Halloween, Ackley Style

Rowan, Roaming Gnome
Rowan just returned home for Halloween from Nepal. He was trekking the Himalayas. Before that he was mastering the art of Southeast Asian cooking in Phuket, Thailand. Stop by to see him soon. He will be heading off to Lake Como, Italy, where he will learn to water ski. In the off season Rowan will be traveling to his cabin in Northern Alaska to write his twelfth novel. At the age of 72, He enjoys life with five grown children and eleven grandchildren.



Bella, Spanish Princess
Bella, like Rowan, is also just home for the holiday. She flew in last night from Barcelona, where she entertains locals and tourists alike as a Flamenco dancer. For years she resented the dancing lessons her mother forced her into as a small child, but now she is grateful because she makes a fabulous living at it. She wins every ballroom competition she enters (much to the resentment of the other dancers, really). In the off season, she vacations in Ibiza, where she stays out late then sleeps in. She has many boyfriends, but nobody serious. Her parents often wonder when she will settle down.



Dale, Mountain Climber
Dale recently met his lifelong goal of summiting Mt. Everest. But on the descent, he was caught up in a unpredicted blizzard and separated from his team. His friends cannot find him, and have no other choice but to leave him for dead. Frostbitten and disoriented, he eventually finds his way back to base camp. Dale's wife arranges a helicopter rescue. It is a risky mission at that altitude, but in the end, successful. It costs her a fortune, but it's worth every penny. His wife loves him very much.



Jessie, Rock Star Groupie
In 1988, Jessie attended every single concert of Def Leppard's World Tour, following the group from city to city. To this day, she still leads a pretty rough life. Because of her past substance abuse, her mind is clouded. She doesn't notice styles have changed, and she still likes to tease her hair up to the sky and wear her makeup heavy. She struggles with holding down a job and remaining sober.

Weekend at Debbie's Cabin

This past weekend we stayed at my friend Debbie's cabin near White Pass like we do every fall. It's tradition. We go, be lazy, eat junk, do nothing, relax, and occasionally glance out the window to see elk walk by. It's pretty fun. We also take our family picture for our Christmas card.

Here is the cabin (I took this photo last year):


We got to the cabin late Friday after heading out from work. We got settled in and everyone went to bed except for me. I stayed up until 2:30am reading my latest book in front of the fire. So cozy!

Saturday Dale taught Bella how to play Uno. They entertained themselves for hours.




Rowan was SUPER grouchy Saturday. He's always a monster, but it was extra bad. In between bouts of rotten behavior, he'd sack out on the couch. I should have clued in by this point...moodiness, sleepiness, rosy cheeks, that only leads to one thing with my kids...A FEVER!


Saturday night Rowan became really sick with his high fever and that really bad cough kids get where the sound like a seal barking. They cry, cough, cry, cough, oh I feel so bad for them.

Rowan and I spent much of the next day like this. One good thing that comes from being sick is all the extra cuddle time I get!


I loaded Rowan up on Tylenol before taking our family pics so he could tolerate it for a while (like 5 minutes). I think I have decided on one. Whatcha all think of this one?

It's a Boy!

My boss and his wife welcomed baby #8 this afternoon, and this completes the family with 4 girls and 4 boys. Congratulations, Bowers family! Can't wait to meet him!

Oh, My Cooperative Children

Bella and Rowan HATE having their pictures taken. We were at my friend, Debbie's cabin this weekend and I took some family pics for the annual Christmas card. My kids acted as though it was the purest form of torture.

I went through them...having a hard time deciding which one we'll use. Although this is not this one, I found it pretty funny.

'Tis the Season for Drunkin Birds

The first few weeks Dale and I lived here in our current home, we would often hear this really loud Whack! sound. There's really no way to describe this horrible sound besides whack. But when you hear it, it is definitely startling. And loud.

One day we figured out the sound came from birds hitting our living room window. We've never actually seen it, though, because it always happens so fast.

See, our house is kind of oddly shaped. It's long and narrow. In our living room, the north side of the room has a wall of windows, and the south side also has a wall of windows. So, if you are standing in our front yard, you look through the windows into our living room, but then you see through the other windows to the opposite side of our house. It's weird. But birds get confused by this, I guess.

