Twirling flowers…

Just had to share this shot of our two little flowers.  They wanted to twirl by the flowers.  (I would guess the dahlias will be with us for only another week or so).  Fun to see what a handful of years will do with twirling prowess…

~///~

4th of July…. Postmortem.

Postmortem as in, it’s behind us.  No one died.  No skin was burned, and no ear drums ruptured.  All fingers accounted for.  Except for the critters and the 2 year old, it was a complete success.  The animals are not fans of anything loud and flashing, and apparently the 2 year old isn’t either.  She was OK with smoke bombs though.  As long as her big cousin (superhero in her eyes) is keeping her safe.

~///~

14 Years….

It’s been a lot longer than that. Really. A lot longer. Like grade school. So arguable more like three decades (ish). Kind of hard to believe. If it weren’t for the fact that the photos from 30 years ago look familiar to me….

Joscelyn,

You are my best friend. My rock, and constant companion. You challenge me to do better, you push me to find ways to improve everything from my parenting, to my faith to rinsing the dishes before putting them in the dish washer. You are with me when I fail. And I like that, cause you end up with me a lot!

You do so much more than care for my children (yes, I know they are yours too), you teach them, love them, sacrifice for them. You worry about them when they seem ‘off’, and hardly sleep when they are sick, or if you think they are. It’s almost annoying how much you love them.

You have such a heart for service, for others, for God and his Kingdom. Your love of His creation reminds me that our job is not to make things as easy for us as possible, but to care for others.

I have no idea where then next year will take us, or the next ten, or 15, but I know you will be next to me, cause I’m going to be next to you.

The past…

I remember her like this… Grade school, and singing with my next door neighbor. Bottom row, Joscelyn’s on the right,

(and BFF) on the left, cute girls huh?

Colledge Freshman! Ahh, the sunflowers… And animals.

Here they are again! (So, no I didn’t marry the girl next door, I married her best friend, no offense Em, but I totally scored!)

One of our big trips as a married couple was to Emily’s wedding in NYC.

Last year. Dinner out. No kids. Paradise, with my wife.

~///~

Iverson Beach.

Sun.  Sand.  Water.  Good food.  Kids.  And some really good friends.  Really.  Good.  Friends.  I think it’s hard work to be our friends.  It’s not that we don’t have a lot of folks we call friends, but it seems like some of those really special relationships are stretched by time and distance.  This family is another example.  They have been everywhere, and have landed back in Portland.  They continue to blow us away with their incredible hearts.  They come up to the sound once a year, to stay at a place on Camano Island, last year they came to the farm, this year, we were invited to the beach house.  Yep, we are spoiled.  It is awesome to hang out with folks who have such a similar parenting mindset, child rambunctious/obedience ratio, interests, and sense of humor…  Take a look….

 
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(side note…  It’s late and I’m tired of messing with the formatting…  If it the layout looks funny it’s me, not you.)

Boys and Girls…

I don’t follow sports.  Team sports especially.  Not that I have anything against them.  I’ve just never been ‘into’ them.  I think to a degree my disinterest is rubbing off on my kids.  The in-laws though are a different matter.  Three boys, dad a rabid sports fan, yep, balls were outlawed in the house several years (and picture frame, glass vases, porcelain figurines) ago.  So they joined up with the local Boys and Girls club.  Fun stuff to go and watch, our kids love seeing ‘Scuzons” running around, and I get to take photos.  I know a deeper knowledge of the game would help, but they are 5th graders for crying out loud.

This last Saturday was the final game for the youngest (t-ball) and the middle child (flag football).  We just missed the t-ball but were able to watch the entire flag football game.  Lots to shoot, and some good times.  The MVP was a girl, and she had some skills, but as I only knew one of the kids on the filed, I am sticking with the ‘anonymous feet’ photo.

~///~

Look who’s 6!!

I can’t believe it.  It seems like I just read her ‘Good Night Moon’ for the first time a few days ago.  She’s off to 1st grade next year.  Riding a two wheeler, and so much more…  She’s a real help now doing the chores and working on other projects..  Blood & guts don’t bother her (she’s bummed that mom won’t let her see the chickens get bled, but she does love helping pluck them.

I don’t think I could be more proud of her.  She plays with her sister and I can see and hear her heart.  Sharing and giving without the hope of receiving something in return.  Saying please and thank you out of a true feeling, not because it’s a ‘what your supposed to do’.  She knows who she is and reminds us every day that she is fearfully and wonderfully made.

~///~

Look out!

He’s got his camera.

My poor family. Even when they are having fun they aren’t safe. Good thing he’s not on Facebook, the reticule would be horrible!

~///~

What’s the Buzz??!!

