Best Friend, Advice Giver, and Mom…I love you!

In order for anyone to know me they first need to meet my mom. Its more than just a mother daughter bond we share we are truly best friends! Honestly I love my mom more than anyone in this world! You know those proud parents that are convinced that they have the most wonderful children in the world? Ya well I’m worse when it comes to my mom. She is the best period. no questions asked! I am always looking for a reason to brag on her! Honestly the woman has had some of the coolest jobs ever! She was a dolphin/sea-lion trainer, vet tech, saloon girl for six flags, set designer, and teacher to all us crazy kids!

On top of all of that my mom is also my biggest hero! I mean how many of us can honestly say they have lived their whole lives with their biggest hero? My mom is smart, funny, creative, caring, brave, and to top that off she is also one of the most beautiful people I have ever known! She is crazy beautiful inside and out!

She encourages me, challenges me, and blesses me everyday, I am truly blessed to call her mom and best friend. I love you mom and I don’t nearly say it enough!

Thanks for being adventurous and giving me great memories of camping.

Thank you for teaching me that life is too short to take it too seriously. And making me laugh so hard I cry.

Thank you for teaching me to take a break every now and then.

Thank you for teaching me what a loving wife looks like.

And finally thank you for being my mom and loving me unconditionally. I love you!!!!

Wesley “Weasel” Forshaw an angel among us.

 

So as some of you may or may not know I lost my pop when I was only 4 years old, he died in a car accident, and to this day I know how precious and short life can be. I have never met a man so loving as my pop. He never knew a stranger and was never lacking for a joke, he was the life of the party and the best friend to everyone who knew him.

Part of the reason I love photography so much is that it captures a moment in time, and even part of who someone was or still is. I love to go through all the pictures of my pop, I am so thankful I have them, it has shown me that pictures are more than art, but they are a time capsule to bring you back, or to bring others to a world they would never had known without those pictures.

My pop was a jack of all trades, he was a gunfighter at six flags, a professional framer at MJ Designs, and an actor.

But more than that he was a wonderful friend, loving husband, and amazing father! I am so blessed to have had him as a father.

Photography Master – Beth Dreyer

 As all of you know I am an aspiring photographer, but what you may not know is that I only became interested in portrait photography because of the ever fabulous Beth Dreyer!

I knew I wanted to be a photographer but I had no idea how to go about making that happen, so my mom suggested that I talk to Beth (she and I go to the same church), and boy am I glad I did. She has taught me so much about photography its unbelievable. Not only did she take time out of her busy schedule to teach me she also let me tag along on her shoots! So after seeing the true art behind portrait photography I have really fallen in love with it. I always look forward to tagging along on shoots to learn and also sometimes help out, one time Beth being the dedicated photographer she is, had me hold her as she leaned off a fence to get a good shot! haha the things we photographers do for a good shot! She has been a great example! and I am so thankful to have someone so dedicated to their art teaching me and if you have anyone like her in your life count yourself a lucky person. I know I am 😀

Native American.

 So as of a couple of years now I have been rediscovering my own heritage, I am a quarter Cherokee, but as Agitsi (my mom) describes it you can’t be a little Cherokee, either you are or you are not. So with this information I finally felt confident enough to start learning the culture. I have learned how to cook typical reservation recipes, make pinch pots, some of the language, and my absolute favorite I learned how to make double wall baskets! I have never really been into crafts, but this goes beyond crafts its a tradition. To feel so connected to the past is a beautiful thing, to look back and learn from those who came before us so we can make the world a better place for those that will go beyond us. So at the close of this post I urge you to learn where you came from, so you can pass this knowledge on, after all the only ones that can make history are the ones that care to tell about it.

Flash of Genius

Have you ever had one of those moments where you just feel on top of the world? Because you figured something out that had been seriously troubling you? Well I had one of those moments around September of last year, I had gone on a trip with my favorite people in the world my mom and my lil sister. We were at this wonderful old historic house and out front was this beautiful yard with flowers and it was simply beautiful. So I had to take a picture of one of the prettiest flowers I had ever seen. And when I saw how wonderful my picture turned out and when I got such a feeling of confidence from that, that is when I realized that I didn’t want to be anything but a photographer. I had been so worried about what I was going to be I didn’t even realize that what I loved most had been with me my entire life until that moment…my flash of genius!