About Us

What a crazy life we lead!  From filming a client in our dining room in the morning (after frantically trying to clean crushed cheerios and toy trucks off the floor), to adding a wall on our second floor in the afternoon, to fixing a broken dryer, to developing a student workshop for young filmmakers, to changing yet another poopy diaper, to playing barbie sleepover with our daughter!  This is a snapshot of what a regular day is in the life of the Pickering family.

My husband and I married at the end of 2005, three weeks after he graduated from Vancouver Film School.  You would think that starting a new life together would be a big enough journey. Yet one month later, we began another journey when we opened our own business, a video production company named Drywater Productions.

What does Drywater mean, you wonder? Well, to be completely honest, we don't really know!  Stephen came up with the name for his "production company" while he ran around making movies when he was a kid.  It kinda stuck.

On our one year anniversary, we moved into our very first house.  It's an old house.  155 years old!  Built in 1857, it's a solid brick home that fills me with pride because we've fixed it up nice with our own two hands (with a lot of help from friends and family).  Yeah, I've shed a few tears over the years and thought on more than one occasion, "Why, oh, why did we buy this house??..What the HECK were we THINKING???" 

We've come to realize that owning and renovating an old home is like being married: You've gotta know what you're getting into before you say "I do", and you've gotta be committed...for the long haul.   Yet, it's a lovely home.  We're proud of it!  It's definitely strengthened our marriage. ...It's also been a great backdrop for a lot of our short films and commercial videos. (I can't tell you how many times our dining room has been used as a green screen studio or film set!)

We've been blessed with three wonderful kids within three years.  They are a HUGE handful, but we love 'em!  We really can't imagine our lives without these little munchkins, and what a tremendous blessing!  I look back at pictures of myself before having kids and see a completely different person.  They've refined me, humbled me, and given me something to look forward to! ...They also make owning and running a home business a little bit more challenging (the office desk and floor are usually covered in an array of plastic gourmet meals, half dressed Barbie dolls, and matchbox cars)  While it takes a little more time to finish a video project when dealing with three kids under the age of 4, it's also a blessing to be able to be home together!  How many kids get to have BOTH parents home all day???  How cool is that???

Parenting has been an adventure, to say the least.  I remember my mom telling me once that she thought the nurses were crazy sending me, her first child, home with her from the hospital without a manual!!  Since having my first child, I've often thought the same thing: "Why don't they come with a manual??"  Each child comes with their own personality, quirks, strengths, and weaknesses.  And we have THREE to try and troubleshoot!!  Every day has it's challenges of teething, tantrums, and timeouts.  What's the best way to Discipline?  Do we redirect this one?  Which battle should we choose?  In the end, we love our kids more and more...and pray unceasingly that we can show them grace and forgiveness and be the best parents that we can be!

You'd think with three kids all 3 yrs old and under, I'd be crazy to start a new major project, right?  I mean, it's not enough that I co-own a video production company, tackle the HUGE job of renovating a 155 yr old home, and parent three kids.  I might as well start blogging!  I mean, I have all the time in the world to start a blog!  No problem!

Well, bare with me!  I'm going to try this blogging thing...

I want to document our life.  If I don't start writing things down here, I might lose track of this beautiful mess that I call my life now that it seems to be on hyper speed.  Might as well take all of you on this ride with me.

I warn you, it gets a bit hectic.

That's why I named my blog, Popcorn Movie Nights.  This is one of the only things that my family can do to relax.  It's rush, rush, rush all day and even into the wee morning hours! Once in a blue moon, we will have a night where everything stops.  Stephen will pull out the $1 popcorn popper that we found at Goodwill, I'll get the kids into their PJs, grab the blankets, and then the kids will run into the kitchen to help daddy make the popcorn.  What fun to watch them on their tippy toes waiting in anticipation for the first kernels of popcorn to fly out as they jump in surprise and squeal with laughter!  We will then get comfy on the couch while the movie is starting (usually a Disney classic).  Now that is my kind of movie night!  The laundry waits, the video projects are put on hold.  Time stops and we relax for 90 minutes before bed time.

One final thing I want to write here!  Stephen and I have one crazy beautiful life, but we know that the most important thing that we care about is Jesus.  We love Jesus with all of our hearts, and we couldn't write an "about us" post without telling you all how much He means to us.  He is our rock, our savior, and the only thing that keeps us strong.  Jesus Christ who is perfect sacrificed himself so that we (who are SO undeserving as sinners) can go to Heaven when we die.  How amazing is that?? Our only desire in life is to serve and glorify God.  All that we do is for him.  We pray that we can be a light for Jesus, so that all of you can see Jesus shining through.  We want you to know the love and power of Jesus!  Please Contact Us if you need prayer or if you would like to hear more about how Jesus has changed our lives, and how he can change yours too!

So that is a little bit  about us. (in a very long post.)  We DO have one crazy busy life, but it's ours. And we love it!