This is from last year, 

These are from this Fall!

The kids sure have changed in one year!

It’s so nice being able to go back and look how much my families have changed through the years!  Thanks Troy, Sonia and kids!

Bryce is growing up to be a handsome young man, and is always lots of fun!

Nakita is such a beautiful and kind young lady!  I see her future being filled with lots of dates, Sorry Troy!

One cool thing that happened, and that I can share with you is that my friends, Maria & Joe celebrated their 10 year anniversary by a vow renewal.

They kind of had a whirl wind courtship when they first met.  Actually, how they met is a little weird.  Maria is from England, and came to Canada for her uncles funeral.  And at the funeral she met a cute boy named Joe.  Yup, they met at a funeral people!  

So after a few months, they decided to get married.  Joe flew over to England, where they tied the knot.  Then Maria moved back to Canada with him.  Ten years, and 3 kids later……they are still crazy in love.

So Maria asked us girls to be in her wedding and read the poems that were read at the first wedding.  Us girls were, Matea, Tammy, Christine and myself.  Joe and Maria asked my husband to officiate.

Maria also wanted me to take pictures.  Problem, how to do that while standing up front and reading.  So we got my 15 year daughter, Tannis to take pictures during the service and during the party.  I would shoot their official pictures in between.  Problem solved.

So I will start with the ones Tannis shot:

Joe wrote and sang a song to Maria when they first started dating.  He sang it to her again as she was walked down the aisle by their son.  Poor Joe was so nervous, but he did great.

Did I ever mention how nervous I get having to stand up in front of people?  Ya, I also tend to get the giggles when I get nervous.  Well, I started to giggle…..but thankfully my friend Tammy was there to keep me in check.  Thanks for the poke in the side there Tam!

Maria and Joe reading their vows.  Actually, Maria read hers.  Joe followed it up with a “Ditto”

This is Joe’s dad.  He was the only one of Joe’s family members to make it to England for their wedding.  So nice that many of Joe’s family could be there for the vow renewal.

Time to visit and enjoy some wine!

My first glass of wine after getting through the reading.  Ahhhhh!

Now for the official pics!

The day of the Lacombe graduation was beautiful, blue skies and sun.  I decided to take Tyler and her family down by one of our lakes to do the first set of pictures.  Within 10 frames I knew this wasn’t gonna work.  There was fuzz from the trees floating everywhere and large groups of baby mosquitos all around.  Darn it!  So, we left there pretty quick.  It worked out beautifully I think, and I didn’t have to pull out the mosquito spray! 

Thank you so much Ty and Lisa for a fun day!

1)  If I dress my cat up in cute costumes I could take pictures and sell a calendar and make a ton of money off of her cuteness.  Problem is she is evil and will plot her revenge.  I love my evil cat!

2) I could dress Ramsey up (the dog) and do a cute shoot with him.  He is kinda dumb and would do anything for a cookie.  (yes, I feed him cookies.  Stop judging me)

3) I have considered going to bartending school.  It seems like something that would be fun.  Only problem is I would wanna sample all the product.  So that’s  #1, problem.   #2 is I am prone to small acts of klutsyness  and stumblyness(that’s totally a word!), and I am pretty sure that if I tried to thow bottles around in the air trying to do some cool trick I would end up causing great injuries to myself and others.

4) I like to make up my own words.

5) I should hire someone to come clean my house.  But I would have to clean my house first, so that person could come in and clean it.  Thus creating a giant circle of problems I am just not ready to deal with at this time.

6) I like dancing, I really like 2 stepping.  Problem is I really am not a huge fan of country music.  Except Garth Brooks, but you can only listen to Garth for so long.  I wonder if you can 2 step to AC/DC?

•   I just tried and yes you can.  But my son just walked in and busted me and gave me one of those looks he gives me when he catches me doing things he considers weird.

7) I need to stop buying cookbooks.  It gives the kids false hope.

8) I wish I knew where my purple blouse with the one shoulder that is cut out and has the silver metal thingymcbobber on it.  It’s cute and I look good in purple.  How the hell did I lose a shirt?

9) I’m thinking I did something to piss mother nature off and she’s taking revenge on my career. 

10) I love twitter way more than Facebook.  I find it doesn’t pack the pressure Facebook does, and the random things I put on it seems to not get me in as much trouble.  You should follow me, no pressure…but ya should!  http://twitter.com/#!/pennymoffitt

11) I’m very sarcastic when in an uncomfortable situation.  You would be impressed with how many times a week this can happen!

12) Everyone should have a soundtrack to their life.  I fear mine would be that from a circus.

13) I worry my very well-balanced and goody-goody son who gives me strange looks when I do something he considers weird will contact the Dr. Phil show soon and report me.  I’m sorry kid, but blasting AC/DC and trying to 2-step to it is perfectly normal.  Stop looking at me like that!  (seriously, he’s gonna turn me over to the puzzle factory soon)

14) I wish my daughter understood my sarcasm better,  Refer back to # 11.  My sarcasm has been flowing very well with her right now.  She’s 15, very cute and likes boys.  I am very uncomfortable with the whole situation right now!

