Workwear Product Shots

Yumi's Horse Clinic with Barb Apple

In September, Yumi got to participate in the Barb Apple Horse Clinic at her training ranch in Yelm. Barb Apple is known as the local horse whisperer, although she is known nationally. Yumi had worked hard all summer to earn enough money to pay for the camp, so it was a big deal!


This is Disco. He loves to please and according to Barb, is scared to mess up, so he can be a little timid. Poor baby!




Bad Disco! Trying to sneak snacks while Yumi isn't looking!

Now there's a horse head if I ever saw one. Hi, Disco!

The farm kitty liked to hang out in the play field. She's not scared of horses.

Thanks, Barb, for the wonderful time of learning for my daughter! She had a blast and benefited greatly from your patient teaching!

Linders Photoshoot

A few weeks ago I spent the afternoon photographing the Linder Family. It was my biggest group yet but was a ton of fun.

The baby was so cute!

Adorable eyes!

The guys are pretty silly.

Sweet couple!

Thanks, Linder family, for letting me do this with you! Hope you enjoy your pics!

Grief Stirs

Today I picked up a box of apples from a friend whose brother brings them over from his orchard in Yakima. Fresh Gala apples! Now I need to figure out what to do with all these apples.

However, this post is not about the apples.

While I was there, my friend's husband was there and came over to chat. He retired recently in April and was telling me of his retirement activities. As he was telling me about his garden, I could see the glimmer in his eye (behind his sunglasses) while he shared with me the peace and joy he receives from being out in his garden. "When I'm out here, I can't see the roads, just this bit of nature, and I love it."

It totally took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting it. It came from out of nowhere and I had to put my own sunglasses back on to hide the tears that were forming in my eyes. To see the joy on this man's face reminded me of my dad. I never got to see much of the joy of retirement on my dad's face. He hadn't talked to me for the last three or so years; when I went to see him in the hospital in El Paso, that was the first time in a long time.

This man told me about how he enjoys his family more now and realizes how much he had missed out on all those years with working. It made me wonder if my dad had any regrets. If he ever realized before he died how much of his family's lives he missed out on. How much of mine. How much of my kids'. This life is so fleeting.

And grief shows up unexpectedly.

Group Photo Time

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. I had both my siblings here, so it was a convergence of all seven of my parents' grandchildren. After cake and presents, grandma requested a photo be taken of all the kids.

So I gathered them all on the couch, and told them we were taking a picture. This was the first take:

I don't know where the "Home Alone" kid came from. Or is it "The Scream" by Edvard Munch:

Either way, unacceptable, so we had to take another:

Yumi is the oldest of the grandchildren, I might add.

Zombie Attack!

THEY ARE AFTER US! Plus Mr. Burns, who wants to release the hounds, in the center.

C'mon, kids, give me a serious picture. Grandma wants a serious picture of all her grandchildren:

Grandma was in hysterics over this set of pictures. I was finally able to convince the kiddoes to put on a smiley face and make a nice photo for Grandma for her birthday. 5/7 looking at me isn't that bad. I'll take it.

How do YOU get this many children to behave for a group photo? (Not a rhetorical question!)

Adorable Family Alert

The other day my friend Pia asked if I could take some photos of her adorable little family. Well, it was more like a couple months ago that she asked and I added the "adorable" part to her family. She had a specific time in mind so we waited for the right timing, after a certain birthday. But we finally got together and got it done.

The happy couple of parents


The adorable insta-smile daughter

The precocious 2-year old who refused to look at me with my camera

And a special moment between the two

Were they not adorable? I have yet to process all the photos and make the CD for them but wanted to offer a sneak peek right here. Since I am still trying to figure out how to get the sharpest photos possible, I am anxious to see how these print up.

The Non-Pioneer way to Make French Toast

My Chinese Exchange Students, LiNa and Yi Jia are gone and now I have time to reflect on some of the things we have done, lessons learned, and meals I have made. While they were here, I made a hot breakfast almost every day. A lot of the days it was rice and eggs, but some days I made pancakes, sausage, and french toast.

While making the french toast, I remembered a blog I read by the Pioneer Woman. While clearly entertaining and a feast for the eyes, the things she does for the sake of "pioneering" seem way over the top for me. It may just be me though. So I decided to give you the lowdown on how I make french toast, which happened to be the same way my mom made french toast. With the exception of using a square bowl, that is. So you might say this is how my ancestor made french toast.

First, I start out with some Safeway fresh eggs. I usually buy the 18 pack, but you can pick up a pack of dozen if you prefer. Sometimes my hubs will do the shopping and purchase the brown eggs, or even sometimes the more expensive organic. My mom did not buy organic at the time because it was not available at the commissary, as far as I know.

I add a little milk to the eggs and whisk them up. My family prefers 2%. My mom always bought 2% so it's legit.

Here is where I add a little of me to the process. You see, I hate waste. Therefore, after I beat the eggs with the milk, I pour it into a square container. That way, when I dip the bread in the mixture I can get all the corners with all the egg mixture that is possible.

After dipping the bread into the mixture I place it on the preheated electric griddle. I love my griddle. If you don't have one for pancakes and french toast, I highly suggest you get one. I turn the heat all the way as high as it goes then bring it back a little bit. Don't want to burn the food.

All the bread gets laid out.



And one side starts to cook. When that side is done, I flip them over.

Mmmmm... looks like breakfast. So there is how I cook the french toast. I did it the way my mom did.

Wanna know how we ate it growing up? It might be an East-Coastie thing, but we would put butter on it, then sprinkle sugar on top. Not powdered sugar. No. It is the crunchy white sugar. It gets all mixed with the butter and is super yummy.

My kids like to drizzle it with syrup. Actually drown it is more like it. A friend once put peanut butter then syrup, which I have found to be quite tasty.

Try it; you'll like it.