FINAL Idaho post...

Yes, you read that right! This is the last in the Idaho series! I bet you are happy! :O)

So here are the mama & baby moose that hung around my dads yard for a couple days! I was a bit concerned at first that the mom might be protective of her baby and feel the need to protect her baby. But this mama was so calm and relaxed, that I was able to relax as well.

Here is mama in between my dads house and the guest house...



Then she freaked me out a bit because she started up the hill to the guest house and we were on the porch. I made the girls stand in the door way so they could see her, but had them keep the door open just in case mama decided that she no longer felt so comfortable with our presence. But she was fine and just wanted to nibble on the plant right next to the porch. All I had to do was take 3 or 4 steps forward and I could've touched her!!!


I guess the little tree wasn't too tasty because she decided to find something else to nibble on along the driveway...


And here's baby. Baby wasn't quite as comfortable with us as mama and stayed a little further away from us. Then they both headed back down to the main house...


Once they headed back down Avyree went down for a nap and it started snowing. She was so tired and in need of a nap that I didn't bring her out. It was still a bit warm and the snow was a bit slushy. Now I say warm as in too warm to be full snow. But it was still freakin cold out there. So I wouldn't go out with Haylee at first. So here she is looking at me from outside while I'm sitting in the nice warm house. I love these 2 shots because she looks like a wet puppy locked outside in the rain! Ha...



But I could no longer stand the whining, begging and pleading through the window for me to come outside and play. So Haylee won and I braved the cold to watch her...


Snow drops keep fallin on my tongue...


Mama must've heard all the fun we were having and decided to come join us again. Baby kept it's distance...


And although I knew mama was pretty calm, I wasn't entirely comfortable playing in the drive way right next to her so we headed in while Avyree finished napping.

Then when she woke up we geared up to go down to the main house. The shot on the left was in the guest house before we headed down and the shot on the right is in the main house kitchen! There's G.G {we call her that short for great grandma but my dad calls her Nana No No...which may sound mean because after her stroke she can only say no...no...no. But it's actually a cute loving nick name and the girls were calling her it too and she loved it}...



We wanted to go back outside before it got too dark so both the girls could play in the snow. The bird bath had a good thick chunk of ice on top...


Little Daisy. Daisy actually has white fur but with the tonal edits I ran here, she looks yellow! She's beautiful either way...


Nugget lovin the snow fall. And don't even ask what she's doing in the bottom left shot. I stopped trying to figure out the little nut long ago and just giggle...


Haylee...lovin the snow fall just as much. She's got a mean wind up huh! And some frozen fingers. She just could not leave the ice chunk alone...


Then we headed inside to spend some more time with GG since we were leaving the next morning. I'm really mad at myself for these shots. I begged her to let me take some pics of her with the girls before we left. So she got dressed, brushed her hair and was all ready! But we stayed outside so late it was pretty dark in the house. I actually had to turn the overhead light on just to get more light. And if you know me and my pics, I HATE doing that and avoid it at all costs. But what I avoid even more is flash! I left my external flash and home and will not use the on board flash! But once I loaded them, I really wish I would've just put my pride and hate aside of my on board flash and just dialed it down and used it. Note to photogs...when you need the memory...when it's truly important to your heart to have the memory...put your photography feelings aside and just get it. So sadly the quality here is pretty bad but at least I have pics of the most special woman to my heart with the most special two little girls to my heart. And at the end of the day, that's really all that matters...


Please excuse how smooth this edit it. Not only was my ISO maxed out, my SS was only 1/100 and it was still pretty underexposed {hence fill flash..ugh}. So I did have to remove some noise which I rarely do anymore...


And my grandma...my sweet grandma. I have so much love and respect for her. I have no words that can truly express the amount of love I have for her. So I'll save you the 50 paragraph emotional breakdown of how much I love her and how hard it is to see what her stroke did to her. I will just say that her and I were one. We meshed so well together. Knew each other so well and we so very close. She was my guiding light my entire life and I would not be who I am today without everything she did for me, the love she showered on me and her wisdom...oh her wisdom.

I love you grandma...more than you will ever know. You changed me for the better and I"ll always be grateful that YOU are MY grandma. I am the LUCKIEST granddaughter in the WORLD!


Okay...so I lied and I got a little caught up and cried like a big fat baby writing that!

And that is it for our Idaho trip. It was our best trip yet. We all bonded even more and this trip will be special to me for all my days! I love you Dad, I miss you more than you know and grandma...I LOVE YOU!

So thanks for hanging in there til the end of the Idaho series. I hope I didn't make you blind! We can't wait to go visit again!

Idaho...Part SIX...

