grow

Over the weekend, I got a chance to get back in touch with my roots. I spent some time with my parents in Poulsbo, during which I decided to take a little stroll around their farm. It was a gorgeous day (that's right, Washington's August has everywhere else beat), and the photo taking bug got a hold of me, so I grabbed my Mark II and went outside. Lo and behold, I had forgotten to put a card in. Don't worry, it has never happened on a shoot. Still desperate to take some photos, I tracked down my old Nikon D50 and took it for a spin. Good ol' Nikon is how I got my start as a photographer...the D50 being my very first SLR. As much as I'm in love with Canon now (thank you, Hallmark), the D50 really was a blast to shoot with. So here we are. Enjoy!

Oh, and can you say holy garden, batman!?

Coming soon: more wedding photos, and some awesome frames from the Deford family shoot. Let me tell you, chasing a 2 and a half year old around a Seattle park with your ISO and shutter speed jacked up for 4 hours is a barrel of laughs. Get ready for the craziness!

broken hands and lots of snow

Oh, the great snowstorm of '12. It's really quite entertaining, watching Pacific Northwesterners react to this much snow. They act like they've never seen it before, even though (surprise surprise) it actually happens every year. Maybe not to this degree, but it still happens. We hit some snowfall records this time around, just for our small corner of the country. Best part of all? Getting to experience it all with my insanely giddy, hyped up Phoenician fiancé.

A few hours (okay, that's wishful thinking, it was about 30 minutes) into our first snow outing...

(think:: sketchy sleds, snowboards, and a very steep road)...

while I was busy running back to the house, getting my camera, and meandering back down the driveway, taking photos...

drew does this to his hand: so we went to the hospital, where it is confirmed that he has broken his fifth metacarpal clean through. So they gave him some pain meds and a "room" in the hallway... ... and two nurses and an orderly tried very hard to set the bone, but it wouldn't stay in place. So they told him he has to get surgery to place the bone properly, to take place the next week.

[Fast forward, surgery is finished and all is well. He has a fantastically enormous wrap thing around his hand to keep it from moving. We're hoping for a cast on Friday.]

the day of birth

Drew's birthday comes around at the same time every year... six days before Christmas. Talk about being upstaged. So, this year, my mom and I decided to plan an elaborate (yet not that fancy) surprise party for him... 8 year old kid style. Yep, we're talking balloons, streamers, funfetti birthday cakes, noisemakers and piñatas.

Step one: distract birthday boy.

I took him out to breakfast at our favourite cafe, then to the park to spend some quality seagull-watching time.

Step two: drive around randomly, take the longest possible way home because Mom and Dad aren't finished prepping yet.

Step three: get up to the house before Drew. This one worked out a lot smoother than I thought it would.

Step four: party time!

... and for the record... yes, that IS a birthday onsie.