My Dad's 60th

My Dad turned 60 this month and it is becoming a bit of a joke that this celebration just keeps going on and on! He deserves it though. So as his birthday has lingered so will this post!

Earlier in the year we started to think about my Dad turning 60 and what we wanted to do to honor him. It seemed like a natural thing to gift him with a guitar. For those of you who don't know my family my Dad enjoys playing the guitar and has a fine appreciation for woodworking. Pair that with Rod's incredible skill and love for building guitars and it's not hard to figure out what to do! We wanted all of the kids and grandkids to be involved in this gift though so we all spent some time in the workshop helping out with what we could. It was a labor of love. And YES, it remained a secret until the gift was given.

First the grandkids all came and had a turn. Even Kennedy got in the action and helped out!









Then the kids all took their turn coming in. Unfortunatley I don't have a photo of Debora. She did help though by choosing the style of the bridge and the headstock. By the way Debora I think you did a fantastic job!




My sister Julie and Rod having some fun!


Rod took this photo of me in the shop.


We also all put our fingerprints inside the guitar and signed it with a personal message to my Dad.



Remember I did say this was going to be a long post! We are only half way there. Here are a few photos of the guitar finished. Well, actually it isn't 100% done. The actual finish on the guitar isn't on yet. We ran out of time and it takes weeks for it to cure properly. Dad is going to have to give it back at some point to get the proper finish on it.





This was the first time that Rod built a guitar with a sound port.



Finally the day of the party! We were so proud of the grandkids for keeping the secret. They could only wait so long though and we decided to open presents right away. We wrapped an album of photos that I had taken of making the guitar and that is what we gave to my Dad. He's a smart guy and figured out right away what was in store. My Mom on the other hand! It was quite funny watching her as she couldn't see the photo's and had NO clue what was going on.




Finally out comes the guitar. Kaidan taking a look in the sound port.




Let's play this thing already! For those of you who have never heard one of Rod's guitars you are missing out. I need to brag for a moment about my hubby because he is AMAZING at building guitars. Not only do they look fantastic they sound incredible.





I think this is one of my favorite photos here. I love the look of my Dad's hands against the guitar. Very personal to me. Happy Birthday Dad! You are so very loved and I am so honored to be your daughter. I love you.

Kaidan's First Day of Preschool!

Kaidan is starting preschool this year. He is very excited and has been looking forward to this for awhile. Every morning he says goodbye to Mackenna as she goes off to school and now it is finally his turn. He has the best expressions and is so full of life!

I'm still here!

I have not fallen off the face of the earth. And yes, I am still taking photos. I could come up with many reasons why it has been so long since I posted some. The real reason why though is because I am frustrated.

I have these images and visions in my head of what I want my photos to look like and well............ there is this thing called a learning curve. Yeah, I kind of suck at that. My personality is that I want to learn it all and RIGHT NOW! Patience is not exactly one of my strong points. I get frustrated with my lack of resources that I have. Although I did recently make my first purchase of a good lens there is a list a mile long of things I would like to own. I have so much to learn on the editing side of things and lots of computer stuff to learn. Again, not one of my strong areas. I have vision though and lots of it! I've decided that I need to embrace where I am at and just keep going. It will come and I will learn like everyone else........ one step at a time.

Oh and on a different note I think this must be a milestone in the life of a photographer. I had my first dream. You know the back to school dreams? The ones where you can't find your locker, then you can't find your classroom? You bring the wrong book and you haven't studied for that test yet? I'm not the only one that had those right? Yeah, well this dream I was second shooter at a wedding. I arrived and opened up my camera bag. To my horror I had only brought my camera body with me. I did not have a single lens. It gets worse LOL Then I realize that all of my memory cards are full and my battery is completely dead. Yes, this is the way to get hired to be a second shooter isn't it! Seriously I thought I was beyond having these kind of dreams. Oh well............ does that make me official now?

I promise some pictures will be coming soon. My Dad celebrated his 60th birthday this summer, the kids first day of school pictures, and more.