So that’s me turning thirty. I’m cool with it all.

Today is Declan’s fourth birthday. I seriously cannot believe he is four. He was JUST born yesterday, wasn’t he??? We had an all green birthday party for him. He only wears green colored clothing and loves all things green. It was based around green lantern, but mommy went all out and had green cake, green chips, green veggies, etc, etc. It was a very fun time!! Today he took cupcakes to school and was so proud to finally be one of the “big four year olds.” I love that little guy. He’s the comedian in the family and no matter how stressful a day has been, he keeps us laughing. He is totally awesome and I’m grateful that I can be his mama.

So here’s the latest pic of me. My daughter says I look mysterious and  like I’m ‘up to no good’ in this photo. Oh well, I don’t have many photos of me since I’m behind the camera most of the time. I was setting up for a session and did some self portraits to test light. All of the smiling ones were HORRID so this is the best I’ve got for now.

And my sweet mister D. I love him so very much and he makes me smile constantly!!!

(Family photos by the amazingly talented Amber Anderson of Amber Anderson Photography. )

They’re still recovering from the sugar induced candy coma from yesterday. Between class parties and trick or treating it was a GOOD day to be a kid.

Hope everyone had a fantabulous fun day yesterday!!

my sweet angels. LOL.

And because I’m biased and I think my kids are oh so cute;

Here’s snaps of my babies on the first day of school….

She is our newest addition to the family. We debated on having a fourth child, but decided that a puppy is just perfect for our family. My kids’ first names start with the letters K.I.D (in that order) and I always said I’d have an “S” if we had a fourth baby, so hence the name Sydney. Well, that and she’s a toy Australian Shepherd, so it was just perfect.

She is nine and a half weeks old today. We’re in the potty training/chewing phase, but we love every minute of it (well, almost every minute of it. LOL).

In other news: My hubby has officially quit his day job and is going to school full time starting in two weeks. Our family will have a college student, a 4th grader, a Kindergartner, and a preschooler. It’s gonna be crazy around here for the next few years but we’re super excited for the transition. We’ve planned on this for many years and it’s finally all come into place. I will be resuming work as usual. I’ll probably take on a bit more sessions here and there but business will still be very much the same. I’ve been so incredibly blessed to be as busy as I am. There are many many photographers out there and I’m so grateful when I am chosen to be the photographer for my client’s important milestones.

I am grateful and blessed beyond words.

Without further ado, here’s the new baby….

(I know, it’s gag me with a spoon romantic, but please bear with me…)

I love you Derrick Lemmons. Thank you for everything you do. I hope to spend sixty more wonderful years with you.

A picture of a picture from our wedding day. I have this as a canvas on my wall and it makes me smile huge.

(and wish I was that skinny again.  ;) )

I haven’t shown much of them on my site lately. Here’s some pics I took a few days ago in the backyard. Unplanned, spur of the moment “session” with my babies. K will be 9 next month, Tinker is 5 and little D is 3.5.

They are why I do what I do.

We did a session last week and I got so many that are just exactly his personality. LOVE that kid!!!!

“you ruined my life.”

this is exactly him.  a total “cheese ball”

he’s constantly making this face to get us to laugh!!!

Though it’s my super “slow” time, I’m ten times busier this year in January than I was even a year ago. I cannot believe how busy you all have kept me. THANK YOU for still having me do what I love so much even when the weather turns yucky.

In other news:

I’ve been working on a 365 project where I take on photo every day for 365 days. It’s my own personal project and so far I’ve completed ten days (I still have to do today’s photo). I’ve had so much fun stretching myself to take an interesting photo that has nothing to do with my “normal” work. My own rules say that it has to be personal and tell a bit of a story. I took this photo when I was trying a self portrait for one of the days.

I’ll share more of my personal project photos once I complete a whole month.

And remember to smile!!!

I upgraded to a newer version of my site so it’s kinda different but still sort of the same. Yay for change!!!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe New Years!!! And because I can’t post without photos, here’s some of the wedding I did on December 11th that I’m currently working on. I have three more weddings to post (and countless sessions) but I will get to those SOON!!!

The flip side of that is HOLY SMOKES we’ve had a great year. Thank you thank you thank you for supporting Lemondrops Photography. Derrick and I are beyond blessed to have had this much business. It’s all up to God, but we hope that 2011 is even better than this year.

The slide show is only babies, kids, families and seniors but I will be doing another one featuring all my favorite wedding images as well. I have discovered a new slide show program so I’m hoping to do a lot more of these in the coming months!!

Anyhoo, since probably five people will read this I’ll get to the point already….

FAVORITES of 2010:

So, I bribed them with candy and took them out in their wrinkled, uncoordinated and muddy clothes. They all need haircuts but that won’t happen till this Wednesday. The goofy thing is that I will probably love these photos so much more than my “planned” studio session with them in their formal Christmas outfits. They have their appointment on Thursday (yes, I actually scheduled them in. Things have been BUSY lately. LOL)

Anyhoo, here’s my kids. As they are on any normal day….

8.5 years, 4.5 years, and 3 next month

SQEEEEEEEEZZEEEEE!!!!

(mr. d’s favorite thing to do)

this is exactly them. Tinker sticking his tongue out, mr. d smiling so big his eyes close and miss K behaving perfectly in front of the camera.

Love those kids.

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am about these photos. My extremely talented friend, Rebecca of Catchlights Northwest took our photos a few weeks ago. I am amazed, thrilled, and excited about these images. They are everything I wanted them to be and I’ve already pre-ordered four 20X24 canvases to go on my walls.

Thank you a million times over for photographing my family and being so wonderful.

And yes I’ll stop rambling and show the photos….

my absolute FAVORITE!!!!!!

I put this one above my kitchen sink because it makes me laugh every time I see it.

they make me smile!!

My older brother (my only blood sibling, older by 18 months) and his wife, miss Natalie had their first baby on August 29th, 2010. I was photographing a wedding when I got the news that I was an auntie to one beautiful little girl. I cried when I heard the news!!!!

Because I’m so far behind in posting, I hadn’t even posted their maternity session yet, but I figured I’d do it now and introduce the prettiest little girl I’ve ever seen (other than my own!).

I’ll be doing their first “regular” newborn session next week, so I’m sure I’ll be back showing her off a little bit more

Natalie, you are GORGEOUS!!!

this is love.

these two are AWESOME. This describes their fun relationship perfectly!!!

LOOOOVVVVEEEE!!!!!

not even fair to look that good while pregnant

my absolute favorite. I can’t even explain how much I love this photo!!!

beautiful family

this photo of my big brother and his little baby girl just makes my heart melt.

okay, she’s ridiculously ADORABLE!!!!!!!!

her foot in his hand.

Thanks for letting me share my exciting news!!! I’m off to catch up on the rest of my work now!!!

My aunt and uncle also introduced a new cousin into the world this last week and lucky for me I got to visit them and take a few photos!!! Of course, I MUST share how ridiculously cute she is!!!

So yeah, here’s randomness of my life the last couple of days (besides the normal sessions I do regularly)…

I asked my oldest to pose for the camera while I took some snaps (to test the camera) and she of course complied.

My youngest decided that he would pose the same way as big sister and this is what I got!!

Makes me laugh hysterically.

Of course they’re my kids so maybe you won’t laugh as hard, but it’s funny to me!!!

she has such amazing depth at only 8 years old.

Don’t even get me started at how scared I am for her to become a teenager. Oh holy cow I’ll need prayers!!!

my middle guy refused his photo be taken, but he did want me to take a picture of him golfing.

