time of the year: Christmas and the holiday season!! :) But, of course, I'll talk about that more when the time is right.

Hope you enjoyed a look into my Fall happiness. Have a good night, and thanks for reading! :)

Sleeping sweet pea :)

2011-09-12T19:40:00.000-05:00

How can this picture not make your heart melt?

He wrapped himself in his blankie and crashed. If he would actually take naps during the day, he wouldn't crash suddenly, poor little guy.

Seriously though, he always puts a smile on my face. :) I hope he does this for you as well!

Have a good night, and thanks for visiting!!

I Can't Believe....

2011-09-11T16:49:00.000-05:00

Well, today marks the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. I can't believe it's been 10 years since that tragic day....I still remember that day as if it just happened.

I was in 10th grade in 2nd block Biology with Doc. Kilgus. I remember discussing this with friends the rest of the day, just trying to make some sense of what happened. I remember going home after school, and watching it on TV with my parents. I remember trying to understand why this happened and how it could've happened. My heart went out to those who lost their lives, to those with loved ones they would never see again, to everyone in the USA that was feeling any heartache or sadness.....

Today (and really, everyday), please take time to remember those that lost their lives, and those that made the ultimate sacrifice 10 years ago. Please remember those brave and selfless individuals that continue to fight for our country today. They all deserve our utmost respect, gratitude, and love. Always remember 9/11/01...never forget those we lost.

So, on to some happy posting... :)

Yesterday, we really didn't do much. I started our weekly laundry loads, and we decided to go up to Lost in Time for lunch again. Their food is so delicious! Darren and I tried some of their ice cream with caramel sauce for a little dessert after lunch...OMG was it good!! I highly recommend Lost in Time to anyone and everyone looking for a great meal.

After lunch we came home and relaxed for about an hour, then decided to walk up to Ace to get a few things for our grill. Then we walked down to mom and dad's house to invite them over for a "cookout" that night. Jeffro wasn't home, so we invited Kinzey over to join us. :) We ended up grilling out cheeseburgers and hot dogs, and I made my party potatoes. We also had some of Daves potato salad and spagetti salad. It was all super yummy. It was good to spend time with family.

Today, we finished up the laundry, and went down to mom and dad's to eat chili and watch the Bears game. I thought they played pretty decent today, and they won the game!! GO BEARS!!

Little man was just too darn excited from watching the Bears beat the Falcons!

So, our little crawling machine is trying to turn into a walking machine....it's freaking me out a bit. Darren and I actually sat down this morning and watched a bunch of home movies from when Ryder was born, and when he was a lot smaller than he is now. I can't believe he is going to be 1 in under 3 months.....time goes by too fast, that's for sure! So anyway, the walking....well, I think I've already mentioned Ryder pulls himself up and "cruises" around the furniture. Now, he's becoming a bit braver by letting go of the furniture and standing by himself for a few seconds. I think the longest he's stood there by himself is 30 seconds or so. He also has this little toy that he can walk with. We got a video of him walking with it this morning...he takes a little spill at the end, but he was completely fine and not hurt at all. :)

He just started doing this yesterday, so I think he's doing pretty good with it already, little fall and all. :)

We don't have any other plans the rest of the day, so I think we're going to take it easy.

Have a good Sunday night, and thanks for reading.

Busy busy day

2011-09-09T21:04:00.001-05:00

Hello! Well, today was a pretty busy day.

We had to be in Peoria by 10am for Ryder's follow-up appt for his surgery. Everything is looking great and healing the way it should. His incision areas look wonderful, and you can't really tell he had anything done at all. :) I couldn't be happier with the way things went with this whole process.

After that appointment, we headed back to Bloomington, and ran a few errands. We also went into work for a little bit so everyone there could see Ryder. I think it had been about 3 months since some of my co-workers saw him last. He was a total ham and completely well behaved the whole time. He really doesn't have a "phobia" of strangers, so his visits with people he doesn't see often enough to remember at this young age aren't a problem at all. I'm very thankful for that!

After that we had Ryder's 9 month well check appt. Here are his stats:

Weight: 22lb 12oz--80th percentile
Height: 28 1/2 inches--50th percentile
Head: 17 1/2 inches--25th percentile

The doctor was very pleased and surprised at how much Ryder is doing. He gave us some homework, which consists of working on things with Ryder that he would expect a 15 month old to just start doing, so it should be a fun few months. Sorry, I hope that didn't come across as bragging...I'm really not, I promise!! I'm just very proud of my youngin'!! He had two shots, one being a flu shot. I know sometimes people can get an adverse reaction and actually get sick from the shot....so I really hope that doesn't happen with Ryder....

We ran more errands after that, then finally came home. Darren had been up for over 24 hours at this point, so I sent him up to bed to sleep for a little while. Now, here we are. It's been one exhausting day!!

We have no plans again this weekend. I don't plan on going anywhere or doing much. I think we all need to relax a bit, so I'm looking forward to the next two days.

That's all for tonight. I think I'm going to go to bed....

Thanks for reading, and have a good rest of the night!

Smiles

2011-09-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

These two faces always make me smile. :)

Darren is looking rather scruffy...lol

I love my boys!

That's all... :) Have a good night, thanks for stopping by!

P.S. I wanted to go for a walk tonight and experiment with more picture taking, but the rain ruined it. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

A Walk and a Burrito

2011-09-07T19:45:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone is having a nice week so far. :) This weather is awesome!

Last night after I got home we decided to go out for a quick walk to enjoy some sunshine and crisp "fall" air. I love the weather like this...it could actually be a little cooler, then it would be pure bliss!

You know me...I took some pictures of our walking fun....I apologize, I haven't had any time to do any cool editing features....I hope you still enjoy them. :)

Getting ready to go for a walk

Already looking around

Darren on our walk

We have lots of really large and tall trees on our block and the blocks surrounding our house

I really like this one for some reason

Flag blowing in the wind

I like this one too :)

Baby boy enjoying his walk

Babbling away...I think he was saying "Ba-ba-ba-ba"

Look! It's Jeffro and Kinzey's cat Ralphie :) (yes, my brother lives very close to us)

This is NOT Ralphie...this is random kitten we saw on our walk.

I love my attempts at being a legit photographer....ATTEMPTS being the key word...lol.

In all seriousness, I really enjoy taking pictures. I have a lot to learn, but I am having fun each step of the way.

So, when we got home, I made burritos for dinner, and I was laying in bed by 8pm. I guess that's how it goes when I get up at 5am every morning....

Nothing else to report. Have a good Wednesday night, and thanks for reading!