White Belts and a Birthday

The boys got their white belts last week. It's seriously going to Christian's head. I find myself having to keep him from kicking things and other small children when we're out in public. It's a tad embarrassing.

Happy Belated birthday to the hubster. He's officially half way to 40. July 7th was his big day. I love you, Mike!

Last, here's a recent picture of my cat. Looks can be deceiving. She's all attitude.

A few things

This is great stuff. This photographer gets speared in the leg with a javelin. OK, ouch. Then what does he proceed to do...does he A) scream in pain and cry? B) fall to the ground and yell for help? or C) take a picture of it? The correct answer is C! Of course, this doesn't surprise me at all. You've got to love the passion people!



Here's my cat, Miriam. She's officially one year old now. Happy birthday you silly feline.

Here's a recipe for those of you with a sweet tooth. It's out of this world.

Cinnamon Biscuits

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk on hand you can use regular milk - just add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a cup of milk, stir and let sit for 5 minutes. I used lemon juice.)
1 stick of softened butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and mix well. Stir in vegetable oil. Add buttermilk and stir just until blended.

2. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

3. preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a nine inch round baking pan lightly.

4. spread butter over the dough (use your hands because it's more fun that way). Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix well. Sprinkle evenly over the butter. Roll up dough, jelly roll fashion, starting from one long side. Pinch seam to seal.

5. Cut the roll into 1 1/2 inch slices. Arrange the slices, cut side up, in prepared pan. Bake until lightly browned about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before adding icing.

Icing:

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

mix the sugar with the vanilla and milk. Then add more milk just a splash at a time stirring until it is just thin enough to drizzle.

This is seriously the most delicious recipe ever.

The boys and I stayed home all day today. I can't remember the last time we were actually able to do that. It's going to be a good summer.

A little bit of this...

Pictures, pictures. I know. Just humor me. The first shot is of my deranged cat, Miriam. I found her high above my rooftop yesterday morning. She was stuck in this tree, and we were both helpless. She couldn't get down on her own (I'm shocked her big butt even got up there in the first place), and I didn't have a ladder large enough to get to her. I had to call the hubster to bring one home from work. When he arrived Miri was at her wits end. She'd been stuck for hours. Mike climbed up to try and free her, but she climbed out on a branch. I climbed up and she came straight to me. The whole time we were struggling up and down the ladder our neighbor was in the yard laughing and talking about how he thought "stuff like this only happened on T.V." He was a lot of help. Anyway, she's safe and sound now.

The next few shots are a few of today's Christmas shoot with Lois, Randy and baby Rhett. They are so much fun to be around and make taking pictures a breeze! I just love them! I had a little trouble with the sun today. I just couldn't seem to position them correctly. There was either too much backlight or the shot was just way too bright. the best shots were taken in the shade, but even there I never felt like things were working out perfectly as far as the light goes. They turned out well over all though.

I was asked to shoot my first wedding today. I'm anxious and excited, but a little nervous too. Her bridal portraits will be in January and the wedding is early February. I'm looking forward to it.

That's all for now. It's not even 10:00, but I'm just exhausted. My throat is sort of hoarse. I might have a cold or something. Who knows.

Oh, one more thing, I'm venturing out to do some Christmas shopping in the morning. I think I'm finally starting to feel a little Christmasy. I think I might have my picture taken with Santa. Kidding.

God bless!

A cheap face lift, grossness and other nonsense

My brother - because I love his smile.

My Christian - because I love it when he insists on putting on his own shoes.

My mom's dog, Spike - just because.


This is Miri looking out of our front door. On the outside is the neighbor's cat, Princess. I fed Princess once about 2 months ago, and now she just won't go away. Sweet cat though.

And now onto more important things. First, a series of unfortunate and rather disgusting events...





Did I really marry this man??

And now some before and after shots...





For my 29th birthday my mom and I decided to have some work done. We got some pretty cheap face-lifts at this little place downtown. I'm not sure how I feel about the results. Any thoughts?

So there you have it. Wow.

Miriam

This is the first time I've been able to take pictures of my crazy kitten without her trying to attack my camera. I've given her the nick-name "savage beast" (as well as "Mir-cat" which I think is cute, but "savage beast" is more relevant to this post). I forgot what it was like to have a kitten in the house. Remember, Moses was almost 20 years old when I lost him, and he was not exactly frisky during his last days. Miri, on the other hand, is as wild as they come. You can't walk from one end of the room to the next without a flying fur ball attack. It's madness, and those teeth hurt! Anyway, she'll be 7 months old soon, and I think (knock on wood) that she might be starting to calm down a bit.