30 degree weather + water + kids = FUN...for them!! Lol! The girls asked if they could put their feet in the water and before the mom in me could say NO...Papa said YES! So I grinned my teeth and bared it! Lol! I was so glad Papa said yes because the girls had a blast even though it was freezing. And guess what...the girls didn't die! Ha!

So here are our lake pics...














One thing I learned while editing these shots...I need to start putting the girls hair UP out of their face!

So...I'm almost done! Only ONE more post to go! Yay! Next post will be some pretty close up shots of a mama & baby moose, the girls playing outside while it was snowing and my grandma on our last night there! Then I'll stop bugging you for a while!

Thanks for looking!

Idaho...Part FIVE...

Sorry for the delay! Since my last post I shot a small wedding and have been editing those, then shot a small event. Then I purchased an awesome desktop and new 25" monitor. But the process of transferring everything, including Photoshop, has been less than fun and more time consuming that I'd hoped! Lol! So I'm trying to balance the two events I shot and the Idaho shots. So please be patient with me! :O) I'm up and running now so that's a good thing!

So where did I leave off? Oh...after our drive to Sandpoint the girls played outside for a bit...



My dad has all these cool little birdhouses everywhere. These are just two up by the guest house...


Nugget blowing bubbles, and of course spilling them in the process...


And the last time Nicole would see the girls before we left for home...

Before the night was over dad came up for a bit to visit before we headed to bed...

The next morning we headed out to see the house dad might be buying! I have to say ahead of time that this morning was COLD. I did really well with the cold weather until this day! It chilled me to my bones. So the shots are less than stellar but I have warm So Cal blood...so I did not take my time! Lol!

This house may not look as big as the one he's in now, but it's actually much bigger. The basement in this house is the entire square footage of the main level! It's insane how big this house is. This is the backyard...



Top two pics are his shop. In the back of the shop is a little room. Then the bottom two pics show the 5 car garage. And you'll notice the nothing~ness behind him. All beautiful trees and nature...


Top two are the view from the front porch and front yard. Bottom two pics are the back patio and this cool little built in wood bench. The wood needs a little TLC but will be beautiful when it's done...


Now this is the porch. I think the porch is almost as big as my whole house. I've never seen a porch this big. And there is also a small porch at the end that has sliding glass doors into the kitchen/dining area...


After I was pretty much frozen, we headed to eat and warm up. Then braved the cold again to let the girls play at the park. I LOVE this park and it fits so well into the environment up there! I miss this park...



My sweet little Haylee sticking around us. She's been to this park before but it was a few years ago so she doesn't remember it...



Nugget. I have less pics of Nugget at the park because she was too busy off making friends. Very typical and in tune with their personalities. Haylee sticking close and Avyree running off...


My Pop...


The girls taking turns in the baby swing. Haylee told me I better not put the ones of her in the "baby" swing on my blog! Muwhahahahaha. The joys of motherhood!

After the park we decided to be even more brave {well really my dad made me lol} and we headed down to the water! Yeah, frozen fingers and water...YAY!

But you'll have to wait til the next post for those! I will say that the lighting was BEAUTIFUL down by the water and I got some great shots of the girls! But it's 11:40 pm and after being on the phone with Adobe for TWO HOURS today then editing & blogging these...I'm done for the day! Lol!

So I'll edit the lake shots tomorrow and get them up by Thursday! Then it's Idaho Blog break time so I can finish the wedding shots!

I hope everyone is doing well and thank you for taking our Idaho journey with us!

Idaho...Part FOUR...

Our trip up to Sandpoint! We jumped in my dad's 4Runner and headed up to the small cute little town of Sandpoint! There were lots of views along the way. Please keep in mind that almost all of the scenic shots where shot through the window of my dad's 4Runner, which because of the weather, had spots all over it. So you will see some spots and reflections from the window in some shots. Most were also taken while driving, hence not rolling down the window and freezing everyone in the car! Ha!

Sandpoint is a little different than I thought it would be. I thought it would be more trendy with the sky resort close by. But I still loved the old buildings and actually liked how non-trendy it was! Reminded me a little of Bishop, CA where my dad lived for many years...without the icky desert of course! Lol!




Then we stopped for a bite to eat and had some yummy food! This was Haylee's favorite place to eat. Mine was O'Malley's in Rathdrum. The have THE BEST Asian Chicken Salad!




While we were waiting for our food it started hailing. They call it hail but I call it snow! In Cali when it hails it HURTS. This hail may not have been flakes and in the form of balls, it was still really soft and didn't hurt when it hit you! Lol! So I call it SNOW! :O) As you can see the girls LOVED it! Notice Avyree trying to eat it off the sidewalk...oh geeze!


