Happy Belated Mother’s Day!

I love, love, love spring! The flowers, or more specifically the lilacs are blooming, the butterflies are out, beautiful evening walks and everyone is in a great mood. However for some reason my seasonal allergies are AWFUL this year. I constantly feel like i have a bad head cold with a sinus infection. Thank goodness I have a doctor appointment on tuesday.I feel like my head is a balloon ready to pop. Ugh! If anyone has allergies and suggestions on what they do to help, I am more than ready to listen.

Anyway because I have felt so lousy, my workout and evening walks are wearing me out. I am even behind on editing some photos for tv. Sunday we are having a party for Autumn. We are expecting a lot of people, which means a lot of cooking/baking. For anyone that follows my other blog, http://mommywhatsfordinner.wordpress.com/ there will be a lot of party food and appetizer recipes posted next week. I love coming up with new party food ideas and I have a few I am dying to try out. Don’t forget to go check them out.
Anyway, this post is all about Mother’s Day. I want to take a moment and wish all of you a happy belated Mother’s Day. I hope you all had a great day. Mine was pretty awesome. I woke up to Donnovan and Autumn cleaning the house. Then my son disappeared for a bit, but when he returned he gave me some beautiful tulips with a card. I was so surprised and touched. This was the first year he had gone and bought a gift all on his own with his own money.

Here is a tip a friend gave me. My tulips were wilting and she suggested to put a penny or two into the water. It worked beautifully! I was shocked how well it worked!

 

I have to be honest, Donnovan is not like any other teenage boy (yes I am going to brag a bit here so bear with me) He is an amazing, amazing son! Since grade 1 he has been in the advance class and has made honor roll every year which means his GPA must be 90% or better. Since I graduated with honors I try to encourage my children to do the best they can to also excel in school. This year he actually has a 99%average in history. I didn’t even get a 99% as a final grade but he did. I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I was when his teacher called to say he was the first student to ever receive that mark as a final grade in his class. Donnovan is also very protective and respectful of me. He has never yelled, raised his voice at me. I know how truly lucky and fortunate I am to have him. I always tell him he is going to be a difference maker in this world and is a true shinning star that will only get brighter as long as he works hard and believes in himself. By no means is he perfect, but in my eyes he is pretty close to it. lol. Yes, I am so proud of him, as well as my other children.

Autumn gave me a beautiful, beautiful handmade card. I also received a gift card for Sephora (by far the best store out there, I love make up) as well as a gift card for a spa/hair day.

I really, really need my hair done. It is close to my waist and blonde and thick. I need something lighter for summer since the hot weather often triggers migraines for me. I think I will either get a facial or my nails done. I am so excited to go and get that.

My guy unfortunately had to work so I packed the kids up for a day outdoors. I absolutely love going for walks, but even this walk was longer than I had planned. We walked to the island park. Yes we actually have an island in our city. It is so beautiful and unique, but I wish our city would do more to take care of it before its too late. They insist on building so much on there that it takes away its natural beauty. The lake surrounding the park is becoming polluted. When I was little we had events with water skiing called the X Games. Plus in high school canoeing was part of gym class. All of that is now gone. It’s just not safe. It really, really makes me sad to think that this once beautiful staple of our town is being destroyed.

The kids had a great time playing and when all was said and done we probably walked a good 70 blocks. It was nice, but tiring as well.

She wasn’t really hurt by the stick. She was just playing it up. lol

 

It was a pretty great day, the only thing that would have made it better was if the whole family was together, but this was the next best thing and a day I will always remember and cherish. I hope all of you had a great day as well. As always I leave you with a quote.

Throwback Thursday/ Happy 11th Birthday Autumn!

My Throwback Thursday is a bit late due to one of my kids being sick, but is on the mend now. This is a very special throwback thursday.

On May 9th 11 years ago I gave birth to one of the most beautiful, independent, caring, selfless amazing little girls. So my throwback Thursday starts 11 years ago.

