Thursday, December 31, 2009

Christmas!

Well, I've finally gotten through all of my photos from the Christmas festivities this year, so I thought I'd provide you with a little recap! We had a GREAT Christmas with our families, although it went by way too fast!

We started off by going to my grandma, Mama T's house on Christmas Eve to celebrate with my mom's side of the family...

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Of course there were plenty of presents...
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And plenty of food!
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This is JoJo, my aunt Terri's furbaby :)
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And after catching up and getting all of our chit chatting out of the way...it was time for PRESENTS!
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Caitlin's stack of presents always looks strikingly similar...hmm...DVDs anyone? ;)
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And this is the 2nd year in a row Mama T cried after opening her gift... I'm 2 for 2 :)
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My dad got this lovely pair of pink gloves!
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Actually, that was just a gag gift...he really got some biking gloves. He sure was confused for a minute!

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Daisy thought Mama T might need some help opening her gifts :)
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After presents we played an intense game of Rummikub
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Caitlin, Shelley and I all got a pair of socks from our Aunt Terri :)
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Our first Christmas as Mr & Mrs G
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After Mama T's we went over to my mom and dad's house to exchange gifts with them (meanwhile there was a BLIZZARD happening outside!)
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Aww, aren't they just so cute?!
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I really liked this wrapping paper my mom used :)
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And I called it! Check out the cute ornament Mom gave us
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Their dog Jake was just tuckered out!
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Then we came home and each opened one present from each other - I gave Matt a pair of jeans, and he gave me a pair of slippers. (We like to get one "lame" gift out of the way before Christmas morning :)


Christmas morning came, and the hubs had to drag me out of bed... then we opened presents! Sorry, I didn't take any photos. But I got a GPS for my car (which if you know me, you know this is JUST what I need :) And I gave hubby a new Wii game, and a beard trimmer (woah...I just went crazy didn't I...)

We then had to go pick up Mom & Dad, because that blizzard I mentioned was still coming through, and we had like a foot of snow on the ground. Luckily Matt drives a 4 wheel drive SUV, and was able to save the day! We all went over to my other Grandma's house, where we ate brunch, opened more presents, and then ate a great big turkey! For some reason I didn't take any photos there either. Oops.

But our last stop was the In-Laws (ha! Haven't really said that before!) Matt's sister and her hubby just had a baby at the end of November, so she was pretty much the star of the evening. At least for my camera she was :)

This is miss Alexus Taylor
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How adorable are these?!
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Hangin out with Grandma and Grandpa
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"Wow, your face sure is scratchy Grandpa!"
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Quite possibly the most adorable hat I've ever seen on a baby!
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The hubs getting some practice (holding a fussy baby! :)
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Daisy was VERY curious
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Well there you have it! Kudos if you made it all the way through this post :) I hope everyone out there had just as great of a holiday as we did!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Santa was GOOD to me :)


<------------- Check it out!!!

First of all - yes, I am 25 years old and Santa still brings me presents. :) Second of all - yes, Santa brought me Adobe CS4!! EEK!

As you can imagine, I have a LOT to learn! I'm starting with Photoshop of course, which luckily I've had a little practice with. I still plan to take a class or two, but for now I am learning as I go. :)

So stay tuned... I am currently working on editing ALL of my pictures from Christmas, as well as a little photo shoot I did today. :)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Cookies!

Last Saturday after lunch at Mama T's, my 2 aunts, 2 cousins, mom, grandma and I all gathered around the table to decorate Christmas cookies! We had a blast. This is something we've been doing for several years, and it's such a fun tradition. I can't wait until I have children to start the tradition with as well!

So of course, I brought the camera along, and captured the fun! (side note: unfortunately the Photoshop trial ran out, so I'm back to using my craptastic replacement program. It's better than nothing though. Hopefully Santa will bring me the real live version on Christmas! *hint hint*)


We started out with tons of plain cookies, and plenty of sprinkles!
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And after some trial and error, we finally nailed the frosting process down :)
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As you can see, we used every inch of that table, and made quite a mess!
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Shelley's idea for reindeer cookies...
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This was Caitlin's "Christmas Tree Army"
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And, in following tradition, everyone gets a photo with their tray of cookies!

Aunt Terri
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Shelley
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Caitlin
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She's holding up her favorite member of the army...the Avatar tree. :)

Mom
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And Me!
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Aunt Rhonda decorated a few cookies too...but they somehow magically dissappeared before I could get a picture... ;)


There are still a few of these cookies lingering in the G household...but not for long!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Trash The Dress

If you haven't heard of it... there is a new trend in wedding photography these days called "Trash The Dress" (TTD). Basically, it's a photoshoot done post-wedding, but in your wedding dress, doing just about anything you can think of. Some examples: swimming in a lake, playing with paint, posing in a field...the possibilities are endless. I googled Trash The Dress and here are a couple sample images I found:






































As you can see, this concept can be taken to the EXTREME. :)


So you are probably wondering why I am telling you about this... well, I just so happened to participate in one of these photo sessions recently! [Insert Mom having heart attack] I got together with a few girls and a photographer (Monika of MonPhotography), and went out to Lake Lotawana, and our very own TTD session was born! We didn't go to *quite* the extreme as in some of the example photos, but we did get some fun shots. (Mom, you can breathe now. The dress is still in tact) So, now, for your viewing pleasure, enjoy a few of my favorite shots of the day! (of course Monika gets the credit for all of these lovely shots!)


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I'm not really sure what I will do with these photos...but hey, it was a fun experience! It was a freezing cold day in December, and I got to run around with 2 other girls in our wedding dresses! We couldn't even count how many times people honked at us (especially in the ones where we were walking down the middle of the road...).

The husband said I should have smiled more in the photos. I guess I can see that, but I was trying to channel my inner model... and I'm not sure how successful I was. But I now have some really interesting photos of myself, with my hair and makeup did, and in my wedding dress! And yes, 5 months later that bad boy still fits! (whew)