Edmunds Family

2009-10-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

My Sweet BoysLuke is 5.
Seth is 14.

2009-10-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Texas Mushroom FestivalI won 2nd place in the Mushroom category of the Texas Mushroom Festival. Woohoo!

This is my entry. I called it "Cotton Candy".

2009-09-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

The Gilbert Family

I took family pictures for some friends of mine a while back.

2009-09-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

Jack and Kim's Wedding

I was so excited to see that they used their engagement pictures as decorations on the tables. There was a different shot on each table too!

Beautiful Cake.

The grooms cupcakes.

The dress.

The Rings.

They did the neatest thing at this wedding. Kim has a son from a previous marriage and Jack has 3 children from a previous marriage. They incorporated the children into the ceremony with a "sand ceremony". Each of the children took turns pouring sand into a large vase (white for the boys, pink for the girls. After the children were done, Jack and Kim poured sand simultaneously combining the pink and white together. Awesome!

Kim with her son.

Jack's children

Kim and Jack, I know who "decorated" your truck. In fact, I caught them in the act:

2009-09-24T06:20:00.000-07:00

My brother, Steven, and his family came to Texas this summer. The kids seemed to have a great time. Here is a picture of Amanda(16), Seth(14), Brandon(13) and Luke(5). The day after they arrived, we took them out on a boat with our friends, Rodney & Missy, on Lake Sommerville. They started out kneeboarding and did really well.

Then Seth decided to show off and try to "surf" on the kneeboard. Well, he did a lot of wiping out and no surfing. LOL!

The tube was a blast.

Even Steven gave it a try.

Then Rodney got a little more aggressive in his driving.

Which of course, the kids loved!

Despite being slammed into the water.

That arm and leg . . . That's Brandon!

Amanda was bound and determined to stay on the tube. (Don't blame her. That water is Hard!)

But it didn't always work. LOL!

They had a great time despite nearly losing their bathing suits in the lake!

2009-09-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

My brother, Steven, and his family came to visit this summer. They live in Massachusetts, so to say the weather here was a big change for them is an understatement. My brother's wonderful wife is Linda and they have 2 kids - Brandon who is 13 and Amanda who just turned 16 on 9/23 (Watch out Massachusetts drivers and all pedestrians in their area!) We decided the best plan this year was to stay near water and/or air conditioning as much as possible. I think they brought some of the cool air with them though, because the week they were in Texas the weather was nice. (meaning a high of on 95 instead of 105, 10 degrees makes a big difference!)

We went to Galveston for a couple of days. First stop there was the beach . . . well, after we got the van unstuck from trying to drive onto the sand . . . . yep, I said STUCK . . . . TWICE!!!! Thankfully both times, there was someone close by willing to drag us out.

We grilled on the beach. Well Craig grilled while Steven observed, LOL!

Luke is not a big fan of the water. He'd rather create sand castles and elaborate stories around them. According to him, he likes to make his sand castles "whimsical". Several people in the family who will not be named to protect their identity, had to ask what on earth whimsical meant. Luke knew though! Smart 'lil feller.

Is it a shark. . . no, is it a fish . . . . no, it's Brandon. I don't think he came out of the water the whole day. The northeners were amazed by the warmth of the Gulf. Apparently in the dead of summer it takes about 2 hours to ease into their ocean. Then you can only stay in a short time before turning purple.

Hmm, I guess Craig did good. Amanda liked the hot dogs anyway!

Luke passed up the hot dogs in favor of Spongebob! You have no idea how it was freaking him out to have the ice cream dripping down his arms, but he toughed it out like a trooper. (Meanwhile his brother wouldn't mind bathing in ice cream, LOL)

2009-08-11T06:13:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to redecorate my house. It's really needed it! After 12 years of daycare, there were stains on the walls that were not going anywhere. So several coats of paint later, I was left with blank walls. (Obviously couldn't have anything hanging on the walls before since the kids would just TRY to knock them down, Lol! Plus all the state licensing posters that I was required to have posted. Lovely) So I have been trying to figure out what to do with these walls.

