Dodge Ball and Pneumonia

Let's get this out of the way right off, I have pneumonia. I never get sick, Katie and Leeann can both be in the bed, sick as anything and I will be just fine. I never get it. I am always the one who is taking care of them. Now, here I am with pneumonia and on top of that, I have to take some very YUCKY!!! medicine. But, how does that fit in with Dodge Ball you ask?

On the way home from the vampire doctor (I call her that because every-time I'm there it seems like she wants some of my blood, go figure) we went out to the farm to drop some feed off for Belle. Along the way we have to go by a elementary school and there were some kids out in front of the school in a big playground area playing kick ball. If you grew up in the late 70's/early 80's like me then you more than likely paid more that few games of kick ball. Now, for those of you out there who grew up in the "PC World" where everyone is a winner and we don't play any kind of competitive game, kick ball is just like baseball, but with a large rubber ball (normally red). You kick the ball instead of hitting it with a bat. However, unlike baseball, you can get tagged out if you are HIT with the ball between bases. Such as if you are running between 1st and 2nd base and you get HIT with the ball, you are out. Pretty simple, yes. Well, it got me to thinking back when I was a kid and really enjoyed playing kick ball and Dodge Ball. DODGE BALL! They don't let kids play Dodge Ball anymore, do they?

Why, just because the whole purpose of the game is to avoid being hit with a large rubber ball? Nope, it's because somebody might get HIT by a large rubber ball. It's because somebody would win and someone would, GASP OH THE HORROR, loose. Well if you ask me, I most of you won't, Dodge ball teaches you many of life's most important lessons. Like what you ask? Well, here are a few:

SOMETIMES LIFE HURTS.

YOU HAVE TO STAY ON YOUR TOES AT ALL TIMES.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO RISK A LOT TO GET WHAT YOU WANT.

JUST WHEN YOU THINK THINGS ARE GOING GOOD FOR YOU, WHAM, LIFE HITS YOU.

YOU CAN'T REST WHEN THOSE AROUND YOU ARE RUNNING.

ALWAYS LOOK ABOUT YOU, YOU NEVER KNOW WHATS COMING NEXT.

But, most of all:

SOMETIMES LIFE HURTS.

Rules to live by if you ask me.

What I'm Thankful for:

Every day I wake up
My wonderful wife
My daughter, the apple of my eye
A home
My work
My health (got good numbers on my last blood test)
My Friends
My Family (getting reconnected)
To be living here in East Tennessee (I can't see us living anywhere else)
The Dogs and our horses
To be an American and to live in this wonderful county

But most of all, I am thankful to God for each and every blessing He has given me. He guides me, and leads me to new and wonderful things everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

GAME ON!!!!!

Almost 2 years ago my wonderful wife made a major decision in her life by having Gastric Bypass to help her lose weight. I was so proud of her and still impressed by her progress. She lost 144 pounds. Thats two Katies!

Well, she stalled and I wasn't much help in getting her back in gear. I don't know why, maybe just being lazy. I guess I just didn't want to do all the hard work to lose the weight. Well, two weeks ago, my wife got into "The Biggest Loser" on NBC. I had seen it once or twice for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I stared watching it with her and really got into it. the show was just so inspiring and got me thinking that maybe I could do this.

So, we have started to watch what we eat and walking (trying to anyway). But, one night I was watching the show and saw this thing on the constants' arms. I though it was a timer for when they were in the gym. We Googled it and found out it was called the Body Bugg. It is a device that measures things like calories burned, steps taken, amount and length of activity. We thought it was kinds neat so we tried it.

I LOVE IT! For the first time in my life I know just what I am burning, what I am taking in and how much I need to adjust both. I have already lost 2 pounds in the first week. I want to walk, I want that little meter to burn. The thing is, with this device on your arm you have a constant reminder of what your are doing. It doesn't hurt, but you know it is there. Plus, there is not sneaking a little of this or a little of that. It will catch up to you.

So my wife has made a challenge on her blog to be accountable on line in her blog and accountable with me. So, GAME ON BABE! Starting today, you will know what I have done, what I ate and what I weigh. My goal is to get to 185 by my 45th birthday (October of 2009). I can do it, I know I can.

This should be fun to watch.

Love Is........

How do you define love? Is it something you can see? Something you can touch? Or is it just a feeling? Many say it is none of the above but merely a state of mind. I say it something you can touch, something you can see. You just have to look in the right place and open you mind. How do I know this, read on:

We are in Key Largo, FL spending a week here with Katie while she is doing dolphin assisted therapy. We did this 3 years ago and are kicking ourselves for not coming back sooner. Anyway, the first time we were here, Katie spent the week with a wonderful dolphin named Squirt and her calf Fiji. We could tell that something special was going on from the moment Katie got on the platform to get in the water. She could not wait and had no fear of being next to the dolphins.

That week was a wonderful and magical time. You could see the bond that Katie made with Squirt and the entire staff at Island Dolphin Care. The high point of the week was on Wednesday. You see, the dolphin will only do what the trainer on the platform tells them to do. They are trained that way. It is a safety issue of course. Well, half way through her time in the water that day, Katie, in loudest voice said, “I love you Squirt, you’re my best friend”. Squirt stopped in the water half way between the platform the trainer was on and where Katie was. She looked at the trainer then back to Katie. Leeann and I were confused as to what was going on, but the trainer just nodded her head yes and Squirt swam over and gave a Katie a kiss.
Not a big deal you say, well it is. You see that had only happened one, let me repeat that ONE other time at Island Dolphin Care. Everyone who saw it was in tears and when the trainer told us how special that was, Leeann and I both started to cry.
We have always said that Katie has a special connection to animals. Look at her room, it looks like stuffed animal kingdom in there sometimes. You should see her at the farm with the horses, it’s almost like she talks to them at times. But this, this was so different.

Well, that was three years ago. We had been trying for the past 3 years to go back but the timing was never right. This year everything fell into place and we were able to make it back. It worked out well since this is Katie’s fall break, so no school was missed. One thing we were worried about was if Katie would remember much about the dolphins or if the dolphins would remember Katie. We weren’t sure she would even get to be with Squirt this time. Much to our surprise, Katie remembered it all the moment she walked in the door. She remembered the tanks in the lobby, she remembered where the dolphins were at and couldn’t wait to get to them. But most of all, she was going to be with Squirt again.

Katie got in the water with Squirt and she was right at home. But the minute she said, “Squirt, I love you”, Squirt knew just who Katie was. The trainer, Wendy, looked at us and said “now I remember her and so does Squirt”. She wasn’t kidding either. It was almost like Katie was one of her own calf’s. Squirt could not get close enough to Katie. She was always checking on how Katie was doing, where she was and allowing Katie to touch her and hold her in places she won’t let others. Even the owners of the facility came out to watch and talked about the bond between Katie and Squirt.

That bond is so strong that today the trainer and the therapist in the water with Katie just let them do their own thing. Katie would ask if she could do something and the trainer would give a quick hand signal and that was it. They danced in the water together, Squirt took Katie around the lagoon a couple of times and they both laughed and smiled together. It was almost like they were meant to be with each other.

Tomorrow, they are going to allow Squirt to dive with Katie. Only two other kids have ever done this before. Katie is in here element here. Katie is truly happy here and in the water with Squirt.

I have attached a photo of the two of them dancing in the water. Look at it with the mind of a child, look at it with the mind of a parent who wants nothing but the best for their child and I know you will see LOVE. But, most of all, you will know that for this week, Katie can touch love. And for this week, love is named SQUIRT.

Release the Doves.....

There are fireworks in the sky today, there is joy in the hearts of little kids everywhere and yes, there is even joy in Mudville (if you have to ask, you don't remember one of the greatest sports poems of all time).

I HAVE MY IPHONE BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Yes, Yes I know it had been a long, long cold winter, but spring has arrived.

Today Lee and I went to the Apple Store (my favorite place in the mall next to Victoria Secrets & Torrid) and got rid of the dreaded BlackBerry. I feel right with the world again, my phone knows me, I know my phone. All is well.

So, vote for someone, anyone this election year, let the Yankees win the World Series, watch the Redskins go 0-17 and the Cowboys win the Super Bowl and let Lost .... well, let Lost be lost. I don't care, I have my iPhone back.


