The news I have been wanting to share....

Exciting new adventure to feed my creative soul......

Check out my new website.....EEEEEEK! So excited!!!

http://www.elisemariephotos.com/

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me to go for it!

Also on the family home front we are busy winding down another amazing but full school year.

In the past month Hailey tried out for MHS cheer squad again and made it. She also ran for ASB Senator of next years Junior class and won. She applied to be a "Link Crew" member (helps the incoming Freshman class) and was picked. She was inducted on Tuesday into the National Honor Society. We are so proud of this crazy busy teenage girl of ours. Next week she turns "sweet 16" so the next hurdle is passing her driving tests. Mom will be thrilled to not have to drive Hailey to all of her many activities....but then again is scared to death to let her out on the road alone.

From Tuesday night's ceremony.....

Kyla is sooooo excited to be leaving middle school behind her. Some other parents and I have been planning the all 8th grade "moving up" party at the high school next month. She has her new Bearcat class of 2013 sweatshirt and t-shirts to wear. Next weekend she will be at a waterpark all day for Christian concert and then she will help celebrate her sister's big day on Sunday. She can't wait for summer because she gets to sleep in, play tennis, go to summer camp and the major highlight of the year is the 5th row tickets she snagged with friends to go see her favorite boys.....

The Jonas Brothers on June 28th.

Summer is not quite here but we are all pretty booked with lots of activites and camping trips so it should be a great one! The weather is beautiful this weekend so we are getting a sneak peak at what the next few months will hopefully be like. So ready for that!!!!

Yeah for flip flop season!!!

I Love Taking Pictures!

So we took advantage of two very sunny days......MY GIRLS are so grown up...where did the time go???????????????????????????

I am working on a new adventure....can't wait to share:)

Having fun with textures and layers....

Ellie Belle

Today I met my sister and my niece, Ellie, in Snohomish because it was so lovely out...rain is coming back tomorrow:( . We took advantage of the sunshine and I shot these cute little pictures of Ellie and I just love how they turned out....doesn't hurt when your model is just too stinkin' cute too!!!

Here some cute shots with Ellie and mommy too......

What a great day!!!

More from Hailey's February photo shoot and Tolo pics.....

When Hailey and I went to take pictures in February, the sun was beginning to set, so we went into one of our favorite stores in Snohomish, Joyworks, and took some really cute photos in their darling displays. Here some of my favorites.....

Also in February Hailey went to Tolo with a big group of kids from school. They rented a bus that drove them around Seattle and to dinner and then ended up at the high school for the dance which was a masquerade. Here are those fun photos....
Finally but most importantly my friends daughter, Maddy, who has Leukemia is back in the hospital for her chemo treatments before she has her bone marrow transplant in about 6 days. Please pray with me that she does well during the treatments and that her transplant is successful for her and her brother (the donor) as well as a complete healing from this! Thanks so much!!!

Good Friday

Today we remember what He did for us....the ultimate sacrifice!

Have a joyful and reflective Easter weekend!

More of our Twilight Tour....

Like a talked about in my last post, I promised more pictures of our little trip out to the Olympic Peninsula to visit the town of Forks as well as LaPush to see where the Twilight books and movie were based on. It took 4 hours of driving and a ferry ride but it was worth the travel time. I had just seen the movie and began reading the series the week before so I was interested to see these places in person. LaPush really reminded me of the time we lived on Vancouver Island when the girls were little. The smell of ocean, the moss covered trees and hearing the waves crashing brought me back to the simpler days of living on our little island in Bamfield.

Hailey had started reading the books last year and loved them but was disappointed in the movie a bit. Kyla saw the movie in the theater first and then began reading the books and she seems to be more into it now that Hailey. I was concerned about them after we had a discussion regarding the popularity of the books and movie in our "Parents of Teens" class at church a couple months ago. I realized that I should have been paying more attention to them because I think they actually create a great opportunity of discussion about obsession in relationships and other topics that the storyline explores. I love fantasy but sometimes it is hard for teenagers to separate reality from fiction. I am now using these books as tools to discuss with my daughters certain behaviors that can be healthy and unhealthy in relationships.

We had fun doing the sight seeing tourist thing though and so here are some more pictures from our fun day......

In front of the Twilight store in Forks


The girls with our tour guide

Guess who else was sitting on the bus.....

Sitting in front of the high school doors......At the Cullen's House...The note they left visitors....

In front of Bella's house.....At the Forks police station...

In front of Jacob Black's house.....



Our tour bus parked at the beach in LaPush....

And we finished our fun day at the perfect time.....
Twilight of course:)

More photo shoots and spring break fun....

So after I took pictures of Miss E in the morning back in February I continued on to 3 more shoots that day. It was chilly but perfect weather for picture taking. When I went to pick my friend's daughter, her older sister was babysitting this little cutie and I knew I needed to snap a few cute ones of her. Isn't she just adorable!?!!!
Here is her sweet little face in color.....And in black and white...

Then we set out to a nearby nursery to take pictures of Miss O....

After I photographed Miss O we came home so we could make a cute little Valentine present for her parents. We had so much fun!!!!

When we finished up Hailey and I decided it was too nice of an afternoon to not take advantage of another photo shoot. The sun had come out but it was late afternoon so the lighting was just perfect....while it lasted. I loved how they turned out and was so thankful I took them because a couple weeks later she cut her hair off.

We saw this neat old green bug parked and new that it would make the perfect prop. Hailey loves anything vintage right now....so it was perfect!

I still have tons more pictures of Hailey's photo shoot but I will have to post them later....wanted to share a more recent adventure. Last week it was spring break and the weather was awful and cold. When I saw there was sunny day coming on Friday I asked Kyla (major Twilight fan) if she wanted to take a road trip to Forks where the story takes place. I didn't even have to ask....she was so excited. She brought her friend Taylor too and we ended up having a really fun day and it was beautiful out!

More on this trip tomorrow....