4 weeks before Autumn was born things were going smoothly. I was working 3 jobs, secretary, sales at Ardene’s and a bartender at a military bar plus I was attending university for my law degree. My son Donnovan was 4 at the time and my husband was a manager at a local night club and assistant manager at a car dealership. Life was hectic, with not enough hours in the day. I started feeling a lot more tired than usual, and my doctor had told me to cut out one job if possible. (Ardene’s was the one I left) however a week later he wanted to induce me even though I was not full term. I had complications with my son who ended up almost dying from the cord being wrapped around his neck. I am not a very big girl and my uterus is smaller than normal. He was worried about a repeat of Donnovan. So my husband took his holidays since the doctor was certain I would deliver in the next few days. A week went by of being induced everyday with no baby. By the end of that week we were all getting a bit cranky and impatient. So begins the next week with no results. By a week and a half I was not pleasant to be around. I was constantly in pain from having contractions daily and no baby. I was uncomfortable being late in the pregnancy, plus I wasn’t working or going to school so I had more time on my hands. I was at the point where if anyone asked me one more time “when are you having this baby?” I would have had to flee the country. 5 am on May 9th I was getting ready to go for get another session of bring induced. There was a snowstorm, yes I kid you not and I wasn’t feeling good. I felt like I had the flu and going to the hospital was the last thing I wanted to do. We got there late because of the storm and because we lived in the country. Few hours went by and nothing. Friends came by to visit again as well as family. The day seemed to drag on. They unhooked me after a few hours but wanted to check me before letting me go home and wouldn’t you know, the nurse accidentally broke my water. So I knew there was no going home. I was hooked up to the iv again. The pain started to get worse. I requested an epidural like I had for my son. The problem was I had him in Winnipeg where that is a common procedure. The nurses kept telling me to hold on and the doctor would be here to do it. Hours passed by and I  learned that I am not too nice when I am in extreme pain. I was very lucky to have an understanding mother and husband who quickly learned not to touch me or ask if I am having a contraction. This labour was nothing like my first one and at that moment I was convinced the baby was a girl. Stubborn and diva like. Lol. By the time I had gotten a shot for pain it was too late, she had arrived. A beautiful 7lb baby girl. Ever since that day I fall in love with her a little bit more. She is my little fashionista who loves accessories, make up and the latest trends. She loves animals and wants to become a vet as well as a wwe diva. She is headstrong, independent who doesn’t back down. She is my little social butterfly who is involved in every after school activity she can and often is voted for the citizenship award by her peers. She is a positive patrol 2 years in a row now, another honor voted by her peers. She is selfless and caring and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t tell her how proud I am of her. Happy birthday Autumn! You make us so proud. You are a shining star that continues to get brighter each day and we are so very proud of you. We love you so much baby girl.

Autumn is being held by my sister Stevie and the other girl is my sister Katie. The 2 boys are my son Donnovan and the younger one is my nephew Caleb.

Autumn’s first photo shoot.

Another from her first photo shoot.

Autumn and Donnovan

Stylin’ at a young age. lol

Autumn and her auntie

A phto I did of her

I di dher make up for her 7th birthday.

Another photo I did for her.

Her first concert in which she picked out her own outfit.

This is very special because she finally was able to meet her idol Edge. I cannot even begin to tell you how memorable this moment was and how much it meant to her.

As always I leave you with a quote that is not only true for my daughter, but everyone else as well.

Sunshine and Smiles

First of all I want to thank all of you for making me feel welcomed and all the encouraging words. It definitely has helped put me at ease.