Want to see what we’ve been up to? Head over to the farm blog and take a look! It’s been a busy spring, and with the wedding season coming up you might not see much more than ‘work’ stuff here…. Personal goodies? Look yonder www.adalynfarm.com

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Look Who’s Two!!!

What a trip it has been! From re-learning all the baby routines to helping a big sister learn that it’s not all about getting to be a ‘little mommy’.  Now that she’s 2 her independent little personality is coming out.  As if you could have guessed it would go any other way.  She is learning to hold her own in conversations as well.  Her vocabulary went past 300 some time ago and we have focused on more important things…  Like trying to reason with her about her diaper.  I don’t think Joscelyn thought she would be trying to reason with a two year old who takes her own diaper off during nap if it gets wet.  Joscelyn walked into her room the other afternoon to find her standing in her crib, holding a wet diaper and saying “doaking wet Mommy.  It doaking wet, I know.”  Hard not to at least smile.  She is still talking about her finger the chicken pecked to get the bread..

Yes Technically this should have gone up ‘yesterday’ but, with Easter, three birthdays, and my wife’s pending abdominal surgery, the week has just ran right away from us…

Compromise. Or “Family, Faith, Work & Bonhoeffer’s wrench”

What?

Yea. Like that. Only while trying not to get hit on Hwy 2.

So, I work my 40-50 hrs for an electrical contractor who’s office is about an hour from the farm. That gives me some time to think. About two hours a day. And to talk on the phone (hello blue tooth). I’ve been listening to audio books, podcasts, and music as I am not a fan of broadcast radio. And don’t even get me started on talk radio. For lent I gave up on secular audio during my commute, don’t laugh. Try giving up a two hour block of TV during prime time, there you get the idea. For about three days I listened happily to music that met the restrictions. And for some reason that got old. In stepped Bonhoeffer. “Cost of Discipleship”.

Each commute home usually starts with a call home ‘anything to pick up on the way, yes I know i’m late getting away, no I forgot to stop by the (fill in the blank) on they way in….’ Usuially there is some discussion of what is important and what is critical, and what we want to get done in the (not growing YEA SPRING) daylight once I get home ( I dare you to find one item that fits in all three lists. Go on, try. Yea, I didn’t think so).

After that short discussion I spool up Dietrich and try to get my mind around what he is tossing at me. I find my self doing a lot of ‘well yea, you are probably right D’. The ‘scary’ part is what that will mean in application to my life. And I am alone in the car, the people it would affect the most are not part of the one sided conversation. There’s an angle that needs some work.

Compromise? Yea. And that’s thanks to a blogging friend from Kansas. She hit me up a few days ago for some tips on event photography. I thought a lot about compromise when I was answering her questions. Photography is all about compromise. Faith and spirituality? Not so much. Er, sorry there Dietrich, Not at all.

Here’s a illustration of the kind of photographic compromise I can get my mind around. Cute shot (I think). Exposure is where I want it (as in ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed all getting along well), focus is where I want it as well (drawing the eye to the little biped in the road) and composition is, well. A compromise. I wish the bike wasn’t in the frame. I like where the big sister is (background coming to check on the little one), and love the moment. Hands full of new discovery and full of wonder. Arg the BIKE!! If I physically move it, I will not be able to capture the candid moment. I can move to my left to get it out of the frame but that will wreck the composition. I could photoshop it out…. Yea, cause I would rather do that than play with them, or do about a billion other things. So there you go. Great shot with a bike in the background…

I can handle it. And it’s one of my favorite shots from that day… If you have kids you know it’s a game of compromise. As we like to say, “pick your battles”. Cause we love them too much to argue. Christ probably has the same POV on us. Ever feel like telling your kids “if you would just do as I say, everything would be so much easier!!!” Ever wonder if God’s saying the same thing to us? Yea, I’ve been getting a lot of that lately.

So in a way, to cut down on the compromise, changes that were planned in the photographic beat are getting shelved. Farming is changing it’s directive and mission. And we (the Adalyn Farm WE) are doing some soul searching. And as life throws us curve after curve we will be leaning into our Faith. Farmer J will be going under the knife on the 20th (no April fools there) for some intestinal surgery that will hopefully keep her from another stay in the hospital. I’ll spare you all the details but to quote the doc “you have the intestines of an 80 year old”. Prayers would be appreciated. We have loads of family and friends who came around us for our adventure last year with big sister at Children’s, and know that God will provide what we need when we need it. We will be taking that (and a lot of other things) on faith.

~///~

One Year Ago….

I’m still working my way through last years personal photos…  The grandparents are starting to complain about not seeing any.  Any?  Really?  Oh come on, it’s not that bad.  Well, almost not that bad.  Our baby wasn’t even 12 months old last new years….

