Cinnamon Rolls...and whatnot

Hello fans! or friends! or family! Actually, I'm not sure who reads this yet, except for Sara. {{HI Sara!}} Maybe if I actually BLOGGED occasionally, I might get readers. Ya think??

Ok, I have an excuse. I somehow injured my right shoulder 2 months ago, and everytime I sat down at the computer for more than 5 min, but shoulder/arm would start to hurt, and go tingly and numb. Not fun. It's still doing those things, but at a much reduced amount. So, time to start blogging again!

Let's start with a photo of Cinnamon Rolls from yesterday, shall we?? These were made for a customer, and I hear she loved them! MMM, don't those look yummy?? If you are interested in a pan of these for yourself, or any other of my homemade baked good, just leave a comment, or email me: carrot_top6@yahoo.com . One of these days when I become more Blogger-literate, I will have a seperate blog/page just for my baking business. {actually, I'm thinking I need to go hang out with Sara some, so she can teach this 'old dog' some new tricks!

I also finished editing the Fersch Family's photos! yea me! Here is one from their photo shoot, taken at Shoreline Village a couple of weekends ago. This was the 4th year in a row I've done their family photos...can't believe they haven't found someone with a little more talent and experience, lol.

What's on the calendar for this week: Mon: grocery shopping, laundry Tues: Work, get rained on! Wed: Work, get rained on, Millikan Christmas Concert Thurs: Work, get rained on, do some baking Fri: Sleep in, bake, ??? Sat: Ward Christmas Party

Also try to set up an appt with a bride-to-be and her Mom for a weddng cake for January. Fun!

Off to do some reading before bed. Good night!

Mmmmm....can you smell it??

The girls and I just put an APPLE PIE in the oven! First one of the season...oh my gosh, can I wait the hour before it's done??? LOL! I got the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, Noble Pig. The link is over to the left, under "FOOD BLOGS" (duh). Here is the link to the recipe:http://noblepig.com/2009/09/27/always-a-classic-2.aspx

I also baked 4 loaves of bread today; 2 Country White (Cami's fav) and 2 Honey Oatmeal. Now the girls are happy, they have fresh homemade bread for breakfast tomorrow. (and me too, lol)Cami could (and does) eat the white bread for breakfast, then will request a slice in her bag lunch, then a slice for a snack after school, and THEN will ask for a slice for 'treat' before bed if there's nothing else that suits her. The girl loves her carbs, just like her Mama.
I LOVE the white bread...toasted lightly, a little soft butter, then some homemade strawberry jam. Oh my, oh my, it's more like dessert than breakfast! I'll try to remember to get a pic tomorrow of my little 'slice' of heaven.

Will the THIRD time be the CHARM??

Cause I'm not feeling so charmed with this blogger thing at the moment! I tried to edit the post below about 6 times, moving the text and photos a bit, and everytime it reverted RIGHT BACK to the off center thing you see below.

*BIG annoyed SIGH*

These three little *booties* belong to the Halls Boys. The middle one and one on the right are twins,(Tim and Zach) and then the little guy Sam is on the left. They are warming their hands at the fire, corn on the cob is cooking in the trash can. I think they are watching my son Mike, just off camera to the right. Cute!

This is Miss Kaylee, at the Mother-Daughter Campout. She is Sweet-sweet-sweet, and has the most adorable brown curls. I could smear honey on her and eat her up...but I'm thinking her Mom might not like that. *grin* Kaylee will be getting a new BABY BROTHER in a few weeks...maybe I can convince Mom to let me take some newborn pics????

Alright, I'm done for now. I feel glued to my computer chair, and need to start thinking about dinner. Though on a Sat evening, I don't put a whole lot of thought into it...Hamburgers anyone??

Cute Kids, Take 2

Cute Kids, Take 2: First up is Miss Eliza. I've been lucky enough to take photos of this cutie a few times now. She is adorable, and mischievous, and I love her to bits!

Below is Miss Katie, big sister to Carter. She's a stylin' young miss, with her bug-eye white shades. I think they match her hair!

Below is Mr Carter, Katie's little bro. Quite the wild thang. Wonder what he's thinking...I'm sure its has to do with *trouble*, lol. I'm loving his dimples on his elbows...click to make the photo larger to see them.

**Now the little button I click to 'add a photo' is not working at all!! So, apparently this is the end of THIS post, too. Shall I try for #3??

Cute Kids!

