What fun we've had since my last article! We've attended several concerts and a family festival out at the Cibolo Nature Center; we attended a few German band concerts; we had a wonderful beach vacation (we camped right in the sand!); we successfully hosted the 30th-annual Johnson/ LaCrosse family reunion; we enjoyed the parade and other festivities during Berges Fest; my parents treated Nathan and I to some time off while Ben stayed a night with them; we attended Nikolaj's 2nd birthday party; and we just spent our 4th of July at Paula and Tim's house for a bbq and at the fairgrounds for the big fireworks show. Despite the fact we can't remember when it last rained and it's getting miserably hot, the summer has been a blast so far!

Ben has earned plenty of gold stars for potty-training (we're done!). And he's been busy enjoying the summer session of storytime, trips to Fiesta Texas and Sea World, playdates with his friends, and Sunday School. Nathan has just about wrapped up the playset project, with just the roof to go. And me, I'm still running on borrowed energy, busy being mom, homemaker, and business woman.

Speaking of business, it's going very well. I've had so many new clients lately and so many orders coming through, I've had to get extremely organized and have had to invest in more computer memory, software programs, lenses, and backdrops. We also completely changed the guest room into an actual office. I also invested in my first conference- four days of speakers focusing on the business side of photography. I learned so much and am really looking forward to using some of the new procedures and techniques to help my clients through the whole proofing and ordering process.

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." -- James Dent