home for the holidays

In less than 9 hours I get to hug my mom! My mom and I are buddies- we're real close. So when her and my dad moved to California, I was bummed to say the least. We talk on the phone daily and she knows every little detail of my life, but it's not the same as getting a mommy hug! The kind of hug that is so tight and familiar and is accompanied by a hum. A hum? Is that weird? Maybe just my family? Anyways, I can't wait to get a hum hug tonight! And the best part is... she's here until New Years! That's a lot of daily coffee shop trips! First we'll make snow angels for a two hours, then we'll go ice skating, then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookie dough as fast as we can, and then we'll snuggle (Elf). I'm going to cherish this time together! And I know that I will miss my dad even more when my mom arrives because he doesn't come until Christmas Eve. We will be at Bluejay's Moms house then. So when we wake up on Christmas morning, my favoritest gift I receive will be seeing my dad! Love you guys!

  

This photo makes me giggle so much! It was a family vacation in Chicago before I got married. Haha!

Have a Holly, Johnson Christmas

Today I dragged poor Bluejay out into the frozen tundra winter weather to take our Christmas photos. I've been talking for months about how much I was excited for the first big snow so that we could take "wintery" pictures. Bluejay was less than enthused. In fact, I had to bribe him to get all bundled up and out in snow. So while he is playing video games (that was his bribe), I was able to edit the photos and write this blog. A fair trade, if I do say so myself. I'm pretty pleased with the way they turned out. It's always difficult to take photos on a tripod with a self timer. Especially because, as a photographer, I can see in my mind how I want the image to look and it is extra hard to get that image just right when I am running back and forth trying to beat the 10 second timer! But we had fun.

      

We took these photos for fun, but also for our Christmas newsletter (The Johnson Journal). I would LOVE to send a copy to whoever would like one! If you want to receive a copy, email me your address at: hopefeathers {at} me {dot} com. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(also- winter wonderland enagement session to come!)

Riddle me this...

    

What do ice skates, winter hats, starbucks, ice and love have in common? Take a guess :) More winter wonderland engagement photos to come!