He almost broke a window with the swing after I took this. Darn kid has more talent in sports at four than I did in my entire life!

love his sweet face!!!

My new cousin!!!! I took a few pics of her at the hospital the day after she was born!! We’ll be doing her newborn session soon

so I’ll post more of her sweet face then!!!

After trying for kids for over ten years and deciding that they wouldn’t have kids, my uncle and aunt unexpectedly got pregnant.

It’s an absolute miracle, and watching them with their first baby just melts my heart. I love them dearly!!!

sweet sleeping bebe.

Makes me want another.

I’m seriously trying to shake off the “baby fever” since seeing her!

“hey dad! What’s happening?”

Let me jump right in and explain all the busy-ness (yes new word. Dictionary of Jenica).

My dad met the woman of his dreams. (WHOOP WHOOP). Dad got engaged, offered to sell us his house (which is HUGE compared to the tiny house we owned). So, we thought, “yes, this would be wonderful, but how on earth will we sell our house in this market?!!” So we mulled over the idea and started our ideas for putting it up on the market. Not a week later, a friend of ours was looking for homes and I teased her about us selling ours. She responded “I’m totally interested, tell me about it.” So I wrote her a huge message about our house and told her how much we were wanting for it. She writes back and says it sounds PERFECT and could we send pictures of it to her. Ok, I guess. I tried not to get my hopes up about it, but took pics and emailed them to her. She writes back and says that they’d like to make an appointment to see it. So we cleaned up the house and got it ready to show them. They come see it and fell in love and decided that they wanted to buy it. At this point I was like, “Okay God, apparently this is all part of your plan and if it’s up to you, it will work out.”

Fast forward a week.

At the same time we signed loan papers with my friend and her hubby, we signed papers with my dad to buy his house. All is good and we move forward. We started cleaning up/painting/renovating my dad’s house.

Fast forward two weeks;

Got all walls painted, carpets and flooring put in, and helped dad move out all of his stuff. We worked day/night on our project since we were closing in 30 days.  I cleaned/painted/renovated by day and edited by night. I did weddings/sessions in between and was tired. REALLY tired.

Two days ago we started moving into the new place and we’re almost done unpacking. After 12 moves in 10 years we’re moving pros.

One day ago my dog decided to kill a raccoon that invaded the backyard. $417 and 12 stitches later, she’s just fine. Not a moving expense I had planned on, but at this point ya gotta roll with the punches if ya know what I mean.

My dad is getting married on September 25th (and yes, I’m photographing the wedding, so you will see pics!!). He’s staying with us until he ties the knot. My kids are SUPER excited to be living in “grandpa’s house” and I’m sooooo happy to be able to have people over and not feel cramped. Today we had the family birthday party for my daughter and it was so nice to have everyone over and have plenty of entertaining space!!

So while the timing has been interesting moving mid-July with five weddings and countless sessions, but it’s all worked out.

Right now I’m working hard editing all the beautiful wedding photos from the last few weeks and I’ll start posting all the previews as quickly as I can. I’ve somehow by the grace of God managed to stay on top of my normal work throughout this crazy time.

I would like to publicly thank my good friends Rhonda and Lindsay. They have helped out more than I can even explain. They’ve cared for my kids, helped me move, and Lindsay has been my right hand girl with the house stuff!!!  She helped me rip out carpet, make dump runs, and without her (and Rhonda) there’s no way we would have gotten this much done this quickly. They’ve been there with me when I’ve had my meltdowns, laughed with me and cried with me.

I’d also like to thank my dad for his AWESOME work remodeling the kitchen and making sure this house was finished for us. He has been so incredibly generous and I’m a lucky gal to have a daddy like him. I’m so incredibly excited for him to start his new life with his soon to be wife. They are a perfect pair and it’s just been incredible to see him this happy.

I’m blessed beyond words.

my dorky self at a wedding.

(Taken by Leya)

Derrick and I had Keely when we were young and we traveled the world with her. She’s the one that introduced us to parenthood. She’s incredibly smart, beautiful and one of the funniest kids I’ve ever met in my life. She reads constantly (there’s never a moment when she doesn’t have a book in her hand) and she’s just plain cool.

I love you SOOOOOOO much Keely.

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this one, but as a mama it makes me want to lock her up till she’s thirty!!!

this is the goofy girl I know!!!

I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

He’s a great father, great husband, great cook, and my best friend. He supports my dreams, wipes my tears, and loves me even if I’m having a bad day. He’s patient, caring, a good leader, and I’m the luckiest girl to have him as my husband.

Happy Anniversary Derrick!!!

Thank you for marrying me and putting up with all my craziness. I love you sooooooo much.

(image by my good friend Elena one year ago)

Here’s some helpful hints:

*Choose timeless clothing. Stay away from busy patterns and prints (and logos).

*When coordinating family photos, choose a few colors and wear different items but don’t be “matchy matchy.”

*Wear clothing that fits. Too loose and too tight clothing can make a person look larger than they are. Also, keep in mind body style when choosing an outfit. I may LOVE white pants, but squeezing my big booty in them just looks BAD.

*When dressing kids, bright colors are fun!!! Don’t be afraid to be bold!!!

*In general my photography style is very relaxed, so stick with fun relaxed clothing. Nothing says “stiff family photos” quite like stiff clothing.

*Jeans almost always photograph well.

*There’s NOTHING wrong with going through your closet and picking out clothes that you already own and coordinating with those. Often people think that they need brand new clothes for a session, but it’s just not true.  My favorite portraits of my own kids are of them in clothing that I didn’t buy specifically for a portrait session, but chose at the last minute from their closet when doing photos.

*Wear clothing that is YOU (or your child). Wear something that represents who you are and your own unique style.

*Accessories are awesome. Scarves, jewelry, etc. etc. They complete the outfit and pull it all together.

* babies photograph best in “baby” type clothing. Onesies, simple outfits, and even in just a diaper cover!

Here’s some of my favorite sites for clothing:

http://www.teacollection.com/

http://oldnavy.gap.com/

http://www.gap.com/

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/index.jsp

http://www.jcrew.com/index.jsp

http://www.matildajaneclothing.com/

http://www.bodenusa.com/

http://www.etsy.com/

p.s. gals don’t tell your hubby or significant other where you got this helpful information from. They may blame me, the innocent photographer.

And because I can’t possibly post without a photo… here’s a sneak peak of a handsome little fella and his spectacular hat…

my three and their “run faster, jump higher” shoes

My gramma taught me that “no matter what you gotta always be fair with your kids.”

It’s just convenient that they all wanted the same pair this time. LOL!

we love to snuggle around my house. And watch cartoons and draw.

oh and a WHOLE LOTTA baseball.

Can’t forget that.

It’s a must for everyone at least three times a day.

scooters and bikes…

those are also must have for sunny weekends.

oh and did I tell you that my hubby is a FABULOUS cook???!!!!

yes, he’s awesome and no, you can’t have him.

oh yes, he does dishes too.

EYE CANDY right there.

Yep, he’s hot.

That’s the good stuff right there.

My family.

It’s a guilty pleasure though, because I had to tell so many people “no, I’m not available on XX date or XX date.” It’s a tough position to be in when I’ve worked so very hard to be where I am in business. It’s become difficult to schedule time “off.” I love my job so much, but I love my family so much more. I don’t want to tell my kids “no” in order to tell someone else “yes.”

Anyway, enough of my random Saturday evening ramblings. I will be around come Tuesday morning if someone should need to get ahold of me. I’m not going anywhere, but I’m giving myself a mental break from work for the weekend.

