"free photos for help with handy work!"

Home improvements/fix-it jobs are just NOT our thing. I wish I could adequately describe just how NOT our thing they are...but I can't.

Maybe exhibit A would be the fact that we are still trying to take the pond out of the back yard...2 years later!

Exhibit B: We went without light in the bedroom for 4 weeks just because neither of us wanted to face the fact that it was broken...more than just needing a change in light bulbs. If it was just a light bulb change, that may have only taken us 2 weeks to get to. :) Ridiculous, we know!

Finally last Thursday I just could not stand having no light in the bedroom so maybe I kind of, sort of, maybe just a tiny little eensy weensy bit threw just a tiny little tantrum. I think it revolved around the fact that I couldn't see the clothes in my closet and I was tired of using a flashlight...that was in need of new batteries...so it was so dim it was useless anyway. And maybe I just might have told Eric that from that night on, he would maybe, sort of, kind have to be in charge of picking out my clothes to wear until the light was fixed. I think 2 minutes later, he was on his way to Lowe's at 9PM to pick up the new light kit. :) Funny how that works isn't it?!?!?

Once he got home he somehow went and found the bigger better tripod flashlight...still not sure where that was when I was using the dim one to pick out my clothes! Using the flashlight (reminder, it's 9:30PM and there's no light in the bedroom!), he attempted to install the light kit that the person at Lowe's told him was universal. You know where this is going don't you? There is NOTHING universal about the light kit! We boxed it back up and did what any normal couple would do...ignore it.

So here we are 1 week later and we still had NO LIGHT! Tonight we went to Lowe's to get a whole new fan and light combo. We were not even going to try to mess with finding another "universal" light kit. Of course we ran into a few snags, it wouldn't be a project at the Smidt house without PLENTY of snags along the way. It ended up that I had to make yet another trip out to Lowe's to get more parts. And this is where it gets really good...

As I'm leaving, Eric says, "I'm going to start working on the leaking toilet (side note: it's been leaking for months!) while you're gone" I looked at him, knowing and FULLY understanding our luck with plumbing issues, and said "are you sure you really want to start that on a Friday night knowing this could mean we could be without this toilet for awhile?" He says, "yeah". Ok, who am I to argue? I mean I've been begging to get this leak fixed FOREVER!!!

I think you know where this one is going too....yeah, we ran into a snag...not sure when we'll have it back in operating order. It's 10:15 PM now and Eric is at Lowe's getting a hacksaw...this should be interesting!

Quick re-cap of our night:
1.) lose power to half the house to get the fan installed. This includes losing power to our router which equals no internet.
2.) Maddoxx is moping around the house, then we realize Punk is no where to be found. We searched everywhere in the house and the outside, including the dirt by the fence to see if he's made the great escape. Just as I'm about to issue an Amber Alert, we find him in the garage. He snuck in there with Eric and he won't bark unless Maddoxx is around (for real!) so we had no idea where he was! Poor little guy was excited to see us again!
3.) run into snag with fan, Eric decides to work on toilet while I run to get more stuff.
4.) Eric turns off water to the house to work on toilet...runs into snag while I'm out. (I KNEW I should have used the facilities before leaving!)
5.) Now I'm without electricity to half the house, no internet AND no water!! I decide I should just start cleaning.
6.) I start with the windows...3 windows in, I can't get the window to snap back in. So I take it all the way out...hit the dry erase board on the fridge and then that came crashing to the ground and broke. Perfect, just my luck I say.
7.) I call in Eric for re-enforcements, I'm convinced I have broken the window. Once he took the window, I left the room, I couldn't take it...everything I touched was turning to ashes!
8.) Fan and light are installed and the best news of all is that they WORK!!!!
9.) Still waiting for the water to return to the house, toilet still out of order...going on 10:30PM.

I think I'm ready to post an ad in the paper, "free photos for help with handy work!" It is just not our thing!! We can run a mean camera, but this handy work is for the birds!

P.S. I do apologize to all of you waiting for your galleries and proofs to be posted...I'm blaming this one on the house!! This is exactly how I did not anticipate spending my Friday night! Believe me, I would have MUCH rather been working on your galleries!! I will be in touch soon!

Halstead Family...

My definition of the Halstead family....truly d..e..l..i..g..h..t..f...u...l, yes, that would be it, truly delightful!

They invited us to their beautiful acreage to have a little fun with their family...they wanted bare feet and family piles. Perfect, just perfect! Wouldn't you know it, their acreage fulfilled my love of red barns. Not only did they have a red barn, they had a red wagon, a hammock, a perfect climbing tree and plenty of animals to make us feel right at home.

Little Carli will turn 3 is just a couple weeks and she totally kept us laughing....the whole time!


Carli has a "pose" and this is her "pose" with the rest of the family trying to imitate, others couldn't hold back their laughter! Oh...my...goodness! Priceless!


I love how the sun is shining through the apple climbing tree here. Have I already mentioned this is the perfect acreage...and I'm in love?!?!?


And this image is one of the many reasons why I LOVE that Eric and I are a team on every shoot we do. He gets to see this and capture it! Love that Radio Flyer!


Halstead family - thank you, thank you, thank you for having us out! We loved capturing you in your element and felt like we were just part of the family. We could have stayed there all night capturing you guys hanging out! As I said before...truly delightful, you all were truly delightful!