This post is going to be a catch up post of sorts. Tomorrow is Throwback Thursday in which I have a very special post in store for that. Today has been kind of rough. I worked out early this morning. I had my workout designed by Chuck and I upgraded it.last week.I know it will take a bit for my body to get used to this new one, but it was intense. I was definitely feeling it the next day. However, the past 2 days I have had pretty severe chest pains on my right side. It’s been extremely painful since last night and nothing helps. I have been dealing with these for awhile, so I don’t think it is related to working out, but it always used to ease up. I am still debating whether or not to go to the walk in tonight. I would rather just wait 2 weeks to see my doctor but if it gets worse I may not have a choice because I have an irregular heart beat.

Anyway some more high points of the week is the walk with the kids. It has been so beautiful out and last year we made a point of walking over 60 blocks every night 6 days a week as a family. I am looking forward to doing that this year to. It’s a great way for everyone to get exercise as well as spend time together. Plus I always manage to capture some great pictures as well.

This past week has been super busy that finished off with a great weekend. Since my surgery I haven’t gone out as much as I normally do. I had 47 stitches in my mouth and there are still a few in there so  I am self conscious about how I talk or look even though everyone says I look and sound fine. My BFF Tammy refuses to let me be a hermit so she makes sure I get out and Wednesday we drove around some of Manitoba to take some pictures of the rising waters which will hopefully be up on here next week. Some parts of the province are worse than others. I still would like to get some more photos. So I am hoping to have the write up done this week, but here is a few photos.

Off highway 16. This is a farmer’s field

I also worked on some yummy new recipes, helped my grandmother out and had a nice chat with my other BFF Chuck. Speaking of Chuck, he designed a fitness plan for me that I started back in November. This week it was taken up a couple of notches. I can honestly say it almost kicked my butt, but I completed it. It is super intense and sore is not even the word. Between my workout and daily long evening walks, this weekend I have been so, so sore.

After my workout

Saturday I decided to do my workout and then take Autumn and Austin for a day long walk and play time at the park. To see how a small child reacts to seeing, touching, hearing the outside world for the first time is pretty amazing.

Feeling the sand

Watching the train.

Playing in sand.

Everything is brand new to them. He loved the feel of the sand, the sound of the trains and being able to just run and run and run.

He enjoyed the swings and slide as well. Austin slept after the park so Autumn and I took the long way back. we stopped off for apple juice for Austin, a slurppee for autumn and a raspberry iced tea for myself.

Wheeeeeeeee!!!

We stopped to sit by the lake and watched the geese and took pictures. I must confess geese scare me. Where I live we have tons of them, especially by Crescent lake. they are beautiful birds, but let me tell you they can be mean. we have a walking/biking trail all around thd lake and thats where they are. I could be walking by from a safe distance and they hiss at me or chase me. My sister Missy is the same way.

We are so nervous around them we will actually cross the street to avoid them. I think they sense fear. Lol. So I took photos from a safe distance which is challenging from an iPhone.

Isn’t he cute??

Then the long walk home. I was super proud of myself for being so active and blowing my fitness goals out of the water. However that evening my muscles were screaming at me. Not one inch of me didn’t hurt. It even hurt to cough. Thank goodness when we got home supper was waiting for us becsuse the boys had cooked, Sunday the family and I looked at bigger houses which was pretty exciting. I found my dream home
This house was amazing and huge and perfect but I am trying to keep an open mind in case things don’t turn out that way.

Afterwards we went out for iced caps and some shopping while the kids went to see grandma. I got a beautiful lace top and shorts. We were almost at the check out when I took the candle out if the cart to smell again and wouldn’t you know, it slipped out if my hand and shattered on the ground. Shards of glass flew into my skin, my hands were filled with them and since I had on skinny capris my legs got covered to. I didn’t even realize until the store employee and my bf looked at me in shock because I was covered in red. Not my most graceful or finer moments in life. It looked worse than it was, but wouldn’t you know on my way to get cleaned up. I ran into my grandma. The last person I would ever want to make worried. Needless to say she didn’t leave my side until she saw I was okay. At home (and away from breakables. lol) I actually got to read an entire Allure magazine with a glass of blueberry raspberry wine. I cannot even tell you the last time I was able to do that.
Our evening is complete with a yummy supper and watching John Pinette. He is a comedian who is hilarious. I was actually crying I was laughing do hard. If you have not checked him out, you can watch him on you tube under the comedy act “I am starving.” it is so good. It was such a busy week but so awesome. Finally I worked on some pictures showcasing shadow and light. Here are just a few.

