Stef and I were asked to come upstairs and watch the girls perform scenes from “Enchanted” the other night. Reilly and Teagan couldn’t agree on who was to be the princess…so they both were. In case you haven’t seen the film, the story constantly references “True Love’s kiss”…and now so do Reilly and Miss T.

In fact, on a somewhat regular basis, we hear Teagan shouting from upstairs – “HELLLOOO..I’M WAITING FOR TRUE LOVE’S KISS!!!”

…and keeps this up till one of us goes up and smooches her.

Reilly snapping a photo before the smooch.

I got tired of consistently losing to Reilly in Uno so I challenged her and Teagan to a game of Sorry. Apparently she had played the game before (thanks grandma) and proceeded to beat the pants off me….twice..

She was not sorry.

My mom came up from San Diego last week to visit for a few days. I love it when she visits, the house just seems warmer and more cheery when she’s here. Sorry to break it to you mom, but a few days is just not enough. We are all very sad now…you must stay longer next time.

Here are some of the highlights Reilly and Teagan have been reminding me of since she left…

“But dad…Grandma reads us THREE books every night!!”

“Dad…you HAVE to color with us…GRANDMA did…”

“Dad, do you want to watch Enchanted?”

Other highlights:

Grandma met her match in Uno with Reilly, we watched the movie ‘Enchanted’ two three four times while she was here, an awesome game of whiffle ball on the driveway, watching Carrie Underwood videos on GRANDMA’S ipod, and some lovely meals.

Thanks for coming mom, we really appreciate your time here!

Love, Stef, Reilly, Teagan & me.

We decided to enter the Wedding & Portrait Photograpers International (WPPI) 16×20 print competition this year in Las Vegas. A number of prints scored high enough to hang in the gallery which is such an honor for us. One print in particular scored higher than the rest, higher that we have ever scored for that matter. And to boot, it was of our daughter Teagan at the Monterey aquarium. This really means a lot to us especially with the story behind the image.

I knew before we went to the aquarium I wanted to get a photograph of Teagan or Reilly looking into an aquarium window. Having never been there, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Teagan and I walked into a room and there were a number of these ‘portals’ for viewing. One problem…they were all full of other people.

As I scanned around the room to find an open window, I lost sight of Teagan…oops.

About the time panic was beginning to set in, I turned around and saw this…Teagan all alone at a window.

I had just enough time to raise my camera to my eye, take a few shots…and she was gone, off to the jellyfish. The final image was better than I had imagined…almost magical for me.

We have posted it before, but here is the final presentation the judges saw. The print title is “World of Wonder”. They also sent us a cool little press release we thought we would share. Thanks again to all of our clients who allow us to explore and create, we are forever grateful.

Another Easter has come and gone and what a fun one it was! Here a a few sneak peeks from the fun packed weekend. Saturday evening was an event filled get together at Grandpa Ed’s, decorations and games everywhere (thanks Kim!). The girls had great fun finding eggs, blowing bubbles and eating candy.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny had arrived and left all kinds of goodies for the girls. After most of the candy had been devoured, we saddled up for the annual brunch at the Hall’s ranch. They live on a beautifully landscaped 3 acres…how’s that for an Easter egg hunt! Anyway, there was more finding eggs, blowing bubbles and yes, more candy.

We finished it off that evening at home and watched the movie ‘Enchanted’. A lovely time.

Whew!!

AND MORE…

Easter morning.

One hot momma.

The amazing egg race. i was disqualified for cheating…

I went to see one of my favorite bands the other night, Fair to Midland (reviewed in one of our newsletters). This is the second time I’ve seen them and still can’t believe the energy they have on the stage.

This show however would be a special treat for me. I had forgotten to take my camera out of the car earlier and couldn’t turn around as the show was starting soon. No way I was leaving it in my car parked on the street in front of the venue for the show.
So, I slung the bag on my back and headed to see the bouncer.
“You with a magazine or something?”
“Why yes…or something”
And in I went.
Show started and I thought well, if I’m carrying all this stuff I might as well photograph something.
Out came the camera and big lens, and all of the sudden I was everybody’s best friend.
“Are you with the band?, You with the newspaper?, What magazine do you work for?”
During the second song I walked out to the floor. Two very large fans saw me. “Hey buddy, you wanna get up here in the front?” And proceeded to move people out of the way to get me to the stage.
Moral of the story: If you act like you are SUPPOSED to be doing something, odds are, people will let you!

Reilly challenged me to a serious game of Uno the other day. Apparently my trickery doesn’t work anymore…she’s become quite good at the game.

Okay, we’ll end the supspense….that was Reilly’s hair on the previous post. She decided it was time to cut NINE inches off her hair to donate to someone less fortunate than her…we’re so proud of her! We’ve been growing her hair out for some time knowing that we would eventually donate it when she was ready, and one day last week out of the blue, Reilly said she was ready. We didn’t tell anyone, including daddy, who was very surprised and pleased. The haircut wasn’t the only big change last week…can you see anything sparkling on her ears in the last images?? Our little girl is growing up!

Can you guess?

Stay tuned…

The wind blew us into IKEA for our semi-annual visit. Every now and then I get a hankering to pay homage to my Swedish roots. Sorry Gramps, breakfast at Ikea is about as far as I get.

It never ceases to amaze me how much fun the kids have here. Seriously…it’s ridiculous, you would think we were at Disneyland. Hey wait a minute… maybe I’m on to something. The employees even act like it’s Disneyland.

“Teagan, stop jumping on that bed!”

“It’s quite alright sir, that’s what they are there for”

While in line at breakfast, Miss T somehow knocked over the ENTIRE tray of oatmeal condiments (rasins, brown sugar and milk) sending them crashing to the floor, shards of glass and sugary mess everywhere. I do not exaggerate, their were two employees there before the last piece of glass came to rest. I couldn’t even get an apology out before one of them interrupted me.

“Darn those pesky bowls…they just get in the way don’t they?”

Teagan stood blank faced, somewhere between shock and tears.

“I do that all the time!” said the bright smiling Ikea castmember. “You guys better hurry up and sit down before your food gets cold…we’ll take care of this!”

Fourteen thank-you’s later, I took Stef and the girls to our table. On the way there, I glanced over my shoulder…no mess to be found. The whole thing was cleaned up and a new tray was on the counter…

Ok, maybe this IS Disneyland..

Reminds me of the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark!