To Do or Not To Do?

You have seen my pictures.  What do you think?  Do you think that I could take something I really enjoy into something more?  I am thinking about making my love of photography into a business.  Would you like me to take your pictures?

Reasons I want to do this:

I enjoy creating great pictures.  Yes, I am still new at doing this, but I am learning a lot with every picture that I take. 
Photography makes me feel like I am doing something that matters.  I love that I stay home with Clara, but I need something more: something that is just mine and makes me feel accomplished (in a different way than being a mother).

I am sure that I could come up with more than that, but those are the biggest reasons that I have.

Reasons not to do this:

Moving around with the Army will not allow me to keep a customer base.
Self-employed business taxes can be overwhelming!
Lots of photographers out there (with a lot more experience than me)

Please share with me your opinions on why I should or should not start a photography business (and be honest).  I value your opinions!  And, along with that, say some prayers for me while I'm making this huge decision.  Thanks!

Miles and Jenna Reunited!!

On January 9th, a belated Christmas present came all the way from Afghanistan for Jenna.  I had the pleasure of being there to watch the excitement!  Enjoy!

Emelia Grace Lund -- 12 Days Old

I got a chance to take pictures of this cutie patootie yet again at the beginning of the weekend.  She was awake for most of the time, but we eventually got some pictures with her sleeping.  I LOVE the cute faces she makes!!

 

Riggs Family Updates

A LOT has happened in a month!

First, Clara started to be able to go from being on her stomach to sitting up all by herself.  And then, soon after that since it just was not fun enough for her, she started pulling herself up to standing.  She LOVES standing at her stand up toy.  But, sometimes she doesn't understand that when she lets go she will fall and we have had a lot of falls and bruises lately. 

SO CUTE!! (if I do say so myself)

 She is also a little stinker.  She loves to touch and play with things that she is not supposed to... and she knows that she is not supposed to touch and play with those things!  I tell her NO and she will turn around and look at me like, "what did you just say to me?" and then she will go back to doing what she was doing.  She also giggles when she goes toward things that she knows are off limits.  Again, what a little stinker!

We have also had to lower Clara's crib down.  One night, I laid her down and went to go get ready to go to bed myself.  Right before I started to brush my teeth, I heard some knocking on the wall.  I went back into Clara's bedroom and found her standing up in her crib.  I put her crib down right there and then because I didn't want her to possibly fall out of her crib!  She is just getting SO big!!

An update about Caleb's knee: he starts physical therapy on the 17th of this month.  We are hoping that the physical therapist will see that he needs an MRI and that he can get that before he is supposed to go to NTC in February.  Keep praying!

He also now has a NEW CAR!!  We have been needing an upgrade from his two door Honda Civic to a four door car since... oh... Clara was born (eight months ago).  If you know my husband, you know that he is REALLY into doing research whenever we buy ANYTHING new.  Research for a new car meant HOURS of reading reviews on various cars.  We finally had it narrowed down to a 2007 Honda Accord EXL manual or a 2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS manual.  We had test driven an automatic 2007 Honda Accord EXL in November just to see what it drove like and if we liked it.  Then, on December 29th, we went to Dick Edwards in Manhattan to test drive a 2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS manual that it said they had online.  Turns out, they didn't have one, so they had us drive a 2012 SE automatic instead.  We liked how it drove, the features it had, and the room.  They found us some 2012 GLS manuals at other dealerships and apparently had already sent someone to pick one up for us while we were at the dealership!  Still, the price was too high for us (since we were really looking for a 2011 USED one), so we went home... for Caleb to do MORE research.

We went back to the dealership the next day to drive the manual (since they now had the 2012 GLS manual at the dealership).  We were prepared to tell them no deal on the car unless they came WAY down in their price since we had found two of the same car that they now had at two other dealerships each 400 miles away.  We were ready to drive to those other dealerships to pick up the car since the price at those other places were just too good to pass up.  We drove the car, loved it, and crossed our fingers that they would come down in price or we would just have to walk away.  Well, obviously you know that they did indeed come down about $1000 and we got a $500 military credit and a $500 rebate and we walked away with a GREAT deal on a new car!  We LOVE it!  And, Clara likes riding in her new Britax car seat in the new car.  I will have to post pictures of our actual car when we no longer have a wind chill of 12 degrees outside!  But, it is a really pretty navy blue (they call it indigo night).

What it looks like from the outside (minus the color) without having to freeze outside.

   

Now, new things with me:
I am starting a new Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) semester right now.  This semester, the Bible study I decided to take is Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When God Speaks by Priscilla Shirer.  The blurb on the back of the book says, "Do you feel that the ability to hear God's voice is for other people and not for you?  Is it only for people who lived in Biblical times? Not at all!  The God who loved you enough to die for you loves you enough to talk to you.  And wherever you are in your spiritual walk, God will find a way to speak to you in a way you will understand.  Become acquainted with the Voice that has spoken from a fire and a cloud; with visible signs and an invisible Spirit; through a burning bush and burning hearts.  Hear from some of the most well-known Christians in history about how God speaks to them--and discover for yourself how you can discern the voice of God."  I think it sounds pretty AWESOME!  (And, it made me think of what Adrien has been blogging about concerning Evelyn's toes here, here, and here.)  I can't wait to see what this semester has in store for me and the ladies in the class.

