Carving Jack-O-Lanterns!

Gotta love the ooey, gooey mess!
Hmm, I wonder what this tastes like...
Lauren carved her own pumpkin this year!
Hey Mom, you think my head would fit in here???
The final product!

Aaron and Alice

Aaron is a huge fan of music. He likes rock, he likes grunge and he likes it LOUD. Periodically he tries to rid himself of his rock and roll addiction by destroying his vast collection of music but before I know it he begins steadily rebuilding that very same collection of Cd's. He just simply can't live without it. I'm not kidding when I say he's probably bought the same Cd's at least four times since I've known him. One of the bands he has always loved (and purchased repeatedly) is Alice In Chains. I first remember Alice In Chains playing over and over while we were dating. I also remember how devastated Aaron was when Alice's lead singer, Layne Staley, died of a drug overdose not long after we were married. Aaron and I just had the opportunity to go watch Alice In Chains play an acoustic concert with new band member William DuVall. I personally have never been much of an Alice fan but going to the concert gave me a new appreciation for them. Aaron LOVED the concert, of course, but he also had some pretty exciting experiences to go with it.

*Before the concert started Aaron was able to sneak behind the scenes and watch as Alice In Chains did their sound check.

* He followed new lead singer William DuVall through the hotel and managed to jump into the same elevator with him. He shook his hand and spoke to him for a minute or so before William got off at his floor. Aaron was so excited and nervous he forgot to press the button for his own floor and rode the elevator several floors past our floor.

*During the concert we stood against the front of the stage, pressed against it actually, by the few hundred bodies behind us. We were so close we were practically spit on by the singers. Aaron's reward for making us stand like sardines for three hours against the stage was being handed not one but TWO guitars picks by Jerry Cantrell (singer and guitarist) at the end of the concert. SO COOL.

*After the concert as we were standing around regaining our hearing, Jerry Cantrell and his security guys walked right past us. Aaron was hot on their trail and followed them across the casino to the table Jerry sat down at to play I- don't-know-what. We stood there watching for the few minutes he was there, along with a group of other gawkers. When he got up to leave Aaron approached him and asked if he could take a picture with him. Jerry said he would like to but had to run. He shook Aaron's hand though and acted like he really wasn't trying to be rude.

For fifteen years Aaron has been a big fan and never expected that someday he would be able to shake their hands. Life is full of little surprises.

It Wasn't a Bust After All...

I think my dad is right, I'm pretty hard on myself. Today I went through the pictures I took of my friend's family and discovered that they weren't ALL bad. There were a lot more bad than good but when I got done editing I discovered that there were about ten that I liked pretty well. I put them on a CD and took them over to my friend's house and it turned out that she liked them a lot! She said they were just what they wanted and that she was surprised I got that many good ones. How about that? Phew, I feel much better now. Tomorrow I am supposed to take pictures for another friend and I know now to stay calm, double check my camera settings, and not be so hard on myself.

Humbled

Well, last week I took "family pictures" for a friend of ours. I'm sorry to say, it did not go well and I came back quite flustered. First of all, I was really nervous and because of this I overlooked a camera setting which resulted in most of the pictures being out of focus. I also have no experience posing people which would have been helpful when photographing a family with 6 kids! The pictures I took that are not out of focus have at least one child wiggling, screaming, blinking or looking away. I came home feeling very foolish and frustrated and thinking about throwing in the towel. Aaron, good husband that he is, gave me a great pep talk about how it took him many years to learn to do what he does and that he made plenty of mistakes along the way. He told me to just keep at it and it will get better and better. That helped me feel a lot better. Then today I went over the pictures again and identified what went wrong and how I could improve my performance next time. Now that my pride isn't stinging so much I'vedecided to chalked it up to a learning experience and move on. I really hate to fail and when I do, I often want to quit doing what I just failed at so I don't continue to be a failure. However, I don't want this pattern to continue and let it keep me from doing something I really want to do! Maybe I'm not ready yet to play photographer but I'm going to keep working at it until I am.

Change

I'm feeling restless and in need of a change. Looks like I'm going to take it out on my blog. Don't know if this background is here to stay. We'll see.

One Handsome Kid

Last week I drafted Austin to be a model for my final class assignment. He was such a good sport, even when he fell into the river trying to get to some rocks I wanted him to sit on. I love these photos we created together. Thanks for your help Dude!

Tagged, I'm IT

Yesterday I checked my sister-in-law Michelle's blog and discovered that she had "tagged" me. Most blog lovers will know that this has been quite rampant lately. For those of you who don't waste half your day in blog-land, getting tagged means you have to answer a bunch of personal questions on your own blog. Since Michelle is one of my all time favorite people I will be a good sport and play along. Here goes...

What is his name? Aaron

How long have you been married? It will be 14 years this month.
Criminals serve less time. I'm totally kidding!!!

Who eats more? Do I really have to admit to this??? I'm pretty sure it's me!

How long did you date? We double dated several times throughout High School but we got married exactly one year from what we considered our first "real" date.

How old is he? He just turned 33 in August.

Who said I love you first? He did, followed quickly by me.

Who is taller? He is, by about 4 inches, I think

Who sings better? Hmm...with the radio or at church? Aaron is awesome when it comes to singing along with the radio but I probably do a little better with a hymn.

Who is smarter? Neither. We are different types of smart which really comes in handy.

Whose temper is worse? Depends on the day.

Who does the laundry? Me, me, and me.

Who does the dishes? Me (and whichever kid gets drafted that night).

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I think it's more important who gets up on the "wrong" side :)

Who mows the lawn? Aaron, that's one chore I want nothing to do with!

Who cooks dinner? Me. I love to cook dinner, especially when Aaron's home to eat it.

Who kissed who first? He did. He was so shy, I thought he'd never get around to it. That's okay though because it was worth the wait!

Who asked who out? I asked him. What a forward girl I was!

Who proposed? He did. We were 18/19 and couldn't live without each other. We still can't.

Who has more friends? I have lots of friends that go way back but Aaron makes friends everywhere he goes.

Who is more sensitive? Believe it or not that could be a tie. Looking at Aaron you wouldn't probably guess him to be "sensitive", but he is. I remember in high school telling my mom that I wanted to marry a macho/sensitive guy (as opposed to a wimpy/sensitive guy). That's exactly what I got!

Who has more siblings? Aaron, he has 6, I have 1.

Who wears the pants? We each take a pant leg.

Moving Forward

Well, my photography class is almost over. One more assignment to go. I feel like I've really learned a lot and I'm looking forward to spending more time practicing these new skills on my own until they become second nature. At times I felt like I became so wrapped up in completing the assignments, committing the information to memory seemed to take second place. That kind of misses the point, I think. Each week after turning in our assignments the instructor critiques everyone's photos and then picks a few "photos of the week" that best illustrated the lesson. He has picked one of my photos all three weeks! Please excuse my shameless bragging. I have just been so excited and encouraged by this. Today two of my friends asked me to take their family photos which took me by surprise. I wasn't planning to do this quite yet but it will be good experience and if I mess up I know they will forgive me. I'll let you know how it goes.