denver aquarium {with cousins!}

On Wednesday we had an astounding 4" of rain in just one day.

And our basement flooded. 

Well, not our whole basement, but one room.  

And so we worked well into the wee small hours...

pulling up carpet, fixing drains, praying the rain would STOP.

On Thursday, I was sick of water and I wanted to get out of the house...

so my sister and I took the munchkins to Denver to meet up with our cousins. 

We decided to go to...

The Denver Aquarium.  

Ha ha ha.  Does anyone else think that is funny?  

Anyway, we took these four hooligans (and baby Scarlett too) to run off some energy and look at some fish, sharks, and other exciting sea creatures.  

This generation of boys is quite a change from our generation of four girls!

They were all so cute playing together and running to the next thing.

I finally let Tanner out of the stroller and he was wide-eyed with wonder.

  

He loved all the "ishie!" (fishies) and just kept staring at the different aquariums.  He looked like such a little boy today.  Keeping up with the big kids and taking it all in.

We saw so many crazy huge fish, star fish, sea turtles, jellie fish, sting rays, sharks, and even tigers!!

We also got to see a few birds. This one performed for the boys by saying "hello," waving, and showing off his wings.  Hunter was in shock.  I kept asking him, "what do you think?" and he would just shrug his shoulders and throw out his hands.  So funny.

By far, the boys favorite thing to see were the Sharks.  They were quite impressive and those teeth sure do look scary up close!  Hunter said a few times, "they can't break that glass and come eat us....can they?"

Hunter and Sawyer also loved the sting rays and were able to pet them.  Hunter has been a sting ray all day today...saying, "mom, pet my wings!"

The kids had fun and we enjoyed spending some time with our cousins, Jacque and Jenna.  

Jacque won a gold star for the day...at 9 months pregnant she certainly was a trooper.  

She is a total rock star...

And that is the end.

a huge thank you {and a sneak peek}

A BIG thank you to all who participated in the fundraiser for the Johnson family.  

It was a great day! 

We were able to raise $665 for the Johnson's adoption!! 

I loved seeing familiar faces and meeting new families.

It was a beautiful day.

I am sorting through just under 3,000 photos from the day...phew!

It may be 3 or 4 weeks before I am able to get images to everyone so I thought I would do a quick sneak peak for all the families that participated. 

(I'm not sure why all the pictures look so pixeled -- is that a word?-- the images won't print this way but are showing up in blogger like this.  I don't know why.  Just to give me a headache, I suppose.  Does anyone know why? It's making me crabby and a little crazy!)

These pictures barely scratch the surface!!

Can't wait for you all to get your images and be reminded of the blessing you were in the life of an orphan and a very precious family.

Thank you.

From the bottom of my heart.

Now...I better get to work!

fundraiser details

The photo shoot is just a few days away!

A few instructions:

1.  Please arrive 5-10min prior to your scheduled shoot.  I am booked back to back and there is not much wiggle room.  If you are late, it will eat into your 30min shoot and we want every minute to count!!

2.  When you enter the Mining Museum, please follow the road all the way down to the parking lot.  Park there and walk back towards the red barn, close to the where the donkeys are roaming (it is to the left of the road you enter on).  The grounds are not large so you should be able to spot me when driving in.  Please do not go into the museum and ask for me...they will have no idea where I am :)  

3.  Bring cash or your check book.  I will not be set up to take any credit card payments.  

A few suggestions:

1.  Red is a predominant color on the grounds...lots of red barns and buildings.  Keep this in mind while planning your outfits.  Colors such as orange, pink, purple, green, etc may not be complimentary.  There is plenty of diversity on the grounds if you have those colors on but we will more than likely be shooting in the grassy fields rather than the barns if that is the case.  If you would like the more rustic look of the barns I would recommend using whites, grays, blacks, blues, tans, or yellows in your attire. 

2.  Layers are a good thing :) Layers give us more to work with and more variety in our shoots.  Cardigans, scarves, and sweaters (over polo shirts) give us more options.  Bring them if they are convenient :)

3.  Plan to have fun.  I promise I will make this as painless as possible.  Don't worry about grumpy teenagers or children.  I will do my best to capture their personalities and roll with the punches.  You should too.  No stressing allowed.

And last but certainly not least...

PLEASE MAKE SURE I HAVE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION.  

If I do not have a cell phone number for you yet please make sure you e-mail it to me (mlmoffat@msn.com).  This will be invaluable if we have any changes or delays due to weather or other circumstances.  Feel free to contact me with any other questions you may have.  

Can't wait to see you all this Saturday!!

labor day weekend (birthday edition)

September is full of birthdays for our family.

First my sister...then Michael...then my mom.

This year, we decided to celebrate my sister and Michael's birthday together since they are only 1 day apart.  

They decided they wanted to eat at Ted's Montana Grill.

Michael's mom and grandma came to help celebrate, making the following picture 4 generations!  I don't know why Hunter wasn't in this one...bummer.

Tanner is a daddy's boy these days.  He is always so excited to see Michael.

After dinner we came back to our house for cake and ice cream and a little hanging out.

