Almost famous

We had a little gathering last night at my 'rents in Wichita to celebrate my belated birthday. It was a great time. I held 3 babies and was totally slimed by 1 of them. No tattling on the guilty party, though. ;)

My biz partner, Mike, keeps a blog of his kids' first year. It's a BIG undertaking, and he strolled into the party, baby on one shoulder, camera on the other. I snagged the camera immediately.


Of course, parents of young children have so much in common, so my sis, Robin, was chatting Mike up. They're also sort-of neighbors.

You can SEE THE POST HERE on Tommy's blog.

Mike's kids' blogs have quite a following, so I'm waiting for Theodore to be discovered by a talent agency, because he's so cute and all (his daycare peeps call him "Theodorable" — pretty cute!)).

More to come from the fun + frivolity. Also to come: my taking Theodore to the BIG pool for the first time. It involved at least 4 trips down the water slide. AND no screaming! :)

Oh, and for anyone out there wondering if I'll be doing something similar to a photo a day blog when kids become a part of our life ... the answer is a big fat NO. With kiddos, they'll get their own special tag here on our blog and I think a weekly photo to track growth the first year is probably in order for me, but I'm not sure I could handle the time/commitment to a photo a day for the first year.

Peanut Butter Pie :)

This is for all of you chocolate/peanut butter lovers out there.

Peanut butter pie is one of my ultimate FAVORITE pies. There's 2 versions: A frozen version, and a cream pie (think: banana cream pie, only with peanut butter). I've made plenty of the former, but none of the latter.

Not to brag, but the pie is always a hit! I made it on vacation last week, and realized I have never referenced the recipe here (and if I'm being extremely honest, having the recipes on the blog makes it easier for me to find them when I'm looking). So .... HERE is the magic recipe. Enjoy!

And, this is a RICH pie, so SMALL pieces, folks. Also, I cheat and get the pre-made Oreo pie crust.

Colorado 2011 — teaser

Erik and I spent 5 days in Colorado with my parents + brother, celebrating my 'rents' 35th wedding anniversary.

Just a quick peek .... if I'm a good girl and get my editing done for bizzzness, there will be more personal photos to share here. :)

There will also be some more photo tips shared .... but for those of you who can tell me .... what did I do on my point and shoot camera to avoid Erik and I's face being pitch black from the brims of our hats?

108 — Vacuuming

So, another bucket list item bites the dust!

Today: 108. Vacuum the main living areas up and downstairs bi-monthly for 6 months (for those of you out there cringing, this is WAY more often than it's done now, hence a big improvement).

If I were being REALLY honest, I didn't always vacuum downstairs, but I DID get upstairs twice a month since the beginning of the year. It's my list, so I'm counting it. :)

Now, I know there are rock star women out there that do this on a vastly more regular basis than I do, so please don't judge. This was a BIG victory for me. And with not 1 but 2 animals, it needed to happen. Once it did, I put a gold star on our big, fat calendar. See, even big girls will work for stickers. :)

That's all. Have a nice day.

Crossover — all sorts of busy!

Ummm...it's a little crazy around here. More likely, you can find updates on the Heartland Blog.

As of late:


Serena + Luke post 1 , post 2.


Jillian + Drew post 1 , post 2.


Christina + Nick post 1 (although none of the photos in the preview are mine ... you can see me in the background of one of them!) :)

I still have quite a bit of editing and work to do. I have barely touched Fr. Jeremy's ordination/First Mass photos!!! Not to mention getting approved albums toned/uploaded/ordered. Blessedly busy!

Sounds glamorous, right?

Erik and I were talking last night ... and neither of us can remember the last time we did laundry. As evidenced by my undie drawer, it's about time. Maybe it's been 2.5-3 weeks? No one knows.

Some days I think "being a photographer sounds glamorous and all, but when I can't remember the last time I washed my clothes or went to the grocery store .... well, notsomuch."

I grabbed some milk quickly the other day, but as far as a real trip to the store, nope, can't remember the last time. Not in the last 2 weeks for sure. Crike!

I think everyone feels that way, though, to some degree. "If only I had kids." "If only I didn't work nights." "If only I could stay home with the kids." .... the list is long and I think in short, we all want what we don't have. Or we all think everyone else's life sounds more glamorous than ours.


