2009 Highlights

In January, I officially started Sarah Albin Photography.

In February, I went on the Girlfriends Cruise.

In March, I had my 34th birthday.

In April, we took the kids to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

In May, I had the best Mothers Day ever!

In June, we hosted a fun family reunion with my Mom's family.

In July, we had an awesome trip to Maui with the Victorine family.

In August, the kids started a fun soccer season.

In September, we celebrated Abigail's 9th birthday on 9/9/09.

In October, Sandi and I shot our first wedding together; Andy and I celebrated our 11th anniversary, and we celebrated J.T.'s 6th birthday.

In November, we had a great Thanksgiving weekend and I re-designed my photography website.

In December, we had a great Christmas and I found ebates.com.

2009 was very good to our family. It makes me happy to look back and see all the wonderful things that happened.

There is one other thing I want to add to my highlights of 2009.... that is my re-connection with my friend Sandi. We were very good friends many years ago and lost touch for various reasons. We reconnected this past summer and I am so glad we did. Not only do we share the love of photography, but we have many other things in common too. Our love of bargain hunting is very dangerous! Our kids have gotten to be buddies too, which has been fun to watch. I look forward to enjoying our friendship even more in 2010!

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas! The kids were very excited about what Santa brought them! A few photos from Christmas Day....

The Nintendo DSi's they received....

Santa even left gifts at Grandma Pam and Grandpa Charlie's house....

Grandpa Charlie wrapped up an orange for J.T.....

Christmas #1

We had our first Christmas celebration on Tuesday night with Chet and Karen. We went to their new home for dinner and gifts. I didn't take a whole lot of photos but here are a few...

The kids (not so) patiently waiting to open gifts after dinner....

Abigail was very excited about her new American Girl Bitty Baby that she received...

And J.T. was ecstatic about his new Lego set. He said, "This is the best day of my life!" He and Andy are looking at all the pieces...

We had a great meal and lots of fun exchanging gifts. Thanks Grandpa Chet and Granny Karen!

Christmas Eve

We went to Andy's Grandma Jane's for Christmas Eve, as usual. It was a great celebration, like always. We took our annual family photo in front of Grandma's tree...

Abigail loved holding her cousin, Miss A...

Santa brought Abigail an indian doll...

And J.T. got some leather chaps... he was so excited!

Better to give than receive?

This was written by Dave Pratt of Ranch Management Consultants in a newsletter that we receive. I thought it was timely and well-said.

The Bible tells us that it is better to give than to receive. Giving of ourselves isn't just the right thing to do, it makes us feel great. We get a wonderful feeling when we give or do something that makes someone else happy or helps them with a problem. There's no doubt that giving is good.

But while we have been taught that it is nobler to give than to receive since childhood, I think it is also noble to receive. How would we feel if a person to whom we are giving said, "I don't like this," or "I already have one." If someone pays you a compliment and you respond with, "It was nothing" or "No, it really wasn't that good," deflecting their compliment also deflects the joy of the giver, because the compliment wasn't fully accepted. Rather than deflecting or diminishing the message, what if we responded, "Wow, thanks. That really means a lot to me."

Sometimes receiving is even better than what passes for giving! Giving with the expectation of getting something in return or making someone feel guilty isn't really giving at all. It is emotional blackmail.

We are rotten receivers. Many of us are uncomfortable with compliments. We feel that we should get everyone a gift who gives us a gift. We are so uncomfortable receiving that even when we desperately need help, we are reluctant to ask for it.

This Christmas there will be a lot of giving, and therefore there will be lots of receiving. Focus on being a good receiver. Let the gifts, especially the emotional gifts of love, kindness and support, have their full impact so that the giver can experience the full joy of giving.

I think I am ready

I think I'm ready for Christmas! I have all the gifts purchased and wrapped. I have the menu planned, groceries purchased, and items assigned to whomever is bringing them. And I am feeling pretty relaxed. It's easy to get stressed out this time of year, but that kind of takes the fun out of it!

We started our week of Christmas celebrations with the Renner (Andy's mom's side) family progressive dinner last night. We visited three houses for appetizers, dinner, and dessert. We ended the evening at Andy's mom's house with a festive game of bingo complete with prizes!

Tonight, we will celebrate with Chet and Karen (Andy's dad and step-mom) at their new home in Fortuna. Dinner, gift exchange, and family togetherness will make it a great evening!

