So now that we have been here a few months and out of the RV  ( believe it or not I took those Cap and Gown pics down below in the previous blog entry in the RV at the tiny RV booth Table near a window, needless to say it was a very tight squeeze, but we managed and Finesse came out Gorgeous) as I was saying, now that we are out of the RV and into a real home...I am beginning to set up my Photography Studio. This home has a really nice Huge area that is perfect for a Photography Studio with its own driveway and entry door for clients to use. So yesterday I got my Backdrops and my Softbox lights and reflectors all unpacked and put together and started organizing my Studio.

I also started changing all the Vendor sites that I am a member of to reflect the San Antonio, Tx. area that I will be working in now...and soon I will put an ad in the Local Newspaper as well. So hopefully soon, I will have a new clientele here in Texas.

It was sad, the week we were moving down I had to turn a Wa. Client down...I shot their wedding and they wanted me to shoot their eldest daughters Senior Portraits. There were a few Portrait appts I had to turn down : (

I have been photographing my Grandbabies literally since the day they were each born...well, we just had another Photo session a few hours ago. I dunno tho I may be getting a bit lazy in my old age LOL, cuz these are unedited images...they could certainly use a bit tweaking here and there, but I kinda likem like this, so for now Like This is how they'll stay til I get around to tweaking. My girls are so big. Danyel is 5 soon to be 6 in September and Kasidy just turned 4 this month. Enjoy their slideshow, there should be around 50 images...sometimes it takes awhile for all images to upload. Okay, til next time.

So Finesse and I had another Fun Mother / Daughter Day! Finesse has been wanting to go have tacos at Mona's Taco House, since we got here in May. So after we took a few photos at the RV Park, we headed over to Mona's...Nummy Num! Next Stop the Mall...WooHoo, Where we did alot of shopping! Shopping always makes us hungry, so we finished our Mother / Daughter Day at Olive Garden...where we enjoyed Soup and Salad and their Yummy Breadsticks ( once again Nummy Num...LOL that is what Finesse used to call Food when she was a baby).

After that we headed home and picked up the News Bulletin for Castroville, because at the park last Saturday or Sunday we noticed down at the Park that there were like 5-6 cop cars and 2-3 ambulances for about an hour, we were so curious, but to embarrassed to go see what it was all about...so we decided we'd get the News Bulletin and for sure it would be in there...since nothing happens in Castroville. Nope, No Mention At All! When I used to work at the News Bulletin one of my jobs was to type the Police Blotter and every week it mostly consisted of who took off without paying for gas at Citgo or So and So got arrested for DUIs...boring stuff. And finally something happens and NOTHING! We were thoroughly disappointed...we had waited all week for Wednesday's paper to come out.

So after that disappointment, we got ready to go to the Meeting...so that made for a very nice Ending to another Successfully, Awesome Mother / Daughter Day...Wow I can't Believe My Baby is 20!

So, Since Adam has left...I have missed him on many levels. He's a good friend, I depend on him for alot, It is harder for me to take the initiative to go places alone when I am the one in charge...it was easier to just hop in the car and shadow him, and let him take the lead, and I just Miss Him being here. (Aww...how cute I was just watching a beautiful humminbird feeding from our feeder right outside my RV dining table window) Anyway, I havent done a whole lot, but it sure seems like alot has happened since we've been here...it's been a pretty stressful time recently, because my Mom's health is not doing so good.

A couple of weeks ago...My sister Lulu called me and told me that mom was confused and dizzy and having difficulty speaking. Finesse and I got dressed and jumped in the car and hurried over there to Mom's. She didn't want to go to the hospital, but both Lulu and I insisted she go.

Turns out Mom had been getting these episodes for about three weeks...she shared that with me while Lulu and Finesse were parking the car, she later shared that with the Dr. as well. They did some tests to rule things out...they determined they thought she had signs of dementia. I had been really worried about my mom since I got here to TX. cuz I've noticed that I have to keep repeating myself to her becuase she looks at me like she doesn't understand me, and she's been super forgetful, I've been trying to drive her places cuz I dont think she should be driving much anymore. There is no test to tell you if you have dementia, rather, thru a process of elimination (testing for other things) they determine it is not this or that, so they think she has dementia.

Later on, we got some test results faxed from her Dr. to the emergency room, A Cat Scan of her heart, I had taken her to to San Antonio the week prior to have that test done...she was scared, on our way into the office I turned to look at her and she had a look on her face that I hadn't seen very often, a look of Love and Appreciation that I was there with her and she didn't have to do this alone. I reached for her and gave her a hug and told her I loved her and that everything would be okay, she said she loved me too, so for the test they had to inject dye into her to get a good pic of what was going on in her heart. Cuz she had complaints of chest pains. So now that we were at the Emergency we had those tests faxed over...because later that day we were supposed to go to her Doctor's office to have him give us those results, but now we obviously weren't gonna make that appt. Well, those results showed what at the time they thought was a 1 inch blockage in her Aorta. So because of that they wanted to immediately transfer her and admit her into the hospital in San Antonio.

They took her in the ambulence...Lulu, Finesse and I followed. They ran lots of tests and she was gonna stay overnight and hopefully get some answers the next day. We stayed til visiting hours were over at 9pm. When we left she was in good spirits...I could tell she appreciated that all three of us were there with her.  This is really weird, but she and I had just spoke a few day prior to this...about how Roselie and I and Adam and Finesse were at the hospital constantly day and night everyday that Russ was in the hospital both times, and how that makes a difference on how the staff treats their patients, cuz they see how loved this person is. So I could see the appreciation on her face that we were all there for her. She was very sweet and loving and affectionate with Finesse, cuz alot of teenagers wouldn't want to be in a hospital all day, but Finesse insisted on coming and being there...she wanted to be there for Grandma, and Mom could tell. At 9pm we all kissed her goodnight and told her we'd be there in the morning. She said we didn't have to stay all day tomorrow, but I told her "I dont know about everyone else, but I will be here all day with you."

The next morning I packed up some stuff to take for her stuff from her home that she wanted and stuff from my home that I thought she'd enjoy... from my place I packed up The Daily Text (read it to her when I got there ), my Bible, Watchtowers and Awakes, Harpers Bazaar and Marie Claire Mags, she loves looking beautiful, so I thought she'd enjoy them, some games called UNO and Mille Borne ( the french card game where you give each other flat tires, accidents, speed limits...etc.) I know she loves to play games. A couple weeks ago I told her we had to start playing games again like when I was a teenager, we did it all the time, she said " I love to play, but no one wants to play with me." So the reason I thought to bring some games to the hospital is because with dementia I thought this would be a good way to keep her mind sharp, as well as keep her mind off of what was happening there at the hospital. And also the week before she insisted that I go and do laundry at her home...So I did, and while there, I suggested we play a game. So she brought out Mille borne, I told her best out of three is the Grand Champion...the loser has to buy the winner an icecream at DQ, well Mom won all 3 games. So after I did my laundry I took us to DQ that was alot of fun playing with Mom again and having icecream together.  So I thought this would be a good idea to keep her mind off of things at the hospital...and the wait is usually so long between nurses visits and stuff, I didn't want her to get bored. So while we played games, Lulu did research online.

Later that night the Dr. came in and spoke to us...he didn't have all the test results in, but he wanted her to see a  vessel specialist, Dr. Ti. He came in about a half hour later and did an exam and asked a few questions and determined that she had bad blood circulation throughout, but moreso on her right side...her other dr. had talked about maybe putting her on Cumidin (a blood thinner) not sure of the spelling. But the specialist did not think she needed to be on that, but to continue on her Plavix (a different blood thinner) and before he said too much he wanted to wait on the results of a test that was gonna be performed the coratid doppler ultrasound, that would determine how much blood flow she had going to her head. The specialist also told us the cat scan they had done yesterday revealed that the blockage in her aorta was a hardening of the arteries, and that she had an enlarged Aorta, and if her doctor wanted to put a stint in for the hardening of the arteries, he was gonna recommend him doing it thru her arm not her groin...cuz he didn't think that would be good for her, he thought she may have complications. But of course putting a stint in requires surgery, so they were hoping to not have to do that cuz of her age, 83.

Mom wound up having to stay a second night...the next day Finesse and I went and saw Mom, I had just called and ordered her a nice healthy lunch from the cafeteria, when her Dr. came in and said that she could go home, that the tests were okay and she could go home, He didn't explain much, wasn't very receptive to questions so he just I asked the nurse questions later as to what they were going to do about the hardening of the arteries and what were they gonna do about the pain in her legs and lack of blood flow and she told me they were gonna control any further hardening of the arteries with her plavix and cholesterol medication. They were not going to do anything about the hardening that was already there, bcuz they didn't want to perform surgery on her. She would have a follow up doctors appt in a few days in Hondo...So Finesse and I took her home about 1pm.  

We got her in the house, I put all her stuff away I had taken to the hospital and put them all back in their  proper places, I did her dishes so she wouldn't have to worry about it later, and I stayed and visited for a bit. Then Finesse and I went to McDonalds for a much needed Smoothie and Breather...Whew! It had been such an emotional and stressful and sad 3 days.

She had her Drs appt and they said that the coratid doppler ultrasound she'd had in the hospital had revealed that she only had 50-60% bloodflow to her head, she does still have the signs of dementia that they think were triggered when she had her T.I.A.s ( mini strokes ) earlier in the year. He also said She doesn't really need anyone to live with her full time or anything yet. But it is inevitable eventually. I am very glad to be here right now...for her. Now she has 2 daughters that can help her with things.

She comes to my RV often and I go and check on her periodically and call her. She has come over 2 nights in a row to watch movies with Finesse and I. The first night I put Letters To Juliet in for her...She loved it!

At meeting yesterday, Finesse made a new friend, that Lulu introduced her to, her name is Sarah Gonzalez she is 20 just like finesse will be next month. And Sarah told her that she too had been exhausted looking for work and not getting hired on anywhere, but that she and her mom had just recently been hired on at the Medina Valley  Independant School Bus Garage, as a bus aide...Which is weird, cuz just a few days prior I had mentioned to Finesse "Oh, I dont know why I hadn't thought of this before, Finesse...you should go apply as a bus aide for Medina Valley School District, I used to be a bus aide and it is perfect for you, you start transporting kids to school at like 6am finish at 8am and then you can go out in service  and then at 2pm you start transporting them back to their homes and finish about 4 or 5pm." I dont think she was gonna go apply...til Sarah told her she had gotten hired on and that they still had positions available to fill before August.

After meeting yesterday, Finesse and I went and picked Daniel and Mom up and took them to Bill Millers for dinner, Finesse was so excited about meeting Sarah, they seem to have alot in common. Very sweet girl who loves Field Service like Finesse does. Sarah looks like she is 15.