Here is my cute little niece, Scarlett, with her mom and dad.  She is so stinking cute.

 Click HERE if you missed her introduction to the world.

Aunt Kendy was a good sport and played with the kiddos...

until, of course, they decided swinging was a lot more fun.

It was a big night for Hunter.  He decided he was big enough to push himself on the swing.  

Mr. Independent learned how to pump his legs so that he could go higher and higher all.by.himself.  

He was very proud.

And then the crisp fall air swooped us all inside and we sang happy birthday and ate yummy cake.

A perfectly simple celebration.

*****************************************

And on a side note, in case you missed the update on the last post, the fundraiser for the Johnsons is FULL but I will be doing another one in November.  If you would like to be put on the wait list for this weekend's shoot please leave a comment here or on the post below! 

And for those of you that have appointments...check back on Thursday for more specifics! 

31

Happy Birthday to the love of my life...

and the hero to these munchkins...

Can't imagine life without you.

xoxo

the big exciting fundraiser...

Alright...so listen up.

The details.  finally.

The Johnsons, an amazing family, have decided to adopt.

Julie has been a dear friend of mine since our college days and we have walked a lot of life together.

She and Ian have two beautiful children, Ori and Calla.

God has called them...quite strongly I might add...to expand their hearts and make room for a sweet little one from China.  You can read more about their journey to adoption here, here, here, and here.

(Photo Credit: Ian Johnson)

Now for you and me.

I do photography.

I used to do it a lot...

weddings, seniors, families, children, babies.

Then life got busy and I slowed down quite a bit with photography...

but in the past few years I have started it back up again.

Slowly. No advertising. All word of mouth. One or two every month.

It has been perfect for me.

But when things like this adoption come up...all i can think about is helping.  somehow.  Contributing. somehow.  Making an impact. somehow...

and photography is the only way i know how.

So here is the deal...

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th I will be doing an all day photo shoot at
The Mining Museum.

I am going to be doing 30 minute mini sessions for $55.

You will receive 10-12 edited photos on a CD with a copyright release for your printing pleasure.


Did you read that closely?

A mini shoot for $55!!!!  That is a STEAL!

I normally charge $200 for a session...we are talking $55!!!!

And it is going to a great cause...bringing home a CHILD to a forever family.

ALL of the money I raise will go straight to the Johnson's adoption.

You get photos.  The Johnson's get one step closer to bringing their little one home.

Everyone wins.

(All photos shown were taken at The Mining Museum by Laura Moffat Photography)

Love wins.

A few things to remember:
- These are mini shoots.  That means you need to decide what type of photo you would most like to capture in the time slot.  (example: If you are hoping to get a family picture then that is exactly what you will get! woowhoo!  But  I will not have time to do a family picture, kids individual pictures, siblings together, etc.  Make sense? If you want more than one grouping please purchase two mini sessions)
- Remember that this a fundraiser and we are blessing another family tremedously! I won't stop you if you would like to contribute anything additionally :)
- We are going to have fun! 

So...if you are interested, leave a comment below.  I will get in touch with you and go over available time slots.  

Again,
Saturday, September 10th, 2011 @ The Mining Museum
30 minute mini session for $55
10-12 edited photos on CD with copyright

Let the sign-ups begin!!

*******UPDATE********
We are FULL to the BRIM for the fundraiser!! With more requests than I can accommodate at this time it looks like I will be doing another day sometime in November!  Check back for more information as it gets a little closer! 

keep those eyes open

so the blogging thing hasn't quite gone as planned but at least I've been better, right?  

I meant to post on Monday about a super awesome fundraiser that I'm putting together for a super awesome family...

but in my not so super awesome fashion, I neglected to get my act together.

I have lots of excuses...

like grocery shopping that I had put off for far too long.  You know... the shopping trip that you dread when you are out of everything.  I couldn't put it off any more when I realized I was down to my last diaper for T-bone (this is the lovely nickname Michael has decided to use for his son...it's actually sticking.  oops.) When I went to put that last lucky diaper on him, it ripped.  lovely.

desperate times call for...painters tape.

it held.  barely.  

but at the end of the day (and it did feel like an entire day of shopping) we had a box of diapers and a few other essential items...like food.

And someone has also been a bit growly about the gazillion teeth that seem to all be coming in at the same time...I'm not naming names...but that certain someone has been a bit clingy.

cute...but clingy.

And then there was the flood that happened in my sister's basement.  big huge bummer.  stayed up late trying to move some water off of their floating carpet.  it didn't work.  they called professionals.  we decided we could help a little better by watching my cutie-pie nephew, Sawyer, instead.

All in all, I've neglected posting details about the fundraiser and keeping up all together because...well...we've been busy with life.

silly, stupid, awesome, funny, crazy, blessed life.

You will forgive me, right??? 

Cause I don't want you to miss the important fundraiser coming up that will impact another family's life...

you have to watch like crazy for it...

because, like I said,  you DON'T WANT TO MISS IT.

It involves raising money for this incredible family so they can adopt a sweet little one...

and you will get something awesome in return.

Get your sign-up fingers ready, cause it is going to fill up fast!