A Busy Weekend!

We had a wonderful Christmas time last week, with lots of food, family and good times!  For those of you who aren't aware, I'm from Pennsylvania, and my entire family still lives there.  Therefore, we make several treks to and from PA each year in an effort to keep our kids familiar with their grandparents and extended family.  Besides that, my family is pretty close and I enjoy spending time with them, especially over the holidays.

So, on Christmas morning in Iowa, we awoke early, and opened our Christmas presents as a family, and that afternoon we headed for grandma's house in PA with Jodi feeling very nauseous and weak.  We drove thru the night and arrived in PA about 8am Friday morning, and went to bed! Jodi awoke feeling much better, and Friday night, we were off to our first family Christmas of the trip.  After taking my first bite of amazing smoked ham and gourmet potatoes, my stomach began to churn.  I tried to survive the evening by taking walks outside to get fresh air, popping Tums like nobody's business, and drinking water.  Finally, I succumbed to a nap on the couch while the family played games, and I made it home okay.  

***Gross Side Note:  I absolutely hate puking.... with a passion... and I avoid it at all costs.  While it may make one feel much better, it is so nasty that I actually prefer feeling sick to throwing up. Anyone else??***  

So I went to bed, and could not sleep.  I was supposed to help shoot a wedding on Saturday for my friend I've never met Andrew Bryant, so I got my cameras ready, confident that I would feel better in the morning. As I was packing, I was checking for directions online, with Jodi watching a movie on a different laptop, and my dad reading Drudge Report on a third computer when suddenly a slow rumble started underneath us and became very loud and frightening for a grand total of about 3 seconds.  I was sure the furnace exploded and was waiting for a fireball to shoot thru the floor boards at any moment.  Dad thought a car ran into our house and he bolted out the front door to see what happened.  Jodi took out her headphones and said "what was that?!"  We looked around and nothing was out of place, and no car had hit the house, so we introduced the idea that it may have been an earthquake.  After 10 minutes and a quick Google search, our notion was confirmed by the US Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program as a 3.4 Magnitude earthquake centered about 4 miles from where we sat. 

Saturday morning came early, and I was still not feeling very well, so Jodi went to second-shoot the wedding instead of me.  That night, I was feeling much better and we all played some Scattergories at which I kicked serious rear-end.  I'm actually pretty smart, despite my dashing good looks and fantastic personality.  ;)

Sunday morning, my brother Greg and his wife were commissioned by their church to serve as pastors at another church and it was awesome to be part of very special moment in their lives. Right after church, we had a bunch of people over for lunch, including my grandparents.  As we were sitting around after lunch, talking and watching football, a fire engine screamed past, led by an ambulance and fire police.  We are a nosey family, and I own a large camera.  Put two and two together and Dad, Greg, Grandpa, Jackson and I were piled into my brothers car in about 30 seconds to follow the sirens and the billowing smoke we could see over the top of the trees.  About a 1/2 mile from our house, we came upon this scene:

We were about 200 yds from the barn and not even close to the action, when the fire police yelled at us and kicked us out the field, citing the "wind direction" as the reason we were to move, much to our amusement.  Look at the pictures and it's clear which way the wind was blowing... not towards us! Anyway. :)  After we returned home with our stories and our images, the TV News vans roared past.  Mom suggested that we send our photos to the papers and tv stations since the fire was out by the time they would have arrived on the scene.  We immediately contacted them, and arranged to send our images to them.  That night on the 11:00 news, the story came up and so did 3 of my images!  The newsanchor said "These images were taken by Rodney Gehman".  I did a Tiger Woods fist pump, and my parents embraced in a moment of pride for their son's astounding accomplishments.  Haha!  Then today, my images were in two newspapers.  While it's really not a huge deal... it was pretty sweet. 

So that's how the last 4 days have gone for us!  Sickness... Earthquake... Commissioning... Fire... Name on TV/newspapers... Introducing my mother to Starbucks... Craziness!  

