Merry Tubachristmas!

This past Saturday my whole family was in Madison for Tuba Christmas. I think I counted back and this is the 7th year my dad has come down to Madison to participate. It has become a yearly tradition for us now! Hundreds of Tubas make the Capitol Rotunda just sound heavenly, and I think this year was definitely the best! Here are a few pictures that I grabbed - hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Here is the rowdy crowd :)


The capitol is just so beautiful!


Here's my dad!


The reflections on the Tubas were just awesome:




I've never seen people up in the Rotunda before... how'd they get up there!?




The end of the concert -

Tuba Christmas

If you're in the Madison area looking for something festive to do tomorrow, Saturday December 12th, head on down to the Capitol Rotunda at 2:30pm for Tuba Christmas!

My dad has been coming down and playing his Baritone for 7 years now, and it has become quite the tradition in our family. About 100-150 Tuba and Baritone players from all over the state gather and play Christmas carols - it is really beautiful. Plus the Capitol has their tree up, and it is HUGE. If you've never seen it, it's worth the trip!

There's not too much information on their website, but if you'd like to take a look go here.

Here's a picture of the Tree from last year - I'll post more photos of this year's tree and Tuba Christmas after tomorrow!

Hope you're having a great holiday season so far!

Snow Day!

Yesterday, we joined most of the state of Wisconsin in enjoying a Snow Day! With 17 inches of snow measured at a nearby news station, there was no way we were getting out of the driveway! Since this is the kind of snow storm that comes around once every 10 or so years (in fact, they canceled classes at UW Madison for the first time in 50 years yesterday - and did you see the snowball fight made Good Morning America?), I decided to take some pictures. Overall we had a nice cozy day indoors, baking cookies, doing some laundry, cleaning, and watching TV. Of course this was after tackling the driveway with our shovels!

Here is our dog Edie walking around her newly dug out "poop arena" as we affectionately call it - the snow is way taller than her!


This was after the plow came through - our mailbox was almost under a snowbank -


Our Christmas lights that we had stuck in the ground were almost 14inches tall - and here they are almost covered before we started shoveling -


Here we are in relation to the snowbank - and you can see from here that the snow alone was about up to our shins. We're taller than 6 feet - that's hard to do! We were so thankful for our two neighbors stopping by and helping us with the end of the driveway and part of our sidewalks. Winter may not be my favorite season, but I sure love the feeling of going out in your neighborhood and seeing everyone talking and helping each other out!






Hope everyone dug out from the snow!

Hughes Family

This is the second time this little cutie has been in front of my camera, and this time mom and dad joined him! I just took his pictures in August, where we played the game of "where can we set the baby now?" since he wasn't moving around yet. Now he's up and walking er... should I say running... around! I had a fun time chasing him around during their shoot. Here are a few of my favorites!

















Don't be fooled, this little guy is more of a drummer than a piano player :)

Ashley

I grew up in a family being the only girl among 8 boy cousins. Oh yes, 8. I have spent many a family gathering being a WWF referee (because I didn't want to wrestle), only to find out that indeed sometimes the ref does get pulled down to ground in the heat of battle. I could sometimes convince my cousin Matt to play Little Mermaid with me if he could be Eric, but he was more interested in going on an adventure than staying home and caring for our doll child. One Christmas I was the envy of all the cousins though, when I was the first to get a Game Boy and played Tetris for about 7 hours straight. We've had some good times together, but our family changed when I got to Middle School. We were beyond lucky when my Aunt Shelia married Rich, and his daughter Ashley was welcomed into our family. I was no longer the only girl cousin! Yipee!

Ashley contacted me a little while ago and wanted some pictures taken of her. She has just started selling Lia Sophia Jewelery and needed a few headshots. Of course I was willing to help her out - I mean one beautiful girl with some beautiful jewelery - sounds like a great combination!

Here are a few of my favorites from her shoot!


Yes her eyes are naturally that blue!


She has inspired me to wear more rings... look at how beautiful these are!






I love this picture. This is how I know we're related!




The Red Mill in Waupaca is such a beautiful spot for photos, I was loving this morning sunlight!






This one is probably my favorite from the day - work it girl!


I love that ring!


Here's a close-up of her jewelery:


Of course I just had to hang a few necklaces from the trees!


Thanks Ashley - I had a ton of fun!

New Product! Photo Bracelets

On one of my photo shoots this summer, one of the mom's showed me this awesome photo bracelet she had made, and I knew right away I had to add it to my product line! The bracelet holds 4 photos, and the beads are available in a multitude of colors. Add one on to your session for only $40!

Casa for Casa Gingerbread House Competition

This past weekend, I had an opportunity to participate in the Dane County "Casas for CASA" Gingerbread House Competition. Dane County CASA (short for Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a non-profit group who provides volunteer child advocates to kids in abuse and neglect situations that need representation in court. Not a small task! They held this gingerbread decorating competition not only to raise money, but to build awareness about their organization. Bunbury & Associates Realtors sponsored a gingerbread house, and I and a few co-workers got to go decorate on Saturday.

In preparation for build, I decided to try my hand at fondant figures. I have a secret desire to be a cake decorator, and this was my chance to go all "Ace of Cakes" style over this gingerbread house! I found a recipe online for the fondant, made it, dyed it, and created these little guys. I can't wait to try and make a cake now!

Here are a few pictures of the finished gingerbread house. I posted a bunch of photos on the Bunbury & Associates Realtors fan page on Facebook, so check it out!

Here is a close-up of the front of the house and the little Santa, Mrs.Claus, and Rudolph figurines.


The little windows are made out of Graham crackers, and had the little elves and reindeer peeking out on the sides


Snow Angels!


Here's the back of the house:


And of course, since our real estate company sponsored the house, it had to be for sale!


Here's a picture of me in front of the house (along with a really excited lady in the background), after we won the children's choice award! All of the kids entering the mall were given a peppermint candy during the building of the houses, and they got to vote for their favorites. Ours had the most peppermints! It's cool to be chosen a winner by the kids - that's what it's all about right?


If you want to learn more about CASA, visit their website, or check out their page on facebook from the event!

There was also a record breaking 26 foot gingerbread man! Wow!

It was an honor to be apart of the event. I didn't anticipate the whole while we were decorating that we would have a crowd of kids and adults just in awe of what we were doing. It definitely got me in the holiday spirit! If you are in and around the Hilldale Mall, be sure to stop by and check out all of the gingerbread houses on display through the end of December!