My Family

Last week Travis Johansen of Travis Johansen Photography was kind and brave enough to photography my family.  He had met everyone before so I was surprised to hear that he would do it.  :)

We started our session about 30 minutes before sundown so we had beautiful warm light and afterwards Travis got out his off camera flash and had some fun taking photos of the kids on the swing.

Travis was nice enough to allow me to post some of the images on my blog.  Thanks Travis!

Images © TravisJohansenPhotography.com - Used With Permission  

My boys.

My goofy family.  I love them!
Travis shot a series of images that include me flipping Ethan around.  I don't want to share them because they might be Christmas presents.
Another great shot of Ethan and Noah goofing around.  This is one of my favs from the night.
So sweet.
I keep starring at this one because I love how Ethan is moving so fast that there is just a little bit of motion blur on his face.  If you have ever met Ethan, you know that he moves fast all of time so again, Travis nailed it!
I love the facial expressions that everyone has on their faces.  This is my family.

Yup, she had enough fun and was ready for dinner towards the end of the shoot.

I love the blue playdough on Noah's shoe!  He chases me around the house with playdough because he knows that I don't like the smell of it.  Silly kid.

Thanks again Travis!  You captured my family perfectly!!!

The Car Accident

Last Saturday my husband and I received a phone call stating that there was a major car accident in our driveway and that we should come home.  We did just that.  Upon arriving in our neighborhood we saw a medical helicopter taking off, that is when we knew the accident was really bad.  We had to park at our neighbors house because we weren't able to get any closer.  As I walked from their yard to mine, my knees got weak and my heart raced.  I couldn't believe what I saw.  It is Tuesday and I still cannot believe it.

My heart goes out to all of the people that this car accident effected.   It was a horrible accident that I know has touched me and my family in more ways than I can express.

Back in the office

Hi! I am back from my mini vacation. The kids had a wonderful time in jail and on the rest of our trip. We were able to see many corn fields, caves, the location of were Jesse James' gang was defeated and state parks. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of my little jail birds.

If your kids like to play cops and robbers, I highly recommend going to the Wykoff Jail Haus B&B. It was the best!

Baby Claire Elizabeth Raivala

I would like to introduce my new daughter to everyone (yes, I am a proud Ma Ma). Her name is Claire Elizabeth Raivala and I am totally in love with her! She was born on March 24, 2009 at 9:51pm. She weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and measured 19 inches. Currently her favorite thing to do is to sleep and cuddle with me, her dad and her two protective big brothers.

I am doing well, however, I have noticed that I am a little bit slow at responding to my emails and voicemails from everyone. I promise that I will get back into the swing of things shortly and reply to everyone.

Have a great day- I know that I will.

The Great Mississippi River

While driving to Monticello last week I noticed some beautiful birds hovering around the Mississippi River. I believe that they are swans, but I am not 100% sure (If there is an avid bird lover out there please let me know if I am wrong).

Later in the day I returned to the same location that I originally saw the swans at. This time I was wearing my Canon 5d, my 70-200mm lens and of course; a pair of boots. My mission, to carefully walk down towards the river without scaring the swans. I was partially successful at my mission.

As I walked down to the river the swans started to swim away from me and some of them actually took flight. I was able to capture a few images before they were out of sight. Here are the images:

I hope to be able to go to the same spot another time this winter at sunrise. I think that the lighting would be phenomenal then.

Arizona- Part 2

I finally took a few minutes to process a few of the images that I took during my Arizona adventure a few weeks ago.

One thing that caught my eye while I was visiting Arizona is how different all of the churches look compared to the churches we have in Minnesota. The image below is from a church that was located in downtown Phoenix. I adore the roof and how there are multiple crosses upon it.

Since arriving back home, I have been look at the churches in my area more closely. All of them only have 1 cross being proudly displayed. I just thought that was interesting.
On my last day in Arizona I asked the hotel driver to bring me to a desert area because I had never seen one in person before. About 20 minutes later we came upon these 3 rocks. They were a beautiful shade of red and were surrounded by plant life that I wasn't familiar with so I grabbed my camera and attempted to climb up the rock on the right.

Had I known that I was going to be climbing a rock, I wouldn't have worn flip flops that day. The flip flops along with a 7 month pregnant belly wasn't a good combination. Let's just say that I finally gave into the idea of being pregnant and had to stop climbing. For those of you who have seen me within the last few months know that I haven't let my belly stop me from doing much so this was big moment for me.

All of my bags are now unpacked and my flip flops have been put away. Even though the weather was beautiful while I was in Arizona, I have to admit that my heart was still in Minnesota almost the whole time I was away.

8th Wedding Anniversary

Eight years ago today Jon and I were married. It seems like a lifetime ago. Probably because we figured out a few weeks ago that we have known each other for almost half of our lives.

We actually met in High School while we worked at Hardees. He came in for an interview and was told that he could have a free pop so he approached me while I was working the counter and asked for a root beer-no ice. I wasn't about to give him a free pop because I didn't want to get in trouble so he went and grabbed the Manager that he interviewed with and she gave me the ok.

It is funny how things work out. If I hadn't worked at Hardees, I wouldn't have met him. Who knew that fast food could be so good?!

Our ceremony was held at Central Lutheran Church in Elk River and our reception was at Silver Springs Golf Course in the Monticello area. This is by far my favorite picture from the whole night. I love Jon's facial expression!

Jon- Thanks for 8 wonderful years of marriage plus 6 years and 15 days of dating. There are hardly any memories of my life that don't include you. I cannot wait to see what other memories are made over the next 75 years. I love you!

