Breaking for Breakfast with the Bruni family…which comes with Bikes! But first….

We have been busy, YES …still with the painting!

I figured we would be done by Saturday with everything but it turned out that we had a snafu with the paint. We didnt think we needed as much paint as we ended up needing for the ceiling. No problem, I would just get another can. So I went out and bought another gallon can and put a layer of paint on the last of what I thought was the last job… was the kitchen ceiling. Well we got up the next morning and looked at it now that it was dry. Well we couldnt believe our eyes! Not the right color…so I go back and get another can. It is not right either! For the next 2 hours the poor guy Tim at Home Depot tries to match our color. A color that we originally bought there I might add. Tim was a sweet guy and did his best. We finally got close enough and brought home 3 gallons to be safe. Well it was close but it was not a perfect match. But we were so done with trying to match so we jsut went ahead and repainted all the ceiling so there would be no lines…It took Mark 4 hours today to finish it. He is doing the touchups right now then tomorrow.

We did stop for a couple of hours Saturday to have breakfast with the Bruni’s that would be my daughter Kelly’s husband’s family. We had breakfast at The Pancake House and there were 13 of us! There was a ton of food! And it was goooood! I didnt want to embarrass anyone and take a picture of their breakfast so I dont have one to show but take my word for it…their food is awesome!!!

Dave and Kelly and their friend Mike took the opportunity to take the bikes out for a spin so they showed up in their bike gear. Jayden came in style in their car driven by the Brunis.It was a beautiful day!  It was Jayden’s first social trip out. He was a good boy and slept through it all giving Mom and Dad a nice breakfast. But I am afraid it wasnt very social for him! lol 

Waiting for everyone to show up….

Ahh here comes the crew!

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Is that really my daughter on that bike??? Isn’t she a mom now???

She looks happy to be out of the house!  lol 

Here comes my grandson!

Poor waitress she had a handful with us!!!

Still sleeping….such a good boy!

You gotta try the banana pancakes Kelly!

Dave’s sister oh no I cannot remember her name right now!!!

Just checkin on you know who…. 

Isnt this funny! These ladies having breakfast were nurses on duty when Kelly had Jayden!!! They remembered us because of Mark and his camera…haha…the one on the left actually gave Jayden his first bath which if you saw the slideshow she was on it! Roseville is not a small town so that was so funny! 

Dave’s Dad and his girl Connie.

Dave’s sister Kayla…she is a sugar aholic!!! She kept pouring sugar into her iced tea so we had to tease her… 

Its Mikes birthday today so he got a Dutch Baby…you have got to try it!!! It is a souffle that comes all puffy then it falls into itself .

You squeeze a lemon onto it then sprinkle powdered sugar on it. It was a hit!!!

He looks like he is puckering up but he actually loved it!

Well that was a great breakfast! Time to pay up now….

Okay Janice…no fair putting the money there!

Okay time to go…we gotta finish painting and Dave and Kelly are going to the mall! That girl must be having withdrawls by now!

Byeeeee….OH how did my dad get to the mall so fast!!??

Gotta gas up the hog and I am not taking about the bike either. Its called the Yukon.

Janice…you need a REAL camera!! hahahaha……

Bye now!!!!

 

 

 

Family Business Meeting.

We try to keep up with each other and with our cameras and all the new stuff that keeps coming out in Photography. Especially with the wedding season gearing up soon. We always want to be on our game. 

Brian working with his 30D

Lindsay with her 20D

Our office/ diningroom

Okay Mom quit taking pictures and sit down for the meeting!

Lesson on the DOF button that you rarely use unless you know ahout it.

I am off again taking pictures…I cant resist. 

I over sharpened this one but I think it looks cool…esp. with the sepia tone

Our dogs get really bored when we have these meetings…

You can almost hear them begging come on and play!

Oh here are a couple more from that coffee shop we ate at yesterday…Mark loves coffee so he got this one…

This was my yummy turkey and cranberry sandwich it was UBERGOOD!

Mark had an apple chicken sausage sandwich! Does it not look great!? I wish I hadnt focused on the macaroni salad but I did.

I honestly would love to do food photography!

Pray first then shoot then eat!

 

 Some shots of our day yesterday….we were scouting location shots for our September bride and groom. They are getting married at The Winchester Country Club. So we got permission to visit and take some shots around the place…Saving the front of the place for the wedding shots!

The other shots are in Auburn at a quaint coffee shop where we had lunch.

We had a great day!

 

My hot husband!!! hehehehe…. 

