Boy do I have a LOT to catch up on!!

These two photos were from about 6 months ago. My dad and I went for a drive to Tri-Cities, WA and found this really cool abandoned house off the side of the road. We both agreed it was something that needed to be photographed and I'm so glad we did. The whole house was sagging in the middle so the floor dipped down on the inside. It really made for a cool fun house effect! Its places like these that really make me wish I knew the history behind it.

I had the opportunity to visit my dad's home town of Susanville, CA. Its off the beaten path about 80 miles west of Reno. My dad has told me a million times about how he and his brothers would always climb to the top of Thompson Peak.... I always pictured like a large HILL or something, and then while we were down there my dad and my uncle DROVE me to the top of Thompson Peak and I was shocked at how casually my dad talked about climbing it. Its HUGE! There's a fire lookout at the top and so I went exploring. You can pretty much predict that there will be an old mattress skeleton at any abandoned location...

This was a totally lucky shot!!

Here is the fire lookout. My dad is up on top of the lookout and my uncle is the one with the red rag hanging out of his pocket haha!

An old runner board for an old truck

Here is my grandparents and all of their kids but 2. One wasn't able to make it and the other past away years ago. My dad is on the far right.It was so fun to see everyone again!

Yesterday was the baby's first birthday!!! So I decided to do a little photo shoot with the girls. They turned out SO CUTE!!

Some fine art for your viewing pleasure....

We went to the beach at the beginning of October and it was a beautiful day!! And I just loved this shot that I captured of my daughter looking at the waves.

I love everything about this photo too, the texture of the water is so cool. I love watching kite surfers!

I was playing around with some macro shots on Thanksgiving day when I went on a hike with my daughter and my dad. We found some cool looking mushrooms!

Turbulent waves in Depoe Bay, Oregon

More mushrooms on Turkey Day!

I love these water droplets!

Hillary and Zander....and Lance....

I know Hillary through a friend of mine. We are both super into horses and, therefore, this was a wedding I could really sink my teeth into. Her and her husband are pretty hard core...as in they do fox hunting in Illinois.... FOX HUNTING!! How cool is THAT!! I had so much fun at their wedding, it was hot, and I was 8 months pregnant, but it was so worth it. These two know how to party!

I loved this photo. Their love for animals really shows in this one.

I couldn't help myself. It was just too perfect.

So I got a new toy...

 So I bought a Canon 6D full frame camera and I couldn't be happier with it! Compared to the Rebel I was shooting with before, well lets just say that the 6D dances circles around my Rebel. The Rebel is a GREAT camera - don't get me wrong - but it was SO time to move to bigger and better things.

The amount of clarity I get with this camera seriously blows my mind. But that's probably because I've been living in a sheltered bubble as far as cameras go...

 These are straight out of the camera. Yeah, I was pretty impressed too...not just because of the image quality but also because of the fact that my daughter actually LET me take a picture or her.

The Beach and the Gorge

My parents have been in town for almost a week now and we had the opportunity to go to the Oregon Coast. We went to Astoria and Canon Beach. We also went to the Columbia River Gorge and did some hiking. The last few pictures are of Oneonta Gorge. I've never hike to the end of the gorge but just the beginning of it is stunning. You have to climb over a treacherous, slippery, moss-covered, log jam. Then you have to wade through chest-deep freezing cold water, then you get to see the gorgeous waterfall at the end of the gorge. I was not dressed for cold water wading, and I didn't have the proper shoes to climb over slippery logs. So that will have to wait for another time. But in the mean time here are some pictures of the gorge opening. The beach pictures were so much fun. It was such a great day to go to the beach. I love the black and whites of Marlie!!

Nice weather = me being happy!

We went to Lewis and Clark State Park today, but the trail that leads to the Sandy river was flooded... so we played in the water!! ... and maybe did some karate :)

And played with the dog's ball...

I promise no one got hurt in this picture... it looks a LOT more scary than it actually was :)

Hey! Bring that ball back!!

Originally we had her pant legs rolled up but when that didn't stop her from getting soaked, we went all white trash and let her run around in a diaper.

My friend's horse had a baby a few days ago. He is SO STINKING CUTE!! They name all their horses after songs from the 50's and 60's so we decided to name him "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" after the Beatles song, and then just call him "Obi" for short. So cute!!

They quickly became friends.... or at least Marlie thought so :)