My First Wedding!

Well, hi there, everybody!

(Or at least to the two people that still check this blog. :))

If you haven’t noticed (cough cough) there has been a dearth of posts lately.

So I am going to try to remedy that.

Are you ready?

Good.  Glad you’re on board with me.

All two of you.

So then.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of second shooting my first wedding.  It was my cousin’s wedding, and it was AWESOME!  Most of the time I focused on getting candid shots, not any of the formal shots, since the other photographer was getting them.  So that means that there are not that many “formal” shots to share with you all.  But I hope you enjoy the ones I do have!

We helped with reception hall set-up before the ceremony

They used these cool/weird water ball thingies.  They were great to photograph!

Hello there!  Just affirming that I am here, cause you won’t see me a whole lot.  🙂

My cousin and my grandparents

Mother of the groom

My aunt (mother of the bride) and two of my many awesome cousins!

Junior bridesmaid (and another of my awesome cousins) Hannah

Waiting

 

 

 

Exchange of vows

 

 

I LOVE her face!  Isn’t she so sweet?!!

Hannah and Meiling

Between photos

 

Bouquet

The flower girls – they were so cute!  You’ll be seeing more of them.

My cousin Mark.  We had this thing going all day, where I was getting goofy photos of him.  I still need to finish the slideshow of funny photos.  It’s almost done!

Bride, mother, and sister

See? What did I tell you?  Cute or WHAT?!?

The main photographer was having them make happy/fun faces.  As you can see, Hannah took to jumping up and down.

 

They left the church amid bubbles

 

*Happiness*

Can you *tell* they’re sisters?

My aunt (not the mother of the bride) makes a piñata for just about every family occasion.  The wedding was no exception!

She even made a fancy bat.

Scott egging on the crowd

And that’s the end of that.

Another tradition: the wearing of the piñata

Fixing hair

Almost everyone who had been there for the piñata (family and bridal party) had glow sticks.

Mom, Grandma Jeane, and my aunt (the one that made the piñata)

Centerpiece

Greeting at the door

 

These two were so cute.  They started dancing, then were break dancing, and now are slow dancing.

Cutting of the cake (see the glow stick bracelet?)

 

Head table (minus the bride and groom – hey, where did they go?)

First dance

 

At the end of the first slow song, the music changed, and the bride and groom did a choreographed dance to several songs.  They danced for almost 10 minutes!  It was a total BLAST to watch!

 

 

 

 

 

They ended with a slow song

Groom and mother

Watching

Bride and father

Next they had all the couples come to the dance floor and dance.  The DJ then had couples leave the dance floor, by saying “Anyone married less than  ___ has to leave the dance floor.”  It was pretty awesome, because my grandparents were the last ones there.  All because of them.  🙂

My parents

When my grandparents were the only ones dancing, a bunch of us made a circle around them

And then the dancing started

Cousins

Bridesmaids

Scott and Sarah

Us  🙂  (Thanks to my dad for grabbing this shot)

The dollar dance – my dad and Sarah

Noah and Sarah

Drake and Sarah have always been special friends, since they share a birthday.  Drake used to hang out with her when he was little.

 

 

And you want to see one of the goofy pictures?

Too.  Much.  Wedding.

The Garden

As I was walking outside today, I realized that I hadn’t walked through the garden just to look for awhile.  So I went to take a look.

This year we have tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, asparagus, herbs, and some lettuce.  Everything seems to be doing very well!

The garden

We have some tomato blossoms…

…and some tomatoes!

Actually, quite a few tomatoes

Asparagus

Most of the asparagus looks like this

Lots of butterflies!

Busy bee in the thyme

Thyme

Cilantro

Apple mint

Butterfly!

Lavender

 

Our parsley is about two feet tall now!

Orange mint

Lettuce

We have some cucumbers like this…

…some like this…

…and some with flowers!  Another butterfly

I found this interesting cucumber blossom

And had to take many photos of it!