A play on refelection and shadows

A photo of Katie, Owen and Cayson.  I was just trying out different lights and shadows.

The very last time my dad pulled out of the local bus depot with all of his grandchildren onboard before retiring after 30+ years a driver. The bus was a huge part of my childhood as well as my kids so it was very emotional. This picture is actually dispalyed in Winnipeg now that I took.

A play on light. Some photos have watermarks on them because I have displayed my photos elsewhere.

This week looks to be a bit slower, which in a way is good since the little guy has come down with an ear infection. So if this post seems a bit all over the palce it is just due to editing here and there when I get the chance.This week will be more playtime with the kids outside, catch up on house work (oh yeah) and hopefully get rid of whatever these pains are, plus my daughter turns 11 tomorrow!! I hope everyone had a great weekend and had lots of fun. As always I leave you with a quote. I hope you like it. Go out and see how many people you can make smile. 🙂

I chose this quote because there is no better feeling than making someone smile.

A House Full of Kids

This weekend was pretty busy. My mom came out with my sister Katie and her two sons. They came out pretty late Friday so we didn’t do a whole lot. Saturday my sister went into Winnipeg after she found her sunglasses she was searching for that were on top of her head.the whole time. Then when she got to Winnipeg she realized she grabbed the kids clothes but left hers. We all had a good laugh over that. She ended up coming back later that night so it worked out in the end. Anyway with Katie gone it was just us 3 adults and five kids. We played outside since the weather was FINALLY nice. I cooked sweet maple BBQ pulled pork sandwiches . http://mommywhatsfordinner.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/bbq-maple-pulled-pork-sandwiches/ which everyone loved. Just click the link to my other blog to find the recipe. I really wanted to bake something but we ended up having extended family over for supper to so I didn’t really have any time. Also my oldest, Donnovan was suppose to plug in the slow cooker but didn’t plug it in all the way and his smart mommy didn’t notice it for 3 hours so supper was a tad late. lol. I had a really good visit with my mom. She seems really happy in her life right now and is moving into a new apartment. its one of the best visits we have had in a long time.

Austin, Grandma J and Great grandma Kay

She is pretty excited to go to Vegas in a month for a holiday. She makes me laugh, not always on purpose but lets just say I got my grace from her.She surprised all the kids with a toy each and candles for the adults. I love candles and collect candle holders. She took 3 kids uptown with her so I got to spend sometime with my nephew Cayson. It was really nice. He is a cutie.

We had a lot of laughs, some mango strawberry wine and snacks later that night.

I felt a bit guilty since I didn’t do my workout yesterday, but according to my step tracker I made up for it by chasing 2 one year olds. So I felt a little better about it.

Autumn and Owen from a previous visit

The two boys last year

Katie and her boys. I have been trying to play with lights and shadows lately to see what I can create.

Unfortunately I didn’t take nearly the amount of photos I normally do.The quality is also not up to my liking, but I am feeling very lazy today. lol.  I am exhausted between cooking, chasing kids, errands and not feeling so great. So I am going to include some photos from their previous visit as well. Owen is absolutely crazy about Austin and the feeling is mutual. They both have a huge smile when they see each other.
Austin and Cayson are so close in age and are attached to one another when they see each other. They learn from each other which sometimes spells trouble, okay most of the time it spells trouble lol.

Donnovan and Austin

After breakfast this morning they packed up and left for home. I always get the biggest hug and kiss from Owen. It always makes my day and a little sad to see them go.

