Happy Spring, Happy Linky-love, Happy Winnings!

I can't believe it's almost Easter Sunday! They say we will never again see Easter this early in our lifetimes. I can't remember why . . . something with the moon . . . but how interesting that is! It's really really early this year but maybe it's a sign that we are going to have bulbs poking their beautiful heads up earlier than usual? I hope so. When I peeked outside this morning, I saw some new green grass poking out above the dead wintry grass. What a nice feeling to see beautiful colors of nature.

It is our first spring here at the new house and it's really bittersweet for me. While I'm excited to have the first spring here in the new house because it means my children have a new year of being a kid with brand new adventures, it's hard for me because I really really really miss where we use to live. Like tons. I don't know. It's just hard. There are many a days where I want to be back there. I hold back tears thinking about it. You know me, attachment to everything.

But on the positive side of this, with spring brings lots of new things. New flowers, of course, which I absolutely can't wait for. Neil and I can't wait to get our hands dirty and begin getting a new garden started and design a new perennial garden for our new and very empty back yard. With spring also brings new adventures for the kids. I'm hoping Maia will be able to actually pedal on her bike this year. Last year we had to push her everywhere and that got awfully tiring! I also am excited to find a walking trail for us to go on. Back in D-town we had a "route" we walked every single night. It equaled out to 1-2 miles. It should be interesting here in this new very small town because it's not all that big and 1 mile would take us to the other side of town!

In the blogging world, spring for me means finding new blogging friends. And with the Ultimate Blog Party, I managed to find a handful of friends through their fantastic blogs. Here's s a sampling of my faves in no particular order:

Minimalist Mommy
Adventures of Wondermommy
Robin Bielman
Valley Girl - I like her name, don't you? :c)
Candi @ All Day Night
Write From Karen
Sheena @ Mommy Daddy Blog
Jimaie.marie
Jessica in Rome
my melange
Conversations with my HairdryerA Sample of Jennifer's Thoughts (we have tons in common!)
Thoughts From Dimple Queen
Noel from Pretty By Nature
Becoming Me
Little Bird Creations
Daily Randomness
Figments
The Impoverished Preppy

Now I have to figure out how I'm going to keep up reading these when I constantly already have troubles doing so with the ones I already have in my bloglines . . . { sigh . . . }

So one of the people I mentioned above won my contest!!! Only FIVE people answered correctly! I give huge kudos to these five { Aimee, Candi, Erin, Jennifer, and Katie } because there were a lot of questions to answer and a lot of reading to answer those questions! I truly thank everyone who entered because it means a) you wanted to learn more about me and/or b) you really really wanted a canvas print! Either way, thank you. I had a lot of fun doing the contest and I hope this means you learned enough about me to want to come back.

Now for the winner . . . drum roll . . . Noah drew the name for me this morning . . . and he drew . . . Candi!! Yay, Candi!! I will be emailing you to find out how you want to go about the canvas. Be looking for your favorite digital photos on your computer! Congratulations, Candi! I'm so excited to have met you and I look forward to our future blogging frenzies. :c) Sorry dear Aimee, Erin, Jennifer and Katie . . . I hope to have more contests again with the same awesome prize! Thanks so so much for playing and being so loyal!

Anyone interested in the answers? Let me know and I'll post them. I feel like this post has probably already gotten a tad bit long, eh?

We're off to see the Easter bunny tonight. We've never done it before (Santa, either) so I think we may give it a try finally. Happy spring, happy Linky-love (amanda, I hope you don't mind I stole that slogan from you -- please forgive your bbbf) and happy winnings to Candi!

A beautiful gem ~ Erin

There is a new gem in my life, and her name is Erin. I met her via 5 Minutes For Mom when they had their Ultimate Blog Party a few weeks ago. I had the amazing opportunity to meet hundreds of fabulous women, and she was one of them. We visited each others blogs during the party and we both felt instantly connected, and as they say, the rest is history!


So today Erin posted a great (of course I call it great!) entry titled "5 Blogs That Make Me Think", and guess what?! I not only made her list, but I made it to # 1! I won a blogger award! Yipppeeee!! She absolutely made my day . . . my night. (Thank you, Erin!) This is what she wrote:

Val...a sweet woman I have never met, but feel privileged to call her "friend". Her sincere heart and lovely personality just pours from her words on her Blog.

