nie nie day auction

Today is the day to open your hearts (and wallets) for Stephanie and Christian Nielson. There are seriously wonderful auctions happening all over the blogosphere. Check out Design Mom for a full listing. I am auctioning a photo session with me for someone in the Utah County area, valued at $550. The winner will receive:

• 1-2 hour photo session with up to 5 members of your immediate family

• 20-30 images in a password-protected on-line gallery to view and share for two weeks

• my RED collection which includes:

-all gallery images on disc in both color and black and white, with printing release
-web-sized files of all images for use on blogs or email
-5x7 print of each image

You can view my work on my photography blog or my website.

Bidding will start at $50.00. Leave a comment in the comment section of this post with your bid amount. Bid increments must be at least $1.00. Bidding will continue until Sunday at 10 pm MST. The winner will make their donation directly to the Stephanie Nielson Paypal Fund. The winner will email their receipt to lindsaydanielphoto@yahoo.com and then I will contact them to set up their photo session. Happy bidding!

for Nie

I seriously love blogging, even though lately I've been a slacker. I love that I have been able to document so much of my life. I love that how it helps me to keep in touch with my family and friends. I especially love how it has allowed me to connect with so many other women, both friends and strangers, who make me laugh, feel inspired and not so alone in this adventure called life.

One such blogger is Stephanie Nielson who blogs over at Nie Nie Dialogues. I have popped into her blog regularly to catch up on her seemingly charmed life. I was coming to her blog just to check in last week only to find the very sad news that she and her husband were critically injured in a plane crash in AZ. I have not been able to stop thinking about her since. I've never met her or even exchanged emails with her but I have enjoyed her blog and felt inspired by her so many times. Since I heard the news, I have thought several times to celebrate my life a little more a la Nie. Her sister is another wonderful blogger and I have been checking her blog often for updates. So many lives have been touched my Stephanie. It is just so powerful to see the outpouring of love.

I have come to the conclusion that the reason this has affected me so much is the very simple fact that this could happen to anyone of us. She was a mother of four, trying to get through everyday life with grace and celebrating the precious parts of it through her blog. She was living a good life and in a moment it all changed forever. Their lives will never be the same.

Another favorite blogger of mine, Design Mom, is hosting Nie Nie Day to benefit the family's long and costly recovery. Thrilled with being able to do something, I am joining in with an auction of my own. I will be auctioning off a photo session for someone in the northern Utah County area. The winner will receive a 1-2 hour photo session at a location of their choosing and my RED collection which includes a disc of all gallery images and a 5x7 print of each image also. You can check out my work on my photography blog or my website.

The auction will start Thursday. Please help me spread the word!

crash

Our computer crashed...CRASHED at the end of last week. Luckily I had nearly everything (and definitely all the vital stuff) backed up on my external hard drive. Our computer guy came over to do a "simple" re-format. Didn't work. Dave tried again. Didn't work. I had several photography related things that I really needed to get finished so Dave went out on Saturday and purchased a new computer. Photoshop flies on the new computer. Its great. Our computer guy came back again yesterday to try installing a new hard drive. Didn't work AGAIN. He took the computer with him to see what's up. Last I heard it's still not working. So this is just your friendly public service announcement to back up your computer!

back to life

Today was the first day of school for our district so I decided to make it our first day back to our normal routine. I had only planned on taking off July this summer but July crept into August and I wasn't ready. Today I was definitely ready though. It felt so good to get back to a schedule! We didn't do everything exactly as planned but it was still a successful start.

8:30 breakfast (except for Slade who didn't get up when I asked so he didn't get breakfast)
9:00 clean up the main level (we dusted, vacuumed and straightened up)
9:30 violin practice with Emma
10:00-12:00 Math and Reading (Emma was very diligent about getting her work done. Slade took a little coaxing but he did do it all. Nathan wanted to do his "school" too so I need to find a way to have Nathan time. Sawyer cried A LOT but finally climbed up to the sink and played with the water. This of course made a huge mess but kept him happy)


12:00 Lunch (Dave came home and Emma and Slade were both excited to show him what they had done.)
1:00 History/Science (didn't happen today but I figured I could just call it "early out")

The afternoon was spent playing with friends (our neighbors are still not back in school until next week), napping, watching Olympics, folding laundry and Slade and I playing board games together. I know many of you will find this odd but just like so many mothers who felt their sanity return with the beginning of school, I too felt a sense of relief as we began again. I think those feelings come from having a routine again but also the sense of accomplishment I feel after teaching and playing with my children.

blink of an eye

I blinked and suddenly two weeks had passed again with no attention to my blog. Well, I have been busy. Swimming lessons, photo sessions, visiting with old friends, enjoying a visit from my parents, playing at the lake with all the Daniels...


AND

....sitting on my couch, feeling tired and queasy, and pregnant. Yep. Baby #5 is due for arrival in early March. We waited until last week to tell the kids. Emma is totally ecstatic and telling everyone (which is exactly why we waited to tell her). The boys couldn't care less. Of course, we are all hoping for a girl. I'm also hoping to feel very very done after this baby. Is it possible?