Last Day of 2010! December recap:

Oh crap! It's the last day of the year and I have been procrastinating in the posting department once again. So here's a final push to post some of the pictures that have been living on my computer for the last month.

December is always a busy time for photographers. One final push to get my remaining orders packaged and delivered :)

I love my photo presentation boxes, especially when they are filled with gorgeous prints!


Prints and press printed cards.


More large prints.


The best kind of early christmas presents!



December brought the first official wrestling meet of the season. Here's a few from the Rochester Duals. I really love sports photography and the kids on Brian's team can't wait to see pics of themselves...especially when I post them on facebook :) These were taken with my 55-250mm lens. I can't wait until I buy the 70-200mm in February!!!!







Trying something new...textures. Not really for me, but maybe someday.



We cut down a Christmas tree every year from Choose & Cut Frasier Firs in Rochester. They are a family run operation with the BEST customer service. James loves going for the free peanuts :) Well, after we got our F A T tree home and set up I decided to practice a little Christmas tree bokeh with my favorite model.


More.


I love pulling out the decorations for the tree! Some we've had for years, some are gifts, but every year we are always expanding our collection.


The 2010 Parlin/Mathison Family Christmas tree. Our most favorite one yet!



December 2010 was the #1 snowiest month on record EVER! Here's Brian attempting to keep up with our weeny snow blower during day one of our foot and a half snow storm! We were very lucky to have three different neighbors all help us out that weekend with snow removal. Thank you Ben, Dean and Roger!



The weather outside was frightful, but baking Christmas cutout cookies was so delightful!



Christmas at the Parlins. Brian's sister's family. Her daughter was super excited to get a Hello Kitty hat with matching gloves :)


Chistmas tree bokeh with our new table centerpieces.


The game, Dicecapades, proved to be a WORK OUT! LOL!!!



A quick one from the Schmoll family Christmas...milk mustache and all :)



***Glad I have been saving the drafts for this LONG post because the power just went out!!!***


Snow Dog!



My family and I celebrating Christmas at home :)



Skiing at Welch Village over winter break. James says he's WAY BETTER than Brian :)



Winter sun bathing



Holiday Hoarfrost



Holiday Mug. I got this as a gift from one of my co-workers. Could it be any cuter?! LOVE IT!



A legend retires. I have worked with Dr. Cabanela for 10 years now and I am very sad to say that he is retiring at the end of the year. He is a world renowned Orthopedic Surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. It has been my honor working for him. He will be irreplacable, but I know that just because he is formally retiring doesn't mean that I won't be seeing him around!



James is wishing you PEACE and good will!



Enjoying my vacation by relaxing at home with my family and a glass of wine. I am really going to miss our Christmas tree when we take it down so I better enjoy it while I can!



Last photograph of 2010! Getting our champagne glasses (in James' case: sparkling cider glass) ready for our new years toast! Here's wishing you a safe end to 2010 and a bright beginning to 2011! Next post from me will be my first official post of my 2011 365 day photo blog! GOD BLESS :)

Happy birthday Papa Parlin!

I have been waiting days to post this, but today is the big day! Happy 57th birthday Jim!!! Clearly at age 57 there is no holding you back! Many young spry years to come!

Wrestling Season Is Officially Here!!!

Thanksgiving brings the start of the wrestling season. I really love the sport and it's not just because I am engaged to the coach :) Brian decided to do something a little different this year for his open practice. They bought a new spot light and needed to try it out so they had a Red/Black intersquad dual. Kids got to wear the new singlets and wrestle each other while the crowd of parents, families and friends looked on. Love the spot light look, but HATE trying to get good pictures! LOL!

Thanksgiving

A Man Of Many Talents

Add "baker" to the ever expanding list of Brian's talents :) He loves to cook, but the last couple years he has expanded on that by making pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, homemade graham cracker crust and all! They are so good!

Christmas Cards

This is the busiest time of the year for photographers! At least I was able to finish up my orders and holiday cards before taking some time off for Christmas :) Now that the cards are all mailed out I can share the Freese family custom press printed Christmas cards.

Neglect

My blog isn't the only thing I have been neglecting.

Published

It was cool to see one of my photos featured on the front page of the sports section for my local paper :)

Fresh Start

Yes, I have reached the point of no return. I am so far behind on my 365 day blog that I am just going to start fresh in 2011. I made it over 200 days so I am looking to improve on that for next year :) In the mean time please enjoy some of my favorites from the past two months that didn't get posted on time.

In the beginning of November, we went to the Minnesota State Cross Country Meet to cheer on our lone runner, Rosie. She did an awesome job and placed 36th :)


Although it was FREEZING out, the sun was shining and the campus at St. Olaf College, where they hold the meet, looked beautiful. This is the chapel on campus.



Just two months into the school year we were already replacing James' jeans with new ones because he had already grown out of them! He is getting so tall!



As soon as the cross country season ended, this is how James spent his free time.



James wasn't a complete bum...he still was in training for the Junior Olympics Cross Country Qualifier just one week after the state meet. Unfortunately we got snow so we gave him the option. We could drive the hour and a half to the cities for him to run the 2 mile race against kids his own age in several inches of snow and near blizzard conditions or we could just travel 10 minutes from home for him to run an all ages course at the Gamehaven Boy Scout Camp for a 5 mile fun run/fundraiser in less snow, but in a rain/sleet/snow mix. He chose the 5 mile race! The conditions were challenging, plus it was a "true cross country" race. They literally ran THROUGH the river, twice, waste deep at one crossing and a couple feet at another!!! He loved every minute of it and can't wait to race again next year.
Warming up for the race.

Mentally preparing.

A couple of miles in.

Running on a messy course.

He was soaked and freezing after completing the race!

But he was all smiles after finishing his first 5 mile race on an extremely difficult course with a time of 40 minutes and 35 seconds! Here's James enjoying the warming house, hot chocolate, soup and other goodies after drying off :)



The day after this race was James' end of the year cross country banquet. He was super bummed to find out that he missed out on his 500 mile t-shirt by 13 miles :( He had it within one week of the end of the season too. He'll get that one next year so his new goal is to work on logging miles for his 1000 mile shirt!