I came across this story written by Blondie. It was a school paper, and there is no date on it so I don't know when she wrote it. I would guess around 10 years old. It is so sweet I want to preserve it here in case anything happens to the paper. Without further ado...
My Family
I think my family is awesome, because in my family has many cool traditions such as every time a baby is born, we have a party in the hospital room (well, kind of a party). Also, one of our traditions is whenever someone in our family has a birthday, we call them, and in our best voices we sing "Happy Birthday". There's another tradition that once every year we go somewhere to take family pictures and collect them in a family album. I think my family is funny, entertaining, smart, and very fun to be with. My family is awesome! I am certainly glad to be a Whetten!
The End
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
This poor blog
I haven't gone such long stretches between posts in a long time. It's sad. I think about this blog a lot and think of posts I want to write, but every spare second of time and thought go into my photography business right now. I read everywhere that a photog biz is only 10% shooting and 90 % business. And guess which part is the fun awesome part? Yep, the part you do way less of. I am second guessing the decision to go into business every day, but all I want to do is take beautiful pictures for people and have them love them so much they put them on their walls. If I love it so much, and it's going to take my time and energy anyway, I should at least entertain the idea of making it a business, right? I have come this far and don't want to quit without REALLY giving it my best effort. Even though I wish I didn't have to work and could just do fantastic photography for everyone for free all day long. . Ah, life.
I have a really long way to go before I am as good as I want to be, too. I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok to be where I am right now. I can't expect myself to be as good as someone who has been a pro for years when I have just started my business. It's hard to be patient with ourselves, yes?
Here are some tidbits about our life right now, in bullet form, because why not.
* every night for the last, shoot maybe for the past YEAR, Dr. D has me sing "little nest" at bedtime. I sing the little ones a song every night at bedtime, their choice, and every night he chooses Little Nest. Adorable.
* my oldest daughter has a boyfriend. They are getting serious. Nuff said.
* I recently got an iPad for business purposes. I didn't expect to love it, but I totally, really do. A lot.
* my life feels better when my room is clean. I wonder why I don't keep it that way for very long. Maybe this time. (Hahahahahaha)
* I love our ward so much. I frequently think about our move into this ward and especially into our current home, which I love so much, and just marvel at God's hand in our lives. We are so grateful to be here. We are surrounded by such good people.
* even though my job is hard and I wish I didn't have to do it (refer to the above about wanting to just take pictures and edit them all day), it really is a blessing to have such flexible hours and other flexible aspects. I shouldn't complain about it.
I guess that's all for now. Hopefully it won't be another 3 months before I write again.
I have a really long way to go before I am as good as I want to be, too. I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok to be where I am right now. I can't expect myself to be as good as someone who has been a pro for years when I have just started my business. It's hard to be patient with ourselves, yes?
Here are some tidbits about our life right now, in bullet form, because why not.
* every night for the last, shoot maybe for the past YEAR, Dr. D has me sing "little nest" at bedtime. I sing the little ones a song every night at bedtime, their choice, and every night he chooses Little Nest. Adorable.
* my oldest daughter has a boyfriend. They are getting serious. Nuff said.
* I recently got an iPad for business purposes. I didn't expect to love it, but I totally, really do. A lot.
* my life feels better when my room is clean. I wonder why I don't keep it that way for very long. Maybe this time. (Hahahahahaha)
* I love our ward so much. I frequently think about our move into this ward and especially into our current home, which I love so much, and just marvel at God's hand in our lives. We are so grateful to be here. We are surrounded by such good people.
* even though my job is hard and I wish I didn't have to do it (refer to the above about wanting to just take pictures and edit them all day), it really is a blessing to have such flexible hours and other flexible aspects. I shouldn't complain about it.
I guess that's all for now. Hopefully it won't be another 3 months before I write again.
Friday, October 31, 2014
The Hundred Year Post
I am pretty sure it's been about a hundred years since my last post. That's what my family keeps telling me. This is not going to be an attempt to catch up, because I think that's one thing that's been holding me back. There is a LOT to catch up on. Another day maybe.
This is more a brain dump, cuz I think I need one. And it may turn out to be fairly entertaining, who knows.
Today is Halloween. I am not super into it this year. We spent zero money on costumes and instead dug through our old dress-up stuff (which is seriously lacking in the boy department) and raided some of DH's indian stuff so the boys could be indians. I then spent about 10 minutes with scissors, hot glue gun and sewing machine and called it a day. If I remember to take pictures tonight I will post them. I forgot on Wednesday when we had the ward party. Oops.