So today, I took Finesse to the Medina Valley Administration office...she applied, so we'll see what happens. After she applied we went into town and went to the Dollar Theatre and watched Soul Surfer, I cried so much during that movie...I'm such a nut! But it touched me cuz I knew it was based on a true story, and remember hearing and seeing Bethany Hamilton on the news when the shark bit her arm off in 2003. After the movie we went to Wendy's had some lunch and then went to GW's and did some shopping. I got two pairs of Jessica Simpson Patent Leather Pumps that normally run $80 bucks ea. I got them in perfect condition for $6.99 ea. I got a black pair and a red pair, identical shoes just in different colors, they are pretty, the heel has like see thru cheetah print on them, kinda Sexy. Finesse got shoes too...she's been wanting a pair of casual wedge heels to where with everything jeans, skirts, shorts etc. and she also got a Golds Gym workout top, cuz she's been jogging every evening.

And now we are just relaxing in our jammies and gonna watch a movie soon, I'm hungry tho, gotta find something to eat first.

K TTYL

Pic #1 is my Beautiful Mom at 16, and the second pic is My Still Beautiful Mom at 83 in good spirits during her recent hospital stay. And the last pic are of my new Jessica Simpson Pumps LOL 

I had the girls last week for about 4 days and Kasidy was sick, she kept coughing without covering her mouth, inspite of Danyel and I constantly reminding her too. Danyel kept get angry saying "Cover your mouth your gonna get me sick" and sure enough by the time the girls had left they were both sick. We got them childrens Tylenol and they started to feel better, but once they were gone I noticed I was getting sniffly...the next day we went to the $Theatre, and it was freezing in there, even tho I took a light blanket in with me, well I think that is what really got me even sicker. Afterwards, we went to Taco Cabana...Yum! Daniel joined us. They have got the best tasting Margaritas EVER! We had a blast!

We were supposed to go to the Riverwalk the next day...but I was SO SO SICK, it felt like my eyes were on fire and melting. So we had to cancel the riverwalk. Adrian came over that day after he got out of School to see if we were still going or not. He hung out for about an hour or so. And then he noticed that I had a guitar so he and Adam talked music a while, and jammed a bit. And then he left.

Adrian is Daniel's Childhood friend...he is like a second son to me. Since we got here to Texas...he's come over a few times to visit us on his own without Daniel, that is so sweet. He and Daniel and Lindsey and Finesse have hung out a few times as well. They've gone over to my cousin Bill's house to swim in the River and stuff. They are all good kids.

Anyway, it went from me having a headcold to having like  Bronchitis...started wheezing and making my asthma act up, and then I just got a plain 'ol ugly sounding cough. But I knew Adam was leaving on Tuesday, so I know my Mom would want to hang out with us before he left. So I mustered up enough energy and called her up to see if she wanted to go to that BIG HUGE Flea Market in San Antonio that she had been wanting to go to. We had alot of fun! On our way to the Flea Market, Daniel Texted me he wanted to know if I was gonna say Goodbye to Lindsey...he texted a couple of times. We got to the Flea Market it was HUGE and  was outdoors under open covered buildings...there was food, and Tejano bands there so people could dance if they wanted to, but people were not dancing...Except for this one man who got up and danced by himself, he must've been feeling good ; ) He was soo cute dancing by himself, I wanted to get up and join him so badly, but didn't...I Love Tejano Music...It MOVES me! So we would walk around and shop and then get hot and tired so we'd get a refreshment and sit and watch the band. It was so much Fun!

At the Flea Market Adam bought me a little "Siesta Man" atleast thats what I've alwasys called them...I have always wanted one since I was a teenager, to put up against the wall near the front door or resting under a tree. Now I have one for the door of my RV. When I was in Washington I wanted to have one for the front porch of our home to greet people and to show my heritage/culture. So I finally have a little one. Siesta means Nap...so that is why I call him the Siesta man...he is taking a nap, taking a Siesta. I will attach a photo of him at the end of this blog, as well as a short video of some of the music that was playing...you can really only hear the music and see my skirt, cuz i was holding my cell phone down, in case the band didn't want to be video taped, ha ha but you can see the Man that was Dancing by himself sometimes...LOL. And you can hear Adam and I and My Mom having conversations. The last time I had been to a big flea market with tejano bands playing was when I was about 14 or 15 when My Mom used to take us. So this was so nice to be able to take her now ; )There was a man wearing a ball cap  and Khaki shorts that asked Finesse to dance, but she declined so he went and asked someone else and you can see them out there dancing, towards the middle of one of the videos.

Mom Bought Finesse and I and herself some perfume and some little bracelets there, and she and Finesse got  nail polish too. And during one of shopping breaks Mom and I got a Margarita and Adam got a beer and Finesse a water ( second pic.)...FUN, FUN, FUN!

Then we came home...and dropped mom off, but then she quickly realized she had forgotten her keys inside...She locked herself out. So Adam had to climb into a window to get her in. Then we were getting ready to leave, but then decided to ask Mom if she wanted to go eat Mexican Food with us, So we all went and had dinner together. Then we all went home. When I got home I got a Text from Daniel saying: " I propesed to her....and she said Yes" So now I know why he had tried to text me so many times earlier this moring...he wanted to come by on his way to take her to the airport and tell us.

I texted Daniel after the Meeting on Sunday to see if Daniel could get the girls on Monday evening so that Papa could say Goodbye to them before he left the next day. So he said he probably could. So on Monday...Mom came over early and we were about to go to Hondo Walmart and asked her if she'd like to come along, and then we went to lunch, and then we got home and sat out on the pic nic table and played Aggravation...Mom Won! Daniel came over with the girls...mom left, we all signed Papa's cast and then we took the girls to DQ for an icecream. Then Daniel and Finesse went to pick lead, daniel picks lead and sells it for cash. Papa and I watched the girls til around 10pm. We enjoyed our time with them.

Well today is Tuesday...and we all woke up at 6am to get ready to take Adam to the Airport : ( How Sad! So as I sit and blog he is on his first plane home. I miss him already.

My poor Baby is going home to an empty chaotic home. But he is so loving he was willing to do that so that Finesse and I could be here in Texas. Can't wait for the house to rent out so he can join us.

First Pic...is Me, Mom and Finesse getting to the Flea Market.  Second one is of Finesse listening to one of the Tejano Bands, The second band was much better and they are the ones I took video of, and the other pics. are me and My Little Siesta Man.

So we had been planning our move to Texas for sometime now...Finally we started to put the plans into effect. I started selling things on Craigslist to make money for the move. We also had a 7 day yard sale...we reached our $ goal on the 6th day. Unfortuanately the first day of the yard sale...Adam Fell down our steep driveway and rolled his right foot under him and landed on it with his entire weight...he was in extreme pain. Brother and Sister Lautner and Stephanie Sands were here at the time and witnessed it all : ( We iced his foot and gave him Ibuprofin...and elevated his foot, and Stephanie happened to have a pair of crutches with her in her car...which was very helpful. The pain was not going away...So I had Finesse watch the yard sale while I took him to emergency...he had torn some ligaments and had muscle separation in his ankle...very painful, they say sometimes moreso than an actual break. So that night Finesse and I had to carry all the furniture from the yard sale back into the house, and for the next 6 days we hauled it all out every morning and hauled it all back in every evening...We were both so sore and bruised up by the end of it, and so grateful we had made our goal and that the 7th day had finally arrived...we did the yard sale for 7 days, cuz we were going to have nice, sunny weather for those days and on the 8th day it was gonna start raining for a whole week, we were glad for the rain... so we wouldn't have to have the yard sale for another day : )

Adam was going to have a follow up appt. with an Ortho Surgeon on the 3rd of May, so depending on what was done or suggested we would either leave the 4th or postpone our trip a month or so. Well, we went to his appt. we were praying he wouldn't need surgery...they suggested casting his leg from the knee down for 6 weeks...they said there was no reason he couldn't go on the roadtrip.

With the 2 cars (Finesse's Explorer and my car) all packed up (packed by me...arghh, since Adam couldn't cuz of his foot, well Finesse did help too, but I knew how I wanted things packed so that we could fit more in) I stayed up til 3 am packing the cars up. So anyway...with the two cars all packed up we headed out Wednesday the 4th we were gonna take our time getting to Texas, not rush it. We only drove til around 6pm the first day...with only 3 hours of sleep, I couldn't go on. So anyway it took us 4 days all together to get to TX. Cuz we Stopped in Az. And spent the night and day with my Sister Yolanda and her family. Then we headed out and got to Tx. the following day.

As soon as we got to Castroville, I went and saw my Mom. Brought her with us to see the RV for the first Time, and we were gonna take her out to dinner as well. Ya know...a Wrench always seems to get thrown in our plans...We had Texted Daniel to turn on the A/C in the RV before our arrival. But when we got to the RV, we noticed there was NO power at all. No lights, or A/C or anything (Unbelievable...you can't live without A/C in TX). Good thing it was Daytime when we got in, around 2pm. So we tried a few things...didn't work, with my Mom outside at the pic nic table, we decided to just go to dinner til we figured something out. The RV Host had given us the numbers to 2 RV repairmen. So we called them and when we were finished with Dinner and Mom had dropped us back off at the RV and left ( she had said if the power didn't get fixed to come to her home). Anyway we hung out at the pic nic table for awhile and one of the RV guys called Adam, and said he was finishing up Mother's Day Dinner but would make it out within the hour...WooHoo!

So after a couple of hours of him and his wife working...we had lights and one of the A/Cs running, barely. He said the front A/C was shot. And the back one that he was able to get running is on its last leg...GREAT! That's all we needed...more expense! So anyway in the whole RV, he could only get one electrical outlet to work...I was sure we were gonna blow that one, with all that we had plugged into it. But we didn't...Days later he came back and fixed the other outlets. Then a couple days later we were having trouble with No hot water, and sewage draining problems...we had to learn about RVs real fast (black tanks, grey tanks...blah blah blah). So anyway all of that seemed to be going okay...But now that A/C last leg? is down to half a leg now...its going bad! So the RV guy is gonna replace the front one with a brand new A/C unit tomorrow. Which is the one I would prefer to have running anyway, since the living room, kitchen and dining table area is where we spend most of our time. And we will just let the back one run til it dies!

Finesse is loving it here...she was texting my neice, Hope, her cousin back in AZ: " I dont know what it is about Castroville, but it just brings me and my Mom closer...Our bond tightens everytime we are here" So I was of course so pleased to hear how very HAPPY she is here.

Inspite of all the Trials we've had since getting here with the whole RV fiasco, I am so relaxed and at peace here...Finally!

I cannot believe it I AM HOME!

We are parked at the RV park in the Castroville Regional Park. This is the park I took My kids to when they were young...this is the park I taught Daniel how to throw a Football at, how to throw and catch a baseball. We are all home again! This is the same park I remember coming to as a teenager as well. There is so much to do here: The river, the 1 mile walking trail, the hiking trail, the park with 3 playgrounds, the public swimming pool, the tennis courts, basketball courts and volley ball. We are having a blast and the Glama Girls love it too!

The only sad part is that Adam will be leaving on Tuesday the 24th...to go and tie up loose ends, either rent our home out to a witness family or rent the individual rooms out to single brothers, once he accomplishes that...he can join us for good!