And because I can’t possibly handle having a post without a photo, here’s a picture of the three kiddos that I will be spending the next couple of days with….

Because I’m completely and utterly biased towards my sweet little girl and I think she’s the prettiest thing ever.

I got my first camera when she was born almost eight years ago.

She’s still my muse.

I took these at a family barbeque. I probably would have dressed her in nicer jeans had I planned on doing a session with her.

But you know…. this is HER.

Her holey jeans, her messed up hippie hair.

She’s perfect.

So here’s the dealio, yo.

The mini-sessions are for up to four people. Locations can be Willow Grove beach park, Lake Sacajawea, Tamo-Shanter Park, or at my studio!

Sessions will last 20-30 minutes.  It can be for a high school senior, business head shots, kids, families, couples, engagement, babies, dogs, etc!!

You can add extra people for $30 each.  Mini-sessions are only held during the weekdays. Do not worry, though, I will have evening appointments available for those who work during the day.

Spots are limited and will only be booked through June 18th (special is not available for sessions after that date).

creepy yet cool at the same time!

So…. for the grandparents and aunties and uncles who are wondering what they look like now… here’s the spring 2010 update!!

Miss K

she’ll be 8 in July.

I feel old.

She’s the smartest 7 year old I’ve ever met.

We just found out she made it into the gifted program in our school district!! I’m soo happy and excited for her!!!

We knew she was unlike most kids when she would hide in the bathroom late at night with the light on trying to read.

In case you’re wondering, no she doesn’t get it from me.

She writes WAY better than I do and will probably be my proofreader very soon.

Tinker.

I had to promise him another 30 minutes of playing baseball outside to get this smile.

totally worth the bribe.

He loves this hat so much he sleeps with it every night.

He only wears shirts that have something to do with baseball on it.

Every waking moment he has either a bat, a ball, or a glove in his hand.

His favorite movie is the Sandlot.

Mr. D

cutest two year old EVER

(I’m biased)

Has an infectious giggle and the ability to make anyone smile at any given moment.

Loves to do whatever his big brother is doing (so currently he loves baseball as well)

LOVES to eat. Like seriously, is only one size smaller than his big brother who is two years older than him.

They currently share clothes.

I’m worried for when he turns into a teenager and brings over his football playing buddies over to eat me out of house and home.

We’re starting to save our pennies now.

Last but not least, my dog Nina. She’s rarely written about, but after watching Marley and Me and bawling my eyes out I decided to take some photos of her.

She’ll be six this next September. She’s pretty darn cute if you ask me.

He’s very into baseball and has recently taken to sleeping with his baseball glove and ball. Apparently they will get lost unless you bring them into bed He’s a collector of things and runs around with pez dispensers, his car collection, and now he’s working on collecting all things baseball related.

Happy birthday little man!!! I love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much.

this is totally him. As fiesty as they get!! HAHAHA!!

It’s also the one I used on his birthday invitation.

Being goofy in the studio.

CHA CHING!!! A nice, looking, smiling, not weird face photo.

Brilliant.

She is a little girl who is dying of cancer. She’s the same age as my youngest son. I can’t even begin to explain how reading her story saddens me.

The blog that her parents have made documenting their lives is here:

http://laylagrace.org/

I normally don’t read about stories like these. It breaks my heart too much as a mama of young children. But for whatever reason this little girl has affected me tremendously. Layla’s time is very short. She may live a few more hours or a few more days but her body is shutting down and these are the last moments her family has with her.

Please join me in praying for comfort and peace for Layla and her family.

My heart breaks for them…

Both Derrick and I grew up with Joe and went to school with him for many years. I had many classes with him and always considered him a friend growing up. He always made everyone laugh and was as energetic as they come.

I took one single photo of him at a wedding  just a year and a half ago. At the time, Joey asked if I would take a picture of him since he didn’t have any professional pictures of himself since he graduated high school. Had I known what was to be, I would have taken a million more.

Thanks for always making us smile, Joey. We’ll see you on the other side.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Gemar family during this difficult time. If any of you need ANYTHING, just let me know.

Funny story:

I took her antique shopping with me one day since she got out of school early and I had  a session reschedule. We were browsing around and I said “make sure you’re VERY careful and don’t touch anything” Not two seconds later I was looking at an old box and all of the stuff inside fell out and made a huge noise. She then turned to me and said, “and you told ME not to touch anything??!!!”

Of course she said it pretty loud and the gal standing near us started laughing.

Yup, that’s my smarty pants. I love her SOOOOOOO much.

okay I realize I’m seriously biased, but she’s GORGEOUS.

there, I said it.

trying not to giggle

okay she lost it

my favorite!

she gets her nuttiness from me. Poor thing.

yes, I’m upside down. She thinks I’m funny.

He’s the calmest and most loving of my three little ones. He’s the type that will sit in your lap to give you hugs and talk to you.  Whenever you give him something he always asks for more so he can share with his brother and sister.  He’s got such a sweet spirit about him.

Happy Birthday Mister D.  I love you so much!

mr. serious

okay, I KNOW every mom thinks their kids are cute, but seriously…

HE IS CUTE!!!!!!

This has taken me all week to get together (so I apologize for the lack of posts). It’s really time consuming going through a year’s worth of sessions and weddings.

Of course since I photographed so many beautiful folks, I had such a hard time picking my top images. I wanted to narrow it down to 10, but I’m not even close. I wish I could have chosen on image per session, but since this year was so busy it was impossible to do. It’s definitely not a bad problem to have!!

The winner of 2009′s best image will receive a 16X20 gallery wrapped canvas of the winning image.

So please vote for your favorite image….

(scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to vote)

Edited to add: Contest ends on my birthday, January 30th, 2010!
Please only vote once per person. Thank you!

vote here:

Since it’s the holiday break, I’ve had a bit more time to work on my own personal projects. A few nights ago I made this collage with some of my favorite photos from 2009.

It’s funny choosing my own photos, because often my favorites are the ones that are technically imperfect. They are the ones when my kids are just being themselves.

I ordered this as a framed 12X12 print!! I’ve already got a spot picked out for it. So here’s to a 2010 full of new pics on my walls!!!

Whether looks or personality, according to other people she’s like me. Of course when it comes to her analytical mind she’s exactly like her father. If you’ve ever read my blog post about her correcting my grammar mistakes, you’ll understand. It’s tough when your seven year old can write better than you.

Lately I’ve been dragging (er…. bringing…)  her to the studio when I have sessions or ordering appointments. She’s pretty quiet when given a book and has been known to make a few kids smile here and there. Mostly she just likes the time away from her little brothers. Of course, I have asked her to help me with taking out the garbage a time or two, but the kid has to learn responsibility sometime!

A few nights ago I brought her with me and she helped me test the lights before my session arrived. We had a bit of fun and this is what we got. Gotta love her silly self.

My daughter is how I got started in the photography business. She and my boys are still my favorite subjects. Although doing sessions with them seem to get more difficult as the years go by. I think they are done with mom taking their photos

My kids are why I do what I do.

FAVORITE!!

My girl

“tinker”

“the baby”

I big puffy heart my kids

PERFECT!!!!!!!!

how they really are during sessions and why I need an assistant

We laughed so hard when Mr. I (my middle son) picked a green one and declared it his pumpkin. I guess he wanted to be different.

So in honor of Halloween today, here’s some photos of our adventure…

I love the colors of these!

my tiny guy is such a ham!

er pumpkin.

Mr. I stopped for me for one photo. That was it, that’s all I got of him.

Miss K is a pumpkin picking pro. She informed us that the closer the lines are together, the more seeds the pumpkin has!

who knew?!!

