Michelle Enebo Photography

Priceless

We are heavy into garage sale preparations today.  Why do garage sales always seem like a good idea?  It's just like childbirth.  You forget the pain soon after it happens and you sign up again and again. 

This picture is from a garage sale we had three years ago.  Kate got too close to us when we were pricing all our wares so we priced her too. 

(It's good to see that in the last three years I HAVE learned how to focus a camera!)

They're Back!

Alexis and Shantih are regulars.  Kind of funny to say that when Alexis just turned one, but I first took her pictures when she was still inside her Momma. 

This family is always a joy to shoot because they just have fun in front of the camera.  I never have to suggest a pose because they just sit down and it looks great.  They even make really difficult poses work without any effort or suggestion from me. 

Take the next few pictures of Mohnie (Dad) and Alexis.  I have parents want to try this pose all the time because their kids love it.  It hardly ever works because the child's face is usually way too far away from Mom or Dad.  If that's not the problem then you usually only see the expression of the parent OR the child, not both.  Monhnie makes it look effortless.





Here are more of my favorites...















Finally, here's a picture of Alexis as a wee babe.  See?  She loved being in her Daddy's arms here too!

Wahoo! She's Two!

Shameless little rhyme, eh?  Becky and Rob brought little Ellie in to celebrate her second birthday.  I first met Ellie last year when Becky brought her in for her first birthday pictures too.  I love it when clients come for birthdays because it's so much fun to see these little guys grow. 

Ellie first arrived in the cutest pink pajamas and I'm kicking myself for not getting a few pictures of her in them.  Not to worry, though because she put on an even cuter little sun dress.  I love little girls in white dresses, they look so innocent! 

Here are my favorite pictures...


















And here are a few from last year so you can see how Ellie has grown!

The Blushing Bride

I am NOT a wedding photographer (way too much pressure for me), so this is as close as I'm going to get to shooting a bride.  This is Kate's third outfit of the day and by far my favorite.  Love the combination of the sundress (what? It was at least 66 degrees outside.), the red cowboy boots and the sparkle veil.  (I think the band-aid in the bottom picture adds a special touch.) 

The groom changes on a daily basis.  Sometimes it's Daddy.  Sometimes it's her preschool friend Noah and sometimes it's even me!

I don't usually share the technical information but I've had a few questions lately.  I shot this with my 50mm prime lens at ISO 400 and f3.5.  I used a 'vintage' present to boost up my colors in Lightroom.

Happy Memorial Day

Yesterday Ellie and Kate were helping me make some treats for a BBQ.  While we were spreading red white and blue sprinkles on our cookies I asked them if they knew what Memorial Day was celebrating?

"A day off from school?" asked Ellie?

Nope.  I explained to them that we were celebrating those people who gave their lives to protect the freedom that we enjoy so we can live like we do.  (Yeah, okay.  Big concept for a 4 year old and 7 year old.)

"Sort of like Jesus?"

Okay, maybe they do kind of get it.  Glad to see that they are listening in Sunday School. 

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day!

Old McDonald Had a Farm

and we went to visit it today.  Do y'all remember how I was singing the praises of outdoor field trips just a few short weeks ago here? Well I take it all back.  Out of the 14 field trips I've taken with the preschool (spread over all three girls) only one has had sunshine.  ONE!

Despite all the drizzle we had a great time learning about all the animals from Farmer Jane (no idea what her last name is but I suspect it isn't McDonald).  We met a calf named Jenny, a kid (baby goat) named Alvin and some cute chicks who shall remain nameless.  (Although one preschooler thought baby chickens should be called "chicklets".) 

Did you know that hay is green (and for eating) and straw is yellow (and for sleeping)?  I never knew that!  It's a good field trip when the grown ups walk away learning something too!













Since it was a farm it felt only appropriate to dig in the dirt too.  I wonder if we get to come back for that pumpkin in the fall...

We're Representin'

We had a fun visitor on Tuesday.  Sharon from the Census Bureau stopped by to collect our stats.  I've never been 'counted' before so it was quite interesting.  Each year they collect information on 60,000 households.  Those households make up the stats that are used to represent the whole country. 

Jill was completely enthralled with the whole process. She looked at all the maps, helped Allen answer  Sharon's questions and asked many of her own.  (All while I was doing a little soft shoe dance in the other room to entertain the other girlies.)

So we are skewing the statistic for the country a bit.  We have more kids, foreign parents (mine are Canadian) and between Allen and I we work roughly 80 hours a week.  They will call us once a month for the next three months to see if there are any changes.  I'd guess our answers would be no, no and hopefully not more.

Sorry I've been posting so many personal pictures lately.  We've been out of town two weekends and the third weekend was Mother's Day and I only did one shoot so I could take off for a pedicure and shopping.  (Heaven!)  I'm excited that I am taking pictures for a school dance tonight and I've got a couple of shoots this weekend.  It will be nice to get back to it!