We went back to our old Congregation...it was so nice to see everyone! We got such a loving and warm reception. It all feels right, as a family we have been through the wringer in the past 2-3 years, but Satan did not win...with Jehovah's Holy Spirit we have remained strong and loyal to him, WE ARE STILL STANDING! Jehovah, you truly do empower the weak with your holy spirit...we Love and Thank You Father!

Well, I will continue to blog from our new home Castroville, Tx. The plan thus far is to live in the RV for atleast a year, save up and either continue to live in the RV if we become accustomed to it...or Rent a home or purchase a small home. And if we rent or purchase a small home...we will park the RV in the driveway and let Finesse use it as her apartment. We are enjoying ourselves, however, it has definately been an adjustment going from our 3,300 sq. ft. home in Wa. to the 1984 Holiday Rambler RV which only has 240 sq. ft. It is a 30 ft. , very old.... but hey, it is a roof over our heads.

We are learning to Keep our Eye Simple...our new motto: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify : )

Talk to yall Soon

                                        PaPa Rolling Down Hill With The Girls

Adam and I packed up my car and left for our roadtrip to Tx. on January 13th, we were gonna go see The Glama Girls for our Anniversary! This was not gonna be a hurried roadtrip, we were gonna take our time and visit family along the way. Once we got to Tx the plan was for Adam to stay there with me for a couple of weeks and celebrate our 6th Anniversary on January 17th. and I was gonna stay longer to visit a little more with the girls, I can't believe it I haven't seen my girls in 6 months...I miss them SO SO Much!

We took a 40 min. detour and headed to Gig Harbor where my sister Pauline lives, Finesse had some clothes that she was getting rid of that I wanted to give to Pauline, and also my nieces son had been wanting a Battleship Game...we had two of them so we also wanted to drop the extra one off and say goodbye to my Sis. They weren't home so we left them by the door on the porch...and we were on the road again, I left her a message to let her know I had left some stuff at her front door, couple minutes later she called and told us where she was and asked if we wanted to stop in and say goodbye, but Adam and I decided we didn't want to make another stop so we said our goodbyes on the phone.

Next stop was Oregon, we stopped in Portland and had a quick lunch with my Father-in-Law, Larry. He is an Awesome Man, we hadn't seen him since our wedding day ( I am so bummed I never got a recent pic of him and Adam ). So after a nice lunch and visit with Larry, we were on our way again.

We continued on the trip til late that night where we stopped in California somewhere half way thru the state, dont remember where...stayed at a motel for a much needed stretch, rest and sleep.

Then in the morning we fueled up and grabbed coffee and were on the road again by 7 or 7:30am. Later when we'd been driving a couple of hours we got hungry, so we got some McDonalds breakfast. And for lunch we were gonna stop at a Carls Jr. Adam Loves Carls Jr. So we drove on and checked out all the scenery ( California is almost as flat and dry looking as TX. ) and Finally We stopped for lunch and had some Yummy Burgers at Carls Jr. ( I just had to get a pic. of Adam and his Burger, he was as happy as ever like a little kid ) So after lunch we got more gas (Ha Ha that sounded funny) and headed out again. The plan was to make it to Az. where my sister Jolee (Yolanda) lives that night and stay at her place, and visit her and my neices (Hope and Zipporah) and their handsome lil boys the next day and then head out back on the road the following morning so we could be settled in Castroville on our anniversary the 17th. I Couldn't wait to see them...hadn't seen my sister in like 5 years and hadn't seen Hope in like 12 years, and had never met Zipporah (she is like 22 years old I think), couldn't wait!

So we got into their town late at night about 11pm or so, we tried to call them... no answer, then GPSd their home and knocked on her door, no answer...she was fast asleep, she hadn't been feeling good that day and had taken some medicine, so it knocked her out and she couldn't hear our phone call or knock, poor thing. So we went to a motel and slept. In the morning we got ready to go to my sisters house, I was dying for coffee, but wanted to wait to have my morning coffee with her : ) Before we headed over there we stopped and got flowers for both households My sisters place, where she and Zipporah and Pora's son, Raymond, lives ( They got Pink Calililies potted flowers )...and flowers for Hope at her home ( Hopes were yellow potted calililies ). So we got to Jolee's home and Pora came out to greet us, She is a beautiful young lady...I got tears in my eyes as we hugged for the first time. She is such a sweet and loving girl and a very good Mom, once in their home I met Pora's son Raymond, what a cutie. Then on to see Jolee, of course more tears were shed as I hugged and kissed my sister, it was a wonderful reunion!

Pora made us coffee and bagels as we visited and got acquanted and reacquanted with one another. After visiting for a bit, they got ready so we could go to another little town where Hope lives...so that I could visit with her and meet her husband Dwight and their boys Titus (12 or 13), Tyson (8 I think), and Q (5) Q is a nickname for Quentin. I couldn't wait to meet Hope again...we have gotten to know each other really well thru email, IMing and Texting. She had become more like a close girlfriend rather than a neice. It was great to meet her and her boys, they are such handsome little guys, and they all gave me hugs and stuff, how sweet is that. Dwight was very  nice and friendly and loving too, throughout the day he and Adam got to know each other and got along great. Tyson the middle boy is so cuddly...he sat near me for a big part of the day and evening. We had such a great time getting to know one another...about an hour into the visit, I cant believe it... I did my Swoozie impression, LOL that really broke the ice, and then everyone just kinda relaxed and probably thought 'okay if Tia can act that crazy I can be myself'...the boys were looking at me weird for awhile, found out later they thought I was pretty cool, I think they were surprised at how much they liked me...ha ha me too. (Hope says I was a big hit in McDaniel Household...Yay! and that the next day they were all in the back seat of their car doing a Tia Litsi "Swoozie" impression Ha ha). We all got hungry so Adam and Dwight went and got Pizza and stuff ( stuff to make margaritas: ) to bring back. We ate and watched Megamind, and then all the boys were playing...as us grownups visited. Then Adam made us all Margaritas and we had even more fun...WooHoo! Dwight went to play basketball with bros. from his hall so he missed most of the fun.  Titus danced for us...we cheered him on, it was such a blast! Somehow we all ended up upstairs on Hope and Dwights California Kingsized Bed...Literally all of us. Adam, my sister, Pora, Hope, me and the boys, talking laughing being Retarted. When Dwight got home, his eyes got big like... 'okay thats weird, everyones on my bed', but then he joined us. After a it of more visiting and fun...we left and went back to Jolee's home. They had all convinced us to not leave in the morning for our trip to TX. I didn't want to leave either, I was having a blast. So in the morning Adam and I went and found an awesome Mexican Restaurant, I think it was called Felibertos. Awesome Awesome Burritos...they were so tasty and Huge. I had Carne Asada, and we took some back for Pora and Jolee. Jolee was still sleeping when we had left. On our way back to their place we found this restaurant called "Garcia's" Cool...my maiden name! So we stopped and Adam took pictures of me near the sign and stuff. So we stayed and hung out with my sister all day, Weird once again...we all ended up on the bed in Jolee's room. I went in there to lay with her and take a little nap, cuz she still wasn't feeling good, then Adam came in and joined us...She and I never took a nap we just visited, but Ha Ha, Adam fell asleep. He woke up and Jolee and I were still talking and bonding. Then later in the evening Hope and her family came over to hangout and say goodbye to us cuz we were leaving the following morning the 17th ( which would be our anniversary, didn't want to be on the road on our anniversary cuz we wanted to be relaxed and exchange gifts but...) we would have been in Castroville, TX on the 16th if we hadn't stayed to visit a day longer in Az. But I would not trade that decision for anything...we had such a blast in AZ. It was like One Long Anniversary celebration. So anyway, that evening we visited and took pictures and stuff and then said our goodbyes to Hope and her family. The next morning we woke up about 5am and said our goodbyes to Pora and Jolee and I went and layed and hugged and kissed Raymond goodbye while he slept on his bed.

So on the road again...in Benson, AZ we got hungry and needed to fill the car up again, so we stopped at this really cool McDonalds with a cool Dinosaur in front, so after we got our food we went and took pics in front of it...that was so cool, I love the pics. then we were on the road again. We decided not to celebrate our anniversary that day, we were gonna wait til the next day. We got into Castroville, Tx. (our final destination, my hometown) about 9:30 or 10pm. I will blog about our anniversary and our visit together in Castroville before Adam left in my next blog. 'Til next time : ) Enjoy our little slideshow, it takes awhile for all the images to upload, there are someithing like 52 pics. Be patient, cuz there are some awesome dinosaur pics at the end : )

We are so very Proud of Finesse...Happy Graduation, Finesse! We let Finesse choose the restaurant of her choice to celebrate at, She chose Mizu's. We had never been there. I had no idea it was the kind of restaurant where they cook right in front of you, it was So So Much Fun! Finesse made an Excellent choice!

Daniel got Finesse a couple of cards, Finesse loves cards she collects them. Adam and I also got her 2 cards a Goofy Singing one and a nice serious card telling her how proud of her we are. We also got her two gifts, one of which we gave her at the restaurant, A gold heart/rose  necklace. Second gift to be given to her after we got home.

The chef (Gill) was so much fun he made us laugh all night. The way he rolled the egg and said " Chinese Egg Roll " then he lit the onions on fire and put it out with a little plastic guy that pees water out of his...pants! He chops and cooks so expertly. He made us Rice, shaped as a Heart...Aww! I was so excited to eat some, and then he serves me like a teaspoon size on my plate...ha ha! Then at one point he asked everyone that ordered steaks how they wanted it cooked, Daniel wanted Medium Rare...so he takes the raw steak and starts to put it on his plate...ha ha, Funny Guy!

Food was Excellent...Drinks too : ) I had a Long Island Iced Tea, Adam had a Japanese Slipper ( his drink was pretty, had to take a pic). After lots of food, pics, and video we went to Baskin Robbins for Ice Cream...Yum!

After desert, we went home and gave Finesse her second gift...her stereo went on the blitz a while back so we got a nice new one for graduation, Music is so important to Finesse. So we thought that would be a perfect gift for her. She loved it, Yay! This was one of the Best nights as a family that we've had in a really really long time...we did lots of joking, goofing around and laughing : ) Such a nice time, I am so glad we were able to do this before Adam and I left for TX.

Happy Graduation Finesse...

               We are so Proud of You!

All the snow was so Beautiful today...Finesse just absolutely LOVES Winter Snow, so we took this oppurtunity to take some Senior Winter Portraits.  Finesse, you were a lot of FUN and you came out so Gorgeous, hope you like them. Here are 35 of my favorites!

Well, it started snowing lightly yesterday, and has been snowing pretty much all morning today. Finesse and I had to go to the libraray to drop off stuff that was due today. I almost didn't go, cuz as someone in a big black SUV was turning into our subdivision, they must have been going to fast  cuz they slid across the road and almost hit our house, good thing for the curb or it would have.

