blog hoppin’ !

CMK august layout kit blog hoppin’ that is! its that time again! take a look at what i did with the new kit over at CMK. and make sure you visit the other CMK dt gals blogs (to your right…….). inspiration galore for sure!!

seriously now – is it really almost august? AUGUST? can someone tell me where the summer has gone?

OH! i remember now! my summer began with 2 college graduations. followed by 1 of my beautiful nieces getting married and me having the pleasure and honor of taking pictures for the wedding. followed by another 1 of my beautiful nieces graduating with her pharmacy degree. followed by bridal showers and editing photos. followed by preparing for my own son’s wedding. followed by the rehearsal dinner. followed by the wedding. followed by loading up our car with luggage and another 1 of my beautiful nieces the day after the wedding and going on vacation to michigan.

speaking of my son’s wedding. that’s where i’ve been the past few weeks. i know i’ve neglected my blog. i found out keeping up with daily routines such as laundry, blogging, cooking and any kind of cleaning of ones house doesn’t mix well with being the mother of the groom. that’s my excuse anyway.

see my new header? the peacock feather? that’s a little sneak peek of the wedding decor and colors. can i say beautiful? can i say elegant and classy? that’s how i describe dan and kates wedding day. july 18. 2009. it was a fantastic day. stay tuned for more details and a few snapshots from the day……………in the meantime keep thinking beautiful. elegant. classy and fantastic.

Krissy and Jeff’s Wedding. Enjoy the Mega pics!

I’ll be short on words and heavy on pictures in today’s post. i’ll just let you scroll through the beautiful day of krissy and jeff’s wedding. these 2 kids are seriously beautiful in every way! (as the aunt i can officially still call krissy a “kid” :)) i have no doubt in my mind that God brought these 2 kids together. i love you krissy! i love you jeff !

So here you go friends……enjoy the 32 pictures of the day. (32 out of the hundreds taken! :))

 

what a fun, happy day of celebration! here’s to you mr. and mrs. gerber! aunt car loves ya!

New July Kit at CMK!

Happy Monday!

It’s almost July, which means it’s time to reveal a little sneak peek of the new kit coming out at Create My Keepsake! It’s full of one of my favorite companies ever…October Afternoon! Here’s my reveal layout showing just a small portion of goodies in the kit!

 

 of course i scrapped an older picture of dave on this layout. this was his pre-k school photo. he is now a college sophomore. i will admit, some of my favorite layouts to scrap these days are with older photos of the boys. it gives me joy down deep in my momma’s heart.

make sure you check out the other cmk girls reveal layouts in their blogs.  just click on their names at your top right. or hop over to the CMK Blog for a list of blog sites.

have a great week. i’m buried under a big giant to-do list. be back later to share some of that with you.

Dr. in the House! Wedding in 30 days!

Doctor of Pharmacy – Candace Mae Koenig. My beautiful niece. Oh yeah, I am SO proud of her. Proud of her for going through the blood, sweat, and tears of 7 years of undergrad and graduate school at OSU; proud of her for never giving up; proud of her for being a wonderful sister to her wonderful little sister – their bond is beyond amazing; proud of her for pressing on and keeping focus when outside struggles tried to bring her down; proud of her for leaning on her God and her faith.

Here’s to you my amazing niece. You know I love you. Always. No matter what!

 Above: these 2 were taken the night before graduation. Pharmacy students had their Hooding ceremony and afterwards Candi and some of her former roommates/close friends hosted a fun carry in dinner at a nearby clubhouse.

 Above: My sister’s beautiful family. Jared (Candi’s fiance’, Candi, brother in law Bud, my sister Cindy, Krissy and Jeff (the newlyweds :))

HOLY COW! OSU Stadium. Amazing place! These are the over 8,000 graduates sitting in the horseshoe! Go Bucks!

Next on the family agenda – Dan and Katelyn’s wedding. Exactly 30 days from today as a matter of fact. Dan is in the process of moving into their newly acquired apartment. Katelyn will move in after the wedding. His room is getting bare here. The apartment is filling up there. What a blessing to see my son in this exciting new stage of his life. Of course there are normal motherhood pangs of realizing a stage of my motherhood is complete, but how selfish of me if I let those consume me. Instead I am loving seeing the excitement in both Dan and Katelyn’s eyes. I love seeing Dan care for, respect and cherish Katelyn. It makes my heart so happy and thankful. God is so good.