I need a hug!!!!

End of vacation

Yes, it is a sad day, the end of a great Florida vacation. As I write this I am sitting in the airport in Orlando getting ready to board our flight back to Knoxville. We had a nice morning with Leeann's dad. We had breakfast with him and his wife. It was nice. We drove down to Orlando from St. Augustine with plenty of time to spare.

We got to the airport and found out we had to wait an hour before we could check into our airline. That was fine, we went to the side area and found a couple of seats to just wait it out. As we were sitting down this blonde lady came up to me and said "It is amazing the people you meet in an airport" and started hugging me. I though who in the hell is this lady and why is she hugging me? Come to find out it is my aunt Barbara from my mom's side of the family. We spent the hour waiting just talking to her. She is one of my favorite family members from my mom's side of the family. Found out she lives here in Florida and was going to Knoxville on the same flight we are on. She is going to see her dad in Kingsport, TN. He is not doing well and she is making an overnight trip to see him.

Well, they are about to call our flight. Back to work, back to a normal life. SO SADDDDDD.

And, get this, Katie starts school on Monday, that is nuts if you ask me.

A nice vacation away........

It is late in the year I know, but we are on a much needed vacation to St. Augustine, FL. We flew into Orlando this past Sunday and drove into Daytona Beach. I was not impressed by Daytona at all. It reminded me of Myrtle Beach. I am not a fan of commercialized beach areas. I much prefer a smaller more quite beach to go to. I know, I know that Daytona is commercial beach, but I guess it is one of those things everyone has to do once in their lives and this was our time to do Daytona.

We flew in to Orlando Sanford Airport and that is where the enjoyable part of our trip ended. We rented a car from Alamo rent a car. We had to walk a LONG way to the rental desk and then we had to deal with a very rude customer service rep. Had to tell him our name three times for him to find our reservation. We prepaid for our car online for the whole week, but we had to pay for the taxes when we got to the car. That didn't make any sense to us, but when you they have your money already, what are you going to do. We rented an SUV for our trip. When I got the contract, the customer service rep. (I use that term lightly) pointed out the door and said "The SUV's are to the left, pick one." HUH????? Seems that all the cars out there had the keys in them, just pick the car you want and off you go. Not sure that is the best way to rent cars. Ours had some damage to the rear bumper but no one around to check it out, but we made sure that the girl at the booth leaving the parking lot was aware of it. Not sure it will make any difference, but we did what we could.

We got to Daytona and the fun just kept on rolling. We stopped at a "Popeye's" chicken for a quick bite to eat. Wish we hadn't done that after we saw the bathroom. I won't go into great detail, but lets say if the health department had stopped in, they would have been shut down in 5 minutes. So, we make it to our hotel. The Hilton Beach Front. HIlton. A good name in the hotel business right? We thought so when we booked the place. It took us 45 minutes (yes, I said 45 minutes) to check in. The person at the front desk could not speak english very well at all. He seemed to have a problem running a gift card we got for our trip. You know, a $100 gift card from Visa or American Express that is prepaid. We got those as apposed to using cash on this trip. Much safer and easier to replace if something happens.

So, anyway, after 45 minutes we get assigned out room. AT THE OTHER END OF THE COUNTY!!!! It took us almost 25 minutes to walk from one end of the hotel to the other, up 4 floors on a stuffy elevator, then down a long, LONG hallway to our room. A nice room, but backwards. We got a king room with a sleeper sofa for Katie. The king bed was in the front part of the room right when you walked in the room and the sofa sleeper was in the back part of the room near the balcony. It should have been the other way around. The air condition worked on Katie's side, but for her to sleep, we had to close the doors and that made out side very hot. Not to mention the bed was hard as a rock and I never sleep very good in a hotel the first night. Never mind the fact that I worked a wedding the night before until 11:30pm and got up for our flight at 6:30am the next morning. I was tired.

But, we did go out to the beach for a few minutes and Katie, Leeann and I had a great time playing in the surf. Katie loves the waves crashing down on her. It never got old for her. This is the view from our room the next morning:




We were going to stay in Daytona for two days, but after a very bad dinner and the fact we could not make phone call from our cells phone from our room, we decided to head on up to St. Augustine Beach and spend some time with Leeann's dad. The drive up A1A was wonderful. Right along the coast line, lots of beach and ocean views. We have spent nearly every day at the beach so far this week. Katie is loving playing in the waves and had learned to use a boogie board to ride the waves in. So has Leeann and they both have been having a blast. Her are a couple of pics from today:






Well, one more day at the beach and then it is back home Saturday for us. Hard to believe but Katie starts school on Monday.

I will tell you about our trip home when we get there.

Much Needed Break

We have just gotten back from a much needed trip out of town. I have been so busy with weddings and editing, Lee has been up to her neck in work and Katie has been trying to have as much fun as possible. We all needed some time as a family, so we loaded up the truck and made a quick trip to NC to see Lee's mom and grandmother. Katie so loves being over there, she has a great time with "grandmom" and "MomMom". They always have books for her to read, some videos to watch plus a huge backyard that she can run around in.

The first part of the trip was a bit stressful. We were going east on I-40, having a good time until we hit mile marker 7 in North Carolina. Traffic came to a complete STOP! It took us almost an hour to go 4 miles. The problem was a large tractor trailer flipped over and they had one lane closed so they could clean up the accident. I can tell you this, there was not much left of that truck from what we saw. We got a little bit up the road and noticed some road construction on the west bound side of 40 and traffic there was backed up for about 8 miles. We decided at that point to make it a long trip home by taking as many back roads as possible on the way home.

Katie wanted to spend the night at Grandmom's house so that gave Lee and I some much needed time alone at the hotel. We have to stay at a hotel when we go over there because there is just not enough room for all of us to sleep there. I did have a bit of work I had to do on this trip but that was not a big deal.

Katie got to spend some good time with Lee's Aunt Linda as well. Linda spoils Katie to no end. She always brings little presents to Katie when we visit and Katie loves the little toys that she gets. We also went to a ranch near by called The Lazy 5, they have a huge collections of animals in a safari type setting. You stay in your car and drive through. Katie enjoyed being able to feed the animals right out the window of the truck.

Saturday night Lee and I went out to dinner with Lee's cousin and his wife. It was a lot of fun to just sit and chat with them over a very nice dinner.

Since we knew the highway was going to be bad with traffic, we decided to take back roads to go home. We really enjoyed the trip home. We drove through the mountains, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, through the Smokey Mountain National Park along the way. It was very relaxing and comfortable way to come home. I was not as tired as I normally would be after driving along the interstate. Our trip would normally take 4 to 4.5 hours but taking our time and enjoying the ride took us 5+ hours. It was a fun trip.

I have back to back weddings the next two weeks but, we are taking a trip to St. Augustine to see Lee's dad. He is doing well with his cancer battle. He just completed a month long treatment of chemotherapy. He is doing very well and I was very impressed with the fact he completed the entire treatment. He was very sick for a number of days but, he stuck it out.

We finally have Gran's condo up on the market. It took us a little over a month to get it cleaned out and all the things sold that we could sell. It came down to the last item being left was a beautiful organ that she played all the time. We could not sell that organ for anything, we finally had to give it away. No one wanted it. I thought that would have been one of the first things to go, but it was the last item to leave the house. We ended up paying for a painter to come in and put a coat of paint on the walls to freshen up the place. The thing that amazed me the most was the fact that they lived in that condo for almost 25 years and they didn't do anything to the condo. It has the same carpet, the same flooring, the same stove, dishwasher, the same everything. The thing that was not original was the water heater and two toilets.

I hope everyone has a great week.

I Miss...........

Tonight I was helping Leeann with a photo shoot of a couple of kids. Leeann has really done a great job with her photography and it shows in her work and her style. I am so proud of her and the work she has put into this. She is going to be a great photographer.