Well, because my Jag has All Wheel Drive, I decided to go to the library anyway and test that baby out and  see how it did in the snow.  And Boy oh Boy, shoulda stayed home...there were cars in ditches and sliding around all over the road, one young lady was parked in the middle of the road crying and on her cell phone as she was watching another car in the  oncoming traffic lane in a ditch...the guy that went into the ditch was okay he was outside of his car on his cell phone too, so she stopped in the middle of the road and made us all go around her...which made that more dangerous for us. I was starting to get nervous, but I guess my car's All Wheel Drive did it's job, so my car did fine. I was surprised, cuz cars right in front of me and next to me in the oncoming traffic lane were swerving all over the place...so then I was just worried that someone was gonna slide into me :] But we got home safely, Whew! What should have been a 10 minute trip was more like a 40 min. trip... I was driving 20mph most of the way. When we took off it was 29 degrees and halfway to the library in Maple Valley it had dropped to 26 degrees. On our way back home the Crying lady was still in the middle of the road...but now, I guess trying to calm herself down was smoking a cigarette. The guy that went into the ditch was still there too and still on his cell phone. 

This is really nothing in comparison to when I lived in Michigan...I can remember the shoveled snow on the side of sidewalks was taller than me as I walked 2-3 miles to get to my elementary school...it felt like I was walking through the parted RED SEA OF SNOW! So I can literally tell my kids and grandkids that "When I was a kid I used to walk 2-3 miles in the snow just to get to school" Ha Ha : ) 

Finesse says that her Pug (Jackson) loves the snow as much as her. When we got home from the library she grabbed a snowball for him and put it in his dish, he gobbled it right up, so she went down and got a bowl full for him then she took him out for a walk.  Here are some Pics I took with my Droid phone.

Finally...trying to get back into my Medical Transcription Courses. I went so far in the first few months took quizes 1-21 in such a short time, then all heck broke loose and I stopped everything...what a dummy! I only had 4 more quizes to take :{ So now I am trying to get back on track.

Only problem is that now I have to go back and review EVERYTHING, cuz I dont remember all the rules and formats to typing the reports anymore, and there are 100s and 100s of rules to this, you wouldn't think so but there is. and it feels like I am studying to be a Doctor not just a medical Transcriptionist, you have to know everything about everything in the human body.

Okay, I will keep yall up to date on my progress...I hope there'll be progress : )

Arghh...see I am blogging instead of studying...studied for about 20 min. then started blogging (truthfully it was really only 10 min. of studying, but felt like 20), okay gonna study again I promise :D 

Been trying something new to lose some stress weight that I've accumulated over the past 5 years, since moving here to Wa. And it is actually working for me...I'm excited. If anyone is interested in how I'm doing it here's a link http://www.hcgplatinum.com/  to the drops I am using. Adam and I found them at GNC. ( The picture below I took of myself, the day of my 2nd entry of 4 lbs. loss, cuz I was so excited: ) 

* Yay...2 1/2 lbs. down 23 more to go, and I've lost 1" in my waist!

* 4 lbs. down, 15-20 more to go!

* 7 lbs. down

* 11/15/10:  Down 9 lbs. and 3 and 1/4 inches on my waist, 10-15 lbs. to go, WooHoo no more jiggly tummy!

* 11/22/10: I cheated quite a bit this past weekend ( Cheeseburger kids meal, 2 pieces of pizza, and a mini blizzard and 2 small bags of Doritos :[ So delicious, I had been craving each of those things for a month now... didn't lose any weight but didn't gain either : ) So I am still at 110 lbs.

* 12/3/10: Yay...I'm in my Skinny Size 1 Jeans, I bought them last year as my Inspiration Jeans. I fit into them a couple of weeks ago, but with quite a bit of a "Muffin Top" (yuck). But today they fit and no more muffin top...so I am wearing them for the first time, WooHoo! So I've lost 11 pounds now and 3 1/2 inches on my waist. 

"The Secret Life Of Bees" is what I am reading now...it was first recommended by my daughter Finesse, she absolutely loved it and kept telling me that I have got to read that book soon. She read that while we were in Texas in July. I told her I would love to borrow it from her and read it soon, but first I was trying to read all the Nicholas Sparks books I could get a hold of.

After posting one of my last blogs about the books I'd been reading...my niece, Hope, also raved about how wonderful "The Secret Life Of Bees" is, along with so many other books and authors that she loves. So I already had plans to read it, because of Finesse's recommendations, but Hope also speaking so highly of it motivated me to read it next. I am only in Chapter 1 but it is great so far, all the characters are pretty interesting. So far it is following the movie to a "T". Can't wait to dig deeper into it, just have to find the time to sit and read now. Training Paris and taking care of Jewels is taking up some time.

I think Jewels is getting arthritis...in her neck and shoulders. 2 months ago we had to take her to the vet for a check up to see why she was walking with head down and and tail between her legs it looked like she was in pain when she would come down or climb stairs. I had remembered that the day before she started walking like that she had gotten so excited when Adam came home that she started running around the house so excitedly and she ran upstairs we heard her from downstairs running around up there and jumping on things and jumping off and then when she came back down she jumped down from like the 5th step and ran to us. She seemed like the jump didn't phase her, but maybe that is what started this whole problem, I thought. At the VCA Clinic, They couldn't find anything wrong in her x-rays or bloodwork...but when the vet touched her neck/shoulder area, Jewels Yelped a bit. So Dr. Fruit gave her anti-inflammatory/pain medication. Jewels started to feel better after a few days, I continued the course of medication for 10 days, and I hoped that she had just pulled something and that she was better now. But now she is acting the same way again...So we called Dr. Fruit and she refilled the medication for 7 days today is the second treatment, still not much improvement. The Vet said if she does not improve by the end of the course of meds. they want to re-examine her. I have a feeling she is getting some sort of arthritis, afterall she is around 11 or 12 years old in human years, so either because of age or because of the jump off the steps along with her age...she may have a lasting problem : (

I've been working with my Yorkie, Paris, and she is pretty smart! She has already learned to "Sit", "Lay Down" and "Shake" on command. Each trick only took her about 15 minutes to master...of course I used "Pup-eroni" treats, but hey, she got it.

Next on my list of tricks for her is to "Roll over" and "Speak". After that there is this way that she sits really pretty...not standing on her hind legs but sitting on her bottom and her front paws up like she's begging...she can sit like that forever...but Finesse and I are the only ones that have seen her do it, I want Adam to see it. So I am trying to figure out a way to get her to "Sit Pretty" on command, when I have tried she just stands up on her hind legs, rather than sitting on her bottom. When she has done it on her own...I've said "Oh, Sit Pretty" and she gets all excited. I figured if I put a name to it (Sit Pretty) when she does it...that maybe eventually she sit pretty on command.

Here is a video I just took this morning after writing my blog...to show Paris off, I am so Proud of her! 

So as I wrote Tuesday...Finesse and I have been driving around letting her get used to driving, well I intended to let her drive me around yesterday, but when we got ready to leave...we noticed her car keys weren't in the key bowl, turns out that Adam had them in his coat pocket at work. Since we were already ready to go, I went ahead and took my car for a spin ( I haven't driven it much since Finesse has been driving me around in her car, so I was excited to get behind the wheel of my new car : ) I thought it would be a good idea to take my cameras along and get some 2010 portraits of Finesse. So below are some of my favorite shots all combined into 5 collages. I will be uploading the rest of the images on my website soon. I took 100 shots and I have 58 favorites...one thing I always have a hard time with is choosing my favorites ( I usually like them all for one reason or another ) To see the rest of the images click here and visit my website and take a look at Finesse's gallery http://www.leticiawilsonphotography.com/display10.aspx?entry=H&gallery=267&FID=22&Cname=Portraits&name=Senior 

So, in my spare time I have been reading Books by Nicholas Sparks...I fell in love with the motion picture "The Notebook", when I saw that it was taken from the novel written by Nicholas Sparks, I started to collect his books. I absolutely love them! On days when I am not studying for meetings you can find me curled up in a chair by the fireplace with a glass of wine ( a yorkie on one side of me and a chihuahua on the other) as I read a good book.

On our Trip to Texas, Finesse and I each took lots of books to read...we didn't want to spend too much money down there, so we sat by the river and read together. In Texas I read "The Notebook"( novel was very close to the movie), "The Last Song" ( quite a bit of differences than the movie), "Message In A Bottle" (some differences but very similiar to the movie...I was hoping the ending would be different , but it wasn't), "A Bend in the Road" ( very good twist in the end).

So since we've been back home Adam took us to Half Price Books and bought me more Nicholas Sparks books. I've read "The Rescue", "The Guardian" ( I think this is my FAVORITE Sparks book to date, this should be made into a movie...it would be awesome, as I was reading it I was thinking 'Wow this is a thriller it's a very different style of writing from the rest of his books... and then at the end Sparks himself says that he had never attempted this style of writing, he'd always wanted to write a thriller but this was his first).

Adam also bought Sparks' latest book for me at Fred Meyer a couple of weeks ago "Safe Haven" ( kind of a thriller as well...very good book). And yesterday Finesse and I went driving...she's been driving me around everywhere for the past couple of days so she can get more comfortable behind the wheel, before I feel safe enough to let her out on her own, anyway after our drive we stopped at Goodwill and she found me another Nicholas Sparks book that I haven't read yet "The Choice" (cant wait to read it!) it is a nice hardcover in mint condition. I also spotted a Sequel to my all time favorite movie "Gone with the Wind" this sequel is entitled "Scarlett" was written by a different author, Alexandra Ripley, "Gone with the Wind" was written by Margaret Mitchell...but according to the sleeve of the book...Alexandra was chosen to write this book by Margaret Mitchell's estate, So I am very excited to start this book. I have always wished that they would make a sequel to the movie, as a matter of fact when I watched it recently I said that to Adam and Finesse again. I always wanted to see if Scarlett ends up with Rhett ( I hope so, I guess I'll find out how Alexandra wanted it to end).

WooHoo....I just went to Netflix to see if they did make a Scarlett sequeal to Gone with the wind and they did in 1994, so I will be getting it in the mail in a couple of day. Now I am really excited...Hmm, should I read the book first or watch the movie? Pros and cons to both. If I read the book, then I am talking throughout the whole movie saying stuff like " thats not what they did in the book" but if I watch the movie first....I may not be as excited to turn each page in the book in a rush to see what happens...unless of course the book and the movie are different. What to do, what to do!?

So any Book Lovers out there? If you've read any of the above mentioned books...I'd love to chat about your thoughts on them. By the way I do read books by other authors as well, just trying to collect all of the Nicholas Sparks Hardcover books right now, If you have any suggestions for books that you think I would enjoy, I would love to hear about them ( it'll give me a reason to relax and have another glass of red wine  ( which by the way I just started to acquire a taste for...prior to a few weeks ago I only drank white wine, but Adam introduced a nice sweet red wine to me called "Madria Sangria", I think thats the name).

Gonna work out in a little bit, then let Finesse drive me around again today. Maybe do some Photography school as well, since I am always taking continued education courses to advance my knowledge of the ever changing world of Photography. One other hobby that I really want to start doing more of is sewing, I have a nice new Embroidery sewing machine...I need to get some more fabric tho, okay this last paragraph was kinda random, along with the whole red wine thing, in the last paragraph...but that is how my brain operates unfortunately, it changes channels on me without any warning, very TIRING...whew!

Feel Free to comment on my blog...would love to hear your thoughts!

