Family reunion

We had our family reunion this past weekend. Most of the action was at our house and then brunch was at my parents' house this morning. All the kids got along so well.... with the exception of a couple small issues between MY children. Other than that, it went well. I didn't take a whole lot of photos, but here are a few....

Abigail, Michela and Sydney at the park on Saturday....

A very happy Michela...

Sydney and Abigail waiting for the boys to sit down for a group shot....

Our first attempt at a cousins group shot....

And another one....

Andy built a hay fort for the kids to play in and on. At some point, it was decided to turn the hay fort into a stage for a performance. This did NOT go over well with J.T. He was really upset that they hay fort had been changed. The kids put on a Hannah Montana style performance for all of us....

And we ended with our annual group shot....

Thanks to everyone that came! And for those of you that missed it, we missed you!! We are going back to Chico next year so hopefully everyone can make it.

Oh, one more thing... now I don't have a photo to go along with the story, but I will tell it anyway. J.T. and they boys had a great time riding around in the battery powered Jeep. They drove all over the yard. At one point, J.T. decided to park it near the appetizer table. I happen to look over there and he had attached a chain to the leg of the table and his Jeep's roll-bar. I am pretty sure he was going to try to drag the table around, even though he denies it! Luckily, I saw him before the food was all over the ground!!

Crazy!

I know I haven't been a good blogger. We've been busy getting ready for our family reunion at our house. It's my mom's side of the family and we haven't seen them since last year's reunion. The weather is supposed to be nice. The sun is out right now, but it is so WINDY! I really hate the wind. I will try to post some pictures after Sunday. Until then......

Hay day

Here's a few of our hay day yesterday....

J.T. next to the rake....

The kids wanted some seats to watch from....

And they are off.....

What to write about...

I am sitting here eating a burrito from Aztec Grill trying to think of something to write about. The food from Aztec Grill is pretty good considering it comes from inside a Chevron mini-mart. Andy and I used to get food from there a lot. We hadn't had it for awhile, but lately it's been like once a week.

What did I do today? Let's see. For some unknown reason, I got up about 6:15. I got a few things done before the kids got up so that was good. I took the kids to Pam's about 10:00 so they could go watch the sheep shearing at Grandpa Charlie's. Then I went up to Christina's so we could menu plan for the Hawaii trip a little. We will have a condo over there so we end up eating most of our meals there. We can BBQ and the kids can run around, instead of sitting in a restaurant. It works pretty well.

Anyway, back to my day... after I left Christina's, I had a few errands to do. Then I came back here and laid in the sun for a little while... gotta work on my tan a little so I don't scare everyone.

Mid-afternoon, Ernest came over to rake and bale hay. J.T. has been waiting for this. He was excited to watch. He didn't want to ride along and help, though, because Ernest was using a (borrowed) red tractor, not a green John Deere tractor. Abigail and the visiting Parlato girls watched for awhile too.

And now I am eating my dinner from Aztec Grill....

Back from Boise

Andy and I got back from Boise last night. We had been there since Thursday. Hence the lack of posts on here. Will try to get something up today or tomorrow....

Firsts

Today, I had some firsts...

I had my first small claims court case. It was for the Childrens Center. We had to sue to get payment from three people with delinquent accounts.

I spent my entire morning at the Humboldt County Courthouse.

I shipped off 39 USPS Priority Mail packages to the 8th graduates and their parents. I used the Ferndale Post Office because the Fortuna one isn't very user friendly.

I had my first burger from the No Brand Burger Stand in Ferndale. A blue cheese burger. It was pretty good (and very messy) except I think they used a whole jar of mayo on it... a little too much for my taste!

I took my kids to ice cream this afternoon, just because....

I think I see it....

the light at the end of the tunnel that is! And no I don't think it's a train....

Some of you are aware that as board member for the Ferndale Children's Center, I have been dealing with a legal matter since October. Our former Center Director was allegedly (do I still have to say allegedly if she plead "no contest" yesterday... not quite sure on that one... I am thinkin' I don't have to say that anymore) embezzling funds from our non-profit preschool. One of the other board members (who will remain nameless unless she wants to stand up and raise her hand.... K.R.) discovered this and we have been dealing with it since October.

Here's an excerpt from an article written in the Ferndale Enterprise on November 20, 2008.