 

Look at all these little cucumbers!

 

 

Climbing

On to D.C. – Part 2

On Tuesday we went to Mount Vernon.  It.  Was. Gorgeous.  Mount Vernon is beautiful – the house is well kept, and the grounds are beautifully planted.  Also, the Welcome Center has an AWESOME museum underneath it, and we only got to spend a few minutes in it.

Wednesday we went to the Library of Congress and the U.S. Capital.  The Library of Congress was beautiful.  They had a Gutenberg Bible there, which was really neat to see.  Also, they had some exhibits in the basement, one of which was about the Gershwins.  They had George Gershwin’s piano there!

Next we went to the Capital.  I really enjoyed the tour – seeing all the rooms that I had heard about and (risking sounding cheesy) only seen on T.V.  We were able to sit in the Senate chamber during one of the votes on gun control.  It was fascinating, at least for me.  Meiling didn’t find it that interesting, but she was such a good girl and sat quietly.  I was quite proud of her.  We were in the Senate chamber during several votes, which were so interesting to watch.  The senators were milling about, talking, and then it would be time for the vote.  The lady tallying the vote would look around the room, and the senators would just give a thumbs up or thumbs down.  Then, after a bit, she would read through the votes, and then start calling senators by name, and they would vote.  Then she would tally the votes.  It was interesting how almost disorganized it had appeared, with the senators in their groups talking, and the votes happening.

After we left the Capital, we drove the two hours down to Charlottesville, VA.

And now for the photos.

At Mount Vernon

Heading in

 

A walkway (wow, am I profound today!)

My boys

The view is amazing

Drake

Thyme.  I LOVE thyme.

The 8-sided wheat-treading barn

Library of Congress

 

 

This and the following photos:  The inside was GORGEOUS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Gershwin’s piano!

Walking to the U.S. Capital

The rotunda

The Jefferson Davis statue in Statuary Hall

I tried several views of the Capital, so bear with me.  It’s right up there with the Washington Monument.

 

 

Spring Flowers

Spring is coming – actually, it’s starting to feel like it’s here.  Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and trees are leafing.

(Is that how you would say it?  Trees are leafing out?  I don’t know.  But, whatever. :))

Anyways, here are some flower photos that I have taken recently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today – 10/1/12

Happy October, everyone!

I told that to my sister this morning, and she promptly asked me what October was.  🙂

*Urgent News*  This is going to be a ramble-y post.  So it is a little disjointed.  Some of it will make more sense when you see the pictures.  I’m not sure about the rest of it.  😛  If you would rather, just scroll down to the pictures. 🙂  (I am in a bit of a smiley face mood today.  You’ll se what I mean in a minute.)

Today has been a quiet day.  I spent it giving my room a good cleaning since we have a good family friend coming to visit us tomorrow, and she will be staying in my room.  She will be here for ten days.

Once I was finished with my room, I spread out the cookbooks that are in my room, and continued with the menu planning.  I currently have 30 recipes/meals picked out for October.  I still need to pick out the recipes for the nights when Noah, Meiling, and I will be cooking ethnic foods.  And I need to chat with Mom about what we are going to bring to church on the meal Sundays.  I just realized that 30 recipes is enough.  I kept thinking that I would need one more, not remembering that we already had tonight planned.  Well, it only took me till now to figure that out.

We have lots of cats right now.  Most of them are technically kittens, as they were born this Spring and Summer.  They are feeling the slight chill in the air, and have been cuddling in a large pile on the deck.  Very cute!

I have had a cold over the weekend, a most miserable cold that hasn’t wanted to go away.  I have been taking the home remedies that I usually take, but I didn’t start them until I had already had the cold for a day.  I thought that the cold was allergies at first.  But I figured out that it was a cold on Friday morning.  Now I have been taking Master Tonic and Elderberry Syrup hourly (except at nights and while at Church).  I took a break for a few hours today since I was getting a bit tired of the Master Tonic.

