Wedding Picture Retakes

Josh and I had our 5 year wedding anniversary on October 16th, and for our anniversary I really wanted to "re-take" our wedding pictures. I didn't really like our wedding photos, for a number of reasons, mostly because my grandmother hurt herself shortly before my wedding and my grandparents were unable to attend my wedding. Because I am very close to both of them, especially my grandma, I was devastated at the news and spent a lot of the day before my wedding crying. My dream was to re-take some photos, with us in wedding attire, in our Colorado home. And this year we finally did it! It was our 5 year anniversary and it seemed fitting to do so. Now, we did not renew our vows or anything, we just took photos :)
The hardest part was finding the right photographer. The first thing that I did was ask all of my girlfriends who their photographer was, as they were all married in Colorado and all had beautiful photos! I was able to check their photographer out online and see the sample photos on their website and one photographer really stood out; Benjamin Buren of Alive Studios.
He photographed Heather and Russ's wedding, they are good friends of ours. One night at our weekly girls night Heather got out her wedding album for us to look at, and her photos were in-cred-ible! It sealed the deal for me and I contacted Ben immediately!

We were able to schedule a weekday session the day before our anniversary and negotiated a lower price. I also wanted to get the CD with all the photos to keep, which comes at a higher cost for photographers (as it probably should).
Ironically, our friends Laura and David were getting married Saturday October 17th in Estes Park, and our anniversary is the 16th, so we scheduled our photos on the 15th. We were SO glad that it worked out this way, as our great friend Geri and her boyfriend Wayne flew in for Laura's wedding.
Geri usually stays with us when she visits Colorado; she, Josh and I are three peas in a pod and get along great! (and i miss her!!!!) They were able to share the day with us and it was great to have help getting into my dress, making sure my makeup and hair looked OK, and just another girl to share the fun with!
Plus, we really wanted our dog Rock to be in the photos with us, and they were a great help taking care of her while we were taking photographs.
I wanted to take photos at both Red Rocks and in downtown Golden. Both of those places are very dear to our hearts with lots of great memories and they both offer incredible scenery and views! Then I wanted to end the shoot at Golden City Brewery (click for their link) with all of our friends for a group photo! Golden City is a great local brewery, they brew a garage and they have a very small indoor area to buy beer with a few seats, then a larger outdoor area with picnic tables to sit outside and drink your beer in the Colorado sun. They don't offer food, just great beer! Anyway, this is a place that we love and our friends love and we all *love* good beer, so it was very fitting to take some photos here.
The photo shoot was a lot of fun to do, especially because there was no actual ceremony or expectation, except to take great photos. We spent most of our time at Red Rocks getting some incredible shots on the rocks, of the front range, and with the amphitheater behind us, and we also took pics with Rock in them. Next we drove to Golden and took some photos on the bridge where Megan had taken our "engagement pics" over 5 years before. We had some great shots with Ben by the water, then he had us go onto the suspension bridge in Golden, and stand ON TOP of the table which is on the bridge for some shots. He also took some photos of us right in the middle of the main road in Golden, which turned out really cool! Lastly we walked over to the Brewery and took some awesome group shots and shots of us drinkin' some beers, which is very *us*.
All in all it was a great day, and I highly recommend Ben and Alive Studios for any photos in the Denver/Boulder area, he is incredible! Here are some more of my favorite shots!

Wedding Picture Retakes

Josh and I had our 5 year wedding anniversary on October 16th, and for our anniversary I really wanted to "re-take" our wedding pictures. I didn't really like our wedding photos, for a number of reasons, mostly because my grandmother hurt herself shortly before my wedding and my grandparents were unable to attend my wedding. Because I am very close to both of them, especially my grandma, I was devastated at the news and spent a lot of the day before my wedding crying. My dream was to re-take some photos, with us in wedding attire, in our Colorado home. And this year we finally did it! It was our 5 year anniversary and it seemed fitting to do so. Now, we did not renew our vows or anything, we just took photos :)
The hardest part was finding the right photographer. The first thing that I did was ask all of my girlfriends who their photographer was, as they were all married in Colorado and all had beautiful photos! I was able to check their photographer out online and see the sample photos on their website and one photographer really stood out; Benjamin Buren of Alive Studios.
He photographed Heather and Russ's wedding, they are good friends of ours. One night at our weekly girls night Heather got out her wedding album for us to look at, and her photos were in-cred-ible! It sealed the deal for me and I contacted Ben immediately!

