Week 26 - Pets....Roxie

This is our little Roxie - she will tip her head one way and then the other as we talk to her.  She is 1/2 Yorkie and 1/2 Bichon and loves to chase and bring back a tennis ball.  She will even throw it up on your lap if you are sitting down!  For more pets visit iheartfaces.com

Week 25 'Celebrating Teens'

Graduatino Day!

Week 24 - All About Babies

This is a photo of my first grandchild - my daughter and her son when he was only one week old.  It really shows how precious he is to her!  For more babies, go to iheartfaces.com

Week 20 - Face & Flowers

This is my grandson - about to 'eat' that dandelion fluff flower!  We caught him before he ate this one, but he did manage to crawl fast enough away to get another one and then spit it out.  He just loved those fluffy things!  For more Faces &  Flowers go to iheartfaces.com

Week 17 - Smiles

This is my grandson with his 'kitty'. He really loves his kitty! My daughter only lets him have his kitty at bedtime or naptime, so it makes him happy to go to bed because he gets his kitty! They were home for a visit and I had him overnight and found out how well his kitty works - no trouble going to bed and when he woke up once, I just gave him kitty and he hugged kitty and went right back to sleep. I could hear him talking to kitty in the morning too - so sweet! Wish I would have thought of that when my kids were little! For more on smiles, visit I Heart Faces!

Week 16 - Photo Collage

My husband wanted an informal picture of his band while they were jamming - they were too busy playing to pose for me, so I captured each of them and made a collage.


Check out more collages at I Heart Faces

Week 12 - Angles - Bluegrass Picker

My husband coordinates a Cabin Fever Reliever Bluegrass Festival every spring at a local hotel in our home town.  We had over 200 people this last weekend - lots of pickers in the lobbies and other areas at the hotel plus local bands on stage and a headliner concert.  This was one of the banjo pickers.  I wanted to do an angle so I could get his pickin' fingers and his banjo.  For more fun with angles, check out iheartfaces.com.

Amy Wenzel Workshop Giveaway!

Inspire others? I guess I never thought a lot about me inspiring others – more about who has inspired me. But, if I look back at my life, I would say there are parts of my life that have inspired other people to know that they can do it, too. I am just a regular person with a great desire to always learn and improve. I escaped an abusive first marriage (with 2 girls) about 20 years ago and then met and married my husband of 17 years. Together we raised 5 children. We inspired them to strive to be their best and always be true to themselves. We have a veterinarian, a small business owner (kitchen and bath design), a professional baseball player, a plumber and the youngest is in her third year of college to be an elementary education teacher.

I have friends and acquaintances that have gone through tough divorces and I have been able to encourage them with my story of a successful second marriage and blended family. My husband and I still like each other and love spending time together. We are proof that things can be good and you can get through tough times and be better for it.  As I said, we still like each other and that is as important as loving each other.  

I am known as the family photographer. I just love taking pictures. Because of my love of photography, several family members have  taken an interest in photography. We all had point and shoot cameras and then I got my first digital SLR. My relatives saw what I could do and now they are venturing into that realm. They are looking  at how they, too, can ‘capture the moment'. Even my daughter's father-in-law decided to update his Canon SLR to a Canon DSLR and is re-learning what he did back in the 80’s. Now, with grandchildren, there are even more moments to capture.

I work in a busy oral surgery office and when we upgraded to 42” on-the-wall monitors in our 5 surgery rooms, the staff thought it would be a great idea to put my photos in a slide show for our patients to watch while waiting. Two of our staff joined me in the DSLR world and one even took a community education photography class with me. I encouraged them and several other staff members to contribute to the slide show. Our patients comment every day on the slide show – wanting to know who took the photos. We can now say it is a collaboration of our staff's talent. Now, when someone goes on vacation, they are excited to come back and see what I think of their photos and if they will work for the slide show. I even had one gal come back and say ‘See, I framed this one just like you do.’ I love seeing them strive for their best!

I would love to continue to improve my photography and Amy's workshop would be a great inspiration to me! I am trying to stay away from that ‘auto’ button and am encouraging my co-workers to do that, too. One has gone from the ‘auto’ button to the ‘aperture' button and is going to go to ‘manual’ next. I would like to help them more when they come to me and say ‘How do I do this…’  The more I can learn, the more great moments I can capture.

