When I was 24 years old, I broke up with my boyfriend whom I was living with and with no where else to go, moved back home for awhile.  It was a hard transition for me, leaving my own home.  Changing my day to day life so much, not having my own space, breaking up with a boyfriend, I felt a little lost.  My parents welcomed me back and didn't seem to mind at all that I was there, but it was still hard.  Rudy became my buddy during that time.  He started sleeping in bed with me every night, something he had never done with anyone before.  It was like he knew I needed to be comforted and... it worked.   Obviously I eventually got over it, but Rudy would still sleep with me.  Then I moved out again, my parents got a divorce, my mom moved 2 hours away, and I didn't see Rudy as much.  Luckily for me, he had been there exactly when I needed him.  Just like he was for me, he has been there for my mom when she has needed him.  He was by her side through divorce and moving.  Rudy was with her when she fell in love again, and then by her side when her fiance became sick and eventually passed away.  Nothing can make all of that okay, but I know that having Rudy around gave my mom a sense of comfort. Tim and I eventually got our own dogs and we would take them to go see Rudy and his new sister Rosie.  Even at 16 years old, he would get excited and run with them some.  He was patient and tolerant of their "puppy-ness".  He actually seemed to enjoy having them around making him feel younger again.

My mom's birthday was July 21 and we took the dogs to her house to have dinner.  While I was there I took some pics of Rudy, but on the way home I thought to myself that I needed to make a special trip to get some good shots of him because he was getting older and I wouldn't have much time.  Unfortunately I didn't make it back in time.  One week ago today, Rudy passed away.  His passing was mostly calm and peaceful, I am so thankful for that.  But it was still so sad.   Rudy was my buddy, he was the last "family dog" my family will ever have.  He was loved and cherished.   He will be greatly missed.

I never had my official photo shoot with Rudy, but here are some photos I have taken of him over the years.

Grace Elizabeth born July 5, 2009

William's first birthday was June 25th.  While moving the images from my compact flash cards to my computer, I couldn't help myself from jumping ahead of the things I need to do and editing a few of these.  His smile and laugh are so infectious, even in his pictures.  Even though he couldn't quite put the sentence together to tell us yet, I think it's safe to assume he like his cake.  :)

I just realized the COOLEST thing!  If you have an iphone or ipod touch, you can save a shelley torgerson blog icon to your home page and access my blog with just one click!  Now don't I feel important! Here's how you do it, it's super simple

Visit shelleytorgerson.com/blog on your iPhone, select the “+” option and then “Add to Home Screen”, then click add at the top right. My blog icon will be your iphone for your easy 1-click picture extravaganza.  Okay, maybe I'm getting a little carried away, but there is some awesomeness to this, for sure!

I'm on my laptop, without my external hard drive connected, so I don't have a lot of pictures at my fingertips.  However, I hate posts without pictures, so I am going to share with you one that I love from a Christmas shoot with the Gregory/Hickey children that somehow remains on my desktop.  Braylin is my niece, and her Uncle Timmey and I have been in awe of her greatness since the day she was born, no joke, I'm talking serious AWE!  On the day of her birth at the hospital, when I first looked down at her, I just could not believe how much I loved her.  How could I love her this much?  I didn't know her at all, she had only been on this earth for a few hours!  AND, she isn't even MY child.  Don't get me wrong, I love all babies.   But if it's possible to have a connection with an infant instantly, I did.  My little genius contantly astounds us with her perfect speech and vocabulary, and her understanding of EVERTHING!  We have been saying all along, "I can't beleve she's only one, or two, or three..." I'm sure this will continue.  When she was just a tiny newborn, I used to whisper in her ear all the time that I knew she was a genius, I could just tell by looking at her.

Sometimes her intelligence does not always make things easier though, as her mom was telling me today.  Sometimes she can know too much and that can lead to a little bit of defiance and obstanance.   But I wouldn't have her any other way, in her Aunt Shelley's eyes she will always be perfect.  How could you not love a three year old who can look this annoyed!?!?

Braylin is the in the back on the left (if you didn't figure that out :) )

****edited to add****  Don't think for one second that any of that means I don't love that little guy, William, just as much.   I just haven't spent as much time with him, and well, Bray's my girl.

At the end of January Tim and I went to New York City.  We LOVE New York and we had a fantastic time.  (even though we kinda missed our pups!)  We didn't do anything specific, just walk around, visit museums and galleries, hang out in Central Park, and eat perfect street pizza!  (man do we love the pizza!)  You might be asking right now, "January?"  Yes, I know, it is now June.  What can I say?  I haven't worked on anything personal in quite a while, but don't worry, all of a sudden, I feel compelled to work on everything!  I'm still going though all the pics, but here are some of my favs so far.

something about this shot... I can't stop looking at it...absolute fav

Here's a slideshow of the reception photos from Heather and Chris's wedding.   This is a new form of slideshow that I just bought, so let me know if you have any problems with it. A warning, there are a lot of them!  Being that I know everyone that was at the wedding it's so hard to cut anybody out.  I know that everyone will want to see themselves.  Another warning, most of the photos are SOOC (straight out of camera), meaning that there were no adjustments made at all.  There was no way I have the time to edit every photo, but once again, I figured you'd want to see youselves anyway!

Also...towards the end, it starts to show how much everyone has had to drink :)  and there is a series of "wrestling" shots that are not very good but very much needed to be included!

Enjoy!

[mbspremium slideshow=1]

Just in case you don't feel like looking at the slideshow, here's two unconventional wedding pics that I love!