 

 

 

Thats the okay have you had your fun yet? look…..lol

Okay that is the goofiest look ever!!!

Hmmm what kind of look is this???

 

 

  

                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                

 

 

 

So, along with working on the front of the house we also have been working on the inside. This is our hall leading from the front door to the studio/office. We have some 8×10 frames that will fill in the empty spaces…we just need to buy more of the hanging clips.

 

 

It feels so good to get all this done…especially since when we start up our wedding season we will be ready!

 

This is just too funny.

I would have posted it earlier but I just couldn’t get around to it…

Mark

The stairs are finished! We have one more coat of paint to put on the deck and it’s ready to go!! 

Here is the finished view! The inset is the before picture from a few posts ago.

 

 Now that we are feeling better we were able to go spend the evening with Kelly, Dave and Jayden. So, of course, we had to get some pictures. I think we will need to invest in a photo paper company and an album company! It will be such a blast to look back and see images of him growing up.  Here are some of my favorites of the evening. The woman in the pictures is Dave’s mother who was also over for the evening. We have lots of pics of us with Jayden, so I wanted to post some of her.

I know Kerri got some shots with her camera and so did Lindsay but it’s late and everyone is in bed, so i’ll let them post theirs tomorrow!

Mark

Kerri posted a few days ago about our mini-makeover with a pic from inside. Here is the progress of our new steps outside…

These steps were in a sorry state – They had seen better days and weren’t very welcoming.  Plus the landing at the top was so small that when you opened the screen door you had to do the “front door shuffle” to get in.

  

 

 We hired my brother-in-law, Mike who is an EXCELLENT craftsman, to replace the steps with ones that were newer, larger and easier for us and clients to get in and out.

 

 
Hey, what’s going on out there?

 

  
When did Will get to be soooooooo tall?

 

 

 

MIke is almost finished, and we expect today to be the final day.

     

 

Once they are done they will get the final coat of paint. Did I mention that he is an EXCELLENT craftsman?

Check back later for finished pics once it’s complete and painted!

 

 

Its amazing how life can just become a jumble of appointments, commitments and putting one foot in front of another to get things done. Before you know it you turn around and a whole year has gone by just like that! I am so glad that in the middle of all those things we can find time for relationships if we make it our intention. Sometimes we hit the mark and sometimes we don’t. Unless our relationship with God is working then anything is possible. But it is essential that we stay close to Him so that we dont wander off too far from the track that we are meant to walk. I also think finding time for fun is essential! We love to do things together. Not just movies and shopping but even going to the gym together. A quick run to the store or grabbing a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Grabbing those moments in between are sometimes the glue that puts the whole day togerther.

On Feb. 1 we celebrated our first year of actually having a business with the intention of establishing a place and a name and all the mountains of other things that come along with that. It’s okay to do jobs and get paid for them but when you are serious about your work and others take your work seriously its time to get serious! We feel we have been shot out of a “canon” hahaha….it’s been a meteoric ride to be where we are now and we are very grateful and humbled by the gifts that God put into us for such a time as this. But we are also grateful to all the clients we have had this past year as well as those jobs we had prior to going into business. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to contribute to such a momentus occasion as a wedding. Where the two become one!

With the years passing by where marriage is now at a rate of 50% failure rate…we feel a deep sense of honor to be invited to witness a wedding where we don’t necessarily know the families but never the less we are there! In pondering this as Christians we realized what a great gift this is. These weddings are not just a job to us they are a profound opportunity to pray for their success as a couple. In this hard harsh and tempting world there are so many pitfalls that marriages fall into and we want to be able to remember them as the day they got married. Happy and looking forward to a lifetime spent together. We want to document how happy they were and all the emotions that we see when we enter a wedding. It is a commitment to stay together and sometimes it feels like whats the use? But if we can look back at how happy we were on that day I hope that we can trust our decision and do whatever is needed to keep that commitment alive and fresh and even delerious!

We have been married 26 years and I find it fascinating how fast that has sped by but even more than that I find it amazing that we found each other from opposite sides of the states at just the right time and just the right place and just the right circumstances. I seriously doubt anyone could love me as much as Mark and well I am pretty sure Mark as loveable and funny as he is probably wouldnt be able to find someone who would color coordinate his clothes and fix his hair since he is so adorably unable to do so for himself! He can make anyone look fabulous on camera but the word befuddled comes to mind when it comes to himself….! LOL!

I am so grateful!

Oh and the front porch is coming up later today ….still painting!

Love Kerri