Michael and Crystal Engaged

These two are so cute and some serious fun!
They first met over Facebook and even though they
were on opposite sides of the country, Michael flew out to Cali to take her
on her first date. How romantic is that? And now they are engaged!

Blacksmithing

As I've been pursuing photography, Bryan has been pursuing his own hobby--blacksmithing. It's been something that he's wanted to do for while and is of great value on the farm. He can now make his own farm implements, tools, and someday be able to make a lot of stuff that will go into the building of our barns and home. Pretty awesome!

For Christmas, Bryan asked me for some blacksmithing tools. I told him that probably wasn't a good idea ha! I only know how to navigate amazon and thrift stores for gifts. But for Christmas his whole family, being as awesome as they are, found this man who collects (read: hoards) blacksmithing tools. This place is what Bryan's heaven would look like. As he ogled and picked out tools, I passed time with taking pictures of this man's workshop.

A little late, but still so good.

Life is pretty simple, lately. 

Lots of time for family. 

Like watching our nephew experience Christmas morning. 

I apologize for the lateness.

Happy New Year Eve Eve!

Happy New Year's Eve Eve! Bryan and I will be celebrating in San Francisco with friends! We can't wait to see fireworks on the Warf and bring in the new year! We've never done something this exciting! [Ha! I know, kinda lame! But I sorta like New Years in our cozy bed.] We have a couple of New Years Resolutions:

Bryan

• Set up a forge and blacksmith
• Build a barn at work
• Increase yield at farm by decreasing the coddling moth population
• Learn how to use Sam's old camera and help her shoot
• Take daily time to reflect in my daily journal

Sam

• Get business cards
• Shoot often and put myself out there. 
• Make more sushi at home than going to those dang gluttonous and oh so awesome sushi buffets
• More sunrise hikes
• Continually work at being content where ever I am

And both of us have a couple of goals together =)

• More backpacking trips
• Bike around Lake Tahoe
• Mud run together
• Save a bit more for that farm of ours
• Continue our Monday walk and talks together.
• 
  

We hope all of you have tons of fun this evening! Stay safe! See you in 2012!

Update

You may have noticed that this blog has got a lot of photos on it lately. Most are of people you probably don't even know. You're thinking to yourself, "I thought this was a blog about Sam and Bryan?!"

It still is, I promise.

Here's a little update for you: I have decided I to become a wedding and portrait photographer--this explains all the photo shoots lately =)

It's been quite a journey getting here. Many of you that know me, know that I have been so frustrated not knowing what exactly I wanted to do. It's not that I've lacked options, but rather I could not narrow down options. But if you don't mind, let me fill you in on what's been going on...

With ending my last semester of college, I was soon approaching my "future". This is what I had been waiting [and stressing] about for four years. But this semester I decided to be at peace with not knowing what I wanted to do. [You can read about this here.]  This process of being content where I am even with the uncertainty, opened my eyes to what I really wanted to pursue.

I reflect back on this whole process and it seems as if I was the last one to know that I should do photography. Everyone around me had encouraged me in one way or another to pursue it and I brushed it off.

I brushed it off for three reasons:

1. I thought I would never be as good as the professionals I respected.

2. I have a degree in Psychology. Surely, that has got to be a more stable career path.

3. I am a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of stuff. I will never be as good as what I want to be in my head.

But I am forever thankful to my family and friends, who have continued to plant seeds in my soul. To them I owe so much. My heart was closed to the idea of being a photographer and with every encouragement my heart began to open up.

I was talking to my family about how maybe I should have majored in Photography. I think I was too scared to pursue it. As if pursuing my dream of dreams and failing would be worse than not pursuing it at all. My mom asked, "Well, why don't you pursue it now?" I brushed it off saying, "Nah, I've spent four years getting a degree in Psych."

Later as a graduation present, my family gave me some of my dream camera equipment--camera and lenses that Bryan and I would never be able to afford.

In another instance, I had a friend say, "Sam, when I get married I want you to shoot my wedding." My response? "No way!" I wasn't that good at snapping photos. But that made me think, "What can I do to be as good as I want to be?" And I started reading my manual [a couple times over], testing my skills, reading anything I could get my hands on. During finals week alone, I read over a thousand pages on photography and practiced shooting.

For once in my life, I found something I couldn't get enough of. It's challenging. It's rewarding. I get to capture how beautiful people and their love have for each other is. And above all else, it makes me feel alive.

Photography has been healing to me in a way. It has given me confidence and it has pushed me to be myself. For years I have been denying myself this passion because I would never be as good a the bar that I've set for myself. Now that bar is still there, but I'm going for it. I'm just going to work hard, be myself, and hopefully people will want that.

With love,

Sam

** Thank you to all the people that saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. Your encouragements have meant more than you'll ever know.