c koop photography: Ron and Melinda and Family

I was in grade 9 and was attending my very first YQ ("BIG" youth event in southern Saskatchewan) I was the only girl in my youth group attending and was rather nervous about spending the weekend by myself amidst 2000 other high school students. But I didn't need to worry for long.... I met up with 2 other girls staying in my room with me and they became my lifeline for those 52 hours we spent together. Melinda and this other girl and I attended rallies, hockey and volleyball games, danced at concerts, followed cute boys around the campus and generally had a great time together all the while knowing that we'd probably never ever meet again.

All I could remember years later was that she was from Houston, BC. Funny thing? My parents moved to Houston over 3 years ago and one of the first people they introduced me to was Melinda..... Melinda.. the girl from YQ! Small small world I have to say. She spends a fair amount of time hanging out with my parents and her children have almost become surrogate grandchildren for them. Their closest grandkids live 8 hours away so someone has to fill that need for them!

Anyways, I spent some time with Ron and Melinda and their boys a few weeks ago at Melinda's parent's place (GORGEOUS!!!!). It was the only rainy day amidst 2 weeks of straight sun.. go figure! So the ground was wet (which I learned while laying down to get that "perfect" shot)... BUT in spite of the dismal day we had a great time exploring the property.

Thanks Ron and Melinda and boys for sharing some of your time with me... I can't believe that after 20 years Melinda and I could pick up where we left off. A few things have changed. A crowd of 2000 doesn't intimdate me anymore, in fact it's invigorating! I still sit and watch hockey games and love to dance at concerts (just ask Tys and Ry!). But the biggest change is that we don't follow cute boys around anymore, we caught them! Oh wait.... we're not following cute boys anymore, we're chasing after our own... and they are keeping us busy hey Melinda?:-)

I've still got space for fall photo shoots. If you are interested in updating your walls check out http://www.ckoop.com/ and click on the contact page!

I'm not too sure what Melinda is laughing at here. It may be because of her missteps leading her to walk through a fresh cow manure whilst trying to situate herself for that perfect pose. She was a great sport and finished up even though the cow manure fresh-o-meter was off the charts. She ended up taking off her flats and rolling up her pants.... true northern girl! I love it!! I could have shot her for a waaaay longer time... isn't she beyoutiful?

"Hey you... girl.... come here and look at this!" Was the phrase I heard several times during the photo shoot. It seemed that I "needed" to see different things. I laughed at the hey girl thing (note not hey lady or ma'am but girl... nice!).