The best of my blog pictures

These are my adorable kids. I call myself a semi-professional photographer. I have my AA in photography. I was not paid for these pictures, but here is a good smattering of the pictures I have taken in the course of the last two years in everyday life. This is also a good example of the quality of pictures from my new camera.

In photography school I learned a few valuable lessons.

1. Take a ton of pictures. We would take a whole roll of film and turn in only one or two pictures. I got these pictures by taking lots of other pictures, and out of 10 pictures on average--I got these great pictures. I was looking at my copy of Emily's wedding. I was only at the temple. I took 200 pictures and got 20 I was really proud to show. Many of them are good. But I got 20 GREAT pictures.

2. Use your focus! Don't worry about cutting out the background stuff. Focus in. Get Close. My favorite pictures are ones I get up close to take.

3. Keep your camera close. You never know when you will get a GREAT oppertunity for a GREAT picture. I remember just a year ago. It was cold enough that it froze all the sprinkler water on the top of the grass. And I was there delivering papers just as the sun came up. By the time I got to go get my camera it had all melted. This morning I got a way cute picture of Kylee only because my camera was right there.

So here are pictures I have taken--call it the best of Cassy's blogging.

Amber was my very first roommate. I was not her photographer, but I went to the wedding.

Tiffany's wedding--again, I was not her photographer, but I went.

After wedding activities!

A day out with cousins. They don't look much like cousins do they?

Karla's first day of preschool.

I took these pictures at the Nef family reunion.

These were taken from Kaylyns first smile. And Here Grandma shows off Kaylyn after her very first bath.

Grandma K thinks that a blanket is a long distance hug. So each baby has their 'hug' blanket from grandma K.

Grandma, Kaylyn, and Aunt Dot

My baby Kaylyn had a rough first week.

Trudy, the bride, was my best friend in high school. I was suppose to shoot her wedding for her. I was put on bed rest just weeks before her choosen date. I was so disappointed, but I couldn't miss it either. So these were taken from my seat with my feet up. She is beautiful.

These are not the cutest pictures of my kids because their hair is a mess. But I loves these pictures because they are well taken--and these are my kids. Their hair never stayed nice--until we cut it!!

Karla loves her daddy!! And Daddy loves her.

These are not portraits, but I took these and entered them into a contest, so I included them.

Karla's first day of Kindergarten.

7 years and counting

This time 7 years ago I was sick and just coming down with the Flu. Todd had just gotten over it--and he had it worse than I did. I remember that Dad, Mom, and I were canning salsa. It seems like it was salsa. Then Tiffany came and got me--"Todd's thrown up. He's yours now. You clean it up." Todd doesn't usually get sick, but on occassion he gets REALLY sick. And this was one of those times. I haven't seen him that sick since. Tiffany than concluded that it must be love if I would clean up after him. I took Thursday off work because I did NOT want to be sick. I'm trying to remember if I took wednesday too...

But the 19th will be a crazy day for me--so I thought I'd get it up before hand. This year Todd and I have a first time homeowners class to attend. We're not sure it will be possible to buy, but it's better to be prepared. I also work at 5 pm with Johnny. And then on Monday both Kylee and Todd start class. We are using Rodney's gift card to go to Applebee's, but with my new job--we aren't sure when we will go. I think our first anniversary after Todd graduates we are going away for the weekend. But you know how plans go--last time we planned a big anniversary I ended up very pregnant...come to think of it I think it happened twice that way.

So in the last 7 years:
We have lived in 9 homes, three states, and with 4 different families (splitting apartments, having friends crash with us or crashing at friends places). We have had 3 beautiful girls. Todd has had 9 jobs. We've had 5 paper routes. We've paid off all but $2,500 of debt equaling about $34,000 paid (16,000+ being our car). We've canned 6 out 7 summers. And we've survived. To top it off, we are more in love than ever before!

But it we've had our rough spots too. When we were engaged we had a bumpy couple of weeks. I went to the temple and sat in the celestial room. I read through Ruth. If we did wedding vows that would have been mine. "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." I married Todd. We got to a point that I would not bring more children into our unstable family. And then Christ worked in both Todd and I--and amazing things happened. So Kaylyn is a living testiment that I know we are going to stick it out for the rest of eternity. And that I love and respect that man Todd is becoming. She is named Kaylyn Ruth. That is one reason anyway.

I feel I should admit one of the struggles we've had. Normally, I would not post this personal of information. But I feel I should and that it might help someone. So I will lay my heart out there. I wanted to blame all of our problems on Todd. It was easy to blame him. And he certainly contributed. But when Kylee was born I struggled with post-pardom depression. I even became suisidal. Thankfully, I always had my children with me. And if I had done something desperate, they would not have been safe. I know the Lord protected my children and me. I ended up on anti-depressants, and then I started attacking all the things wrong in our lives that lead me to that dark place. It has been an incredible journey--that we are still on. The first step started when I realized that I still had feelings for one of my old beaus that wasn't okay seeing as I was a married woman. I loved Todd desperately. But I needed to resolve these feelings. I made sure I had no contact with this young man because I didn't trust myself. I told Todd what was going on--and he was so patient and understanding with me. He said he wasn't perfect either. And since I had been patient with him, he could be patient with me. He never once brought it up. But he took confidence that I had choosen him, and then I had stayed with him. I wrote in my journal a lot. I wrote what Sister Morgan called a blood essay. I prayed and prayed because I didn't know how to resolve this on my own. I also strengthened my relationship with Todd. And after a long wait, the Lord took all those feelings away. I got to see this young man at my friends wedding recently--and when I saw him I knew that all those feelings were gone. I testify that marriage is ordianed of God and should NOT be taken lightly. And the Lord will give no commandment save he prepareth a way to accomplish the thing which he has commanded. I could not have done this alone, but God could. Keep fighting and stay the course! Because eternal families are worth fighting for. I am so grateful for my amazing husband. I am amazed at how much he loves me. I know I am beautiful because he sees the beauty in me. He has taught me so much. He strengthens me with his support and belief in me. He is my best friend, my partner, my help mate, my husband, my lover, the father of my children, my roommate, my support, and my other half.