I have to admit I am pretty tired now. 2 late nights with very early mornings. I am kind of relieved it is too windy for a walk today. I feel like I could sleep for a week. Lol. I hope all of you had a great weekend as well.

I will leave you with this quote that is one of my favorites with two of my favorite boys, Owen and Austin.

Throwback Thursday – The Best Summer Ever!

Thursdays I am going to do what I do on Instagram . I call it throwback Thursday where I post pictures of past adventures, but now I can actually write the story behind the pictures. This post I have decided to relive one of the best summers I ever had during one of the hardest times in my life.
The year, 2009. I was going through a rough time personally and my sister was to. At the time I lived 8 hours north of her so after our family reunion she came up north with me to see the house i just bought and finished painting

 

 

It was a huge house so there was plenty of room for her and her 2 kids.

The Pas is a very beautiful place surrounded by nature, but has a reputation of being a rough place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took the kids to the park where my niece Emmy discovered she loved to eat sand. lol. We spent lots of time in my sauna, around the fireplace and in the backyard.

 

 

 

We packed the kids up and went to the lake for pictures. Trying to get pictures of 4 kids was no easy task.

 

 

Once the week was up we packed up my new car (I was so excited and bought it while she was down there) and made the 8 hour trip to Brandon. 8 hours……in……a car….. with 6 people. Need I say more?? One humorous part of the trip was trying to stop at for snacks but both my sister and I were too afraid to get out of the car because it was literally swarmed with bulldogs. They are pretty much the same as wasps, but for some reason they call them bulldogs up north. Once in Brandon we made the best of the living space. She lived in a small 2 bedroom basement apartment with no cable. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about all of this and was thinking we would end of driving each other crazy. I am not the greatest at sleeping at anyone’s place except my own so it took a few days before I relaxed. It turned out to be the exact opposite, we all lived together very well. We cooked supper together with the kids, we bought old wrestling videos at Walmart for like $5 and watched them at night. We had dance parties with the kids which were a lot of fun. We went to the water park, for walks to the park, out for slurpees, shopping and saw my other 2 sisters and friends and family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of highlights was cooking brunch with my 8 year old nephew Caleb. He was so thrilled to be cooking with me and loved the dish we came up with. Shopping in Winnipeg with just Missy and I was a lot of fun. We went to a buy an outfit to go out with. Something crazy funny always happens to us there. We went to a night club one night. I did our make up, got dressed to the nines and met some of our friends there. I wont go into details, but i will say it was a lot of fun, we danced all night long and didn’t have to buy a single drink. Another highlight was teaching Emmy to walk. I would hold some cream cheese frosting on a spoon and she would walk to get it. I will never forget that. She is like her auntie and loves cream cheese frosting. Probably the most memorable moment was my nieces’ first birthday. I didn’t plan on still being there for it and was kind of bummed. so one evening I decided to throw her a party. My sister at the time couldn’t afford 2 parties for her and I wanted to help, I went out and got a cake, a few gifts and balloons. not easy to do at 8 pm but the kids and I pulled it off. I am not sure which made my day more, seeing Emmy loving everything or seeing the look on my sister’s face. Luckily i video taped some of it.

 

 

 

That summer really helped take my mind off the problems I was dealing with as we’ll as my sister. I really miss those days and always get a little teary when I hear Kids Rock “All summer long.” It reminds me of the car packed full with all of us, dance parties in the kitchen, movies at night and lots of laughs. As much as I miss that summer, I know it helped both of us get through and was a major reason why we are both so happy today.

As always I will leave you with a quote. It’s of my niece Dora and I. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed telling it.

