my 1st turkey :)

well.....thanks to our wonderful indiana weather, on thanksgiving day, i didn't know if i was feeding men in the field, or going to indy for a family dinner. so long story short, we stayed home! and i must say, it was so nice to JUST STAY home!!!! AND......i fixed MY VERY FIRST TURKEY! WOO WOO! martha stewart style!!! it required cheesecloth and wine!!! EVEN BETTER :) ha! but you want to know my favorite part of cooking a turkey??? the little "pop-up" time that pops when the turkey is done! aren't those brilliant!!!?? but seriously....how on earth do they work??? regardless, they do. so on thanksgiving day, we stayed home and had turkey, dressing, corn, sweet potatoes, and homemade yeast rolls(thanks to my MIL for the rolls) OH....and i almost forgot the pumpkin pie and pecan pie :0 anway, hope everyone reading this enjoyed their thanksgiving weekend, too!

oh........and the kids had fun watching me cook and wanted to help. but as they were watching me in the kitchen, the thanksgiving day parade caught their attention and i caught nathan bustin' a move! ha!

'tis the season..... :)

my "favs" from the weekend....

this is our new "pad"!!! lol hey....might not be fancy, but it works! it keeps us dry and warm, and we don't have to worry about any tents leaking!!! this was given to me by my uncle bill. he was very generous and literally just gave it to us!!! THANKS UNCLE BILL!!! AND while some of you are thinking...."i wouldn't take that thing even if it what FREE!" i guess it's a matter of whether or not you enjoy camping. i am enjoying it, and so is our family. it's just a new way of building family memories :)

aren't these little light's fabulous!!! they are cute....but the are a PAIN to put up!! might be the 1st and last time i use them cause they were such a pain!!!

i loved seth and julie's dogs.... i hope to have a big black lab someday....

loved this shot of nathan :)!!!

these are backwards...but first he just looked at the worm....then he tried to put it on himself....then it was.....'MOM......I NEED ANOTHER WORMY PWEASE...." and don't ask me why he has the barbie fishing pole!

and this pics is for mary.....she just loved this pic because sophia caught a leaf......but it looks like she caught a heart!!! :) too cute!

thought it would be fun to show the "dogs view".

Camping w/ the Apples and Johnsons

well....we have started a new thing in the dora family......CAMPING! lol very hard to imagine our family camping i know....but kids just love it and i enjoy just "getting away" for the weekend. and drew.....well....not sure what he likes about it or IF he really likes it. i know he enjoys seeing how much fun the kids have and how they just light up when they know they get to spend the night in the camper!!! but all in all, it's just a fun & cheap way to make family memories!

so we were invited to go camping w/ the apples and johnsons. two of the most sweet, fun loving, and laid back families you'll ever meet! i already knew the apples...but it's always great to get to know them even better!!! :) and i had met the johnsons, but never spent any amount of time w/ them. they took us and our children in like they had known us for years!! just like the apples, they were so much fun, and treated our kids like their own! brad and mary (apple) even took our kids for about an hour so i could shower, brush my teeth, and just do what i wanted....IN PEACE! THANKS BRAD AND MARY!!!! as you will see in a few pics, the johnsons brought 3 out of 4 of their kids!!! lol their dogs! they are the sweetest dogs....and they listen sooooooo well!! and my kids just loved them, and they dogs loved them back!! so thanks guys for inviting us :) we had a great time!!!!!!!!!!! btw - beautiful pose mary!!!! lol

drew and i were playing cornhole against brad and seth! brad and seth won :( but only because they had the advantage of being used to playing on a small cornhole game! drew and i are used to big ones!!!!

Meet JACKSON!!!

this is our 10 yr old jack russell....jackson!(such a unique name, huh? lol) he was our "baby" before we had our babies!!! i can remember growing up, hearing people....but especially "old farmers".....say, "yeah....he shore is a good 'ol dog...." well.....i don't really consider myself old, but we are farmers, and yes....jackson is just a good 'ol dog. instead of a cat having 9 lives, THIS dog truly has had about 9 lives. ask anyone who knows us well :) he's been on his death bed at least 2 x.....and had what feels like a million other things go wrong! but.....he is still chuggin' along and is certainly a "good 'ol" dog. he lost his buddy this summer. he just hasn't been the same w/ out her :( BUT......i must admit.....he sure hasn't gotten into as much trouble as he used to!!! so....meet jackson :)

1st senior boy!

as many of you know, it's typically rare for me to be "happy" or "satisified" or even PROUD of my pics! BUT! i'm trying really hard, in ALL AREAS of my life, to always find the good and/or positive IN ALL situations! including my pics! (see header at top... Romans 8:28)

therefore, i'm here to announce that i'm pretty happy w/ how these turned out! it's the first time i've ever photographed a senior boy for REAL! and considering my overall experience in photographing seniors, im glad these turned out so well! (or so i think! ha!)
i met his mom on my trip to the biltmore wedding i did in march and just loved everything about her and her husband! they are so sweet, always have a smile on their faces, and trying to raise a house FULLLLLLLLLLLL of boys! ( either 4 or 5.....i believe 5 thou!) i can't imagine!!!! she HAS to be a saint! :) anyway, after getting back from the wedding, she called about doing her son's senior pics. and while i was very hesitant about doing them, i thought to myself, "melinda, you don't get better w/ out practice! you can always try again if they dont' turn out! just do it, do it your best, and that's all you can do!!!" so! here are just a few i have picked out to work on thus far! so thank you Cici and Alex for having so many patience w/ me, (cause i took forever) and thanks for having the confidence in me when i didn't, and thanks for just asking!
now.....w/ all that said, i have to give credit to my good friend kris! she's helped on all the tweaking on the one above!!! and she gave me all sorts of advice the night before i did the pics! so thanks kris!!!

vacation in flordia!!!!!

QUICK! LOOK FAST!!~!!!!!!!!!!!!! DREW IS SMILING!!!! A REEEEEEEEEEEEAL SMILE! as many of you know, my husband does NOT enjoying getting his picture taken!!!! however, vacations seem to be the one time he "allows" me to take pics of him!!! so here are just a couple pics from florida. we had a wonderful time, the kids were VERY good to and fro, and we had an excellent helper in tow! alexis carmony! who is OFFICIALLY 13 now! woo woo! babysitting here we come! anyway, here is just the couple family pics i got. not many, but at least we got one!