The girl...

 I would be in big trouble if he read my blog...

Big trouble

I however, really want to remember this.

Matthew loves when I come to school and gets excited to sit by me. On this particular trip he sat with me on the way to our location...then dumped me on the way back. He dumped me for a girl! 

Not just any girl..

a really nice, funny one(his words)

Did I mention that he plays with his hair when he is nervous.

This was the complement circle they have for the star of the week. I was not in the room when it was his turn, and he won't tell us what he said. I told him that I would ask Hannah and he said "NO!" 

Just for the record...He has to be 20 before he can date.

Reality...

 Matt had his music program tonight. These are the moments when I realize the reality of it being our last year here.

These are the moments when I want to cry at seeing all the familiar faces up on stage...

But the kicker...

is seeing him next to Hannah

I honestly can't imagine not having her in his/my/our lives

Silly right...that a music program could make me cry so hard.

{photo credit to my darling husband}

More Derek and Angie{It's love}

There was so much I loved about shooting these...I love that they were for an amazing family..I love that I got to give back to Matthew's amazing teacher from last year...I love that I laughed all day...I love that they were so happy...I love that I got paid with pork!!I am not a professional and I have no expectations to get paid whatsoever. Getting paid with pork is better than all the money in the world.

I just had to share more of them with all of you.

 This is the main street of the bride's hometown{Hayfield...if you did not catch that from the map!}

I have better ones of this last shot but I am not done processing them yet. I need to get on it. I just wanted to share one of them with you. I will never forget taking them. I got out of the car and stepped in the ditch only to sink past my waist. I laughed so hard I am lucky my tears did not freeze me solid. We practically belly crawled into this field but I am so glad we did. I love finding an incredible place to shoot on a whim. 

Hope you love them too

When I finish the rest I will share more

A true winter wonderland {I ❤ faces}

I have not entered a photo in the I ❤ faces contest in forever..

I had to enter this picture though. 

When I did this engagement shoot for Angie it was fate that our original date for the shoot got pushed back...the airlines lost her luggage and she did not have any of her cute outfits she had brought home.

The day we rescheduled was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The trees were covered with a soft crystal frost. Something that I suspect is a true winter gift only given to the likes of states like Minnesota. 

I have to say that shooting for friends is the best reward in the world. 

I wish I could share more than just this one photo. It was a true winter wonderland.

want to see more from this shoot? Click here

The cook off

 Matthew decided the other day that he wanted to challenge me to a fish cook off. I am not sure where this came from but it happened right after watching the movie Ratattoui so I am guessing that made him want to be a chef. He made his list...Tilapia(I still don't know why this is the fish he choose) shrimp. lemon pepper, and basil leaves.  

At the store he insisted on getting the whole fish no matter what his mother said. This lead to me filleting the fish before we started cooking...I am amazed that I could do this. I have not done that since we lived in Montana years ago.

I know you can cook them whole but that is not what we were going for, I guess. 

Matthew made a seafood dish with pan fried Tilapia and shrimp with lemon pepper and fresh basil.

 I considered my audience and went for simple fish and chips...

speaking of audience...this is our judge, James. Matthew's sweet friend from school. 

He picked Matthew's fish(don't tell Matthew but I told him to pick it) he did however, scarf everything from both plates down so it must have been good.

Matthew did almost all of it himself too. Pretty impressive. Maybe next week he will be cooking for me on his own.

Matt's "How to" speech

Matthew did this speech in school today. Somehow I managed to keep the title on the screen the whole time. It was such a pain to get it to publish that I decided to leave it. My favorite part is the "Uhoo" after he asks what happened to his pennies. He was so worried about sending them around:-) It was really cute.

The Poop Patrol

 I don't know what it is but there is something energizing to dogs about having their poop picked up

 Our dogs always get super excited on dog poop pick up day. I guess Izzy is no different. She ran circle eights all over the yard this morning.

 She also gave us her impression of a bearded lady:-)

 Hannah wanted to earn some extra money to buy a birthday present for her sister and asked if I would pay her to pick up after Charlie and Portis.....um YEAH!!! Best deal ever. 

 I talked Matthew into helping her because it was a pretty big job.

Oh, and it was a pretty cold day. 

How cute are these two~!

A little late for Christmas

but I did get my two front teeth.

They are now permanent! 

If you are new to reading my blog and want to know why I needed two new teeth click here

Happy New Year!

This year for New Years we went to a tropical island! Don't I wish!!

 We took our second annual trip up to the cities for the night. When we booked we were told by the weatherman{who is always off this time of year} that it would be in the 30's New Year's eve. 

It was typical Minnesota weather. It actually rained and snowed at the same time. It makes driving around kind of a bad idea. 

We checked into our incredibly cute hotel first

then Matthew got in his New Year's attire...green hair and all!

and we were off

 We decided to hang out at the Mall of America for the night.

We had big plans to ice skate on a really cool pond right by our hotel but with the super warm weather here in MN{hahaha} the pond was closed for ice skating. 

This is Matthew getting his traditional new pair of shoes anytime we go anywhere. 

 Then it was off to Bubba Gumps for dinner

 Matthew had chicken in a boat

Then it was back to the hotel for swimming and our New Year's celebration.

 okay, just a disclaimer here. My photos are not my best. I was really trying to enjoy our trip and I did not shoot much. When I did it was very quick. 

I love this shot...too bad I missed my focus

The truck was pretty cold when we awoke to a -17 below wind chill so we sat int he hotel lobby a while to let the truck warm up. 

Mike and Matt did the mess around

swimming pool hair!

another detail of our cute little hotel. 

Happy New Year!