My Versatile Blogger Award Nominations

I am really, really honored to be nominated for this award, since I have been pretty nervous about starting this second blog. I will apologize in advance if I mess any of this up. I am really new to this and on my other blog all I have to do is post recipes. I am not exactly sure where to go to find out the names so I just posted the links to the blogs I follow. Hopefully I will get the hang of this the more I blog

1. Thank you so much http://momeefriendsli.wordpress.com/. This totally made my day.

2.  7 random facts about myself
– Donnovan 14, Autumn 11 and Austin 1 are my heart and soul
– I recently lost about 50lbs
– I met the love of my life in high school where he was my best friend who drove me crazy
– I am allergic to bees
– I love lilacs
– I took law in university but ending up teaching special needs children
– Recently I have found out that there is a problem with my heart which is motivating me to make more moments count. 🙂

My Versatile Blogger Nominations:

Again I apologize for not putting actual names in. I will eventually get the hang of this. 😦
1. http://maggiesonebuttkitchen.com/
2. http://dianastylist.com/
3. http://huffygirl.wordpress.com/
4. http://dianastylist.com/
5. http://spectrummymummy.com/
6. http://thereporterandthegirl.com/
7. http://asmallinsight.wordpress.com/
8. http://parentingandstuff.wordpress.com/
9. http://sadieanddasie.wordpress.com/
10. http://tgillespie27.wordpress.com/
11. http://liveuntil.com/
12. http://nancycreative.com/
13. http://contemplatinglove.com/
14. http://raisingmyrainbow.com/
15. http://lesleycarter.wordpress.com/

 

 

A Little Bit About Me

Welcome and thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog. I guess first things first and I should tell you a bit about myself. My name is Tara-Marie, but a lot of my friends call me TM. I live in Canada on the prairies. I am a mommy to some wonderful, amazing children and am lucky enough to be raising them with my best friend and the love of my life. I have studied law in university before deciding to get into the field of teaching. Although I absolutely love my career field, I am considering finishing my law degree as I have scholarships that are being wasted and it’s something I have always wanted to do. I have a bichon-Maltese dog named Paris who thinks she is a child and a big cuddly tab I cat named Sami. She is a huge mommy suck. I have a huge family. 3 younger sisters and 3 older step brothers, but sadly we lost Shilo a few years ago to suicide. I am lucky enough to have some amazing BFF’s. Joe, Tammy, Chuck and Jackie. Without them I would be lost.One of the reasons I started this blog is I have been extremely sick since November and recently had major surgery. As a result of this I lost a lot of weight so my 11 year old daughter and I have started exercising and eating healthy so I can keep this weight off and to help show her its important how you feel on the inside, not the out. If you eat right and take care of yourself, you feel better. I would like to keep this weight off and get healthy since I have some unexpected heart issues I am dealing with. After my last pregnancy they found my heart beats to fast which may or may not be the reasons I experience pains in my back and chest. Some days are better than others.

1 love football and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are my team. Swaggerville all the way baby!

If you don’t got Swag, get out of Swaggerville! Meet Boomer! He’s awesome

I got 2 huge footballs in my coat. lol. They gave fans so much stuff that there was no where to put it.

I also love wrestling, more specific, the WWE. I never miss a show. I love butterflies, the color pink, Garfield and Charlie Brown. My 2 passions are make up and photography. I am obsessed with make up and when a new collection comes out, you can bet I am there. Sephora and Mac are my favorite places to shop. I have a collection that would rival some department stores. Lol.

Some of my collection. Yes, just some….lol

I do people’s make up for them as a part time thing to keep me busy. My other passion and another reason I started this blog is because I love photography. So much so that I have gone through many cameras in 2 years. After my last camera died I decided to save up for a really good one so in the meantime I use my iPhone 4S. The pictures I have taken has won me awards and recognition. I am a part of a photo club and a few people suggested I start a blog to share with other people my photos I have taken and to show that you don’t need a pricey camera to take beautiful pictures. Don’t get me wrong, I still want one, but until I get a new one I use my iphone. It took some convincing from my family, but I decided to give this blog thing a try and share my pictures through stories. I hope that out of all this it inspires other people to be creative and not let setbacks get in the way of what they love. There are so many ways to take a picture. There are endless possibilities of how creative a person can be and there are so many ways to express who you are through the photos you take. There are endless possibilities through editing and the great thing is there is no wrong way to take a photo. its all about how you see it and how you want yo express yourself. There is beauty all around us and I try to capture that with the photos I take. My photos have appeared on television, newspapers, websites and even some articles. All of my photos are taken with my iPhone. I hope you all enjoy them as well as the stories that go along with them. I really look forward to getting to know all of you. You can also follow me on Instagram, pinterest and twitter

