School days!

Yesterday I had the great fun (although I was nervous beforehand!) of talking to the eighth grade art classes at OCCS about photography. It was so much fun to see them absorb the information and then go and apply what they learned during the hands-on picture taking! This is the second section...ran out of time the first session for a group shot.

If there is any OCCS eighth grader who stumbles across my blog, I will award a bag of licorice to the first one who leaves a comment on this blog post that contains all of the seven "rules for taking good pictures" we talked about!

Happy Monday morning to you!

I am thankful for a new week. I met with a few women for book discussion this morning, and through our study of a good book was encouraged to start off the new week trying with God's help to be more gracious, selfless, faithful and patient. Sometimes it's easy to get discouraged by the long ways I have to go. I'm so thankful for the patience shown to me in this regard.... :-)

I am excited to share a few favorites from a recent engagement session with you this morning.

Emily and Benj were in town visiting from the Twin Cities area of MN, and wanted to get some engagement portraits made. While it was a pretty nice day with no wind, it was still only 26 degrees outside so we started off inside for a few.




I went to Benj and Emily's mywedding.com website, and noticed that they are requesting no gifts for their wedding, but only donations to Heifer International. Love that idea.

We did brave the elements for a few minutes to get some outside shots.

Benj proposed to Emily in a barn at an apple orchard...not THIS barn, but still a fun photo op!

Benj and Emily-thanks for the fun shoot...I look forward to your wedding in a couple of months!

Congratulations...

...to Joe and Gina from Joe's Appliance in Orange City as they have recently moved into their new building! If you are in Northwest Iowa and in need of a TV, washer dryer, fridge, stove, or any appliance, be sure to check them out. I am excited for this new chapter in your business and wish you all the best!