In the fall, it gets really bad. Birds hit the windows almost daily. The reason why is because of this tree in our yard:

We found out from our gardener friend that the birds eat the berries, which are rotting and fermenting. The birds get drunk. Then they are confused and disoriented and fly right into the windows.

I am blogging about this because it JUST happened. I was sitting here at the computer, heard the loud WHACK! (but this time it sounded like the bird hit with enough force to break the window). I ran out there and saw a cloud of little feathers in the sky and saw this on the window:


Then I looked down to see the poor little fellow on the ground down below. ( Please do not call PETA on me for expoiting dead birdies on my blog for the purposes of entertaining my blog readers).

It's really sad!

Meg and Kail's Wedding | Clarksburg, MD

Recently I flew to the Baltimore area to shoot the wedding of Meg and Kail (pronounced Ky-EE). The wedding was held in a beautiful, little white chapel in Clarksburg, MD, which is just north of Washington DC.

But just who are these people? Let me explain...follow closely. I hope I get all of the details right. I am very close friends with Courtney and Jared, who are siblings. Years ago, when they were both still in MD and Jared was in high school, he dated a girl named Meg. One day, Courtney went to Meg's house and met eyes with Meg's older brother, Mike, and it was love at first sight. Through time, Jared and Meg went their separate ways, while Courtney and Mike remained an item. Years go by. Jared moves to Texas, meets a wonderful girl, and gets married. We are all very happy for him. Courtney and Mike are engaged. They come out to Seattle in June of this year and I shoot their engagement photos. The next day, Courtney, myself, and Mike and Meg's other sibling, Liz (who coincidentally lives in Seattle -lost yet?) run a half marathon together. Courtney and Mike fly home to Maryland. They show their engagement photos to Meg (who is, at this point, engaged to a wonderful man named Kail) and she loves them. "Do you think she will come out here to photograph my wedding?", she asks Courtney. Courtney asks me. I say yes.

Meg picked me up Friday morning at the airport after my Thursday night red eye. I was pretty tired, but it was no biggie. We spent all day Friday together and I helped her with errands and loose ends. After a few hours, I felt like we'd known each other for years! We had a great time together.

We attended the rehearsal dinner that night, and by the time Courtney and I got back to the hotel...it was midnight. Not a big deal, except that the next day's wedding was going to be held the next morning at 9:30...which meant that we had to be ready to go and leaving for the venue by 7:30...Boy was I tired!

I do have a point, though. Shooting a wedding while exhausted, for me, is a good thing. I cannot be nervous and tired at the same time. Also, I tend to be more creative when I am really tired. I think it's because I just "go with it" and don't over analyze much.

I also had the privilege to shoot with another up-and-coming photographer named Brad. Brad is a law student living in Chicago (his school is right on Michigan Avenue. How cool is that??) I am excited to see the images he captured of the day. Check him out at Bybrad.blogspot.com

One more thing~ I finally figured out how to make templates in photoshop (Amy will be so proud!) Please forgive me for going a little overboard here.

I'll shut up now and share a few of my very favorites of the big day.








With the wedding being held in the morning, breakfast was served at the reception.


I love this one.




I could have watched these two dance all day long. I loved how her dress flowed.




This was the flower girl's idea. How cute!!


A little story about these next two pics: Meg wanted an image of the two of them walking away, where she is just walking and he is clicking his heels together in the air (you know, leprechaun-style). We tried this over and over and when I flipped through the images on my LCD screen, I started laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. Kail's friend's came and looked over my shoulder and were all "Dude! It looks like you are being hit by an invisible truck!"




Meg and Kail, Thank you for choosing me to capture your day. I wish you a lifetime of happiness together!

Dug Up From the Archives

I found this disk of pictures while rummaging through my closet today. I haven't seen these pictures in years. They are of Bella at 7 months. I shot these images with my boss' wife's Nikon D1X. She sent it home with me one day to play around with. She was trying to convince me that it was time to make the switch from film to digital. She didn't have to work too hard.

These are the very first digital pictures I ever took. They are untouched, or SOOC (strait out of camera) as they say in the digital photography world.