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We didn't forget about the Christmas Contests (although some of you obviously did!) and will be announcing winners later this week, along with another spotlight story.  I'm trying to get our main computer set up here, and so far it's being difficult, similar to the support guy I called today.  I will not be using the word "helpful" to describe him.  

So long for now...

Contest Spotlight #2

This entry comes from one of our past seniors in PA, who also happens to be my cousin!  See you soon, Raquel!

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"Hi guys!  I had been wanting to make cookies for my neighbors so this gave me the extra motivation :)  I made plates of chocolate chip cookies and puppy chow and gave them to 2 of my neighbors, and the guys that work at the corner grocery store at the end of our street. :)  Merry Christmas!" -Raquel

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Two days to go!!  Thanks to those of you who have entered the contest so far!  I'll put some of the Christmas Tree pictures on tomorrow, so you can see that contest.   Keep those entries coming, the contest ends Christmas Day at midnight.

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Last night, we had our first family Christmas party of the year, and I had the wonderful opportunity to console our four yr old, who was quite disappointed with the gift he picked from the grab bag. :)  It's more difficult than I thought to explain to a child how to be grateful that he actually GOT a gift at all, because some children around the world don't get presents.  You want to see your kids light up and smile when they open presents, and when they burst into tears instead, it's a weird feeling.  At that point, I was just glad it wasn't a gift I bought for him. I gently explained that grab bags are a terrible thing if you are looking for a gift that you had been asking for all year, and that he would receiving more gifts in the coming days, and that there are kids around the world who don't get any presents at all, and he should be content with the little car. :) But, lucky for him, his little cousin traded him presents and they were both happy as larks after that. 

 

Contest Spotlight #1

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I'm spotlighting some cool stories that come in during our Christmas Contest, and here's a cool one that comes from one of our brides from this past summer...

"Chris and I  did something a little different for your contest. We didn't bake cookies...We were both at home on Wednesday shoveling our driveway when we noticed that our neighbors drive still hadn't been shoveled. His wife has recently had some health problems and they have been out of town a lot lately. Also, our neighbor is usually very picky about his yard/driveway so we figured they must really be busy if he hadn't had a chance to shovel yet. So Chris actually thought of the idea for us to sneak over and shovel his drive while they were gone, too surprise them. I thought it was a great idea! So here are some of our pics from that day. They still don't know it was us either :) Merry Christmas!"

-Chris and Marcie

That's what I'm talking about!! Nice job, Chris and Marcie... you guys rock! Alright folks, they took the lead, and you have 4 days to submit your story (even if it's the same as someone else's) and images. I love it!  If you're new to the contest, just scroll down a few posts, or click here.

Tina :: Senior Style

Tina goes to our church, and stopped in last week for some senior pictures!  She had just started coming to youth group when Jodi and I were youth leaders a few years ago, and it was fun to get to know her and her friends a bit more.  When she came for the photo session, she brought along her "baby-think-it-over" or whatever you call those babies they give you at school that cry and you have to put the key in them to make them stop... you know what I mean?  Anyway, whatever you call it, she had one that day, and our kids were very intrigued by it. :) Sometimes, I wish I had a magic key that I could just plug into them! Ha!  I wonder where you get one of those....

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CHRISTMAS CONTESTS

Okay folks, it's the home stretch!  Less than a week until Christmas, which means less than one week remains in the contests.  Your odds of winning are pretty good at this point! ;)  If you're new to the blog, just scroll down, and you'll find the contest with the rules and prizes.

Have a happy weekend! Stay warm!

Christmas Contest :: Update

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Hey blog-ly people.  Eeeesh.  That sounded weird. "Blog-ly"?? I promise I'll never call you that again.  Anyway... hey listen.  I have checked my nifty stat counter, and Google Analytics tells me that there have been over 570 visits to this blog since I posted the Christmas Contest, and as of today, there has been only ONE entry.  Several of you have said "oooh, that's a great idea... sounds like fun!"  Well, get crackin'!  Here's the pictures of us making cookies for our doctor visit today (the doctor LOVED them!!) and we still have a plate of cookies for the UPS man when he stops here tomorrow! 

