My Little Family | {Our Adventures}

This post is going to be a little bit different. I want to let you look into the life of my little family and see the things we like to do together. I’m sure it’s not much different than what your family might do. Here’s some visuals for you to enjoy.

Oh, and before I forget, check me out on Facebook at facebook.com/photosbykaren2010. Likes and shares are greatly appreciated!!

 

 

Little K and I like to “window paint”. I found it on Pinterest (of course) but I couldn’t tell you who from. There’s probably hundreds of tutorials/posts about doing this. Like this one. Or this one (who got it from this one).She was showing me the smiley’s eye and then her eye! How adorable is my little one??

 

Remember how I said I like the outdoors? Well so does K, A LOT! She loved feeding and petting the donkeys at La Purisima Mission in Lompoc, CA.

 

Donkeys aren’t the only animals she feeds. Well, actually, she’ll feed just about ANY animal… Anywho, we love spending time together at the duck park!

 

And we’re always up for a trip to the Ty Warner Sea Center in Santa Barbara, CA! It’s fun, interactive, educational, and let’s not forget inexpensive! K absolutely loves playing with the “shish” (fish). She also likes to splash in the water because she knows she’s not supposed to…

 

And splash in the water when she IS supposed to! I have a little shish of my own!

 

Oh how we love to spend time at the beach! Even though most of the time we’re dressed for a blizzard, there are a few days that are wonderful to play in the sand or go watch the sunset.

 

These are two separate trips, but see what I mean about K feeding animals? She likes to sneak her nacks (snacks) to our basset hound, Honey, any chance she can get! So of course she was all for feeding goats at the Santa Barbara Zoo!

 

What can I say, we like going to the Sea Center! She really does love to splash, and get everything soaking wet…. But you should always let littles be little!

 

Until next time,

Karen

My World

 

Let me get started by first introducing myself. My name is Karen. I’m 21 years old and currently live on the central coast of California. Why did I say “currently” you ask? Well, my husband is enlisted in the Air Force which means he and I, and our daughter and doggies, will move around more than the average family.

When I was in 8th grade, I met my husband (we’ll call him “J”) for the first time. I won’t get into too many details, but after getting to know each other over a period of months, we fell in love. Sweet, innocent, young love. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to spend my life with. We continued our relationship into high school where we both started to form our own passions and interests, supporting each other in whatever the other chose. For J it was a career in the military. For me, it was the hopes to one day turn a love of photography into something more than just a hobby. J enlisted in the Air Force when we were just 16 years old. It was a hard decision but one we both knew would be wonderful for our future. So on our 4th anniversary at the age of 18, we went down to our tiny town’s tiny courthouse, in front of our parents and two of our best friends, and signed our marriage license. We graduated high school a few months later and exactly one month after that, J left for Air Force Basic Training. This 5 month span to myself gave me the opportunity to invest in my blooming photography career. Or so I thought.

I decided not to enroll in college yet since J didn’t know where we’d be stationed until he was in Tech School. We had hoped we’d get a base somewhere in California since we were from a little town in the Ozarks of Missouri, aka the middle of scenic nowhere. Well, I shouldn’t say that. We do have some pretty cool scenery, but not much in the way of entertainment unless you’re into beer drinking, rafting, bon fires, backroad ridin’….you catch my drift… Anywho. We got our base, packed our stuff and our doggie, and ventured half way across the country to start our new life. Not too long after our arrival to the Golden State, we were excited to find out we were expecting a little one! This is when our daughter helped push back (yet again) me enrolling in classes. Not saying that’s a bad thing! As of right now, I’m happy to be a stay at home mommy to our wonderful 18 month old (we’ll call her “K”). She helps me to grow more and more each passing day!

One thing you’ll soon figure out is that I tend to go crazy with photos (and I suck in the writing department, I’m sure that rant will come soon). But hey, I did say photography was a passion! And I have the BEST subjects to use; my family and friends! I absolutely love to be a part of their lives and to help document all the important (and not so important) things going on. Just in the last 2 years, I’ve been able to make friends with 2 AMAZING couples and do various photo related things for them. For the first couple, I was able to help them with their wedding (photos and more, I like to be crafty. But that’s a whole other story…) and when he deployed, I was able to photograph not only his return but some adorable homecoming shots after they were settled back into a routine. For the other couple, I was incredibly honored to be there for the announcement of their little one as well as maternity and newborn photos, including a birth story. I love love LOVE that we all have become such close friends family and I love even more so that they allow me to record the memories they make.

I’m not the average photographer. I’ll tell you straight up that I don’t see myself as a “pro”. I’ll be the first to say that just because you have an expensive camera, it doesn’t make you a professional. I’m the one who will say that if you don’t like what you see, you don’t need to pay for it. I’m still learning. I’m going to make mistakes, I’m not perfect. Not that I believe ANYONE is, but still.

Through this blog, I hope to learn and teach and share to my little heart’s content. I hope to one day turn my hobby, my passion, into something more. I don’t “do it for the money”. I’m proud of what I do and who I can help. I hope you join me in my journey.

Until next time (which I’m sure will be quite soon),

Karen