Photography... jumping back in!

With my morning sickness pretty much non-existant (insert extreme excitement dance here) I've been out with my camera! I've updated my {photography blog} with pictures from my most recent photo shoots, and I've even created a Facebook page for my photography which can find {HERE}


Here's a little peek at what I've been up to

She Takes My Breath Away

Spring Love

I took the kids out to do their spring pictures ~ and I've completely fallen in love with this one.  It shows their love.  And their love is beautiful.  Their love is perfect.  Their love is unconditional.  

I love them.

You can see more pictures from the shoot on my {PHOTO BLOG}

You are so beautiful, Sweet Girl

Oh sweet girl you have no clue how much this little face right here kills me.  This little face makes me smile when I am mad, and probably gets you out of a lot of trouble that you should be in. But how could anyone not smile and kiss the heck out of this cute little face?

You are so beautiful, Sweet Girl.  

There are more pictures to be seen over on my {photo blog}

I {Heart} Faces - Hilarious Outtakes Photo Challenge

This photo challenge is hilarious outtakes.... so I chose to use a pictures I got out of my last photo shoot.  Most of the pictures show the love, the family feel.... this was an inbetween shots shot that I got.  What looks like them playfully playing with each other is actually her attempting to knee him in the balls for plain out driving her CRAZY during the photo shoot... I LOVED IT!

Wordless Wednesday... take time to smell the flowers

It's all about smelling the flowers on a beautiful summer day.

For more Wordless Wednesday head over to {5Minutes4Mom}

Friday Favorites #1 ~ Aloha Friday Family Activites?

I have one carnival going on, and sometimes people link up, and sometimes they don't. That's okay with me... it's okay, because I started the carnival to guarantee my readers that once a week I will post something inspiring... and hopefully it will motivate their Mondays. Now, I'm starting up another. Do I hope to see people link up? ABSOLUTEY... but even if I don't link ups, Friday Favorites will still be here.  If you want to skip all this Friday Favorites stuff and head straight over to the Aloha Friday question please scroll down :)


I love to do Friday Favorites, and I just usually ramble away with them. I thought about maybe structurizing it a bit this week and adding a linkup - you are more than welcome to link up your Friday Favorites.


Since I'm structurizing I figured I'd go ahead and add some topics below... the names are my kids' names, you can do whatever subjects that you wish.... but these are the subjects I'm mainly going to stick with.  I may add some other weeks, but these are my main ones!

Accomplishments:  This week I accomplished my huge laundry pile... that by far is my favorite accomplishment.  I know, boring but a favorite of mine!  

Jayden: I overheard Jayden tell his friend not to say God, and to say Gosh instead. For the first time since starting Kindergarten Jayden has found a "real" friend that he really connects with. I see major differences and similarities between the two. I hope that Jayden continues to be the good example that he is. I can't even express how proud I am of him.

Ella: Oh boy, this girl is TOO MUCH! She started swim lessons this week and we have had so much fun doing them!!  My favorite thing of this week is that she showed that she has a huge heart and loves to see the excitement of others.  I noticed this today at her swim lesson where she wasn't throwing a fit when other's were getting turns... instead she just showed excitement.

Marriage: I know that marriage is one of the hardest things, but I am a strong believer in fighting through it all. I feel fortunate that we are both at a very good point in our marriage. My favorite thing about this week to do with my marriage is that I personally am trying to do things to make my husband happy without expectations back.

Favorite Blog of the Week: Definitely 110% my fav new blog for this week is {A Place to Bloom}. It is definitely a place where you can bloom as a mother and wife. One of the writers of the blog is a dear friend of mine and I absolutely love what they are doing.

Favorite Blog Post of the Week (not my own): Believe it or not it's also from A Place to Bloom. I found {this post} and instantly LOVED it. It's about spending time together as a family and I believe it is a VERY important thing. This guest poster over at A Place to Bloom had this post very well written.

Photography:  Today, actually, I was referred to somebody to do their wedding.  I'm nervous, but figure I have to start somewhere right?  Another favorite is I finally printed my first 20x30 prints and they were of my beautiful children... I am absolutely in LOVE with the results.  I love walking into my home and seeing such huge displays of what I believe is the most beautiful thing on this planet.

Now for {Aloha Friday} 

What is your favorite thing to do as a family?  I'm talking simple, something that can be done on a weeknight type of a thing.


HERE'S THE LINKUP FOR YOU TO LINKUP YOUR FRIDAY FAVORITE'S POST

I'm Still Her Best Friend

She still likes me, she still loves me, and I'm treasuring the moments I'm still her best friend.

{CLICK HERE} for more Wordless Wednesday

Organizing the Pics of your computer

Boy am I ever so late on this week's Works for Me Wednesday.  It's an organizing themed week and I'm chuckling inside, because lately I've been anything BUT organized.  So, today's tip is going to be simple, sweet and to the point.

I'm sure that when I go back later to read through everyone's organizing tips there will be a 1/3 of them on this topic, but that's okay... I'm here to share what works for me and this does.

