Favorite of the month: August

On time! Look at that! I can hardly believe it.

On with the picture:

This was taken on vacation out at "the lake". My husband was kind enough to indulge my desire for a photo of a water lily, so a-huntin' we did go. Thankfully, there were lots of lilies around or my kids may not have been so good about it.

Now, why is it my favorite? Um...because I like flowers. Because I like the reflection in the still water. I like how the water looks so dark. I also like the smell of the lily - not that you can see that in this photo. (Have you ever smelled a water lily? I just LOVE the smell of water lilies! I want to have that smell all over me all the time.) And did you notice how it looks a little bit like the flower on my logo? So it had to be a favorite!

Favorite of the month: July

Growing up, I can remember being rewarded at the end of the school year for a job well done. It was something Jonny and I wanted to do with our kids. This being our eldest son's first year of school, and seeing as he did well, we all headed off to Tinkertown to celebrate. We had FUN! Jonny and I discovered we aren't the fearless kids we used to be (the ferris wheel made me queasy). But we found that the boys, even the 2 year old (!), more than make up for our weakness. (I blame mine on the changes occured by giving birth 3 times. Though it could be age...)

This favorite was taken on the Spin the Apple ride. We were spinning crazily and I was plastered to the wall, so I didn't get to compose the shot or anything, I just snapped from shoulder height. And here it is, full of fun and life and happy memories.

Favorite of the month: June

I doubted myself on this one. I knew I really liked it. I chose it as my favorite. But then, when I was looking at it in Photoshop, I started picking it apart: "it doesn't look technically right; it's confusing; the water looks like it's flowing up; no one else will get it".

So I left it alone.

But I kept coming back to it. I like it - water flowing up and all! So here it is - June's favorite of the month.

Favorite of the month: May

So this one makes me feel like sitting outside with a glass of lemonade, enjoying the scent of flowers on the air, drinking in the blue skies and sunshine....

It also feels very quaint with the white picket fence and cottage-y with the flowers kind of overgrown... I like that.

Favorite of the month: April

Surprise!

April's picture of the month is to remind me that the "accidents" can sometimes turn out to be favorites.

A few weekends ago, we went up to Grand Beach for the fun of it. (Really, we think the beach is way more fun when there's no one else there.) The boys found this log they thought would make a perfect bench, so I asked them to sit down so I could take a picture. We were all ready to go and just as I was about to snap, Jonny called out: "Boys! Come see what I found!"

They were gone.

And this is what I've got. I love it!

Favorite of the month: March

Okay. This one is my favorite simply because it makes me LAUGH. Seriously. It has nothing to do with my capabilities as an awesome photographer, it's really not that great a photo, but it makes me laugh.

I had to post the first one to assuage my guilt for posting the second one as my favorite of the month.

(Whose kid is that anyway?!)

Favorite of the month: February

This month's favorite belongs to my jasmine flower.

I love this plant. Mine isn't much to look at, (I hope that will change with some growth) but it's the flowers that draw me to it. In particular, the scent. These little flowers have such a beautiful scent to them. It just makes me smile!

It bloomed for me this month for the first time since I last blogged about this plant (close to a year ago!). I was so excited to see this bloom and to see 4 more buds on the plant. I was rather relieved because I had thought I was killing it - it hasn't looked too good lately. But after this one flower bloomed and dropped, the others withered up and died. I was so disappointed! And then the leaves started drying up and I thought it was all over for my pretty plant.

Now, I will admit that the thought of buying a new plant briefly crossed my mind. But I'm no quitter! So instead I pulled off the dead leaves. I pulled out my ultra high tech gardening tool (a fork) and loosened the soil a little. I talked to it while no one was around: "You can do it. Come on, Jasmine."

Well guess what? My pretty jasmine is growing new leaves! No new flower buds yet, but the leaves are a good sign and I'll take it.

So here's to new growth! To not giving up! To pulling out your fork and loosening the soil!

Favorite of the month: January

Late. I know:)

This was taken when Jonny and I took the boys skating at St. Vital Park. Or rather, he took two of the boys skating and I took the other one exploring in the snow. I love how he was so proud of himself for getting to the top of this little hill. I love the way the light is here - it's totally perfect for his achieving moment.

And there you have it - January's favorite of the month.

Favorite of the month: December

I'm back! Well, for one post anyway. I can't promise anything past today... I've got stuff goin' on.

But here's December's favorite of the month! I kind of cheated a little and put two together. (I can do that, though. It's in the rules, trust me.)

Anyway, this was taken Christmas morning after all the hooplah of opening gifts had subsided and I remembered a gift (or 4) that I'd forgotten about! I'd hidden them under the couch the night before and then it totally slipped my mind. A phone call with my mom triggered the memory (I'm not sure why) and I had the boys pull them out and a fun marshmallow war ensued. My two year old was far more interested in eating all the ammo he could find, so I got to use his shooter. Lots of fun. And look at their faces! I did good, eh?

