I came across this blog today and ended up wasting 30 minutes reading through it… It’s cleverly written and some things are verbatim what I say!
These are some of my favorite posts:
Little did I know that as hard as I have tried to be original, smart, and creative, I fit right into the ‘White Man’ Stereotype 
I did find it quite humorous, however, the vast number of people who took offense and bad-mouthed this blog. People shouldn’t take things so seriously….
As I was listening to one of my random Playlist Mixes, the song Life is Wonderful came on by Jason Mraz. This is one of my old favorites of his….
It’s a reminder to appreciate the small things in life and to realize that life really is wonderful! It’s also a great song to sing along with
One of the best lines from the song is:
It takes some silence to make sound
It takes a loss before you found it
And it takes a road to go nowhere
It takes a toll to make you care
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R08q2wzGpzk&feature=related]
I don’t care much for the music video, but couldn’t find the entire song online….
Here’s the second Video Blog for Three Winks Studio.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RikYqW-kD50]
Give me your suggestions for other video blog ideas. What would you like to know/see/hear about?
love you all. xoxoxo
For any of you who know me, or have been following my blog at all, you will know that my most favorite place to go is the Spiral Jetty. It is a special place that is dear to my heart that I hold with the highest reverence.
On Monday, I had the opportunity to go to my favorite place and do my favorite thing: portrait photography.
Before Lara and Elliott were married, as they were beginning their courtship, they spent the day up at the Spiral Jetty. They fell in love with its vast array of colors in the land, water, and sky; marveled at the strange remains from its oil producing days; and even made ’snow angels’ in the salt water sea foam. It was a perfect day, they say.
Married in January on the beautiful island of Hawaii, Lara and Elliott didn’t have professional pictures done and had always wanted something incredible. Elliott found out how much I love the Spiral Jetty and that’s when we started making plans for our photo shoot.
I’ve never been there in the middle of the summer, and it was very different. The ground gets so hot, that there were pools of black, crude oil seeping up from the ground. The water levels were just about perfect, revealing a rich, red color that appears along the shoreline and in the shallow waters. I am always blown away at the beauty and diversity up there — it’s always a spiritual experience.
Thanks Elliott and Lara for spending the afternoon with me and for being so wonderful to photograph!
P.S. Sorry there are so many images for you all to look at….it was too hard to narrow them down any more than I already did
Their name says it all.
I had the pleasure of photographing the vibrant, fun Smiley family a couple days ago. They are all smiles and laughs. The cousins couldn’t get enough of each other. Running and playing in their grandparent’s backyard: the epitome of summer.
Saturday afternoon, I spent the day on the outskirts of Kamas, up by the Uinta mountains, with my good friends. We spent the day 4-wheeling, playing cards, talking, laughing, and enjoying the beautiful weather. I ventured out on a little hike with my camera to capture the beauty because I felt so at peace up there
The rest of the pictures were taken at 1.4 . . . I LOVE the shallow depth of field!
Lanae is the winner of the Baby Names Contest!
Congratulations, Lanae and baby Carlee. Email me your address and contact info to stacy@threewinksstudio.com so that I can mail you your $20 gift certificate to Children’s Place.
Thanks to everyone who contributed by entering the contest and by voting. There will be more contests to come!
Last night, I was in charge of an activity for some Young Single Adults (ages 18-30) out at Larry H. Miller’s Motorsports Park.
After dinner, I started off my evening at the race track. They had 8 mustangs going around the track at one time. James was my driver (he’s from England). Without difficulty, he carried on a normal conversation while careening around curves at 75 mph, speeding up to 90mph on the straightaways (which were few and far between), and handling the car with perfection as the tires screeched and skidded below us. It was intense. And I loved every minute of it!
After the amazing mustang ride, we headed over to the gokarts. I lost control once and spun around, but quickly gained composure. It was a tight race — three of us were competing for first place and all came up to a tight curve at the exact same moment. The other two couldn’t handle the pressure and I raced on to victory! (Although, apparently there was a driver who claimed that he passed me once….so I guess I technically got 2nd place…)
The night ended with a perfect sunset and ice cream sundaes. My chocolate ice cream was loaded with an assortment of chocolatey goodness — mini chips, crushed snickers, butterfingers, reese’s pieces, and M&Ms. I know that sounds like chocolate overload, but it was incredible.
I just used my new point and shoot Canon PowerShot Digital Elph for these….so I felt like I had no control over the images….but I used my new Totally Rad Actions 2 in my post-processing. What do you think?