Well, I think I finally have it figured out and I'll post pictures of the various walls to show my results. Anyway, I totally got off track there (me? never). What I'm REALLY writing about is that I needed a picture of my dad for one of the walls. So I drug out his old album and found these gems: Easter. Dad always seemed to make it to see us for Easter. He would take us to the Catholic church (one of our few exposures to church) and afterwards to Friends restaurant. I remember one time walking up to the restaurant and seeing a snake. (And remember I was a city girl growing up in Brownsville). Well, I immediately started screaming, which made the snake slither away (I can still see that darn thing in my mind). My dad ran over immediately. When I told him there was a snake, he looked for it. Never did find the darn thing. I still think he thought I was seeing things (I did have an active imagination). But I saw it, there was a snake!!

Don't you just love the lovely browns and oranges of the 70s? NOT!

My daddy stayed in the sun so much that he was always dark. Oh and he tanned super easily anyway. I wonder if that is typical for French people? Luke has gotten Daddy's skin tone.

TV. Isn't it every dad's favorite pasttime?

We were probably watching Emergency. That was my very favorite show. I've tried to watch reruns of it on TVland. OMG, it's awful!!!

Public Service Announcement: Do not watch really old shows that you have fond memories of now. It completely shatters your wonderful memories. (And you realize what an idiot you were!)

This picture had to be in Mississippi judging from my age and the shrimp boats in the background. We moved to Pascagoula when I was 2 weeks old and lived there until I was 3 or 4.

QUIZ: Name the song, title and artist, about Pascagoula.

Fishing. My daddy LOVED to fish and swim. Any time he had an opportunity, you could bet he'd have a fishing rod in his hand. I can't believe I actually had a fishing rod in my hand in this picture. It must have been when we first got here. I've always hated fishing. BORING! I guess it's okay, if the fish are constantly biting. . . Naw, that gets old fast, too.

Me and my dear cousin Patricia. We lived down the street from her and her brother Lonnie most of my young life. We had such fun!

Me and my baby sister, Christina. (Though she was Tina at the time. I won't say what my nickname was.)

Me, my sister and my cousins Patricia and Lonnie. Patricia and I both had long hair. But mine had wave to it so it would tangle horrendously. Hair brushing time was torture! But Patricia's mom, Emi, had "magic" spray. When she would brush our hair, she would use it and the tangles would miraculously disappear. (I think it was spray on conditioner). I never could figure out why my mom didn't have the "magic" spray. Hmmm . . . maybe I needed torturing!

2009-08-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

I got to do engagement pictures for Craig's cousin Kim and her fiance Jack a couple of months ago. I was so honored that they asked me to do this for them. It was a total blast. I tortured them for nearly 2 hours. Jack was incorrigible the whole time! Kim, you have got your hands full!!! This was my favorite picture. They had gotten to the point of ignoring me and were just wrapped up in each other. Excellent!

I love this shot. It really shows how in love Jack is.

I was going for a vintage 70s look here. I thought it fit with the car and the old building behind it. (I don't know what kind of car it is, so don't yell at me if it isn't 70s!!)

So Sweet.

Oh, this one, LOL! Jack whined the WHOLE time for this shot. For the record he only did it under protest! His words, "Oh my god, that is sooo gay". But seriously it's perfect isn't it? I used it for the opening shot for the photobook I did for them, with the caption "The two shall become one". Cool, huh? Jack has gotten miles of jokes out of it. In fact at the wedding his new step-son and his friends insisted that they "do the heart". So fun!

The Bling!

I will add the wedding pictures later. (If I ever get them all edited!)

2009-08-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

Well lets see. . . I decided to start this blog for a one stop spot for those interested in my amateur photography attempts and for updates about my family. Hopefully I'll have at least one visitor!