I LOVE to take pictures, and take a ton of them.  When you get home and get them uploaded on the computer and edited and then edited for online and all of that jazz it can get a bit messy... unless, you have an organizing plan set out from the beginning.

I have 2 folders on my computer for each year.  Example: 

1st Folder: 2009 {in this folder I will be breaking down later for you, but it's where my pictures go}

2nd Folder: 2009 Photoshoots {where any photoshoots I do for other people will go}

Now to break it down for you.  Let's start w/my 2009 File I have {this is the 1 w/my pictures}:

Inside of the 2009 File there will be a folder for each month.  Inside of the month's folder there will also be a folder named To Be Edited and a folder named Online. 

Here is what I do:

The first thing I do is when I put my SD card in the computer is I transfer all of the images (mine are usually in RAW format instead of JPEG) to the folder inside the correct month called To Be Edited.  Then once I edit a picture and it's ready to be printed I will save it inside of the month's folder.  THEN I will resize the image, watermark it and place it in the online folder.  

Let's say there was a significant event that took place in the month of September... like my son's b/day.  I would make a folder inside of the September folder called Jayden's Birthday and inside of create an online folder and a To Be Edited folder.  That way that significant event's pictures won't all be mixed in with my regular month's pictures.

Now for photoshoots:  

It's basically the same as above, however I have:

Folder for each month, inside each month will be a folder w/the last name of the people's whose photos I did.  Inside their folder will be RAW Images folder, Online folder, and Digital Release folder, and then final product folder.  

After my shoot I transfer all files from my memory card into the RAW Images folder, then edit and save in the final product folder, resize and watermark for them to use online and save it in the online folder, and then I take my final product folder and pick which ones will be given for the digital release and save them in that folder.

Perfectly organized, and you no longer feel cluttered with pictures!

Hope this helped you out.... if you're trying to organized like I am, then you should DEFINITELY be checking out {We Are THAT Family} this week for the themed week of organizing Works for me Wednesday!!

My Baby Girl turned 2 - my best photo shoot EVER

This photoshoot was probably one of the best ones I will ever do. My baby turned 2 and taking these pictures were a surprise for her daddy. If you would like to see these pictures large and w/out the video please {CLICK HERE} to go to my photography blog.

**edited to add that I am submitting this post in as my {Wordless Wednesday}

A Little Preview of what I'm up to

Photography

I've been working on something lately and finally have it to a point where I'm ready to share it.

I'm doing photography now and have a photography blog. It's where I'll post my photo shoots.

There will be a link off to the side underneath MY OTHER BLOGS.

http://amandagaribayphotography.blogspot.com/

I want another camera

I have an obsession with cameras. I always want a new one. Well, I'm pretty happy with my actual camera, but not my video camera. I don't take videos of the kids much because it really SUCKS! I was one of the new pretty digital ones. I'm even thinking that I could really use one of these FLIP video cameras just to take little clips of the funny things that the kids do. There's so many things that I want to remember. Like the way Ella squeezes and the funny dances Jayden does. I'm adding one of these to my Christmas list.

Gino's going to kill me when I tell him I want ANOTHER camera.

Ruthie's Birth Announcement

I made my neighebor's birth announcement and I LOVE IT! Their baby girl is so cute and so sweet.

Photography Obsession

I really need to take a photography class. I have this amazing camera in my hands and there's so much that I have no clue about. The pictures that I'm getting are beautiful, but I know they could be so much more and that bugs the crap out of me.

I found one class online that teaches about my camera, and I think I just might be signing up for it. I never realized how much I loved taking pictures until I bought this camera. It's like all I want to do now is get out there and take pictures. I look at people differently now. The other night I was at Olive Garden and was sitting in the waiting lounge and there was this family sitting on the couch. At the moment I had wished more than anything that I had my camera, because it would have made the most beautiful family picture. They were so happy and I just wanted to capture that for them so badly.

Not only do I now need to take a class on photography, but I think I should take a class on Photoshop as well. I know all about layers and a few effects, but I know there's a whole photo editing world inside that program that I am clueless on.

Happy Early Birthday to ME!

Today I got spoiled. I got 2 things that I've been wanting for a really, really long time! First thing I got was a Canon EOS Rebel XSI 450D camera. OMGoodness!!!!! I have always wanted a really nice camera, and now I have one! I have no idea about anything about it, but I learn quick. I'm going to be reading through the manual and I'm planning on taking a class on digital photography. So, now everyone gets to read about my fun times with my new hobby in the making - PHOTOGRAPHY!!

The topper on the cake.... I got an Epson 1400 printer. I can now print out my 12x12 layouts. I can't wait to hook it up and print out a layout and see how they really look printed out. I'm refraining myself from doing this until I clean up my kitchen. I know once I open that box it's all over.

It gets even better...... what makes me happier than anything??? Olive Garden!

We celebrated my birthday today, because Gino is working 10am-7pm tomorrow. It's a crappy schedule to work on my birthday :(

My friends at church are throwing a birthday party for me tomorrow, so that will make my day!! I might even bring my camera and get some good pics of my new friends and I. I love those girls so much! I am so lucky to live in such a wonderful ward.

After the party I'm going to take the kids to Lithia Park and take pictures.