After the photo shoot we went to one of our favorite restaurants for a nice dinner and to look over her pictures. We got to talking about a few things with one of them being when and where we grew up. I started thinking back to my childhood and all the things I used to do and all the things I miss. Things like:

Being able to ride my bike anywhere in town, without my parents right behind me.
Playing in the yard with my friends.
Kick Ball with the neighbors by the street lamp light.
Friends that you grow up with.
Simple summer road trips.
Picnic's under the tree at my grandmothers house.
Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Drive-In Movies.
Sidewalks. (We have none here)
Spending all day at the swimming pool for a $1
.25 cent Cokes
.65 cent a gallon gas
Penny candy (that was really a penny).
Staying up all night with your friends reading comic books.
Toilet papering a house just for fun.
No Cell phones
No pagers
No answering machines
Writing Letters.
Records. (the vinyl one with grooves that popped and hissed when you played them)
Sleeping late on Sunday mornings.
Snow Days
Snow.
Tackle football with no pads or helmets (that may explain a lot to some friends of mine)
Walking home from school with your best friend.
Watching football with my dad
Small town living
Knowing your neighbors.

Those are just some of the things I miss, the list would run for pages. I grew up in the 70's/80's. Went to the roller rink on Friday and Saturday nights, played baseball everyday. Jumped on my bike at first light and had be home before the street lights came on at night. Knowing that no matter where I went, or what I did, my parents knew about it before I got home.

Why can't we go back to those days?

Missed milestones

Katie never ceases to amaze me with the things she does that she should be able to do. When we first brought her home we set her up with several doctors because we knew that there were medical issues that we had to deal with. One of the first doctors we saw was an eye specialist. This doctor told us that "if she walks, it will be with a walker and at about the age of 3 or 4". Well, needless to say, she doesn't use a walker and she took her first steps at 13 months. A little later than most, but still walking on her own.

A couple of months later her primary care physician asked us if she was walking backwards yet. Leeann and I looked at each other and said "should she?". Later that same night Katie right on cue took her first steps backwards. Those are just a couple of the many milestones she has reached either a little late or right on time. Mostly a little late.

This past weekend she did something I thought she would never do much less attempt. This past weekend Katie went to the community swimming pool with her two friends and their family. While she was there, Katie saw the diving board and decided that she wanted to try it out. She asked the dad that was with them if she could. She pleaded her way into trying it. The dad told the lifeguard what they wanted to do. So, he swam out to just under the board, splashed some water so she could see where the water was and off Katie went. SPLASH! Right into the water. From what I was told, she loved it. In fact, she loved it so much that she did it 5 more times.

I was floored that she even tried it much less that she did it. It just goes to show that Katie is not afraid to try new things or take that big step to a new milestone. I am so proud of her for doing such a great job and pushing herself to new levels.

A Break and 3G YEA!!!!

I have my last wedding behind me for two weeks. I finished the wedding this past weekend in Etowah with the reception in Athens. It was a fun wedding but, it was also the wedding I was most worried about. The mother was worried I would not get the prelude music on the video. She had scheduled 30 minutes of music and I got it all. Everything went well so now I have a two week break so I am hoping to get a lot of the weddings I have already shoot finished. I have high hopes that I can.

Today, my Sunny girl is at STAR. We approached them a couple of weeks ago about taking Sunny as part of their therapy program. They came out and looked at her a week ago and they were thrilled by her. The loaded her up today and took her to the STAR stables today and she is already a hit.

Now, for the best part. Apple announced today that they are going to release a new iPhone in July. It is going to be 3G (twice as fast) starting at $199 (half the price). I have missed my iPhone so much and I was even looking at getting an iPhone this past week, but held off. Now I am glad I did.

I am tired, but will be writing more tomorrow

What's UP

I know it has been a long time since my last blog and I wanted take a few lines to update you all as to what is progressing in my life:

Work has me swamped right now. I have the rough cut for the May 3rd wedding, almost finished the rough cut on the May 17th wedding, all the footage of the May 24th wedding downloaded. I also have the spring concert downloaded and ready to cut so I hope to get to that in the next couple of days. I have a wedding this weekend down in Etowah, TN (that is an hour and half from here for those not in the know). This is the last wedding I have before I get a two weekend break but, that time is going to be filled with trying to get as much editing done as possible. I am happy that I have not gotten behind on anything to this point considering all that has been going on.

Leeann's grandmother is doing very well in her new apartment. She seems really happy, but she won't admit that to anyone. It's a pride thing with her. Leeann and I had to go the facility this past Monday to do some forms so we made a surprise visit to her. She looked so good, had good color in her face, looked like she may have put on some weight which is really good for her. They say she is eating really well and getting along with everyone there. She is just getting a little lost walking around the hallways, but that is to be expected when you are in a new place.

The past week, in addition to editing video, I have also been helping Leeann clean out her grandmothers condo. We got a small dumpster (18x12x4) and filled it up. It is unreal how much trash can build up in a 1400 sq ft condo. It took us 5 full days to go through the place and try to clean it out for a sale we want to have this weekend. It seemed like that every time we were making progress we would find another drawer with more stuff and feel like we were starting all over again. We got it all done and ready for the big sale this weekend. We are hoping it goes well.

I have found that you find out who your friends really are when you are in the deep end of the pool. Rick & Lisa, and our friend Sheila have really been there for us. Thank you are not near enough words to express how we feel for all your help.

Katie is doing really well with her summer camp. Her second grade teacher has her son in the same summer camp as Katie and she is just so thrilled see Mrs Crawford almost every day. She is doing a reading class three times a week to help her with her reading for next year. She is so into a book she got in school, "Where the Wild Things Are". She takes it with her everywhere and she has read the book to me about 3 times now. There is nothing in this world like hearing Katie read to me. We are so proud of her.

Well, it is an early wake up in the morning so we will call it a night and see how things go.

Holiday Weekend?????

Back in the day when I used to work in a corporate office I really looked forward to Memorial Day weekend. It was the first long weekend after a long winter of work. It was a great chance to get out, have some fun with the family and enjoy an extra day off. And, if you planned it right, you could make a nice little vacation out of it as well. In fact, for years, Leeann and I would make this out vacation week to go to the beach. Well, those days are gone. I didn't even notice that it was a holiday weekend.

I had a wedding on Saturday in Morristown, an hour away mind you. Most times, the bride has a rehearsal on Friday night before the wedding, but this bride could not have it on Friday and had it on Thursday night instead. That messed me up on Friday. I got up and felt strange not going to a wedding, but I had lots to do anyway.

Friday was Katie's first day of summer vacation and we did a few things together to help me get ready for the wedding. She also enjoyed sleeping a bit late as did all of us. We then went to Gran's condo to get some of her stuff ready to move. OH YEA, we were also moving Leeann's grandmother to an assisted living facility on Sunday. I took her bed apart, got a dresser and a few of the big things ready to go. While I was at my wedding on Saturday, Leeann and Katie were getting Gran packed and ready to go. The wedding was a nice and short wedding (YEA). I was home by 7pm which was really weird for me, most wedding receptions don't get going until 7pm. But, it was nice to get home a little early. I actually got part of the wedding downloaded to the computer Saturday night.

Sunday came and we got Gran all moved in without much problems. I have to say that Leeann picked out a really nice place. I was very surprised at how big her room is. I have seen efficiencies in Washington DC that were smaller than her room. She seemed like she was ok with everything when we left. We had to go back Sunday to take a few things we forgot and a few things that didn't fit in the truck. She was asleep when we got there but seemed to be ok otherwise. Leeann and I hung pictures and arraigned things in her room. Katie just sat and kept her company. She even ate a good dinner for once. I just know that it has to be a bit scary and lonely being someplace new. She lived in her condo for 28 years. She has so much stuff that we have to go through.

I think the thing that makes me most sad is looking at her new room and thinking that over your whole life, can be reduced to a small room in an assisted living facility. It just proves the old saying, "Who ever has the most stuff at the end, doesn't always win".

Disney Ends

Please read this and the proceeding blog entry, they tie together:

I hate to say it, but our Disney trip ended with a big THUD! We decided to leave a day early simply because it was way too hot and WAY TOO CROWDED. We went down there about the same time last year and it was great, but Leeann and I figured that the weak dollar overseas means a lot of Europeans were coming here for "holiday" (and it showed). We ran into people from France, England, Germany and a few Asian countries as well. As Leeann says, we had serious "people overload" but, we still had a great time.