Thank you, Larry, for helping us with this Activity, for your generosity and your kindness.
Here are the contestants. (I included everyone who wrote a story about their baby name)
VOTE at the end of the post. Cast your vote according to which story you like the best, origin of the name, or your favorite baby name. You have until Saturday night to vote! Thanks
1. My 5 week old daughter, Carlee was named after two great MEN, Nate’s Grandpa’s, CARL Rowley & LEE Ellertson. Nate has always talked really highly of his grandpas and has often shared with me many wonderful memories he has with them. I, unfortunately have never really had a grandfather figure in my life. So I hope they don’t mind me adopting them as my own grandparents, along with their wonderful wifes.
2. We adopted our son McCoy in December. Before he was born, my husband and I were having a tough time agreeing on a name for him. I wanted something unique and different and my husband wanted something more traditional. But he also wanted to name our little guy Mac, and I said that it was an ok nickname but that we would not be naming him Mac. So I told him to come up with a name that would suit Mac as a nickname. About a week before McCoy was born, my husband found the name McCoy in our baby name book. I thought that it was an ok name, but wasnt totally sold on it, even though it fit my criteria of being a unique name. The day McCoy was born, his birth family asked if we had a name for him yet. We told them the name and the story behind it. They instantly loved the name and McCoy’s birthgrandmother told me that they have the exact same story for their oldest son of her husband wanting to name him Mac and then they came up with the name MacLean. That made McCoy the perfect name for our son, on top of that he has red hair and his name fits him perfectly. (We don’t ever call him Mac, heehee).
3. My son’s name is Aidan. Way back before I should have even been thinking about baby names, I loved the name Aaron and wanted my first son to be an Aaron. I can’t remember what the meaning of the name is but I’m sure it was a good one because I think names should mean something good. But Aaron became something else (I can’t remember what) and then that became Aidan (way before Aidan was every popular). So, when I had my son, my husband and I agreed on Aidan. Of course that was the same year it was #1 or #2 on the most popular names list, much like it is now. 
Anyway, Aidan is a celtic name and some of my ancestors are from Scotland, so that was kind of important to me. Oh, and it means “little fire”, which I loved. In fact, that is what I named my photography business after, Little Fire Photography.
4. My husband and I love the polynesian cultures. He served a mission for the LDS church in Hawaii and my love for these people stems from childhood friends. We wanted our girls to have hawaian middle names. They are so pretty and have great meaning behind them. We actually picked the middle names first and then had to come up with their first names. My oldest daughter middle name is Lani Jean. Lani means Heaven. Jean is my middle name, my mothers middle name and my grandmother middle name. Then came her first name: Hailey. When I found it online somewhere I knew it was the one. Hailey means Hero. It went together so perfectly. She is our Hero from the Heavens. I can’t wait to see how this means transpires into her future. And when you say Hailey Lani Jean it has a great ring to it. Many family member call her all 3 names and nothing shorter.
5. Our second daughter is named Adeline. I love names with an older more classic feel and was struggling to find one I really loved (Our first daughter is Gabriella (Ella for short)). My husband and I met on a blind date and we really hit it off when we started talking about our love of music, particularily when we found out we both LOVED the musician Elliott Smith (who is not well known). If we had a boy we were going to name him Elliott for this reason. Well, since it was a girl that wouldn’t work but I was listening to one of his CDs while pregnant and the song Sweet Adeline came on. It just hit me – that is what her name should be! I LOVE her name, although her nickname (Addie) has had to grow on me a little more.
6. Choosing a name for our first baby, a boy, was the hardest part of my pregnancy. I have a hard time making decisions and I didn’t want him to be stuck with a name he didn’t like so that made it even harder. I wanted him to have a family name as well as a unique name. Before we left the hospital we finally decided on Kendall Scott, but we just call him Kenney. His name has so many connections. He has both his grandfather’s names – first and middle. And Kenney is his great grandfather’s last name – that’s why we spell it the way we do. Two years later I don’t regret our choice. I will always call him Kenney, but I like that he also has a distinguished sounding name that will be announced at a highschool or college graduation.
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The Baby Names Contest ends TONIGHT! Make sure you tell us your baby’s name and the story behind it. I will be posting the top ones to let all of you help me choose. The winner will win a $20 gift certificate to Children’s Place. Your chances of winning are higher if you actually submit an answer
And, I need to apologize that I’ve dropped off the planet this last week. I haven’t posted since last Friday…I can’t believe how fast time flies. I will do better in the future…. love you all!