She eats them like candy

It took Jill a long time to enjoy reading.  All the way into late in the second grade reading was a chore for her.  Something she had to do because her teachers told her to. All of a sudden, right before summer started last year, it clicked.  She got it.  She read so many minutes last summer that she finished the library sponsored reading program by mid July.  

This year it seems like she is eating books up like candy.  "Mom, you need to go to the library because I've run out of books" is a familiar refrain. 

And I love every minute of it.

PS - Ellie just read a chapter book all on her own last week too.  Two down, one to go!

X-Treme Weekend

Every year for the past four years we have strapped ourselves into the van and made the 7.5 hour trek to Wildhorse Canyon Ranch for Family Camp.  This is significant because I HATE riding for long distances in the car.  All I do is think about all of the other things I could be accomplishing at home while I am listening to a chorus of "Are we there yet?"

BUT

This camp is so amazing and affirming, and such a great family bonding experience that it isn't even a consideration to skip it.  In fact, we tell as many people as we can about it because we want them to have the same experience.  (Okay, they can skip the chorus.)  It is only offered once a year because this is really a Young Life camp for teenagers. 

For the past two years we've bunked with our good friends from Portland.  We love these guys so much and our girls just adore each other.  We kind of think of them like cousins because it wasn't until last January that one of our siblings finally decided to produce a cousin of our own. 

I'm off topic here (and it's a long one as it is!).  Each year there is a group of amazing volunteers who put together a hilarious program that runs throughout the weekend.  There are two main characters who are 'emcees' for the weekend and they keep us yucking it up.  Our first year it was the Pirates of Plaid Pants, then it was the Lumberjacks, last year was the Cheerful Cowpokes and this year it was X-Treme Walkers.  (Finally we are getting to all those posts I've been hinting about!)

This year, the story goes, that Crash Mutchler (the blond) and Beau Flex (the dreds) were trying to become the alternates for speedwalking for the Beijing Olympics but they weren't cool enough for camp so they had to become X-Treme Walkers.  The whole weekend was about being 'x-treme' and the kids were all running around making X's with their arms.  The guys who put on this program become rock stars in the eyes of the kids who attend camp.  They are always being pointed out and watched and at the end of the weekend there is a carnival and all the kids can get autographs from their new heros. 

I made that promotional video and took the pictures that were used for prizes and made into trading cards for the kids to take home.  It was so much fun putting my creative juices into those pictures.  A total departure from what I normally do.  Making the trading cards was also a passion of mine because the 'rock stars' usually signed kid's body parts with sharpies.  Sure it lasts for a few days but eventually it wore off.  I really wanted the kids to have something they could keep to remind them of their weekend.  I also wanted them to have something they could show to all their friends.  Worked like a charm.  Ellie has already brought her set to school to tell about her weekend.

Now let me tell you about all of the fun we had while we were at camp.  We got to sleep in bunk beds (yeah, the kids liked that better than Allen and I did) and eat meals with all our friends in the dining hall.  There was a team competition (we wore purple bandanas) that involved all sorts of silly relays including three legged races (Allen and Kate were brilliant with this one), pool treasure hunts, wheel barrow races with stops to eat whipped cream and broccoli, skittles and blueberries and synchronized swimming to Muskrat Love.  (There were many more events too!) 

In the afternoon we had free time so we hit the ground running.  We did horseback riding, swimming in the pond (with log rolling and trampolines) and swimming in the pool.  Everybody loved the high dive and Kate got numerous cheers because of her fearless 'xtreme' high jumps.  Due to an 'FI' (fecal incident) we were booted from the pool so we headed out for ice cream and rock wall climbing.  There were so many other things we wanted to try (zip line, go carts, hiking) but we just didn't have enough time. 

Each day we had Club where the kids would join us for songs and worship at the beginning and then head off for games and crafts of their own.  One of the highlights for Jill was when I was called on stage to be 'Naughty Nora' and act out a silly play.  I am shocked at how many times she's brought it up.  Apparently I need to look silly a little more in life!

Okay, I'll bring the worlds longest blog post to an end here.  Just suffice it to say that even though I have mounds of laundry, a filthy car and tired kids we are already marking our calendars for next year.

BTW - The favorite thing the girls did over the whole weekend?  Running through a HUGE sprinkler.  Can you believe it?  We did all these fabulous things and it's the sprinkler.  Just goes to show "Keep It Simple Stupid" works for your family too!

X-Treme Walkers

I just spent a fantabulous long weekend at Young Life Family Camp with the girls and Allen.  I have so much to share about it but we got back late and I don't have time to zhush up my pictures for a post today.  I also wanted to try out the whole video link thing.

Here's a promotional video I made for Beau Flex and Crash Mutchler that was used at camp.  You already saw a preview of this post here. 

Enjoy.  (I will share the whole story behind the craziness tomorrow!)