Last night me, Jeff and the girls loaded up the car and headed up to Philbrook to meet with Em & Ryan to go camping.  It was the girls’ first time ever camping, and they just loved it!  I was a bit worried about Samantha (our little miss priss), but she did great, only asked to go home once – and that happened in the middle of the night when we were all freezing.  Chloe helped keep the fire ablaze and pretended to be a jungle cat most of the time.  I got some great pictures, had a lot of laughs and am just so thankful to have been able to get away and feel back to normal for a bit.    Here are some of my favorites from the day yesterday.  Thanks for stopping by!

This past Saturday we got an opportunity to spend the afternoon out at Oroville Lake.  I really enjoyed soaking up the sun and the landscape!   It’s amazing to see the lake at full capacity!  It was very difficult to get any decent picture while riding on choppy waters going about 35mph, but I’m happy to have gotten a few keepers.    Here are a few favorites…Love seeing the water right at the tree line!
All afternoon we were watching carefully for large logs in our path…hard to miss this tree!
Chloe’s starting Kindergarten in a few short weeks.  She’s growing up to be such a beautiful young lady!
Samantha is SERIOUSLY sick of my camera!  If she sees it in her face, this is usually what I get!

I can’t believe so much time has passed since attending one of the most amazing and special experiences I’ve ever had.   About 5-ish months ago I was blessed enough to be able to attend For the Love Workshop, hosted by Ginny Corbett and the folks at Big K Ranch in Elkton, OR.  Mike Larson and Zach & Jodi Gray were there to teach us and Jonathan and Melisa Helser led us in worship each day!

Those of you that know me, I know you were thankful that the time had finally come for me to go!  I had been overly eager to attend this workshop since discovering it way back last February/March 2010.  The week wasn’t anything I had anticipated it being.  I’ve never attended a workshop before, and had never EVER been around Christian Photographers who believe what I believe and are just as passionate about it as I am.  It was a safe place to be Real, to let my walls down, and to let God and His Spirit flow freely.  With that being said, I still had a very difficult time relaxing and opening up to people on a personal level.  I’ve always struggled socially and have allowed the enemy to control me in that regard.  We all came to the workshop battling our own demons, and it was awesome to be a witness to see how God brought people together, specific people, to be a support to one another and give a shoulder to cry on.  God broke down my fortress walls and helped me to find my inner peace and joy that I lost 2 years ago.  I got to feel what it was like to REALLY smile again.  I learned a lot, both from the workshop and the photography lessons from the pros.  In retrospect – if I’m ever blessed enough to attend another workshop, I’m going to talk to people more and take more pictures!  I have felt all year that this workshop was a need, not just a “I really really really want to go to this fun thing”.  I witnessed several instances that I directly impacted and was so grateful to to have had the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.

God’s blessed us so much since the workshop, and I see His hand in our daily lives more now than ever before.  I’m at peace with waiting and being still now, anticipating His next move for our lives.  If you have the opportunity to go to this workshop, you should definitely go for it!  Everything about it was inspiring and life changing for me.  Don’t hold back, take the leap of faith!

Here are a few of my favorite images.  The full gallery of my pics are on my Fan Page, which I encourage you to check out!