Things at home are slowly getting back to normal (if our life has any sense of normalcy to it). We went to Katie's school yesterday to plan where she was going to be placed next year. We could have chosen to put her in a CDC classroom (think Special Ed) with her being in a mainstream 3rd grade class for social time or leave her in a 3rd grade class and increase her Resource time. We chose the latter of the two. We just feel that Katie does her best when she is pushed to preform and she wants to do well. In CDC we didn't feel like she would have been challenged at all. We both felt better after the meeting, but it showed us how lucky we really are. The school Katie goes to has some of the best people in it. Everyone from the teachers to the office staff all the way down to the janitorial staff knows Katie. There hasn't been a day when we are out and about with Katie that we hear in the distance, "Hi Katie", or "Mom, that's Katie from my school". And it never fails that when we ask her who they are, she looks at us with a straight face and says "I don't know". But, I have seen them at the school and know that is where they know her from.

The teachers have been the best. Each one has fallen in love with Katie and has said on a number of occasions how sweet and kind Katie is. How caring she is. Her teacher last year got a little weepy on the last day of school when Katie left the room. We see her from time to time and she always ask how Katie is doing. I can't leave out our wonderful principal. He stops Katie in the hall and talks to her to see how things are going, tells her a joke or just walks with her. He cares so much, we couldn't have hand picked better people if we tried.

My business is going well. So well in fact, that I have that overwhelmed feeling right now. Here is my schedule for the next month just to give you an idea: Wedding rehearsal this Friday, wedding on Saturday, spring concert on Monday, rehearsal on Thursday in Morristown, wedding on Saturday in Morristown, work on 3 different wedding through the week including a school concert, another rehearsal on Friday followed by a wedding on Saturday, now work on 4 different weddings and a concert, need to get the pool ready for the summer, find some time in there to mow the yard (OH Lawn Mower Fairy, PLEASE COME BACK) and that just gets me up to the first of June. WHEW!!!!!!!

Can't wait for a beach trip, I will need it.

You will need a tissue

If you ever wondered why we love Disney so much, you have to read this story. It is posted on allearsnet.com in their review section:

On our first day this trip, we ended up in the Downtown Disney store, As we were walking around, we noticed that there is a 'little girl spa' in the back called Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. It is a place where young girls go and get their hair, makeup, nails etc done and dress up like one of the Disney Princesses. I guess in the under 10 demographic, it is a pretty important place.


So… alone, I walk up to the girl at the 'completely overrun with young girls and their family' front desk and ask if they have just nail polish services. She says no, they only do full packages of hair, nails, makeup. I explain to her
that my daughter Haidyn has no hair. She replies that they can work with fine or thin hair. So I point over to Haidyn (age 4), the girl looks, and then… the Magic begins….. You see, Haidyn has Leukemia and has lost her hair from the chemo.


The girl at the check in desk looks at the girl next to her and says "I need room for a special little girl." Then she waves to Haidyn and brings us back into the fancy salon area.


This place is packed with young girls in various stage of princess-ification. Two of the Fairy Godmothers instantly sweep up Haidyn and she is now the star of the whole place. (I feel a little bad for the other little girls - everyone that
works there wants to be part of Haidyn's experience. I counted 5 beauticians and 2 photographers elbowing their way in.)


With her salon cape on, she selects her nail polish, all kinds of makeup, and of course jewelry. After a good 30-40 minutes of princess-ification they apply her sash, a fair amount of pixie dust to her head and spin her towards the mirror to show her the results.


Of the 30 or so people in the spa, there wasn't anyone with a dry eye. In all her glory – Haidyn is now officially a Disney Princess. They had taken a girl with no hair and made her the fairest princess of them all.


Disney is the only place I know that makes every kid feel special and one of a kind no matter what is going on in their life. Katie loves this place and so do we. We will be going back again soon.

3 more times?!?!?!?!

Today was a slow day for us. Slow getting up. Slow getting going and slow moving around Animal Kingdom. Not sure if it is people overload or Disney overload but either way, we were moving very slow today. We didn't get to Animal Kingdom until about 11am. We went for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Katie really likes that one because of all the animals. Well, we go on the truck and drove about 100 yards and came to a complete stop. We remained that way for almost 25 minutes. We never did get a good reason for the stop, they just said it was an animal in the road. I felt so bad for the girl driving, she had to keep us entertained the whole time. She told us about the park, the safari, the animals we might see, it got so bad she had to resort to "So, where is everyone from?". Thank goodness we were in the shade or it would have been very bad. I did feel bad for Katie though. When we did get moving again, she had a hard time seeing things because the animals would blend into the background so well, I don't know if she ever really did see them or not.

We then went to lunch at a place called Tusker House. Good food and very nice on the inside. Katie got a nice surprise however, the waitress brought Katie a plate full of deserts, browines, cookies, tarts, you name it, it was on the plate. She also got Katie a birthday card signed by the likes of Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and even Pluto. She got a kick out of that for sure.

We then took a short trek through one of the jungle walks. We got to see a tiger up close (through a window of course). Katie loved that and so did we until a VERY rude woman from England decided that it was more important for her to get a picture than for my little girl to see a tiger. She was so rude that she even put her camera right in front of Katie's face to get her little picture. I almost grabbed her hand and pushed her back. The final straw for us was when Leeann had a great shot of tiger and was just about to take the picture when the British Chick's kid jumped into the shot!!!

We all were tired and decided it was time to go so we gave Katie a choice, Everest or Dinosaur? She at first choose Dinosaur but as we walked there we passed Everest and Katie could not pass it up. So, for the 6th, 7th and yes 8th time we made the trip to battle the Yeti. This kid can not get enough of that ride. I have never seen her love to do something as much as this ride (except maybe being around animals).

To say we are tired is an understatement at the very least. We plan to take it easy tomorrow and maybe go to the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks, we will see.

This was truly a magical day for all of us. We decided to just take it easy and not be in a big hurry for anything. We made lunch reservations at the Liberty Tree Tavern, but other than that, we were on no timetable for anything. We hit TomorrowLand first since there were a couple of things that Katie wanted ride again that she remembered from last year. We did the rocket cars (think the Dumbo ride only with rocket type cars). Then Katie could not wait to drive the racecars with Leeann as the unlucky passenger. With our pass for Katie’s handicap, we were able to ride some ride twice in a row with the racecars being one of them. Katie just loved being able to do that. We then went to the “Laugh Floor”, “Buzz Lightyear”, and “Stitch’s Escape”. They all were fun and Katie really enjoyed them all.
We then headed over to Liberty Square for lunch, which was very good, but you would think for a good size restaurant would have had a bigger bathroom. I had to make a little break for the bathroom and when I got there, I could not believe how small it was, ONE stall, oh well, it worked for me.
After lunch we did the Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, first off, I have not seen any of the movies and nor do I have a desire to see them. So, that said, I really did not know what to expect with this ride, but I was surprised at how fun it was and how much Katie really took it in. She was like a sponge on some of the rides today, just looking around and taking it all in. When we got off that ride, she wanted to do the Big Thunder Mountain. Now let me tell you, this kid loves her roller costars. The faster the better (see yesterday’s blog about Expiation Everest). She rode that thing two times as well.
Then it was off to Fantasy Land for a few more rides, things like Dumbo, “It’s A Small World” (which I have never been on, but it was fun), and what surprised me was that Katie knew all the countries we went by.
We were worn out by the end of today, so we just swam for a bit and called it a day. We took things easy today and really took a lot of breaks and lots of water, so we lasted a lot longer than we have before, so it was a great day.
Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom again. ROAR!!!!

5 times in a row!!

Today was Animal Kingdom. Last year this was Katie’s favorite park and she could not wait to get there. She kept asking all morning “are we going to miss the bus?” and I kept telling her that we had plenty of time and we would not miss the bus. Once we got to the park, her face lit up and she headed straight for the Dinosaur ride. Leeann and Katie had a great time on the ride side by side. We got off the ride the first time and Katie was already saying, “can we ride it again, can we ride it again”. So, you guessed it, we rode it again. She couldn’t get enough.

We then went to a really fun ride called “Primal Twirl”. This is a ride that spins you around and around while going on a small roller coaster. Katie, who loves to do anything that spins anyway, really loved it. She loved it so much we rode it 3, yes 3 times.

