Wicked!

A boring picture but I kinda just snapped it last minute. I am going to see Wicked tomorrow!!! My husband and I saw it a couple years ago so I am stoked to see it again. Here is my "Grimmerie" book he bought me a while ago:


And I know some people hate music on blogs, sorry :( I seem to make my music match my pictures usually.

Happy Birthday Baby!!

Such important words spoken a year ago that completed my world. I love you Keets:)

I am always amazed at how time never stops.




I just looked at that "storyboard" and realize I need to move the pictures on the ride side over more so it is even...Oh well. I am being lazy this year and just sending that with email invites (yep still haven't sent them but the party isn't till the week after next). Terrible I know but like I said time doesn't stop.

Did I mention I have to convert things..I think I like the color above better on the pics but I had to see it in vintage and b/w, the vintage is really growing on me.





You know it is time to stop taking picture when you can't focus your camera because you are laughing at the faces they are making:( I wish this would have been in focus but it still makes me laugh)

The Luckiest

This is admittedly not a great photo but I knew I wanted to take it for this week. My husband and I both got "The Luckiest" engraved on our rings. It was our first dance song and has so much meaning to it. (It's playing on my blog right now if your sound is on)

The rings now have scratches on them and it is harder to make out the words...I am sure they will eventually fade over time, but they will always be there even if just we know it. I am fine with that, in fact I like it that way. I am sure our marriage too will go through changes and things that once were important might fade away on the surface, but we will always know and appreciate everything in our life that made us what we are. Even if the words aren't etched out for us to see we will always know we are the luckiest.

Jack Jack

Ok, this is the last of my catching up posts...and this one's not even that old, I actually took it this month. It was a rare nice day here so I snapped a couple pics of my nephew when I dropped off my son(who was not willing to take a pic). I love this picture cause he is usually more shy but his smile is so genuine here.

So now that I am caught up I can be on theme her every once in a while :)

And the b/w version (it's an obsession to convert almost everything and then I can never decide which I like better)

Mahi

First I really want to thank everyone for the nice comments on the wedding pictures, that meant so much to me :)

I am really stretching this before and after thing...so I am loosely on theme. I love this kid, he is so adorable. He was my first other then family shoot as a newborn and a semi-stranger too (they were husbands friends but I had not met them yet)

So here is a kinda "before"- his newborn pics:



And some "after" from a recent shoot-


His grandma bought him this outfit so they wanted pics in it and I loved his transistion from happy to not so much...

Family

Only a couple more shoots till I am all caught up.

Leave it to family to wear all white shirts ;) I hate shooting white but it was worth it for these pictures. This is my SIL's family. I tried hard not to blow the whites especially in the conversions, and I think I did my best. I got some cute shots out of them...and next time I get to see the wardrobe choices ahead of time ;) Here are a couple of my favorites.



I was only supposed to be taking family shots but in between I would kinda snap a couple of the kids and I got two pretty cute ones of these two:


But I didn't get one of just the other twin in frame so this is where the before and after comes into play. I had taken some test shots when I moved locations to try to get a good exposure for the white shirts. So the only image I got of the other twin that I thought I could save was not composed well and wasn't even with my right exposure...it just happened to be focused. I think I did ok trying to save a picture.
Before:

After:

Beautiful Family

This family was so much fun and so loving with each other. The brother and sister were always hugging each other and it was a so great to see.

A different kind of before and after...I love serious shots so here is me saying "Ok, no smiling just give me you most serious face"


Which after holding for two seconds usually turns into a great smile :) Two birds with one stone..


And here is one of the family shots from this session that I loved <3

My Baby!

Taking a break from catching up to focus on my baby. He will be one soon and before I know it he will be five like my other one. I need to really savor this learning period. I need to take more pictures of him just doing his stuff and not worry about whether the background is distracting or if it is a perfect composition.

I love him so much!! Every time I seem him I want to squeeze his little cheeks in completely non-violent manner ;)

I love how his hair gets all crazy when he wakes up and I will not cut it! I don't know what it is about baby curls but I love them. My husband keeps telling me he needs a haircut and I say maybe after he turns one but probably won't happen :)

I love that he never cries when he wakes up in the morning...every single time we go to get him from his crib he is just smiling away.

I love his "Keets" voice that we made up as a family when we want to narrate what we think he might want to say...and how his brother really thinks that these are his thoughts and will answer them..."Hey best buddy you are the best brother in the world" said in the Keaton voice and then Blaze answers, "Thanks little buddy you are too" Seriously so cute.

Anyways I just love him!!

New pics!!

Lol not really, these were actually taken before the ones yesterday but I am getting closer-up to November!

This set was from my first stranger shoot...no charge for the session. Someday I hope to get good enough to charge but I won't do that till I feel I know everything. Pb'ing for now. I was nervous and think I could have done a better job looking back now. They are kinda bright... but they loved them so that counts as important right? He was so active it was hard to get him to stand still so I shot on the fly. I loved the interaction with the parents though.


I usually custom white balance and I was experimenting with auto on the ones above cause I forgot my card and I don't think it works as much for me. Does anyone have an expodisc or whibal? I have been wanting to try new methods and can't decide between the two.

And here is a fave of my niece...I love her red hair but I really like the conversion on this one too.

Back to Catching Up

Ok I know I need to be posting new pictures and getting with the theme. I am so sorry I just want to get caught up on all my old pics first...and while I am doing that I am still editing new ones so this might just be a vicious cycle;) Hopefully just one or two more of these catchup posts and then I will get to the new stuff.

I took "A"'s pictures for a friend when she was a newborn and here are her 3 month old shots...this was a tough age to photograph for me but I she is so cute she made it easier. I was and am still getting used to needing to back up w/ my 85mm.


This was one of my favorite shoots so far. I did these for a friend and my older son loves these boys. He always asks when we are going back to play with them without my camera.

My husband was so proud of that middle shot cause he set up the pose and was his "vision." It's not perfect but I love it cause of that.

I these pictures for coworkers too. I love that my friends have such good looking kids :) The newborn is a first grandchild. And the older girl was one of the sweetest girls I have ever met, she had so much personality I have a lot of outtakes on her :)


Thanks for looking everyone.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Actually on the 7th, for those of you who might be reading this on the 8th.

I cannot believe how old I am...blech 27, how did that happen:) I remember just yesterday being single and 18 living it up. There are a whole list of things that I thought I would do and acomplish by this age that I haven't...and I am so glad. I was under the impression that I wanted to be free and single forever and instead here I am and I have accomplished the greatest thing I never knew I wanted.

I have the most amazing husband in the whole world. He loves me and supports me no matter what, thinks I am the most beautiful woman in the world and makes me laugh every single day.

As if it couldn't get any better I have two of the most beautiful boys I have ever seen in my life, and not just saying that cause they are mine. I live for these kids and that is so much more fullfilling then living for just myself. They light up my everyday.

So instead of being depressed about how old I am, I cannot wait for each year cause every moment with my family makes me want a thousand more.

Here is an example of my husband cracking me up...we were cleaning and he put on one of my headbands and posed for this picture :) This was just taken in our bathroom and the background was so distracting that I did a lot of work to take it out...all for my entertainment :)


And my beautiful children:


My goal was to take a good self portrait on my bday but I hate my own pics so much I gave up really quick, this was the best I got but someday I will get a good one :) I am so uncomfortable in front of the camera but I am working on it.


Btw, that amazing husband I mentioned totally got me tickets to Wicked...so stoked :)