15) I like to watch scary movies alone.  I don’t really, but my friends are all chickens and won’t watch them with me.  You know who you are!  (sadly, none of my friends read my blog, so they will never know I called them out on here)

16) I get bored too quick

17) I wish it was acceptable to have a Halloween tree.  A Halloween tree would be sooo cool, It’s my very favorite holiday.  I wanted to spray paint my tree black last year, no one would get on board with this though.  (This is when I started to notice the weird looks Jake gives me)

There is so much more I could add, but I should stop now before someone other than Jake calls Dr. Phil.

Welcome to Harlows’ first photo shoot!  This little one was a couple of days late for her shoot as she had to go back to the hospital just after she was first released to spend a little time in a tanning bed.  She had some jaundice that needed to be taken care of, so under the lights she went for a couple of days.  I wish I wouldn’t have deleted the picture that was texted to me from her grandma, it was too cute.  Laying in this little bed, with lights.  If you haven’t seen one of these, it really does look like a tiny tanning bed.  Harlow even looked like she was enjoying it, stretched right out with her little ankles crossed and sun glasses on.  She is going to be just like her mom and grandma, soaking up the sun and heat when they can; right ladies!

Well Tiffany, here is the blog post with the sneak peek I promised you!  ( Just a little image heavy)

Tiffany has the prettiest blue eyes I have ever seen.  I wonder if Harlow will have them also?

In the next couple days I will be shooting her very first session.  Can’t wait!

All donations needed to be sorted, boxed and stored.  This is not a big gym….luckly Shelley had been in contact with someone who could help with this.  So after bags were sorted through and boxed they were hauled to a place that could be used for storage till Saturday when everything was ready to be hauled to Athabasca on Saturday.  The donations kept rolling in all week and so did the volunteers.  It was such an amazing experience, I don’t really have the words to explain.  The people who I met through this are amazing wonderful hardworking, machines.  Everyone that gave their time deserve a pat on the back.  The small business owners that gave their support to this cause, well I can’t even begin to say how much you are appreciated!  My heart and prayers go out to all those in communities that have been affected by the fires.  To all the incredible people I met this week, way to go!  A total of 5 semi trucks drove to Athabasca last Saturday, way to go central Alberta!

Here are a few pictures from my phone that I grabbed along the week.

Here is Deannas’ trailer, and our first run to store donations

This is a 30 foot trailer packed to the brim with donations that we took for storage.  I can’t remember for sure, I think day 3.  I am also not totally positive how many trips this trailer made. 

We also did some box hunting for the first few days.  Parkland Mall than started saving their boxes for us, that meant less dumpster diving for my friend Brenda. 

This next trip was a run to take some supplies to some evacuees north of Edmonton.  I was very lucky to help with this trip.  I had mentioned on twitter that I was wondering how many times I would cry that day, total was 2!  After we had dropped off clothes, water, food and then after a very kind txt from a friend.  I am not even gonna try to add up the other times I got all teary that week.  Oh, also a u-haul went up to Grand Prarie to evacutees there, can’t believe I almost left that out.  2 people gave up their time to drive it up there, and then 2 other very special people went up and picked them up.  Gosh I hope Tom has gotten some sleep!

 Look Jo, good road trip food!!!   

 Look Jo, bad road trip food.      But in our defence, Deanna had to hit the breaks and it just kinda bounced into our mouths.  Ya, I wouldn’t buy that story either, lol    

I regularly tell people they should have their portraits taken, I especially push women to do this as I truly feel most women don’t see themselves in a true light.  We are subjected to others ideas of beauty, and we are our own worst enemy.  We tear ourselves apart, looking in a mirror for all our flaws.  I am no different, I am human.

One of the hardest shoots I have convincing women to do, a boudoir shoot.  When a woman even implies she would like to do one, I instantly start telling them how beautiful they are and how wonderful this experience is.  And I truly do believe it, I can say every woman I have done  this shoot with is amazing.  No matter the shape.  Women are amazing if we allow ourselves to be!  I walk a woman through her shoot, always coaxing her.  Telling her how wonderful she is, and letting her know she is beautiful.  I truly always belive it, and hope at the end I have boosted someones self-worth.

I also hope my clients after their shoot will allow me to use their pictures on this blog or in advertising.  This doesn’t often happen.  Trust me, I get it!  This is when we are at our most vulnerable place.  Who wants to put themselves out there to be judged? 

And how can I ask you to do it, when I haven’t………….           

Guess what I am doing this Saturday!

This puts me in 2 situations I am not comfortable with:

1:  I am supposed to be behind the camera, and photographers make terrible clients!  My camera is my security blanket, it is where I am truly comfortable.  I am someone else when my camera is in my hand.  Almost like Nikon has given me an ability to be brave and an extrovert.  (I am normally very introverted when around people I don’t know.  But if among friends, and those I feel comfortable around; I can be me without being judged)

2: I hate having my picture taken!!!

I should also add, I am not just doing this for my clients.  I am doing this for me…

This has been a tough year, with lots of bumps and bruises along the way.  Some goals achieved, like weight loss.  I lost 30 pounds, and it sucked.  I really miss chips and candy and snacking.  I hate working out!

I am putting myself in the hands of my friend Deanna from http://www.deannahallphotography.com/

I have known Deanna for a while now, first as another photographer.  She hired me as a 2nd shooter for a wedding.  Now she is the most amazing friend I could ever ask for.  I am blessed to have her in my life.

So, I guess after my shoot I will let you all know how it went.  And I will warn you, I have also agreed to let her post any pictures on her blog and on Facebook.  This is where I start to panic….deep breaths!  LOL