Mr. I’s “smile” absolutely kills me!!!

and check out his fabulous pumpkin. Gotta love that little boy!

the cousins!

She assures me that she wrote it all by herself.  I am in awe of my smart little girl.

Here’s her poem titled “Seasons.”

Seasons

by Miss K Lemmons -age 7

The seasons are changing as the year goes by.

The leaves and blossoms grow from buds as Winter turns to Spring.

Leaves are bright green as Spring turns to Summer.

Soon Summer turns to fall as the leaves turn wonderous colors and fall off the trees.

Fall turns to Winter when the snow falls.

It starts all over again.

I love this little one.

So of course I tried to get them to sit still and these photos are what happened.

THIS is exactly how they are, just being kids.

It’s perfect.

somehow saying “okay kids, sit down right here” translates into “mom said I could jump on top of you”

notice how the baby is laughing at them thinking he’s in the clear

he was wrong

don’t worry, he was okay

sweet success!!!

Not technically perfect, but they are all looking and smiling.

My little sis had her baby on friday evening. He was a tiny little fritter (as my daddy would say) at 6 pounds and 7 ounces. He was 19 inches long. Just a perfect little bean.

He has his first “real” appointment with me next week for his newborn pictures. Here’s a few snaps from the hospital that I got while I was visiting (and oohing and ahhing over him).

Congrats Lynsay and Branden on your precious little guy. He’s perfect!

just look at that face!!!

getting all artsy. I love this one. SOOO tiny.

his little monkey shirt was just adorable!!

Last night we were driving home from an overnight trip at the beach. We decided to take the long way around (the Washington coast). The boys were in the back taking their naps and we wanted to do a bit of sight seeing. There are so many beautiful places to stop along the way, so we were taking our sweet time getting home.

There was some major road construction going on about an hour from home. We got stuck in traffic for an hour after we’d already been driving for two hours. Since there was no place to stop off, I had climbed back in the back to calm the boys. They had finally woken up and were slightly upset that we weren’t moving anywhere (not to mention the baby had a wet diaper and there was no place to stop to change him).

Traffic cleared up a few minutes later and we were well on our way home. All of a sudden, traffic came to a complete STOP. We had been cruising along at about 45 miles an hour prior to the stop. Thankfully Derrick hit the brakes in time and we didn’t hit the person in front of us. Unfortunately the guy behind us didn’t see the traffic stop either. As I looked back, he swerved around the right of our car, slamming on his brakes. His tire went up along the side of our vehicle and he eventually stopped along the guard rail. I knew we had been hit, but I didn’t know how badly. My first instinct was to hug Isaac (who was sitting to the right of me). I started shaking and crying after realizing how close we came to being severely rear-ended.

When I finally gained my composure, I climbed out of the car. After looking around I lost it again and had to turn away (I hate crying in front of people). Thankfully everyone was okay. We chatted a bit with the other folks involved in the accident and I couldn’t help but thank the guy that hit us for acting so quickly and moving out of the way. If he would have been two inches closer to us, we would have been pushed completely forward into the car in front (and who knows what else). All I could think of is how hurt we all could have been since we were all going really fast. When he saw me bring our little boys out of the car, he had to wipe away some tears. I can’t even imagine what that guy was going through knowing he could have possibly hit us with small kids inside.

Our car had to be towed away as it’s not drivable and requires major body work. The tire was completely torn off and the axle bent, so we have some other major damage to that as well. But, a car can be fixed.

A person cannot be replaced.

I am so incredibly thankful that it was only damage to the car. A few inches and my story today could have been quite different. Thank you Lord for watching out for us and keeping us safe. I’m incredibly grateful.

The irony of my story is that I had been in quite a miserable mood prior to the accident. I was in a funk and quite unhappy with my hubby (as we wives can get sometimes). It had been a rough week and though we were on vacation, the tension was there. After it all happened I realized how incredibly stupid it was of me to feel so angry towards him for stupid reasons. (You don’t even want to know how stupid).

In a blink life can change dramatically. In a blink, I could have gone through that front windshield. In a blink my kids could have been gone.

Hug those you love.

Forgive others.

LIVE life.

You never know what might happen.

This is my verse for this week. I planned my whole life out completely differently than it has turned out. I made so many plans, had so many ideas. I always wondered why life never went as planned. I figured my ideas were good enough. I mean, they were MY ideas, right?

Well, God had different plans. Better plans for me than I ever could have dreamed or imagined.

When I went to college (way back in the day), my plan was to go to school to become a theater teacher. I always wanted to be involved with musical theater as I did in high school. When I dropped out to get married, I deeply regretted not being in school. I felt that it was the place I needed to be. However, my life took a completely different turn. I got married, started having my babies, and moved around (more times than I’d like to count). Finally I ended up exactly where I need to be.

And here I am. Right where God wants me.

To be a mother.

To be a wife.

To be a photographer.

All those years I spent feeling like I was misplaced. Like God must not know what I needed.

But indeed, He did.

I really felt the need to write about this tonight. Maybe I’m emotional reflecting on my life, or maybe someone who reads this needs to know that things turn out how they’re supposed to. Not how WE plan, but how God plans.

Thank you all for reading my rambling thoughts. Even if it’s just my own mom who reads it, that’s cool too. (love you mom!!!)

Since we are all human (and thus not perfect) we must all face the fact that we are wrong at times.

For some of us, it’s more often than others. I’m one of those that messes up quite a bit. I’m forever apologizing for my mistakes.

Saying ‘I’m sorry’ is sometimes the easy part. It’s the forgiveness that can take a long time. I’ve often wondered why someone  is still mad when I’ve said “I’m sorry” countless times. Of course, I’m guilty of not forgiving others at times.

‘to err is human’

or something like that.

But I still need to forgive.

As we all should.

We really didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Hubbsters and I thought it would be at least a couple more years, but things have all fallen into place and it’s working out better than I could have imagined.

I have an office/waiting area as well as a full studio set up (where I will do newborns, kids, and some family sessions). Nothing with my style will change, I’m simply adding a location where I can meet people. As much as I love meeting people at Starbucks, it’ll be nice to have a place of my own.

It’s located in Kelso, kinda off the freeway. When we’re finished renovating the office area, I’ll be showing photos and letting everyone know the location. Derrick has worked extra hard and put in long hours painting and doing the flooring (thank you honey!!). I’m picking out furniture next week and we’re hoping to be up and running by the beginning of September (at the latest October). It’ll be ready just in time for the cold weather. No more rescheduling due to yucky weather!! WHOOT!!

I also want to give a HUUUGGGGGEEEE thanks and a virtual hug for all those who love and support me.

I’m truly blessed to be in this position right now. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me and my little photography business!!!

and because my posts are worthless without photos, here’s a recent of Miss K in her fine swimming attire…..

“You do?” I asked. “Do you know that it says ‘dad’s my superhero?’ “  “Yes he is!” he announces. “He flies around-da-round the clouds, up in the air!”

“He does?!!!” I ask trying to hide my laughter.

“Yeah mom, it’s awesome.”

Conversations with a three year old….

I won’t lie and say that we’ve always been in love and it’s always been easy. Marriage has been one of the toughest things I’ve ever endured. Not that my husband isn’t perfect (love you honey!) but when two people live together and share E V E R Y T H I N G. it gets tough sometimes.  Together (and with God’s help) we have endured moving over eight times, having three kids, multiple separations (due to him being in the Army) and countless silly arguments over who gets the remote.

I’m five quadrillion times more in love with him now than I was on the day we got married.

Words don’t even express how much I love this man.

