Big Day

Today was a very big day for Lauri and I, it started with the inspection of the house we're planning on buying. My Dad joined us to check out the place, and I asked him to take a few pictures for record purposes. He took a few more than "a few" since he knew he didn't have to do any post-editing, but I'm happy he was there to check it out and give us his oppinion. Pictures on that to come later, because more importantly, today was our first ultrasound for Lauri and the Baby!

People always tell you how exciting it is to be there for this procedure, but I never really understood what they meant until today. It was so exciting to see the baby wiggling around inside of Lauri on the screen. Usually all you get to see from other people are the still images that are produced from this procedure, but today Lauri and I got to see our baby for the first time moving all over the place! I'm not sure if it just wanted some excercise, or if the ultrasound was bothering it. But anyways, here are our Baby's first pictures!!!

Crazy Days

Not sure how many (or, if any) people follow my blog consistently, but if you do you've most likely noticed that I haven't had a blog post in quite a while. That's been for good reason, we've had quite a bit going on in my Shields family lately (including Lauri, Baby, and Me). A few weeks ago, the condo that we've been living in for the last 2 1/2 years (6 years for Lauri) sold! Which of course meant that it was time for Lauri and me to really start looking for a new place to live. Yesterday, after nearly 40 houses, and one failed offer on another property, our offer on a house was accepted!

We're both very excited about our new home, and even more relieved that we don't have to keep house hunting. Each time we went out it was like a marathon session of home viewing which was tiring for both Lauri and I, but especially her with the baby.

On top of all of this excitement, Sunday was my birthday! So we headed over to my Grandparents house to celebrate with our family, and even my brother was able to make it for dinner! If you don't know, I have a twin brother (who's a chef), and we were born on our Dad's Birthday. Being that my brother is usually busy on the weekends, we don't usually get to celebrate together on our actual birthday anymore. And it never feels quite right if we're not all together on that day. Head over to my Dad's Blog to check out a picture of the three of us (click here).

I've also been working on Logo ideas as my Dad's been in the process of re-branding Shields Digital Images into Jim Shields Photography (New name, same good looking staff...) I have one of my designs at the top of my blog now (as you probably have noticed) and have been playing around with some colors as well. It's still a bit of a work in process, but it's getting there. Let me know what you think.

P.S. I've got a high-five for the first person (besides Lauri) who can tell me where that picture was taken.

Light the Night Slideshow

As promised, here's is the slideshow. If you don't get to see an image you really liked for as long as you wanted to, don't worry. When the show is over, thumbnails of all the images will appear and you can view individual images for as long as you'd like. Let me know what you think, leave a comment. And as always if you don't have a google account you can leave a comment as "anonymous", just make sure to leave your name so I know who you are. Also if you'd like to let others know about the slideshow, there's an icon that looks like an envelope at the bottom of the post (next to the comments link) that you can use to easily forward a copy of the show on to your friends and family.

Thanks.
John

Light the Night Slideshow Update

So I finished editing the images late last night and immediately started putting a slideshow together, which I'm expecting to post within a day or so. It's been alot of fun going back through the shots I'd taken, you can see it in the faces of the people that were there how much this charity means to them.

Special thanks again to Debby Vasallo for all of your hard work and for asking Shields Digital Images to get involved, not to mention everyone else involved in bringing it all together.

So check back either later this evening, or tomorrow for that slideshow. And leave a comment when you stop by to let everyone know how much Light the Night means to you, and how much you enjoyed yourself so the people that put on the show can hear it too.

Thanks.
John

Light the Night - 9.28.07

Friday night our family was involved with an important fund raising event, put on by the local chapter of the Leukemia + Lymphoma Society , Light the Night. Click here to check out the Michigan Chapter's website.

Not only was I there to take pictures, but to show my support for two of my family members who are survivors. My Wife and Sister walked for my Brother-in-law (sister's new husband), and my Mom walked for one of my Dad's Cousins.

Here are a few of the images I captured that evening. There's more to come once they're all edited, but I wanted to get a few up as soon as I could.

Apple Orchard '07

Feels like it's been a while since I lasted posted, so here's a few shots of our trip to Blake's Apple Orchard this weekend.

Lauri gets pretty excited at the first sign of cooler weather to head up to the apple orchard's. And not just any orchard will do here, it's got to be the "real" apple orchard where you pick your own apples. I like to give her a hard time about that becuase I think we pass at least 2 other orchards on the way to the "real" one. Even though I wouldn 't want to go the one's where you can't pick your own apples either, but shhhhh don't tell her that...

One of the best parts of the Apple Orchard to me, is the doughnuts and Cider. Who could turn down one of those Cinammon + Sugar covered pieces of heaven? Not me.
The other thing we love about Blake's, is the Sweet Corn. You can buy it ready, just waiting to be buttered and topped off with a little salt and pepper. This always reminds me of the roadside corn shack my family used to stop at on our way home from my Grandparents old farm in Leamington, Ontario.
Lauri enjoying the first doughnut of the season, not to mention the Baby's first doughnut EVER!
Lauri spotted a bunch of good looking apples, but they were just a little out of her reach. So she made me put the camera and bag of apples down, and go get them.
Hopefully there'll be many more trips to the various Cider Mill's in the area this season. And if you haven't gone yet, what are you waiting for? Get on out there and support your local farmers. And don't be shy to stop at the roadside farmer's stands selling their freshest produce. You'll be amazed at how much better fresh - local produce tastes! Click HERE for a link to michigan's list of "Pick your own" farm's.

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