Thanksgiving in Ohio!

As most of you know, we were very blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Ohio this year! We were able to spend 10 days....which was not long enough for me, but I'm sure too long for Joe :)

Being able to spend the holidays with family means so much more to me now that I live so far from home. I find that relaxing around the kitchen table and chatting means the world to me. I was able to have lunch with old co-workers, dinner with my life long high school friends, family bonding time with little Kaitlyn...and we also made it to the OSU vs MICHIGAN game and time with Detroit friends! What could be better?! GO BUCKS!

We didn't take many pictures for some reason, but we did get the camera out to take some pictures of our Thanksgiving feast! Everything was wonderful, thanks mom! :)

We love you all and miss you tons! Now get your little butts out here!

Me and Gipper...the cutest little guy ever. My first baby. I miss him, but he is so happy in Ohio.

Dad with Patton and Gip, it was a bit chilly out on Thanksgiving Day!

Me, acting like I'm helping :)

Our 14 lbs turkey, without the Gladieux clan we had no need for the 25 lbs turkey!

I guess it was dad's turn to act like he was helping!!

Brittany and "Baby BOY Gurtzweiler" helped too! :)

Mom cutting the turkey.

Our table, I took the picture of the eggs and olives for you Britt!! It's our favorite!

Kaitlyn playing peek-a-boo with Uncle Joe! She LOVES him!

Joe's hands making a heart...He loves her too!

Kaitlyn and Joe

Here are a series of really cute pictures of Kaitlyn........

If we could clone her we would! She has the tiniest voice and she talks and sings all day long! SO cute!

Skyping with Britt, Ryan, Mason, Ben, Tessa and Stein!

Grandma reading a book to Kaitlyn!

Books have so many uses!

Now THAT is talent!

Grimmy, the last of our 20 something farm cats!

Joe and Kaitlyn watching Dora.

I sure am missing this little girl!

*~Our newest Family Photos!! ~*

We did a really fun Photoshoot with a family in Laguna a couple weeks ago! It was so much fun, they have an 8 month old and they brought their doggie with them too! I SO loved taking pictures of little Ella (I nanny for her 2 days a week) She is an absolute doll and is so much fun! Joe really prefers photographing adults because children can be so difficult, but that is where I can step up! At one point when I was sweating on the beach from jumping up and down, making weird high pitch noises and yelling, I actually stopped and looked at the couple to apologize for my weirdness...is that wrong?? But, I made the baby smile and the dogs ears perk, so all was good into he end. We were so happy with the pictures and the family is over the moon with how they turned out! I really do love this job! Oh, and I actually helped take pictures this time too....AND I got some of our favorite pictures! I told Joe he better step up his game because I might just be better at this than he is :) Okay, probably not, but I am for sure better at the editing part.

We have a wedding this weekend here in Southern CA. We are both looking forward to the beautiful location, it is in Orange in one of the last remaining Orange Tree reserves in CA.

WE WILL BE COMING BACK TO OHIO NOVEMBER 18TH-28TH! SO EXCITED TO SEE EVERYONE AND EXCITED THAT WE WILL BE HOME LONGER THAN 4 DAYS!

Love to you all,

The Jankord Family

Here are some picture of the Dominguez Family!

HaLLowEEN FuN!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! Joe and I LOVE this time of year and I'm pretty sure Halloween has become our favorite holiday!

Growing up in the country we didn't ever get trick or treaters at our house, so we would go to my grandma's house in Stony Ridge and hand out candy or go trick or treating with our cousins. I swear I can remember every single year like it was yesterday. I LOVED handing out the candy to all of the children when I got "too cool" to trick or treat. It was always something to look forward to! As I moved into my own house I held some Halloween parties and I now have several fun decorations...including a strobe light, a rock that makes creepy noises when you walk up to it and a few other light up things.

I'm not sure Joe really ever went to this extreme with the decorations as a child, but I can tell you all he is living out all of his childhood dreams now! He is SO funny, watching him get the strobe light just right so everyone knows to come to our house. He attempts to jump out of the bushes to scare the children and even yells at the people driving too fast down the street! The whole time we are passing out candy he says "I LOVE HALLOWEEN! IT'S MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY EVER!" It really is cute to see him so excited...he is my grown up 5 year old!

We also attended a few Halloween parties. Our neighbor's held a party at their house which was lots of fun! Joe and I both went as Robin Hood...sadly everyone called Joe Peter Pan, which I thought was hilarious, Joe not so much! My dad now refers to him as "The Pan"

Here are a few pictures from the party! :)

Robin Hood and Peter Pan :)

Big Booty Judy, Peter Pan and a Witch...Joe clearly needs a water!

Big Booty Judy, White Trash QB, Crazy Guy ?, Mario and a Witch

The Crew, what a great looking bunch

The Swine

I want to start by saying that I love my husband very much and he truly makes me laugh on a daily basis...