 

January you say?  Yes.  Well I hit some of the summer months, and then decided to be all organized about it and begin at the beginning…

Christmas….

Merry Christmas to you!  Oh internet it’s been an odd year hasn’t it.  From a slow start to far to busy to even think about posting, and now trying to get back in the saddle during the holiday rush.  I love taking the time to remember the year past, the highs and lows, and the fun memories, and hard work.  It also a fun time to look to the next year.  Besides a new website and blog, there are no earth shaking changes in our plans.  I expect life to throw us all the curve balls we can handle.

I also love being able to spend a bunch of time with my family.  Really the motor driving all I do, as I see it my ‘mission’.  Watching my girls ‘sistering’ each other is something that I will never get tired of…

So may sights, sounds, tastes and smells..  And so much to do.  And to take pictures of.

Bokeh courtesy “Lights of Christmas” at Warm Beach Camp

~///~

Getting ready for Christmas. (or i can live on 4 hours a night, can you?)

It’s that time again.  Trees, cookies, presents, candy, candles, egg-nog, family and food (did I mention food?)  There are so many wonderful traditions for celebrating this time of year.  I just wanted to toss a few quick photos up from our annual trip to Westlake Mall for the annual tree lighting.  It’s a little different every year, and one of the chances for our kids to get to the “city”.  If you know the area, I won’t need to narrate for you….

 

 

(check out all those LCD’s, I can almost hear the cell tower melting as people posted the photos to facebook)

Some window shopping (we didn’t buy anything but dinner, and coffee) and the trip back.

The Big Brother…

My favorite author when I was growing up was Gerald Durrell. I wanted to live his life. He even wrote of his younger years growing up, one of my favorite books from that time of his life was “My Family and Other Animals”. I identified with that. Not that there was a 10 min wait for the bathroom on any given morning, but I had loads of critters. Don’t get me wrong, I had a wonderfully large, interesting, entertaining and loving extended family. And the description could probably be extended to them as well, the ‘others animals’ bit.

We don’t all have is a big brother like my Uncle Dan though. My dad’s older brother (ok, so as the 5th of 5 boys there are 4 people that applies to..) is one of my two uncle Dan’s. Yep, that’s right. I’ve got two. But that’s another story. Back to the photos. My Dad’s brother Dan was in town for a visit that coincided with my Dad’s book release and signing. We got to go back to their farm for dinner, and some fun with Uncle Dan. Let’s just say our girls love an audience, and Uncle Dan loved being just that for them. And he can be quite a character himself. Joscelyn said she understood me way better after she had met my extended family. I’m not exactly sure what she meant by that.

Careful though.  Everyone has a breaking point….

And just like that.  Back to ‘normal’.

~///~

Visiting a neighbor (sort of…)

I have a good friend who blogs with the regularity of a clock. At three minutes to 9 every day. So that’s what her blog is called. She buys duck eggs from us from time to time, and asked folks she knew about their Christmas traditions, and my wife gave her a quick synopsis. I was tapped for some photos. The night shots are from last year at Westlake, this years shots will be here shortly, and the cake photos are what a “professional” shoots when he is is own customer (my favorite!).

Here’s the link to her blog:
http://threeminutestonine.blogspot.com/2010/12/stevens-family-christmas-traditions.html

Her blog is worth bookmarking!

~///~

The Race Of The Century!!!

Lawn Mower 500.  It was quite an event two years ago.  Some folks understand the serious nature of this, others just don’t want to.  Take it seriously.  It is always fun though.  The kids act as pit crews, and there are requirements for making a specific number of pit stops.  It can get heated in the pits, all that exhaust, and spinning blades (kidding!!) and a desire to get back out as quickly as possible.  Quick, fast as you can!  Get that mower back up to it’s high gear!

“maybe next year I will be big enough to race”

Do you want to find out more about this bunch of folks, you can find out more here: www.wbfmc.org

 

 

It’s been a blur.

The summer.  Has been a blur.  I jumped into the blog this afternoon and was flabbergasted, that it’s been almost a month.  The “short hiatus” I had given myself had grown…  And Internet, I am sorry.  It will get better.  It must.  For I have missed you.  There is something cathartic about blogging.  And shortly I will need this.

The following frames are from our family trip to the fair this summer.  Her hair is a bit shorter now.  Swim lessons didn’t do it any favors.  And our lives will be on pins and needles a bit next week as well.  We are hoping that some of her long term health issues will be resolved at the end, but any time a parent hears “hospital stay” their nails get short and their blood pressure goes up.  As if raising girls doesn’t give me enough gray hair.

