Christmas Traditions

One of my favorite parts about Christmas, is the tree. The tree has always been something big in our family, and I didn't even realize it until I was a little older. It all begins as we go searching for a specific type of tree- only a certain type of fir will be open enough to do what we need it to do. When trimming the tree for the stand, dad used to cut of a section of the trunk and bring it to me for my room because I just loved the smell. Then dad starts on the lights. My dad is the only one qualified to put the lights on. They are an older type of light that splits and goes around the branch so the light bulb can stand up straight, and it is definitely an art form. Mom unpacks the ornament boxes and begins to lay out the ornaments on the card table as the myriad of Christmas music plays on the stereo... and this is how it goes!

Now I'm sure some of this may be just like what everyone else does, but the ornaments themselves have so much meaning. That is the part I love so much. I'm not sure when exactly it became such a tradition, but we have started to really collect ornaments for one another. Many times, it is the first thing we exchange with each other and every year, we begin to doubt if there is room for even one more ornament on our very full trees.

This was purchased in Alaska by my parents. Trips out usually influence the ornament giving the following Christmas. :) This year our family all got ornaments from our trip to Hawaii this fall.

Years ago my mom started writing in a small spiral note pad. At the top of each page is a year and below is the list of all the ornaments that we received. Each little listing gave a short description and who the ornament was to and from. The book gave us a much better memory as I know anyone would have a hard time remembering where all these ornaments came from. Every year we would pull out the book and settle some disagreement between my brother and I about who's ornament was who's. :)
This year I took some pictures of a few of the many fun ornaments we place on the family tree. Now my brother and I have of course taken all our own personal ornaments to our own families and homes- so the collection is slightly spread out, but our own tress have begun to overflow with our own unique items from all over the world. And of course as we separated out our collection from our parents, my mom made us each our own mini notebooks with all our past information on all of our own ornaments. Our friends and other family all know that we collect these and love to send us many fun things, and last year I gave my best friend her own notebook and several new ornaments for her daughter's first Christmas.

This glass columbine has always been one of my favorites. It was purchased in Georgetown, which just happened to end up being where my husband and I got married. And with the columbine being Colorado's state flower it's pretty fitting- not to mention that it is just so delicate and beautiful.

Tradition is important and our tree is always a walk down memory lane for my family and I. What are some of the things that make your holiday special?

This is a flower that was hand painted by my grandmother.

These doves decorated the church for my parents wedding, now 40 years ago. These 12 little birds are one of the very last things to go on the tree and perch at the end of the branches.

Now not every ornament holds special meaning, and some are just downright goofy, but I love our very full, very unique tree.... I just love it...

Merry Christmas!! Wii are completely hooked!

So I have a few holiday stories to post, but one of the activities I enjoyed the most with my family this Christmas was playing the Nintendo Wii! (that seems so sad but it's true!)

Now I have to tell you that seeing my mom and dad (both in their 60's) playing the Wii along with myself and my husband, my brother, my nephew, my cousins... was great!! We are the board game playing, puzzle pondering, trivial pursuit kind of family at the holidays, but this was a whole new ordeal. :)

So I want a Wii now..... *sigh* I never thought I'd long for a game system, I have never been a video game player! (I am just not that coordinated!!) But, I want this one, so officially add it to my birthday wish list. Dang, that means I have to wait 'til summer?! Oh and by the way... I was completely sore the next morning! HA! But I did beat my husband a couple times in boxing and tennis, so it was all worth it. :)

So here are a couple snapshots of my family. I thought it might be fun to share what we did for our Christmas. Now, I'm warning you- we are all a little goofy... or a lot goofy, but these are pretty tame... ;)

My Husband- being a dork, as usual ;) Good thing I love him to pieces!...

Myself and my cousin Eric- I'm shocked, can't you tell?

Eric and Emily- they met over the net and he went all the way to Florida to meet her! :) They've been living down in Argentina and working for her father's architectural glass company. It was so great to meet her and to see Eric. Hopefully they will get a chance to come visit us in Glenwood before they leave!

My mom, my uncle's mom Margret, and my Aunt Mary- unwrapping presents.

My Dad- he's working on a puzzle that he wanted to take a hacksaw to! haha! It seemed simple enough, but that was definitely not the case. I stayed away from this one.

My cousin Matt and I- Matt is going to grad school in Ohio. I miss him! It was so nice to see him and we figured out it has been WAY too long since we got together. (he and Eric are twins by the way) They used to be my "little cousins" and began towering over me before they were even in High School... punks.... ;)
My brother Danny, his new wife Laura and my nephew Craig- you'd never guess in a million years that Craig is not my brother's son by blood, I mean look at them! It seriously cracks me up when I see a picture like this.

