Heavy and Light

I know it has been some time (darn--almost a month) since I have written. Life has definitely been interesting this past month. Some of these changes are hard to handle and are not appropriate to talk about now. So I will chat about surface material until things (my mind) settle.

It is interesting how when life throws you curves, you can really start to find clarity in other places. It is funny how things that once were so stressful and frustrating now seem comical and irrelevant. Dave will be out of Afghanistan very soon and will be making his trek back to the states in the next couple of weeks. We are all so excited to get him back home and in one piece (mostly)! Fears of the unknown linger and will for some time until we know that we really have him back.

On a lighter note, I have been a bit busy doing the following: reading (The Help and Down Range), running (not far but actually running), biking, photographing (www.nemkinsphotography.com), editing, driving, "working" (on getting a job---that actually probably shouldn't be in quotations), hanging out (with Hazel, the fam, friends), Angels Camp extravaganza, road trip to Yosemite, hiking, Big Trees, wine tasting, random Sac Fair trip, vacuuming dog hair (we have a shedder!), picking fruit off the trees before the birds get it (discovered that the tree that I first thought was a nut tree, then thought was a plum tree, now is actually a nectarine tree---LORD, help me!), gardening (attempting to grow tomatoes, carrots, beans, green peppers), couponing (CVS mostly), estate sale-ing, getting excited for...Dave's return, three weddings to photograph, and seeing my sweet baby sister and niece in 5 days!!!

I will be posting some pictures shortly of some of our latest escapades. Thanks for reading :-)

Afghanistan (picture/video) Update!

Group shot...Dave is in the back center (sort of)! There is a mixture of AF, Army, and Afghans (yes, that is PC, that is what they like to be called)!

Ok, so I have been asking Dave to send me a picture of these HUGE ants since he got there. He said they are too fast and the other 200 pictures he took were blurry---booo!! They remind me of the bullet ants in Costa Rica that carried green leaves to build their homes. Also known as "hormiga veinticuatro" because it had a bite that would literally sting like heck for 24 hours (they are not lying--it was a throbbing hurt). Not sure what they are dragging here? Looks like a sponge but I think it is actually some form of food. Dave did say that he once saw a single ant carry a whole M&M!! It was the plain chocolate kind (yes, I asked)...can you imagine if they could carry a peanut M&M!!! I asked him to try it so I'll post pics if they can make it happen :-)

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for....Happy 4th of July from Afghanistan!!

I hope this makes you smile...

Some things that have made me smile lately---I hope I can pass it along...

He looks so small---no, I did not shrink him!! My AWESOME wide-angle lens gives such a neat effect to photos. Notice the rounded/stretched edges. This is a SOOC (straight out of the camera) file meaning NO EDITING in photoshop! So fun :-)

Saw these beautiful flowers in the side of the highway between Davis and Dixon. Had to stop!

Isn't he the cutest...he is trying so hard to love his backyard. He had a rough transition. Going from having over an acre of land with no neighbors to less than a quarter of an acre and a shared fence line has not been easy. Poor guy has such anxiety when anyone gets too close. To top it off, we are a block away from the park and we are a corner house so we get lots of traffic.

I wanted to also give a shout out to all of you who have supported the creation of Nemkins Photography. We are having such a great time learning about the photography business and our cameras. It is definitely not an easy hobby to pick up! So far we have completed/booked six mini-session family/kid/maternity shoots and we have two weddings on the horizon!! We would love to count you in but as you can see we are getting busy :-) We are still shooting at a hugely discounted price because we are trying to fill our portfolio! Please let us know if we can be of service to you!