Pop and his grandgirls! I love and miss you SO much Dad...the girls too! They talk about you all the time! OXXO


So to prevent Avyree from eating it off of the ground I said something extremely simple, yet very effective. "Catch the snow in your hands, THEN eat it"! Amazing what something so simple can achieve! Lol!


Back outside and in the car to take in more scenery! "Rain drops keep fallin on my.......window!"! Lol! As you can see, this does create a problem when shooting through the window. I did think these turned out cool tho. Had to use MF because it kept catching on everything outside the window as we drove!


Lake Pend Oreille in the 1st 3 pics! Boy what I would give to own one of the houses that are on those islands! Breathtaking! While driving we saw a train speed by. And just a little swamp area in the community where the dear room. You'll see them 2 pics down!


Everywhere you look is a gorgeous mountain with snow. I loved that the weather was dramatic because it provided so much mood the the shots with the mountains in them!


And here are the dear! This is a little community that lives on the lake! Well not ON the lake...you know what I mean! Lol! It's such a beautiful little area back here and I could so imagine retiring back here. There are so many dears that roam this little community and graze in people's yards. In the bottom photo, we had the window open on Avyree's side and the dear thought she had food and was coming up to the window!


Variety...is the spice of my life! I LOVE variety! In shooting and editing. I love to take a shot and make it my own. Play with tones, grain etc. Go wherever my heart takes me. So in the next 2 collages, they are each a slighty different shot, as we are driving. So instead of choosing one to post, which as you can see I'm VERY bad at...I edited each shot differently and had lots of creative fun just playing! I LOVE this series of shots. I LOVE the dramatic lighting. My only focus while shooting these was to preserve the detail in the white center clouds. It was quite dark, yet right in the middle of these dark parted clouds was just a hint of blue, then the most beautiful, most details and puffy white clouds I've ever seen. The contrast of the dark clouds, the blue sky and the white clouds took my breath away. One of these will get printed eventually!



Now this shot tho, may be my favorite scenery shot from my trip! There is just something about it that speaks to me. It's soft and subtle, a little dreamy, yet has depth, color and detail. This shot would not have been the same without the misty clouds grazing along the top of the mountains! I love the way the part in the mountain reflects the light into the center of the river! I think this one will get printed as well. I am however bummed that you can see the reflection of my jacket in the window. Not bad for shooting through a dirty window while doing 70 down the highway huh?! Lol!


Just playing around in the 4Runner. A burn on the side of the road. Very common up there. People do brush burns in the yards too! I tripped out the first time I saw someone burning a pile of brush on their property the 1st time we went up there! Lol!


We headed up to the Dam. Wow was it breathtaking up here! My pictures do not do it justice. I wish we could've taken that little road all the way down because I can only imagine how much more beautiful it got! I played a little with SS. Top is a faster SS to stop motion and the center is a slow SS to show motion. Top shot SS was 1/250 and the 2nd was 1/4. Luckily there was a barb wire fence to rest my camera on because my hands sure aren't steady enough for 1/4. On the last shot you can't see it, but there is a guy on a dirt bike riding across the dam! My dad HATES dirt bikes, so I HAD to capture it! Lol! I should've posted a zoomed in shot too! Oh well! You get the idea!


The view the other way! WOW is all I can say!


The girls playing around at the Dam. Haylee looks so grown up to me in the top right shot!


Then for fun we headed over to the Montana boarder! We actually drove over the Mountain Standard Time zone which my dad and I thought was cool. Yeah, we are nerds like that! :O)


Then on the way home we stopped at a gas station and THIS happened. And as you can see, the girls were thrilled again. It really came down! Look at my Nugget!


Haylee was just amazed by it! Neither girl had ever seen snow falling! My sweet Haylee!


Pop, wearing his summer clothes. He makes me shiver just looking at him! We were only there for about 10 minutes, but this is how much came down that quickly!


And the last 2 pics of the day! Here is one time I really wished I'd had my dad pull over! And he would've if I'd asked. Between the clouds and the silhouette of the roller coaster, I'm over the moon with these shots. The composition is less to be desired, which is why I wish we would've pulled over! Shot these two through the window going 70 down the highway! Oh well, I'm still happy with them!



And that is it for today! I hope you enjoyed our trip up to Sandpoint and the Montana boarder! I shot the wedding this last Sat and have a baby shower to shoot this Sat. So I'm trying to find balance and continuing the Idaho shots, but keeping my word..and contract, to the shoots I've accepted. So bare with me!

Hope all is well and thanks for stoppin by! :O)