Birthday weekend

Technically next weekend would be my birthday weekend since my birthday is on Thursday. However, we celebrated it as a family with Josie this weekend. This was such a wonderful birthday. I had such a nice time with Josie. It was probably one of the best weekends we've had with her and we didn't do anything special. I've had a tummy ache this weekend so I just wanted to lay low.

I borrowed a Canon 30D from Christi for the week so I can get use to it for Saturday's wedding that we're second shooting for her. Yay, Chris gets to shoot a wedding! I took a lot of REALLY cute pictures of the kids that I can't wait to share with everyone. I even got a few shots of Chris and Josie making my birthday cake (they did an awesome job). We don't have the correct card reader to download the images yet but as soon as I figure out how to get them on the computer, I'll share with everyone.

Have an awesome week everyone!

First Words

Last night, after Chris got home, Bryce was playing on the floor. He always makes a lot of noise, but he spoke very clearly. "Ma Ma." Chris and I both dropped our mouths and looked at each other. I was so excited. Of course he won't say it again, but it was clear that those were his first words. YAY!

Challenges

The past few days I've been trying to figure out how to narrow down how I want to improve my skills. There are so many things I'd like to try, but I wanted to find a good starting point and focus on one thing at a time. I decided to start with exposure.

I'm the kind of person that plays around and somehow manages to get a good shot, but I couldn't tell you how I did it. I want to be able to tell people how I got it so I can be included in the "tech geek" conversations.

So, needless to say, I'm going to focus all my efforts to getting exposure down. My deadline: April 5, 2008. I'm giving myself this deadline since this is the first wedding of the year, well sort of. We're second shooting with Christi that day. This will be my second wedding this year since I second shot for Joe in February.

I'm excited to start. So, on that note, I'm going to go start.

Bryce's First Real Bath!

After a long day, Bryce decided to take his bath at 10 pm. He was watching me make pumpkin muffins and freeze most of the batter. Bryce doesn't really fit in his baby tub anymore (go figure) so I thought I'd put the frog and Nemo no-slip pads down and see how he does in a few inches of water.

He did a great job at sitting up so I let him play and splash. After a little bit of watching him, I told Chris "I don't document this stuff enough". So Chris brought my camera to me and I started to snap a few shots. So, I decided to share.

He thought he was hot stuff.

I think he's trying to show off his tooth.

I love my baby smiles.

No, I think he just likes to show off his tongue.

Happy boy!

Surprise!

My sister, Aeron, and I took the kids out to surprise my mom for her birthday. She was very happy to show off her grandkids. This was the third time Bryce had visited her at work, but the first time Tyler, Aden, and Rylee had visited her. We took her balloons and her pictures of Bryce and Josie that arrived yesterday. She just loves showing off her beautiful grandkids. I wasn't expecting my sister to come as soon as she did so I wasn't prepared with a camera. I should have taken it to take pictures of her with all the kids. I guess you live and learn. Problem is, I always forget. I'm surprised I don't forget Bryce half the time. Kidding.

First Tooth

Bryce's first tooth came in yesterday. All that hard work, on his part, has finally paid off. It's his bottom, front, right tooth. The one next to it looks like it's been trying to come in too. How cute! His first two teeth are in the front on the bottom. I'm so happy! I love it when babies get their first teeth.

I LOVE my job!

I was looking at a Bridal magazine for some ideas for my one of bride's "inspiration folder". This magazine had an article of the top 50 best cakes, or something like that. Wedding cakes no longer come in the usual sheet cake or 3-tiered. They are looking like pure art. One cake reminded me of something out of Dr. Seuss. Some are very lavish and extraordinary, but some are just fun and exquisite.

I am excited to see what some of my brides have come up with for their cakes. In recent weeks, Chris and I watched the Martha Stewart Wedding DVDs and they had one DVD dedicated to cakes. It was awesome. One of the cake decorators had a tip (I don't know if it would work here, but it's worth a try). If you want a cake that looks bigger, want to save money on it, and don't need so much cake, she said to have them use Styrofoam as fillers. That's a pretty cool idea, although I wonder how that would be cheaper, because ultimately you're paying them for their art they perform on your cake. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try.

