{ Go Cougs }

No matter what the Cougar football record is at the end of the season, I still am and will always be a loyal fan. Since we aren't racking up the points, getting much coverage on TV or really even playing well these days, the main thing that I look forward to on Saturday mornings is seeing one, two or three Cougar flags waving in the background behind Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler and Lee Corso. Just like the first time I saw it, I still get goosebumps. It's just one more thing that makes me proud to be a Coug. I'm loving this tradition and I'm loving that ESPN made a commercial in honor of this tradition. Go Cougs!

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I Caved...

...and finally bought a pair of Hunter Wellies...green...to be exact

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Considering the Seattle weather conditions { Lots-O-Rain } for much of Fall and Winter, I decided this was a purchase that must be made. I was a bit apprehensive at first, because I have short legs, but I think they'll work out just fine AND they'll keep my jeans from soaking halfway up my leg...which in my mind is pure misery that can last hours - we've all been there.

I just might even find a puddle this weekend { shouldn't be too difficult } just to test how well they truly work.

Whatever you're up to this weekend, I hope it's fabulous

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In Case You've Missed Me...

Or maybe you're like me and was just tired of seeing my same post on Washington DC { is this vain of me? }.

I've decided to provide a bit of an update on what I've been up...

Work has been extremely busy. Do you ever feel that you take a vacation and then you end up paying for it with the over-abundance of work you have to catch-up on when you return? That's me...still catching up from when I missed three days of work for DC. *definitely do.not.regret taking this vacation

Busy, busy, busy with photoshoots. Sometimes, I'll get so wrapped up in the actual day of shoots that I completely forget the hours of editing that come along with it { definitely no complaints here }. I enjoy every single part of photography - camera, editing, meeting new people, etc, etc, etc...BUT the weather report for Seattle has the potential for putting a damper on my shoots this weekend...no rain please...at least not until Monday. Thankfully, I have a husband that supports this little hobby of mine...100%...perk: he made fabulous dinners, three nights in a row, this week so I could get just a few more hours in of editing.

Tonight, I'm off to my 4th Annual Seattle Children's Hospital - Symphony Guild event at Beneroya Hall - awesome show put on by Seattle native and music extraordinaire, Matt Messina.

Also, found time to celebrate this guys 1st birthday - I'm kinda in love with Jake's huge cheeks and blue eyes. Stay turned for more photos from the Burrell's family session.

Have I mentioned before how much I heart Etsy? If not, I truly do love this site and made my first purchase today in months. I think the last thing I actually bought from the site was Steve's wedding band. Today, at the suggestion of Aimee, I bought these { oh-so-perfect } Christmas cards - my first Christmas purchase of the year.

I'm sad to be missing a girls trip to Lake Chelan this weekend to celebrate Diggy's 30th { Happy Birthday Digs - please enjoy some sippers for me! }, but I'm looking forward to what the weekend has in store...as long as the weather can cooperate...

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DC { Recap }

The five days we spent in DC, Virginia and Maryland were so much fun. Despite the dreary, dark, rainy weather, we still had such a great time. Wednesday and Thursday night were spent with the Fitch's in Great Falls, VA - Friday and Saturday were spent with the Reynold's at their new home in Arlington. Here is a list of the sites we accomplished - we had so much more on our "to do" list, but with the crummy weather weren't able to do everything we had hoped (i.e. wine tasting in Virginia - planned by Stacie and Carrie).

☂ Downtown Baltimore

☂ Annapolis, Maryland - home of the US Naval Academy

☂ Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

☂ Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

☂ Smithsonian Museum of American History

☂ National Air and Space Museum - Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (definitely the highlight of Steve's trip - all plane photos below taken here)

☂ International Spy Museum

☂ Happy Hour at the Australian Embassy

☂ Birthday-Eve drinks at the Reynolds local Pub - Bungalow Billiards & Brew

☂ Birthday dinner at Filomena's in Georgetown


Capitol Building


Abe Lincoln


Photo taken at the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background


Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool


Washington Monument


The next piece of jewelry I'd like to add to my collection


The same plane that Steve's grandfather flew in WWII


Blackbird jet - Interesting Fact: In 1990 this jet flew from LA to DC in 1 hour and 4 minutes! I could get used to that sort of cross-country travel


The B-29 Enola Gay - dropped the Atomic Bomb


Mrs. R, Mrs. R and Mrs. M


Appetizers and beers at Gordon Biersch after the Spy Museum - probably should have reapplied lip gloss as I'm looking a tad pale


An attempt at a fun shoot to show off Carrie's Hunter boots...in the parking garage. Definitely fun and a great laugh, but her jeans were SOAKED after the 30 photos that were taken in this sequence


Just the perfect drink to get the birthday night celebrations going


Birthday dinner at Filomena's Ristorante in Georgetown - hands down best Italian food I've ever had!


Mr & Mrs R at Filomenas


Kev and Stacie


Cousins - Steve will forever be the tallest in ALL family photos


Baby Cousin Paul during breakfast. Also, the first photo taken with my new lens!! Thank you to my wonderful husband for buying my dream lens the Nikon 85mm for my birthday!