 At New Year's lunch with Caleb's family, I was telling them that there were a few things that I wanted/needed: a new phone (it was time for Verizon to give me a discount when I updated... and I wanted to get an iPhone), a bigger SD card (I have a 2 GB one but want a 16 GB one so I can start shooting in RAW mode on my camera), an external hard drive (so I can back up Clara's pictures and other files from the computer just in case), blank DVDs (so I can have a second back up on Clara's pictures), and photo editing software (Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3).  Well, I got my iPhone on Tuesday, the external hard drive came today, and the blank DVDs and SD card will be here by Wednesday!  Plus, Lightroom 3 is on sale at B&H photo until March, so we will probably be purchasing that soon.  I can't wait to use all of them!

Christmas Eve and Christmas 2011

Oh my!  It is almost halfway through January and I have yet to write about Clara's first Christmas!  I have been getting back into the swing of things, and I guess my blog is the last thing to go back into my routine.  I'm very sorry, again, for being MIA so much lately.  And, without further ado, let's see Christmas!

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As you may remember, we were in Florida for Christmas.  It definitely was not a white Christmas... unless you count the white sand.  On Christmas Eve, we went out to dinner at a place called Indian Pass Raw Bar.  Caleb had been research all week about where would be the best place to go out, and this place sounded the best.  It was also very close to where we stayed, but we went to go check out a different place first.  That place that we checked out ended up being a dud, so we drove all the way back to (almost) our rental house. 

Indian Pass Raw Bar was pretty much a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with great food.  If we would not have looking for it, we would have blinked and passed it.  Inside, there were two round plastic picnic tables and also five to six long rectangular ones set up for people to sit at.  Along the back wall, there was the beer tap and a large cooler with with anything that you wanted to drink.  The reason that Caleb wanted to come here all along was that it was self-serve drinks paid on the honor system.  You could walk up to the tap to get pitchers of beer for yourself (and they were only seven dollars each).  In the cooler, there were also bottles and cans of beer; bottles and cans of soda; bottles of water; margaritas, wine, and other mixed drinks in bottles; and (what Caleb thought was the coolest) Jack and Coke already mixed in a can!  (Unfortunately, I only have pictures of the outside... sorry!)

They had a limited menu of raw, steamed, or baked oysters; steamed or stuffed shrimp; steamed crab legs; seafood gumbo; hamburger/cheese burger; BBQ sandwich; hot dog/corn dog; sausage dog; or corn on the cob.  I got the seafood gumbo and stuffed shrimp.  They both were SO good!  If any of you are ever going to be in the area, I definitely recommend that you go.  And, while you are there, you can put a pin on the map that shows where you are from.  Caleb and I were the first to have visited from Fort Riley.  There were even some people on there who were from Sweden!!

After dinner, we went back to the house and changed to go to the beach to see the sunset (yes, I was WAY over dressed for the raw bar).  My mom and I "broke the law" by using a boardwalk right by a house and some property for sale instead of the public access.  It turned out well for us, though, because I found my first whole shell that way!  (Caleb decided to stay behind and watch the Eagles' football game.)  The sunset was so pretty.  We saw pelicans flying around, Clara got to play with sand and shells again, and Dolly (my parent's dog) had fun playing fetch with shells.  

That speck is a pelican.

Once it was dark outside, we went back to the house and opened presents (and everyone opened their stockings, too because Rachel and James would be leaving to go back to Georgia on Christmas morning).  I got an iTunes gift card, photography magazine, a book of things to do outside with Clara, candy, and a CRAZY stocking cap in my stocking.  And, I got a recipe for homemade playdough, a rolling pin, and number cookie cutters from my mom and dad.  (Caleb had already given me my present of a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens before he left.)  Caleb got similar things in his stocking plus a lot of books and two CDs.  Clara got four Raffi CDs and a teething toy from my mom and dad.  We gave her four soft blocks, a shape sorter bucket toy, and a stand-up toy table (the table was left at home and given to her later).  All she wanted to do was eat the paper and the bows!  (She got her stockings on Christmas morning.)  We also ate treats (peanut butter rice crispy treats with chocolate on time, little weenies wrapped in bacon, pinwheels, and guacamole) that Rachel made as her gift to all of us.

Aunt Boo and Clara

Clara can finally play with the presents she has been crawling to for a while now

The start of LOTS of present opening pictures... three photographers were taking pictures so some may be out of order.

 

 

 

  

 

Rachel and James making food

Licking the spoon

On Christmas morning, we got up and gave Clara her stockings.  She got a taggie blanket that I (well actually Kaarin) made for her and the shape blocks to go in the shape sorter bucket.  And, she got some organic blueberry Cheerio type things and a car seat toy that vibrates when you pull it.  She really enjoyed playing with her toys after that!

 

All in all, it was a great Christmas Eve and Christmas for all of us!