The countdowns have begun...

Less than:

• 1 month until my 23rd birthday
• 1.5 months until my Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party! (Thanks Shannon & Alanna!)
• 2 months until I officially graduate from college (!!!!)
• 3 months until I am done student teaching ... I do not want this to end :-(
• 4 months until our wedding day
• 4 months until our Mexico Honeymoon
• 6 months until Boston to see Michele and to shoot her sister's wedding!

Wooo hooo!

Love Buggies

It had been way too long since I saw my friend and her babies! It was so nice to grab some dinner and catch up! And of course, take a few snaps of the love buggies, who are getting so big:


3 Months Old

Jae is now 21 months old:

*sigh* ... I love them so much.

I can't wait for the day when I'll have my own!

Little Trip Planned

Chris just got a new dirt bike and was looking for cool places to ride it. So we decided we wanted to take a trip to the Michigan Silver Lake Sand Dunes! I've been there before and it's gorgeous. Another couple we are friends with is coming with and I hope it'll be a great time! We've decided to camp to save money and just to have more fun! We're going at the end of June .... will be nice to have a little get a way before the wedding.

We are having a sand ceremony for the wedding instead of a unity candle ... so we are getting our sand from the Dunes. He's all into motorsports, so he'll get his sand frome the riding part of the dunes, and I'm getting mine from the beach, because that's what I love. It's perfect :-)

Honestly ... This is the time of my life

I never watched American Idol, so forgive me if you think this song is cheesy, but I recently heard it for the first time. It's amazing. It describes exactly how I've felt over pretty much the last year of my life ... there is not one part of the song that's doesn't reflect me ... a certain part of my life was so crappy for the longest time, and now I have something to be so happy and excited about - every single day. I feel so good about everything right now. Everything is coming together in a way I never thought possible. I wake up every morning happy and look forward to going to school, coming home, spending time with Chris, shooting weddings this summer, etc. We have so much in our future we're looking forward to...it's fun. And the part about the song that's my favorite its where it says "Finding my wings And all that I needed Was there all along ." Because it's true. I've known Chris for over 3 years, and its like he was right there all along, but it took us awhile to finally realize we were supposed to be together!

And of course, I CAN NOT wait until July 18th!

140 days to go!

Onto the lyrics..."Time of My Life" sung by David Cook

I’ve been waiting for my dreams

To turn into something

I could believe in

And looking for that

Magic rainbow

On the horizon

I couldn’t see it

Until I let go

Gave into love and

watched all the bitterness burn

Now I’m coming alive

Body and soul

And feelin’ my world start to turn

And I’ll taste every moment

And live it out loud I know this is the time,

This is the time

To be more than a name

Or a face in the crowd

I know this is the time

This is the time of my life

Time of my life

Holding onto things that vanished

Into the air

Left me in pieces

But now I’m rising from the ashes

Finding my wings

And all that I needed

Was there all along

Within my reach

As close as the beat of my heart

and I’ll taste every moment

And live it out loud I know this is the time,

This is the time to be

More than a name

Or a face in the crowd

I know this is the time

This is the time of my life

Time of my life

And I’m out on the edge of forever

Ready to run I’m keeping my feet on the ground

Arms open wide

Face to the sun I’ll taste every moment

And live it out loud I know this is the time,

This is the time to be

More than a name

Or a face in the crowd

I know this is the time

This is the time of my life

Time of my life

More than a name

Or a face in the crowd

This is the time
This is the time of my life.

Today's Fun Science Lesson

I am doing a dental health unit.
I wanted the kids to see what happens to their teeth when they drink soda, or if they don't brush their teeth on a regular basis.

Yesterday, I brought a hard boiled egg for each student. We talked about how the egg was like their teeth: white, smooth, hard outside, soft inside, and shiny. Then we put the eggs into cups of Coke overnight. I had them predict what would happen.

Today we took the eggs out of the cups of soda. They were stained brown, and covered in a gunky build up. I also had the kids smell the eggs. YUCK! I explained that this is what happens when we don't brush our teeth!



So, I brought toothbrushes and toothpaste and let the kids try to "brush" their giant egg "teeth." They were surprised at how hard it was to try remove the stains and build up! None of the students was able to get their "tooth" totally white again.


I cracked one egg "tooth" yesterday before putting it in soda. I told the students that this tooth as a cavity, and we would see what happens to a tooth with a cavity. The results were gross! I think this really nailed the point on the head for the kids about brushing their teeth and staying away from very sugary foods!


At the beginning of the lesson, we read a book about going to the dentist:

And we also made a chart of what helps our teeth, and what hurts them. Obviously, this was a lesson for generating ideas, not for proper spelling! LOL!

From A Student....Cute!

From a first grader in the class I'm student teaching:

Bella

My brother and his wife got a new puppy this weekend!
She is actually the sister of their other beagle!
Cuu-uute!

Tribute to Sweet Lola

Lola passed away yesterday.

She lived with my mom and I when she was a puppy because my brother and his wife were unable to keep her in their apartment because she whined when they went to work. So when she was 9 months old, they finally got her back in September.

This weekend they were both out of state (on separate trips) and Lola was hit by a car at the place she was being watched.

My heart breaks for my brother and his wife -

to be gone on vacation and something like this happens.

Here is a little photo tribute to Lola Beans:

{ FEB Blue Crew }

Not Sure If I Mentioned It . . .

(Please ignore this message if I have already posted it!)

I've been doing a Photo A Day for 2009.
I've been trying to keep up the best I can ;-)
Sometimes they are "nice" photos, sometimes they are "snapshots."
It'll be fun to look back at this project some day.

You can see the blog here:
http://dailysnap2009.blogspot.com/

I put a permanent link to it in my sidebar too!

Oops.

I've neglected this blog over the past week!
But for a good reason!

I started student teaching and I love it so far! I don't have any complaints (except for having to get up early now!) The kids are all great, and I've only had to send one 1st grader to principal's office so far. (LOL!) Throwing chairs around the room is not allowed. ;-)

Here is a peek into the classroom...

See The Heart?

I saw this idea on another wedding photographer's blog and decided to take my own! But instead, I used my engagement ring. Usually, the Bible passage used during the ceremony is in the background with the wedding bands.

But, I just wanted to play around today, and here's mine!
Pretty neat effect once you get the lighting/angle down :-)

copyright 2009 Kayla Richards

(I dont remember who the other photographer was now, or else I'd link to their blog and credit the photo idea)

I Obama'd Us

Projects

A V-Day Card ......

Um...

Are you freaking kidding me?