Seeing these photos makes me realize just how fast time flies.

What I'm Reading

So right now I am reading Ed Viesters' No Shortcuts to the Top. It's pretty good. I caught up with all of my photo editing and with a little downtime after my surgery I decided to start a new book. This is one of Dale's. He suggested it. Why not? I thought. I know nothing about mountain climbing...it's a chance to learn a little.

To say the least, Ed Viesters is pretty bad ass. He has climbed the world's fourteen tallest mountains, summited Everest six times, and Mt. Rainier over 200 times. Impressive! Inspiring! And he's a local. He lives on Bainbridge Island.

Will I Stop at Nothing for a Little Attention?

*disclaimer* Yes I am one of those people who all they talk about is their various ailments. You've been warned.

Note to any doctor who's care I may be under at any point in the future: Run. Hide. You do not want me as your patient. Because nothing for me, medical wise, is ever normal. Ever.

A week ago today I had my hernia surgery (remember the hernia that just wouldn't stay away?). Thursday and Friday I was in a lot of pain. Throughout the weekend I was feeling pretty good. Monday I felt back to my old self, put some makeup on, went to the grocery store, and even thought about going back to work ahead of schedule. That night, though, I was in a lot of pain. I attributed it to doing too much, too soon. The next day...still pain. That night...the pain was almost unbearable. Much worse than the moment I came out of surgery.

So off to the ER I went...And here I will give you the condensed version: I was poked and prodded and CT scanned, then admitted, given a NG tube (OMG have you ever had one of those? Good times!) I asked my RN friend Erin if she has to place those (yes). Then I joked with her that they'd make a good interrogation tactic. "Hey Enemy! Tell us the location of your headquarters! If not I will shove this tube up your nose and down your throat into your stomach all while you are awake!"

I got home from the hospital last night. The source of my pain is still a big fat mystery, BUT it is getting better, so that's a good thing! :)

On a serious note...at any moment I even started to feel whiny, I reminded myself of what Jordanne Gerbing is going through and remeber that my problems pale in comparison. Her bravery is inspiring.

Now I Feel Old

I just got off the phone with my Tahoe friend Lindsey. "You're having hernia surgery tomorrow? That's so funny...I just got home from having my gall bladder taken out."

After chatting with her for a few minutes, I decided that our conversation made me feel really old. It seems like just yesterday the conversations amongst my friends consisted of important topics such as who we could get to buy us beer.

Next thing I know, I'll be in discussion with my friends over which brand of electric wheelchair is better- The Rascal or The Jazzy.

Surgery Tomorrow

If you read my blog, you may remember that last year I had to go in for hernia surgery. And if your memory is really keen, you may recall that my hernia came back after 3 weeks.

Time to go back in. I've put it off long enough. Tomorrow is the day. They are going to use stronger reinforcements this time and I have my fingers crossed it will work!

How sad is this? I have been SO busy the past two weeks that I am looking forward to this surgery. I will have an excuse to lay in bed for four days strait with no responsibilites. I can't wait! Good books, lots of movies...finally, a break.

Oh, and if for some freakish act of medicine causes me to die while under anesthesia, I love you all...

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Some Exciting News!

Well, I promised myself I wouldn't share this on my blog until it was 100% set in stone, but it's 99.9% there and I can't hold the secret in any longer.

I am going on a mission!

I have been in touch with Medical Teams International for the past several months and on Wednesday I received an email informing me that I had made the team for an upcoming dental mission. And there was my name, 7th on a list of 9.

Jessica Ackley, Dental Hygienist.

I will be joining 3 dentists, another hygienist, one assistant, and two support staff to provide restorative services and extractions to children in orphanages.
How rewarding will that be?

Are you dying to know where??



CAMBODIA!!!!!!!!

I will be going for 2 weeks in January, 2010. I don't know any details yet. I have no idea where we'll be staying or what the conditions will be like. A hut in the jungle? A hotel in the city? Should I bring a mosquito net? Indoor plumbing or a hole in the ground? Electricity? Clean drinking water? And this question makes me feel really shallow given the circumstances, but...Will I be able to blog??