MO HALL FOOTBALL JAMBAREE 2008

Back on August 16th, the Columbus Crusaders Middle School teams attended the Mo Hall Football Jambaree held at DeSales High School. We have 3 middle school teams, and this event hosted 6 teams where they played 10 offensive and 10 defensive plays each. There were 2 teams from the Dayton area and one team from Columbus and the competition was fierce. I had the pleasure of meeting Ohio State's own 2005 graduate Maurice Hall. Maurice introduced himself to me while I was standing on the sidelines and was so kind and great to talk with. I found out that we both graduated from Brookhaven, although my graduation was a lot earlier than his! Maurice holds various football and cheerleading camps during the summers, and you might want to check out his organization's website at www.willyouwin.org. He was very gracious and allowed me to snap a picture of him and Clayton along side each other. Thanks Maurice!

CRAZY BUSY!!

Sorry it has been awhile since I've posted, but I just want to review my past week or so with you. I know we are all busy, and I want you to know that I hope to get to blogging next week. Some major milestones have been accomplished in our family. Summer has ended and the boys started back to school this past Wednesday, August 20th. Surprisingly, they were ready to go back, but mostly to see their school friends that they don't get to see too much during the summer. I have been composing the football program for the Columbus Crusaders the past 2 - 3 weeks, which is finally complete as of today. All 60 pages. 

Andrew got his driver's license yesterday, so this is the official announcement to stay off the roads!!  Ha ha....seriously though, he aced his driving test, and had 2 points taken off of his maneuverability portion, just because he stopped and started over. He drove himself and Clayton to school today. Of course I took pictures, but will post them next week too.

Clayton had a football scrimmage last Saturday, and was pleased to meet Maurice Hall, former running back for OSU!! Super nice man, and even posed for a picture with Clayton. His first football game is in September, with another scrimmage scheduled for tomorrow. 

I will be photographing the BWYAA football league Saturday and Sunday, after just finishing up photographing the Columbus Crusaders, from 5th-12th grade.

So, I promise I will post next week with pictures!!!

FOOTBALL!!!

OK, so it has truly begun. The 2008 football season. Just finishing up baseball season, (which is my favorite sport) we are in FULL swing with football. I'm not just talking about our youngest son Clayton playing for the Columbus Crusaders. (www.columbuscrusaders.org). On our way home from our family vacation, we were able to throw in an added bonus trip to Cleveland to attend the "Cleveland Browns Family Night". A great place to see the players up close and personal as you can see from the pictures , but even better to get autographs from those players. And as fate would have it, determined Clayton

 was able to obtain autographs from Braylen Edwards, Josh Cribbs, and                                        Derek Anderson!       

You see, Clayton's middle name is Mathew.....hmmm....if you know anything about the Cleveland Browns you will know that there was a linebacker by the name of Clay Matthews....(which all of this info came out of my husband's mouth after the birth certificate was signed!)  Regardless, we had a fantastic time for our first time attending family night, and we will definitely return. It was great and gave us a kick start to football season, which I do love too!

VACATION TIME!

Alright, so we've just returned home from our annual vacation to Gull Lake. 4 years in a row now, and we've already booked our reservation for next year! What is Gull Lake? A beautiful spring fed lake, complete with gorgeous sunsets and sunrises (so I'm told on the sunrises), where we rent a house for a week with 8 other families, mostly friends from our kids' school. But the whole purpose behind Gull Lake is Gull Lake Ministries. "Vacation with a Purpose". A non-denominational family church camp, located in Michigan, and you have to check it out! The weekly schedule includes family huddle, break out sessions for kids in their age groups ranging from infants through senior high school, incredible teaching for the adults, family fun theme nights like "Funtastic Olympics", great food, great water time, incredible time for walks, bike riding, and a recreation field that includes a zip line, screamer swing, climbing wall and pamper pole. And yes, I've done all of those activities except the pamper pole! Its only a 4 1/2 hour drive from our house, and its a great time to regroup with your family. Our kids INSIST on this vacation every year. They LOVE it! Check out our pictures and check out GullLake Ministries at www.gulllake.org  OH - I O !!! We were after all in Michigan, so we have to leave some OSU Buckeyes trails!

Welcome to my blog site! Since I am a digital photographer, I know that I should be completely up with all of the latest technology. Believe me, I have come a long way. My 16 year old knows far more than I do, and since I don't utilize any of the popular online communication sites, I thought it would be best to publish my own blog. This is where I will let you know what is going on with my family, and my business, Siders Photography.

I will introduce my family to you and let you know that I have been married for 19 years to Steve Siders. He is a true artist and has his own concrete construction business. He has the best "concrete swirls" around!  Stamping, coloring...ooh la la....it is fun to see his creations. It is a very physically demanding job, and while he has already had one hip replacement, he continues with pouring and designing and we appreciate all he does.

Andrew is our 16 year old and is scheduled to get his driver's license next month. Am I ready?

Does it matter? Oh, I am bittersweetly excited as we all journey through another phase of life. Needless to say, lots of prayers will be going up minute by minute! Andrew is truly an artist as well as he is a sophomore in high school participating in plays, choir and being social. He is currently enrolled in Saturday morning art classes at CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design) and he is my inspiration. He puts motivation and thoughts into my head and pushes me to be extremely creative with my photography. I hope to incorporate him into my business.

Clayton is our 13 year old and has more energy than any kid I know. He played 6 baseball games in 5 days, then started this past Monday at OSU for basketball camp. Friday and Saturday this weekend he is playing in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, along with a doubleheader baseball game Saturday afternoon! He then has about 2 weeks off and football practice begins in August. He doesn't sit still for very long and one day he came home from school in his usual fare stating that his science teacher (Mrs. Gilliland) told him he would probably own his own business someday. "Those who have lots of energy usually end up owning their own businesses",  she told him. Hmmm.....I do wonder what she was really trying to tell him!

Animals?  Oh yes, we have those too. 1 dog and 4 cats. We will get more into that later.