Talk to Yall Later : )

P.S. *Just this morning I sold 4 stock images on Fotolia (the stock photography site I work with), 1 of the images being from the tons of recently uploaded images I just submitted last week, of my last family portrait session, this particular image was of a mother and daughter... 

 And these are the thumbnails of the other 3 that sold:

 ( yes, those are my legs)

 (Daniel and Kasandra, pregnant with Danyel)

  ( and images of Adam are always my #1 selling images)

Surprisingly...this next image has been selling like hotcakes lately, I guess bcuz of the Autumn Season.

This image has sold 72 times ( this was taken about 3 or 4 years ago, when we lived in Cedar Downs)

And these images have been my most Popular ones from the beginning when I started Stock Photography 4 years ago:

 Sold 103 times

 Sold 65 times

Sold 31 times

 This image is tied with this one of Jewels they have sold 26 times

All together I have 1,401 images  For Sale on "Fotolia" and about 500-800 images on "BigStock"

These photos were taken with my Droid...so not the best quality. So my cousin Bill called me and asked me if I had sold my car yet, and I told him that I hadn't, so he said dont sell your car...I have a deal for you, he said I could use his home in Castroville anytime that I want for as long as I want. His house is always vacant except for 1 weekend out of the month, when he goes down there from Dallas. So, now that I dont have to sell or trade my old jag in for a Motorhome...I had been wanting to get a shorter bodied jag like an X-type or S-type, cuz Finesse kept telling me that I was driving an "Old Hag Jag" : ( I know right? So we went and traded my Gold Jag in for this one. It is easier to drive, its more reliable, and less miles, and I think it is a very beautiful car. I can't wait to go see my girls and take them to Bill's house at the river again, I miss them so much.

Lets see what else has been going on...Oh! I have really been focusing on Stock Photography, uploading and keywording tons and tons of images. Been making a nice little income from that every month...even without having submitted new images in years. So I am hoping to make an even better income with my new images in my Stock Portfolio. I submit my images once and they just keep making money for me.  I love it, cuz I make money while I sleep.

Paris, the newest member to our family is adjusting extremely well. We've learned that most Puppy mill dogs dont always adjust as well as she is. A lot of times it takes weeks or months for them to even allow anyone to touch them. Paris is so sweet...however, I do think that she was physically beat before, cuz one time I was taking a rolling pin out of the drawer and she saw it and did a quick reflex flip in the air and when she landed she took off running...poor thing, I immediately put it down and went to her with opened arms and hugged and held her for a long time, Poor Sweetie. So we do have to be careful about holding long things like that up in the air : (

She actually watches TV with us, and seems to recognize the not so nice characters...she growls and barks at them, she is very entertaining, much more so than the TV program itself...I find myself watching her more than the TV. Paris is still getting used to her freedom from a cage...she doesn't seem to know what to do with the freeness of being able to roam around freely at night, but during the day she goes around like she is apuppy just curiously examining everything, everything is so new to her, if she touches something and it moves she freaks out a bit and jumps back, but you can tell she has fun exploring. But she is doing better and better everyday. She is very loving and affectionate, when I hold her she rubs herself on my chest and makes baby moans. We Love Her! Oh and I recently went and got Paris some really cute Hair Pretties! She is Absolutely Adorable! 

So Saturday the 4th of September...Adam, Finesse and I ran around and got some errands done. The last errand on our list was to stop at Petco to buy some crickets for Deuce (Adam's Bearded Dragon).

Well...it was Pet Adoption Day, yup! I told myself not to go in, not only did I tell myself that...I told Adam and Finesse that I would wait in the car, cuz I know myself I can't resist animals. But I went in anyway and I did good for awhile I was so proud of myself...cuz outside the door were volunteers with about 6 or 7 dogs on leashes that were up for adoption...Adam went and petted them, it was killing me but I stayed about 30ft away from them, Whew....thought I was safe and I was so proud of myself. But then when we turned to walk in and the automatic doors slid open I noticed 15 or so cages with dogs and puppies inside, of course the cage closest to the door that I of course spotted right off the bat is what I have been wanting for a few years now...a Yorkshire Terrier! She was just adorable : ) 

Once again I told myself to turn around and go to the car, but at that point I just couldn't help myself...I went inside, went directly to her cage. They named her Paris Hilton (wasn't crazy about the name) They said she didn't really know her name yet, so if we adopted her we could easily change it. Well, we had no self control...we did it...we held her and she was sooo soooo sweet, she put her head on my shoulder and that is all it took. Then Adam held her too, but I said "No, this is crazy we cant do this" so we put her back but we both kept looking back at her  as we walked away.

We went and got the crickets but Adam kept peeking at Paris and then we both just stood there staring at her. I went and looked at something else, cuz I knew that If I showed too much interest, Adam would've wanted to make me happy and get her for me. So I tried to stay away, and once again I was doing good. Next thing I know...Adam is over there holding her again, so of course I went over there and after some discussion we filled out the application and adopted her. We Love Her! She is 2 years old...she came from a puppy mill, has had 2-3 litters of pups already (poor thing) I am so glad that we rescued her from having to go through more births. She had just had all of her shots, been spayed and microchipped 5 days prior.

When we got her home...and tried to rename her, she wouldn't look at us or respond at all, so then I said "Paris" and she perked up and came to me...Bummer, she does know her name...So Paris she is, Paris Wilson, that is! She is such a sweet puppy. I told Adam when we were lying in bed that night...We should name her Cricket, cuz we went in for crickets and walked out with her : )

 She is so Pretty...Look at that Face!

Last Wednesday ( August 11, 2010) I shot a really fun Family Portrait Session for my sister Damiana and her three girls. They are all such Beautiful young ladies. The only draw back is that they all wanted to do the same poses...so if I came up with a nice pose for one of the girls the other two sisters had to pose that way as well...so it looks like a lot of repeat poses, cuz it was! Ha Ha, I had a great time...they are gorgeous lil models. To see more of the images...go to my website at http://www.LeticiaWilsonPhotography.com and click on my "Portraits" I made each of the girls their own gallery and also click on "Family Portraits" there you will find them under "Damiana King Family" and "King Sisters" galleries. They are a very Loving family. and Mom (my sister Damiana was so emotional that day cuz her lil girls are growing up) I caught some good candid shots between them all.

THE KING FAMILY

JORDANA

DANARA

DARAH

THE GIRLS 

COUSINS 

THE WHOLE FAMILY

LETICIA & DAMIANA

Finesse and I just returned from a much needed Mother/Daughter month long Journey. The time away was just what we needed to rekindle our friendship.  We are a great Mother/Daughter Team once again. Here are a few pictures from our trip to Texas. I got a few shades darker, Finesse turned 19 while there, and had lots of good times and made lots of memories!

This next Collage is of us with My Glama Girls...They both started wearing eyeglasses, while we were down there. Poor Babies, but they are still Adorable!

This next collage is of pictures that I took with my Droid phone on one of our many walks. I didn't get a chance to edit these images

This next collage was also taken with my Droid phone...so not the best pics. But I had to capture my Castroville Country Dream Home. It has a beautiful wrap around porch, 2 bdm., 2 ba., only 1,300 sq. ft home but it sits on an acre with about 30 pecan trees, and is river front property...I want it!

This is my Hometown...Castroville, it is an Alsation town. I miss it, I went to the movies as a kid in that theatre .50 a movie

Candid shots of Kasidy playing in the river. We stayed at my Cousin Bill's home, he lives right on the river. Danyel found a perfect heart-shaped rock...she was so proud of it! 

Staying here was unbelievably peaceful...we'd get up take our coffee down to the river and talk, think, feed the ducks, pray and meditate on life.

This next collage is of my Sister Laura (LuLu) and her husband Steve and my Brother Robert (Bobby) and his wife Rina and myself on our last night there. Lulu had me over for a Farewell Dinner. It was a lot of Fun. I left the next morning Friday at 6am and got home Saturday night at 10pm.

This next Collage is of our Welcome Home...Aww Adam really missed us. He even used my arts and crafts stuff and my glue gun to make this welcome home sign, Whata Guy! He had Orchid plants for each of us, and huge Godiva Chocolate bar for each of us, Dark Chocolate for Finesse (her favorite), milk chocolate for me (my favorite) and a dozen pink roses for me! He said I can never leave again : )

The Chernoff Family were such a joy to work with...They were a fun group! Thank you for allowing me to photograph your Beautiful Family, you all looked so nice for your portraits ; )

I can not wait to put my arms around my Girls...I have missed them terribly! I can't wait to give them their little gifts too. Ughh I want them here already, but they dont land at the airport until around 9:30 or so. They will be Happy to know that we will be Featuring "Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" just for them.

So we showed 2012 last night...it was awesome, with surround sound we could feel our feet vibrate beneath us. We had a full house again, except for 1 seat...Jerome forgot to show up : (.

My two sisters were here Pauline and her husband Rick and they brought Pauline's study, Sandy. My sister Damiana and two of her girls Danara and Darah and Darah brought her boyfriend Devon.

Gail and Rick Bailey were here also as well as Roselie...and of course Adam, Daniel, Finesse and myself. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We had pizza first then a movie with lots of goodies to snack on. Next week we are showing Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, because my glama girls get here on Tuesday.

Okay...I'll talk to y'all later

Yesterday, I took Finesse to school...I went shopping after I dropped her off. After picking her up, we went and had lunch. Later that evening we went to walmart to buy "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" Because the Glama Girls get here on Tuesday, and we will be featuring that movie for Theatre night that Saturday...I know they will love it! We also ate at Subway in Walmart, and then headed for the Auburn Regal Cinemas, Finesse was dying to see the new Miley Cyrus movie " The Last Song " Lyndsy met us there. It was a real tear jerker. Today just laying low.

This coming Saturday our Red Velvet Theatre is featuring "2012" a very, very good movie. We have 11 people signed up for the movie so far. I've already seen the movie twice...I'll enjoy watching it again tho.

In about a week or so, I will be doing Family Portraits in my Home Studio for a friend...that should be a lot of fun! 

We showed "The Blind Side" for Theatre night on Saturday, we had a wonderful turn out all 15 seats were taken. My sister Damiana and my nieces Danara and Darah, spent the night...we had a blast that night. After the Movie, we played Catch Phrase, then the grown ups went to bed, the girls stayed up late watching teenage chick flicks, from the sounds of it they were having a good 'ol time...laughing and being silly. The next day I made everyone breakfast, Potatoes, chorizo and eggs and tortillas. Then we sat around and talked a bit...then we got ready and took some snapshots here at home, then we headed to Gig Harbor to visit my nephew Brandon, his girlfriend Jessica and their new baby girl "Alexa Jean Morgan" they call her Lexi. Then we came back to Covington and went to a mexican restaurant, then we came home Damiana's girls left...But Damiana spent the night and left the next day, I waved Goodbye to my sister and to my Gorgeous 1998 Red Mustang .

So yesterday...I texted my sister Damiana, whom I had not spoken to in over 4 years, and she texted back and said that my timing could not have been better...So we proceeded to bond and talk about what was going on in our lives, and I invited her to come to my home and spend the night so we could catch up.

