I created a new local photography Facebook group called Clickin Military Mamas. It's a group for women in the Kaiserslautern Germany area who love photography and are looking for a place to share, improve, learn, and grow as a photographer or passionate photo taker.

This week we went on our first CMM shootout and while freezing, it was awesome! Here are a few images from every photographer who came to the shootout!


Tanae Sorenson






Rebecca Olson















Jenny Lewis


Kyra Wells

This is the second portion in my Mother - Daughter self-portrait series, inspired by Wherever I am With You.  Every month I'm making the effort to get behind the frame with my daughter. Click here to read my reasons for doing this project and to see last month's getting in the frame moment. It's only been two months, but I'm already seeing how this project is stretching me creatively. Self portrait's in themselves are tricky for me, so adding a toddler to the mix has added a completely new dimension of challenges! Especially today having her in the Ergo carrier. Alexa is happy as long as I'm moving, which meant I had to be very quick while setting up the tripod and making adjustments in the camera. But like always, I'm impressed with my ability to adapt and Alexa's ability to make everything in life more fun. I can't imagine what this deployment would be like without her with me. I'm sure grateful for her sweet disposition and the loving comfort she adds to my life.

If you're joining me in this self-portrait challenge, or you're just dabbling in a photo here and there, I'd love to hear your thoughts! How's it going? What challenges are you facing taking portraits with you and your children in the same frame?

Starting a new self-portrait project, inspired by Wherever I am With You. Every month I'm going to make the effort to get behind the frame with my daughter. For her birthday party a few days ago I strung up a collage of photos of her from the year. A friend, after looking at them said, "You don't get many photos of you do you?" I re-looked at the collage and Alexa and her Dad littered most of the photos. Many of the photos of her and her Dad are my absolute favorite, but that doesn't mean I should be "absent" from Alexa's growing childhood. With Scott deployed, I feel it's more important than ever to make more of an effort to get behind the frame. So this is me, making the effort to show Alexa that I was there too. Getting in front of the camera is not easy, and taking a creative self portrait with an energetic wee one isn't either! But it's an exciting challenge. I think it will really stretch me creatively and years down the road, I'm sure I'll be grateful I made the effort.
At Wherever I am With You, is a website where a group of photographers monthly post their efforts to get in the frame with their children, but you don't have to be a professional to take this challenge. Does this sounds like something you want to do? Write me in the comments and join me! I'm all for the buddy system. :)

So I have this list of goals and pursuits (You can check them out on my In This Life page) and one of them I'm actively working on right now is learning how to cook, and more importantly, learning how to love cooking. I don't know if I'll ever be able to completely check off the last one, but I figure I've spent 24 years learning to dislike it, so why not just retrain myself? After a few months I can tell that this is definitely going to be a process, (perhaps an additional 24 year process?) regardless I'm proud to say that I'm enjoying cooking and meal planning more than I ever have! I've even discovered that I have a particular knack and joy for baking. So, to keep things fun and to lesson feelings of boredom and frustration in the kitchen, I've decided to find a scrumptious new recipe to cook every 1-2 weeks. This week was chocolate zucchini bread. Zucchini bread has been pretty cheap and plentiful the last few weeks so it seemed like the perfect time to try it out!  

The results turned out pretty stellar! Scott (and the sister missionaries who came over today) loved it! I must admit, the recipe did not turn out as quite as chocolatey as I fantasized, (what can I say, I'm pregnant!) so next time I think I'll use regular sized chocolate chips, but it definitely did the job of curbing my chocolate cravings! Not to mention. It. Is. SUPER MOIST!

I got the recipe from a cookbook my Mom gave me called, "Our Best Bites". You can check out their chocolate zucchini bread recipe here at their site, or I've also posted it below. Enjoy! 

And if your like me, good luck on your own "learning to love cooking" adventures!




Chocolate Zucchini Bread {makes 2 loaves}

2 C flour
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
6 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 C canola oil
1 C sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
3 eggs
2 t vanilla
1/2 C sour cream
3 C grated zucchini
3/4 C mini chocolate chips

Topping:
2 T brown sugar
2 T white sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 loaf pans and set aside.
2. Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Place flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
4. With a stand or hand mixer beat oil, white sugar, brown sugar, and eggs until combined and slightly fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
5. Add vanilla and sour cream and mix until combined.
Gently stir in the grated zucchini.
6. Take a spoonful of the flour mixture and stir in with the chocolate chips (that will help keep them evenly distributed.) If you only have regular chocolate chips, or a chocolate bar, just give it a chop so it’s the size of mini chocolate chips.
7. Divide the batter between the two pans. and sprinkle topping over each. 
8. Bake in your preheated 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes. I set my timer for 45 minutes and then keep an eye on it for the remainder. 

When it’s done a toothpick or skewer should come out without goopy batter on it and the top will be gorgeous and cracked with sugar.