Friday, June 15, 2012

Well, it was time for it, so now it's here...

I now have a photography website!! Not just my blog anymore!

I'm SO excited. It took me forever, wasn't very expensive, had kind of difficult website building tools, but it's finally done! I'm glad it was cheap; I searched for a long time to find a good site to use.

For those of you who'd like to know, I used godaddy.com for both the website and domain hosting. It wasn't even into the triple digits! I have friends who have paid several hundred, and we just couldn't spend that much on something intangible, ya know?

I had control over everything but the font of the page titles, which kind of bugged me, but I designed 5 full templates before settling on this one, so by that point I was ready for some compromise. 

Here is the link! 


 I wanted to use a simpler URL, like just my name, but my blog is already called alainadooleyphotos, so I wanted to be consistent.

I have always kind of doubted that all of this would take off, so I'm very pleased that I've come this far, and hopefully in a year I'm even further along!

My best friend, Amy, also just got a new SLR after not having one for almost 2 years. She has a 2 year old boy and the only pictures she has of him are from her phone and my camera...this is a girl who would charge $5,000+ for weddings in Utah and was published in 3 national magazines! Needless to say, we're both REALLY excited about her new investment!

The best part is that we get to go into business together! I'm her designated 2nd shooter at weddings, we have different equipment that we can borrow from each other for different types of shoots, and we can babysit each other's kid while the other is on a photo shoot! It is a great setup and I'm feeling so lucky to have a best friend period (I haven't had a true best friend in probably ten years!), let alone one who is in the same phase of life, married with a little toddler boy, and shares my same interests! 

In any case, I'm feeling good right now. And to reward you for listening to my rantings: pictures!

These aren't edited or anything, Nathan was just playing in the window light and I wanted to experiment. They're not supposed to be perfectly exposed, just fun.

Little wrinkly forehead :o)

Love how smooth his skin looks here :o)

Thinkin




Talking to something outside


Well, that's it! We're doing great; life is getting crazy busy and it's hard to come up with the time to do everything! So, sadly, things like donating plasma regularly (Mitch) and running (me) have gone by the wayside...but, our grades are great and so is Nathan, and our house is almost clean half of the time, so...life is good! :o)

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Just a little update...

...because I have 3 photo shoots that I need to be editing, and another shoot happening on Monday!

Life is good when it's busy, but then I find myself never taking pictures of my own kiddo, let alone editing any or blogging.

So, since it's been almost a month (yikes!) since my last update, here it goes!

Over Memorial Day weekend we celebrated Mitch's little sister, Jayna, in her accomplishments. She had just found out about a big scholarship to the University of Wyoming, where she will be starting school in the fall. Plus, on Sunday the 27th of May she graduated high school AND turned 18! It was a weekend of fun and family, and we loved it! It was also a nice break from Rexburg...because as much as we love this little town, it's nice to get away sometimes. Even if it's just another by going to another little town! :o)

It was raining the day of graduation and I tried to coax Jayna into letting me take some pictures of her in her cap and gown, but it was purple and she wasn't too convinced that standing out in the rain would be worth it. So, we got a few and called it good :o)



Jayna is a cute little lady--you can see her senior photo shoot here!

Here she is graduating: I know most of you don't know her, but I wanted to post these for parents and grandparents.

 I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. I had a fixed zoom lens on my camera, so once I dove onto the floor (I admit, we almost missed her because she walked with the choir, not in alphabetical order!), I was stuck...plus, I'm not really sure I was supposed to be where I was, so I didn't want to sue a flash and get myself in trouble. The harsh, dim indoor light and no flash resulted in a high ISO, which means more graininess...I did the best I could!

Here is Jayna singing with the senior choir during the ceremony.

We love you, Jayna, and we're so proud of you! As much as we wish you were coming to join us at BYU-Idaho, we are so pleased with all you've already achieved at University of Wyoming...especially considering you haven't even started yet! You go, cute girl!!

Nathan did especially well, even though this meant 5-6 hours of sitting still in church clothes...church was from 9 am to 12 pm, then we went home for a quick lunch and left for graduation at 12:30 (his nap time is at ten...) and got home around 3. What a trooper! Here he is giving big hugs to daddy:

 Then we met Jayna outside and all went home.

And there's Jayna's secret boyfriend in the corner, just dying to get a picture with her...just kidding :o)

Nathan REALLY wanted me to pick him up...it was naptime for sure!

 After a good, long afternoon nap we went outside for some hot tub time!

Nathan was NOT a fan at first...


Then he got in his little floatie and started to forget what he was upset about...


 And in this last picture, he's actually laughing!

Then I put the camera down and got in!

More updates to come soon; for now more pictures! My best friend got a new camera and took some really fun pictures of Nathan and I!

They all probably look the same to people, but again, this post is mostly for family :o) 

I was so happy to have these pictures; I never get pictures with my boy! Too bad Mitch doesn't like pictures. (Does he KNOW who he married!? lol) He missed out!