We carved pumpkins for FHE on Monday. They then proceeded to mold so by Wednesday they were completely disgusting. When I got up this morning, they had melted onto the table. Literally melted. I couldn't even pick them up to throw them away. I had to spoon their mush into the trash. There was liquid completely covering the table and it had seeped through the cracks onto the floor under the table. Some of the chairs were covered, too. Nice moldy pumpkin juice. So this will be the first year in EVER that we won't have jack-o-lanterns burning on Halloween. Still, it's pretty funny when you think about the whole mess.
These are from Thursday:
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To say a lot has been going on is just so way far beyond understatement that I can't do it. Instead I will list some of the goings on this past 2 weeks. Keep in mind this is just 2 weeks. The weeks before them have pretty much been as crazy, so I am not even going there.
Mom, my mom, Nana to my kids, went in for an easy-peasy gall bladder surgery. Yeah... I don't know how to write this without sounding like I am playing it down or over-dramatizing so I will just say it. She died. Really, I am not kidding. DIED For three minutes. Fortunately, the shots of epinephrine and atrophine (i have no idea if that's the real name of that or how to spell it) combined with CPR brought her back. Saying I was scared just doesn't really encompass the feelings that coursed through me. But I'm not sure how to describe it so I will go with scared. She is doing really well now, considering all that. They were not able to finish the surgery. So she still has a troublesome gall bladder full of stones and now some broken ribs on top of that from the CPR. She also has a nifty little implant in her upper chest area that monitors her heart rhythm. If there are any pauses in beating or other funny stuff going on in there, it transmits to the doctor and they can monitor it.
They are going to try to just keep the gall bladder under control with diet instead of surgery for now. It was the gas they pumped into her belly for the surgery that caused her heart to stop. 5 minute code blue. She spent the week in the hospital but is home now. They were actually supposed to do another surgery on her today, to fix her morphine pump implant. It's not delivering medicine to the right place and needs to be corrected. Thankfully they decided to let her recover a bit more before doing that. We were all feeling VERY uneasy about putting her through another thing so close to, you know, her death.
She is a STRONG WOMAN.
So, you know, besides spending lots of time at the hospital and dealing with the mental weight of all that, there was still life going on.
I currently have two jobs. One is my daytime, regular hours job of care-giver to Jose and Anthony.
The other job is my photography business baby. I am trying to help it grow. It is actually very busy season right now. Like, super busy. Super duper busy. I created a Groupon, and it has been drawing in some business for me. Newborns mostly, which I love.
Then there are all my family mini sessions going on. Some dramatic things have happened with those. Like being kicked off of a location because the owners decided not to let people take pictures there any more. Understandable with the liability, but frustrating nonetheless. Being almost kicked off of another property, but it ended up ok. Being cursed at and told off by some rudey-tudey people at another location. They were seriously so crass and mean. We took the high road, though, and tried to just brush it off. But sheesh.
Besides the many hours of shooting, there are many many many more hours of editing that goes along with that. And uploading and emailing and printing, etc etc etc.
Then there is the online training class I am taking including the homework that comes with it. I can't even express how much I am learning through all of this--classes and shoots and edits, and all--and I am so grateful for it. I am going to make some major modifications to my business in 2015. Hopefully for the much better.
Then there is church callings (HELLO primary program!!), family stuff, two cars breaking down on pretty much the same day. Yep, SO FUN.
And can't laundry and dishes and dinner do THEMSELVES for just a while??
Here's a good part--our 20th anniversary is coming up on Monday!!!! Exciting things to come with that, but I will save that for another post.
You know, there's something to be said about a good brain dump. Thanks for listening. :)
This is more a brain dump, cuz I think I need one. And it may turn out to be fairly entertaining, who knows.
Today is Halloween. I am not super into it this year. We spent zero money on costumes and instead dug through our old dress-up stuff (which is seriously lacking in the boy department) and raided some of DH's indian stuff so the boys could be indians. I then spent about 10 minutes with scissors, hot glue gun and sewing machine and called it a day. If I remember to take pictures tonight I will post them. I forgot on Wednesday when we had the ward party. Oops.