We were able to schedule a weekday session the day before our anniversary and negotiated a lower price. I also wanted to get the CD with all the photos to keep, which comes at a higher cost for photographers (as it probably should).
Ironically, our friends Laura and David were getting married Saturday October 17th in Estes Park, and our anniversary is the 16th, so we scheduled our photos on the 15th. We were SO glad that it worked out this way, as our great friend Geri and her boyfriend Wayne flew in for Laura's wedding.
Geri usually stays with us when she visits Colorado; she, Josh and I are three peas in a pod and get along great! (and i miss her!!!!) They were able to share the day with us and it was great to have help getting into my dress, making sure my makeup and hair looked OK, and just another girl to share the fun with!
Plus, we really wanted our dog Rock to be in the photos with us, and they were a great help taking care of her while we were taking photographs.
I wanted to take photos at both Red Rocks and in downtown Golden. Both of those places are very dear to our hearts with lots of great memories and they both offer incredible scenery and views! Then I wanted to end the shoot at Golden City Brewery (click for their link) with all of our friends for a group photo! Golden City is a great local brewery, they brew a garage and they have a very small indoor area to buy beer with a few seats, then a larger outdoor area with picnic tables to sit outside and drink your beer in the Colorado sun. They don't offer food, just great beer! Anyway, this is a place that we love and our friends love and we all *love* good beer, so it was very fitting to take some photos here.
The photo shoot was a lot of fun to do, especially because there was no actual ceremony or expectation, except to take great photos. We spent most of our time at Red Rocks getting some incredible shots on the rocks, of the front range, and with the amphitheater behind us, and we also took pics with Rock in them. Next we drove to Golden and took some photos on the bridge where Megan had taken our "engagement pics" over 5 years before. We had some great shots with Ben by the water, then he had us go onto the suspension bridge in Golden, and stand ON TOP of the table which is on the bridge for some shots. He also took some photos of us right in the middle of the main road in Golden, which turned out really cool! Lastly we walked over to the Brewery and took some awesome group shots and shots of us drinkin' some beers, which is very *us*.
All in all it was a great day, and I highly recommend Ben and Alive Studios for any photos in the Denver/Boulder area, he is incredible! Here are some more of my favorite shots!

Our 7th Colorado Thanksgiving

Since Josh and I moved to Colorado from Michigan in January 2003 we have never been able to make it home to Michigan for Thanksgiving. Because many of our friends don't go to their respective "homes" either, we have come up with the tradition of "friends" Thanksgiving. Every year we celebrate the holiday at someone's house and each bring a passing dish to serve for Thanksgiving dinner. It's been my favorite traditions since moving to Colorado, and each year I appreciate my friends more and more. They are truly our *family* in Colorado and I am thankful for all of them.
This year there were 12 of us celebrating, including the first *baby* at Thanksgiving dinner, Jillian! You can see her crying in the photo above; I don't know what Russell is doing to her as she is usually very happy. We spent much of the evening trading off holding Jillian and filling up the beer pitcher with the Golden City Nut Brown from the kegerator.

I was excited that this year with the addition of the downstairs in our house, we would be able to set up a table large enough for all of us to sit down to dinner together. But since we don't have a large table, it was a series of small tables put together in our living room, and it turned out great! Each person in the group was able to bring a chair or table, tablecloth or napkin and we ended up with an eclectic mix of tables and chairs.
I credit Martha Stewart with the beautiful table decorations that are flowers in a glass filled with cranberries, very festive and colorful! I added the nuts myself :)

This year we had quite a feast with Jim doing the turkey which was very juicy and moist. We also had cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, homemade foccita bread, salad, avocado grapefruit salad, homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce and beats, pumpkin pie and mousse! I am sure I am missing something else good too :)
Jess took some great pics of the food.

No Friends Thanksgiving would be complete without a pack of dogs running around the house. This year there were 6 dogs, and the adult human to dog ratio was 1.8 to 1. The dogs enjoy the gatherings as much as we do, as they are all friends too! Heather was able to get a photo of all six of them together, it might top the human group photo.

It was such a wonderful day, beautiful and sunny Colorado with great friends and great food and I am thankful for each minute of it.

Our 7th Colorado Thanksgiving

Since Josh and I moved to Colorado from Michigan in January 2003 we have never been able to make it home to Michigan for Thanksgiving. Because many of our friends don't go to their respective "homes" either, we have come up with the tradition of "friends" Thanksgiving. Every year we celebrate the holiday at someone's house and each bring a passing dish to serve for Thanksgiving dinner. It's been my favorite traditions since moving to Colorado, and each year I appreciate my friends more and more. They are truly our *family* in Colorado and I am thankful for all of them.
This year there were 12 of us celebrating, including the first *baby* at Thanksgiving dinner, Jillian! You can see her crying in the photo above; I don't know what Russell is doing to her as she is usually very happy. We spent much of the evening trading off holding Jillian and filling up the beer pitcher with the Golden City Nut Brown from the kegerator.