Apples, Apples, and more Apples!!

Bobbiejo has been one of best friends since I trained her on a paperroute the summer just before I got pregnant with Kaylyn. So it's been a while. She was there for me when I was on bed rest. And she got after me for looking for other babysitters when I had so many doctor appointments. Bobbiejo and I talk in the morning on our paper route (when she has a route in the winter.)

She has a customer who had an apple tree that seemed to have lots going to waste. So she stopped by and asked if she could trade for some of his apples. He was sweet and said she could take all she wanted--and she did!! She filled the back of her van and then called me. She hasn't canned and wanted to. So I taught her how to can apples, and she shared her apples with me.

We started Tuesday after Kindergarten got out. We worked Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday after Kindergarten until late. She would go home at bed time, and Todd would finish processesing--one night he processed until 3 am!

We made apple pie filling, applesauce, apple butter, apple jelly, and apple syrup. The final count came out to 60 quarts of applesauce, 32 quarts of pie filling, 100 pints of apple butter, 16 1/2 pints of jelly, 33 quarts and 31 pints of syrup. And if my math is right: 272 bottles total!! And half of those go in my food storage while the other half go to Bobbiejo.

Karla's first day of Kindergarden

Karla has been asking all summer when school will start. And she has finally started Kindergarten. She has loved it!! Can you tell by these pictures how excited she was? I didn't pose these. I feel little more out of the loop than I did with preschool, but I think that's normal. Karla has been excited about riding the bus. And until Kylee starts preschool and I have to run her up to Tapteal anyway, I'm letting Karla ride the bus. She has complained "Do I have to be the first one off everyday?" And this morning, she asked "Is today a school day? Is today a bus day?" I miss seeing the teachers everyday--but I love not having to take her up there myself!

She didn't get to ride the bus the first day of school. But here she is on her second day of school--her first time riding the bus.

Here is Karla going in the door at school!!

Karla is in Ms. Tunnell's class while her preschool buddies are in the other class. But Karla makes friends fast. I will admit, I ask Karla what she did at school today and she is already starting to answer "stuff." She loved the Fox game during PE though. It's like sharks and minnos except with a fox. And she loves the extra incentive to read at night. Since it's her homework, we are even more consistant than we use to be at reading before bed. It's been an adjustment to make sure she gets to bed on time EVERY night and getting up early in the morning. But she loves it!

On Karla's first day of school, We had planned on having a garage sale at my mom's house. Now that was planning wasn't it! So we went over and got things set up and then I ran her to Tapteal. We were 30 seconds late!! And her teacher had already taken the class in. Karla was able to sneak in with the other class though. Then I was watching the time very closely so that I picked her up on time--and then when Karla gets out of class, Mom said don't you need to go? I had been watching the wrong clock. The clock I was watching was almost an hour behind!! GRRR! It seemed like if it could go wrong it did. I would have been on time except I dropped off the younger kids first and didn't take into account my babysitter would be at the bus stop with her kindergartner. We were late getting to my mom's house too. I was trying to leave the kids home that morning--but papers were running late. It was just one thing after another that day. On top of everything else, Uncle Jonathan was sick. So they were going to hang out with us until he got really sick--so that's why they went to play at a friends. But we made $160 at our garage sale and the kids survived too. And Karla had fun at school.

All three girls enjoyed getting back to school blessings from Daddy. And it was cute to watch Kaylyn, so small, sit so still. And I'm excited to see this family tradition carrying on. I think it's important and a great strength to all of us.

On other fronts: Karla and Kylee went to Eva's birthday party! It's the first birthday party they've been invited too. And I, as a mommy, was very excited for them. They had a blast. And we are excited for Eva too. Happy birthday sweet girl!!

And then Saturday, when I got home from rehersal with the hungry 5, I came home to find all three girls had gotten up and let daddy sleep in. They had pulled Kaylyn out of her crib and turned on cartoons. I thought it was so cute that I took a picture!! I'm glad these girls take such good care of their baby sister.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't put in a quick plug. It seems like Kaylyn has grown up a lot the last month. She can now take off some of her clothing as shown above. :) But with me going to work on the weekends, she has been a little clingy. As she moved out of clingy--she's wanted to play. Undivided attention!! She loves to toss a ball, read a book, stack her stacker Aunt Julie got her, or just tickle! But she wants to play with mommy and daddy. It's been cute to watch.

Twenty Minutes A Day

Twenty Minutes A Day

by Richard Peck

Read to your children

Twenty minutes a day,

You have the time,

And so do they.

Read while the laundry is in the machine,

Read while the dinner cooks;

Tuck a child in the crook of your arm

And reach for the library books.

Hide the remote,

Let the computer games cool,

For one day your children will be off to school;

"Remedial?" "Gifted?" You have your choice;

Let them hear their first tales

In the sound of your voice.

Read in the morning;

Read over noon;

Read by the light of

Goodnight Moon.

Turn the pages together,

Sitting close as you'll fit,

Till a small voice beside you says,

"Hey, don't quit."