But maybe a few pictures can show you how I feel about him.

We got all dressed up for these photos and I had a blast getting my hair and make up done. Yes, this is not the “normal” me, but a girl needs to get all gussied up every once in awhile.  I even wore heels!!

check out this model pose. BOOYAAAA!

He still makes me laugh.

A lot.

I loves him.

okay so it’s totally weird for me to see myself with hot red lips, but I’m in love with this photo.

Elena I can’t thank you enough for being a great friend and for taking our photos!! I can wait for your session with you and your hubby!!!

*I think if coffee and chocolate were considered illegal and banned I might consider moving to another country. Or I’d melt into a puddle on the floor and be completely useless in society. Either way.

* My laugh is loud and startles small children at times.

*I’m ridiculously sensitive. So much so that I have to try really hard to ignore it when people say mean things about me and I find out. I mean, I KNOW I can’t please everyone all the time, but my husband has to convince me not to eat the entire box of chocolates when my feelings get hurt (yes, I’m an emotional over-chocolate eater).

*I break things constantly. Glasses, dishes, you name it, I’m not allowed near it. For instance at dinner tonight I spilled my glass of water all over the table. The kids weren’t with me, so I couldn’t blame it on them. HAHA!

(Check out that rad hair!!!)

Oh yeah, nother confession: I don’t do hair (or much make up for that matter). I’m kinda hippiesh that way. Look I made up a new word!

*I’m kinda OCD at times. Okay. Not kinda….

*I’m a lens junkie. Yes, I need help for it. Instead of jewelry I always ask my hubby for new lenses and other random camera equipment. He calls it crazy. I just call it dedication to my job.

* I’m totally random and silly sometimes. This post is a perfect example of my crazyness.

Hey, it’s cheaper than therapy!

Until tomorrow….

(images courtsey of Elena)

Today was one of those days where even though I was “off” work, I felt like my hands were full (times three). Today was one of those days where my angels weren’t quite angels. Where my patience was tried five hundred bazillion times (yes, that is an exact number).

At the same time, I’m so grateful that God entrusted me to care for these little ones. Even though it makes life really busy and chaotic, it’s always worth it. Even amongst the fighting over toys, the constant messes, and diaper changes. Oh goodness, my list could go on and on…

So here I sit at 10:55 p.m. at night editing (always editing). There’s a nice quiet calm in the house.  The kids are tucked away in bed after a long day in the sun. The new air conditioner is whirring away and we’re finally cooled off from the heat.

And I’m happy.

Mommy goggles are great when your kids are doing things that you’d rather them not do. Like eating messy popsicles.  Without mommy goggles you’d say “oh you’re making a mess, be careful with that!” With mommy goggles you do crazy things like sit there with a camera and watch as the syrupy liquid just rolled down his arm all the while taking photos of him getting a sticky mess all over him.

Yup, mommy goggles. The things that our kids do that are not so exciting to others, but we think are just the cutest things in the whole world.

So here’s Mr. D. Dirty face and all.

And I’m wearing my mommy goggles.

On the ground that is.

muhaahaaa haaa (insert laugh here).

THIS is the reason I don’t work out anymore. No need when you have to get down on the ground to get the shot!! Abs of steel I tell ya.

(okay well truthfully I was sore the next day, but don’t tell anyone how out of shape I really am…)

what we call “chimping” which means we’re looking at the photos we just took. I’m intense!!!

Giving posing instructions to the bride and groom. By the looks of their faces you’d think that I was telling them to do something crazy. It’s probably true. I bet I was! “You want us to do WHAT, Jenica?”

Happy Wednesday!!

Thanks Mr. Lemmons for all that you do.

(and yes, this is him making dinner. He’s a better cook than I am.)

He’s my one and only blood-related sibling. Though he’s only a year and a half older than me, as a kid he always seemed so much older.

I grew up tagging along behind him and trying to not be a “pesky little sister.” I’m sure he often grew tired of me. We had many adventures growing up out in the country. I have fond memories of making mud pies and bug collecting. Luckily for him I was never a girly girl and I would ride motorcycles with him or go hunting with him. Of course as I got older, I would try to drag him shopping with me but he was never interested. Now that I’m older and married I realize that most men aren’t interested in shopping. Go figure.

Having an older brother is the main reason I wanted to have more than one child. I learned how to share, how to get along, and even how to fight. I often laugh when my kids start bickering  in the back seat of the car. I have many memories of Nate and I pestering each other in the backseat. Being the more “mature one” I would often scream “MOM, Nate is hitting me!!!!!”

Nate, I love you more than you know and I’m so glad I’m your little sister.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

My bro:

Nate has a salt water tank and lately he’s taken up photography so he can get good images of his fish and his tank. I have to say that I’m completely impressed with his photos. I’m so proud of my brother the photographer!!!

I’ve never actually used film professionally. Yes, I’m a digital girl. In the last seven years that I’ve been into photography, all I’ve ever shot with is digital cameras.

Lately I’ve been playing around with different photo effects to get that old school “film” look. It’s been a lot of fun playing around in photoshop to try and get the desired effect that I want. I get tired of the same ol’ processing that I do, so it’s nice to change it up every once in awhile.

This beautiful couple was from my May 16th wedding in Astoria. I think this effect fits these images perfectly. What do you think? Any and all feedback is totally welcomed!!!

I cried a lot this week. Thinking about what I would do if one of my babies were suddenly gone.

It made me wonder if there was anything I’d do different in my life. Would I change anything dramatically? Would I whine and complain about the little things? Would it really matter if the kids made a big mess in the living room? Do I let my friends and family know how much I love them? Do I hold bitterness towards others?

I’ve hugged my kids more this week than any other week. I’ve spent more time with them and tried to think of all the fun things we can do together this summer. I wasted less time playing on the computer, and spent more time reading books to them.

I’m teary eyed just writing this because I know that even though these poor little lives are lost, it’s already done something good for someone.

It’s helped me realize how short life can be.

(and because I can’t leave on such a sad note, here’s some goofy pics of my littlest guy taking pictures of his mama.)

She reads my blog almost daily and is one of my biggest fans. Her heart is made of gold and she’s always doing volunteer work to help other people.  Whether it’s putting together dental kits for kids in need or making Norwegian goodies for people, she’s always up to something.

Last year she was diagnosed with lung cancer and after many months of radiation treatments, she won the battle and is now cancer free. She’s such a strong and amazing woman.

I love you very much, Grandma!!!!!!

I guess not.

So on this lovely Monday morning I found myself saying the usual round of parental warnings. For instance, “don’t smash the graham crackers into the floor,” “dumping milk on the table isn’t a good idea,”  “please stop playing golf in the living room, or ” no, you CAN’T have chocolate for breakfast.” Finally, my personal favorite; “stop taking your diaper off!”

At least I figured out why I keep losing my lens caps…

Have a wonderful Monday!

Thanks to my awesome husband for putting up with me and my crazy self. To my dad who comes over every morning to get Miss K off to school. To my sister Lynsay for being the best nanny to my kids. Thanks to my friends who support me emotionally and let me come cry with them when I’m having a rough day. Thanks to my mom for being my biggest fan and always cheering me on. To my photographer friends who are always inspiring me and helping me get better.  Finally thank you Lord for everything. I am nothing without you.

I’m sorry to get all mushy on you today. I’m just truly grateful that I’m able to do what I love and have it as my job!!

So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And because posts on a photography blog are boring without photos… here’s on of my middle guy hanging out on a bike at his Nana’s house.

You know… so you can see the cutest little ballerina there ever was (wink wink).