For all of my clients out there who are wondering....'Did Katie bring a camera to her own wedding?' The answer is, YES. I only used a black point and shoot camera and I had it around my neck for most of the evening until my Mom begged me to take it off. I got some great candid shots of my guests with it though.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I often reflect on life and realize how precious the gifts that we are given are. Thanksgiving is upon us and there are so many reasons to be thankful this year.

I am thankful for all of the people that are in my life. Whether it is a 5 minute conversation with someone new to me or catching up with a friend or family member, I cherish each moment.
I am thankful that my family is healthy. I am thankful that Sarah (married in August) completed her last scheduled round of chemo on Tuesday. I am thankful that my old co-worker Mitch is in remission after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last winter. I am thankful that my Aunt Vicki is healthy enough to enjoy Thanksgiving with her family. I am thankful that my little family is growing (we are having a baby in March). I am thankful for my warm house and the ability to buy food. I am thankful for each little laugh that I hear or smile that I see from Ethan and Noah. I am thankful for the progress that Noah has made in the last year. I am thankful that Ethan knows exactly how to answer all of the questions during the children's portion of church. I am thankful for being trusted to document people's lives. I am thankful for every solider that is protecting our country.

My Family

Last night the Raivala family decided to have a little fun so I set up lighting , a backdrop and figured out how to use myself timer on the camera. That took me like 5 minutes because I couldn't remember how to do it. You can ask me about aperture settings, dragging the shutter and lots of other things that I know how to do with my camera, but the self timer was a challenge.

Anyways, we had a blast taking the pictures. Jon was the focal point so he pretty much sat in the same place while the kids and I moved around. After each image the kids and I ran back to the camera to see how the picture looked and then we would race back to Jon for another picture.


I was still trying to figure out the self timer when this image was taken. Hence, the absence of me.


Ethan wanted to do something scary. Noah on the other hand, was not thrilled with the idea. Do you like my peace signs? I couldn't bring myself to do full on scary. It just isn't me.

Yup, this is a typical night at the Raivala household. We flip the kids around all of the time. It will be a sad day when they are too big to do it.

I think it is really funny how Jon and I are looking at the camera in every image. Both of us watched the little red light and then suprised the kids with differnt our moves.

Another true to life image. We love cuddling too.

Ethan and Noah want to do another photo shoot tonight. I don't know what has gotten into them. Usually they run away from the camera when they see me take it out.

Grand Marais

On Monday the Raivala family headed up north for a quick visit to Grand Marais. It was our first family vacation this year so all of us were really excited about it. I have quite a bit of emails and calls to return from my 4 days away so I need to keep this short so that I can respond back to everyone.

With two little boys we decided that it would be best to make a few pit stops along the way. One of them was in Two Harbors were the boys found some ducks to feed. It was their first time feeding ducks so they thought it was pretty cool how the ducks raced to get the bread. There was a lot of giggling going on.

Jon decided to see if he could hand feed the ducks. Sure enough, one of them went for it.
We also stopped in Lutsen to take the Gondola ride up the mountain. The leaves on the trees were so beautiful. I just love to see all of the bright colors and deep contrast between them. I could stare at them all day long. The kids on the other hand, didn't want too. :)
I was able to entertain Ethan long enough to enjoy the sunset and large waves on Lake Superior. He thought that it was cool to see waves splash on the rocks which bought me some time to sit back and relax.
It was a great trip. I am all ready daydreaming about going back next year.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

I recently became a member of a worldwide organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS). This organization provides free child bereavement portraits to families that are loosing a child or that has recently lost a child.

Yesterday I attended a training course that outlined what to expect during a session, how to prepare for one and many other important areas of the program. It was really a mind opening experience. A few times during the training session I looked around at the other 20+ people that were attending it and I started to wonder why did they choose to become a volunteer photographer for NILMDTS.

For me it started when I was a teenager and came across some images that my mother took of my sister Tammy after she had passed away. I remember my mom telling me that a local department store had lost the images, the only images of her little girl, and how she kept calling them over and over again for a long time until the images were miraculously found. Those are probably the most cherished images that my mother has.

Photographers: During the training course yesterday it became very obvious to me that more volunteer photographers are needed, especially in the north metro area. Please consider volunteering with NILMDTS. It is probably the most cherished memories we can ever give someone.

Everyone: Please help us educate our community about this organization so that more parent's can have beautiful portraits of their children. For many, it will be the only images that they will have.

Relay for Life

On Friday night I walked in the Relay for Life for the first time. It was an amazing experience that I won't soon forget.

The first lap around the track was designated for the cancer survivors. It was an overwhelming site to see so many people where purple shirts (that meant they were survivors) and to see how their families and friends were supporting them. Even thinking about it now makes me tear up.

Here is a picture of my ol' coworker and friend, Mitch. He was diagnosed with cancer last winter. I still look at him and think "how can someone like Mitch get cancer?" He is one of the healthiest people that I know. I mean come on, last summer he biked from Hinkley up to Duluth and back in one weekend. I definitely could not do that!
Another one of my fellow team mates lost her mother to cancer a few years ago. To honor her mother she had a luminary created for her and she carried the picture of her mother on the walk.
After the Survivor's walked the first lap, all of the teams were asked to walk. We had about 20 people on our team. It was really cool to meet so many new people and to reminisce with my ol' coworkers.
After night fell, everyone was asked to walk on the track again for a lap of silence. I had a hard time fighting off the emotions as I walked around the track while bag pipes played. It is still unbelievable to think that every luminary represents a person who either currently has cancer, is a survivor or someone that lost their life to the disease.

Team Groundhog: Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the Relay for Life.