I love playing with color, especially pink, blue and purple

All recent pictures. I am not a huge fan of my picture being taken so I always go fancy on the frames.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday everyone! Back in the day I loved writing, but after becoming a mommy I kind of abandoned it. I am hoping to be able to get my groove back, so to speak as this blog continues.

How can it NOT be a good day with this little face?

Yes I am one of those people who loves Mondays because Monday is family time. No cell phones, video games, ipods, etc. After school we all cook supper together, we either play a game, go for a walk or talk about our day.  I  always try to make a special dessert or snack for us. I think I am going to make peanut butter chocolate muffins. If they turnout I will post the recipe at mommywhatsfordinner.wordpress.com which is a recipe blog that I have with a bunch of other busy moms. Afterwards we all watch Monday Night Raw together. Yes, this family are big wrestling fans, more specific WWE fans. Mondays are what I look forward to. However I happened to notice this weekend while we were out and about just how unbelievably cranky everyone is. We went to Winnipeg on Saturday for date night to watch Oz in 3D (which was may better than I would have thought, plus I love 3D movies) and people were grouchy there. Anywhere around town it is the same way. The reason for this is it’s April 22 and it snowed this weekend  Yes snow!

My dog Paris in her winter coat. She hates the snow, so I just made it snow inside. 🙂

It wouldn’t be so bad, but we still have tons and tons of the stuff making our flood forecast even worse. Pretty much all of Manitoba is n this boat (literally). The last time we had snow at the beginning of April we had what was known as the flood of the century. I believe I was 16 at this time and instead of going to school we got credit for going to sandbag. Sadly, now that my oldest is in high school that is still very much a reality. 2 years ago we flooded and he helped the military sandbag. Every where you go in town, that’s all people talk about is how they cannot remember it being this cold or this much snow this late in the year ever! So understandably most of us Manitoba-ians are fairly cranky at this point  There is a joke going around that there is a lynch mob in search of the groundhog after being wrong  lol.

This photo has been floating around my Facebook and makes me laugh every time.

What can you do, but bundle up, roll with the punches, sandbag and dream of warmer temps.

This was the snowfall the night I got released from having surgery.

This was taken at night at my dad’s. So it’s not the greatest picture. My son is standing in there.

We were in a snowstorm on March 4th and for some reason, probably due to the fact I was still under the influence of anesthesia and morphine,  I decided to go out and take pictures. My guy and oldest son followed me out to make sure I would be okay. They are both pretty protective which is nice.

This was what it was like the next day. The snow was so high it was almost completely over the fence.

The morning after

Just about completely over the swing set.

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Needless to say we have had way too much snow this winter/spring and are all so anxious for the warmer temperatures. We have been breaking records, but it’s for snowfall amounts and cold temperatures. *Sigh* Spring please come back, we miss you. 😉

This winter I was lucky enough to have a few photos featured in the media as well as on The Weather Network website and as a special feature. One in particular got a lot of attention, including national. I was a bit surprised since, to me, it wasn’t one of my best, but I guess we are all are own toughest critics.

This was the photo that captured all the attention. I took it in my backyard after an ice storm.

This was featured on The Weather Network as well as 2 local news stations.

This was taken at the beginning of winter and featured on the local news

So how is the weather where everyone else is? Do you still have snow or are you wearing t-shirts? Do you have risk of  flooding? I hope everyone is having a great day and I will leave you with this quote.