Favorite of the month: November

My last post this month...It was a good month. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to, but I'm okay with that. Who really gets everything done anyway?!

I thought the light was really pretty this month. (You think it's funny of me to notice? That's okay.) I don't know why I never noticed it before. It just struck me as particularly pretty most days. Even though everything has been bare and brown, the light has brought it all to life, glowing or sparkling or shining prettily. I noticed that this month.

I came across this picture just today as I was searching for the picture I thought I would be using. I saw this one and just fell in love. I couldn't help myself! Look at the expression on his face! He looks so happy, so carefree. It makes me want to jump in there with him. (Plus, it shows off that beautiful light I was talking about.)

Favorite of the month: October

Okay, now you may be thinking I'm crazy here - having this image as my favorite for the month.. but it's my blog and I can do what I want! No, really, this one is my favorite because of the story it tells about me. Let's see if you can figure it out. (Don't worry - I'll help you along.)

So. There are two pairs of rubber boots. They are adult sized boots and one looks slightly larger than the other. The owners obviously take their boots off differently, one is maybe a little more dainty about it perhaps? (if rubber boots can be removed daintily) I think it's safe to assume that these boots have been out together. Perhaps they were in the garden working together, although they don't look too muddy, do they? Well then, perhaps they were happily walking through the rain. Perhaps they walked through a wet forest because they had nothing that was required of them and a walk seemed like a nice idea. If we can't assume they were out together, we can at least assume that they are now together. And their feet are dry:)

Alright, I'll let you in on the best part: mine is a family of 5.

And this is a picture of 2 adult pairs of rubber boots.

favorite of the month: September

I find it funny that as a wedding photographer, I often choose landscape pictures as my favorite of the month. My reasoning is that it would be unfair to post a work picture because then I would be choosing one client over another and that's not nice.

So here you have a fall-ish shot of some corn, with the beautiful September skies we were blessed with this month. It was taken at A Maze In Corn a few weekends ago. We went with friends of ours and I was very disappointed to have to take the "family-friendly" way out. (Meaning, we didn't finish.) But I'm sure if we'd stayed much longer, we'd have regretted it - the kids would see to that. However we finished, it was a good time. The kids were troopers, they loved the petting zoo, the weather was perfect and that's all good in my books.

favorite of the month: August

So. Here we are, at the end of August. Summer is almost done for another year. I confess, that makes me a little bit sad. But I do enjoy fall, and winter has its good points too, though I don't want to be thinking about them just yet.

I took a lot of pictures this month - it was hard to choose a favorite. But this one here makes me smile so the honour goes to it. (I LOVE wild daisies!)

Favorite of the month: July

Kids are neat. I don't know if you get the chance to watch children play very often - I do and yet I don't. I have the opportunity on a daily basis, but I don't often take in what I'm seeing. It's worth it though, to stop and pay attention to how children interact with the people and things around them.
This favorite was taken on a camping weekend with a group of friends. Some of us are up earlier than others, so I took the kids who were awake for a walk before breakfast one morning. We ended up down at the beach where the kids threw stones, drew in the sand, played in the water and looked for pretty pebbles. It was so great to be able to stand back and watch them play and explore. I could just soak in the beautiful early morning light, the waves on the shore and the carefree play of children.
That's likely why this one is my favorite - for the way it makes me feel, for the memory it brings and for reminding me to stop and take it in.

Favorite of the month: June

Sorry! I'm getting a little behind here.

Here's my favorite picture from last month, when summer finally checked in. Blue skies, green leaves, bright sunshine and white fluffy things flying through the air - how could this not be my favorite?

Favorite of the month: May

Strange how I've got this monthly post about favorites when I profess to not have favorites.... I still don't for most things, but photography is one area where I can pick out some favorites - though, not usually just one. More often than not you're seeing ONE of my favorites. As is the case here. This was taken on my roadtrip weekend at the old Pinawa dam. I liked the way the water was like glass - smooth, reflective, quiet - and then, suddenly it's tumbling and noisy and splashing. Life is like that sometimes. I think that's why I like this picture.

Favorite of the month

Well, here it is, the end of the month already! It seems that once the snow is gone, the days move so much more quickly and the time just disappears...

I was having a hard time deciding which picture to choose this month because I didn't want it to be yet another picture of my children - apparently I'm still not getting out much. But then I remembered that I got a new niece this month and I immediately knew my favorite from that batch of pictures.

Favorite of the month

So I've decided this will be a regular post - my favorite picture of the month. It will always be something I've taken, but doesn't have to be work related. (In this case, you're lucky it's not work related or you'd be seeing my favorite picture from the church directory I'm working on. Not very exciting, but, strangely, I do have my favorites.)

Here we have my three boys and their two friends. They were all looking at the big pool of water that is our backyard. It was so picture perfect - who could resist?!