I'll admit, today it's tough. My 'to do' list for work fills almost an entire page. It doesn't even include washing the guest room sheets for my mom who will be staying with us tomorrow night. Or doing the pile of dishes in the sink. Or going grocery shopping ... heck, even making a grocery list! But it's where I am right now, which is exactly where I'm supposed to be. I know that; I don't wish for anything else.

Sometimes, looking at the couples we photograph helps me; reminds me of life before dishes in the sink. When all you had time for was to obsess about the other. And not think "has it REALLY been 3 weeks since we did laundry?"

Crossover — Fr. Jeremy's Ordination

Ok, so I haven't actually posted anything from this on the Heartland Blog yet, but the time will be coming!

This is from right before Fr. Jeremy was ordained a Priest.

Honestly, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to caption/refer to these photos, because in this photo, he's Deacon Jeremy, not Fr. Jeremy. But NOW he is Fr. Jeremy.

I just love these quiet little moments ... that's what life is made of. And while we often see our priests doing public things: Mass, hosting events, etc., there is SO much more that I'm sure goes on behind the scenes. Prayer being one of the main/major aspects of a priest's life we don't see. Which is why I love that I captured this image so much.

Things are SLAMMIN' around here. So if the blog gets a little neglected, please understand.

Need an excuse to mow the lawn less?

Last year, we sort of fell behind with the whole lawn mowing thing. Big time.

Yet some of me wonders if it's us or if it's our neighbors who like to mow their lawn. A LOT. LOT. LOT. Seriously, for every time we mow our lawn, it seems they've mown theirs twice. Which makes their grass look even shorter and ours look rather shaggy.

I'd really love to send a memo to the block and say "hey, lighten up a bit so we are all equal" but I know that won't happen.


I was annoyed until last fall when I was at a lecture about native Kansas plants/flowers. In the presentation, the guy mentioned that mowing your lawn less has less of an impact on the environment.

A light bulb went off in my head.

We weren't the bad neighbors. We were the hippies who care about the environment and make a conscious choice to mow less, thus being kinder to the planet.

Ok, so the motivation isn't exactly true, but it made me feel GOOD about our "whenever we get to it" approach to lawn mowing.

I'd love to provide you with hard core numbers on this, but really, who do you believe when you google something?

I did, however, find this really cool calculator to help calculate the impact of lawn mowing. I am not 100% sure of the size of our lawn, but I'd really like to find out, because I'm supremely curious about the numbers.

So, in conclusion ..... MOW YOUR LAWN LESS, and do it shame-free. Because, after all, you're helping to lessen your carbon footprint!

Now if I could only find a tactful way to share this enlightened approach with my lawn-mowing-obsessed neighbors....

Movie — Babies

When we're off, Erik and I are admittedly couch potatoes. We like to decompress and just vege (sp?) out.

Last year, I remember seeing some chatter about the movie "Babies" and thought it sounded like an interesting flick (see trailer below):



We watched it Sunday night, and while it was not exactly what I expected, it was pretty cute.

It wasn't what I "expected" because other documentary type movies I've seen have had commentaries or voice over. Some narrator weaving things together. With this, there wasn't any of that. Nope. Nada. Zip. Just the babies, some music and ambient noise. Which wasn't bad, just not what I expected.

There were some times where I really wish they would have explained what was going on. For example:

Karen: "I wonder what's going on. Is this a family ritual? A birthday party?"
Erik: "I wonder if that kid is chewing on a Wheat Thin or Triscuit?" (I'm not making this line up)

Anyhow, it was pretty cute. Babies are universal.

There was one scene where the baby in Africa was falling asleep sitting up and kept waking himself up because he was falling over in an attempt to fall asleep. Pretty cute.

One note, though: obviously this is about babies and there are a bunch of rural scenes, so there's plenty of nudity (but not distasteful or anything) ... just so you know before you bust this out with small kids or anything.

Hangin' w/ Theodore

Look who came to hang with us last weekend.

Of course, he was sickly, sick, sick, sick, and thus slept 4.5 hours. Play time was limited. :(