Marcia and Brent...

When we saw the Cold Stone Creamery trailer pull into the park where we were going to start Brent and Marcia’s engagement session, we knew we were going to be off to a great start! Eric has seen this trailer in a parking lot and always thought it would be so fun to use it during a shoot…what luck! It brought itself to us!

This was a HOT session….in more ways that one! Aside from the heat and humidity, these two brought their own heat to the session! There’s no doubt about it, these two are madly in love!

Marcia brought her cute little giggle and Brent brought plenty of one liners….what a pair! You guys are awesome and our time together went far too fast!

Marcia and Brent, we cannot wait for your wedding in eastern Iowa!! We know it will be a guaranteed good time to be had by all! We are definitely looking forward to having more fun with you guys!!

{Kayla} 2009 KandE Senior Model

We had our 3rd senior model shoot this week! We were laughing so hard throughout the shoot, it was impossible to get a more serious shot out of her. We tried everything and it just turned into more laughter. I have ALOT of images like this...


We finally figured out the trick…completely tire her out!

At the end of the 3 hour shoot, she was so tired and her cheeks hurt so much she couldn’t keep a smile on her face to save her life! It was perfect for the camera!
Apparently we didn’t tire her out as much as we thought because she still managed to hit a homerun in her first round tournament game that night! Way to go rock star!!

(p.s. don't mess with her on the field or court! She's a 4 sport athlete and brings her A-game every time!)

The most amazing part of this whole shoot had to be her hair! For those of you who know Kayla, you are probably thinking these pictures don’t even look like her…her hair is down! Doesn’t it look AWESOME??? I don’t think that I have seen her hair down since she was like 3 years old! (Side note: Yes, I’ve known her since she was that little! She’s my cousin and I still can’t believe that she is already going to be a senior!)



Kayla – thanks for hanging with us for a few hours and making our stomachs hurt from laughing so hard! Oh and Kayla Rose, you looked beautiful with your hair down…do it more often girl!! ☺ I loved it! We can’t wait to see you at ISU next year!! Go ‘Clones!!

Houdini

We were driving back from the weekend in Okoboji when we heard some rustling in the back. As I turned around to see what the dogs were up to I found Punk waking on the ground and starting to make a jump to the front seat! Now, to many of you, I’m sure you’re wondering why this is blog worthy….WELL, our dogs sit in their doggy seat when traveling…securely buckled in. The word now in question is “securely”.
Is the seat still secure or do we have the next Houdini on our hands?!?!? We have no clue how he escaped from the seat…when we left, I buckled him in…15 minutes later he was snuggled on my lap with no help from me!
Maddoxx was mad at first being the only one left in the seat. She quickly adjusted to enjoying the seat all to herself!
She generally takes up ¾ of the seat and leaves Punk to curl up in the tiny little space she leaves for him. I think Punk is now enjoying the larger real estate that my lap has to offer!

(On a side note…Punk has mentioned he is interested in trying an underwater escape next, the doggy seat proved to be less than challenging. We’ll keep you posted.)

Punk really enjoyed his little vacation...he ate MORE than a 2 lb. puppy should eat in three weeks! Here he is really enjoying helping himself to grandpa's licorice...

Sara and Tod...

are engaged! The flooding found us having to re-schedule this session...just in time for skeeter season! Luckily the location was mostly sidewalk. We were fine until we ventured into the grass...the skeeters were definitely flying the friendly skies!
Check out this image...there was no way to avoid the grass with a view like this though!

One of the best parts of what we do is that we have been able to catch up with old friends and Sara and Tod fit that bill! I went to high school with them! It was so fun to see them again and witness their love for each other in full action. There was no coaxing additional bear hugs or kisses out of them! In fact, I'm pretty sure, I heard Tod say, "can we do that again?" more than once! Right on, totally, absolutely, please show the camera more of the good stuff! Thank you for having so much fun with us!


Thank you guys for braving skeeter heaven with us! We can't wait for engagement session v2.0 in Okoboji! Bring on more of the good stuff! You guys are totally 100%, no doubt about it absolutely adorable!!

Pesky squirrels...

have found their way into our transformer TWICE in the last 24 hours!! Both times, we were hard at work and suddenly heard a loud boom followed by silence in our house. Both of us just sat and looked around for a bit until we put the pieces together and realized we had no power.
Let me tell you, this girl is addicted to power...addicted! I roamed aimlessly around the house and everything I thought I should do....involved power in some way, so I continued to roam aimlessly.
I'm not sure I should share this next story, but I am still laughing about it so I have to share.
Eric was sitting on the couch reading, when I walked up to him it looked a bit dark to be reading without light. So I asked him if he would like me to turn some light on for him and I headed for the switch. In his most sarcastic tone he said, "are you serious?" I said, "yes, I am willing to do something nice for you Mr. Sarcastic, do you want me to turn the light on?" To which he replied "are you serious" again. I said "YES! Do you want light?"
...and then it hit me. DUH!!! The only reason I am roaming around aimlessly and even noticing that he may need more light for reading is because WE DON'T HAVE ELECTRICITY!!!
I guess it's times like these that really make you appreciate what you take for granted! I LOVE me some electricity...so squirrels stay outta my 'hood and go take another neighborhood hostage with your antics!
P.S. Thank you Ames Utilities for calling to tattle on the squirrels and for getting us up and running in good time!