Miss K is “the forest” this year and she’s really excited about her dance. Their costumes get better and better every year. When she brought this home after class a couple of few weeks ago, I literally squealed (I’m such a weird mom, poor kid).

I’m in love with green and she is the most beautiful little thing I’ve ever seen. Okay, so I’m biased. There are many other beautiful ballerinas performing as well.

Okay I’ll stop gushing and show you my ballerina….

okay and she looks like a total goof in this one, but this is the Miss K that I know and love. She’s always cracking jokes and goofing off.  (LOVE those missing teeth!!)

I got to take photos at their rehearsal last night. I must be the most embarrassing mom. Here’s me with my huge camera, flash, and lens snapping away.  Nothing worse than having a mom who’s a professional photographer. Thank goodness she didn’t seem to mind!

Thanks for reading!

I wrote Miss K a list of things that she needs to get done in the mornings before school. We were having trouble getting ready on time, so I figured if she had a list than it might make it easier. I taped the list to her bathroom door so she could check them off as she went.

Notice her “corrections” in blue.

She’s seriously a funny kid. She’s got better grammar and handwriting than her mom.

Introducing my new editor:

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!!!! We’re off to have some BBQ.

Lately, though he’s figured out that he has a voice. He has finally caught on to his big brothers antics and screams at him if he tries to take his toys. It’s pretty comical actually. He gives mom attitude sometimes, but for the most part he’s pretty calm.

I wuvs him.

He picked this flower from the garden and then ran away (thinking it was wrong and I would take it from him). I had to convince him that it was “okay” and he wasn’t in trouble. He’s at that age where he gets into everything and is often told he can’t have the wonderful thing he’s found.

At the same time he completely melts my heart.

My three year old middle child. He is busier then my other two kids combined. Typically he can be found with a bat or golf club in hand hitting anything that resembles a ball. He’s in love with sports, but focusing that energy can be quite a challenge. I’d like to get him involved in baseball, but I know I don’t want to push him too early. Of course as the days go on, I’m thinking T-ball right now wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

This is the face he gave me after I had to take his bat away because hitting his little brother just isn’t nice.

I love him to pieces.

So without further ado, here’s the castle. Taken just minutes after the whole fireworks show. I was in awe of the fireworks show, so I didn’t take any photos of it. I’m not good with taking pictures when I’m on vacation!!

I’m catching up on everything right now and I’ll be back to posting regularly from now on. I have some disney pics to share, but for now this is all I can muster the energy for today.

We did have a blast though!!!

Between work, my family, and life in general it gets pretty hectic. I’m grateful for all that I have and I’m blessed for everything God has given to me. But, I’ve been having a hard time enjoying things lately because it’s been so crazy.  When I was feeling down, I heard this song on the radio and this verse really hit home;

“When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I’ll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm”

I started to cry and realized that I’ve been trying to rely on myself to get through the storm. What I need most right now is to trust that God will take care of me.

Without further ado;

Addison Road

“Hope Now”

If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I’m Yours

I’m not my own
I’ve been carried by You
All my life

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I’ll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

I am not my own
I’ve been carried by you all my life

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

You’ve become my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

I am excited to announce that my photo of mine will be on display at the Sixth Street Gallery in Vancouver, WA.

You can see their website here.

The art will go on display on May 1st through May 30th. I know I’m a bit early announcing it, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget to share it here on my blog. I’m also not too ashamed to admit that I’m excited about it!

The theme of the show is “Staring Back: Portraiture.”  I titled my photo “The Beauty of a Child.” The submission requirements called for you to interpret this theme in any way you’d like. I took it literally and submitted a photo of her staring back. Unlike some artists, I’m not too deep into the meaning of my photos. I do tend to like serious photos versus smiling photos since only some of our emotion is smiling. It’s interesting to me to see serious faces of children since children are often depicted laughing or smiling.

Anyway, enough of that serious business. Here’s the photo…

(and as usual I’m totally biased and think that my baby girl is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen)

She is how I got started into photography. She’s still my favorite subject and I never tire of photographing her. My baby girl who is growing up so fast.

I was photographing her little brother and the wind picked up. It caught her hair just slightly. I managed to catch this shot in the perfect moment.

I’ve been waiting patiently for the sun to finally make it’s appearance here in the Great Northwest. We had a very long Winter and I’m looking forward to being outside more often. Yesterday and today were especially beautiful. As I’m typing this, my hubby is mowing the lawn and the smell of the fresh cut grass is pouring into the house. It’s such a wonderful time of year.

Here’s a couple of Mr. D.  He’s now almost 15 months old. Time sure flies by!

I’ve found this to be true in my life. No matter how many kids I’ve had during different stages, it was usually one more than I felt I could handle. Now with three kids, I often feel like I need ‘just one more hand’ to get them all wrangled together. Having three kids and two hands always proves to be an interesting experience when grocery shopping (or doing anything that requires running around town). The baby is usually on my hip, Tinker holds onto my pocket and Little Miss usually knows she needs to keep close. I don’t worry about her too much. According to her she’s practically grown up anyway.

Course as crazy as I feel with my kiddos at times, I still love kids. I think I’d have a dozen more if it weren’t for the whole financial/space issue. Though when I see moms with multiple kids, I wonder how on earth they manage. I know my friends with only one or two wonder how I do it.

I just tie a rope, hold on, and enjoy the ride.

Here’s a few from last week of Little Miss M. I had a quick mini-session with her. You can see her sister a few posts below (little miss “C”). Thanks for being such an adorable model. I hope you enjoy your photos!

Silly kid.

When she was 18 months I took her to a model scout to see if they thought she could be a child model (don’t make fun, she was my first kid). It turned out to be a scam, so I never got her involved. Often people will say that she looks like she could be one, so I guess she’s picked up on that idea. She’s got a good self esteem. No problems there.

She’s losing teeth like crazy so she’s at that awkward smile stage. She let her Uncle Craig pull a tooth out yesterday while we were at a birthday party. She didn’t even flinch. She’s a tough cookie. Of course after her tooth was out she went around the room collecting money from grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Turns out she’s even smarter than I thought!

Trying new processing today. Let me know if you like it. Some days I’m just not in the mood for black and whites or super bright colors. I won’t be getting rid of those any time soon, but it’s fun to play around.

Two weeks ago I started working out. If you’re my friend on Facebook you’ve seen my random status updates of “hey, I’m working out” or “my lungs burn from running.” It’s been the topic of conversation with myself. It’s a big step since I’m trying to become a more well rounded person (minus the “well-rounded” part). It’s not about weight loss. It’s about being healthy. I used to run back in junior high and high school, but haven’t put running shoes on since then.

Okay, I take that back.

ONE time after Tinker was born, I ran a mile and almost peed my pants. My body totally and completely rejected the idea of me doing something so insane. I hung up my shoes and didn’t touch them again.

IT IS ALL CHANGING NOW.

I am now a person who works out. Today I ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill. It took me a looooonnnggg time, but I did it. I feel fantastic. I actually folded five loads of laundry this afternoon. If you ask my family they will tell you it’s a miracle. I feel energetic,  I feel stress free, and let me tell you…

It’s awesome.

Miss “C” being her joyful self. More of her tomorrow.

Where did the time go? He’s growing so fast I can’t keep up. He has friends now. He made sure they were all invited to “my burstday party.” He collects Pez dispensers so it made sense to have a “pez pizza party.” Of course while shopping for his party stuff, he then decided he wanted trucks for the decor. It all worked out fine since I had found pez in the shape of trucks. I didn’t realize how many different kinds of Pez dispensers existed until I found pez.com. I now understand how far parents will go when trying to keep up with a kids’ hobby. He keeps hiz Pez in a special spiderman backpack he carries around everywhere we go. He has about 50 pez dispensers. All with different names. Some are twins, some have candy. They are all special to him and if he misplaces one, the world ends and we have to find it before we can move on.