To have a chance to grin from cheek to cheek and then think "wow, maybe I am blogging for a reason", is just a great feeling. And to be called a "friend" by a total stranger, by someone who I feel like never really was a stranger but a great long lost friend from the very start, is just, well, the best feeling in the world.

Thank you, Erin. I can't possibly even begin to name a list of 5, but please know that you would definitely be on it.

Time to Party! ~ Blog party 2007!

I needed to get out and do some partying! And so far, SO FUN! Come join in!!

In lieu of the bloggin party, I thought I should share about myself. There's much more about me throughout my blog . . . meme's all over the place . . . but here is a short synopsis.

I am 30, have two children ages 3-1/2 (boy) and 16 months (girl). I have been married almost 8 years. He was my high school sweetheart and we have been together 14 years - how has it been that long already? We are working on selling our current home and building a new one - soooo exciting thus far but exhausting and I have a feeling it is going to get even more so. I work from home as a professional photographer, but work more as a stay-at-home mommy (this job combo is hard but I would never change it for the world, but as you all know, it's not easy either). I have been a photographer for 4 years. Check out my photography blog here and my website here. I live in central Illinois and have lived here all my life. I love bloggin and reading blogs . . . I spend way too much time bloggin, but it does keep me from shopping which is my third favorite thing to do (after being a mother and a photographer)! I also drink a lot of coffee - a lot! It gets me by, like most of us. My husband says he is happiest that we are moving out of the city because going to Starbucks will not be a daily run anymore (he looks forward to the savings!) Can't wait to get to meet new people . . .

Oh and to learn about Purple Valley, go here. Or more about me (because like you really have time to) here.

Edited to add: I've put this back at the top for the "party" . . . new posts still added below!

Edited again to say, Thank you for all the comments at Grandma's Diary! I have had lots of you reading it and I appreciate your journey over there so very much!!

Introducing myself through a picture montage

Fellow friends who blog - please check out the blog party! It is GREAT! I have had so much fun! I have met dozens of new friends and they are not only visiting me here, but they are visiting me at Grandma's Diary which excites me that I can share my history with so much of the rest of the world. Anyhow, I thought I would post another entry about the blog party and tell a little more about me, but in pictures . . . :) I love pictures and I think everyone loves pictures. If you don't, it's because you don't own a camera! If this is the case, email me. I have a couple I would give you just so you could take up the most wonderful hobby (or in my case "job") in the world! Ok, so maybe I shouldn't say that I will give away cameras, but my point is, GET ONE!

On to my photo montage . . .

This is me oh-so-pregnant at 33 weeks with my first child . . . this pregnancy was a true blessing from above after 3 years trying to conceive and 3 heartbreaking losses.

This time pregnant with my daughter at 33 weeks also - another miracle!

My son at around 9 months old.

And two little piggies, one being my daughter, at about 3 months old.

My hubby travels quite a bit with his job and went to Japan a few months ago. He is 6'4" so he towered every single soul in Japan making this picture quite hysterical.

My beloved grandpa passed away in October 2006. I still miss him with every ounce of my being and will forever so. He had a special bond with his great-grandkids. This was one of the last photos taken of him and his sweetie-pie.

I turned, gasp, 30 this past year and it was very difficult for me. But I brought it in in a fabulous way with dozens of my friends and family at my favorite restaurant. Couldn't have been better.

My life consists of lots of picture taking, not just of my friends and family but of my brides and grooms. I am a professional photographer and live for unique capturings such as this one. Lots of the older generations wonder why I would do such a thing as this, but my brides and grooms appreciate this unpredictable artsy side. It's really the only way in my life that I can be unpredictable because normally I'm very predictable!

And I also have a passion for photographing children in their natural environment. What fun it is to be a part of their lives for an hour or two and capture what their parents see from them on a daily basis. Couldn't be more real than that!

This past winter we experienced the worst ice storm in 30 years. This was our street and this is our car with a tree decorating it oh so nicely. (not.)

My loves: vintage things, girly things, pink & red things, yummy things, artsy things, photo things, ketchup-y things (see post below), coffee things, ecclectic things, decorating things, Diet Dr Pepper things, reading things, handwritten things, quotation things, and of course Godly things. The list can go on and on . . .

I am so blessed to have lots of friends. They each are so unique and compliment me in just the most perfect ways. They each do me such good as well as my family. I would not be me, Val, without them. I love meeting people and I love sharing experiences through life.

This is my daughter today - such a girly girl.

This is my son today - definitely made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails.

My family taken last May. I am truly blessed. Truly.