I want to go to Myrtle Beach NOW!

I helped Christi yesterday with an engagement shoot. She hurt herself in a recent fashion photo shoot (the things we do as photographers) and needed some help with equipment and possibly some second shooting. Chrissy and Paul is the couple we're going to Myrtle Beach for. I'm SO excited. They have so much energy to them and are so much fun. They were walking on the icy water, poor Chrissy fell through a little going out there, but she didn't get too wet. I think we got some pretty cool shots and I'm excited to see what they think of them. I'm so excited for their wedding, it's going to be a blast.

Detroit Seminar!!!

I wanted to post yesterday, but I also had to catch up on some work as well.

The seminar was awesome. I learned a lot of awesome techniques that I can't wait to put to good use. I also learned a lot of good marketing and business strategies. Some sounded a little devilish than I'd like to do, but they made sense.

I am very anxious to photograph right now. I'm pretty sure I could use these principles to photograph things portraits as well.

Here's a pic of Joe, Christi, and myself with Jerry Ghionis.

My Little Munchkin!

Bryce will be 6 months on the 16th. I took his 6 month old pictures last night.

The ones I'm getting printed aren't present, but they are just as cute. He looks just like Chris in all of these.

Grandma-To-Be

We found out on Saturday that we are going to be grandparents. Congratulations to Chris and Jayme! The baby is due in November.

I took Bryce's 6 month old pictures today, but have been working on my present to Kayli. Almost done Kay! I'll post the pics probably tomorrow.

Tuesday I have the Detroit Seminar for Jerry Ghionis. YAY! I'm getting so anxious.

My Husband Has the Best Job Ever!

Well, not really. But, the ITT President was at PEI yesterday. How cool is that. He's the big guy in charge of Cannon part (which I no longer build, YAY!), Cannon printers and copiers, oh yea and my favorite CANON CAMERA STUFF! That would've been so cool to meet him. He's kind of like a celebrity. Chris wanted to get a Nikon T-Shirt that said Nikon on it and put tape on there to say "sucks" or get a Canon T-Shirt and put tape to say "rules". That would've been pretty cool if he would've gotten a free camera out of it. However, the ITT President was nicely body guarded by the PEI President and Vice-President. Oh well. Better luck next time.

Per My Mom's Request

My mom had asked for some proof of how cute her grandkids are. Okay, not really. She did call yesterday and ask if I had any pictures from Kayli's party of the kids done yet. Here are some of my favorite pics of my niece, Rylee, and Bryce.

Rylee was excited to see me on the balcony.
He can't not put things in his mouth. Look at that little tongue.
Rylee was being a little booger when she was eating.
I love her smile in this one.
She had fun dancing with the big girls.
My dad and Bryce.
She was so confused.
"No, Tim, you play like this."
She was mad that Grandma took the pink one.
I took this one.
And Chris took this one. She's so shy with him.
Rylee showing off her cool tattoo.
She was very proud of her tattoo.
Rylee was proud to dance with Pop. Remember when we used to dance when I was younger, dad?
And, finally, the proud grandparents. Bryce is trying to crawl out of dad's arms and Rylee is trying to crawl out of the picture..

Happy Birthday Kayli!

Chris and I had so much fun photographing Kayli's Sweet 16! Party and even more fun putting it together. This is just a sneak peak of what we're putting together for Kayli. I'm not telling you what we're doing though. Enjoy!



Update: The Slide Show didn't work for some so I came up with this little collage.

Big Boy Growing Up

Bryce had his doctor's appointment Friday. He's 20 pounds and 6 ounces. He has also grown to 27 inches and a first tooth is also coming in. He was acting a little cranky, but he seems to be doing better now. He just has a harder time going to bed now.

Kayli's Sweet 16! Party went with a huge smash. Tim did an awesome job planning it. She was so happy and so surprised, there were tears streaming from her face, it was so sweet. Chris and I got some awesome shots at the party, I can't wait to get working on them. I wasn't able to work on them yesterday because Chris and Bryce weren't feeling so hot, so I was taking care of them. They seem to be better after a day's rest. I plan to work on the pictures today when I'm done cleaning for our bride and groom meeting with Stephanie and Jeff.