"Ferndale Police Department is investigating criminal allegations at the Ferndale Children's Center involving irregularities in the financial records. At the end of October, the center's board of directors reported that they had discovered irregularities during a review of their books, said FPD Chief Karl Poppelreiter. Search warrants were served Monday by the FPD at the financial institutions and Eureka residence of long-time center employee Roberta Smith, according to Poppelreiter."

After we discovered this we had to terminate her and do a major comb-thru of the financial records. Wow that was a job! In addition to that, I took over all the bookkeeping, tax accounting, payroll, etc for the Center. We appointed an interim director (thanks Sarah K!) and have been trying to move forward in a positive way.

It took so many months to get the investigation completed by the police department. Then it went to the District Attorney's office. I never knew this stuff took so much time!

Here's another exerpt from a Ferndale Enterprise article dated April 2, 2009 (Headline: Police chief seeking felony charges against former preschool center director).

"...Chief Karl Poppelreiter delivered the investigation findings to the Humboldt County District Attorney's office on March 20 and requested former FCC employee Roberta Ann Smith of Eureka be charged with embezzlement by an employee and check forgery. Both crimes are felonies.

"The department's investigation uncovered approximately $24,000 in missing funds and credit card charges that allegedly went towards Smith's personal use between January 2007 and October 2008..."

Anyone close to me knows what a whirlwind this has been, both physically and emotionally, for all of the board (and our spouses!). Yesterday Roberta Smith had her day in court and plead "no contest" to one count of grand theft. Sentencing will take place in a month or so. It's expected to be 5 years probation and restitution. We don't know the amount of restitution yet. K.R. and I spent the afternoon trying to come up with "the number" to pass onto the DA's office.

I already feel some relief that this is coming to a close soon. I can't tell you how draining this is been. Unfortunately it really makes you question your ability to trust and judge character. I will say, however, that I don't think Roberta is a bad person.... she just made some big mistakes.

I truly believe everything happens for a reason. I am not sure why this happened except it did bring us, as a board, much closer. In addition, I am happy that I have become much closer K.R. in particular. I really learned a lot from this experience even though I probably couldn't put it into words.

I just want to publicly apologize to Andy and my kids for having this take so much time away from our family. Thanks for putting up with all of it!

Just for fun...

This is the slideshow on my computer screensaver... thought I would share, just for fun.

Western cards for sale

I have 6 sets of my western cards left. Each set contains ten 5x7 cards, two each of five different images. They are blank inside. I am selling them for $20 (plus shipping if you aren't local) plus tax.

This what they look like....

Email me at sarahalbin@yahoo.com if you are interested. Thanks.

Newborn photography

Newborn photography has never been my specialty. I have done three newborn sessions. Let me tell you, they are not as easy as you would think. I was reading looking at some photos of newborns on a photography message board that I visit often. I definitely feel like I need more practice in that area to create the types of image that I would like. Hopefully next year I will have another newborn to practice on. No, people, I am not having a baby, but I know someone that might.

This is my favorite newborn shot that I have taken... for several reasons. Of course I love it because it's of my niece, Michela, but that isn't the only reason. A lot of newborn photography looks the same. One reason that I like this one is because the blanket (which was Michela's mommy's when she was young) gives the photo some texture (especially in the black and white version).

I am not looking to expand into the newborn market that much, but I would love to practice if anyone wants to share their newborn for an hour or two.....

I survived 8th Grade Graduation

I think things went pretty well. It's quite a challenge to get 58 14-year olds organized for a group photo. We got it done though....

Here's one individual shot as one of the new graduates came off the stage...

I was really stressed out yesterday worrying about how things would go, but I survived!

I feel old!

Tomorrow I have a photography job to take photos at the 8th grade graduation at Fortuna Middle School. This morning I was thinking back to when I graduated from 8th grade and about fell over when I realized it's been 20 YEARS! That makes me feel so old!

Here I am receiving my 8th grade diploma. Yeah, I know I have big 80s hair!

What is even more amazing is that Abigail will be there in 5 short years!

Remember when...

As Abigail gets ready to wrap up her 3rd grade year, I was thinking back to when she was in Kindergarten. It seems like so long ago. I just had to pull out a couple of shots from her Kindergarten graduation...

Abigail with her Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Freeman (now Victorine)....

J.T. is getting ready to go into Kindergarten in the fall so in one year from now, we will be celebrating his Kindergarten graduation!