If we are friends on Facebook, I’ll be updating there…  And probably blogging for therapy here…

More fun family photos!

So I called the last post a “pre-view”.  That kind of means I need to follow it up with some more photos.  So here they are.  Golly I wish these folks lived closer to us.

And because babies are always cute, I’ll end with a few Mom & baby and Dad & baby shots…

 

 

Family Photo Session Pre-View!

So, we finally got to meet them!!  We have know A&E for years.  In fact, we knew them BC.  (Before Children).  We get to see them every 12-18 months (now that they are back state side).  Last time we saw them, they were 5 strong.  E’s comment to me was “well, now we are outnumbered”, “wow, how is that going?”, “Fine I suppose, were all here!!”.

Never ones to leave well enough alone, answering “the call” they adopted three brothers.  Just as things were getting close to the end, the earthquake hit Haiti.  Boom.  No idea if the three little boys they were all but ready to go pick up were even OK.  Thank you internet, we were able to watch them video chat just a few days after the quake, all set up by a local Portland news agency.  Incredible.  And thanks to the US government (did I just type that out loud?) the adoption got expedited and they were holding their little ones way sooner than they would have otherwise.

Here is the family- you can see how they all keep it together.  Funny, sense of humor and they are all looking for chances to have a good time.  More images to come…  There were just too many cute ones not to put more up!

Summer is finally here…

Well it’s about freezin time.  This has been one of the wettest springs I can ever remember.  Cool too.  We had a wonderful break a few weeks ago and it happened to coincide with a post school year beach party put on my local wedding photographer Kelly Bowie.  (http://kcbphotography.com/blog/)  I think there is something to be said about people who spend lots of time at parties (weddings).  They know how to throw a good party, and not break a sweat doing it.  Good food, good times and SUN!

BAM!  There was SUN!

The water fight got pretty heated.  The bucket was not intended to be included in the toss.  There was a moment of panic

until one of the kind opponents returned the weapon.

Various defensive maneuvers were used…

Eventually all the “kids” were in on the action!

One last shot of that wonderful sun!

Mr. Sol stayed around for the next day or two (wedding from the following day to hit the blog later in the week, oh yes it was beautiful!) and has since headed elsewhere…

Link to the gallery with more photographs for parents and such here: www.photobby.com

Hit me up for the password

Open!

So it’s been kind of a crazy couple of weeks. I was hoping to get my blogging back up to date with a nice full pipeline by the end of the day today. That’s just not going to happen. Between our eldest logging a lot of time in the play area at Seattle Children’s Hospital (she’s fine, or will be) the flu that ran around the house having a gay old time, and client commitments, there hasn’t been much time for anything else. In fact with the nice weather, if the farm didn’t get some attention this last weekend, we were going to be in danger of disappearing in a sea of grass.   So I called an audible and we played outside.  Had a blast.  Probably should do it more.  So for today it’s a bit of a horn toot…

We went to the Skagit Family Natural Medicine open house and had some fun a few Saturday’s ago, to check out their birth center. Here are some of the framed prints up….

And the little one’s having some fun!

Produce!!

We have a great garden in this year.  And on the advice of my dad, I planted a bunch of radishes…  They come up super quick and with an antsy preschooler that’s a good thing.  We went out a few weeks ago and snagged the first couple of radishes for a dinner salad.  Crisp and yummy!  She said I had to put one up on the blog.  So everyone could see it.  And yes.  It’s just a little bigger than a blue berry.

You should see the other guy….

Ok, so not really.  A little fella I know managed to go missing both his front top teeth at the same time.  He was very proud of his WWF smile..  Ah the simple things that bring joy to a child!

Game Night Fun!!

Our Aunt was up for a short visit the other week.  She brought a fun card game for our eldest, and stuck around for some fun.  I got stuck volunteered to do the dishes, so I didn’t get dealt in, but that was fine, I was able to take some pics.

Grandma Wu!

This is a bit tardy in going up.  The whole family got together for a fun 90th birthday celebration from the beloved “Grandma Wu.”  Family joke on the last name, you had to be there.  Grandma Wu is one of the sweetest lady’s you’ll ever meet.  She is quick to smile and even quicker to laugh.  And laugh, and laugh and laugh.  My brother in law and I love to get her going and then just keep at it.  Back and forth, till she can hardly breathe and she has tears running down her cheeks.

This was also a great chance to shoot a bunch of folks on white seamless.  I set up in the garage, nice and big and open (if you knew my father in law you would understand).  Grand kids, great grand kids and family from as far away as Alaska.  Loads of fun, here are a few of the birthday girl.

Here she is trying to just smile!  (and not succeeding)

And here is a natural light shot from just after the cake and ice cream…

Love you Wu-Wu!