This is Austin a few months back. Since it’s Monday I figured we can all use a smile.

Welcome to my Blog

Welcome to my very first post. I am fairly new to all of this so please be patient with my lack of knowledge in the world of blogging. When members of my photo club approached me on doing a blog centered around my cell phone pictures, I was pretty hesitant. I wouldn’t consider my life extremely adventurous and I am a fairly shy person. However after some convincing I decided to give it a try. My fingers are crossed that this will turn out to be a good thing. The purpose of this blog is to encourage others to take photos, regardless of what camera you have. A picture can be taken in so many interesting ways and as a person who is not all that artistic, this is my way of expressing my creative side. My first post I decided to introduce myself and a bit about my life. Family is very important to me and are my everything. I also have two lovable pets, Sami, a tabby cat and Paris, a bichon-maltese dog.

A picture of us

Donnovan aka The Scholar

Autumn aka Miss Social Butterfly

Austin aka The Charmer

Sami and Paris

I come from a BIG family. I have 3 younger sisters and 3 older step brothers. Sadly I lost my step brother, Shilo to suicide a few years ago. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him.I also have a ton of nephews and nieces whom I love dearly.

My partners in crime

Shilo and his son

I am also very lucky to call these amazing people my BFF’S. They always have my back

Chuck BFF extraordinaire

Tammy – My sister by heart

Besides photography I am a huge football fan as well as a wrestling fan. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are my team.

Go Bombers!

Some of my favorite wrestlers from when we went to see them live.

Randy Orton

John Cena

Chris Jericho

What else can I say? I love music, fishing, trying new things and exploring. I am a pretty passionate person, which at times can get me in trouble when I think I am right, lol. I have a huge extended family, so despite being a bit quiet and shy, I seem to have a lot of adventures. I won a radio contest earlier this year and part of my entry was wanting to try new things, to not be afraid of new experiences, to have more family time and to get healthy. Hopefully you will want to follow me on this quest as I document this year through blogging and pictures. Here’s to an exciting 2013! I also love using my photos with quotes so at the end of each post will be a quote that ties into it some how. Also I am thinking of creating a page where you can find just the photos for everyone to see if you are interested in taking a look. I am also on instagram and love seeing other people’s work so feel free to add me. http://instagram.com/tmhillman . Hopefully this link works, like I said I am learning as I go. I look forward to meeting new people and I hope you will all be patient with me as I try to learn this whole new world going on in here. 🙂

Family Quote

Why I started this blog

Hello and thanks for taking the time to visit my blog. I love taking pictures, so much so that I have gone through 3 cameras in 2 years. Yes 3. I am the family photographer, I have done photo shoots for people as well as weddings and events. I am the girl that will go through stormy weather, ice and snow just to get that beautiful scenery shot. I love to try to capture the natural beauty of the world, but I also like to push the envelope to see what else I can create. I love to be able to bring a smile to a person’s face through my photos. After my last camera died on me I decided that my next purchase would be a really nice professional camera. However, since I have a big family and have not yet found a money tree, that will require some saving on my part. So in the meantime I use my iphone 4S I got for Christmas. As it turns out the iphone isn’t the worlds’ best camera (I know, I know, you are shocked, right? lol), but I see this as a positive thing. By only limiting myself to using an iphone to take ALL my pictures it has allowed me to sharpen my skills as well as explore my creative side through editing. After some of my cell pics got recognized in the media a photo club approached me and asked me to join. From there they encouraged me to blog about my life through my iphone. The purpose of this blog is to encourage others to take photos, regardless of what camera you have. A picture can be taken in so many interesting ways and as a person who is not all that artistic, this is my way of expressing my creative side. A photo can be anything you want it to be and is looked at differently through each and every person’s eyes. I am by far the world’s best photographer, but I am enjoying this journey of learning as I go and as long as I keep bringing smiles to people’s faces then that’s all I need.