Intentional Captures

As we embark on a new year, there is a word on my mind that encompasses my thoughts for 2015 and that word is intentional. I need to be more intentional about enjoying photography and capturing the beautiful moments in life. This means my camera is going to be accompanying me everywhere I go. As I see overwhelming beauty that makes me want to pull the car over and capture it, I can do that. When family and friends are making precious memories, my camera will be available to document sweet moments. There are many areas of life I want to be more intentional about, but since this is a photography blog, I'll stick to this one thing. The other day as we were driving home after picking my daughter up from piano lessons, the scenery was just beautiful. It was a cool, crisp, sunny day as we drove through the gorgeous farmlands in our area. The colors and depths of beauty were tugging at my heart to seize the moment....to stop and "smell the roses" and give in to my passion to photograph the scenery in that moment. I did pull the car over to thank God through the lens of my camera by documenting His incredible display of art and beauty.

 

 



 



 

Golden Christmas Puppies.....For Valentines Day!

Three weeks ago, our Golden Girl Dallas, whelped a litter of thirteen beautiful Golden Retriever puppies just in time for Christmas, and they will be ready to go to their forever homes just before Valentines Day. Sadly, one was still born and one passed away a few days later, for unknown reasons. The rest of the litter is growing and thriving and we are all enjoying those wiggly, adorable little balls of fur.

This past week-end we were busy with a visit from our daughter and five of our grandchildren followed by back to back appointments for possible puppy adoptions.  About half the litter has now been reserved for their forever homes and it's so exciting to see the puppies matched up with people who will give them excellent care, attention, training and affection.

I captured some pictures of our grandkiddos enjoying the puppies and then caught some precious moments during a visit with a family who can't wait to take their puppy home in a few weeks.

Can't you just smell that puppy breath?

Our daughter and some of our grandkids. They are all very good and gentle with the puppies. It was hilarious watching our twenty month old grandson giggle and snuggle this little puppy.

The tiniest girl in the litter gets a little one-on-one time with mom each day.

We are so excited for this family. They have three small children and are very excited to welcome a puppy into their home. They are also friends of ours, which is especially special to us as we know it is going to a great home and we can visit and see their puppy as it grows.

Nap time!

Dallas is an excellent mom!

Rich was giving this little girl some supplement feedings and picked her up to give her a little affection, when she decided to latch on to his nose. :)

www.northcascadegoldens.com

A Stay At Home Birth

Since eight of my nine grandchildren were all born at home, I have heard many different responses to this information and have been asked a plethora of questions about the safety of home birth and how comfortable it would be in comparison to a hospital birth. Everyone is wired uniquely and we all have our own preferences. All seven of my own children were born in a hospital and I have seen beautiful births in both settings. I had the honor of photographing an enchanting home birth the day after Christmas. It was peaceful, lovely and amazing with two very professional and nurturing midwives and a great support system for the mom. The main midwife delivered eight of my grandchildren and she has delivered well over two thousand babies. She is amazing! I'll share the story via pictures and let you draw your own conclusions. Sadly, I was having trouble with my camera's focusing abilities that night, so some shots have blur to them. Fortunately I was able to capture most of the experience clearly, but not perfectly.

One of the sweetest things about this birth is that this family had three girls and one boy and they chose not to find the sex of this baby before it made it's debut.

 

There were no dry eyes in the house when Daddy caught his baby BOY!

The new baby's only sibling that got to be in the room for the birth, was his oldest sister, who actually got to cut the chord.

Dad with oldest daughter and youngest son

It was priceless to see each of the kids faces as they met their new baby sibling and discovered that they had a new brother!

As our beloved midwife was doing the well baby check, she spontaneously picked him up and gave him a snuggle.....such a beautiful moment.

Dad got to weigh his son.

Official weight: 7 pounds 3 ounces. A perfect newborn weight.

Two year old big sister and grandma meeting their newest family member

Older sister sees her new brother for the first time

Mom and all the kids

The whole family