We carved pumpkins for FHE on Monday. They then proceeded to mold so by Wednesday they were completely disgusting. When I got up this morning, they had melted onto the table. Literally melted. I couldn't even pick them up to throw them away. I had to spoon their mush into the trash. There was liquid completely covering the table and it had seeped through the cracks onto the floor under the table. Some of the chairs were covered, too. Nice moldy pumpkin juice. So this will be the first year in EVER that we won't have jack-o-lanterns burning on Halloween. Still, it's pretty funny when you think about the whole mess.
These are from Thursday:
This is from this morning. The first one is totally liquified. The other two were just complete mush.
To say a lot has been going on is just so way far beyond understatement that I can't do it. Instead I will list some of the goings on this past 2 weeks. Keep in mind this is just 2 weeks. The weeks before them have pretty much been as crazy, so I am not even going there.
Mom, my mom, Nana to my kids, went in for an easy-peasy gall bladder surgery. Yeah... I don't know how to write this without sounding like I am playing it down or over-dramatizing so I will just say it. She died. Really, I am not kidding. DIED For three minutes. Fortunately, the shots of epinephrine and atrophine (i have no idea if that's the real name of that or how to spell it) combined with CPR brought her back. Saying I was scared just doesn't really encompass the feelings that coursed through me. But I'm not sure how to describe it so I will go with scared. She is doing really well now, considering all that. They were not able to finish the surgery. So she still has a troublesome gall bladder full of stones and now some broken ribs on top of that from the CPR. She also has a nifty little implant in her upper chest area that monitors her heart rhythm. If there are any pauses in beating or other funny stuff going on in there, it transmits to the doctor and they can monitor it.
They are going to try to just keep the gall bladder under control with diet instead of surgery for now. It was the gas they pumped into her belly for the surgery that caused her heart to stop. 5 minute code blue. She spent the week in the hospital but is home now. They were actually supposed to do another surgery on her today, to fix her morphine pump implant. It's not delivering medicine to the right place and needs to be corrected. Thankfully they decided to let her recover a bit more before doing that. We were all feeling VERY uneasy about putting her through another thing so close to, you know, her death.
She is a STRONG WOMAN.
So, you know, besides spending lots of time at the hospital and dealing with the mental weight of all that, there was still life going on.
I currently have two jobs. One is my daytime, regular hours job of care-giver to Jose and Anthony.
The other job is my photography business baby. I am trying to help it grow. It is actually very busy season right now. Like, super busy. Super duper busy. I created a Groupon, and it has been drawing in some business for me. Newborns mostly, which I love.
Then there are all my family mini sessions going on. Some dramatic things have happened with those. Like being kicked off of a location because the owners decided not to let people take pictures there any more. Understandable with the liability, but frustrating nonetheless. Being almost kicked off of another property, but it ended up ok. Being cursed at and told off by some rudey-tudey people at another location. They were seriously so crass and mean. We took the high road, though, and tried to just brush it off. But sheesh.
Besides the many hours of shooting, there are many many many more hours of editing that goes along with that. And uploading and emailing and printing, etc etc etc.
Then there is the online training class I am taking including the homework that comes with it. I can't even express how much I am learning through all of this--classes and shoots and edits, and all--and I am so grateful for it. I am going to make some major modifications to my business in 2015. Hopefully for the much better.
Then there is church callings (HELLO primary program!!), family stuff, two cars breaking down on pretty much the same day. Yep, SO FUN.
And can't laundry and dishes and dinner do THEMSELVES for just a while??
Here's a good part--our 20th anniversary is coming up on Monday!!!! Exciting things to come with that, but I will save that for another post.
You know, there's something to be said about a good brain dump. Thanks for listening. :)
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Birthday interview of a 5 year old
How old are you? 5
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my train set. Anything else? Hmmm. Yes. Um, Play with Legos.
What is your favorite movie? Thomas.
What is your favorite toy? Umm, Legos.
What are you good at doing? Building with legos.
Who are your favorite people? Um, Haeley and Geneal.
What is your favorite color? All of the colors except for purple.
What is your favorite food? Um, Hmm. Ice cream!
What is your favorite vegetable? Broccoli. Not squishy broccoli.
What is your favorite fruit? Uuum, cuties.
What is your favorite book? Mmmm, the Thomas one. Thomas Christmas one. I like Christmas.
What is your favorite song? Do you wanna build a snowman.
Who is your best friend? Why? You. Because I just do.
What is your favorite memory? Playing with Lincoln.
What makes you laugh? Saying funny things. Like what? Like doody.
What makes you afraid? Seeing dragons. Do you see a lot of dragons? No. Oh-and doing scary things. Like what? Like doing yard work. Or ghost noises.
