2 Months . . .

Today marks 2 months from the day my world stopped. 2 months without my boys, 2 months without their laughter, their smiles, their noise, their hugs . . . . 2 months.

Yesterday my sister-in-law called me. She was on her way out to the accident site to leave some flowers. So I went with her to capture some photos. I knew I wanted to get some pictures of the crosses, so I was grateful for the opportunity to go. I love that Sara included the boy's names with the flowers. It makes it all more personal.

Everyone Banded Together

Devin's 10th Birthday was Saturday, February 26th. It's hard to celebrate someones birthday when they're not here to enjoy it. But there were so many people who helped make the day bearable. We posted on Facebook that Devin liked Silly Bands and the family was going to wear them for his birthday. We asked anyone who wanted to join to wear silly bands on Saturday and post photos so we could see. In all I collected more than 176 silly band photos. And I didn't even copy all of the ones that came in (for instance my cousin sent me 22 pictures I saved a few but not all . . . sorry Sara). When I realized how big this was going to be I started keeping track of numbers. The numbers are posted below. I also want to share some of the photos, so keep scrolling down. Some of the photos made me laugh and some made me cry . . .



I wasn’t able to track all of the numbers. Some people participated and couldn’t send photos. Some people couldn’t participate but sent their love. Some people sent pictures but didn’t count their bands. If I could I counted them . . . . but sometimes I couldn’t count them. So to the best of my knowledge these are the stats . . . I’m sure the actual numbers are higher


Silly Bands worn: 2603

Silly Band rings worn: 58


People who participated: 369


Dogs: 7


Cats: 6


Hamster: 1


People who wore regular rubber bands: 2


19 States, Washington DC and Scotland were involved


There were silly bands worn at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland and at Disneyland


Several people were celebrating at their own birthday parties and took the time to remember Devin


Someone made a slide show with their silly band photos


One family wore 226 silly bands


1 Guitar wore silly bands


1 baby bottle wore a silly band


There were 2 Lego’s with silly bands


A couple people wrote out the boys names with their silly bands


2 kids released balloons – one attached silly bands to her balloon


There was 1 very sick little boy who wore silly bands


A whole nursing home wore silly bands


And a couple of babies wore silly bands



A Few of My favorite photos



 Of course being a photographer, I love the photos with the cameras! :)

 Isn't she adorable . . .

 Some people got really creative! :)

 My Aunt got the nursing home where she works involved!

 These photo's made me laugh

 These photo's made me cry . . .

Thank you to everyone who participated. I wish I could post all of your photos, but this blog posted is already super long. I loved each and every photo sent. I plan to print them all and make a collage for Devin's scrapbook.

The Day the World Stopped

January 22, 2011 my life changed. My family was in a car accident. My husband and I lost our 2 son's. They were our world. At the memorial service I asked a friend to take some pictures. She did a wonderful job. With the photo's she created a slide show. I'm posting it here, so our friends and family who were not able to attend the service can see . . . .

Boys, a Car Show, the View from 30,000 feet and the Tulip Feilds

The last few months of 2010 were really hectic for me. I shot quite a few portrait sessions and a wedding. Along with being a mom, wife and working several part-time jobs I had little time for myself. So when I sat down to review how 2010 went . . . I was surprised to see how many personal photo's I'd been able to take earlier in the year. I wanted to share just a few of them with you. It's a long post . . . sorry I have the worst time deciding which pictures to post and probably post to many. :)

This is my oldest son Dawson. He just turned 12 and is enjoying being in Jr. High

Devin is my youngest (about to turn 10). To get a serious photo from him is quite an accomplishment. Usually I get photo's like this . . .

My nephew Eddie is cute as can be and is pretty good at letting me take his picture. As long as he can see it on the back of my camera right away! This second photo of Eddie was taken at the airport while we waited for our plane to take us to Florida.

As we flew to Florida I'm sure I embarrassed my sister every time I sat with my camera pressed up against the window of the plane. I was just so captivated by the cloud formations we passed. And I couldn't pass up a chance to get this shot of Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Rainer.

             Experimenting with silhouettes. . .

One of the things I love about photography is the ability to make ordinary things beautiful. These 2 photos are of weeds that grow in the field behind my house. I have the top one as a 20x30 print on my living room wall. And as soon as I can find a frame I'm going to put the bottom photo up as well.

My first car was a white 1989 Mustang with a moon roof. So I have a special place in my heart for Mustangs. While shooting some pictures of the cars at Oktoberfest the owner of one let me get into his car. I captured this photo of the steering column.

    And of course the grill with the iconic mustang . . . .

                  A couple other car details from the car show at the Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel

Messing around one rainy afternoon I came up with this shot of the "Dead Man's Hand". These were supposed to have been the cards Wild Bill Hickock was holding when he was shot in the back.

I went to the Woodburn Tulip Festival a couple of times this spring. I went once with a photographer friend and once to take a class on macro photography. Even though the weather did not cooperate, I enjoyed my time there and plan to go back again next year.

 This is one of my favorite photo's. I entered it in the Oregon State Fair and now it is hanging on my wall.

After Thanksgiving I took a job taking pictures of Santa at an upscale mall. On our down time I would look out the window, of the Santa house, at the huge Christmas tree. One day I noticed you could see the mall reflected in the ornaments. So I brought my camera . . . . unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get the shot with out MY reflection. :)