Being me.

I love being me. There are moments when I’m more me than other moments tho. I know for a fact that there are times when I am like me and it totally pisses people off. But really when it all comes down to it you need to always be yourself. I am a happy person, and I am sure it makes others mad or annoyed that I’m so happy all the time. #choosehappy is my motto, everyone has a motto or words they live by. That is mine. Those two words are important to me. You always have a Choice. And I always hope you always choose Happy.

You should never worry about what others think. It’s what you think that’s important. Not to be selfish. But you yourself have to be happy before you can make others happy. That is a huge thing. I like rules but then I like breaking them too. Like my outfit today.

Black, green, blue, white. Years ago I would have never put this all together and let along go out in public. But it feels good to just do what I want and crest my own kind of style. You only live once, be yourself, be kind, be helpful Ana be bold.

a shovel, carhartt gloves and snow.

I live in northern Minnesota, a small town called Hibbing. We get a lot of snow, and cold weather. So you must own a pair of carhartt gloves and a shovel, maybe a few shovels actually. I don’t mind shoveling snow, I like to do it right away before people walk in it. I don’t always get it done right away but I try. I’m getting a bit tired of all the snow, but it could always be worse. It will melt eventually, it will always go away eventually, it takes a while. But one thing I love about Minnesota is the 4 seasons we have. Looking forward to all of them is why I love Minnesota. #ilovehibbing #choosehappy

Mn coffee cup

I love all coffee cups but I do have some favorites. This is one of them. Caribou not only has amazing coffee and drinks but the cups are amazing as well. especially ones that are close to my heart. uffda is a word I use often and it’s Norwegian, which is what I am. #choosehappy

Cups.

I love my coffee cups. Comfortable ones. Cool ones. Unique colored ones. Thick ones. Unique shaped ones. Some mornings I like big ones, but the coffee gets colder faster. So some mornings I prefer smaller ones so I can drink it quick and it stays hot. I like my coffee and tea hot just like grandma hernke. She would nuke her cup of coffee a few times daily, had to be hot. I catch myself doing that too, but then forget it in the microwave so I just heat it up again. It’s all good. A cup in my Hs is a good feeling. A feeling I like. #choosehappy

a tree.

have you ever stopped to really think about trees. they truly are a piece of gods handy work. some are small, some are big, most are strong. you really realize how strong they really are when you live in northern minnesota in the winter when all the snow is piled on top of them and the branches just keep bending, some might break, some do not. it’s kind of like us humans. we carry alot of things on our branches at times, and i’d like to think most of the time we stay strong, or work on staying strong, but there are times when we break, could be a tiny crack, or a big break and bust right off. But the tree usually still lives on and keeps growing, as do we when we break, we go to sleep, and wake up to a new day and keep growing, learning and doing. trees are also so beautiful, each one different in many ways, again like us humans, all different, no one is exactly the same. it’s fun to stop and just think about things like this in our world, if we don’t we never realize how alike we are to so many things. we only have on world to live in, and only on life, so stop, slow down and look at things and take photos of things, it’s your eyes that are seeing it, if you want to take a photo of it, then do it, there are many times I have been driving and I see something and think that would be a cool photo, but I’m running late, or can’t stop because of some reason, but later i am bummed that I didn’t take the time for me. #takethetime #capturewhatyousee #choosehappy

another reason i got trees tattoo’d on my arm, and my three son’s signatures. all of them are such strong boys. Strong Willed, Strong Hearts, Strong in general.

even the needles of a pine tree are so very strong,
trees. strong. all different. like us. stop and notice things.

all start out small, like us. some stay small, some grow. again all different.

so 18 years ago…

this little boy arrived a month early. he really wanted to join his family in a bad way, coming out foot first resulting in an emergency c-section. all was good tho, healthy baby it’s all we could ask for, we were so blessed to add another boy to our family. Leslie James is his name, named after both Grandpa’s. He’s been a joy ever since, always keeping us on our toes, always thinking, and always has a funny and quick come back to everyone and everything, loved being silly, always willing to lend a helping hand, loves his xbox since a young age. I’m so blessed to be his mom, I just hope and pray that i’ve been a good mom to him, it’s always a mom’s fear that we are not doing a good enough job, or we missed something in the raising/growing up stage, but I’ve done my best that I can do, and I’ll always be your mom and here for you if you need me. I’m so excited that you are 18 now and you are on your way to your world, your life, Dream Big, Be Bold, and Be YOU. This is a big world, and you need to Be Strong and believe in yourself. Have fun. Love you Leslie James.

Newborn baby boys

I love capturing kids. Especially newborns. All are different. Most of the time if you are patient enough you can get them to sleep. But sometimes they just don’t want to miss out on anything and stay awake the whole time, and that’s perfectly fine with me. So precious. I could stare at them all day and cuddle with them also! Lighrooming this session was so much fun. #choosehappy #northernmnphotographer #newbornbabyboy #hibbigmn

life

don’t wait for everything to be perfect before you decide to enjoy your life.

Wonderful words to ponder, read again and again. We seem to get stuck in a rut at times waiting or trying to get things perfect, and we forget to live our life. Life is a gift, and we sometimes don’t realize this until it’s to late. So smile today and every day, and enjoy your day, even tho sometimes it might be hard, but take something you like, and look at it, and smile. Smiling is easy to do, and it’s Free. #choosehappy

like this photo, makes me smile, and makes me happy. all those smiles, all different, these men in my life, all different personalities, different likes, different dislikes, all a great person with huge hearts, but they all tick different, but that’s okay that’s what makes them such amazing men. I am blessed.

a mob session

I love when clients come to me with a vision. this time it was a grandpa that had a vision for a photo shoot with his adorable granddaughter, and his handsome grandson, these two kids, i’ve had the pleasure of capturing since they were in womb, its been so fun being the one capturing them both. this grandpa had every detail covered, to the right kind of black boots, to the correct sun glasses, and gloves, it was amazing.