Happy Birthday Tinker. I love you. Pez and all.

Anyways, if you’re a facebook person, I’d love to add you!!!

Here’s a link to Lemondrops Photography Group:

http://groups.to/lemondropsphotography/

Please come join the fun!!

His true passion is baseball (and football, and soccer, and anything and everything to do with a ball and throwing). Tinker often gets into trouble playing ball in the house and hitting brother and sister with whatever ball he has. It’s an ongoing battle we have with him, but I’m hoping to channel that energy into something more positive. So on Friday before play group I took him to the local ball field to let off some steam doing what he does best. With the baby strapped to my back and a camera in hand, I let Tinker do his thing.

Here’s the results…

I will let you know that the dishes ARE being washed as we speak. Thank the Lord almighty for dishwashers! That was a gift from the hubby for my last birthday. I’m still waiting for the gift of a person to come in and load the dishwasher for me, but I’ll take what I can get for now.

So yes, it’s late and I’m blogging. Too much chocolate at late hours will keep a person awake for long periods of time. You’d think I’d know this with all the late night chocolate munching I do, but I guess today was a rough day and I decided to eat an entire chocolate bar in one sitting (oh and they are NOT small, mind you). Hi my name is Jenica and I have a chocolate problem. I swear I’d be thirty pounds lighter if I could kick this habit of mine.

But I digress.

I’m writing to share about how wonderful my husband is to me. He brought me flowers TWICE for Valentine’s day. The first time was a couple of days before Valentine’s and on the day itself he brought me a dozen roses, chocolates, a bottle of wine, and two teddy bears. He’s perfect!! I know to some it’s not a big deal, but he hasn’t always been this romantic. I’d like to think that it was all the time I put into molding him and shaping him into a perfect husband, but that is FAR from the truth. He’s come this way on his own. We’ve been together for eight years now. I love him more and more each day. It has nothing to do with bringing me gifts and everything to do with him being a wonderful man.

(and to all of you photogs out there who will be wondering how I did this crazy effect on the rose. It’s a preset from adobe lightroom killer tips and can be found here )

“nap time”

“okay seriously, I’m fine. I really don’t need a nap…”

he smiles just seconds after pulling the dog’s tail and pushing brother over…

my daughter has decided that since mom is a horrible cook, that she will take it upon herself to learn..

and though this isn’t our dog, it’s my new “nephew.” His daddy (my brother-in-law) brought the new baby over for us to see. Please welcome Hank to the family…

hope you enjoyed some snapshots of my life!!!

I had some plans going into it, but once we started having fun, my plans went out the window and I got to photograph just for fun. She and I had a blast and I felt like a little girl all over again. We chased each other through the fields and I kept teasing her and calling her “miss sassy pants.” She would laugh a great big belly laugh and then strike another “sassy pants” pose.

“you can’t see me”

oh how I love backlit hair.

“raining sunshine”

sour face

she laughs….

okay not the cutest face, but I couldn’t resist the colors here… sigh… I have been working on backlit stuff for awhile now and it’s just amazing what the sun can do!

“miss sassy pants”

Today is my birthday. I feel 40 sometimes and yet 15 at other times. Age is irrelevant. I grew up quick and now here I am with three kiddos, and awesome hubby and a pretty good life. I don’t think I’d change anything at the present moment. Guess that means I”m doing okay then, right?

Ten years ago I made a “plan” of my life and what I wanted to do. My plan went through the window many years ago and I’m grateful that life didn’t go according to plan. I’m sure I would have messed things up along the way had it been my choosing.

I still don’t have a plan for the next five years. People are always saying that we should plan things out, but I live on the edge and like to think that in five years I’ll be doing something totally different than what I thought. Besides, I told God that I wanted to live according to His plan anyway. We’ll see what He has up his sleeve for Mrs. Jenica Lemmons. I hope I’m still doing photography and loving every minute of it like I do now.

But today I will celebrate life and the gift of it that was given to me.

Today I’ll probably be doing the same ol thing as I normally do. I’ll be researching lighting techniques and looking at inspirational websites and being a mom as well. No big plans, but that’s cool with me. I for sure WON’T be doing dishes or laundry on my day. Course that’s not far from the norm either. lol.

And because I can’t post a blog without showing pics… here’s one of me when I was a kid….

oh yeah buddy, I had a mullet. Aint it cuuuuuutee??

here’s me and the little button

Have a great day and eat lots of chocolate and drink lots of coffee!!

My future sister in law is a professional cake maker/decorator and she made his adorable cake. She works at Market Place and also does AMAZING wedding cakes as well.

the perfect little cake…

ahhh the drool….

hmmmm… I think this might look good on me…

laying on the cake might be fun

SUGAR RUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh yeah, it’s THAT good.

so pleased with himself..

SUCCESS!

A perfectly smashed cake.

and the storyboard I made…

This doesn’t have much to do with photography, but it’s a bit about me. I hope you don’t mind

So here’s my favorite song…

I’m Letting Go

My heart beats, standing on the edge
But my feet have finally left the ledge

Like an acrobat
There’s no turning back

Chorus
I’m letting go
Of the life I planned for me
And my dreams
Losing control
Of my destiny
Feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
So I’m letting go

This is a giant leap of faith
Trusting and trying to embrace

The fear of the unknown
Beyond my comfort zone

Chorus
I’m letting go
Of the life I planned for me
And my dreams
Losing control
Of my destiny
Feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
So I’m letting go

Giving in to your gravity
Knowing You are holding me
I’m not afraid

Feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
Feels like I’m falling and this is the life for me

The flooding caused the entire  beach layout to change with all the extra driftwood. It was calm and clear and a perfect day.

yes, he never stops drooling…. poor kid…

She gets to write a story about herself and bring a show and tell item. A huge deal nowadays because “ONLY students of the week get to do show and tell” she explained to me. She’s bringing her new “eyeclops” magnifying glass she got for Christmas. It magnifies things 400 times and is “really cool” as she puts it.  I had to laugh at my little girl because on her about me page she put that her favorite book was the National Geographic magazine. I think we have a future scientist on our hands.

I love this little girl more than words could ever explain. She’s way beyond her years….

Congrats “D” family. You will be getting a framed 16X20 to hang on your wall. Your family is so much fun and it shows in the photos.

Image 9 came in a very close second, so I’ll be sending you an 11X14. Who can resist the beautiful M with her hair blowing?!

Thanks to everyone who participated and voted.  I had a really great time this year and a great time doing this contest. Your complements made me smile. I truly love what I do and am glad that others appreciate my work.

Have a great day and here’s to many more years of contests!!!

Here’s my boy.

I just wanted to share a quick storyboard of a few of my favorite images of my kiddos from 2008. There are millions more that I love, but I had to stop somewhere. These are all images I’ve had printed and some are hanging on my wall. I think if I were to make a collage of all my favorites from this year, then it’d take up an entire two story building. I have an insane amount of photos backed up on my external hard drives (I have five HUGE ones in case you were curious).

This year has been a very good year for our family. January 31st my littlest guy was born. He started my year off wonderfully. We’ve also been very blessed in many other ways as well. God has been so good to us. I don’t deserve the life I have, but am grateful for it. I have a beautiful, wonderful family. I have a great loving husband who puts up with my wackiness and kids who perfect in their mommy’s eyes. I also am blessed enough to be doing what I LOVE doing. I can’t imagine a better job than being a photographer. I hope and pray 2009 is as good as 2008 was.

