Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Merry Christmas From LakeHaus Productions


 
 Our Christmas wish to you from LakeHaus Productions lies in this simple 6 minute video I produced with the help of some of the "little dudes" from our family and our church.

Merry Christmas and May There Be Peace on Earth.

To all of our customers, thank you for your involvement in our lives through the art of photography.



Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Top 10 of 2012.

At the end of the year a lot of news outlets flood us with the Top 10 _____  Fill In The Blank of Whatever year it is.

I have done this in the past and thought it would be good to look back a bit and pick out some of the LakeHaus gang's bests of 2012.

11. (Hon. Mention)  SDSU Football games with the family.  No better way to spend a Saturday in the Fall.

10. Maxim scoring his first and only goal and an assist in his last game of the hockey season last year...Brecken making it to state in wrestling and finishing in the top 12 in the state.

9. Our annual snomobile trip to the Hills with the Fasts was again cut short by weather...but those trips home on sheer ice are still frequent conversations.

8. Kolby was the first of our "younglings" to wakeboard this season...and it was her very first time.  The water was cold, but she showed her brothers who is BOSS.

7. Since this is number 7 I will take it for myself.  I turned 40, put on almost 15 pounds and had knee surgery all within a 30 day window.  The pounds are coming off again, but the age isn't.

6. The epic family vacation to the Black Hills, our first real family vacation since Kolby joined the group.  A big storm, driving all the way to Wind Cave and finding out it was closed and all the kids really wanted to do was swim and play on the water slides at the hotel.

5. Watching the water level drop...pretty sure the lake is 4 feet shallower than it was a year ago.  A little nervous that we might have to go to the Missouri next year to enjoy our boat.

4. Our new cat.  We adopted "Kisses Read More Books" as "our" cat.  She kept hanging around and let Kolby and Brecken abuse her with "love".  So we let her hang out in our garage and give her the occasional table food.  (The real reason she is still here...she mouses like a champ!)

3.  Grandma and Grandpa Decker moved back to Huron.  They have a house 2 down from ours but live on the farm and the kids love having all 4 of their Grandparents at their immediate disposal.

2.  LakeHaus Productions...thanks to our customers enjoyed a very successful year.  Stephanie has logged more hours on a computer and a phone than she gets paid for, but she keeps the thing running with a smile.

1.  4th of July.  EPIC Party week.  To me the 4th is like Christmas where you can go outside and enjoy the whole family...not just the ones who want to go outside.  Grandpa Bob hosted over 100 people at our house for his famous 4th of July Chuck Wagon Festival Breakfast.  Carson was at our house to spend time with his little cousins who adore him.  The weather was perfect, the water was calm and the fireworks didn't almost kill people this year...we have learned a bit as we have aged.  I really do enjoy the 4th as much as Christmas.  Forgive me if I put out a nativity scene next July...we can celebrate Jesus' birth twice a year, right?

That is the list....there will be more of the same in 2013 I am sure of it, sans the knee surgery and me turning 40...have a Blessed Christmas and enjoy your family this Holiday Season.

I will post a Family Christmas card in the next week or so and then take a break from the blog until after the first of the year.

Monday, December 03, 2012

Hours Of Operation

When you run your own business you quickly realize that there is no such thing as "work hours"...because every hour you are awake you are working.  For Steph this is true.  She is 80% of what is LakeHaus Productions.  (She would argue that she is 90%!)

Over the last few days her phone is always beeping, ringing or vibrating and our home phone is constantly ringing as well.  I am not complaining, business is great and she loves the energy that  revolves around what we do at LHP, but sometimes we just have to say...."OK, the next 3 hours has nothing to do with LakeHaus...or my work at the energy factory."

Last night we got done with Maxim's hockey games ( won 1 and tied 1, Maxim had an assist and a penalty) and Steph basically worked all the way home from the games in Watertown...the beauty of the iPhone...she heard from two brides asking us about doing their wedding, a couple of families that needed photos taken and a senior who procrastinated a little bit on scheduling senior pictures.  All that on a Sunday night after 7pm.

In a lot of ways we are like a family farm...there isn't a day or an hour that isn't somehow devoted to what we do.  Our parents are involved with the business, our kids help out and we have a "harvest" season.  Right now is that time.

So if you ever need us we are only a call, text, email or Facebook message away.  With all that said....we are going to go on a bit of vacation from December 23rd through January 1.  We have sessions scheduled during that time, and some customer work to do, but we will also be spending a bit more "away" time to hang with our kids and extended families. 

We will answer "immediate needs" requests, but if you have to wait a bit to get an answer back during the Christmas break please understand that we are stepping back just a bit to rest our "creative juices".

Even artists need breaks.

But until then, by all means, give us a call...we will bring you into our "family farm" with open arms.