She had never been to my home so we met at the mall, we made it home had some pizza and wine and just caught up...it was so nice! To talk to someone who was cut from the same cloth...someone who grew up in the same dysfunctional home and who can empathize with all of my thoughts, struggles and fears. We have so much in common...I always felt like I didn't belong in my family, like I had been adopted into this family, which is weird...cuz my family always joked with me and told me that I was adopted or that I was found on the doorstep...they knew I was very sensitive, and they always tried to hurt me, and it worked they did. I was always made to feel like the black sheep of the family.

Well, my sister Damiana and I are so similiar...nonjudgemental and sensitive to others feelings as well as to our own. We talked and laughed and cried and told old stories...some funny, some sad. I am so glad to get to know my sister and friend.

There are 10 of us kids in my family, however, I felt as tho I grew up in a 2 kid family, because only my sister Sylvia who is 2 years older than me was in the house when I was growing up, cuz the other 8 children were grown and married. So I never got a chance to really know them. And Damiana is one of those siblings that I never got a chance to get to know...I always admired her beauty, and wanted to look just like her when I grew up...I would stand there at her dressing table as she fixed her hair and put her make up on and would just stare at her with Awww...wishing that I would grow up to be that beautiful someday.

So I am so glad to have her back in my life, she only lives an hour and a half away, in Stanwood, Wa. So we have plans to keep this friendship going, and to help each other out through our difficult times that we are both struggling with, as well as our difficult past that we have still got to learn to let go of.

So we stayed up talking late into the night, and then woke up and had coffee together, and shared more of our similiar interests. We then got dressed and went to the bank...She bought my mustang and I bought my dream car, a Gold 1997 Jaguar last night, so we went and took care of the monies and titles and everything. It was as tho I traded my poor mans dream car (the mustang) for my Real Dream Car ( the Gold Jag). So we went and took care of all of that, and then we went to lunch, and she came home and test drove her new Red 1998 Ford Mustang. She loves it! Then we said goodbye and made plans to see each other very soon.

When Adam and I went on our cruise...we loved coming to our cabin at the end of the night to our beds turned down with a piece of mint on our pillows and a different "Towel Animal" on our beds, couldn't wait to see what animal would await us that evening. So I learned how to make some...I now know how to make Monkeys, Elephants, and a dog. Look at Jewels she is such a little model. She was made to be a TV Dog or model or something, she is so cooperative.

Here is my "Towel Dog" 

Satan is so sneaky...if he can't get US to faulter, he will see to it that we get attacked from the outside in.  So although, the Fit hit the Shan on Thursday...we were determined to not let Satan beat us down, we made it to the meeting on Sunday, and then afterwards we went to Red Lobster and brought Roselie with us and we celebrated the closing of our house as well as celebrating the priveledge of being a united family of sheep in Jehovah's Loving Organization. Although at first we dont always understand why things happen the way that they do...we do later, it all comes to light. Well, already after prayerful meditation...I can see WHY my family is going through this, Jehovah sees to it that things get taken care of...and this is one way that he saw to it that a wrong be righted, even if it hurt our family in the process...Jehovah knew he would give US the strength to power through this, too. And we are, it is not easy, but we are. We are a united family, we will stick together! I did not struggle in raising my kids all alone for so many years to let anyone divide us...I cannot and will not allow that to happen, and with Jehovah's help we will make it.

So we went out and celebrated anyway...everything will work itself out. Here is what I ate on Sunday at Red Lobster...it was delicious!

 This is one of my favorite photos...my Chihuahua, Jewels, always lays between the stuffed lions paws...if my lap is not available. So one day I ran up and got my camera and captured this warm fuzzy image. What I really love about this is how the tilt of the Lion's head onto Jewels' head, actually makes it look like he is cuddling a baby cub. After all the excitement, she went back to sleep : )

Why can't things just go right for one day? Just one day of happiness even just semi-happiness? I know we wont have true happiness until we are in the New World, but just one semi-easy/happy day is all that I ask : (

I was in the middle of planning a celebration for Adam...to thank him for buying me such a beautiful home, we had officially closed on the purchase of our home today, so I was gonna make him a cake with the words Thank you on top and then a picture of our home and on the bottom his name, Adam...so the cake would've read "Thank You Adam" I wanted him to see it when he got home from work. And I had planned for us to go to Red Lobster and then come home and eat our cake and finish celebrating...but then "Whoosh!" right smack in the middle of my planning Satan hits us with a ton of bricks...Grrr!

Well, the Purse Party was a total success! Everyone had a great time, there were about 24 of us...It was alot of fun. Lots of us got gorgeous handbags. I had my eye on two handbags...but didn't want to pay for two, and surprisingly because enough people bought handbags I got a big enough discount that one of my handbags was FREE, WooHoo! Plus, just for hosting I had a choice of a pair of sunglasses or  a Coach wristlet purse, so I chose the wristlet.

My sister Pauline and her husband and a couple of her friends were able to make it from Gig Harbor. Also my niece Teri and her husband and son made it from Gig harbor, Teri and her family spent the night. So this morning we had our coffee and visited and then got dressed and we took them to The Bakery in Black Diamond for breakfast, and then walked the food off by taking a tour of the Black Diamond Museaum and jail and caboose, it was alot of fun.

I was looking out of the window at the sunset last evening and saw how pretty the raindrops looked on the Cherry Blossom trees ( atleast I think these are cherry blossoms) I dont have Washington flowers and trees and plants down yet.

Yesterday evening when Adam got home from work, he and Daniel were gonna go post all the flyers that I made, but Adam decided to call the Vet Clinic first...to see if anyone had brought Sadie there. Turns out she was there since about 10 am, which about the time I had noticed she was missing and started driving around looking for her...I drove around for about 2 hours looking for her.

So glad we found her.

"I  AM  LOST...

I'm 14 and miss my owner!"

(206) 795-6867

                                                    FEBRUARY 15, 2009

So we have been Leasing with Option to buy for about a year...and now we are finally there! We should close the first week of March...WooHoo!

Life has been pretty crazy...so much has happened to our family in the past 2 years, I am surprised that I have survived (and without medication: ) Believe me there were plenty of times that I needed it! With Jehovah's help we made it...not quite done going through things, but Jehovah has given us the strength to continue so that is what we will do.

I have the girls this month...and this month has been a struggle, they came back from Texas very angry (atleast Danyel has) she just has an angry undertone to all that she says...especially when she speaks to her little sister. I dont know if that is because that is how she is spoken to in Texas...or if she is just ticked off inside for all the garbage that is going on in her little life. But with all the stuff going on right now literally in my home, she is a bit hard to deal with...I am trying extremely hard and doing alot of praying to be extra patient with her. What I meant by all the stuff going on literally in my home is that...My son Daniel moved back home, so we cleared out our rec. room which has it's own bathroom and closet (actually it's the coat closet) and that is where he is staying, it is kinda like a studio apt. And so now all the stuff that was in there is in my family room...the pool table, hockey table, furniture that was in there is in with the family room furniture. The place looks crazy like a swap meat or something...stuff everywhere. So that is kinda how I am feeling inside as well, a bit chaotic...so Danyel has tried my patience a bit on this visit, but I am trying extremely hard to be patient with her, because I know she is going through so much inside, as we all are.

On top of all of that I am in the middle of painting the interior of my home so I have furniture pulled out from the walls and in the middle of the rooms. I have this thing about Pink...I just LOVE IT! So I had to get it out of my system...my formal living and dining rooms are both "Powder Pink" just 2/3 of the wall and the bottom third of the wall will have wainscoting. My kitchen is Powder Pink as well...it should look nice once we have our Stainless Steel appliances and Black granite countertops, and I am doing some creative stuff with Corrugated metal in my breakfast nook...that gives it kinda an industrial look, looks awesome with the pink, and de-feminizes it for Adam's sake. The adjoining Family room is "Cinnamon Spice" looks like chocolate brown....looks good with the pink in the kitchen and breakfast nook...except that it makes me and Finesse both hungry for chocolate, probably wasn't a smart choice for paint color in a room that is so close to the kitchen. I can just see it now the walls making us crave chocolate, and us just going to the fridge for something, anything to satisfy our craving...Hello pounds and fat!  I guess, next I should pray for will power : )

So the girls are napping right now, we just got back from the playground...I am gonna go give the kitchen a second coat and then be done with that. When Adam gets home he can help me take the pool table and hockey table apart and store it until Daniel moves out. We have got to get them out of the middle of the family room, we have Theatre night tomorrow evening...gotta reduce some of the chaos before then.

Well, that is about all for now...TTYS (talk to yall soon)

The Chaos in my Family Room  (The Red curtain, is actually a tablecloth to give Daniel privacy in his room) That is a cutout into the Rec. room, but it looks kinda Yucky with the table cloth hanging there, not sure how else to give him privacy tho. 

                                                                Russ and Roselie taken in August '09

I just cant believe that it is already February...So much has happened! I haven't posted anything on here since December. Haven't done a whole lot with my photography lately...lost some of my desire. I need to get it back, it is my passion, so I need to rekindle that.

My Spiritual Dad, of 18 years...Russell Taze Poggensee, passed away recently. I have never experienced anything like that in my life. Sure people I have known have passed away before, but I have never seen the progression of death right before my eyes. When we brought Russ home from the hospital he was still talking alot, and joking and quoting scriptures, My family and I lived with Russ and Roselie for 2-3 weeks to help Roselie with all of Russ's physical needs. Like I said he was very talkative and stuff in the beginning but each day thereafter, you could see him going downhill...less talkative, weightloss, changed breathing, more phyical help needed each day, what was so sad to me is that his mind was still as Sharp as ever and for him to know that we were having to assist him with all of his physical needs (Russ was a very modest man) so it was very hard on me as I know it must have been to him. It didn't bother me to assist him at all, but it hurt me to know that he was aware of all of the assistance that he needed, I didn't want him to lose his dignity like that!  But...then the day came when it was all over, he took his last breath and fell asleep, with all of us there...everyone he loved and that loved him, for the first time since he had been home right there in the same room with him at the same time...I think he chose that moment to say goodbye, we all got to say goodbye and then we had a prayer and then he took his last breath and fell asleep.

It has hit me really hard...not doing to good!

I have got to snap out of it...we had a Circuit assembly recently and that was truly wonderful, and uplifting. But I still can't seem to shake it.

Before Russ passed, a couple of weeks before...there was a bit of joy, my nephew (Timothy) was baptized at the Special Day Assembly. I will attach a few photos of that at the end of this. It was a very happy day, but in the back of my mind was everything else Daniel's problems, my grand-children, Russ and so many other things.

Well, I am determined to shake myself out of this somehow...talk to yall soon!

Finesse, LuLu ( my sister), Timothy (LuLu's son), Me, and Danyel, Pauline ( my other sister) holding Kasidy

LuLu and Timothy

Russ and Roselie's 65th Wedding Anniversary June 14, 2009 (Their last one) taken at my house.