A Huge Thank You to Matt, Lisa, Carrie, Erik, Stacie, Kevin, Ben and McCarthy for celebrating with me and another huge thank you to all of you that called, texted and sent me birthday wishes - I feel very loved and thankful for all of you! Thank you for helping to make my 30th Birthday more perfect than I ever could have imagined.

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Celebrating My 30th { Patriotic Style }

Tonight, Steve and I are headed back east for a five day visit to our nationals capitol and I can hardly wait!

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I haven't been to DC in about 12 years, but now with friends and family living there - we really have no excuse to not visit.

Cousin Matt, Cousin Lisa and baby Paul

Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds - loving their German attire at Oktoberfest

The reactions I've received when I've told people that we're going to DC to celebrate my 30th birthday have been quite funny - they seem to think it's an odd place to for a birthday - not to me - I'd rather check out the museums, monuments, take photos, etc than party in Vegas...apparently I'm a tad different. Plus the East Coast in the fall is one of the most beautiful places in the country.

Added Bonus -- Stacie and Kevin are flying in, on Friday, from Boston to spend the weekend with us!

Can.Not.Wait to celebrate the start of a new decade { ack...that sounds old } of life. I've been wondering this past week - where has the time gone? How am I eleven years out of my teens? I'm now closer to 40 than 20. To be honest, I'm embracing 30 and looking forward to a fabulous year!

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: Blyth Family : Sneak Peek : Bend, OR :

No complaints here, but I have A LOT of catch-up to do with my last few photoshoots (fingers crossed, this will be happening this weekend), but I just had to share a couple of photos from one of the shoots I did with Grout, Galen, Ava and Miles this past weekend. Honestly, I know I've told a couple of you this, but I felt like I was in the middle of a banana republic shoot with a couple of Gap kids running around. I realize I'm a bit biased, but the four of them make a pretty darn cute family. Check back for more photos from this shoot and others over at head over heels...soon!

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:: Takin' off for Bend, OR ::

Tonight I'm flying down to Bend to hang out with these two -

And to celebrate this adorable little girls 3rd birthday! I can.not.believe that Miss Ava is turning 3 years old - honestly where has the time gone? I remember, like yesterday, the day that Galen called to tell me that Ava had been born. Steve and I were out on Lake Washington with Jamie having a relaxing dinner, I cried a bit and Jamie and I toasted Ava's arrival with a bottle of champagne.

Happy Birthday Ava - can't wait to kiss your cute little face and eat cake with you - love you!

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Stacie's 30th Birthday Party :: Kirkland, WA

Thursday night, Kevin and Stacie few out to Seattle from Boston to celebrate Stacie's 30th Birthday. Friday I was lucky enough to enjoy lunch at the beach with Stacie and Michelle and then hang out again at her surprise party. Kevin truly pulled off the perfect surprise party. He completely shocked Stacie by having her friends all meet up at Hectors at 7:30pm on Friday while they were having drinks at Cactus. He even arranged for a private room, appetizers AND he created a slideshow of Stacie's life. As seen in the {blog appropriate} photos below, the night was a huge success!

Happy 30th Birthday Stace! I hope your journey back west was worth every second of it! Love you!

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:: Cougar Football Saturday ::

Saturday morning we packed up our things and headed down to the Cougar tailgate at Qwest. Definitely not a memorable game for any Coug fan, but still a lot of fun to hang out with friends. Unfortunately, until the Cougs improve their game, I think we'll have to look at the Cougar viewing parties as a time to get together with good friends and socialize. The almost 90 degree temps definitely helped all of us enjoy the day just a bit more. Steve and I also attended the Hawks game on Sunday, which was much more enjoyable - thankfully we them as our winning team this season.

Coug girls at the tailgate

Lauren and Shawn

Baby Jacob the Lil' Cougar

Rauh and Spry

The Giess'

Steve and me

Jeremy and Marge aka the cheer coach

Wade and his adorable baby girl, Amelia

Jake and Amelia - debating on whether or not to go on a second date

The Burrell's

Lynne and Fitz

I think the Cougs lost our attention at 35 - 0

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{ 4 Day } Weekend Recap

Thursday night after work I drove straight to East Wenatchee to meet this beautiful baby girl.

view additional photos here

Delane gave birth early which made it very convenient for me to take a day off from work and head over for a visit and a photoshoot. We spent half of the day in our pj's hanging out around the house figuring out new shot locations, etc. I prefer natural light (no flash) newborn photos and their house was ideal with beautiful sunlight coming in through all of the windows. As I've mentioned before, Delane and Kevin's home is so incredibly comfortable and beautiful that I always feel like I'm staying in a luxury hotel when visiting.

I headed out late Friday afternoon, leaving behind beautiful blue, Eastern WA sunny skies for dreary weather on the westside of the state. Friday night we packed up the trailer and preparied for our first Whidbey Island weekend getaway with friends that have made this an annual Labor Weekend festivity. Saturday morning, we caught the 1pm Mukilteo ferry and headed over to Lynne's family cabin in Greenbank. The theme of the weekend was "80s attire only." With that said, Steve and I found some last minute gems at the Value Village in Kent. I had debated about not posting photos of myself as I'm pretty embarassed of both mine and Steve's attire, but figured it had to be shared. As unattractive as the "mom jeans" were they were actually quite comfortable - ha! The two days at Whidbey were a blast and to top it off, my partner Devin and I took home the trophies for going undefeated in the weekend sporting activities.