I will update as the week progresses.... Have a wonderful Christmas week everyone!!

More favorites

I can hardly believe that Sarah Albin Photography has been in business for a year already! In June, I posted my favorite photo from each session or event that I did during the first six months of the year. Here are my favorites from each session or event during the second six months of 2009. I know some of these have already been posted, but it's kind of fun to have them all in one place.

Fortuna Middle School's 8th grade graduating class...

I love the yellow flowers... not sure if Miss S does or not...

The V family enjoying the beach on Maui...

Spunky Miss L is adorable...

One of the preschoolers...

The beautiful J family...

A big wave from Miss M...

Do most brothers and sisters love each other this much?

A dad and his boys...

A Grammy and her grandkids...

Santa came to visit at the Ferndale Childrens Center...

Be still my heart...

Momma and her boy...

Another adorable preschooler...

Stealing a lick of frosting at Great Grandma's 80th birthday...

Lovebirds...

And their wedding day...

A cutie-patootie that loves his thumb...

Sisters...

Sassy Miss M...

One more cute preschooler...

Lovin' the oudoors...

It's been a great year. Thank you to all my clients who made it such a fun year! I look forward to 2010...

Good news!

About a year ago, I blogged about a little boy from Ferndale, Ethan Craig, and his battle with cancer. He went through chemo treatments down at Stanford throughout 2009. His last one was right before Thanksgiving, I believe. He had some tests and scans done yesterday and the doctors found him to be CANCER FREE! Isn't that the most amazing news for Ethan and his family?! I am so happy for the Craig family!!

Ebates? Check it out!

If you've never heard of this site, Ebates, you need to check it out! If you start from their site to do your shopping, you can earn all kinds of cash back from the sites you probably normally shop from anyway. Just click on the link above, search for the online store you want to shop from, click on your choice, and it will take you to that website. Meanwhile, you earn a % cash back when you are shopping! Sounds great, I think! It even works for eBay!! Check it out....

Getting there....

Christmas is in 10 days.... are you all ready? I am doing pretty well.

Christmas shopping done-- check.
Tree up and decorated-- check.
Lights on outside of house-- check.
Christmas baking done-- check.
Gifts all wrapped--almost done.
Christmas dinner menu planning-- not even close!

I guess we better decide what we are having for Christmas dinner so I don't have to do the shopping at the very last minute...

S&S Humboldt Weddings

We are offering some incentives for the first three weddings we book for 2010. Check out our updated website if you have a chance.

Evan

I took 2 year old photos for Evan a couple weeks ago. Isn't he the most adorable thing ever?!

Wedding

I just realized that I never posted photos of this wedding that I helped Andra Stringer with. Here are a few....

14 years

Andy and I started dating 14 years ago today.... sounds like so long ago. So much has happened since then... finishing college, getting married, buying a house, having kids, buying a business and many other things. It's been good though. At least I know that no matter what happens, I have someone that will always be supportive of me, even if others aren't. Thanks, Andy, for the past 14 years!

Michela has some news

She looks pretty happy too....

Congrats to Mary, Jeff and Michela!!

Recap of Thanksgiving weekend

I know it's been a few days since I posted, but it's been a busy weekend!! We started our Thanksgiving celebration on Wednesday night at Chet and Karen's. We had a great meal and lots of fun playing games. It was nice to have a quiet evening at their new home in Fortuna.

Mary, Jeff and Michela arrived Wednesday night. We went to my parents' house on Thursday morning to hang out and visit. The kids had a great time playing with Michela!

She wants to be a big kid! And she loves any remote she can get her hands on! I am surprised that she didn't try to take the one J.T. has in this picture....

Michela started walking on Thanksgiving night which was fun to watch. She had taken a few steps before they came up, but she really got to it on Thursday night!

On Saturday morning, my mom treated Mary and I to pedicures, while she watched the three kids. Thanks Mom! After that, we attempted to get some pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits. It was a little challenging, but we got a few. Here's one of the favorites....

On Saturday night, we went to Shamus T Bones to celebrate my parents' anniversary (on Friday). The food was great and it is always cool seeing my western photos up on the wall.

Mary, Jeff and Michela left this morning. The four of us and my dad went riding this afternoon at the beach. It was such a beautiful day with no wind! Just amazing..... My mom came along too so she was able to take a couple pictures of us all...

We had a great weekend, to say the least! Now it's back to the routine of school days...