PHOTO SESSION GIVEAWAY!

I am doing a giveaway on my photo blog, check it out. You must leave a comment to enter the drawing. PLEASE tell your friends and family! Click here to see the details!

Flour tortilla recipe

Here is the recipe that lots have requested. Very simple and very good!

3 cups unbleached flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt (I add more like 2 because I don't think they have very much flavor with only 1)

4-6 tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard (don't even try the shortening, go with the lard, it is the best!)

about 1 1/4 cups warm water

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add lard/shortening. Cut or use hands to mix. 

Add the warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and NOT sticky. 

Knead for a few minutes.

Now pull off pieces to form about 12 small dough balls.

Cover them with a bowl and let rest for a few minutes.

Then I just dust them with a bit of flour and roll them out. If you don't have a comal, which I don't, I use my cast iron skillet and cook them on high heat. It doesn't take long so don't walk away or you will have burnt tortillas.

My assistants

They love to help me when I take pictures. Not sure I could take them to real sessions with real clients, but for pictures across the street with Frankie, it worked. Sophie is obviously busting some sort of a karate move, as you can see she is still wearing her clothes. Love these girls! 

I must be crazy.....

Do you ever get so desperate when you are trying to cook dinner, or write an e-mail, or take a shower or whatever, that you will let your kids do anything just so you can finish? Well, I do that all the time and tonight was no exception. I was making my favorite mexican dish from a recipe that Greg's dad gave me, and I wouldn't even dream of eating it without home-made tortillas (which by the way, I have the best recipe for). So I am adding the lard to the flour and mixing it old school style with my fingers, and Miss Frankie decides that she needs to climb up on the counter and help me out. My hands were covered in sticky dough and rather than stop every second to get her off the counter and deal with the screaming fits that would follow, I caved and let her play with the flour. Then I got the bright idea to take pictures which was totally dumb since again, my hands were covered with sticky dough so when I was all done I had to give my new camera a good cleaning. Anything to get the job done, that is my motto LOL!! She did have a great time but now I am afraid I have created a monster since she always wants to be on the counter now. I should have seen that one coming. 

Gorgeous skies

This is the first time I have ever looked at the sky in Utah and thought it even came close to matching the beauty of Montana's amazing skies. I shot these tonight after I took Frankie's pictures. So pretty. Oh, and one of my sweet cross-eyed kitty cat. I love him too! Scroll down to see Frankie's cute face!

Frankie baby

This girl absolutely melts my heart away! I thought since I failed miserably to get pictures of her when I did my family photo I would try again. We went across the street to my neighbors house. She lives on a farm and her back yard is huge and surrounded by green fields and I love it. I think it worked out for these pictures. I might even ask her if I could do some future sessions there. Anyway, Frankie cooperated for the first, oh, 30 seconds, and then I really only got her backside. Those turned out to be some of my fav's, though. OMG she is so stinkin' cute!

Get your tickets to Witchapalooza!!!

I just got my e-mail the other day announcing that Witchapalooza tickets had gone on sale! We have gone for the past 3 years and let me tell you, it is a BLAST!!! The whole atmosphere is just awesome, the food is great, the performances are so entertaining, the whole package! You have to go! Click here to see how much fun we had at last year's show. Tickets are a bit pricey per person, but hey, it is so worth the money, I promise. In case anyone is interested we are going on 10/30 and we are going to dress up and everything! Can you tell I am a teeny tiny bit excited?

Making faces

I want to do a post of all of Sophie's faces that she has made throughout the years.  Next to trying to get Bella's b-day pics ready I am sifting through hundreds of digital photos, as well my box of prints to find my favorites.  She is so sweet!

If you know of anyone....

I realize my blogging audience has dwindled down a bit so if you know someone who might be interested in this send them my way. I prefer to shoot kids who are really going back to school, however, if the spots don't all fill up they can be filled with a family or children's session as well.

Bella's 8th birthday

Well, I am trying to get back into blogging so I thought I would start with a facelift, and a picture. We had Bella's 8th birthday party on July 25th (although her real b-day is the 26th, in case you were wondering :). She specifically said that she wanted a water party like last year so that is exactly what we did. We also surprised the kids with my neighbor Dan, who is a retired firefighter, and his vintage fire truck. It was a hit and I have about a million pics to post as you can imagine so that is what I am working on now. 

Some summer stuff

First off, my favorite picture so far this year. It doesn't get better than this.

A smile! This girl actually smiled for the camera!

This is a picture of Greg's Grandmother's house in Tooele.  We spent the day there and had a wonderful steak dinner while Greg's mom was in town.

This picture make my heart melt. Bella is the best big sister ever!


Um, no you cannot have her. I know she is the cutest thing ever, but she is MINE!

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I hope you are all having an awesome summer. I can't believe that our break is more than halfway over. This weekend we will celebrate Bella's 8th birthday. I think I am going to do a post coming up of my girl as she has grown up. Expect a ton of pictures soon. Have a great weekend!

Bannack State Park, Montana

First some history.....
Bannack was founded in 1862 when John White discovered gold on Grasshopper Creek. As news of the gold strike spread many prospectors and businessmen rushed to Bannack hoping to strike it rich. In 1864, Bannack was named as the first Territorial Capital of Montana. Remaining in Bannack for only a short time, the Capital moved on to Virginia City. In 1863 gold had been discovered near Virginia City and at that time many prospectors left Bannack in hopes of finding the mother lode in Virginia City. However, some people stayed in Bannack and explored the use of further mining techniques. From the late 1860's to the 1930's, Bannack continued as a mining town with a fluctuating population. By the 1950's gold workings had dwindled and most folks had moved on. At that point the State of Montana declared Bannack a State Park. Today, over sixty structures remain standing, most of which can be explored. People from all over visit this renowned ghost town to discover their heritage.

During our visit to Montana we finally went to see Bannack. I say finally because I have passed this place probably over a hundred times in all my trips to Montana and never gave it a second thought. I am so glad I finally went to visit. It was absolutely amazing. I loved all the old structures, textures, colors, I could go on and on. I took pictures of old windows and doors, an idea given to me by family friend Linda (on one of her many traveling excursions abroad she got some amazing shots of gorgeous doors). I am normally not one to do this kind of photography but I thought it would sure be fun to try. I also tried to give these a very high-contrast look in photoshop, I don't know, I guess I thought it would add to the eerie feel of the pictures. Anyway, enjoy, and let me know what you think pretty please:)

In this one check out the window on the top in the middle. It looks like there is a face peering out. We can't figure out what it is?!



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If I lived up there I swear I would do any and all photo sessions in Bannack. It was awesome! Next I will have to post the pictures of the kids and family. I think the best one is where my mom is pretending to use the bathroom-I think I might just have to embarrass her lol!

the rest.

I think I might just have to finally make prints of my work.

family pic.

Duuuude! I am so behind on this blog it isn't even funny! I took our family photo tonight. It was extremely stressful and I did sound a bit like a Kate Gosselin (you know that episode where they shot a cover for Good Housekeeping?). It wasn't pretty. But we did get a few keepers and these are the ones that I have played with so far.