What embarrasses you the most? Crying
What makes you angry? Doing things that aren't allowed in my game.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Firefighter
If you could have a magical power, what would it be? Fire!
What is your favorite vacation? Going into the woods
What would you buy if you could go to the store? Legos. More legos.
What is your favorite dinner? Pasta
What is your favorite drink? Lemonade
What do you like to do outside? Play on my car. I meant, yeah, play on my car.
What is your favorite animal? A bear.
What are you good at? I already said. Building Legos.
What is the best thing about being 5? Playing with Legos.
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my train set. Anything else? Hmmm. Yes. Um, Play with Legos.
What is your favorite movie? Thomas.
What is your favorite toy? Umm, Legos.
What are you good at doing? Building with legos.
Who are your favorite people? Um, Haeley and Geneal.
What is your favorite color? All of the colors except for purple.
What is your favorite food? Um, Hmm. Ice cream!
What is your favorite vegetable? Broccoli. Not squishy broccoli.
What is your favorite fruit? Uuum, cuties.
What is your favorite book? Mmmm, the Thomas one. Thomas Christmas one. I like Christmas.
What is your favorite song? Do you wanna build a snowman.
Who is your best friend? Why? You. Because I just do.
What is your favorite memory? Playing with Lincoln.
What makes you laugh? Saying funny things. Like what? Like doody.
What makes you afraid? Seeing dragons. Do you see a lot of dragons? No. Oh-and doing scary things. Like what? Like doing yard work. Or ghost noises.
What embarrasses you the most? Crying
What makes you angry? Doing things that aren't allowed in my game.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Firefighter
If you could have a magical power, what would it be? Fire!
What is your favorite vacation? Going into the woods
What would you buy if you could go to the store? Legos. More legos.
What is your favorite dinner? Pasta
What is your favorite drink? Lemonade
What do you like to do outside? Play on my car. I meant, yeah, play on my car.
What is your favorite animal? A bear.
What are you good at? I already said. Building Legos.
What is the best thing about being 5? Playing with Legos.
Monday, May 26, 2014
The Splash Party of 2014
Once upon a time there was a family. They loved a school called MH (for short). All of the children in this family went to the school they loved. For 18 years, they had at least one child at this wonderful school. Then the last child turned 5 and the school year ended. And so ended the days of school at MH for this family.
I had a husband graduate college and a daughter graduate high school, all in the last 2 weeks. But the most emotional time for me has been this scenario. I drove away from MH for the last time in probably ever on Friday. After 18 years of attending this beautiful little Montessori school, our days there have come to an end and I am having a hard time with this. It may seem like such a small deal, but to me it means 1. my family is growing up and 2. not seeing some of my most favorite people again for a very long time. This school also feels like a bit of heaven on earth to me. I love a good Montessori program, and this particular school has such a great feeling about it. It's not just me, the kids feel it and other parents too. I have had other parents make comments to me many times, such as, "This school is the safest place on earth, don't you think?". It sure feels that way.
Anyhow, I will forego the mushiness because I can't really convey the depth of my feelings about it adequately anyway. I will skip to pictures of the Splash Party of 2014. Teeny Bopper and Blondie wanted to come and couldn't, but the rest of us were there.
Waiting in line to go out to the party:
Brothers going out together:
Working the water slide. She was FREEZING at the top:
Showing me some prizes in his goodie bag:
Doing the water slide, oh yeah!
Getting in line to go again!
In line for pizza:
Yummy! He also had his cup of rootbeer and mostly melted grape snowcone on his plate:
Working the snowcone machine. I think I want one of these things:
Taking some popcorn:
Pictures with the best teachers in the universe:
I love these women with all my heart, and will miss them. Til we meet again...
Random pictures of the school, just for the heck of it. It was mostly packed up for summer, but I got what I could.
The metal insets, one of Tailgunner's favorite works:
Farm work:
Cute little library area, but the books were all put away:
I love the glass bead work:
Globes and maps:
This plaque was dedicated by a family that gave a lot of money to the school and helped obtain this location. Beautifully spoken dedication:
At least we will always be part of the school, like it is a part of us:
The end of an era. It's a difficult transition for this mama, but I welcome the days ahead. Goodbye, MH!
We will ALWAYS love you.
