I'm stalling....

because it's time to decide if I give this blog up.  I pretty much blog all my stuff over there...yeah, over there to the right...my photography blog.  So, this one's been pretty much abandoned.  We're having lots of fun over there.  You should cross over and just see what all you've been missing.  I just think that my life's got too much in it for 2 blogs.  And since I am very close to being able to quit my "day job" and pursue my photography full time, I will probably be over there more than here.  So, until then, I will keep stalling.  Tears well up just thinking about it...ok, sorry little blog...I've been a bad blogger....forgive me of my absence...(but really do check it out over there ;-)

M-I-L visit

Dave's mom, Denise, visited a couple months ago and I took some pics outside on the porch.  I didn't get around to them till now...bad Ali.  

So anyhoo, I thought they were cute and thought you might like to see:

I love how the boys are so relaxed in Grandma's lap

Ashton and Parker LOVE their Grandma

I just couldn't resist posting this one...here's the story..

Dave has chronic yawninitis - but ONLY when getting his picture taken.

Almost every shot he was yawning, so Denise decided to get in 

on the action too :-)

A duplicate...

I think I am on my other blog now more than this one...it's kind of hard balancing a business that you are trying to run on  your own and a life together.  I might just make this blog my photography blog...and be happy with one.  Then again, when I buy my own domain name, I am going to have it in a blog format because I think it's important for clients to get a feel for the kind of person I am (and it's easy when I get to type my heart out of things I admire, feel, struggle with).  So they aren't totally clueless when showing up for a shoot.  With all those bunny trails said, I wanted to post the stuff I put on my other blog in case you don't check the other one out.  So, hope this isn't too redundant...but it happens to be something crazy that took place over my ever so quiet weekend - no photo sessions :-( ...so here ya go:

Due to the icky weather I had to cancel my session with the wonderful family I was going to shoot.  Ahhhh!  So frustrating!  So, what do you do when you're in the mood for shooting and there are no subjects?  Torture one of your own offspring...

Ashton has been very proud of his new battle wound.  He gashed his head open yesterday.  I heard some crying upstairs during their quiet time, and had a little voice inside tell me to check it out.  To my discovery, blood...everywhere!

Thankfully I am one of those, stay-calm-in-an-emergency kind of folks.  So, as I cupped my hand under his ever flowing wound, I tried to encourage him that everything would be OK.  A roll of toilet paper later revealed that his gash was about 1/2 inch long and maybe 1/8 inch deep.  He probably could have used stitches from a doc, but I just got some butterfly bandages, and cleaned the area. A doctor friend of ours was returning a saw and was able to see if I did a good enough job cleaning it and closing it up.  I did.  :-)

Here is my dear, brave, subject...my son.  And his lovely boo boo.

ps.  It has been so timely that I have begun reading the book "Bringing Up Boys" (sorry, I can't find an underline on here) by Dr. James Dobson ;-)

The Burn

So the idiot of the month award goes to

.....(drum roll)......

me!  In the excitement of baking a pizza from scratch, crust and all, I grabbed the metal stone thingy (you know, the one that goes under the stone?) upon difficulty in cutting the pizza. 

 So, I am typing this with one hand and must apply some more aloe pronto.  The throb is almost unbearable and I just hope my fingers are well enough by Saturday to do my photo session...

Vicodin, here I come...(thank goodness for left over pain meds...prescribed of course)

Wedding crashers???

So, my guitarist Cory, a.k.a. "Shmorgasport" got married last Saturday.  I didn't think I would cry but alas, I was a mess.  Kim was SO beautiful and Cory was just glowing for his bride.  

At the reception I wasn't sure if I was gonna dance or not.  Well, the first couple of songs weren't those that I could get my "groove on" so I opted out...then came the bee bops.  

OK, ya'll may not know, but I LOVE to dance.  I probably look like the biggest nerd on the dance floor but I have so much fun.   Actually, not to toot my own horn but "TOOT" - Dave had 5 guys and 1 girl come up to him saying that I was "an animal"  and had some "sweet moves." 