Then it was off to the main thing Katie wanted to do most of all. Now you all know that she loves animals more than just about anything, but when it comes to “Expiation Everest”, even animals take a back seat. She could not wait to get on that ride. When she saw it, she almost ran to get in line. We got in line and she could not wait. We rode it not once, not twice, not even four times, but 5 times in a row. The people running the ride kept saying hi to Katie and asking if she was having fun.
We did lunch at the Rainforest Café, again. I will say that the one at Downtown Disney is much better than the one at Animal Kingdom, but we still had fun and Katie was still taking it all in. Sorry Outback Steakhouse, Katie now has a new favorite place to eat.

We ended the day by doing a little swimming, which Katie just loved. She wore herself out. After dinner, she climbed into bed and said, “Can I go to bed now?” We said sure and before we could turn around, she was asleep.
We are hitting the Magic Kingdom tomorrow; we are having so much fun here. We love this place.

A Little Good, A Little Bad and A Lot of FUN

It has been a long day. it started at 6:15 this morning when Kate climbed into our bed and asked if it was time to go to Disney. Well, not really but since we were up and going we got ready anyway. We had a lot of time to spare which was very nice and a lot different then most times we leave on a trip. We usually are trying to get out the door by a certain time and feel rushed all day. Not today, we had A WHOLE LOT OF TIME.

The trip down here was pretty simple and very uneventful. I like trips like that. Well, let me correct myself, there was one little, or should I say BIG bump. We landed in Atlanta and we were getting ready to get off the plane. Leeann was on her Blackberry doing something for one of her clients and I was rushing her to get out of her seat and get moving. I thought she was just texting someone for fun. I was very wrong and needed to slow myself down. So anyway, she got a little upset and jumped up and WHAM. She hit her head on the celling above her. She said she saw stars and had a pretty good headache for a while, but she is much better tonight.

We got to our hotel and we must be very luck or blessed because we have two rooms for the price of one. You see, since Katie takes medicine daily we need a way to keep some applesauce cold for her (she takes about 8 or 9 meds at one time and the apple sauce helps get them all down). So we ask for a handicap accessible room that way we get a fridge to keep her stuff cold. Katie's Dr. gives us a not for this when we travel. Well, we get here and they don't have any of those rooms available so they gave us, at NO ADDITIONAL COST mind you, two adjoining rooms. One room with a King bed and the other with two double beds. How sweet is that. I love Disney.

We decided that we would go down to Downtown Disney for a little shopping (Leeann & Katie's favorite past time) and get some dinner. We went to the RainForest Cafe. If you have never been it is a theme restaurant, but to me, it is the best theme restaurant out there. We had never been and didn't know what to expect. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, not bad since it was 6pm. While we waited, they have this gift shop you can look through, Katie was in HEAVAN. Everywhere you looked, ANIMALS of every shape, size, type, and color. Think of a jungle animal and they had it. She was picking up everything, looking at it all.

Our table was ready and we sat right next to some very life like elephants. Katie's head was turning around as fast as she could trying to see what was all there. She kept petting the elephants and then would point out a new animal she found. She just could not take it all in fast enough. I think she has a new favorite restaurant (sorry Outback). Our waiter was so nice, he rushed mine and Leeann's dinner when Katie's came out so fast. I don't know why we worried about it, Leeann and I, for the first time ever, finished our dinner before Katie did. The wait staff then brought out a HUGE ice cream, brownie, chocolate cake, diabetic coma of a desert. They sang happy birthday to her and she just beamed. Then her eyes got big when she saw the desert thinking she was going to eat the whole thing (it was almost as big she she is).

We left and checked out a couple of shops, Leeann of course found a scrapbooking store to look though. It started to get late and we headed back to the hotel. If you have never stayed on the park at Disney, let me tell you something. The transportation system here is great. You get on a bus and they take you anywhere you want. No driving hassles, no parking hassles, no hassles at all.

Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom, this should be fun.

DISNEY HERE WE COME!!!!!

It is late and I am going to make this a shot blog. We have been so busy today getting ready for our trip to Disney. We don't leave until Tuesday, but we have a VERY full day on Monday so we packed everything today (and tonight) so that we will be ready to go come Tuesday morning.

I did my first Catholic wedding yesterday. It was very nice, but it was also a bit long. The reception was very nice and what I downloaded so far looks really great.

I have a very long day tomorrow, I will write more from the land of the big mouse.

Lawn Mower Fairies

Most every one has heard of fairies. We all know about the tooth fairy, fairy godmothers, fairies in the forrest. Heck, some guys even believe that there is a booby fairy that visits pregnant women. But has anyone ever heard of a lawn mower fairy? Let me fill you in:

We are getting ready for Disney and trying to get all of our errands done on top of all the regular everyday things we have to do. Then add a wedding I am working this weekend and I was thinking that a few things were going to have to get left until we got home next Sunday and one of those things was going to be mowing the yard. I was going to try and get it squeezed in this Sunday if possible. Anyway, Leeann and I went out and did our errands today, then I went to the rehearsal for the wedding I am doing this weekend.

I met up with Leeann and Katie at the mall to get Katie's birthday build-a-bear. We had a blast and Katie picked out a new bear for her collection. I got home before Leeann did and when I got out of the truck with Katie I was looking in the front yard and noticed that something seemed strange. The yard was mowed, the edges were trimmed and the grass trimmings were blown out of the driveway. I thought "WOW, what a great wife I have, she jumped outside and mowed the yard to help me out. What a great wife I have!!".

So I asked Katie when mommy mowed the yard? Katie looked at me like I was from another planet. She said that Leeann was inside all day and that no one mowed the yard that she knew of. When Leeann got home I asked her and she had not a clue how the yard got mowed either. I even went to the neighbors and asked them if they saw anyone in our yard. "Nope, no one that we saw.". What a puzzlement.

The only thing I can think of (other than a lawn mower fairy) is the house on the opposite end of our street who has the same house number we have (there is an east ******** and a west *********. Same numbers on both the east end and west end) hired a lawn service and the service got the wrong end of the street. It has happened before with package deliveries and things like that, so I look at it as a blessing.

Do we have tickets?

Most of you I am sure know that this time next week, we will be in Disney for Katie's birthday. If you didn't know before, you know now. We are really looking forward to going. Katie is getting more excited by the day. Leeann and I are both looking forward to getting away for a couple of days and we know that this may be our only vacation out of state this year. Oh well.

We had a great weekend with Leeann's dad and step mother. On Saturday we all jumped into my truck as it was the only vehicle large enough to carry all 6 of us (Leeann, Katie, Leeann's dad, step-mother, Leeann's grandmother and myself) and headed up to Cades Cove. If you have never been to the Great Smoky Mountains, then you don't know what Cades Cove is. It is a small area of the park that you can drive through (11 mile loop) and see what the area kinda looked like back when the park was first founded 75 years ago. Along the drive you can go to some of the old cabins and churches that are still standing from old pioneer days. If you ever watched a short lived show called "Christly" about a young teacher in pioneer days, this show was shot in Cades Cove. Sevierville

We all laughed and enjoyed the beauty of the area and just spending time with each other. We stopped in at "Logan's Road House" for a early dinner. Since Katie's birthday is this Saturday, we though we would make last Saturday her pretend birthday since they were with us. We told the waitress that it was Katie's birthday and like most places, they may a big deal of it. The waitress got up on a chair and announced to the whole place that it was Katie's birthday and they did a big "Yah Who". Katie loved it, she had the biggest smile on her face.

Well, today I took Katie to STAR for her riding lesson. We told the instructor that Katie would not be there next week because of the Disney trip. Then on the way home Katie was quite for a bit then she looked at me and said, "dad, do we have tickets for the airplane?" I looked at her and said "What?". She said, "you have to have a ticket to get on the plane when we go to Disney. You know that if want to get on the plane you have to have a ticket. If you don't have a ticket they won't let you on the plane." I told her we had out tickets for the plane, then she wanted to know where did we get the tickets and was the bus we had last year (when she was little) going to take us to the Disney. (Last year we took the Magical Express to the park and the hotel, great service and very recommended) I told her that yes, we are taking the bus to Disney and she was happy.

Katie never ceases to amaze me with the things she says and does. DISNEY OR BUST.........