AJ Waski- Senior Portrait

AJ and I had a great time taking pictures all over downtown Glenwood Springs. Honestly, AJ was doing so well I had a hard time stopping! We took sooo many shots, he may have ended up getting one of the largest Senior proof books I have done all year! It took me forever to go through all the images and narrow them down! I wanna say Thank you to AJ for being so into running around all over with me for an afternoon. I hope you had fun, because I know I did. Sometime we will have to go out and do all those fun night shots we were talking about!

Tess' Slide Show- Trash the dress style!

Tess was SUCH a trooper. When she came in for her consultation I showed her images of the new trend in wedding and senior photography, which has been coined as "trash the dress". Now don't worry too much, ladies and moms, it's not as bad as you might imagine. The idea of this isn't so much as to ruin a perfectly good prom or wedding gown, but to not be so concerned with getting dirty. Bridal portraits for many years were something extremely formal that a bride would do before her wedding day. Great care was taken to be extremely careful with the dress so that the bride was still in perfect condition when walking down the aisle. Well times have changed! Tradition has gotten away from the formal studio bridal portrait. Today's women aren't so afraid to get dirty and have fun. That's what trash the dress is all about. It has become a session that takes place after the wedding day. Brides are shooting fashion style images in unique settings and showing off their radiance in many ways. You've spent all this money for this gown that you look AMAZING in, why not make the most of it?!?! Lets run in a field with the wind blowing through your veil! Lets lay in the lush green grass along side a creek and dip our toes in the water. The images are much more personal and without the pressure of keeping a dress pristine, you have the room to be comfortable and have fun.

Now this trend has found it's way into the High School Senior Portrait market as well. Girls are using the same thoughts and going out in old prom gowns their sister wore, finding funky colors on clearance racks and buying a dress cheap on ebay just for the purpose of playing and getting dressed up for pictures.

There are a couple of websites promoting this new trend and showcasing photographer's work. Trashthedress.com and drownthegown.com are the bridal and senior websites where photographers are submitting their work. After showing these sites to Tess, she was really excited!

That day, the weather turned on us and shortly into her session it began to hail and rain. Tess' nicely straightened hair was much more messy that she wanted for her formal senior shots and we decided that who cared if it was raining for the fun dress images! so not only did we run around and play in the dirt, she got in the creek! The freezing cold Colorado mountain creek!! She is absolutely my hero!!! We laughed a ton and had a great time tromping around Sunlight Ski Area in the fall colors. A couple weeks later, we got together again and did the rest of her formal shots. Below is her slide show, and you may have noticed my favorite shot from her session is below. Let me know what you think!

Portraits in Hawaii - The Ohana Family

Oh, Hawaii, how I miss you so! I haven't had a chance to talk about our wonderful trip to Hawaii at the beginning of October. My husband and I went down for an event with friends who recently moved back to the island (more on that later, because there are more pictures to come.) Not only did we get a little mini vacation, but we also got to shoot a family portrait session on a complete whim. Okay, let me explain. I am completely obsessed with an online photography forum called Open Source Photo. A couple of weeks before our trip, another photographer mentioned that she had a friend looking for a photographer in Hawaii, during the exact dates of our trip. Leave it to me to offer to work during our vacation, but what could be more fun than working and shooting a family in a place as beautiful in Hawaii?! There are lots of talented photographers that frequent this forum, and I figured that at least a few of them were actually from Hawaii. So, I thought that my chances were slim, but I figured that I would throw my name in the hat as well. Next thing I know, I get a call from the Ohana's, and we set it all up to meet on our first full day on the island. Not only were we in a beautiful place, but what an adorable family! The girls were a complete riot, and both had completely different personalities. We couldn't keep the oldest out of the water (as you can tell), while the baby didn't want anything to do with the water or the sand. We photographed at the Temple in Laie, and proceeded to a nearby beach that Darrell and I had scoped out earlier in the afternoon. The light was just perfect, and shooting on the beach presented a whole new set of fun challenges. Darrell had to watch my back to make sure that I didn't get taken out by a wave, or, in the least, drench my camera! Well, I'm not used to watching out for waves :) We had a really wonderful time getting to know these guys, and I have to say thank you to Shannon Hodson of Lucky Red Hen for setting me up with this opportunity. Shannon really has some amazing work, and I took it as a huge compliment that she would recommend me. So again, thank you! Of course, I'm posting a few pictures, and you can CLICK HERE for a slideshow.
P.S. Watch out everyone, I think we have our next star photographer in the works! Isn't this adorable?!