What I’m Doing –

Engagement Session at Smith Rock was a highlight for me! Not just because they are two people I love, but the location and weather were perfect! Yes, it was cold but we tried to warm things up with a thermos of hot coco and warm blankets to wrap up in between and sometimes during our session. 

I seriously want to shoot at Smith Rock a million more times! I loved it! But more of that later. First Thanksgiving!

Did you survive Thanksgiving? Are you ready for Christmas? It’s amazing how once Thanksgiving evening hits it’s like a gun went off at the Christmas starting line. 

But first we had a wonderful Thanksgiving day at my moms. She made a delicious meal and I got to hang out with some of my favorite people for the day. Good food, fun games and great conversations. It was like this tiny little oasis of calm between the holidays. Thanksgiving prep was over and we were just swinging in the hammock of peace before the Christmas rush.

For me, the effort and mess of decorating is totally worth it! I love having our home decorated for Christmas. Lights on the outside, fresh cut tree, lights and Christmas decorations all placed with care… I’m thankful for Jeff for hanging the light. Friday morning we headed to Tree Wiseman https://treewisemans.com/  where Ty and Kim did an excellent job picking the tree and Jeff happily chopped it down with his chainsaw. It was a team effort!

That evening we headed to Portland for the tree lighting downtown. It was chilly but without wind or rain so it was perfect! It was beautiful with the all of the lights and decorations downtown. By Friday evening we were fully into the Christmas spirit!

Bend Trip –

The next morning Jeff and I headed to Central Oregon. We were really excited about the days photo session! 

What I’m Photographing 

Our oldest son Joshua proposed to Jocelyn labor day weekend. This past weekend was when all of our schedules worked to meet at Smith Rock for their engagement session. I was nervous shooting in a new location. I wasn’t sure what the weather would hold or how the lighting with the snow would work out.   Once we meet up with Josh and Joc we had the best time! The snow at Smith just made everything magical! These two are so in love even the 19 degree temperature couldn’t cool their enthusiasm.  We had so much fun and the setting combined with these two gorgeous people was a dream come true!

I feel so blessed with the opportunity to take these pictures. We have hired some wonderful photographers for their wedding but I wanted the opportunity to do their engagement pictures. I’m just so thankful! It’s clear there is a lot of love between these two! June will be here before we know it!

We spent the night in Bend and had the opportunity to hang out with Jocelyn’s family and play games. The next morning we had a fresh blanket of snow and it was so gorgeous I didn’t want to come home!!! 

After breakfast we all headed to Bend Rock Gym https://bendrockgym.com/ Which is such a fun place to climb! With toe surgery looming I am trying to climb all I can. Sadly, I won’t be climbing with Josh and Joc while they are home for Christmas. 

We had a slow, snowy, beautiful drive back to the west side on Sunday. 

What’s Next

I had a panic attack regarding my surgery over the weekend. I started to have real doubts regarding if this was the right thing. With visions of being crippled and having to have repeat surgeries and basically things just being made worse by surgery I contacted my Dr.  Thankfully my awesome Dr. got me in on Monday and patiently explained everything to me again. I left confident that he knows what he is doing and this is the absolute best option for me. Most importantly, the expectation is while it will take time (the hard part) I will get back to pain free walking, hiking and climbing. 

Surgery is tomorrow morning.  I appreciate all prayers and words of encouragement.

My biggest surgery concerns

-Pain

-mobility

-weight gain from not being able to be active

– isolation

-time of recovery

I have lots of books to read and we have recently sighned up for Disney Plus and I bought a new puzzle. So I’m all set! 🙂 I also have crutches and a scooter. I’m excited about going to Fred Meyer and using one of the electric carts!!! LOL!  😛 

Book List

Monday evening was book club night. In December of every year we each bring a wrapped book for our annual book exchange. I love it! Not only am I excited about the next month’s book reveal I will also be coming home with a new book! 

My reading list while recovering includes these titles~

1. The Spy and the Traitor (I am halfway through and hooked) Thank you very much Janet Rich for this awesome recommendation!
2. The Girl you Left Behind (the book I picked from the book exchange that Suzanne tried to steal from me but I stole back!)
3. The Dutch House
4. The Giver of Stars (Next month’s book club pick)

While I have a shelf of “to-read” books I will start with these 4 and hopefully by the time I’m finished I will be back to climbing walls and hiking trails. 

Thanks for stopping in for this Wednesday edition of the blog!

Shelly