Thankfully I had an awesome friend that would get wild with me!!!  YAY!  I was having a blast.  All Dave could do was stare.  I wanted him to join me but the only male who was letting loose completely was Pat...he's great :-)

So, by about 11:30 the DJ killed our music...but I wasn't done yet...so what did my dancing buddy and I do?  Went to the reception in the other room of the airport to keep dancing.  People kind of looked at us weird but no one came up to us.  I think we livened up the party more than anything.  I did recognize this woman that I had saw earlier in the bathroom...and she recognized me too...uh oh.

She was completely plastered and said to me, "Are you from the wedding next door?"  We told her yes and she was absolutely thrilled that we would crash their party.  She was the mother of the bride and called to her daughter.."These are people from the reception next door (all this very slurred), they're the wedding crashers."  The bride just laughed and they wanted the photographer to take our picture with them.  

We were then shortly pulled away by our tired husbands... :-(  

They thought we were nuts.  But I am so happy to know that I have a dancing buddy now!  What a fun memory.  We even contemplated the idea of looking up dates for weddings and just showing up at the airport to dance...hmmmm.  Still a good idea....

I've now got a photo blog!!!

Here it is... the new blog for my photography.  I am hoping to devote equal time to each.  Enjoy!!!

What a journey I've taken...

OK...I am back from Canadia and oh my, what stories that would fill the page if I went into all of them...

I woke at 7 am and took the kiddos to Daycare on Wednesday morning...so I could get the slews of things I had to get done accomplished.  Then the day just flew by.  Before I knew it I was saying my goodbyes to Dave and on the way to the airport to pick up my dad.  We decided to just truck on to Canada from the airport (this would be a great way for the kids to sleep most of the trip).  Only one problem, the way my new bro-in-law told me to go, though supposedly knocked off two hours of the trip, would give us more delays than trimmings.  We get to the little border at 4:30 in the morning and it's CLOSED...till 9 am.  AHHH!  

So we decided to park and then catch a few zzz'z before moving on.  Well, if any of you know my dad, which I think most of you don't, he can be a very impatient man.  After only about 1 1/2 hours of trying to sleep he decides to go back and keep moving East...to another border....with the thought that "by the time we get there it will be 9."  

On the long stretch back to the nearest city, I notice a yellow jacket in the car...**Flashback** "Mom, there's a bee in the car!"  Me:  "Ok honey don't worry about it"(thinking it was just a nat because my child calls any flying insect a bee).**

back to the story..I freak out because I don't want anybody stung...roll down my window and what does the bee decide to do?  Go under my shirt up my back... after getting stung, I yell for my dad to stop the car and I fly out of my seat tearing my shirt off.  I'm running around in the middle of nowhere flailing my arms and only in a bra....in from of my dad...can we say awkward?  

It hurt and I had to drive the rest of the way with my back throbbing.  We turned what map quest called an 11 hour trip and what Cam called a 8 hour trip into a 16 hour trip.  My sister and mom were sure we were dead as we didn't have a cell phone to keep our family updated.  Totally mean right?  

So when we pulled into the little town of Springside, we had no clue where our family was.  Thankfully the town is only about 300 head of folks and it only took a nice neighbor to look up the address for us. 

My sister came out of the house sobbing.  They thought we were seriously injured or something.  

The rest of the trip was just that...a trip.  It just kind of burred all together.  I have been told that Canadian's, well, at least this family loved big weddings...and they do them practically on there own minus the flowers, catering and photography.  So I did alot of decorating while I was there.  The wedding was beautiful and my sister lookes like a Wedding Barbie special edition.  She was absolutely stunning!  Lot's of tears followed.  I was able to sing during the wedding and it was such an honor being able to stand near my sis on her day.  I was able to get a little closer to Cam's family...which are awesome by the way.  They are so sweet and LOVE to visit ALL the time.  So, that is a little of my trip.  Here is a peak of my journey:

Isn't she beautiful?  This was her at the rehearsal dinner.

It was so much fun helping her get ready...

The only shot I was able to sneak in of both of them together...the photographer didn't want me to take any pictures :-(  So I went into the gazebo and took this through the screen.  The effect of the screen is kind of cool...

In all the hustle of the wedding, my poor children were sometimes left for themselves, Parker wet through his pants because no one had changed him in awhile and so I let him frolic around in his diaper...it was a great day and I thought it was funny, him still being a little boy climbing and exploring with no pants on.