Click here for more on Amy's Workshop & Giveaway 

Week 9 - Outakes

This was caught totally by accident - I was taking a picture of my niece with her little guy and at that same time, he decided to 'cool off' his mom and yes, it was very cold water right in her lap!

I walked in to take a picture of the dogs playing together and our son decided to join them. He just became a major league baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals - does he look like a professional ball player??



All I was trying to do, was to get a nice picture of the 'cousins' at Christmas and the 'boys' had to be 'boys'! I don't even think Nicole knew what they were doing. She was showing off her hat - her cousin on the right, just became a major league pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and she was so excited to get a team logo hat!


Ok, so I am just taking a nice picture of my mom smiling and when I look at the photo, there is one of her grandson's in the background and guess what he is doing! When I showed him the picture, he thought it was funny and wanted me to send it to his phone. The worst thing about it is that we seldom get a good picture of my mom and now I have to figure out how to crop him out!

Week 8 - Hands On the Dobro

This is our friend playing the Dobro in my husband's Bluegrass band. I love the sound of the Dobro! Check out more hands at iheartfaces.com

Week 7 - I Wanna Dance....

This was at my nephew's wedding. Jaydee's mom couldn't dance as she had just had surgery on her foot, so Jaydee got to dance with her dad - he had just done half a twirl and was about to finish. They were really good and had lots of fun! Those big shoes never did step on her little feet! For more 'I Wanna Dance' - go to iheartfaces.com

Week 4 Texture Photo

This is my grandson!  He is trying desperately to get his mom's attention.  The background is actually a 'keep the deer out of the garden' fence, but I like the 'texture' it created.  Obviously, he is teething, too! 

Family Sports Day!

This is our family cheering on the Vikings.  Yes, they won on Sunday, the 17th, but this was actually a close Vikings/Green Bay game that the Vikings won.  My husband is on the left. Then it is our 2 sons, our future son-in-law, one of our daughters and my husband's brother.  My mother-in-law was there, too - that's who my brother-in-law is looking at.  The boys' faces you see are twins and I love their excitement!  Can you just imagine the noise they are making!  I don't even have to watch the game  - they all let me know what is happening by their reactions!  For more family fun, go to I Heart Faces!

Anticipation...Snowball Ready!

This is my sister's grandson - taken December 26, 2009.  The family all met at her lake place in Bemidji, Minnesota for Christmas and then got snowed in! We had 3 great days of snow and family! It was beautiful and warm enough for great snowballs! Brody wasn't very good at making snowballs - he had his big brother's mittens on - but he did try catching them! For more great 'Photo Faces' celebrating I Heart Faces one year anniversary, just click here: iheartfaces.com/

"Best Photo Face" Which one is the best???

I Heart Faces is celebrating their 1 year anniversary with a 'Best Face Photo' challenge. First, I wasn't sure if they meant only one face for the photo or not. Then, it had to be in Dec or Jan, so that narrowed it, but I still had so many to pick from - with the holidays, and all. I had such a hard time picking one, so I listed some of mine that I did find interesting in this post. A couple of them have glare on the glasses that I haven't fixed, yet. Feel free to comment on any of them.


December 26, 2009 - Lots of snow and fairly warm, great for snowballs - ready to catch one?

January 1, 2010 - My grandson and his 'Digital Camera Smile'. My daughter says he is so used to people asking him to smile that this is the face he gives you! Then he wants to immediately see the picture in the camera - then he laughs, but you don't have the camera to capture it! 

December 29, 2009 - Kids being crazy! The one on the left just got a new 'St. Louis Cardinals' hat in honor of the one on the right finally making it to the 'Major League Team' for the St. Louis Cardinals and the one in the middle just got engaged to our daughter!

December 26, 2009 - Has he 'gone to the dogs'? This is what happens when you are snowed in for 3 days - you go a little crazy!
December 29, 2009 - 'I got a Viking Hat for Christmas! I'm so proud of it!'


December 25, 2009 - son and Father


'Happy' - Daughter and Mother


December 25, 2009 - Little Brothers!


December 29, 2009 - Big Brothers!

December 27, 2009 - I was taking a photo of my mother, but look what I captured in the background - didn't even see it until looking at the photo later. Some kids just never grow up!