I am Charlie

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 4 years, I am sure you have heard about the TV show LOST.   In case you have been under the rock, I will give you a brief history:  Flight 815 from Sydney to LA crashes on a island, losties (as they are called) want to get off, but lots of strange things happen.  Smoke monster, time travel, polar bears on topical islands, flashbacks, flash-forwards, basically, expect the unexpected.

Anyway, I have been a LOST junkie from the first show, I have not missed an episode.  Leeann and I make a night of it when it's on.  Don't call, we aren't home.  Computers are off.  With all that said, I have attached a link to see which LOST cast member you are.  I am Charlie, who are you??

Which Lost Character Are You?

More on Lost. Created by BuddyTV

By 9's

Most of you know that our little wonder, Katie, is a very special little girl.  She has a laundry list of special needs and one of them is learning.  In a previous blog I talked about the fact that we now know she has auditory processing problems and one of the symptoms is the fact that learning is harder for her.  So that said, we celebrate the little victories whenever they come and tonight we had a victory.

Wednesday's are gymnastics days for Katie.  She loves to be able to run and bounce (mostly bounce) and have fun with the other girls in her class.  Because of Leeann's class, I have been taking Katie to her gymnastics.  By the time the class is done and we are on the way home Katie is pretty hungry so I have been stopping at fast food places to get her dinner on the way home (I know, I know, "Bad daddy, bad, bad, bad).  Anyway, on the way home tonight we were talking about counting and how we count.  She likes to count to 1,000 by 100's.  She is so proud to be able to do that.  She beams from ear to ear when she does it.  I tried to challenge her a bit to see if she could count by 2's to 30.  She did, but it was a bit of a struggle as she got higher up.

Then she surprised me, she said "dad, I can count to 90 by 9's."  Now, I know some adults that have a problem doing that, but for Katie, this is like her Mount Everest.  So, I said go ahead thinking in my mind that I will have to correct her and help her a bit. She went (without stopping mind you) "9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90."  I almost drove off the road!  I couldn't believe that she did it!!  I was floored, I told her that I was so proud of her and that I was so impressed that she was able to do that.  Katie climbed her Mount Everest!!!

I then suggested to her that we could surprise mom in the morning by counting by 9's to 90.  She looked at me and asked, "do you think mommy will jump to the roof when I do it?"  Well, she may not hit the roof, but I am sure she will jump for joy.  She said not to tell mommy and she was going to just surprise her.  

I will tell you how is goes. 

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE

I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I have been needing and wanting a new camera for my business. The two I have are great and do a wonderful job, but I wanted to step up to a much more professional camera. So, after much work and saving, we were able to order it this week. I have spent the day by the door looking for the UPS truck all day, and finally at about 5pm, Jimmy our UPS driver (yes, I know his name isn't that sad). Leeann saw him first and yelled "UPS is here, UPS is here!!!" I don't know who was more excited her or me. I ran out to meet him coming up the drive way. I took my time to open the box and take out each item one at a time making sure that everything was there. It was and I put it all together, looked over the owners manual (unlike a wonderful wife I have) and have been spending the evening setting it all up. Tomorrow Leeann and I are going down to Sweetwater, TN for the Special Olympics. Leeann is going to be taking pictures and I am going to use this time to get to know my new camera. This should be fun.

What happened today??????

This has been a day to beat all days.  The day started off very early. We had to be downtown at the county courthouse for this thing with Leeann's grandmother.  Nothing bad, just trying to make her and Leeann's life a little better.  The whole way downtown and back she (Leeann's grandmother) kept saying "Look at all the new buildings."  They have not added any buildings in the past 20 or so years.  She talked about how much they have changed the city/county building. It is the same building it has been since it was first built some 20 or so years ago.  It is just her mind slowly slipping away.  It is sad to see it happen.

After we got her home, we ran back to our house and changed out of our dress up clothes and into run around town clothes.  It was nice to be able to spend part of the day with Leeann.  We treat these days as if they were dates.  We don't go out on weekends as much as we should, so we use the time during the day to do the things we would do at night.  We even have reverse date nights.  What we do is get Katie off to school, then we got to an early movie, then have lunch at a nice place, then run a few errands or who know what.  Saves tons of money on babysitters.

Anyway, we were running around and were at the Home Depot looking at some edging for the back yard when we rounded the corner there was a lady pushing a buggie with a little dog that looked just like Maggie.  Leeann broke down a little.  I kinda did as well.  We both miss Maggie so much, it just doesn't seem like the same house with out her here.  Leeann really started to feel that empty space in her and wanted to fill it.  I can understand that.

When Katie got home, Leeann started to look at some cats and small dogs online.  HUH OHHH!!!!   If you read my blog on when we lost Maggie you know what is coming next :)

Let's just say we made a trip up to Oliver Springs and came home with a little ..............

White.......

What for it...........

CAT!!!!!

I am not sure of the name yet, I think it will be Gizmo, but who knows.  Katie is in heaven.  She has promised me that she will clean the little box each and every day (I will keep you informed on that).  Katie has been wanting a cat for several weeks now.  Ever since we lost Maggie, I think that there was a empty space inside Katie for Maggie as well.  

I think this was Leeann needed.  She has always liked animals and loves to take care of them and spoil them (Hogan sleeps on the pillows between Leeann and I at night) to no end, but it give her so much joy and happiness, how can I ever say no to her when I know how happy she is going to be. 

So what started out as an early morning at the city/county building with Leeann's grandmother ended up on a curvy back road in Anderson County with a 6 week old kitten on Leeann's lap.  What Happened Today???????

I now have a little down time before the big May rush hits.  In May I have a wedding every weekend except one and that is the weekend we are off to Disney.  I am going to be so tired come the end of June, but I am loving every minute of it.  I have a job that I love and is so much fun.  I get to spend weekends shooting weddings and then the rest of the week putting them together, I love it!!!!

This past weekend Leeann and I went with our best friends Rick and Lisa to see Sugarland with Little Big Town.  We had a great time.  We were on the top row of the Civic Coliseum but, it is not a big place so it was not that bad, in fact, I liked the seats very much.  We danced and sang at the top of our lungs.  Plus, being with friends is always fun.  

I had heard several of Little Big Town's songs when I worked at Scripps, so I knew some of their songs and I told Leeann and Lisa that they had a "Fleetwood Mac" sound to them.  They were great and Leeann downloaded most of their song yesterday from iTunes.  

I had a strange thing happen to me Saturday night. It happened to me a couple of time when I was stationed in Germany with the Army.  In Europe, when you go to concerts and events where there are large crowds, it is not uncommon for there to be unisex bathrooms.  I was not aware of that the first time I walked into a large trailer looking building and there were both males and females going to the bathroom side by side. So, I got used to it.  

Well, Saturday night, I had to excuse myself for a few moments during the Little Big Town set and walked down to the mens room.  While in the stall, I heard a couple of female voices come in and then a few more, then more.  When I exited the stall there stood, much to my surprise, were 4 or 5 ladies waiting to use the bathrooms.  They said the line for the ladies room was too long, which it usually is, (what are you all doing in there anyway???) so I just said hello and went on my way.

It is a cold rainy day and a Monday at that.  Leeann reminded me of a old Carpenters song that describes me today, "Rainy days and Mondays always bring me down".  

A tough couple of weeks

I knew things would be busy the last couple of weeks, but I had no idea that it would be this crazy.  I keep thinking of a saying I heard in a movie a long time ago, "the hits just keep on coming".  We just get over the passing of our little Maggie then you throw on top of that Leeann's dads battle with cancer and that roller coster ride it has become, with a little Gran thrown in on the side and you can just image what it can be like.  It's hard to deal with each one, but stack them all together and put it all on Leeann's back and I have to say, I am truly amazed at just how strong she is.  She deals with all that plus still takes care of our special little girl, keeps up with her work with her special client and all his tax work, take on three classes at UT and still run this house, she is just too amazing for words.

My schedule has been crazy to say the least.  I have had two weddings the past two weekends.  I have not had back to back weddings before so I have been a bit nervous taking on two wedding in a row, but I am really happy so far with how well it is going.  I have put myself on a schedule of working on one video in mornings and one in the evenings.  I try really hard to take the afternoons off to be with Katie and Leeann if at all possible.  