Jury Duty Scam

I received this forwarded email from my Mom. I don't usually forward stuff because I hate to clutter up people's mailboxes. Anyway, it's worth a read, just to be cautious.

This has been verified by the FBI. Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call.

Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo, your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois , and Colorado . This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud..

Check it out here: Snopes

Things I did today

I actually got quite a big accomplished today considering it is a Monday and I was in a really bad mood this morning. Maybe it wasn't so much a bad mood as I was feeling really down from something that happened yesterday. I won't address that here except to say that some people will never understand how I feel.

Here are some of the wonderfully exciting things I did today...

1. Took the kids to school. J.T. told me on the way to school that he didn't want his last name to be Albin when he grows up. I told him that boys have to keep their last names for their whole lives.... He did not like this answer.

2. Picked myself up a latte. Today it was from Shotz. Somedays it's from Starbucks. Today it was my favorite... single nonfat latte with a splash of shortbread...

3. Made deposits at two banks. Better to have the money comin' in than goin' out, I suppose.

4. Had a money meeting with Andy. Didn't start out too well with some misunderstandings, but worked out well in the end. We actually got a lot accomplished.

5. Worked on some Ferndale Childrens Center stuff... Treasurers report, next year's budget, resume review for hiring a new Director, paid some bills, preparing myself for going to court next week for the preliminary hearing.

6. Went for a 3 mile walk in nice 69 degree weather.

7. Made dinner.... Andy BBQed chicken and shrimp. I added greek pasta and asparagus. Pretty darn good.

That brings me to right now....

Random thoughts from today

I can't imagine how anyone who embezzles, especially from a non-profit preschool, can live with themself.

I love my new camera... still getting used to a few changes in settings, but I am glad that I upgraded!

I am thrilled to (FINALLY!!) have a Saturday with nothing major going on.... how I have missed it!

I am so happy that we got to have dinner with Berwyn and Ken last night. I really miss them!!

I am trying to get past the fact that Andy's desk is messier than mine.

I am really bummed about not receiving an invitation to an event that I really want to attend.

I am happy that the sun came out today, even though I am not outside to enjoy it.

I hate filing papers, unloading the dishwasher, putting laundry away, and dusting.

I am a little nervous about the 8th grade graduation photos that I am taking on Thursday afternoon.

Well that's it for now....

J.T.

It's been awhile since I did portrait-style photos of my own kids so J.T. and I went outside to take a few this afternoon. I can't believe my little man is 5 1/2 and will start Kindergarten in a few months....

This is my favorite one...

But I like these also...

He really wanted to wear his "cowboy outfit" for some... anything to keep him interested!

Thanks for checking in...

Sarah Albin Photography

Since I have officially been in business for almost 1/2 a year now, I thought I would share my favorite photo from each session or event that I photographed...

From the Pink Tea Party (a fundraiser for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk)...

A mom and her girls...

A very happy one-year-old...

The most adorable niece anyone could ask for....

This guy has been photographed so many times by me that he just sits down and poses himself...

A graduating 8th grader that is so gorgeous...

Some girls looking pretty on their 1st Communion Day...

Isn't she sweet?

These are MY favorites of each session, but they are not necessarily the favorites of the parents. It is funny how everyone sees something different...

Last branding

A couple weeks ago we had our last branding of the year. I am not sure why it took me so long to get on here... it's been a little busy around here!

Here's a few...

Andy saved the last one for J.T. to help with. He got to help Cameron put the rope on the calf's front legs...

He helped Papa put the brand on...

And he watched his Daddy do the heads...

It was a relief to both Andy and I that this was done for the year!

Big Fat Lies?

In the latest issue of Beef Magazine that we received, there was a great article that I thought I would share... It is based on the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes. I have not read the book, and I am not sure if I will or not. Apparently, it's written more like a textbook than a non-fiction book.

Anyway, the articles says that Taubes believes that USDA's “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” promotion of a low-fat, high-carb diet maybe causing the problems with obesity in America. His point is that it is the kind of calories we take in — good or bad — not the number.

Anyway, check out the article here.... Big Fat Lies?

I would love to get some comments on how you feel about this...

Adorable!

I had the pleasure of photographing the most adorable set of four sisters on Saturday.... I picked out a couple of my favorites...

Aren't they adorable?