Sunday morning we caught an early ferry with the rest of the group, hurried home, and left again for Maddy's 1st birthday party. I haven't attended many first birthday parties, but it's always so cute to see how the kids react to their cake and all of the guests. Per usual, Jenny prepared some excellent food and she and Nick threw a great party with friends and family that had traveled as far away as Bozeman to celebrate with Maddy.

Tutu and onesie were both made by Jenny - she taught herself how by watching a video on YouTube - she is quite the crafty lady these days

Maddy was more concerned about how messy she was getting from the frosting than actually enjoying the cake

Hope you all had a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Weekend!

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{ FOF 12 }

For the past twelve years my cousins, Matt and Mike, have thrown a huge summer camping trip called Friends of Fitch aka FOF. Despite the fact that Matt lives in DC and Mike in Vegas, they continue to make the trip out west each summer for this so perfectly planned camping trip. The first few years were held somewhere in the Palouse, followed by a few years at Kitsap Lake and then Cle Elum. This year it was a held at a huge field in Port Gamble, which is about 10 minutes north of the Kingston Ferry. Steve and I drove over Friday afternoon, set up our "Cougar" camp and then caught up with friends and relatives we hadn't seen in a while.

On Saturday, Steve and I were bad FOF'ers and left the camp spot (and huge sloshball game) and went out exploring. First stop, Port Gamble where there was a car show going on, which of course made Steve very happy. Next, we continued north over the Hood Canal bridge and walked about Port Townsend - I've been there before, but I think it's probably been 20 years. After some ice cream and a few antique shops, we continued on to Fort Worden. This stop was quite nostalgic for both of us as we used to camp/rent cabins with our families at Fort Worden when we were kids. After this fun day of touring around a part of the state that we rarely visit, we headed back to camp in time for dinner and the flip-cup tournament. The weekend was a lot of fun and I'm already looking forward to FOF 13.

Main street - Port Gamble

Fort Worden


Looking north from Fort Worden towards Whidbey Island

Emily, Cousin Shannon and me

On our drive back home on Sunday, we stopped by my aunt and uncles house in Indianola, went to the little country store, got lunch and ate out on the Indianola dock. I used to spend my entire summers in Indianola and now with how busy we are, we only get back a couple of times a year, but I still enjoy showing Steve my grandparents old house and walkng around on the beach.

This photo shows just one of the many reasons why my weekend was so fabulous...

My wonderful/handy husband purchased a propane shower and outdoor camping shower tent, knowing how pleased I would be with a warm shower on a weekend camp trip. Seriously worth every dime!

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Brie & Massimo's Wedding { Plain, WA}

There was nothing plain at all about the beautiful town of Plain, WA. This tiny town, home of the gorgeous Mountain Springs Lodge and 13 miles north of Leavenworth is breathtaking. The winding road down to Plain actually reminded me a bit of driving through New Zealand. Brie and Mass chose the perfect place for their wedding and every seemed to run smoothly, minus the bee sting on Mass' ring finger moments before the ceremony. Brie looked stunning and Mass looked quite dapper himself. The entire evening was so much fun. We danced the night away and (possibly) consumed one too many beers, glasses of wine and/or pulls off the bottle of Fireball.

Congratulations Brie and Massimo! Now that you're (hopefully temporary) residents of Southern California, please don't forget us up in WA and visit often.




























Table 20 - Pass the Fireball!

Wexler and Kyle take a trip back in time down the Oregon Trail

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August Discount { Heads-Up }

I have quite a bit of photo editing and blogging to catch up on, but had to post about the...

:: 20% Off @ Packaging Specialties ::
:: Redmond ::
:: Every Tuesday ::
:: During August ::

I was happily surprised, to learn about this deal today, when I stopped in there today to buy gift wrap, boxes and ribbon. I'm sort of obsessed with wrapping gifts. Sometimes I think I might enjoy wrapping the gifts more than actually giving them.

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... Skipper Pup ...

Introducing, the newest member of the Rinabarger family - Skipper the adorable Labradoodle! This is my in-laws pup, not us quite yet...unfortunately. Below are a few photos that I took this past weekend while we were out at Harstine Island. He's ten weeks old and (fortunately) loves visits to the property and Puget Sound as much as we do.

Welcome to the family Skipper-Doo!

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:: Happy 93rd Birthday ::

To my adorable Grandpa

Me, Grandpa and Megs in Feb. '09

I'm looking forward to celebrating with Grandpa tonight, alongside 15 of our family members from my Dad's side at my Grandpa's condo complex on Mercer Island.

As I know my Grandpa is not a savy internet user, I would say its a safe bet he won't see this post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm thinking about him today and the wonderful life that he has lived.

Happy Birthday Grandpa - We Love You

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