I had a husband graduate college and a daughter graduate high school, all in the last 2 weeks. But the most emotional time for me has been this scenario. I drove away from MH for the last time in probably ever on Friday. After 18 years of attending this beautiful little Montessori school, our days there have come to an end and I am having a hard time with this. It may seem like such a small deal, but to me it means 1. my family is growing up and 2. not seeing some of my most favorite people again for a very long time. This school also feels like a bit of heaven on earth to me. I love a good Montessori program, and this particular school has such a great feeling about it. It's not just me, the kids feel it and other parents too. I have had other parents make comments to me many times, such as, "This school is the safest place on earth, don't you think?". It sure feels that way.
Anyhow, I will forego the mushiness because I can't really convey the depth of my feelings about it adequately anyway. I will skip to pictures of the Splash Party of 2014. Teeny Bopper and Blondie wanted to come and couldn't, but the rest of us were there.
Waiting in line to go out to the party:
Brothers going out together:
Working the water slide. She was FREEZING at the top:
Dr. D took her place until he froze as well.
Showing me some prizes in his goodie bag:
Doing the water slide, oh yeah!
Getting in line to go again!
In line for pizza:
Yummy! He also had his cup of rootbeer and mostly melted grape snowcone on his plate:
Working the snowcone machine. I think I want one of these things:
Taking some popcorn:
Pictures with the best teachers in the universe:
I love these women with all my heart, and will miss them. Til we meet again...
Random pictures of the school, just for the heck of it. It was mostly packed up for summer, but I got what I could.
The metal insets, one of Tailgunner's favorite works:
Farm work:
Cute little library area, but the books were all put away:
I love the glass bead work:
Globes and maps:
This plaque was dedicated by a family that gave a lot of money to the school and helped obtain this location. Beautifully spoken dedication:
At least we will always be part of the school, like it is a part of us:
The end of an era. It's a difficult transition for this mama, but I welcome the days ahead. Goodbye, MH!
We will ALWAYS love you.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
A boy and his birthday
My baby is now 5 years old. He had a birthday even though I wanted him to stay little. Can you believe it??
I guess I can't stop it, even though sometimes i want to. They just keep growing up!
This train has a convenient storage location, perfect for Lego guys:
Thomas, how we love thee.
Here are some pics of Tailgunner playing with one of his favorites, trains. He has loved trains (especially Thomas) for a long time now. I am glad he still enjoys it.
I love this face while saying "choo choo". Cuz you NEED sound effects while doing basically everything:
This train has a convenient storage location, perfect for Lego guys:
Thomas, how we love thee.
Yep. Cutest face on the planet:
Birthday interview to come.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Senior Pics
Teeny Bopper had two sessions of senior pics this year. The first was through a professional photographer. She was selected to be a "model" for senior pics and was to get a free photo session for this. It turned out to be a bit of a trick, because though the session was free, the images were definitely NOT. The smallest package was upwards of $200, and I'm sorry but that is TOO MUCH. For every friend TB referred that got their pictures done by her she would knock the price down, but that didn't end up being the case for us.
So I got to do a session with her (which I really wanted to do anyway). I think they came out almost as good as the professional ones did. I take that back. Not to be tooting my own horn, but they came out JUST as good. :) Of course, she is so photogenic that they couldn't help but be fantastic.
Here are the ones from the first session that we did get:
It's cool because the first session was done with longer hair, and the second session sports TB's new shorter pixie. Best of both worlds!
We had a little fun, too. We had to try jumping off the cement thingy and then Blondie came riding by on her bike and the sprinklers came on so... You can guess what happened then.
DISCLAIMER: I was going to post this on her Prom photos, but I just want to be clear that I NEVER airbrush this girl's face. I hardly edit the pictures at all, actually. Just a little exposure or color adjustment on most of them. No blemish touch-ups, nothin. She is just naturally this fair. Just sayin.
So I got to do a session with her (which I really wanted to do anyway). I think they came out almost as good as the professional ones did. I take that back. Not to be tooting my own horn, but they came out JUST as good. :) Of course, she is so photogenic that they couldn't help but be fantastic.
Here are the ones from the first session that we did get:
It's cool because the first session was done with longer hair, and the second session sports TB's new shorter pixie. Best of both worlds!
We had a little fun, too. We had to try jumping off the cement thingy and then Blondie came riding by on her bike and the sprinklers came on so... You can guess what happened then.
DISCLAIMER: I was going to post this on her Prom photos, but I just want to be clear that I NEVER airbrush this girl's face. I hardly edit the pictures at all, actually. Just a little exposure or color adjustment on most of them. No blemish touch-ups, nothin. She is just naturally this fair. Just sayin.
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