I did have one set back with one wedding.  Let me start off with this, I love the weddings and the brides I work with.  It is a joy to watch two people start a new life together and to be able to make something for them that they can watch for years to come is such a thrill.  Working with other wedding professionals is great for the most part.  As a professional, I know they have a job they have to do just like I do, so I try really hard to work with them and help them as much as possible without hurting myself or my product.  But, on two occasions, one just within the past two weeks, I have worked with a photographer that has been less than professional.  I worked with someone that only had his interest in mind.  

I have a set list of shots that I want to get, a set list of "must have" shots that I have learned work well in a video, but I also watch for that special moment that only happen once.  That happened a couple of times in a recent wedding and this photographer either got right in my way or pushed me out of the way.  He crossed the line when just before the wedding was to start, he jumped right in front of me and announced that this was going to be his spot and the fact that he was going to be in MY shot was not his concern and I just had to move.  I then politely told him that I had a job to do just like he did and that I had already set up in this spot so he was going to have to move to a different location.  He put his camera, left the alter area only to return a couple of minutes later to tell me that "the mother of the bride said he was just fine where he was".  Did he just go and tell "mommie" that I was being mean?  

Well, I got even.  I know this was wrong to do, as a professional I should be above doing this, but I have to say that it felt good and it worked.  I was beside him during the ceremony and I could see the picture he was trying to take, I waited until he was just about to take the picture and then "OOOPPPPSSSS"  I bumped him really "hard".  Needless to say, the rest of the day and during the reception, he was always watching where he was in relation to where I was.  

How fast are you?

The hardest thing I have ever had to do.....

When Leeann and I moved to Knoxville in July of '94, we didn't know what was in store for us.  We didn't know to adventures to come our way.  We had been here for about 4 or 5 months and Leeann was having tough time finding a job she wanted.  She was so over-qualified for everything she went out on.  She was getting so down and so blue.  I came home from work one day to find her in a great mood so I was happy for her.  She told me she found an ad in the paper that day for a little Maltese puppy and she went to see her that day.  I could tell right away that we were getting  a dog.  She, of course, asked if it would be ok if we got the dog and there was no way on this earth I could tell her no.  So, into our lives came Maggie.

Maggie was one of the best dogs you could ask for. She did not shed hair, she was small and for the most part pretty quite.  Maggie was a traveler to say the least.  I have lost count of how many trips she made with us.  Trips to the beach, to Leeann's mothers house, just about any place we went, Maggie tagged along.  

We used to say that Maggie was a lap waiting to happen and it was true.  If you sat in a chair in our house, you had better be ready for Maggie to jump up in it.  People told us not to let her sleep in the bed with us, but anyone who knows us, knows we didn't listen to that.  Maggie took over the bed, she was just nice enough to let us sleep in it at night.  

Maggie ran this home from the day she arrived.  When Brinkley became a part of our family, she put him in his place.  I have never in my life seen a 70 pound dog sit and wait for food like Brinkley did when Maggie was eating.  She would just look at him and he would sit or lay down until she was finished.

When Katie came home with us the very first night, Maggie was there, tail just a wagging.  But, as we added to our home, Hogan and Sophie, we could tell that Maggie was more and more unhappy with us.  She still loved us and still ran the house, but she was not happy about all the additions to the home.

For the past  couple of weeks, Maggie has not been doing well.  She has been eating less and less each day.  She averaged between 10 and 12 pounds in weight depending on what food she snuck from us.  Anyway, two weeks ago, she was down to 6 pounds.  We tried everything we could think of, hand feeding, baby food even forced feeding, but she just kept loosing weight.

Over the weekend, we could tell that Maggie was just not herself anymore, she didn't do anything but just lay around the house, she could hardly walk and even doing the forced feeding, she didn't put up the fight she used to.  So today, we made the decision, along with our vet, to put Maggie to sleep.  

I held her in my arms as she went to sleep and I kissed her one last time.  I know that she is in a much better place. My dad loved dogs and I know that he is there waiting on her to get there.  I will miss that little white fur ball.  

Honey Do's and Milestones

What is it about spring that makes people want to clean?  This past weekend Leeann and I did some serious cleaning and de-cluttering.  We have plans to de-clutter the entire house this spring but plan on doing it one section at a time. The living, dining and rec room were up first.  The couch in the living room left, we got a new entertainment center for the living room, new dining room table and then got rid of a few things in the rec room.  

Knoxville Rescue Ministries was the recipient of all this purging. I think that it helps every one all the way around.  For every $1.70 they make at their store, they can feed someone a meal. We get a tax break, someone in need gets a meal and our house gets cleaner.  Sounds great to me. 

I hit a milestone this week in my business.  I have hired a part time person to help me with some up coming weddings.  I have never hired anyone before as the owner of a business. This was kinda cool in a way.  I had to place the ad, review all the responses (I got 5 just from the craigslist ad alone) and pick who I thought would work out best.  I will keep you updated on how it goes.

Katie is getting ready for a big milestone her self. She is getting ready for a camp this weekend.  This is a camp for kids with vision problems.  She went last year, but just for one night.  She did great and she had such a good time that when we went to pick her up, she didn't want to leave. So this year we are letting her spend both nights there.  Needless to say, mom and dad are planning a few nights out.  I don't know who is more nervous about this weekend, Katie or Leeann?  

Ever wonder what I do??

Ever wonder what it is I do as a wedding videographer? I know people may think it is really easy, but it is a lot of work, work I really have a great passion for. It all starts about a month before the wedding is scheduled, I send out a short questionnaire to the bride and groom. This gives me a chance to get to know them a bit better, who they are and how their video should reflect them. I start thinking about how I want the shoot to go, how I want the video to look and what kind of shots I need to make it look that way. I make a list of all the shots I want, what I will need equipment wise to get that shot. I also make a list of everything I will need that day, equipment, any food or drink I need for myself and the person working with me, if I need someone with me. I start checking the weather for the day to see if I need any special weather gear or not. 

The week of the wedding, I try to contact the bride to go over any last minute changes I need to be aware of, what time is the rehearsal, and do they need anything from me. I start going over my equipment making sure everything is working correctly. I calculate how many video tapes I will need, charge all my batteries and that everything on my list is ready to go.

The day of the wedding is usually a long day. I try to get to the venue about 2 1/2 hours before the bride gets there, this gives me a chance to set up my equipment in an out of the way area, go over my shot list with my assistant if I have one with me. I get some establishing shots of the venue, prep of the location, meet with the location coordinator about any restrictions they might have in place. Once the bride arrives, things really kicks into high gear. I start going down my shot list to start getting the 22 must have shots, keeping an eye out for both the special moment shots and B-roll shots. I then get the groom, go over a few things with him, mic either him or the officiant up, then go and get the equipment set for the wedding ceremony itself. 

After the ceremony is done, I continue to stay with the bride and groom while they are doing the family photos. This is when some of the most emotional and romantic shots come from. Then its time to head to the reception, still keeping an eye open for anything and everything that goes on. I get a short break during dinner as no one wants to see their friends and family eating on their video. I am there at the reception until the bride and groom leave for the night. 

When the reception ends, my work is just starting. Now I have to download the video onto my computer, go through all the video to look for any problems that my be present and fix it. Start to put the clips together in a way that tells the story of the day, add the music, sync the audio to the video, do the titles, go over the video any where from 30 to 50 times looking for anything and everything. It all has to look and feel just right. Once the video is done, then I have to put it on a DVD, create the menus, put any motion to those menus, add any music and/or photos, go over the DVD 15 to 30 more times, make any additional changes to give it just the right feel so that the bride and groom can relive that emotional day. Then I do all the authoring of the DVD, etch the label and then deliver the finished DVD to the bride.

When all that is done, it starts all over again for the next wedding. So the next time you wonder what I do and why it may be a long time between blog posting, now you know.

My Dad

Several weeks ago I made mention of my dad and a few friends have asked me to blog some information about my dad.  I was not sure I really wanted to do this, it is hard to go back over time and try to remember things that happened in the past and get them right, but I think it is good for me to go over those things again.

My dad's name was Cary D. (Danny) Samples.  He was a hard working man.  He always put his family first in everything he did.  I grew up in east central Indiana in a small town.  One of my earliest memories of my dad is of him putting up a swing set in a back yard.  I remember watching him put it up and how I could not wait to swing on that thing.  He had a white Ford Galaxy that he loved so much.  In fact, he kept that car until the rust ate through the floor board  of that old car. He was a Ford man forever.  

