New business, an unexpected haircut and family photos

I have been such a slacker with this blog. Life has been busy, what can I say? Here is an overdue update!

To start things off, I registered my business with the state of Colorado yesterday! So Valeri Andersen Photography is officially official! With things taking off so quickly, I felt like I needed to do it. It will be tedious having to keep track of every little detail (thank goodness for Microsoft Excel), but there are plenty of advantages, and ultimately it's the honest way to operate a business. Things are beginning to slow down for me, which I'm happy about. For a while it seemed things were getting out of control. I have no one to blame for that but myself. Still, I am so grateful for the growth and confidence I've gained though the many opportunities presented to me in the recent weeks. It's been a great start to what I hope will be a successful business!

I have not updated my photography blog in weeks! A lot of it is lack of time, but I'm also so far behind, I hardly even know where to begin. I have easily done 15 sessions that aren't even posted on there. It's a time-consuming process going through and picking out the best photos from any given session, and then posting them. By the time I finish the editing process, the last thing I feel like doing is updating my blog. Instead I want to burn a cd, give it to the client and be done! I am also in the process of creating a website, so it's possible that the blog will eventually fizzle out. We'll see. I did create a fan page on Facebook, so look me up if you're interested! There are some recent photos there. I do love my fans and plan to offer some fun incentives in the coming months, so check it out.

Speaking of photography, we did our family photos last Saturday!



Since taking family photos is nearly impossible (or at least tricky) when you'd like to be in them yourself, my friend Rachael and I helped each other out. We each brought our own camera and took turns playing photographer. It was a great system! We ran out of day light quickly, so I didn't get hardly anything of the kids, nor of Neil and me, which I'd really hoped. Luckily both the kids have birthdays in the next couple weeks, so I'll be doing their year photos around then. And, well, maybe one of these days I can talk Neil into doing some good old husband/wife photos...











You wouldn't know it, but only an hour or two prior to our shoot, Chloe decided she needed a haircut! I'm sure you know where this is going. I was actually giving her a small trim when I left the room for a minute to grab a water bottle. Before leaving, I specifically told her NOT to touch the scissors. I really thought she would listen, but would I be sharing all of this if she had ? Probably not. When I came back into the bathroom less than a minute later, here's what I found in the sink. Let's just say Chloe almost didn't survive the day. I was so mad, mainly because she deliberately disobeyed me. But the fact that we had pictures that same day didn't help anything. I think I scared the you know what out of her! And I don't think she'll be attempting that again! Luckily she took a small chunk off each side of her head. Why she chose those areas are beyond me, but I think it saved the photos because I was able to lay the hair on top of her head over those areas. Needless to say she'll pretty much be wearing her hair down non-stop until the hair grows back enough that it doesn't look ridiculous! Crazy kid.

{This one's my favorite}

The kids are doing great. Yesterday and today I've spotted Ryan standing several times on his own, not holding onto anything. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he's taking his first steps, and then taking OFF! He still only has 2 teeth. That top left one is sure being stubborn. I've been watching and feeling for it for over a week now, and it still hasn't broken through. Poor Ryan. Hopefully the teething stage, at least for now, will be past him soon! He has a birthday in just a little over a week! Where did my baby go? Ah!

Not much more going on. Neil has quite enjoyed being able to relax and watch football on Saturdays without having to worry about house projects. I think we are all relieved to have them over with!

That's about it with us for now. Friday I'm going to try and venture out to a local pumpkin patch with the kids. I had originally planned to go today until the snow hit. So now the plan is Friday. We'll see if the weather holds up. Friday evening begins the Halloween festivities with a church chili cook-off and plenty of candy and games for the kids. Chloe is going to be a LSU cheerleader and Ryan is going to be a tiger (LSU's mascot). For those of you wondering what our connection to LSU is, read this post. Chloe keeps complaining that she wants to be a princess, even though she was initially excited about the cheerleader idea. Oh well! Once she has a decent amount of candy to distract her, I don't think she'll care what she is!

More October photos to come! Have a good night everyone!