When Joe returned back from Germany he had complained that he wasn't feeling well and had come down with some sort of cold. Those of you who know Joe, it seems like he is always coming down with something. It sometimes worries us that he must have the worst immune system ever...OR...he knows it will get him out of walking the dogs. Anyway, so Joe complained about being sick for about 3 weeks, during this time I never really realized he was sick. He may have sneezed here or there and may have had a stuffy nose or something, but that is all. So, we were watching the news last night about the "Swine Flu" and how it is spreading rapidly among people between the ages 25-65 (something like that) Joe is now convinced he had the swine flu! I am convinced he had a case of a "mild cold".

As we sat on the couch with our phones, he googled "Swine Flu Symptoms" which read...tiredness, headache, runny nose, sore throat, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, aching muscles, diarrhea or vomiting.

So, I googled "Cold Symptoms" which read...sneezing, running nose, tired, mild cough, possible fever.

Joe didn't have vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath or loss of appetite...he didn't even miss a day of work. BUT, he is convinced he beat the Swine Flu...he's amazing!

So, what are your thoughts?

I must add, I did catch whatever it was that Joe had. I too came down with horrible congestion, sneezing and was tired also...mine lasted 3 days.

And the fun continues...

Hi everyone!

Hope you all are enjoying this fall weather! Here in CA we have finally gotten rid of the 90 degrees and it has cooled down to the mid 60's-low 70's! I have to say it has been quite a nice break from the heat. One nice thing about Southern California is that we still do get to have fall like weather without all the rain and cold. The leaves do change colors and it gets pretty cool at night in which we turn on the fireplace and drink hot chocolate! We are looking forward to our trip back to Ohio for Thanksgiving too! We are planning on coming for a full week, but we haven't booked our flights yet. I will let everyone know the dates we will be back and hopefully we can meet up with as many of you as possible!!

Well, this past month has pretty much flown by. Joe was in Europe for work for 10 days and was able to visit with Jon, Shannon and Taylor in Frankfurt, Germany. Joe was very excited to be able to experience a little bit of Oktoberfest...which means Joe being able to see drunk girls in short dresses! Jon and Shannon had asked Joe if he would take family pictures of them in celebration of Taylor's first birthday, so they had a fun couple days of photoshoots! Taylor was not feeling the best, but Joe was able to get some fun shots of her and I was able to edit out all the tears and snot :) As I was editing over 450 pictures from the trip, not only of Taylor but of all around Germany I was feeling quite jealous! The castles and old churches and building were amazing! Joe was so happy to be able to spend time with Taylor whom he has yet been able to stop talking about! Thank goodness Taylor was a good girl and Joe came back still wanting kids! The only complaint he has was that Taylor has the highest pitch scream he has ever heard, and suggested that Shannon put her in singing lessons because she may be the next Mariah Carey! It seemed like a great time of year to go and I missed out, but we are hoping in the Spring to maybe head back to Paris again! Below are some pictures of some of Germany that Joe took! If you want to see pictures of the Jankord family in Germany you can visit our website and look under Children/Family.

www.josephwilliamphotography.com

When Joe came back from Germany we ventured off to Lake Arrowhead for the weekend. Lake Arrowhead is about an hour and a half from the house and way up in the mountains! I had found a cabin that we were able to rent last minute and it was adorable! We took the dogs hiking along the trails on the lake, they were able to be off their leaches and boy did they LOVE it! It was so fun to see them exploring and Harley even jumped in the lake and didn't drown! Harley is NOT the best swimmer, but he sure loves the water.

So, I no longer have my little Ford Fusion Ohio car. I turned in my lease and bought an Infiniti FX, which I am totally in love with! It is so nice to have an SUV for the dogs. It was a little weird though when I left it at the dealership, it seemed like my last piece of Ohio I had here in California. I probably would have been more sad if it would have started when I got into it to take it to the dealership! YEP, only my luck would be that the darn car battery dies the day I am turning it in! I needed to call roadside assistance to get it started and I seriously couldn't drive it fast enough to the dealership! Me and the Fusion had a serious love/hate relationship after 3 new radios and 2 new batteries...Thank God I didn't buy it!

Brighter news, my sister-in-law who is pregnant with her second baby is doing better! Unfortunately she is on permanent bed rest and has a long way to go, but things are looking better, continued prayers for her! My mother-in-law (Terri) is still fighting her battles with pretty much whatever new is thrown at her. She is now fighting pneumonia, continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Love you all!

Jen and Joe

Jon and Joe

Joe and Taylor Rae!

Taylor...probably looking for Aunt Jeni!

Obviously, this was a very large hill and Jon needed a little push!

Shannon!! So pretty :)

Cheers!

I love Taylor's face in this picture!

Inside an old church in Munich, beautiful!

Avery Dennison, Joe's office in Germany (a century old farmhouse)

Dresden, Germany

Dresden, Germany in front of Joe's hotel

Dresden, Germany

Dresden, Germany (The view from Joe's hotel room)

Dresden, Germany

Lake Arrowhead

The drive up to Lake Arrowhead

Lake Arrowhead Tour Boat