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CHRISTMAS CONTEST DETAILS

Since Christmas is all about giving, let's make it happen! You have two weeks to complete the contest, as the winner's will be selected on Christmas Day. There are two options:

1.) Make someone's day! Bake cookies or buy a small present for someone you don't know very well, and send me a photograph of you and the recipient along with the gift you gave them. We were thinking gas station attendants, Walmart greeters, Salvation Army bell ringers, neighbors you don't know very well, the mailman,  teachers, pastors, photographers (what!?), ... you get the idea... have fun with it! The point is to brighten someone's day. Email your entries to contests@gehmanphotography.com. We'll put the entries in a hat and draw a winner at random. The prize for this contest is:

A coffee brewer that makes one cup at a time!

"The Keurig Mini brewer is a great solution for gourmet coffee lovers in locations where a compact size, and minimal features are ideal. It is an excellent companion for vacation homes, cabins, college dorms, boats, RVs, or home office desktops. The Mini is compact, easy to use and brews an 8 ounce cup anywhere you can take it along and plug it in. The mini heats 8 ounces of water in about 3 minutes and then brews just like our regular brewers with no water remaining in the brewer. Now you can enjoy consistently brewed gourmet coffee tea and hot cocoa, virtually anywhere."

or....

2) Send us a photograph of you and your Christmas tree! You need to have a cup of coffee/tea/cocoa with you in the picture. Again, send your entries to contests@gehmanphotography.com The winner will be selected at random. The prize for this contest: $15 Starbucks card.

Thanks for playing along! Have yourself a Merry Christmas Season!! Now go make somebody's day!

Gehman Brothers :: Family

I think, quite possibly, that I have the coolest brothers on the planet.  I'm the oldest of 3 boys, and am blessed to say that the three of us have pretty much always been very close. When we were kids, we would: raid each other's closets (still do, actually), spend hours playing football/basketball/baseball, traveled around to churches and sang together in our family band, spent weeks together on the ski slopes of Vermont, we all like the Dallas Cowboys, and at different times we all dated the same girl... kidding, kidding, kidding! Greg and Dwight have both met and married wonderfully great ladies, and we love it that they all came to visit us all the way from PA a few weeks ago!

Greg and his wife Monica

Dwight, his wife Allison, and their little girl, Mady.

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Don't forget about the Christmas Contest!!  Scroll down to the next post for details if you're new to the blog.  Get out there, and make someone's day... then send us a picture of it, and you just might win a sweet coffee/tea/cocoa brewer!

 

Katie + Tanner :: Forever

Last Saturday gave us yet another wedding at St Mary's in Iowa City.  We've been there pretty often the last couple of years, and it's great because it's just a short walk to downtown Iowa City and the old Capitol building.  The weather actually wasn't too bad, considering it was the end of November... it was brisk, but definitely a nice day.  

Katie and Tanner were a lot of fun to work with, as they were very much in love, and were very relaxed about the wedding!  Those two elements usually lead to great images, and an easy day for us. :)

Have a great trip you guys, and a wonderful Christmas!

That's what I've always said...

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As far as weddings go for 2008, this was #20, with one to go on Dec 20!  Then we'll take some vacation time after Christmas, go to some workshops, and make some snowmen with the kids.  

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It's time for a Christmas Contest!  Check back on Wednesday for details!  I can't wait... honestly.

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It's Twitteriffic!  You may have noticed in the space above the blog that GP is now on Twitter!  What is Twitter?  It's basically blogging one sentence, and I update several times each day.  So, if following this blog isn't enough GP information for you... Twitter is your solution!  Sign up for free at Twitter.com.

Melissa + Marty :: Forever

It was another cold, blustery wedding day, but Melissa and Marty were wonderful!  When you plan a wedding in November, in Iowa, you have to be prepared for anything, because the Lord only knows what kind of day you'll get.  Well, they got a windy one! :)  

Marty is a firefighter for the city of Coralville, so we headed over to the fire station for some shots with the engines before the wedding.  They were a fun couple to photograph, and it was awesome to have two former brides, Kerstin, and Shantel, in the bridal party!