For the past 4 years that we have been back to Wa. everytime we got together with Russ and Roselie, Russ would mention a movie "Spawn of the North" that he and his sister saw when he was a teenager, and we got together with them OFTEN! So we decided to go online and surprise him on their anniversary, with a copy of his favorite movie "Spawn of the North" and I just LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, his reaction when he saw it.

After he opened it...we went upstairs to our Theatre Room and had Popcorn, candy, soda and wine and watched it, He loved it!

How cute are they?

Also as part of their Anniversary gift from us...we got them those bears in their yard...Because everytime we were with the Poggensee's, if we passed a Brown Bear Car wash, Roselie would say I need those bears for my yard. Or if we were out in service and saw some bears in peoples yards...she said she needed some too. So we got these bears for Roselie and the Movie for Russ for their 65th Anniversary! The morning this photo was taken, we were all on our way to a weekend trip to Leavenworth. **This Sweater that Russ is wearing (he wore often)... Well, Roselie gave it to me after he passed away, and I wear it every evening that I watch TV, like a warm hug from Russ!

Tuesday the 14th...I had the pleasure of meeting Paul and Lisa Bradford and their handsome little son Miles, during a Family Portrait Session in their Lovely home. I am still in the middle of editing the images, however, I wanted to show a sneak peek. Paul and Lisa...Thank you so much for inviting me into your home to capture these precious moments.

These Images were taken in Leavenworth, Wa. I couldn't decide on just one for Image of the week...so I chose my 4 favorite! 

Well, Daniel, Adam, Finesse and I all went to court this morning at 9:30 am. Kasandra and her mother were there with their attorney. When the court room opened up we all went in, but then Our attny asked to speak to Kasandra's attny. and they hashed out a deal and then each attny, brought it to their clients, it went back and forth  a few times. And this is what we ended up with.

Each parent will get the girls for a whole month every other month, when that parent has the kids they will be named "Primary Cutodial Parent", Daniel will pay for all the airfare (which Adam and I will be paying...cuz he can't afford it), and Daniel will continue to make Kasandra's $400 car payment, that and the airfare will be in lieu of Child Support, and each parent should allow the other parent to speak to the girls freely while with the other parent (something Kasandra had not been doing...Daniel has only been allowed to speak to the girls 5 times in the 2 mos. she has been gone, in spite of his daily attempts), we will have a retired judge as a mediator starting in Feb of 2010 to begin mediation to get permanent orders in place....if we can't come to some sort of agreement, then it will go to court in September of 2010. 

This will all start in Dec. I will fly down there on the 2nd of Dec. and get the girls ( she tried to fight us on returning them back to her by Christmas, cuz she wants to spend Christmas with them) but I told the Attny. that we would not budge on that. We have only seen the girls for 1 week in the 2 months that they have been gone. And like I said, Kasandra has only allowed Daniel to speak to the girls 5 times in that 2 mo. period, so we were not about to budge on that....So we ended up with the girls the full month in Dec.

Our attny. said that when she went up to have the judge sign the order, that the judge said that that is pretty close to how he would have resolved it as well.

So all in all...I guess it was a Good Day! 

Monday I sent out Red Velvet Theatre Newsletters to all the Friends...letting them know that we were resuming with our usual Saturday Theatre Movie Night. We were going to be Featuring Star Trek...and within acouple of days, people had reserved all 15 seats. We had a wonderful time last night! Very nice to be able to put all the other stresses of life aside for a few hours and socialize with our Friends. We had Pizza, Popcorn, Soft Drinks, and Candy to munch on during the movie. However, At the last minute we had 4 cancelations but we still had 11 people over...it was Awesome! Look forward to having the friends over again next Saturday! To see our website go to http://www.RedVelvetTheatre.com it will give you a little history of how we started movie night.

I was so busy with legal issues having to do with with my glama girls and with Russ's healh issues, he now has a permanent picc line for IV's...that he will be getting every Friday at the Hospital, so I will drive them both to Enumclaw for this weekly. I will post an image of the week Tomorrow.

So the Court hearing for Temporary Custody of the girls will be on Monday...tomorrow the 23rd. It has been a very intense time for our family. Last week Kasandra's attorney called our attorney and asked Suellen if there was any way possible to settle this out of court. So the two attorneys put their heads together and came up with this deal: Kasandra would be named "Primary Custodial Parent"(her attorney wanted that), That each parent would have the girls every other month-for a whole month, and that Daniel would pay all airfare ( her attorney wanted that), and that Daniel would continue to pay for Kasandra's car in lieu of child support.

We countered with: Daniel named "Primary Custodial Parent" (since this is the Girls Residential State, that they still have jurisdiction in), and we don't mind Daniel having the girls every other month for a whole month, however, since Kasandra is the one that caused all this mess and uprooted the girls out of state...we dont feel Daniel should be responsible for all the airfare, so we are asking for "Shared Airfare", and Daniel is fine with paying for her car payments in lieu of Child support.

All of this would be in affect until the Final Hearing In September of 2010. The attorneys wanted our thoughts on all of this, before presenting it to Kasandra. We still haven't heard back from anyone since Thursday. And the hearing is to take place tomorrow already. We'll see what happens!

We need those girls here...Kasandra has taken those girls to a place that she herself has so vividly and grossly described as unhealthy physically and emotionally for the girls. She has shared things about her family members that make me fearful for my girls to be around them, for fear of what could be done to them. When Daniel and I flew to Texas to see the girls they kept telling me "Ama don't leave me here in Texas...I want to live in my yellow house in Covington" How sad is that, she kept telling me how her mom is always screaming at her and hitting and pinching her? The girls want to come home so Badly!

Kasandra and her family and friends all claimed that Daniel lied in his declaration of how filthy Kasandra and her family are...they submitted pics. of their home. I say... "It is very easy to tidy up and then take pics. to prove to the Judge/Court how tidy they are" but I found pics in Kasandra's MySpace account in her "We're in TX now" album, that show just how filthy of a home they are presently living in, when they aren't trying to prove to the judge/court that Daniel is lying, this is what her mothers house looks like and this is what Kasandra's home always looked like when she lived up here. In spite of Daniel repeatedly asking her to do better at keeping house for their girls, she never did, so Daniel would go to work all day and then come home and clean house too.  Attached below is a picture of the Filth she has my grandchildren living in, they don't even have a proper, clean place to sleep at night. We need to get these girls out of this filth, they always have runny noses, coughs, and red watery eyes, I am convinced because of the Unsanitary Conditions that they live in. We submitted these images to the court.

"The images below is their environment in Tx...How could a mother allow their child to crawl around in this? Kasidy is crawling around on a Plywood floor, with the possibility of slivers, ugh! And the vacuums back there are obviously not being used...just being stored in that filthy hallway. And look at where they are sleeping, doesn't look to safe to me, things could fall on them and it is just plain filthy." MY POOR GLAMA GIRLS!

Cool Tree in Muckleshoot, Wa.

The Horn Blower at the Enzian Hotel in Leavenworth...he blows his horn every morning at the exact same time!

Daniel and I went to visit The Girls in Texas last month...The girls want to come home so Badly! Danyel said "Ama don't leave without me, don't leave me here...I want to live in my yellow house in Covington" How sad is that? To see the Full gallery of these images...visit my website at http://www.LeticiaWilsonPhotography.com go to my "Portfolio" and click on "Family Portraits" and "Children" galleries.

This is a Bed and Breakfast we had lunch at...after our day at Mt. Rainier

I thought it would be a nice idea...to start an "Image of the Week" here on my blog. I will begin with the image below...Let me know what you think...I would love to hear your thoughts.

Mt. Rainier ~ taken in August of 2009

Geez...I've had so many family emergencies come up that I was a week or so behind on getting Ciara and Randal's wedding package together to send to them. I worked on their Coffee Table Book for 3-4 days at the hospital as I sat and waited with Roselie and Finesse...and then when I go to Upload the book to the Book Company...I couldn't, Aaargh! Finally got it to work after a few days or so, meanwhile I was making her DVD Slideshow set to music and putting all 1,000+ edited images on a CD for her. And waited to get her choices for her 8x10's and 5x7's and threw in an additional 8x10, since I was a bit behind getting her her package. But This morning I finally got a response from Ciara of the images that she would like enlarged and so I placed those orders, and then 10 minutes later...The UPS Guy delivered our Coffee Table Books, Yay! (I ordered one for myself) So I will go pick up the enlargements in a sec. and get that package out to them A.S.A.P (By the way the Book is Gorgeous...I think she will be thrilled) Go check out Ciara and Randal's full wedding story images on my website... 

Ciara and Randal thank you so much for your patience and understanding!

Warmest Wishes,

Leticia

Here is a Sneak Peek at Michael's Senior Portrait Session that I shot yesterday in my studio and then we went to his H.S. And Inspite of the rain...that came down in bucket fulls as we were shooting at his High School and at the park...we still had a nice time! Congratulations on your Graduation... Michael!

I belong to a few wedding vendor sites, and yesterday,  one inparticular site sent me 10 wedding leads in my area for the year 2010, so I bid on them and sent a personal e-mail to each of them, I got a response from one of the couples late last night saying that they are interested, they asked a few questions, so I e-mailed them back...we'll see what happens. It would be nice to finish booking 2010 so early.

I also received a wedding request, from my own website last night...this couple is interested in my "Lace" package.

There are 3 upcoming weddings kinda back to back in the next 2 months that I am busy preparing for. They should be gorgeous weddings. Getting alot of last minute requests, I really am trying to fit them all in! One of the weddings was a referral from a wedding that I did last summer...that is always a good feeling, to know that your work was liked enough to get a referral from it.

"Finesse, You look Beautiful...

I had a blast photographing you!"

We had a very nice time, seeing all of our old friends from the Auburn Cong. and enjoyed alot of Encouraging information.

I am so excited...Adam just bought me my very own Coach Handbag at Macy's tonight! I have always wanted one...these pictures do not do it justice...She is absolutely Gorgeous! 

The craziest thing happened in our neighborhood today...we had to evacuate our homes, we were just allowed to return home, and it is kinda late, so I will tell you all, all about it tomorrow...G'night

So yesterday, there was a 53 y.o. Merchant Marine that barracated himself in his home and threatened to blow the neighborhood up, his x-wife was escorted by police to gather some personal belongings, when the man made the bomb threat. That was about 11am, so the police called the SWAT team and Bomb Squad, and a Negotiator. He claimed to have a 250lb. fertilizer bomb inside. We had an appt. at the Vets at 2pm they made us evacuate around 1:30pm ( police came to our front door and rang our doorbell repeatedly and extremely fast and around 10 or 15 times, my husband I were upstairs gathering the animals and didn't hear the doorbell but my daughter Finesse did so she answered the door and said that they said "There is a bomb threat, you have to evacuate", I made sure to get the pets, my laptop, my photo albums and that all of us were out of the house) In my mind if the neighborhood blew up I didn't want to have regrets of lost photos, I have a ton of photos in albums of my kids and tons of photos of my grand-babies on my laptop. I didn't care about any material possesions, I did however, grab my guitar...just in case we went and waited at a park I would something to do . Adam took his van, I took my mustang...and as we were driving away, we passed the corner store... Foss's Market, it looked like a Hollywood movie set...they had set up there base camp right there...there were tents set up with military trucks and military hummers all over and SWAT trucks, bomb squad people, military people everywhere and policemen and cars...people all gathered and watching, it was crazy looking!