Love his little face in this one! He never makes that face; I love it!

Probably a favorite!




You deserve a gold star if you're still here!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

18 Months!

Our Nathan is a big boy now! As of May 2nd he is 18 months old. 

And since his mama is a lazy blogger, you get to read about it.....................now.

I've been writing down things Nathan does or funny quirks he has all day; my goals were to (1) get homework done and go to my (one) class of the semester, (2) plan my lesson for Cub Scouts tonight, and (3) write this blog post. So yes, it's 10 pm, but I'm getting to it! And we're not early to bed people, so it's all good :o)

I'll mix in my little tidbits with recent pictures. Enjoy!
Nathan, afraid of the shaving cream daddy sprayed on his head during bathtime :o)
Nathan can say these words:
Granted, they don't all sound perfect, of course.
mama/dada (turning into mommy/daddy)
ball
more
banana
cheese
juice
Jesus
shoes
haha cheese, juice, Jesus, and shoes all kind of sound the same...it's all about context I guess!
 binky
hi
bye
happy 
hot
food (called "nummies" in our house)
baby
mine
no 
dog
please
thank you
all done (the one sign he's really gotten into)
uh oh
wow
whoa

Yay, that took up way too much space! Oh well, he's becoming a great talker!
Second-guessing his decision to pour spaghetti-o's on his head...
Nathan doesn't care to color, but the crayons seem to taste good.

He does everything with both his left and right hands, and prefers both of them at different times.
No handedness here yet!

Nathan knows the name for almost anything, but wants to hear you name it.

He always says, "ehh?" in a very inquisitive tone, wanting to hear what something is called.

He asks all day where daddy is.

Nathan is getting really good at holding our hands so we'll let him walk in public.

He shakes his hand for "no", copying the sign for "all done."

He climbs onto the chairs you're sitting in to be with you.

He can follow two- and three-part instructions.
Trying to get the fridge open :o)

Nathan is a great helper around the house.

He is always eager to be involved in what mom and dad are doing.

He hates having his diaper changed; always has for one reason or another!

He loves wearing his little monkey slippers.
He LOVES drinking lime juice!

Nathan loves having any shoes put on because it means we're going outside, his favorite place EVER!

He gets SO excited to hear anything going on outside, and wants to hear its name when it happens.
"Eeeeh!?!?!?" "Do you hear that truck outside!?" Until you NAME what he's hearing, the high-pitched squeaking only gets louder!

He loves his little racetrack and wants us to assemble (and reassemble) it all day!

Nathan loves the baby swing we leave out for our little friend Emmaline (that I watch 3x/wk). He also thinks he and the dog are best friends and is pretty rough on him sometimes! 
(Sorry these aren't the sharpest...the swing was moving fast and I was using the fastest shutter speed/lowest ISO I could indoors!

 He loves to slide down his favorite slide at the park and will swing for about 5 minutes.

Nathan loves to ride in his bike trailer, especially when we're going to the park! If not he will point in the direction of the park and ask if we can go. (Ehh!? Eeeeh!? That's pretty much what we hear all day)

He loves creating excuses to say, "uh oh!"

He loves to wear his paracord bracelet that matches daddy's.
At least if he's ever lost in the wilderness he can unravel it and use it as a tool!
A sorting game made him think he wasn't actually eating...he didn't want to!
He really is a little scientist and takes most of life very seriously.

Nathan is surprisingly compliant, but has to have an explanation.

He is great for babysitters, especially in his own home.

He is very patient for a toddler and will wait "just a minute" for something.
Haha love this face :o) Pizza is his favorite food, no surprise! Everyone loves pizza!
Our boy loves suckers, even though he's probably only had 4 in his little life. He knows what they are at the store!

He loves to grocery shop with mom, and is very good in the store.

Nathan still loves Baby Einstein, but also likes Sesame Street as of about a week ago. 
Yay for 100 episodes on Netflix! He's seeing Elmo everywhere in the world all of a sudden.

He loves being read to.

He will comply with having his picture taken if he gets to see every one right after they're taken!

Nathan knows nearly all of his body parts, but is so over pointing to them for people. 
 Now he just wants to name everyone else's body parts!

He is a big helper when I watch babies, which happens several times a week. He's always giving them toys and their binkies!
A couple weeks ago he did quite the opposite...and constantly stole from wee little defenseless kids.

 He will give fist bumps, high fives, and gestures with palms up to ask where something is.

He can reach almost every surface in the house...the counter tops are safe for now, but even the top of the piano is fair game.

He loves to stomp and jump (the same thing) and takes fast, little steps across the ground when he's acting silly.

And THAT is our Nathan! I hope if you're reading from far away you are getting to know this little boy much better.

We're working on his shyness, but he's learning how to deal with social or new situations, and we're learning how to introduce things in a very non-threatening way. He'd be scared of new food if we weren't careful!

We love you, Nathan! You are the sweetest little boy and you make us better people every day :o) 

You have been quite an adventure, and even MORE fun! We wouldn't trade you for anything!