Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning.

I am very blessed. I have a wonderful husband, fabulous children and an extended family I love. What more could a woman ask for? Not much.

This year we spent Christmas Eve with my family hanging out during the day before heading to church and then back to my parents for dinner and a sharing of gifts. It was a great day.

Olyvia got the wedding barbie and wedding Ken and was VERY excited. I was excited that they were barbies that are fully clothed and don't have makeup on. Thank you mom.


Santa brought Ellie Claire a soft baby with really long legs that she fell in love with right away.


Santa knew just what to bring Olyvia, a red and white checkered tie. She is very excited to get to wear it to school in the new year.


After church we took some pictures in front of the tree - my girls were very patient as I wanted to get them from every directions.

Olyvia helped dice up apples for the apple and red cabbage slaw that we made to go with the beef tenderloin. It is always such a delight for me to watch her cook. She is so serious and careful as she makes each slice methodically. She is turning into a wonderful chef.

Leilah, Kristin and Nate hung out for a few hours during lunch. It was great to see Leilah so excited and running around. She sure is a bolt of energy but I just love to see her expend it. What a joy.

Ellie wanted to be my present so she asked if she could put a bow on her nose. I told her that of course she could and then I grabbed my camera - just like any good mom. :)

What an amazing Christmas we had. I feel wonderfully blessed to have been able to spend it with such great family. I look forward to the coming year and all the many more memories we will share together.

Jose Girls.

On Sunday when we pulled into the church parking lot and stepped out of the car I was excited to see that there were two beautiful girls building a snowman in the parking lot. I went over and asked if I could snap a few pics. Here are some that I took. What beautiful fun girls.

Snow at Kopperskogen!

Although many will not agree with me and may want to silence me immediately, I have to admit that we were all VERY excited about the snow. We just wanted it to keep snowing. The only difficult part about it is that not everyone is as comfortable with it as we are and it seems to slow down business as usual when it comes to work and shopping. That aside, we got outside as much as we could and as much as our girls would let us, filling up on plenty of hot cocoa in between. Here are some pictures of some of our endeavors.

After the big snow there were only a few that made it out last Sunday to get to church. When we got out of the car Ellie immediately started walking around making fresh footprints in the virgin snow fall.

At home, Ellie was reaching her maximum outside point and really wanted to stay in the nice warm jeep. After snapping a picture of her we convinced her to get outside and play a little longer.

Because of the precarious roads, Sam wasn't able to get to our house to watch the girls so they came to work with me for a couple days. They loved it and I loved having them with me.

Wrapping up 2008.

As the snow melts ever so slowly and the threat of more snow looms overhead, I realized that in all the weather drama and the holidays that I haven't been keeping up with everyone. The last week has been very eventfull and I can't wait to share pictures with you all from our family outtings and Christmas celebrations. I do hope all of you had wonderful holiday celebrations with family. Be watching for more on ours.

Marco Polo with the Cell Phone.

On Saturday night the girls are I were sitting at home having just had dinner and decided to take some goodies to our neighbors and go for a walk. We grabed our coats and boots and headed out. It was 7:00pm. I took the flashlight from our jeep so that we would have a little additional light although the reflection from teh snow helped to lead most of the way. After dropping goodies off at both our neighbors houses we started back down the driveway. My parents ended up pulling down our driveway just at that moment. When we got back to the house we decided to do some sledding and so grandma and papa pulled the girls and I and then I joined in the pulling and we took them up and down the driveway. When Robb arrived at home we strapped the saucer to the back of the truck and he pulled us down the driveway until after a few upside down falls we realized it probably wasn't going to work the way we wanted it to and we headed inside for the night.

Now all day on Sunday I could not find my phone. It wasn't until I put the connection together of what I was doing the last time I had my cell phone that I realized it was most likely burried somewhere outside under at least 6 inches of snow. I went downstairs Sunday night at 6pm to see if Robb would be willing to help me search for it. We walked around in the snow for awhile just about giving up - so much snow to go through there was no way we were going to find it. Then Robb had an idea. He suggested I go and get his phone and we could play a Marco polo sort of game with it to find my phone. I had previously mentioned to him that it did not go straight to voicemail when I called it which lead me to believe the battery wasn't dead. Wherever it was, it was still on. And so we started walking down our driveway, stopping every once in awhile to listen for the "polo" call from the phone. I kept redialing over and over until finally, we head it. About 3/4 of the way down our driveway Robb heard the ringing. I was able to pinpoint the exact spot and started to dig. Yes, we found it and it was still working. It felt like something right out of a movie. Like on Hook when Robin Williams' phone gets thrown out the window into the snow and the dog digs it up.