On Friday, while I was sick in bed, I finished “Health for Godly Generations” and started “How to be Your own ‘Doctor.’”  It was quite fun reading that while I was sick.  I read about a few things that I could use while I was sick.  I have been drinking peppermint/parsley tea to help with congestion.  I’m not sure if it is helping, or if I am just getting better, but I am definitely less congested than I was yesterday!

Another remedy that I read about (and tried!) said to take an onion, chop it up, put it in a bowl, and sleep with it as close to your pillow as you could.  I tried it, and it kept my nose so clear!  But I had this feeling that I was going to knock it off the bed during the night.  Well, on Saturday night I didn’t knock it off. But last night was a different story.

I woke up to a clang just before 4 this morning.  Sure enough, I had hit the bowl with my arm and sent onions flying across the floor.  Not only were there onions, but onion juice, too.  I just grabbed the onions, tossed them in my trash can, wiped up the juice, and used the Swiffer to mop up the area quickly.  I decided that I would just leave the Swiffer and put it back in the morning.  (Trust me, there is a point to me telling, and you reading, this!)

At 5:30 our outside dog, Shadow, started barking at something.  My window was open, and the sound came through quite clearly.  Lucy, my little dog who was sleeping right next to me, immediately sat up, put her paws on me,  and started barking.  I shushed her in a few seconds, but she kept staring at something across the room.  It was the Swiffer.  She did not like the Swiffer.  I finally got her to calm down, but the next few times Shadow barked, she would lift her head to watch the Swiffer.  I don’t think that she quite trusted it.  🙂

Oh, I am SO excited.  We are going to get some more herbs.  Actually, quite a few.  I can’t wait.  I am going to make all kinds of things with them.  Can’t wait!

Here are a few pictures I took today.  None of them are particularly good.  But they are Today.  🙂

Kitty pile – the one looking right at us is Toby.  We don’t know if it is a boy or a girl, but it has one orange toe.  Hence the name:  Toby.

Meiling swinging

 

Upis down!  (means upside down – some little one in our family said that, not sure who)

Ooooooh, I love this.  Like LOVE love this.  The last roses of summer (actually, there are probably more that a dozen on our knockout rose bushes)

Kitty

Asparagus for dinner – we were going to grill it, but the grill is out of gas.  So I pan fried them, with the leftover marinade from the zucchini (see below).  They were very good.  Quite different than what we are used to, but in a good way.

And it is not going to fall off the plate.  I just felt like tipping the camera that far.  So I did.  😛

The zucchini.  Again, we were going to grill these, but [see above].  I marinated these for a half hour in an Italian dressing I made.  Next time I will marinate them longer.  But they were pretty good.  Again, very different than what I am used to.

Another kitty pile

The view from our driveway

The trees on the other side of the pasture that lies across the road

I LOVE this fence.  It’s just so…country…semi-rustic…fence-like.  Like you couldn’t tell that last thing.

Love that sky!

Up the road

The mums have bloomed

I LOVE these leaves.  They are in my favorite part of the yard.  The trees are so close together that the leaves practically block out the sun.  It is absolutely beautiful.

Branson Vacation – Days 2 through 4

The next day we headed back to Silver Dollar City.  It turned out to be a great day – not too hot and not too crowded.  Dad, Drake, Meiling, and Noah rode some rides while Mom and I watched and took pictures.  At about 2 we watched the show “Luma,” which was pretty good.  After lunch, we split up – Dad took all of the children to tour Marvel Cave while Mom went to the shops.

The cave was awesome!  I am so glad we went.  It was definitely different from my last caving experience, which was in a much smaller cave without lights or walkways.  Marvel cave had walkways, stairs, lights, and a train to take you the rest of the way out, and it was quite large.

On Saturday morning and early afternoon, Mom and I went shopping while the boys went swimming.  We picked out some games, since we had forgotten to bring any with.  The two we purchased are “Angry Birds:  On Thin Ice” and “Dicecapades.”  I really liked the second game, and the Angry Birds game was fun too.