My dad worked in a die casting factory making parts for cars, things like the grills, outside mirror brackets and things like that, before it all went plastic.  He worked as much as he could, days, nights, weekends, you name it and he worked it.  Like I said, he always put his family first. He always made sure his kids had all the things we wanted, whatever it was.  I remember one night he went out of his way for me.  I used to stay up late and wait for him to come home, that may be why I still enjoy staying up late.  Anyway, I would stay up late every Friday night and wait for him.  Most everyone of those nights he would order a pizza and bring it home. Mainly because he wanted dinner, but I enjoyed it because it was time I got to spend with him.  Well, I called and ordered the pizza before he got home and he had to go back out and get the pizza.  He didn't really have the money for the pizza that night, but he went for it anyway.  

He taught me how to ride a bike but, he didn't teach me how to stop the bike when I was done.  So, I just rode my bike into a tree.  It worked, it hurt, but it worked.  Well, one day I was on my bike riding around the street in front of my house.  My dad had a rule that we were not to ride over the hill out of sight of our house.  I decided to see what was on the other side of the hill one day.  When I did I knew I did something very wrong and knew that I was going to be in big trouble when I got home.  Sure enough, as I toped the hill, there he was in the front yard waiting for me.  I started crying (I was maybe 3 or 4 at the time) before I ever got home.  He didn't punish me when I got home, he said I had punished myself enough.  I learned a great lesson that day, dad was always right.  

He also taught me to drive, he taught me to work hard and to put my family first.  He taught me to value my friends, to be a good friend to others.  He helped me through many a broken heart, took me and my then girlfriend on my first date.  He taught me to keep pushing myself and to never settle for what I was.  He stood by my side when I struggled, he stood proud when I succeeded. He knew when it was time to let go, and when to reel me in.  But, most of all, he taught me to make decisions for my self.  He never told me what to do, he told me the good and bad of what ever decision I was facing.  The choice was mine.  When I signed up for the Army, I was trying to choose a career choice, I wanted to have him there with me to tell me what I should choose, but I heard him in my head telling me that I had to make the decision my self. I did and I could tell it hurt him to know that his son was stepping out on his own.  But, I think he was very proud as well.

I remember the last time I talked to him.  I had moved to Maryland and was living with my mom at the time.  I wanted to spread my wings a bit and grow.  My last face to face time I had with him was a very, and I do me VERY, heated argument.  I can't remember what it was about, but I know that I said some things I wish I wouldn't have said.  Anyway, I called him on a Thursday afternoon and asked him to do a favor for me.  He said he would the next day and get back to me.  His last words to me were "I love you son".  My last words to him were "yea, me too."  The next day I got a phone call from my dad's wife.  He was gone.  I could not believe it. The one person who guided me for my entire life was gone.  

I know he is still with me, he is still watching over me.  I really wish he could have meet Leeann and gotten to meet Katie. He would have loved her I have no doubt.  But, I know that he is up there looking down on me.  I just hope that he is standing proud, not standing beside me. 

I was not ready for this

My last post talked about how things would really get started for my business after the wedding show. I did not know it would take off like this. I have been getting phone calls almost daily wanting prices, quotes, questions answered and weddings booked. To date I have 4 weddings booked for sure (contract signed, money in bank), two more meetings this week will bring me to six and the list keeps growing. I have had, for the first time in my life, to get a day timer note book to keep track of calls, call backs, weddings, and the family schedule. I really LOVE it!!!!!

I was taking some time to look at other videographers tonight to see what they do and to get some ideas for future videos. Anyway, I ran across this site for a wedding videographer in Maryland and he had an article on his site about how to choose a videographer. I read it and really liked what he had to say, He has the same values I do when it comes to my customers. I put them first. I don't want to do high volume/low quality videos. Anyone can do that, I want my videos to have feeling, emotion. I want it to truly capture special moments from a special day. But the one thing that got to me, was what he said at the end. He said that he really loved what he does and he wants that love of his work to show in his videos. I really love what I do. I love the freedom it has given me, I love that I get to spend time with Leeann and Katie, I love working with people on a one on one basis. But most of all, I love the fact that I am creating something that will last for years and years to come. Knowing that in 20 years, a family is going to sit down one evening and put in a DVD (or what ever format they will use 20 years from now) and watch something that I created just for them. That is such a thrill for me.

I have even started networking with other wedding vendors for more business. I work with Brenda from One Enchanted Evening and she has kept me very busy with more things planned. I hear from her about once or twice a week with information about a bride or two. I also have started working with a photographer that got her start a lot like I did.  She has a link to my website from hers and I have hers on mine.  

On the personal side, we have a been a pretty sick family here lately.  Leeann got a very bad case of Strep Throat last Monday, then Katie got it on Wednesday, and I was at the doctors today with some type of stomach bug.  We are all on medication to fight this.  We are getting better a little at a time.  Oh, and my doctor told me today that I need to loose 10 to 15 pounds in the next 3 months, this should be fun.

Now it really gets started

This past weekend was the Bridal Show. What a show it was, there were over 1,000 people there with the majority of those folks being brides. I had the worst case of butterflies this weekend. I was obsessing about everything, just ask Leeann if you don't believe me. I was making her nuts worrying about every little thing there was to worry about.

Leeann was going to help me at the show, but Katie was not feeling too well and Leeann had to stay at home with her and I was left to working the show on my own. I really wish Leeann would have been there, I was so busy. I got there at about 10:45am and did not get done and sit down until about 7pm last night. But, I have to say, even though I was swamped it was a lot of fun.

I was not able to talk to everyone who came by because there were times I was talking to two or three brides at a time and more were stopping by to get info. Some of the things I heard were "your video is so much clearer than any I have seen", "I love your style", "I love your video". That was most of what I heard, I hope there were more good things as well.

I was able to book 5 weddings yesterday and I had about 6 emails last night when I got home wanting to know about dates. I have been doing emails all day today and answering phone calls all day. Best part of the day had to be seeing my ad in the new Premier Bride Magazine, I am the first ad listed in the videography section of the magazine. I am on the top left of the page, which is great when you think about it, you read from left to right, top to bottom, so top left page is the place to be.

I also had a great location at the show, right in the middle, of the show where everyone had to walk to get anywhere. I could not have asked for it to have been better, I have added a photo of the booth, maybe next year it will look better with more color.

Wedding Show

Many of you know that I have a wedding video business that I run. I have a blast doing so and love shooting the weddings. There is nothing like watching two people start their new life together. On top of that, I am doing something that they will be able to cherish for years to come. I look at this as an art form and what other art form will be people be able to look at years and years later to remember a special day in their life. It gives me such pride to know that I am creating something that 20 or 30 years from now, some kids are going to be able to watch and ask their parents what they thought about that day.

That being said, I have been very busy the past few weeks getting ready for a bridal show this weekend. Since I am a one man operation, I have to do pretty much all the marketing work my self for this. Oh, I get lots of help from Leeann, she is my best source of information when it comes to how things should look and what would work best, but as far as putting it together, well, its just me. Just to give you an idea of what I have been doing, I have had to put together about 500 folders with information about me and my business, I have burned and labeled over 600 DVD's to hand out. I have put a half page ad in the bridal magazine that comes out at the show. This magazine is the bible in this area for brides to be.

I have also been doing a lot more research into marketing my business, I have ordered DVD's from well established wedding videographers to get ideas to help me improve my business. I can only hope that it works well for me.

An old friend of mine stopped by tonight to borrow some equipment for a wedding he is going to shoot for a family member of his. He works for a local TV station that I tired to get a job at this past summer. I did not get the job even though the guy I interviewed with told me he wanted me and was going to hire me. I had a feeling why I didn't get the job but, I did not have a way to prove it. Well, tonight I was told I was right in my thinking. Seems that my old boss at the large cable network did not like the fact that anyone would want to leave any job that involves working with her to go someplace else. Seems as if she went to someone she knew at this local station and spoke poorly of me. Now, I can't positively prove this, but if I could.......

I am not mad about this, it has worked out for the best for me. I am happy where I am and feel good about the direction I am taking. But, if I could only prove this,