Anyway, luckily I will not have to be buying a new phone this holiday season but the lesson learned was that I should remove my cell phone from my pocked before sledding. :)

Four Christmases

Last night Robb and I went with my parents to the movie Four Christmases. The movie was hilarious. I think that we fully enjoyed it because there were many parts of it we could relate too. I find myself often wondering why it is that we put ourselves into a frenzy to go everywhere and see everyone on the holidays. This movie helped bring to light some of the reasons in a playfull and humurous way. I would highly recommend it.

This year we are trying to find a ballance between seeing everyone for the holidays and having some time just the four of us at home enjoying time with each other. This is not a simple thing to do. I have finally realized that you can't please everyone. . . Robb is still working on that realization. We will see how this holiday season goes. :) I know that whatever happens we are very blessed and I just thank God for all that we have.

Chocolate, Marshmallows & Peanut Butter, Oh My!

A few weeks back I sent my mom an e-mail booking a date to bake. I knew that I wanted to bake a bunch of goodies this year and it seemed only right that I do so with my mom. You might ask why I want to do this? Especially given past baking experiences with my beautiful copper tops. The reason is because I want them to have as many fond memories of baking as I do.

With the date set, the girls and I anticipated our day of baking more and more as it got closer. Saturday morning with the day finally here and the ingredients loaded in the car, I headed to my mom's house just before 9am. I made it about 2 miles when I realized I had forgotten all my baking pans and cooling racks. Yes, my mom has some. However, with the amount we wanted to accomplish we needed mine as well. So I turned around heading back to the house. I get to the house, go upstairs and begin going through the cupboards and pulling out anything and everything I think I might need. I had three cooling racks, two cookies sheets, 1 glass 9x13 and 1 metal 9x13, 2 loaf pans, 1 metal 8" square pan, 1 glass 9" square pan, four large rectangular tubperwares, plastic wrap, and . . . I think that was all. So I have all these things in a large stack in the middle of the kitchen floor and I think to myself "I can carry these, easy!" Using my knees and not my back I lower down, scoop under and stand back up, leaning the stack ever so slightly towards my upper body to ballance it. I head for the door.

Luckily I had left the door open so I didn't have to open it but I realize I have no way to shut it. I try to grab it with my foot and pull it shut with no success. I decide to come back up the stairs after I load these into the car. Uh, oh! How am I going to get this gigantic stack of pans, racks and tubperware into the jeep? At this point I have still not headed downstairs, so I could have placed half my stack onto the table and come back for it. But no. I decide I can figure it out when I get down there and down the stairs I go.

Once down the stairs and to the back of the jeep I raise my right leg to a 90 degree bent angle, ballancing the stack on the top of my leg while then using my foot to pulll open the latch on the back door. Once the latch releases, I let go with my foot. My leg, however is being used now to help me ballance the stack of stuff and if I move it the stuff will most likely fall to the ground. I can't let go with my hands because my hands are keeping the stack all together. So with the back of my arm and shoulder I crouch down (keep in mind my leg is still lifted and bent in a 90 degree angle - it is not touching the ground) and try to catch the edge of the back door and hopping forward pull the door gradually until I can ballance it onto my shoulder. Once onto my shoulder I am able to bounce backwards and get my head under the door. At this point I fling my head back to get enough momentum under the door to push it all the way up. I am successfull. I then put my foot (of the lifted legg) into the back of the jeep, lower the stack into the back softly, take my leg back and shut the door. I then look around wishing someone had just seen this amazing accomplishment - no broken bones, no broken dishes.

I then get back into the car and begin to head out of the driveway towards my moms. I then remember that I had left the front door open because I had no free hands. I circle the driveway, run up the stairs and shut the door, and then head out.

Although the day started off a little scary, it was a success. I found that I was looking forward to it moras much as my girls if not more. Although they both love to bake and especially loved the process of shredding chocolate, they did not care too much for the waiting necessary to make almond roca. They wanted immediate results. They ended up playing and watching Christmas movies most of the day with a few sneaks to get some goodies.

What is a Copper Moment?

It is hard for me to even begin to explain this last weekend. I suppose that is why it has taken me so long to sit down and write a post about it. I have barely talked about it at all because I have been trying to process the layers that I crammed into my brain over the two day workshop.