After coming home from shopping, we just chilled, or as my brother would put it, we were chillaxing. 

Sunday wasn’t all that exciting, either.  We went to church, ate lunch, and I had a nap, as well as a most of my family.  We played Dicecapades in the evening.

I didn’t mention in my last post, but we did some grocery shopping after going to Silver Dollar City on Thursday.  This wouldn’t be exciting except for one little thing – WE GOT POP-TARTS!  I love Pop-Tarts.  I know, I know.  I try to eat healthy, and I love Pop-Tarts.  But.  We were on vacation.  And they were SO good.  So imagine, if you will, me eating at least one each morning after breakfast.  Mmmmm…

Be forewarned: there are lots of pictures in this post.  So many that I am postponing the Dicecapades pictures until tomorrow.

Friday – Meiling and Drake being silly

The view from our condo’s balcony

 

 

At Silver Dollar City – pretty flowers

Riding the swings

 

More pretty flowers

There are all kinds of interesting signs

Still more pretty flowers

While everybody else was in line for a ride, I had some fun with Mom and Drake

Lovely fountain

 

 

Drake has those toe shoes (although you can see that in the photo so this caption is totally unnecessary)

 

 

Dad, Meiling, and Noah on a roller coaster

Look!  Even more pretty flowers!

On the teacup ride

An interesting brick pattern on the ground

 

We stepped into one of the shops, and this potter was making pie plates.  It reminded me of Isaiah 64:8 –

“But now, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our
potter;
we are all the work of your hand.”

Meiling being funny while we waited for lunch

Marvel Cave

A hole in the roof of the cave, looking to the ceiling

 

 

Looking back up (these are not the greatest pictures)

Isn’t God’s creation amazing?  The photos can’t and don’t do the real thing justice.

 

 

This photo is so pink because the waterfall was lit  🙂

 

While we were waiting for the train to start (still in the cave), I started getting a little panicky.  Meiling solved the problem by saying, ”Look at me!  I’ll just make funny faces!”

After the cave, we met back up with Mom.  Dad and Noah went on another roller coaster…

…while we road the train (a different train than the one that is in the cave)

Saturday, on a walk – my first successful sunset!

Playing at the playground

My wonderful Drake

Down a gravel road to the lake – this reminded us of walking down our old county road to the creek!

My little peanut butter throwing rocks

 

*swish*

 

I love the reflection

Walking back to the condo

Branson Vacation – Day 1

Our trip started last Thursday, when we left for Branson in the morning.  Our first stop was a surprise from Daddy – he took us to a bakery on our way out of town to get some donuts for the road.  I chose a caramel frosted cinnamon roll – it was pretty good.

We arrived at our condo at about 4:30 in the afternoon.  After unloading the van, we decided to go to Silver Dollar City for the rest of the day and go again the next day (if you go and purchase tickets at Silver Dollar City after three o’clock, you can go the next consecutive day that they are open with the same ticket).

Dad and Noah were looking forward to riding some roller coasters.  As soon as we got there, we made a beeline for a roller coaster.  While Dad, Noah, and Drake rode it, Mom and I took Meiling to ride the carousel.  After the boys were done with their roller coaster, Drake joined us while Dad and Noah went on some more roller coasters.

I will just put this out in the open now:  I don’t ride many amusement park rides, so I only went on a few while we were there.  I still had plenty of fun.  I loved it!

After the rest of the park was closed, there is one last show that we saw.  We headed back to the condo once that was finished, and did some nibbling before we all went to bed.

The bakery we stopped at

Flaky goodness

Sometimes temptation comes as a pastry, covered with sprinkles…

…and sometimes it looks like little brown mounds in little white paper cups!

The waterwheel at Silver Dollar City

My family

I LOVE lemonade

I thought this looked neat

Meiling on the carousel

Self portrait 🙂

“The Flooded Mine” ride – this one was a favorite

On the elephant ride

Classic Drake [Drake said to label this “Scared, even on the elephant ride.”]