The kids had a wonderful time and I think I may have to start building more shelves to store all the goodies they got. Course after all the stacks of presents they received, they’re still content playing simple things. Miss K got a plastic whistle in one of her gifts and it’s become a favorite.

I got a brand new pair of jammies. The hubs and I exchange jammies every year as our presents. Mine are pink and polka dotted (he knows me well). He also surprised me by folding all the laundry and putting it away. For those of you who don’t know me well, laundry is something I struggle with. I have no problem getting it washed, but getting it folded and put away becomes difficult for me. So for him to do all of it and put it away (five million pairs of socks and all) he’s now my hero. I love him!

All in all it was a great vacation.

Though I took hundreds of pictures through the last week, I’m only going to share one for now.

This is my Christmas tree lights….

Have a happy New Year!

Thank you to all my clients who support me and my work. Thank you to my family for being so supportive.  Thank you to my friends who love me no matter how nutty I am.

Finally, thank you to our Savior Jesus Christ whose birth we are celebrating. It is because of Him that we celebrate this wonderful holiday.

Have a fun, safe, and happy holiday!!

The kids and I have been holed up in our house for days. We’ve been trying to enjoy it as much as possible. Last night we started getting ready for Christmas and finally put up the tree. We waited since mr. D will probably pull off all the ornaments anyway.  So far only one has been pulled off and nothing’s been broken. They’ve only been awake for two hours, so we’ll see how long that lasts. Mr. I already unrolled one of my wrapping paper rolls and decided it was a “light saver” (or saber, but he can’t say it correctly). He’s an active kid and hope someday he can channel that energy into something cool like baseball.

In other news; we brought the dog in from outside. It’s actually not too bad having her around the house. She used to be an indoor dog when we lived in Hawaii. Thankfully she’s still potty trained. The kids are enjoying her and though it does add to the chaos, we’ve decided it’s a lot of fun having her indoors again. I had to wash her twice just to get the stink out. She’s been inside for a week already and it’s time for another bath.

So if you read all that, congrats on reading about my boring life. We’re off today to town (finally) to finish up some last minute shopping. Maybe after driving in the snow, dealing with large crowds, and spending money, I’ll finally be ready to be stuck home again.

(Don’t worry, their hands didn’t freeze. We were only out for a few minutes.)

shooting the breeze…

my serious kid… seems like every time I point the camera in his direction….

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Miss N was able to get a smile out of him!

Miss N and Mister T!

my mom made these awesome hats for my friends.  Aren’t they cute?!!!

*please note that when posting comments I do moderate them so it may take up to 24 hours for your comments to appear. I don’t delete comments unless they are rude or offensive. There was some confusion as to comments not showing up or being deleted, so I wanted to let everyone know what was up. So please feel free to comment on anything I post!!

thanks and have a wonderful snowy day!!!

Any image that I produce is copyrighted by me, Jenica Lemmons. Sometimes I’ll allow people the right to reproduce my images by selling them a cd or a file. Though they can print them, they don’t have copyright on them.

Scanning, saving, downloading, right clicking, screen printing, and copying my photos are all against the law. The reason I watermark my photos is to try and prevent people from taking my images without my consent. Now I don’t want to be a big ol meanie about it, but photography is my way to earn a living. I work very hard at what I do and really don’t like people taking advantage of me.

I want to add that I love my clients. Most of them have become good friends of mine and for the most part people have been WONDERFUL to work with. There are just a few stinkers in the bunch that might not make it on Santa’s “nice” list this year.

As far as sharing photos online, I don’t mind people using watermarked images for their sites, facebook, myspace, etc, but just please ask me first. I will happily provide you with images for those purposes.

I just hope the people I work with will choose to do the right thing. There will always be those people who choose to be dishonest. Those people will choose to ignore that gut feeling they get when they’re doing something they shouldn’t. Please don’t be that person.

If anyone has any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. You can even comment below if you’d like.

and of course a post on a photography blog is useless without pictures. Here’s one of Miss K showing us all how she feels about copyright infringement.

I don’t normally get emotional about these sort of things, but when they sang Battle Hymn of the Republic, I got all teary.

Thank you to all Veterans who have served our country. My husband is one of those who served. Though he did not serve in the battlefields in Iraq or Afghanistan, he did his part in the US Army for seven years.  We had a lot of adventures, and a lot of heartache. My heart goes out to those currently separated from their loved ones so that we can keep our freedom.

Here’s an old pic of us when Derrick was in the military. I wasn’t a photographer back then, so please excuse the quality.

Traditional
Written By: Julia Ward Howe

Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage
Where the grapes of wrath are stor’d;
He hath loos’d the fateful lightning
Of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watchfires
Of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar
In the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence
By the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel
Writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with My contemners,
So with you My grace shall deal:”
Let the Hero born of woman
Crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet
That shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men
Before His judgment seat.
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him!
Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies
Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom
That transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy
Let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

He’s going through one of those two year old phases where everything is “no” and “I don’t want to.” My sister who babysits him while I work has to deal with his uncooperative behavior a few times a week. It’s a tough time and I’m hoping he grows out of it. Between that and the tantrums, he’s gonna cause me some grey hairs. Though when he says things like “I’m sorry mama…” it melts my heart and turns me into a big pile of mush. He can be the sweetest little boy and at the same time be the biggest stinker. I love him sooooo very much…

I DID turn them black and white just because it was a little cooler that way. These look so Myspaceish though. See look… I made up a new word.

*Myspaceish is defined as a “self portrait” done in a mirror complete with funny looks and fake smiles.

So here I am in all my baggy eyed, tired looking, pony tail wearing glory. I took these goofy pics late last night after not getting much sleep the night before. Okay, I’ll stop making excuses. THIS is what I really look like on most days…

ENJOY!!!

He truly is a cowardly lion when it comes to certain things. Don’t worry, I only let him cry for a few minutes and then I gave up and took his costume off.  I think the last one is going on my wall. It’s just perfect!!!

There’s no place like home….

yup, he’s always happy. Seriously.

two for three

I love how Miss K is bored, Mr. D is concerned and Mr. I is just crying away….

My little girl lost her top tooth the day before yesterday. She was so excited and she kept running around singing the song. She lost her bottom teeth before summer, but had her permanent teeth grow in behind them so she never had a gap in her smile. This is her first time having a space in her teeth, so she is excited. She also gets her name on the “lost a tooth” board in her classroom at school.

She actually asked me if I would take her picture. I think that’s a first!!!

She did a great job and I was really excited with the results. We clean up pretty well, I think. I’m really glad my hubby and kids were good sports about it. I know they’ll thank me later.

Hopefully they will anyway

this is a goofy one, but it really shows how our family is. total chaos and kids being uncooperative!!!

my favoritist guy in the whole world

this is one of my favs… I LOVE how mr. D is looking over at big sis. It’s too cute!!

Flowers aren’t something I normally photograph but it was nice to do something different for a change. I’m constantly in awe of the beautiful things that God has created. One of the reasons I love being a photographer is I am able to try to capture that beauty (even if only a small part of it).

These flower photos are for my bestest best friend, Angie. I miss her dearly and am sad that she lives so far away. I love you my long lost cousin. Hope to see you soon!!

Here’s some examples of what I’m talking about…

I did get some “normal photos” but it’s just not as fun as showing what really happens when I attempt portraits of my kiddos.

Happy Monday everyone!