What I have decided first and foremost is that Me Ra and Brian are amazing. Their graciousness to the wonderful group of women that I was blessed to be a part of was amazing. They literally sat us down and taught us as much as they could in two days.

Second, I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY! I love the idea of capturing life and being able to go back to that moment in time, that memory, and seeing it for what it was. The little things we forget or, overtime, change. Maybe we don't remember quite how it happened or the exact facial expression that occurred. Maybe we are thinking back to a vacation we went on and so we pull out our photos. We do this because these photographs have captured for us the moments we can't quite remember. The ever changing moments that remain fluid in our mind until we see one of these pictures.

What do I want to do with this . . . I want to take pictures. So it is decided. So it is done. The first thing I would need to do is come up with a name for this "business." How does one do this? How does one take all their passion for something and turn it into one or two words? Jump in I suppose.

There are a few things in my life that are of the most importance. God. My family. My friends. I knew that I wanted my title to somehow encompass my love for my children because it is those two beauties that got me taking pictures again but I also wanted my name to represent why I want to take pictures. My girls have beautiful copper hair. Taking this word and knowing a little about copper because of my families' business, I began to realize that copper is a perfect example of what i love about photography. Copper in its molten form is fluid and as it cools it becomes molded into the last position it held. As a photographer it is my job to capture the fluidity of life's memories.

This blog is a compilation of a bunch of the Copper Moments in my life. Enjoy!

Kimco Plumbing Christmas Party at Alderbrook Resort.

This year the Christmas party was one of our best ever. We gathered at Alderbrook Resort for drinks and dinner. Everyone seemed to have a great time and the food was fabulous. I would definitely recommend Alderbrook to anyone looking for a place for a romantice gettaway, a family reunion or a company gathering.

Here are a few of the pictures from the evening:

My wonderful parents, Bill & Patti Kimler.

Some of our great employees.

My daddy and I goofing around.





After dinner a group of us went to the lounge to continue visiting. An order of their crab macaroni and cheese was purchased and fought over. Here are the remains.

A Trip to Jone's Tree Farm in Poulsbo

I remember as a young girl my family had a tradition of going out into the woods and cutting down a Christmas Tree and I swear there were times when I froze like a popsicle (imagine the daughter in Christmas Vacation) and thought I was dying. It always took so long and my mom had to have just the right tree. I knew that when I was older I would never subject my children to that torture . . . . well, you know the saying 'never say never?'

This last Sunday afternoon we loaded the girls up in the truck, grabbing a few oranges for the quick trip we were about to make to get our tree (Mistake 1: not feeing them lunch and just grabbing a couple oranges. Mistake 2: thinking this would be a quick tripp.) We headed towards Sawdust Hill road to go to the tree farm that the girls and Robb went to last year. Our tree lasted so long last year that we thought going to the same place would perfect. (Mistake 3: assumption of perfection)

We arrive at the tree farm and have realized that we should probably leave Button (we were still dog sitting) in the back of the truck while we go to get the tree. My suggestion. I just couldn't imagine trying to wrangle the two girls, get a tree and all the while I am wanting to take some pictures. We only have so many hands, right?



The girls were quite distressed over the idea of leaving Button all alone. The were sure that she couldn't possibly survive on her own and that we should just bring her with us. One of the kids that was there at the farm (possibly a son of the owner) came up to us and told us we could take our dog with us if we wanted. Robb thought, that would be much easier, giving in to the girls, and so we did. (Mistake 4: not leaving dog in truck) And so off we go to catch a ride upon the horse drawn carriage that will take us out to the tree fields so that we can start looking for our perfect tree (perfect tree...am I starting to sound like my mom yet?).





All the way out to the middle of the tree farm we headed while the driver and the riders sang Christmas carols. The girls had a great time. Olyvia was enamored with the large horses that were pulling us and Ellie was intrigued by everything. Eventually we got up to what the driver told us was the top of the fields and he let us out. And so we began the hunt for the tree, with two small children and a dog.

An hour and a half later we finally came upon the right tree, after many fine candidates were eliminated.







We all enjoyed some cocoa before heading home to set up the tree.





It is funny how as children we claim that we are never going to inflict upon our children that which was inflicted upon us. Then as adults, we do just that. I know that the girls will take from this more than I could imagine. In years to come, when they have their own children, they will instill in them the same love of family that we have.