You will be Missed

I received this in a email from a friend, and thought it was worth the share.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge)..
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well -intentioned but over bearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason...
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

The Brick

I received this in an email and found it to be a good story so thought I would share.

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something.

As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.

The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, 'What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?'

The young boy was apologetic. 'Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do,' He pleaded. 'I threw the brick because no one else would stop...' With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. 'It's my brother, 'he said 'He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up.'

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, 'Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me.'

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat... He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. 'Thank you and may God bless you,' the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk
toward their home...

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message:

'Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!' God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's our choice to listen or not.

Thought for the Day:
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring.
He sends you a sunrise every morning.

Face it, friend - He is crazy about you!

Summer Fun

Despite the high winds yesterday, we decided to have some water fun.

Business Website

I have created a new website for my photography business. Feel free to go and visit it here. It's still being updated, arranged, added too, taken from....basically just not done! So if you see it changing constantly that is why. I am basically adding my favorite pictures at this point.

I have also created a website where clients can view all of their photos and place orders for prints, but that is still in progress as I need to get a tax ID from the state before I can open that for business.

River

RIVER RIVER RIVER...I can hardy contain myself. It's finally nice here in good ol' Bizzo, and I can't wait to get out to the river more.

This last Saturday Dustin begged and begged for a wakeboard, I said no a few times, until he made me an offer I couldn't resist. He said that is all he wanted for Father's Day....so I caved. Now we are the proud owners of a Hyperlite wakeboard.

We decided we couldn't wait until 'Father's Day' to try it out, so we took the 25 minute journey up to Nelson Lake on Sunday to try it out. BOY AM I SOAR!! Not only did I fail to actually get up on plain, but I managed to acquire around a dozen bruises. I could barely move on Monday and today isn't much better. ARG! Dustin did manage to get up, but only lasted about 10 seconds before he would panic when he got close to the wake and would let go. WUSS! Harley even gave it a try, and almost did better than me, but he

too failed to actually get out of the water. Oh well, we will get it. We plan to go and give it a try again this weekend. I can't wait!

This is what I call HOME...

Harley's Baseball

Well another season has started in baseball, and this year Harley is rocking it more than ever. He is pitching too, and let me say that not too many kids can get a hit off of him. I am more than impressed with his athletic skills. Can't wait to see what his future holds for him in sports, I have a feeling he is going to be big.

Here are a few shots of Harley that I was able to capture:

Dustin is coach of Harley's team this year, and let me say that he is doing awesome. It's so nice to see a coach out there that doesn't favor their own child (it's usually a dad from the team that coaches). Such a good coach he is.

New Business

Well, I have officially done it.

THIS is my new logo (thank you Signs & Wonders, 701-222-3848 for the beautiful design) that I will be using for my new Photography business. Yup, I said it, business. I have officially paid for this name and it is ALL mine.

So with that being said...

Reflections, Photography by Kristi Kay is now booking for any event possible; weddings, engagements, senior pictures, infant, children, family, business, birthdays, renewal of vows, etc.

Call or email for price list and consultation.

PHONE: 701-400-934

EMAIL: reflectionsphotography@bis.midco.net

Here is a link to my Facebook page where I am uploading my work for the time being: Reflections, Photography by Kristi Kay

I think it's going to be a good year!

Wowsers, it's been a LONG time since I have even cracked open this webpage. Lots of updates going on...

First and foremost, Dustin's little brother Tyler has left this country to go and fight for this country. He is Afghanistan and I ask for everyone's prayers to bring him home safe to us. We love you Tyler!

Photography has been going great lately. I am doing my first wedding this summer and already have 3 booked for 2011. Can you believe that? And not a bit of advertising, just what friends of friends have heard and seen on my facebook. Amazing!

It's that time of year again when Harley says he wants to play baseball, we shell out $100, a lot of time, and a lot of proudness. This year however is different. This year Dustin was offered the volunteer position of Coach. After many many attempts to try and talk him into it (he is kinda shy) he said YES!! I, being the wife of the Coach, have taken on the Coordinator position. Basically I just stay in touch with parents to make sure they know everything they are supposed to know. So far it has been super fun, and for the first time we feel like a part of the 'parent's team'. Dustin and I have never really talked to the parents of the other kids, mainly because they have never tried to talk to us and we both feel like they look down upon us because we are so young. Solhiem is filled with little richy snobs who think they are better than everyone else, so I suppose it is fair to say that we judged these parents just like we thought they were judging us. Well I think both us, and them, have discovered our assumptions to be false. Dustin held the first practice this last Wednesday and he did wonderful. It felt really good to get in and mingle with the parents of the boys that Harley plays with at school. I think it's going to be a great summer.

Harley also rocked it at practice; catching pop flies, retuning double plays, and hitting like a pro. I think it's going to be a great summer.

Dustin and I both decided that we were giving up our summer sports (Softball & Volleyball). It took up too much of our time in the summers and occasionally would get in the way of Harley's baseball. So this year we are concentrating ONLY on Harley's baseball and football (come fall). We also decided that we needed something to do as a family. There is only so many parks and walks a person can take before they get bored, so we bought a boat. I think it's going to be a great summer.

Kaden is doing amazing. He is snapping out of his naughty stage for the most part, and has become quite the nice little polite boy. He is speaking sentences finally; telling us what he does and doesn't want is his favorite :) But never the less he is still a great kid, very polite, always saying please, thank you and excuse me. He makes me so happy. I can't complain about anything he really does, other than trying to shut the fridge door ON HIMSELF. Now we have to start working harder on this potty training and we will be set! I can't wait to take the little stinker out on the river. We have a very hard time getting him out of our boat while it's in the driveway, I can only imagine how difficult it will be to leave a sandbar. He is going to grow up a river rat child just like I did :) I think it's going to be a great summer.

Well, in conclusion, I think it's going to be a great summer :)

Photoshoot with Tab's little guy

Maternity Photoshoot

I was going to wait until I was done with all of my favorites....but I couldn't wait so without further ado...here are the ones that I have done:

Now you have to keep this on the hush hush because this beautiful mother has yet to see any of her pictures!