Happy Thanksgiving! It’s 12:08a.m. and it’s officially Thanksgiving Day.  And the first thing I wanted to do was blog about what I am thankful for this year. I think it’s ESPECIALLY important right now considering how the past 2 months has gone around here with the plethora of illness that continues to plague our family. You would think we were rolling in filth the way we fall.

We nearly made it an entire 7 days before tragedy struck again. On Saturday afternoon we were preparing for our family portraits. Jana was heading over with her family so we could do a lil’ session swapping. All was well and i was in the happiest place in the world because i finally got a new flat iron and we were bonding when people started shouting “CALL 911!”

Long story short Larissa fell and dislocated her knee. OUCH! so we had the fire department, the sheriff (apprently he was out and about and thought he’d pop in too) and the EMS here. Three emergency vehicles and a gaggle of kids milling around the front yard. It took them nearly 45 minutes to stabalize her enough to transport her.  So she was carried out, her new Abercrombie jeans cut to smitherines and 5ml of morphine coursing through her veins.  (the morphine cancelled out the death of the jeans).  The ER doc. set her knee back and we were home w/in an hour. She is doing well but she will have to have surgery once she returns to Switzerland next summer. Let’s all pray that she doesn’t have to suffer that tragedy again….and at least if she does let’s hope she’s wearing a cheap track suit.

So fastforward to today and Parker has bronchitis. Not much to say about that. He sounds awful but he is his happy, menacing little self. He is a budding artist and likes to show off his mad coloring skillz on the walls. …..alot.

So that’s the update and now here’s my little list of things that i am eternally grateful for…..

friends & family (DUH! that’s a given)

k-now onto the rest.

1. a new flat iron
2. that mark brought out my christmas decorations from the attic without me asking…ever. not once.
3. brooklyn’s beautiful hair. it’s taken forever to grow it out. she is loving her hair and i love watching her love herself.
4. parker’s new vocabulary: mama, dada, ball, woof woof, mooooo, orange, nana, bye, go, i sit, wa wa.
5. health insurance-i can not phathom our medical bills w/out it.
6. the premiere of Lost (january 21) woot!
7. my new “family” in switzerland and their generous hearts.
8. the beginning of advent.
9. hudson’s endless questions….even if they are slightly overwhelming at times…at least he’s still talking to me.
10. brooklyn asking me if she could use my camera today and then walking around the house snapping photos of EVERYTHING including every Christmas book we brought downstairs for the coffee table.
11. Michelle’s pumpkin trifle….um, and Michelle too! (she’s already included in “friends” listed above!…geesh!)
12. my mom’s new job and that she is able to have real holidays off like Thanksgiving and she is spending it with my brother & sister.
14. that my sister in law isn’t a giant freak who thinks she can have natural child birth. she will be administering her own epidural sometime in the next 4 weeks ….which is still 4 weeks prior to her due date.
15. stores that release their black friday ads early so i can plan my strategy. woot!
16. pumpkin spice lattes
17. that we have finally stopped using our AC all day on a daily basis….now it’s just an occassional artic blast to cool us off mid day.
18. my new car….i know that’s so ridiculous but seriously, you have no idea.
19. zyrtec. parker slept in his own bed THE ENTIRE NIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!!!!!!!! course, he hasn’t done it again since and i don’t actually KNOW if zyrtec is the reason he did it the first time but why chance it and leave it off this amazing list?
20. that larissa can still use her abercrombie jeans as a sovenier.

i could ramble but really…is that like me?

gobble! gobble!

I have commented more than once that I use to rock the blog. i was so amazingly great at writing and posting back in ‘05 when i first started to blog. and really….what the heck was i blogging about??? i had nothing amazing going on? i wasn’t out meeting amazing couples, families & kids. i was sitting my a&% at home pondering the fate of the world and the destiny of my toddler children….and somehow I managed to convince myself that was the most amazing content to ever be blogged. i sometimes find myself rather amusing.

even as recently as 2 years ago i was so good at staying on top of my blog…again…pondering the burning questions of the world. however…now that i HAVE to blog….eh, not so much.

so most people realize we have been under attack for nearly three months. we’ve all been sick in some capacity since the 2nd day of school….minus two good weeks (not consecutive i might add). we are about to roll out the 3rd week and i feel like Britney Spears coming home from rehab. there should be some sort of celebration for this. i am staying positive that we are going to heading into winter in fact and fully prepared to call in assistance for an exorcism if necessary.

so while trying to force feed my kids kaopectate and zyrtec i have managed to spend time with some amazing seniors, families and shoot some seriously great weddings. (see the post on Michelle & Jon’s right before this). I have sooooooo much blogging to catch up on. So many sessions to post. Fun senior sessions and some great mini holiday sessions. i prooooommiiiiiissssssseeeeee i will get there. i’ve tried to at least keep my facebook profile updated with new sessions but i’ve even fallen behind on a few there.

i’ve also just given up on the idea that the new website will be launched anytime before the end of the year. there is just no possible way to pluck any more hours of the mother time tree that grows abundantly in the back yard. however, i AM happy to say i am totally on track to be off the entire month of December. With the exception of one shoot that i have to do (family is only in town for the holidays) i won’t be shooting or editing ANYTHING. Therefore, i have time to spend with my family and on the strong possibility that i will pretty much hate all things christmas by december 5th, my only work priority is to finish both the new wedding and the new senior site as well as revamp the portrait site.

i’m absolutely looking forward to thanksgiving break. larissa, brooklyn, hudson and i will be heading to austin on monday to the capital and to just hang out in one of the greatest cities in america. tuesday we are painting pottery at a local art studio. hudson is going to work with daddy on wednesday…he’s been asking for 2 months. and the girls …um, and p-diddy parker man will stay home to get things ready for our thanksgiving dinner. larissa will get to experience all the pleasure of thanksgiving this year as well as the full out madness that is black friday. friday night we’ll go the the annual holiday river parade on the riverwalk and saturday is six flags. we should be able to sleep on sunday….the entire day.

alright…so that’s a quicky update. i promise to post sessions and fun family pics soon!

happy hump day….um, i mean thursday!

Hello Blog! I have missed you!

ok, now on to the good stuff!

Michelle & Jon! woot! What an INCREDIBLE wedding. I was so happy when Michelle & Jon asked me to photograph their wedding. Not only was it going to all out ROCK….It was extra meaningful since Michelle is such an amazing woman and I have felt honored to be able to work with her on some spectacular Bleu Print events that she & Stacy have put together.

As expected no detail was overlooked. The location was amazing at the Southwest School of Arts & Crafts. This was my first of two weddings there and it was incredible. The Bleu girls completely rocked it.The RK Group catered and this was one of the few weddings were I actually wanted to sit down and eat. People, all I’m gonna say is Mashed Potato Bar. Seriously…life doesn’t get any better than mashed potatos in martini glasses. The flowers were amazing, the guest book, the favors, the cake…the game table for the kids. It was an incredible night. The best part…..

Michelle & Jon. Completely just all about everyone else. They went above and beyond to make sure everyone was taken care of and having a great time and in the midst of it all you would see them and they were radiant and beaming and just HAPPY! It really was all kinds of goodness!

So….here are some of my faves from the night.

Thanks to both Jon & Michelle for inviting me to be a part of their incredible day.

VENDOR LIST:

Bleu Print Events
Southwest School of Art & Craft
Botanika
Page Bartow
RK Group