Meiling, watching the show

Dad and Noah with their matching shirts!

Roses

There is a rosebush right outside my bedroom window.  I look at it every morning when I get up.  For a few days the sun bathed the blooming buds with light.  I had to go out to take a few pictures.

The rose that made me come out and take pictures

I also like it in black and white.  What do you think?

 

 

 

Kitchen Herbs

This past Saturday we went to a very cute farm-themed baby shower.  For favors and place cards they used little flower pots and buckets filled with goodies.  Now that I had a flower pot, I needed to plant something in it.

So I started thinking.  A flower would be nice, but you can’t eat it.  The flower’s purpose would be just to look pretty.  Not that there is anything bad about that.  I just usually like to plant plants that produce something that we use.

When we were starting seeds for our garden, I decided that I would try to grow some cilantro and parsley, since we use those herbs often and a whole bunch from the store can be too much.  It would be so nice to have some cilantro here in the kitchen, since that doesn’t do all too well out in the heat.  I started some thyme seeds in a bag a few weeks ago and the little plantlets needed to be planted.  I decided to plant cilantro in two of the pots and thyme in the third.

I really wanted to get them planted today, but it was already getting late.  While I was making cookies, I decided it was the perfect time to plant.  The recipe has you mix the butter, eggs, and sugar together for 30 seconds, then let the mixture sit for 3 minutes, and you have to repeat this process for a total of 3 times (this makes for a most delicious dough).  During those three minutes, I would hurry outside to work on my plants.  I had to work on them some more after the cookies were done, but it didn’t take all that long and I was very satisfied with the result.

My inspiration

Filled with dirt

My cute watering can – it was found in a thrift store

All planted, except the top one – I still need to put a cilantro seed in it

Extra thyme plantlets that I need to do something with.  I’m not sure what that something is.

A gooey chocolate chip cookie (yes, that is chocolate smeared on the counter, and no, I didn’t lick it off)

The Creek

Next to our home runs a private road.  Part of it has gravel, but the majority of it is just a mix of rocks, dirt, and plants.  The trees grow over it, so most of the way is shaded.  The wildflowers are blooming next to it.  After about a ten or fifteen minute walk down this road, you reach the creek.

When you first reach the creek, you walk out under the open sky into full sun.  On the right the creek is shallow and shaded with tall trees arching over it, giving the water underneath a dappled look.  On the left there are lots of rocks, with the creek getting narrower and deeper, with trees hanging over it from the farther bank.

We walked down to the creek this past Sunday.  I took my camera (surprise, surprise).  We also brought our black lab Shadow, who loves to swim.  Noah and Meiling played fetch with her, and Dad threw the ball occasionally.  I took pictures of the whole thing.

Here are some of the photos.  I was quite unhappy as there were all these lovely wildflowers and I hadn’t brought my macro lens, since I was trying to reduce baggage. 🙂

 

The road to the creek

This looks fairytale-like to me

To the right

I love water, ripples…

…and sun sparkles!

 

Throwing the ball for the dog

Playing in the water

I found this plant interesting

Sloshin’ around

To the left

When you get wet, you have to shake all that water off.

Sometimes your lips look weird.

But it always feels good

Oh yeah

Noah

This is going to be a new tradition – a lens cap picture wherever I go

More dog shaking off pictures – sorry, they’re just so fun

That feels good.

Just lovin’ those yellow boots

Foot pictures…also very fun

 

Flowers without a macro lens

I like how this one turned out

Where we took a little stroll – an even older road

So what did you do for Resurrection Sunday?  We didn’t do a whole lot.  Since some of us have been sick, we stayed home from church so not to infect everyone.  Nothing to fancy – we went to the creek, read Bible, played badminton, and had dinner.  Do you have a Resurrection Sunday tradition?

Happy Friday!

~Allison