Happy Thursday! I hope this finds you happy and enjoying life today. I know I am! 🙂

Gorgeous Bride – Gorgeous Wedding

june 6, 2009 – krissy and jeff’s wedding.

what a beautiful weekend – what a beautiful bride – what a beautiful couple!

can’t wait to share some official pictures of the wedding here on my blog – but that will have to wait until i show them to krissy and jeff first. i want them and their parents/siblings to see them first.

i can post a teaser and show the beautiful bright and happy colors of the wedding. this is the fabric that the maid of honor and flower girl wore:

 and i can share a couple adorable shots of krissy that i took the night before the wedding. stunning sweetheart of a girl she is. and such a special, precious jewel she is to me.

love you sweetie! and love your new hubby jeff – what a prince you have! so happy that i could capture your special day through my camera lens for you. may they give you joy as you look at them now and many years from now.

cmk june kit reveal!!!

yes, i still have a blog! (for those wondering)

i’ve got lots to catch up on – i’ll play catch up tomorrow.

tonight is reveal night for the june kit over at CMK. LOVE this kit! it’s a must have for sure!!

the other design team gals are posting their reveal layouts in the next few hours as well. click on their names to your right to check out their amazing creations. they always inspire me so much!

 

 gorgeous product in this kit huh? and the gorgeous subject in my layout is my niece gracie. we had a fun photo shoot at the lake last weekend. we had the best time together. love her!!!!

fun photo shoot!

more practice shots.

after brunch on mother’s day we went to a park and took some fun pictures.

thanks to dan, dave, and katelyn for being patient and willing models.

they aren’t perfectly exposed but i’m liking them.

in fact i’m not going for perfection.

some of the shots are posed – some are just me clicking the camera whenever.

  

i will continue to practice and learn and strive to improve.  🙂

congratulations katelyn!

big congratulations to katelyn! she now has her nursing degree. she graduated on saturday with honors! we’re so proud of her! dan is pretty proud of her too! way to go kate! we love you!

if any of you are tired of seeing my practice shots of miss maggie you should stop reading now. 🙂 she and i spent some time out on the deck again today for more pictures. 

 it is official that i will be getting a portrait lens very soon. i’m crazy excited about that. as much as i like these closeup shots, my current lens isn’t equipped to get any more detail. the portrait lens will be amazing with detail. yeah, i’m so excited!

i will also be getting a flash. crazy excited about that as well.

is anyone else having a hard time grasping that the month of may is here already? seriously, did i miss april?

both dan and dave have finals this week. dan is finishing is senior year of college and will graduate on may 13. dave will be finishing his freshman year of college.

yeah, time if flying by. for real. i would prefer it slows down just a tad.

exposures and f-stops and bears..Oh My!

shutter speed + iso + aperture (f-stops) = exposure.

okay. got it. check.

fine tuning these 3 components together for a perfectly desired exposed photo…

still working on that. kinda get it. check.

spending alot of time getting to know mr. nikon d80.

yes – Still.

this is a process.

a process that takes many hours of practice. and reading. and more practice.

today my models were mr. vanilla bear and miss maggie.

yeah – i need to get human models soon.

although mr. bear and miss maggie were perfect for today’s pratice time .

a human would have gotten tired of me changing settings and taking more bad shots than good.

i do love learning photography. it’s complex but so rewarding when i see the results of my ambition to learn!

here’s to that old saying that practice makes perfect.

i continue to happily practice.

CMK may kit reveal!

its with great excitement that i show a little peek of the CMK may kit!
the mix of papers and embellishments are so bright and fun!
once again i am ordering a couple of the add-on kits to work with!
i couldn’t resist! i can’t wait until they arrive at my door!

here’s a little peek with what i did with some of the goodies in the kit!

click here to keep on eye on the CMK blog.
the blog hop info will be posted there sometime this weekend!
you’ll be able to see kit peeks from the rest of the DT gals.
they always amaze me with their talent – they always inspire me!
you can also just click on their names posted here on my blog.
they are listed to your right.

i’ll be taking a little road trip tomorrow.
and hopefully taking lots of pretty outside pictures!
more on that later…..

Happy Weekend!!!
🙂 carrie