Hey, did you notice.....I was successful at adding photos to my post yesterday! Yippee! It wasn't hard, but it was timeconsuming. Everytime I clicked to add a photo, it automatically put the photo at the TOP of my post. Where I already had a photo. So then I had to move it, and re-align my text, and move some more...with each photo! Arrgghh! There must be an easier way, and I plan to figure it out. To do so, I'm adding MORE photos today. Because I'm just a sucker for punishment. Eh.

Todays photos are CUTE kids from my ward. The photos were either taken at our Ward Beach Party in August, or Mother-Daughter Campout a few weeks later. Let's start with the Beach Party Pics. Above is Miss Bailey. Ya gotta LOVE the pearls!

Next is Mr Blake, going to town on that corn. I'd hate to think what his diaper looked like the next day...hehehe.

**Ok, I'm stuck. I'm trying to add the 3rd photo, and I can't drag it down below the photo of Carter. ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!! So, I'm going to end this post, and start a new one. Blech!

Some Fotos of Families

Since I'm wasting a beautiful fall afternoon doing *nothing*, I might as well learn more about 'How to Blog'. Today, I am going to figure out how to post photos on my blog. Can I get some applause? *clap-clap-clap* Hmmm, maybe we should hold the appluase until we find out if this will be successful??

I'm starting with some photos of a couple of families I shot last month. ('shot' as in taking their photo, not with bullets) First we have the fun Koford Family from Los Alamitos: (see above) Brain and Erica and their cute kids (i already forgot their names, oops) were just gorgeous and fun to shoot. We went down to CSULB and found some fun spots to pose around the middle of campus. Mom and Dad were very patient, and the kids were more co-operative than I expected, considering it was about 100* ! It was great getting their personalities to shine through. Thanks Kofords!!

Next, the Ball Family, also of Los Al. For their shoot we went down to Seal Beach on a very crowded, very hot, very smokey-overcast evening. I took my 2 girls along as 'helpers', and didn't even need them, as the Ball Kids were SOOOO great! And cute. And adorable. And photogenic.

It was a completely differenct shoot from the Kofords, ...the beach vs campus, crowded vs deserted, soft beachy feel vs urban grundge feel. Again, everyone was so co-operative and had great ideas for me. Thanks Ball Family!

*Note to anyone I do a photo session for:

Recommend me to a friend, and you can earn FREE prints, or $$ off your next session! And don't forget to hand out those little photo cards I give you!

My next project is SENIOR PORTRAITS!

I've noticed over the last few years, that for some reason, ...getting outside, on-location photos done when you are a High School Senior is not 'done' around here. My nieces and nephews up in NorCal all get Senior Photos done at fun and unique locations. They get to change their clothes, bring accesories, (sports equipment, musical instruments, etc), and have a photo shoot that shows their personalities. Here in SoCal, the kids just show up at our school campus on their appointed day, have a few head shots and full body shots done, using the same poses as all the other 800 Seniors in their class, (in the gym with plain backgrounds), and then wait for the 'wonderful' proofs to arrive in the mail a week later. If the photos turned out good, then hopefully they had the forethought to save some $$$ or take out a small loan, cause those studio portraits are EXPENSIVE!!

(Left: Jenni as a Senior, Dec 2005, photo taken by me)

Well, I want to CHANGE that!! First step, take Mike and a friend to do a free photo session somewhere. Maybe CSULB, or the Beach, or the park. Then, I will make small 'pass-out' cards for them to give to all their friends. Then...hopefully the kids will start calling to book sessions

If you are interested in booking a session, give me a call.

Home: 562-594-0059

Cell: 562-500-4859

Bye till later!

(Mike at Seal Beach, May 2007)

Everything Old is New again...and again

I've decided it's time to get with the whole 'social networking' trend, and try blogging...again. You can see how well it worked last time I tried. Back in Sept of 08. A year ago. *hanging head in shame*
So, what is the purpose of my blog?

To share the Comings, Goings, and Mishaps of my family.
To share my love of Baking and Cooking
To maybe encourage some people to purchase some of my Baking and Cooking!
To share my journey to become a better Photographer
Because I LOVE attention. (positive only, please)

Ok, enough of trying to be deep.

It's 100* in LB today. I really wanted to bake some Pumpkin Muffins, http://sentimentsfrommykitchen.blogspot.com/2008/11/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins.html, but even I am not that crazy. Maybe in the morning, I have a couple of other baking requests to fulfill tomorrow. Let's all pray for a bit cooler temps...though this is quite normal for Sept in SoCal.