So after the vet appt., we went to the Poggensee's then we went to my son's house, Daniel. Meanwhile, we are listening to the news and found  out some information...Finally around 2 pm he went out to his back deck and pointed his scoped rifle at the helicopter and a Sharp shooter that was on ground fatally shot him. They then sent in a Robot to search the home for explosives, and when it found none they entered the home and finally reached the man on the back deck at 5:30pm, he was dead. We weren't allowed to return home until around 8pm. What a Day! It is a very sad situation...

I woke up this morning thinking about the man, I wondered if maybe he had been to the war in Iraq or something and came home and just wasn't the same and that he and his wife just couldn't get along or something, and that maybe she had decided to divorce him and he just couldn't handle it...and that that is why he did what he did. And that really saddened me. A life...wasted! and on such a beautiful, sunny day...to think that people are dying all the time, just like this on a daily basis...is just sad, and a sign of the things that Jesus prophesied the signs of the Last Days...Things like this will probably start happening more and more frequently  as we get closer to the end. Things like this have been happening all the time for awhile now, but not so close to our very own neighborhoods. When it happens so close to home, it shakes you up. We talked about it as a family, and how we have got to be better prepared for situations like this. We decided that we have all got to have a backpack with a change of clothes and stuff in case of evacuations and emergencies like this.

It turns out...we read in the paper this morning, that the 53 y.o man and his ex-wife have a 9 y.o son and got along great, up until yesterday morning...weird, that he snapped.

I think about if something like this had happened to my son, I would be devastated...I would have tried to be there and talk him out of whatever he was trying to do...and let him know that nothing or anyone is worth taking his or anyone elses life and that with time...Life would go on!

Http://www.RedVelvetTheatre.com

Oh on Saturday night we had a really good turn out for our Theatre night, we had 14 out of 15 seats filled...we watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop and had Popcorn and Soda and candy. We had a lot of fun, we really enjoy having friends over for our Red Velvet Theatre Shows. Lots of family fun...we only show PG-13, PG, NR ( those are usually made for TV, so nothing bad in them) or G rated shows...gotta keep it wholesome ;)

I just received an e-mail from Jillian Derpack, the Events Coordinator at The Clise Mansion. Jillian has been working on her very own blog for The Clise Mansion, she wanted to send me a link to her blog post of the Paplow/McMeins wedding  that I had the privilege of shooting last October 25, 2008 To see the Blog Posting of MY PHOTOS... click on: http://seattlebride.com/the-paplowmcmeins-wedding/#more-1576 . I appreciate the Credit to Leticia Wilson Photography and the link back to my website on her blog posting.

The whole blog looks wonderful...she was able to get alot of wonderful photographers to share their wedding photos here is the link to her blog: http://www.seattlebride.com/our-blog/ to see all of the photographers including myself...to see all of the photos by each photographer just click on the words "Read More" that is located beneath each photographers photo. I think Jillian did a wonderful job on her Blog...it really highlights the beauty of The Clise Mansion and all the many different rooms and the outdoors that are available to the Bride and Groom on their Special Day! 

It was Kasidy's turn to spend the night with Glama...so I treated her to curls and portraits too. My Glama Girls are leaving for Texas tomorrow...they will be gone for 10 days. My glama baby is so cute in these pics. It is hard to pose a child this age cause they don't really know how to take direction, so you just have to be ready to shoot anything and everything and somewhere in all of that you will end up with adorable shots.

Danyel Spent the night with me and we spent the morning together and then I decided to curl her hair, she loved it and  said she looked like a princess and that her hair was bouncy, she was so happy, and couldn't wait to show her parents...so I was worried that the curls would go away before they came to pick her up so I decided to surprise Daniel and Kasandra and take her 3 year old portraits. When they came to get her they loved how she looked and thought she looked Beautiful. My Glama Girl Truly is Breathtaking...she is my best model to date!

A wonderful place to eat that you just must simply try is Krains Corner in Enumclaw, Wa. They have the most fantastic food ever. It is like Good 'Ol Fashioned Home cooking! My family used to live in Enumclaw and we discovered this place...and although we have now moved to Covington, we still travel over to Krains Corner for Breakfast...we could go to a Denny's or a Shari's, in Kent which is closer, but Nope...we travel back to Enumclaw to eat at our Favorite Breakfast Restaurant. They serve lunch and dinner as well, and have a full bar.

Krains Corner also has an antique shop inside that you can shop at while you are waiting for your food, or you can eat and then walk off your food in the Antique shop.

The owner is a very lovely, sweet lady. You must go by there and try it and say Hi to her!

I will post the address and some pictures soon.

Besides the fact that I am a Wedding/Portrait Photographer in Washington State, I am also a licensed Nail Technician in the state of Texas...I just did a full set of Acrylic nails on Finesse a couple of weeks ago, it was my first time in like 4 years...and I just finished doing her fills a couple of days ago, here is a pic. I embedded a lil daisy in the acrylic on one of her pinkys...simple but cute.

Here are some recent pictures of my neice and her husband Dwight and their Three son's: Titus, Tyson and Quintin. They are very handsome young men!

As posted earlier...we will be moving on February 15, 2009. So I have started packing today. In the past most of my photography clients have been from the Enumclaw area...So now I am going to be concentrating on widening out to the Covington / Maple Valley / Kent areas. As well as still taking care of my Enumclaw clients. I will keep you posted on any new happenings in my business and personal life.

This is our New House...we are so excited to move in and know that we will never have to move again. The house has 3,370 sq. ft. has 4 bdrm., 3 ba., a Den (which will be our Theatre Room), huge bonus/loft (which will be our Recreation Room with a Pool table, Ping Pong table, Arcade game...etc., One of the bedrooms will be converted to my Portrait Studio, and one of the bedrooms will be Adam's Office, the house also has a formal living room and dining room, a butlers pantry, a breakfast nook, a family room with a gas fireplace, and our Master Suite...truly is a suite, huge with a sitting area that has a gas fireplace and nice bathroom with double sinks and a 6' long tub, a shower, a skylight and much more... We are so excited to move in on February 15, 2009

Today I received a couple of phone calls from a SnoValley Star Reporter , Mike Rowe. He wanted to ask permission to use one of my wedding photos in his newspaper article, he said he found me by Googling Preston Community Center...and Leticia Wilson Photography came up as having done a wedding there on July 12, 2008 so that led him to my blog and there he saw Melisa and Chris Oldenkamp's wedding pictures.

The Preston Community Center has become a historical landmark, so he is writing a story on it and wants to use my photo to show the different types of events that go on there at the community center, he says that he will credit my name to the photo. So I went ahead and gave him permission, I believe that he said that the article will be published in March. You can never advertise too much!

Here is the photo that his editor wants to use:

I received an e-mail from the Wedding Coordinator at The Clise Mansion, she saw my portraits of The McMeins Wedding that I shot at the Clise Mansion and wants permission to use some of them for her blog that she will be launching soon, and she says she will credit the photos to Leticia Wilson Photography with a link to my website. So I went ahead and e-mailed her and gave her permission to do so. 

Here is the e-mail from her:

Hi Leticia! I am the Social Event Coordinator at Clise Mansion and just saw the photos you took of Will and Kathy McMeins wedding on 10-25-08. We have a brand new website launching on January 1st and I will have my very own blog section on it. I was wondering if you would be willing to share some of these photos with me so I could put them on my blog and I would make sure to credit the photos to you. Please let me know if this is ok. Thanks, Jillian

Event Coordinator Seattle Bride / Premier Properties www.seattlebride.com www.eastsidemeetings.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone has been staying Warm and Safe! We have had quite a bit of snow here in Enumclaw, Wa. here are a few pics. of our yard we got about 12" or so. Poor Adam...Shoveling in the freezing cold.

Well, I have a few Family portrait sessions lined up for the next couple of weeks...And Matt From Doggy Snooze, contacted me again and would like to use me again, this time for his other line "Doggy Ride" so we will have that Product photo shoot next week. He is putting together a 360 degree shot of this product for his website, so I am going to shoot the same product at 72 different angles to get the effect that he is looking for. Should be interesting. Well I will keep everyone informed on any new upcoming events.~Leticia 

Red Velvet Theatre Newsletter

Hello Friends,

We would like to welcome you and thank you for your interest in Red Velvet Theatre. Our Grand Opening was November 28, 2008 and we had a nice little turn out...There were 13 of our Family and friends that enjoyed our Feature Presentation of Speed Racer.

It has always been a little dream of Adam's and mine, to have a theatre room in our home, we love to watch movies on Friday nights. So, I came across some old vintage theatre seats that the Port Orchard Theatre was giving away, we were able to get 22 seats and have 18 of them in our Little Theatre Room, so of course I couldn't just stop at theatre seats...I went out and got some movie posters and created a film-like decoration out of poster board to go around the walls behind the Posters, we also got a bunch of Rope lighting for the entire room as well as purchased 8 yds. of Red Velvet material  and gold trim, and made a vintage looking curtain to go behind our 67" TV. Adam bought me a little popcorn maker and a snowcone machine and as you can see in the pictures we also have a Margarator...Yum!

We didn't just want to keep all of this to ourselves, we wanted to share this with our friends and invite you over for a nice wholesome movie and a little socializing . So, we thought it would be a great idea to build a website that we could share with you, our friends...A website that would show you which movie we will be featuring that week and the time that it will begin. We hope to see you here soon and hope that your visit is as enjoyable, as it has been for us to create this little dream of ours.

Be sure to visit our website at http://www.redvelvettheatre.com/ for our next showing on Saturday December 06, 2008 around 7pm. We should have a different showing every Saturday around the same time, unless otherwise posted. We will be showing Old and newly released movies...If you have any movie suggestions, please feel free to email me with your suggestions at Leticia@LeticiaWilsonPhotography.com

Some friends have asked if there is a charge for the movie...The answer is Absolutely No! However, If you would like to make a contribution for popcorn, soda and candy you may do so, but it is not necessary... our goal is simply to enjoy your company.

The Wilson Family

It has always been a little dream of mine to have a Theatre room in my home...Well I was able to get a hold of some old vintage theatre seats and turned an extra room in our house into a Theatre Room. So we are having our Grand Opening Tomorrow November 28, 2008 we will be featuring the movie "Speed Racer". We have a few friends and family members coming over to share it with us. We purchased an old fashioned Popcorn machine so we will have popcorn and soda and for the adults we will have Margaritas if they like. I will take photos of our Theatre and post them very soon. Go check out our website at http://www.redvelvettheatre.com/

Gas prices down to $1.81 a gallon, I just think that is crazy... how the prices have just suddenly dropped, I guess that just goes to show how much they had unnecessarily raised the prices to begin with.

Wow, I couldnt believe my eyes last night as I drove to a meeting and saw that the price of Gasoline was down to $1.99 a gallon...amazing!

*What is the lowest gas price in your area? I would love to hear what the prices are around the world where my friends and family live.