I was excited that this year with the addition of the downstairs in our house, we would be able to set up a table large enough for all of us to sit down to dinner together. But since we don't have a large table, it was a series of small tables put together in our living room, and it turned out great! Each person in the group was able to bring a chair or table, tablecloth or napkin and we ended up with an eclectic mix of tables and chairs.
I credit Martha Stewart with the beautiful table decorations that are flowers in a glass filled with cranberries, very festive and colorful! I added the nuts myself :)

This year we had quite a feast with Jim doing the turkey which was very juicy and moist. We also had cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, homemade foccita bread, salad, avocado grapefruit salad, homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce and beats, pumpkin pie and mousse! I am sure I am missing something else good too :)
Jess took some great pics of the food.

No Friends Thanksgiving would be complete without a pack of dogs running around the house. This year there were 6 dogs, and the adult human to dog ratio was 1.8 to 1. The dogs enjoy the gatherings as much as we do, as they are all friends too! Heather was able to get a photo of all six of them together, it might top the human group photo.

It was such a wonderful day, beautiful and sunny Colorado with great friends and great food and I am thankful for each minute of it.

~* Knitted a Dog Sweater *~

This weekend I decided to start knitting again! I go in spurts with knitting. Lately, all I use is the Knifty Knitter Loom to knit anything. For me, I just find it much easier, I can stop at any given point in my row and don't worry about my rows unwinding. Also, it ensures that each stitch is even and exact, which is something, I admittedly have trouble with. You can find the loom at any of your local craft stores, I recommend if you are going to get just one loom to get a long loom (as opposed to a circular loom), the reason being you can knit in a circle WITH the long loom, as well as other things. It gives you the most options with just 1 loom.
Our new dog Belle shivers throughout the day and already the winter here has been harsh, so instead of turning up the heat, I decided to knit her a sweater. This is my first try at the dog sweater on the loom, but I think it turned out pretty well. I used the smallest size loom and I could have used the next size up, I also should have made it a little longer. I am in the process of making another one for her.
When I got to the legs, I had a hard time figuring out what to do. Measuring my dog and deciding where the legs would go. Then you skip one peg on either side for the leg openings. Next you gradually decrease so that there are 3 open pegs on either side by taking the thread off two pegs, looping one thread through the loop of the second thread, and the put them both back onto one peg. You continue this until 3 pegs on either side are open for the dogs legs. Knit a few rows for the width of the legs, I knitted about 4 rows. Then you need to increase the thread back onto the pegs gradually and finish off your dog sweater. This website has great directions for increasing and decreasing, plus free loom patters.
I plan on making Belle another one that fits her a little better. I am open to taking custom orders for this design too, so just contact me if you are interested!
www.hip-threads.com

~* Knitted a Dog Sweater *~

This weekend I decided to start knitting again! I go in spurts with knitting. Lately, all I use is the Knifty Knitter Loom to knit anything. For me, I just find it much easier, I can stop at any given point in my row and don't worry about my rows unwinding. Also, it ensures that each stitch is even and exact, which is something, I admittedly have trouble with. You can find the loom at any of your local craft stores, I recommend if you are going to get just one loom to get a long loom (as opposed to a circular loom), the reason being you can knit in a circle WITH the long loom, as well as other things. It gives you the most options with just 1 loom.
Our new dog Belle shivers throughout the day and already the winter here has been harsh, so instead of turning up the heat, I decided to knit her a sweater. This is my first try at the dog sweater on the loom, but I think it turned out pretty well. I used the smallest size loom and I could have used the next size up, I also should have made it a little longer. I am in the process of making another one for her.
When I got to the legs, I had a hard time figuring out what to do. Measuring my dog and deciding where the legs would go. Then you skip one peg on either side for the leg openings. Next you gradually decrease so that there are 3 open pegs on either side by taking the thread off two pegs, looping one thread through the loop of the second thread, and the put them both back onto one peg. You continue this until 3 pegs on either side are open for the dogs legs. Knit a few rows for the width of the legs, I knitted about 4 rows. Then you need to increase the thread back onto the pegs gradually and finish off your dog sweater. This website has great directions for increasing and decreasing, plus free loom patters.
I plan on making Belle another one that fits her a little better. I am open to taking custom orders for this design too, so just contact me if you are interested!
www.hip-threads.com

Open House and Earrings

About a week ago Suzy from HipMountainMama.com sent me an invitation to her Holiday Open House in Loveland, Colorado. Suzy purchases some of my skirts, soaps and headbands for her website, you can check it out here. She has lots of great items that are handmade from very talented ladies and I am so glad to be a part of her site!
I worked really hard this week to make some more jewelry and greeting cards for the open house. It was a fun week of beading and stamping :) My mother, who makes cards wayyy better than me, sent me a bunch of her stamps to borrow and make some new cards. But they still have not arrived, after a week in the mail. Hopefully they aren't lost.
Here are some of my new items.